Gorilla in the Greenhouse

Gorilla in the Greenhouse offers animated shorts about pollution and conservation, with some pretty cool characters. Enjoy!

Save Our Snowmen

The short film above by Cool Effect is a humorous introduction to climate change, a not so funny topic. 

Click on each of the infographics below to enlarge for reading.

Click here to see photos of Chase Street covered in snow back in 2014.

The Story of Stuff

During the last science unit of the year, we investigate pollution and conservation. Director Annie Leonard's website, The Story of Stuff, features animated films related to the science standard. Click here to watch.

Making Paper Pots

Stacy Smith (our neighborhood environmental education advocate extraordinaire) joins the class again for a lesson on soil, seed germination and how to make paper pots.

The lesson begins with a variety of seeds to examine. Sa'riyah and Ben admire dandelion wisps.

 

Batiste and Trinity poke around the nooks and crannies of a longleaf pine cone while Stacy explains the relationship between the longleaf pine tree and fire. The extreme heat of annual fires in the Coastal Plain releases seeds from cones. Without fire, there wouldn't be any new longleaf pine trees.

Next, Stacy demonstrates how to make paper pots out of old Flagpole Magazines.

Everyone chooses seeds to plant in their pots, including watermelon, okra, tomatoes and jalapeno peppers (yum).

In addition to paper pots, Stacy teaches us how to chit potatoes. Chitting potatoes simply means leaving them out in a warm/sunny spot. This jump starts the sprouting process. The photo below shows curious alien sprouts after two months. The purple organic spuds from Daily Co-op are sprouting the most.

Now they're ready for planting!

The Curious Garden Inspires

The Curious Garden, written by Peter Brown, is the story of a boy who befriends and cultivates a hidden garden in the heart of a polluted city.

Slowly, the verdant ribbon snakes its way throughout the urban setting as life takes root in every nook and cranny. A depressing metropolis transforms into a series of lush, interconnected boroughs.

During a brainstorming session, the students described places around Athens that could use a little more life. Inspired by Liam, the red-headed guerilla gardener, the class mixed Georgia red clay, mushroom compost, wildflower seeds, and a little water to make seedballs. 

Peter Brown's environmental tale was inspired by the true story of a group of people in New York who organized to save a stretch of railroad slated for demolition. Ethan Hawke narrates a short video about the High Line's history...

Click here for more information about New York's High Line, or right here to discover the origin of seedballs, Masanobu Fukuoka's ancient natural farming technique.

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How to Make Seedballs

5 parts dry red clay

3 parts organic compost

1 part native wildflower seed

1-2 parts water

A 12 oz cup equals 1 part, and the sticky batch yields about 300. First, pinch penny-sized pieces, then roll them around and around between your fingers or palms. Next, set them on a flat surface to dry in the sunshine. They’re thirsty and ready after a couple of days. There’s no need to plant them. Simply place or throw the  wherever you see a spot that could use a little color.

Global Youth Service Day, 2013

Global Youth Service Day is celebrated worldwide at the end of April (26th-28th), but we celebrated this year on May 3rd with a walking field trip around the Boulevard neighborhood.

Equipped with requisite vests and "litter gitters," we began picking up trash right away.

It's funny (not really) how many cigarette butts we found around medical office buildings.

The dirtiest location by far was between McDonalds and the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house, where the kids found a pair of pants. Luckily, we never saw the owner.

A variety of plants and gardens along Boulevard offered curious stops along the way.

The rain held off until we returned to school, and the trip was a success. In all, we collected around three bags of trash, and one bag of recyclables. 

Click the image above, or right here to learn more about Global Youth Service Day, and how you can join the estimated 2 million young people around the world.