Earth Hour Tonight: March 30th 8:30--9:30 pm Your Time Zone

Tonight is the night to turn off our lights. Only for an hour. Earth Hour 2019.

March 30th, 8:30--9:30 in your own time zone.

Are you planning a bonfire, a picnic (either by candlelight in your living room or in your back yard), or a night hike? A board game or a candlit dinner party? An artsy event or time in meditation?  Unplugging and observing nature, or just going to bed early?

Whatever you do, turn off those non-essential lights (porch & patio lights too) to be a part of this global movement. Doing so shows your commitment to our planet, your fight against climate change, and your desire to take action. To learn more, click here.

I'll be taking part, will you?


Images from https://www.earthreminder.com/earth-hour-2019/ and
Video from https://youtu.be/wKwhuQ9bmIE

Our Planetary Plastic Pollution Problem

I was recently at the airport, spending copious amounts of time scrolling through Facebook while waiting for my flight. While doing so, I was struck by the number of posts along the scrolling all about plastic pollution.

Now I will say, for full disclosure, I do follow a lot of environmental organizations an Facebook, so it isn't a surprise I'd happen on these types of posts. But, I also follow news and other organizations too... along with edtech and educational groups. So I follow a lot about a lot. Given that, I was struck that there was far more on this one topic of environmentalism than usual.

It feels like the situation with China no longer taking our plastic (as it's done for over 2 decades) is really starting to take traction. Sometimes it takes a crisis situation to really help open our eyes. (We have all certainly seen that in many ways--take the horrific mosque attack in New Zealand and how that was pivotal for making a change in their gun laws.)

As long as China was taking all our trash over the years, we could bury our head in the sand. Case and point: why have I been writing about the overabundance of pollution (among other things) for nearly 10 years? During all that time, there was no real headway. Now with onset of  plastic bag bans, straw bans, and systems having to overhaul their recycling programs due to there being nowhere else for it to go, perhaps now... NOW is the time to make a positive move. For that, we should be both hopeful and thankful as it is long overdue!

To check our some of the articles that were poignantly striking me, check out my list below:

• People Magazine's "Internet Users Are Getting Their Hands Dirty with the #Trashtag Challenge: 'Way to Go, Humanity!'"

• These people are giving up plastic for Lent and it's all because of 'Blue Planet II'

• NPR's "Where Will Your Plastic Trash Go Now That China Doesn't Want It?"  

• Treehugger's "Whale Dies with 40 Kilograms of Plastic In Its Stomach"

• Irish Examiner's Plastic Production is the Problem, and Not Plastic Waste

• Plastic Pollution Coalition's "157,000 Shipping Containers of U.S. Plastic Waste Exported to Countries with Poor Waste Management in 2018"

• Forbes' "The European Union Just Voted To Ban Single-Use Plastics By 2021"

• Bored Panda's "Man Creates A Way To Reduce Plastic Packaging And 25 Famous Companies Join Him (Terracycle's Tom Szazy & his upcoming reuse innovation The Loop)

• Project Learning Tree's "10 Hands-On Science Projects To Teach About Pollution"

• National Geographic's "Is Burning Plastic Waste a Good Idea?"

• USA Today's "Foam Cups and Food Containers Could Be Banned in Maryland, Making It The First State To Do So" (Way to go, Maryland!!)

• Yup's "All It Took To Clean Up This Beach Was A Fish Sculpture Named Goby

• HR Green's "Plogging – Where Jogging Meets Litter Pick-up" (and I have discussed Plogging in the past)

• Ecowatch's "Straws Made of Seaweed Could Replace Their Plastic Nemesis

• The Grist 50 2019: Because The World Needs Fixers (many of whom are tackling the solution problem)

Images from https://www.cawrecycles.org/recycling-news/3p93l3t3k8plh8tctw6a23y4t5fjsz and https://storyofstuff.org and https://www.facebook.com/punksagainstlittering/ and http://www.golfian.com/plastic-pollution-by-numbers-thrown-away35-billion-plastic-water-bottles-a-year-in-the-us/ 

The View From Above

They say that you gain perspective from looking at the big picture... it's akin to your vantage point from an airplane:

As a creature of sleep, I don't see as many sunrises as I'd like. I certainly don't see many aboard a plane, with the horizon shoulder level. In fact I know this was my first sunrise from a 10-seater plane.

I watched the sun peak it's yellow-gold sphere over the horizon while taxiing... it's amazing how fast that fiery ball rises.

Once in air, feeling the warmth on my face from the sun rising on my window to the right, I was seeing aerial vistas that certainly give you perspective.
Flat lands of the Midwest.
Farmlands of bounty, readying for Spring planting.
Wind farms as far as the eye could see.
5 wind farms total along the trip, & hundreds of wind turbines by the time the trip to Chicago was completed. Spinning slowly in the wind du jour, as far as the eye could see. Standing tall and proud doing their daily sun salutations.

Aerially, the view struck me with awe. It also left me proud, as I saw this Midwest home that I love as a symbol of what our country could and should be. What our planet could be.

America could lead--if we wanted to. Unfortunately it feels like we are enmeshed in a Marty McFly Throwback (from Back to the Future I for you young'uns). Some would rather us be back there, to where Marty travels, back in the 1950s.

It led me to think of our technological timeline (not hard for a Lower School Tech Specialist who lives in a land where innovation is always in the foreground of my job.) To be in this little 10-seater plane, sitting RIGHT behind the pilots in that first row, and thankful for where technology has brought us over time. We can cross states in a matter of hours, versus the dozen hours it takes me to drive. It reminds me too of my real and virtual visits to Computer History Museum and where we've been over the last 2000 years. Seeing the 20+ dials, gizmos, gears, and navigational gadgets--while defying gravity--it puts it into perspective of how far we have come, thanks to technology.

Even more so when looking below at the landscape and knowing what's below in farming, industry, transportation, and businesses (in all those tiny buildings below.) Even more so as I entered the suburbs and then city limits of Chicago, seeing 1-2 inch building that tower above you when walking on the sidewalks below them... all beside the vast Lake Michigan.

I marvel at life here in 2019.

Likewise, I smile as I think of the precious cargo I'm transporting on this trip: my circa late-'80s prom dress as a joke for my soon-to-be-prom-going daughter. (An antebellum dress I know that she won't wear, but was so typical, back in the day.) I found myself pondering the changes and advancements over the years from the my-prom to her-prom span. I can project forward and marvel in amazement as to what the world has in store between her prom and my one-day/some-day granddaughter's prom. So many things we have yet to even imagine.

As educators, we are preparing students for jobs that don't yet exist. That statistic whispers (or screams) the words of Thomas Friedman's book Thank You For Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations. It's exciting ahead--despite how exponentially-fast the world seems to be spinning and catapulting forward.

It's ironic too, that the observation and inspiration for this blog post stems from both the novelty of being 1 of 5 people (along with the 2 pilots) on a 10-seater plane (while sitting directly behind those pilots), with a literal bird's eye view out the front window of the plane, feeling like I'm right there in the cockpit. Moreover, this all came after "powering down" my phone completely.

It's in the quiet that the magic happens. The dichotomy of the rectified world comes in the fact that it is only in powering down do we look up.

Who knew that seeing a total of 5 wind farms from overhead would make me wax so philosophical? No matter, I'm grateful for the magical insight it gave me under the warmth of the rising sun.

Sunrise prop image from my camera and all other photos from  https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/above, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_to_the_Future, https://www.amazon.com/Thank-You-Being-Late-Accelerations/dp/0374273537 , https://agaviation.com/wind-farms/, https://imspatial.com/the-top-10-in-demand-jobs-in-the-future-dont-exist-today-2004 and https://observatory.tec.mx/edu-news/creative-problem-solving-skills-for-the-jobs-of-the-future

Happy 1st Day o'Spring

Ah, the first day o'Spring is upon us: March 20, 2019. Spring Equinox.

From this point on, days get longer than the night. Why? Because the sun is directly over the equator and will be shifting (due to our planetary tilt) so that the sun shines and aligns more directly over the Northern (versus Southern) Hemisphere. While this all happens, Fall descends on the Southern Hemisphere. Warmth is on the way for those of us north of the Equator.

And who knew: it happens on the same day as the "Super Worm Moon"--apparently, for the first time in 19 years! And... our last "super moon" of the year.

"According to National Geographic, on March 20, the Super Worm Moon will be 223,309 miles from Earth at 3:45 p.m. EST, making it especially close to the planet. Then, at 9:43 p.m. EST, the moon will reach its full phase and appear 14 percent larger and 12 percent brighter than usual."

What are you going to do to celebrate the start of spring?

-Plan an evening picnic?
-Go on a long walk?
-Stand an egg on its end?
-Look for signs of Spring?
-Plant something?
-Eat healthy?
-Renew your resolutions?
-Unplug and step away from your tech?
-Set your table with some flowers?
-Camp out on the patio with a good book?
-Plan ways to get in your 1000 Hours Outdoors for the year?
-Set your sights to the sky to see the Super Worm Moon?
-Night time moonlight hide and seek?
-Have an evening bonfire?
-Make plans to celebrate Earth Hour coming up? (March 30th, 8:30-9:30 pm in your time zone)

I'd love to hear what you choose to do. Whatever it is--enjoy the warm spring winds that are coming your way.


Images from https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/03/19/supermoon-spring-equinox-2019-why-moon-shine-brighter-first-spring-night/3209726002/ and  https://www.kidspeakdallas.com/events/first-day-of-spring-2019-semester

Happy St. Patrick's Day Season!

St. Patrick's Day Season has spoken to me through the years in a variety of ways. 

Sometimes it's "go green" (in an eco-sort of way). 

Sometimes it's taken the flavor of green tea (just had my 2nd anniversary DietCoke-free, on the green tea bandwagon). 

Sometimes it has come in a more edtech sort of way--as in going green with green screens!! 

No matter how you celebrate it this year, may you have the luck o'the Irish and green be your favorite color!!

Image created at Canva.

Earth Hour 2019

Earth Hour is around the bend-- just over 2 weeks away! It's one of my favorite "environmental holidays." Why?

1. I love the grass roots growth element of it.

2. I'm energized by its expansion over time, from Sydney, Australia alone in 2007 to an exponential fire burst of every country being involved in just a few short years--most recently, over 180 of the 195 world countries and territories.

3. It's like a virtual "wave" across the globe, in your time zone on Saturday, March 30th, from 8:30-9:30 pm, where your lights go out and you keep passing the (extinguished) torch! In doing so, you are messaging the world that climate change and our planet Earth are important!

4. You can make a small yet powerful statement in your time zone, giving an hour to "unplug," which then ties to the tech-side of GTG.

5. It's a positive event. A non-partisan, taking-action kind of way of raising awareness. You can do it it a big or small way, and be part of a global movement. This feels good, making your voice heard.

6. I've been taking part in Earth Hour since the 3rd one, in 2009 (including speaking to the Maryland House of Delegates Health & Government Operations Committee in 2011. By this point, it's now a time-honored tradition!!

Earth Hour has a slew of resources--here are some handy links to help you out.

• Earth Hour: What Is Earth Hour
• World Wildlife Fund: Earth Hour
• Earth Hour: Info & Take Part
• Earth Hour: Educators Information Booklet
• Earth Hour: Youth Groups Information Booklets
• Earth Hour: Toolkits
• Earth Hour Digital Posters
• Earth Hour: Map
• Earth Hour: Connect2Earth Stories
• Earth Hour: Cities 
• Earth Hour: Businesses
• Earth Hour: Event Organizers
• Earth Hour: Hotels

Looking at the latest reports over the last few months, general consensus puts us at a dozen years away from being at the tipping point. (Need to verify that stat? Check out these resources on climate change to verify why it is indeed important):

The Guardian (10-8-18): "We have 12 Years to Limit Climate Change Catastrophe, Warn UN"

The Guardian (10-8-18): "Overwhelmed by climate change? Here's what you can do"

The New York Times (2-14-19): Skipping School to Save the Earth (March 15th is the next school skip day)

The Guardian (3-4-19): "Adults Failed to Take Climate Action: Meet the Young Activists Stepping 

Up"

Ocean Leadership (11-13-14): "Effects of Climate Change ‘Irreversible,’ U.N. Panel Warns in 

Report"

Earth Hour banner and poster from https://www.earthhour.org/, video from https://youtu.be/wQ6S-pkbgB0

Are You In the "Loop?"

This morning, as I was washing my hair, I came to the last drop of conditioner. It happens. The bottle's empty and into the recycle bin it goes. (Where hopefully, I'm not just wishcycling, and it actually ends up getting recycled... which is especially important after reading this highly disturbing article from The Atlantic (3/3/19) "Is This the End of Recycling?")

But what if there was another way? A way to replenish my conditioner without making waste!!

That way may indeed be "on the way!"

Tom Szaky, Terracycle's CEO & founder, is taking the idea of "eliminating waste" one step further with the creation of The Loop.

What is the Loop? It's a circular versus linear way of doing things--meaning the packaging goes back to the company to be refilled. The idea of waste is truly eliminated. These two videos showcase it better than words!



From their press release on January 24, 2019 at the World Economic Forum, there's a lot of corporate buy in! Here are the companies involved:

The idea for Loop was founded at the World Economic Forum by TerraCycle and consumer product companies Procter & Gamble, Nestle, PepsiCo, Unilever, Mars Petcare, The Clorox Company, The Body Shop, Coca-ColaEuropean Partners, Mondelēz International, Danone, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Lesieur, BIC, Beiersdorf, RB,People Against Dirty, Nature’s Path, Thousand Fell, Greenhouse, Grilliance, Burlap & Barrel Single OriginSpices, Reinberger Nut Butter, CoZie and Preserve. 

Pilot programs are starting this spring in both New York City metro area and Paris. This could certainly turn shopping and packaging into a whole new ball game! To learn more, be sure to read GreenBiz's article "Loop’s Launch Brings Reusable Packaging to the World’s Biggest Brands"

Szaky also has a new book out: The Future of Packaging: From Linear to Circular. Mine should arrive tomorrow!

I've always been a fan of Terracycle...and they may just have outdone themselves with their newest venture, Loop. Can't wait to see it come to life!

Video from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RU3JffV4LM&feature=youtu.be; List of companies involved & "How It Works" piece from The Loop's January 24, 2019 press release: https://s3.amazonaws.com/tc-global-prod/download_resources/us/downloads/5113/Loop_Announcement.pdf; The Loop logo from https://www.greenbiz.com/article/loops-launch-brings-reusable-packaging-worlds-biggest-brands

Metaphorically Speaking: Head in the Clouds--Nature Versus "Network"

I'm searching for the right metaphor....

Am I a magnet that is constantly pulled toward (or pushing against) the dichotomy of nature, technology (or innovation), and unplugging...  or a pendulum swinging between them?

Am I hosting the perpetual internal tug-of-war between them all?

Or is my head stuck in a cloud--a simultaneous dual cloud that has meaning both in nature and the network?

[As an aside...In doing my metaphorical search, I ran across both the above image and the Star-Wars-themed podcast Metaphors Be With You, where episode #5 is indeed Nature Vs Technology (the latter of which makes the image even more humorous). With technology, you can find anything... except perhaps my perfect metaphor!]

Back to the question at hand and where my boomerang keeps bringing me back to: digital distraction. Or maybe the better term is "digital well-being." It's feeling a little like when you are looking to buy a new car--you see 100 car commercials. They're everywhere. The same is happening to me. All roads lead to this wrestle-fest between inside, outside, and upside down (technologically speaking). To unplug or not to unplug.... or rather WHEN to unplug.

However, why am I surprised? Especially when a majority of the items I follow online are heavy in all of the categories above. It actually is JUST like my car commercial scenario above!

This school year I have found myself on a quest... as a teacher, a parent, and as a consumer of tech information. My pursuit in finding the balance between being tech-i-fied & unplugged has led me to numerous books, articles, events (including a Social Media evening hosted by a local school, presented by their School Resource Officer), and more. Immersion--including the good, the bad, and the ugly!


In doing all of this research, here's the short list of what I've found.
(Perhaps a longer one will follow in a future post.)

1.  My numbers on my iPhone & iPad Screentime iOS feature are improving. (Awareness does wonders)! Android has their own version called "Digital Wellbeing."

2.  Nature is the key to solving the problems (which has been the topic of conversation a lot lately here at GTG).

3.  Tech is tied to our relationships, our self-esteem, our mental health, our overall health, and more. 

4.  There certainly is a difference between consumption versus creation when it comes to tech. The latter is certainly the better. A mindful approach is best--constantly ask yourself "How am I using my tech?" And, if you are using it in a brain-numbing, junk-food sort of way, maybe it's time to step away!

5.  "Joint media engagement" and being a "media mediator (or mentor)" were two concepts I really liked in relation to family. It brings you all together as a team, versus the "monitor & surveillance" concept that feels more "us versus them" (meaning parents versus kids) within the family.

6.  There are some really scary social media apps out there--some I hadn't even heard of, and the list is always changing. Have open conversations with your kids & with their phones about what apps they are using and what they get out of these apps. Analyze together if they fit with your family values and talk about the pros and cons.

7.  I like the concept of "Enjoy screens; not too much; mostly together" from Anya Kamenetz's The Art of Screen Time.

8.  We all need to be reading this research and adopting more time outside, more time unplugging! 

To follow my path (aka, to read my bibliography), check out my list below. May they offer you some insight and self-awareness as well.

Online:

• The Screenagers Movie Tech Talk Tuesdays blogs--in particular, this one: "How to Foster Mental Focus In Our Kids & Ourselves"

• Wait Until 8th Grade Website (all about holding out as parents on cell phones until 8th grade)

• Technology for Mindfulness website--where I'm taking the Tap Into Mindfulness course for Teachers : Tap Into Mindfulness

• Common Sense Media's website--a great place to get your screen questions answered for parents, educators, and advocates

• New York Time's Article 2/23/2019 by Kevin Roose: "Do Not Disturb: How I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain

Books:

• Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World  by Cal Newport

• Art of Screentime:How Your Family Can Balance Digital Media & Real Life  by Anya Kamenetz

• Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in Their Digital World by Deborah Heitner

• The Techwise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in its Proper Place by Andy Crouch (This book has a religious slant.)

• iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood--and What That Means for the Rest of Us by Jean M. Twenge 

• The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams

• The Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do: by Wallace J. Nichols

Podcasts:

• Technology for Mindfulness

• The Digital Mindfulness Podcast

Final Thoughts:

I will say, despite all my findings, I'm still conflicted. Implementation is hard. In part, because it goes back to my "love-hate" relationship with technology. Also because it's really led me to take a deep look at how much tech has infiltrated both my own and my family's life. Additionally, I know all my people aren't at the same place of buy-in (largely because they haven't read the same tall stack of books I have.)  I think my hardest part is finding the right approach. I certainly don't want to cut off the kids cold turkey like a dictator and cause the rebellion. Yet, it is difficult to find the right tone for the conversation without it coming across like a lecture. (We all know how much kids love those!) For instance, I like Andy Crouch's idea in The Tech-Wise Family of unplugging one hour a day, one day a week, and one week a year.... but again, putting it into practice without it feeling like a punishment is a slippery slope. 

And of course, I suppose I would need to follow my own directives. 😊 

Our goal as parents is to ready our kids for the real world. We need to help them learn to be self-sufficient and to self-manage these devices. But no one said it was going to be easy, that's for sure! Perhaps, as I continue to wrestle with this, Sherry Turkle's books might next on my list to help continue my navigation! (Sherry has been referenced in almost every one of the books above!)

• Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in the Digital Age 
• Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other

Speaking of conversation...I'm sure this is a conversation I will continue!

Images from https://makeameme.org/meme/metaphors-be-with-5aae46 and https://www.technologyreview.com/s/413359/moving-data-around-the-clouds/

Creative Crafts & Activities to Connect With Nature

When we are connected with nature, we come to care about it, which leads us to protect it.

One way to connect with nature is to  engage with it in creative ways. Here's a list of activities and crafts that help all of us--young and old!

• Sensory Trust's "Creative Activities; A Collection of Free Activities Designed to Engage the Senses and Connect with Nature"

• Six creative Ways to Connect With Nature

• Nature Crafts and Nature Art Activities that use Natural Materials

• Mother Natured's "Common Craft Materials you can Replace with Nature"

• Nature Crafts 101 – 20 Stunning Crafts Using Items Found in Nature

• Project Learning Tree: 14 Animal Art Projects Made with Recycled Materials

• 5 Constellations Kids Should Know

• Nature Art for Kids: 33 Activities to Try

Image from https://www.mountainriverschool.org/resources/2015/8/8/four-winds-nature-institute and https://goo.gl/images/Psb5Qr

Robot-Roving Through The Computer History Museum

It's not often that we, as adults, get new experiences that daze, amaze, and dazzle us. Additionally, if you're like me, and embrace your inner geekiness as part of your effervescent charm, you tend to look for some fun and funky tech experiences that will get you here. And I did.

At the start of 2019 we go the opportunity to go to California--without ever leaving my time zone, Maryland, or my school! We were in my Maryland classroom & Mountain View California's Computer History Museum simultaneously via the Beam Telepresence Robot. It was a crazy feeling of déjà vu as I got the opportunity to revisit a place I had visited this summer! To have my robot footprints in the same place my actual feet had once stood!

I actually got to drive the Beam 3 different times this year--one, a trial run (to make sure our systems would work), and the other two as virtual field trips with my 2nd and 3rd grader. They got almost as much of a kick out of my robot driving as I did!

Prior to robot-driving, we did some diving into the Computer History website in class--in particular, their "Revolution: 2000 Years of Computing" exhibit. We explored the website to learn online about their 1,100+ computer history artifacts--everything from the abacus, early calculators, punch cards, to modern day! We also visited the online "Where To?" exhibit about self-driving cars. While investigating the website's online images, videos, and artifacts, students took notes on paper of items they're interested in, fun facts they learn online, and any questions along the way.

Then, the exciting part--the trip to California via computer! Nothing like being on a guided tour, learning about technology WITH technology! My kids were bummed they didn't get to have the experience of driving the robot... but, if you let one drive, you have to let all 30+ drive! I got to have that glory all to myself!

Among other things, on our tour we got a chance to see a prototype for the first home computer from 1969 (for your kitchen for researching recipes--wayyy too expensive and it never came to be). We also got to see the office computer from 1973 (4 years later) with a screen that was paper sized and even a mouse! We also saw the 1999 Google Server, the teapot that inspired 3D drawings on computers, and everyone's favorite: the self-driving car. I was proud that I didn't take out anyone's toes or run into any door frames while  driving the Beam Telepresence Robot around the museum.

To see more in action, visit this article from our school archives (including a video) of our experience.

If this looks like your kind of driving experience, book a tour by checking out the Computer History Museum's Tour information. Given the timing, they only offer trips at 10 am on Mondays (in their time zone), while the museum is still closed to the public. I was very glad for that, as it was tricky enough to drive around the robot!

Lastly, here are creative curiosities and questions my 7-9 year olds posed after visiting the online exhibit (prior to our virtual visit). While the list was long and we didn't get all the answers to these during our one-hour tour, we did get a great opportunity to interact with our docent and see some pretty remarkable artifacts. Not to mention, it really made history come alive!

-What's the oldest thing you have in the museum? 
-How can they have over 1000 computer "things"
      [=artifacts] in a museum? 
-How did they figure out how technology works? 
-How big was the first computer? 
-How many computers have there been? 
-Who invented the first computer? 
-How do you make a computer? 
-How do you make computers? 
-How long has the museum been open? 
-Do they have olden day virtual reality goggles there? 
-I wonder about the differences between then and now computers. 
-Will we get to see old phones and old headphones? 
-Who had the idea of a computer and how did they get it? 
-Why is technology important? 
-Who created the Internet? 
-How long has technology been a thing? 
-How is a punch card a part of computer history? 
-How do pocket calculators work? 
-What were the earliest computer games? 
-How are computer games on TV's? 
-Why was the web invented last? 
-Are they trying to make flying computers? 
-How many video games have there ever been? 
-Do they have museums like this all around the world? 

-Why are mini computers called that when they are big? (They were smaller than the mainframes, but clearly 
      bigger than personal computers!) 
-How did they build the computer that 
      "broke the code" during WWII? 
-Why were old computers so big? 
-What did earlier [mobile] phones look like? 
-How do you program a computer? 
-How does a self driving car work?
-Who invented the self driving cars? 
-Has the self-driving car ever gotten into 
      an accident?
-With the self-driving car, do you type 
      in the destination to get it where it needs to go? 


Images from either our side or the CA side of our Virtual Field trip, screenshots included!

Ahh... The Beauty & Gift of a Snow Day

There's something about a snow day. I think the phenomenon holds true for both teachers and students alike. I've not met a teacher or student who doesn't erupt into smiles (and perhaps even a happy dance) when the announcement is made. Even bigger and better: if the announcement is made the night before. We got that little gem this week. I happened to be in an educational meeting with both current and retired teachers at the time the text came through. It was definitely a glee-filled moment as the joy elevated in the room. We love our job (despite the occasional frustrations and challenges), but there is something about a snow day!

It's a multi-faceted gift--first, with the potential to sleep in: teachers--and students--are a tired bunch. That ability to sleep in and luxuriate in bed is certainly a gift! But there's also the gift of the day. An unexpected day off. Unsuspected, unplanned. This surprise does wonders for the body, soul, and spirit!

It's a slowing down of life. You find yourself mesmerized in the meditative moment of just simply watching the snow fall. You catch yourself noticing the changes, especially over the course of a lengthy snowfall. The tree branches become blanketed in the winter white, and the whole world transforms into this whole new place.

It even sounds different as the snow muffles the typical street-sounds (which might be non-existent with buried roads). The world just seems to be hunkering in.

There's a beauty to the birds at the feeder, the untouched yard of snow before anyone gets out and traipses all over it. There's even the pups that spring out to frolic outside, wondering what on earth happened to the world just over night. It must feel magical to those crazy canines!

It's a fireplace, pajama, blanket-and-movies, curl-up-with-a-good book, hot-chocolate kind of day.

The shoveling will come eventually, as might the sled runs and snowmen, but at first, the world just sort of slows down. Even if the teacher's plate ultimately gets filled with grading papers on the couch or writing report cards (some of which I know my teacher friends will be doing), there's still the gift of time. An extra day you didn't expect, where you are free from your classroom obligations of lesson plans and learning, carpool or lunch duty, and all the other energetic elements of your class. Permission to burrow in, enjoy the warmth of your tea or coffee, and just "be" in a way that busy-ness doesn't always allow.

It causes you to take pause and watch as nature frolics in nature... and the sum total of it all brings a smile to your face.

THAT certainly is a gift.


Images from my camera from my snow day gift this week!

The Inverse Antidote

I think a lot (and write a lot) about how innovation & technology are going to solve our environmental problems.

But I was struck yesterday that the reverse is indeed also true: that the cure to all our over-techified time is indeed getting out into the environment. Nature.

It's interesting, because although I think and write about that a lot too, I was struck by an epiphany that tilted my view enough to see that this was indeed the inverse of my original thought. Technology and nature are the foil to each others.

It hit me while listening to one of my new favorite podcasts: Robert Plotkin's "Technology for Mindfulness." I was listening to episode #44 "Beauty, Nature & Capturing Moments" with John de Graaf. He brought together the marriage of environment and innovation, nature and technology beautifully.

In examining this tilted epiphany and my latest "ah ha" moment, it perfectly illustrates both the creation and the evolution of "Green Team Gazette." It certainly explains my love-hate relationship with technology. It paints my path as to how I'm now employed as a Lower School Technology Specialist... after previously teaching at perhaps the greenest school in America. It has led me to be on the sustainability committee at my current school and why we now are a Maryland Green School. It drives the stack of #eco and #edtech and #unplugging books that I can't seem to stop buying and reading.

Nature/the environment and technology/innovation need each other.

More importantly, we need them to solve each other... and to cure us AND our planet!

The Inverse antidote image created on Canva.com; woods & innovation pictures from https://pixabay.com/

A Dichotomy of Calendar Dates: Digital Learning Day & National Day of Unplugging

Sometimes as the Lower School Technology Specialist, I have an internal struggle. I've mentioned my love-hate relationship with technology a time or two. At times, I picture it like the little angelic version of me on one shoulder and the devilish one on the other. I've been using the ScreenTime feature that's now part of iOS12, writing down my weekly stats for about 3 months now, and I know exactly how much I'm on my phone and my iPad, and how many times I pick them up. Numbers that are sometimes startling! But, I know that there's so much value in using educational technology as a tool in our lives and our classrooms.

That's in part why it strikes me that these two calendar days are a mere 24 hours from each other. Both equally vital. Both as opposite as can be. Both completely worth registering for!

1. Digital Learning Day ~ February 28, 2019 
Since 2012, Digital Learning Day has served as an innovative inspiration, bringing technology and education together. The goal: to improve student outcomes and engagement through a foundation of learning with digital tools.

To dive deep at their website and get inspiration on how to plan your own Digital Learning Day, here are a few links to learn from:
--Digital Day 2019 Graphics
--Activities & Ideas
--Digital Tools
--Online Resources
--Check out their Interactive Lesson Plans
--Watch their 2018 video
--Watch their Live Webinar: How School and District Leaders Can Create the Conditions for Innovation and Change (10:30 am EST)


2. National Day of Unplugging ~ Sundown to sundown March 1-2, 2019
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the National Day of Unplugging and goes off the idea of this quote by Anne Lamott: "Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you." Last year, 65,000 people took the world wide unplugging pledge. As I read in both Florence Williams The Nature Fix and Jean Twenge's iGen, there's many reasons to unplug! I've got 3 more books on my bookshelf on the same subject, waiting to be read!

To get some great ideas from their website, check out these links:
--Take the Pledge
--Host an Event & Get Toolkit Resources
--Youth Kits for Unplugging kids of all ages
--Download posters
--Unplugging Stories & News

Header image created on Canva. Logos from the Digital Learning Day & National Day of Unplugging websites.

Loving Nature This Valentine's Day!

In thinking about Valentine's Day, I was struck by this quote:

Given that, this spoken poem/song by David Attenborough (originally created for BBC One in 2011) seems spot on. If you can't get enough animals, you can always check out ARKive.org,

May we all love what surrounds us: people, animals, nature. Happy Valentine's Day!


 Photos from http://downtownmontessori.com/auto-draft-19/ and http://www.mariasfarmcountrykitchen.com/love-nature-organic/ and https://zeebeemarket.com/blogs/news/13274453-celebrate-earth-month-with-us; Video from https://youtu.be/auSo1MyWf8g

The Nature Fix

I just spent a bulk of the weekend finishing the book The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams. Of course, the irony is not lost on me (or my children) that I spent a bulk of my weekend indoors reading a book about the outdoors.

However, I will say, upon wrapping up the book's epilogue today, I did go out and just sit outside for awhile to watch the birds at the bird feeder and study the Jackson Pollock-like fractals in our trees. (The latter of which I learned all about in the book.) Our 47 degree weather today is feeling remarkably warm in the sun after the frigid cold snap we had earlier in the week. Hard to believe that 2 days ago we ended up with an early out for a sudden snowstorm and icy conditions--and now the melted snow water is running noisily through our gutters, with almost every evidence of snow disappeared. It feels like spring out. In fact, I've landed in one of my favorite writing places--my back patio, basking in the sun, looking at the birds as they fly between the trees and the frolicking squirrels as my fingers find the keys.

As with any book I read, I find the information I've read swirling around, making its mental connections, becoming part of my DNA. (Of course, that's the same with us all.) There are so many nuggets of wisdom in this book. It's reminding me of this past summer of counting my outdoor hours (inspired by 1000 Hours Outdoors), and how good I felt at the end of the summer. My 2019 hours are probably growing exponentially here today as I'm not innately a fan of the winter, preferring to hibernate over just about anything else. Many thoughts have me circling back to Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods, making this an excellent companion piece to follow that book for those who want more.

This book also connects with the reading I've done on brain studies, particularly when it comes to executive functioning and the elementary/teen brain & ADHD. Additionally, it deeply resonates within me as I look at our overly-techified world (and how that relates to my role as Lower School Technology Specialist).

Noteworthy notes that my highlighter found in this research-heavy (yet highly readable) book that are worth pondering:

• "We don't experience natural environments enough to realize how restored they can make us feel, nor are we aware that studies also show they make us healthier, more creative, more empathetic and more apt to engage with the world and with each other. Nature, it turns out, is good for civilization." (p. 4)

• "Nature employs the mind without fatigue yet exercises it; tranquilizes it yet enlivens it; and thus, through the influence of the mind over the body, gives the effect of refreshing rest and reinvigoration to the whole system" (Quote by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1865, from p. 48)

• "Psych studies using birdsongs consistently show improvements in mood and mental alertness." (p. 100)

• "Our tendency to wear earbuds during all hours of the day [is called] 'learned deafness.' We are tuning out the real world in favor of our own personal soundscapes. The cost is we forget how to listen." (p. 102)

• "When we stare at screens all day, we blink less." (Quote by author's eye doctor, p. 126)

• "To elevate mood and stave off depression most reliably, 5 hours per month is the lowest amount of time to get the effect, then after, if you can go for 10 hours, you will reach a new level of feeling better and better." (Quote by Liisa Tyrväinen, p. 141)

• "A thirty-to-forty-minute walk seems to be enough for physiological changes and mood changes and probably for attention." (Quote by Kalevi Korpela, p. 147)

• "The '30 x 30 nature challenge'--30 minutes a day of walking for 30 days in a row." (p. 182) [which elicited the following effects in the Trent University study that the author participated in: "significant increases in all measures of well-being, including mood and mental calm, and also decreases in stress and negativity. We slept slightly better, and also reported feeling slightly more connected to nature."] (p. 182-183)

• "The ultimate paradox is that humans need both wilderness and civilization." (p. 192)

• "Awe is considered one of the core positive emotions along with joy, contentment, compassion, pride, love and amusement... 'Basically, awe is something that cloys your mind.'" Secondary, interior quote from Paul Piff, p. 196) ".... Awe promotes curiosity." (p. 199)

• "We consume 74 gigabytes of data every day." (p. 224)

• "Exposure to nature reduced reported symptoms of ADHD in children threefold compared with staying indoors." (p.226) [Of note--recess and outdoor exposure during school has decreased over time! "Preschoolers in the United States average just 48 minutes of exercise a day in their schools, even though the recommended level is 2 hours. Of that 48 minutes, only 33 minutes is outside." (p. 233)

• "In the U.K., two-thirds of schoolchildren do not know acorns come from trees." (p. 233)

• "Nearly 1 in 10 children has a vitamin D deficiency. That's 7.6 million children. And, two-thirds, another 50.8 million, are considered vitamin D 'insufficient.'" (p. 234)

• "Distilling what I learned, I came up with a kind of ultra simple coda: Go outside, often, sometimes in wild places. Bring friends or not. Breathe."    (p. 254)

Not to mention, here's a short list of new (and some not-so-new) environmental terms to consider investigating:

• nature deficit disorder
• forest bathing 
• biophilia 
• task switching (versus "multitasking")
• the science of forest smells 
• natural soundscapes 
• accidental nature (exposure you get to nature without even trying)
• myopia (nearsightedness)
• ecotherapy
• solvitur ambulando (in walking will be solved)
• toddlers are "containerized kids"
• Metro sapiens (what the human species became in 2008, when we crossed to the majority of us living in cities)
• The Nature Pyramid (I'll be writing about this soon!)

So as I've spent the afternoon pondering all of this, here's my next stop: a local park with my family and our overly-energetic dogger. Purposely unplugging us all, and sharing some of my "Nature Fix" finds with them, hoping to re-inspire my very tech-friendly family get out and get what's good for them. For us all!

Images from https://www.amazon.com/Nature-Fix-Happier-Healthier-Creative/dp/0393242714, other images from my phone!