Why are Monarch butterflies so special? We recently asked five questions of Martine Wong, Fresh Pond Reservation (FPR) Outreach & Volunteer Coordinator, and her Cambridge Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program (MSYEP) intern, Shewit. On August 6th and 7th, amidst some fanfare—kids and puppets—Martine, Shewit and other staff and volunteers released most of the butterflies that they had helped raise,Continue reading “Five Questions for Cambridge’s Monarch Nannies”
Tag Archives: environmental education
A Single Species: An End-of-January Investigation
There is sometimes too much, or too little, simplification that goes on when “environmental education” takes hold. Starting with a single species, as Fresh Pond Reservation staff in Cambridge, Mass., will do on January 31st with “The Secret Life of White Oaks,” can make a path for kids, families, anyone, to start small and grow curious from there.Continue reading “A Single Species: An End-of-January Investigation”
Airport Owls, Hooting Toddlers: A Feathered Friend in Cambridge
Owls visited our fair city last weekend and kids were there in droves to see them. Licensed wildlife rehab maven and Massachusetts resident Patricia Bade (given the punchy name “Owl Woman” by her Penobscot elders before she could say “boo”) brought her un-releasable saw-whet owl and screech owl to Maynard Ecology Center for a familyContinue reading “Airport Owls, Hooting Toddlers: A Feathered Friend in Cambridge”
Adult Pro-Environment Behaviors Shaped by…Harvesting?
David Sobel’s piece “Look, Don’t Touch” in Orion Magazine has shaken up the small world of my little nature club and the big world of the Get Outdoors movement. I’ve just discovered Living On Earth‘s interview with Sobel, here. If you haven’t had a chance to read the Orion essay, here’s the kernel of Sobel’s argument:Continue reading “Adult Pro-Environment Behaviors Shaped by…Harvesting?”
Be Iridescent
There’s nothing better than wearing something with a little iridescence to bring out a smile on your face. The Honk Festival’s parade will be graced by what may constitute a swarm of Wandering Gliders and Blue-Fronted Dancers, residents of our 162-acre urban habitat here in Cambridge, Mass. If you’re a resident of the vicinity ofContinue reading “Be Iridescent”
Honk! Honk! The parade is almost here!
Wandering Gliders (dragonflies), Blue-Fronted Dancers (damselflies), pond algae (hand puppets), two Great Blue Herons and a gaggle of other animals will muster at the 8th annual Honk! Parade from Davis Square, Somerville, to Harvard Square, Cambridge, this Sunday. Trees also play a role in our party at Honk! Brought to you by Neighbors and NeighboringContinue reading “Honk! Honk! The parade is almost here!”
Happy Park[ing] Day, from a New England City
This just in. Plankton have been sighted on Huron Avenue. Children have been observed observing pond water through microscopes. A new arboreal species has been discovered: the Tree of Really, Really Small, Teeny Tiny Things, whose symbolic foliage depicts the minerals, water, microarthropods, bacteria, and mycorrhizal fungi critical to good tree health. Models of algaeContinue reading “Happy Park[ing] Day, from a New England City”
“Clean the owl …
“Clean the owl cage.” Those who ponder the variants, whys, and wherefores of outdoor education will want to read this terrific post by Sean Musselman on what’s become a buzz phrase—”authentic learning experience.” Meanwhile, as I write this, I’m cleaning my own metaphorical owl cage by taking two disparate generations of family members on a coastalContinue reading ““Clean the owl …”
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