Back to Nature

The following is from the most recent PCEE newsletter:

'Getting Outdoors' the Focus of Several New Initiatives

The U.S. Departments of the Interior and Agriculture are leading a coordinated federal effort to get children moving outside. The Let’s Move Outside initiative, championed by first lady Michelle Obama, gives parents the tools they need to get their families outdoors. By linking to nearby parks, trails and waters – and providing tips and ideas – the initiative will help families become healthier and develop more active lifestyles.

A broad coalition representing the business and non-profit communities (including YMCA of USA, Sierra Club and the Children & Nature Network) announced a national strategic partnership called "Outdoors Alliance for Kids." This partnership addresses the growing divide between children and the natural world. Studies suggest spending time outdoors in green spaces can improve the mental and physical health of children.

President Barack Obama proclaimed June "Great Outdoors Month" and July will be celebrated as "Park and Recreation Month."

As we were saying...

Fairmount Park Guide for College Students

Here's our site!
https://sites.google.com/site/fairmountparkforcollegestudent/

"Why, if people start thinking they can regenerate nature in cities, they'll use that as an excuse for suburban sprawl." -Louv

Man made carving, but fits so well into nature. It also shows such an integral part of the area's history. It is good to know that the family that had this statue carved still has some kind of tie to nature and appreciated it enough to have such a massive figure there.

Growing

The first picture was taken shortly after the planting in the first week of April in the Summer Winter Community Garden.



The second was this past weekend.



Looks like it's going to be a great season!

Two Great Exhibits at The Franklin Institute!!

There are two relatively new exhibits at The Franklin Institute that are both related to nature and the environment that we all live in. One is called "Electricity" and the other exhibit is titled "Changing Earth." Both of the exhibits are opened to the public for viewing at no additional cost. As long as you purchase the Sci-Pass, you are free to roam and play with all the interactives in the exhibit as you please.

"Electricity" is a great exhibit to learn more about electricity and how it works. Part of the exhibit explores how circuits work and how electricity is transferred into your outlets at home. The other part of the exhibit has to do with electricity and its impact on the environment. There are two interactives that I am personally fond of---"Balance of Power" and "Compromising Choices." In "Balance of Power," the goal of the player is to choose different resources (ex. coal, solar, nuclear) to produce enough power for his/her city without costing the consumers a bundle and without producing a lot of waste. "Compromising Choices" is a similar interactive with pretty much the same goal, except your population increases each game round which in turn increases your city's demand for electricity.

"Changing Earth" is an amazing exhibit. It's broken down into 3 parts---Air, Water and Land. There are so many different interactives there that acts as a learning tool to teach visitors about nature and their impact on it. There is an interactive that lets you calculate your carbon footprint, another that shows you what would happen if Antarctica or Greenland melted, and one that lets you experience the event of the shifting of tectonic plates. In this exhibit, there is one interactive that is very similar to the two I described in the "Electricity" exhibit. This one is called "Personal, National, Global Change." The visitor is supposed to choose what methods he/she would use for transportation, housing/buildings, electricity, and heating and cooling in order to cut down the carbon dioxide in the air. Afterwards, the program will show the visitor what would happen to Earth and our lifestyles if his/her choices had occurred.

I encourage everyone to take some time out of their schedule to check out these two great exhibits at The Franklin Institute. It's not only educational, but it's also very fun to play with these interactives because they are all uniquely programmed and have the latest technology installed (ex. touchscreens).

Horticultural Center and Japanese House and Garden (Shofuso)

Here are some photos I took during our class visit to the Horticultural Center and Japanese House and Garden (Shofuso) in Fairmount Park.

For more information on Horticultural Center, please visit: http://www.fairmountpark.org/hortcenter.asp

For more information on the Japanese House and Garden (Shofuso), please visit: http://www.shofuso.com/

Photos taken: May 27, 2010

Location: Horticultural Center and Japanese House and Garden (Shofuso)

Longwood Gardensl

• This past week, I went to Longwood Gardens for my product analysis class. It was raining, sadly, so we spent most of our time inside the conservatory. It was so amazing to see species of plants from all over the world that couldn't grow in our fickle Pennsylvania climate. My class went there primarily to see the exhibit on perfume. However girly I may be, I am not an avid user of perfume. The whole process just never worked out for me. There are too many little similar bottles and without coffee beans to smell, my nose can't handle the amount of smells. It was really fascinating to see it all though. There are so many different natural smells out there that I have never known existed. There were these little spray machines that you could use to smell different scents that were made synthetically, and as you went through the conservatory, different plants were labeled that had good smells. Overall, scents and perfumes were always something I never payed much attention to. But they are really a beautiful part of nature. I feel like I have gained a whole new perspective since i've been there.

Diversified Community Services

If anyone is going to be in Philadelphia for the summer and is looking for a full/part time job, this one seems really interesting. The type of work goes right along with what we learned about community development during our trip to Cobbs Creek Nature Center.

Hi Folks,

I am reaching out to you in the gardening/environmental world in the hope that you could refer two college students for a summer project. Specifically, DCS will have 25 high-school aged students engaged in a gardening project for 6 weeks. Our plan is to provide some TLC to existing gardens – clean them up, do some planting and nominal design work, given budget constraints.

The college students would serve as monitors/supervisors, earning $10 per hour along with transportation, 30 hours per week, for 8 weeks. Monitors will oversee outdoor gardening work and help students with their workforce portfolios.

If you know of someone, please have them contact me at cweiss@dcsphila.org

Thank you very much.

Cheryl

Cheryl Weiss

Executive Director

Diversified Communtiy Services

1529 S. 22nd Street

Philadelphia, PA 19146

215-336-5505 ext. 342

215-336-5527 FAX

visit our website: www.dcsphila.org

Drexel Honor's Community Garden

The other week I received an email from an honors college representative saying that the honors college has reserved a plot of land in the garden at 33rd and Race St. From my understanding, this plot is open to any honors students who want to plant something and take care of it over the summer. This seems like a terrific way to get students involved with their local community and urban nature.

If anyone is interested in helping out with the garden, here was the contact information I was provided:

All specific questions about the plot should be directed to Joe Revlock at joseph.revlock@verizon.net.

Sheena Pradham (sheenampradhan@gmail.com) is our student representative.

Uncle Jamie

My uncle is a professional painter. Most of his paintings are of Philadelphia landscapes--here's one of Boathouse Row with fall foliage in the background. Click through for more of his work. #shamelessplug

Spring Thing 2010

This weekend is the Philadelphia Folksong Society's 35th annual Spring Thing--"a magical get-away weekend filled with song, dance, crafts and fun." From this website it looks like their are dozens of activities planned, including sports, juggling, boating and a ton of music-related things (instrument making?!) The event is being held at Camp Canadensis in the Poconos. Tickets are relatively expensive--$185 for adults--but seems like it could be worth if if you're into folky stuff.

I've always felt there was a strong connection between nature and folk music. If you like folk but aren't interested in this Spring Thing, you should still check out the Philadelphia Folk Festival which will be in late August.

PARTY!

I think I saw the coolest thing ever Saturday night. A lot of people look at the trails of Fairmount park and think "oh, that'd be a cool spot to walk in the daylight" or "wow, we should play frisbee there." However last saturday around one in the morning there was a massive party in the middle of the trail, half a mile past boat house row. They had a barbecue, music, dancing, and about twenty people. Not only did it look very fun, but I now view Fairmount park in a whole new light on what you can do with the facility!

Running

The runners at Fairmont park are vicious. Not only are they.. well.. running.. but they will yell at anyone in front of them. Today I witnessed an elderly woman with a walker, slowly making her way on the trail by the Schuykill, while a teenager behind her not only ran very close to her but had the nerve to yell "excuse me!" I think that the majority of runners forget that they are not on roller blades or skateboards.... THEY CAN RUN ON GRASS!

The Mann Center

I just found out about another wonderful resource in Fairmount Park-- The Mann Center!

The Mann Center is an outdoor cultural arts center that is hosting dozens of live performances over the summer. There is a lot of orchestral music but there are a few bands that are aimed at a younger audience including: Passion Pit, Rufus Wainwright, Ingrid Michaelson, MGMT, and CAKE. If I were here this summer, I would definitely check this out. What a great way to support the park.

It is located near 52nd and Parkside in Fairmount Park.

Green Schools

So while at work (Trader Joe's) a few days ago I was ringing a nice lady out. I was asking her about her day at work and we ended up discussing the fact that she teaches kindergarten at a 'green' elementary school in Downingtown.

I began asking her questions: How exactly do you teach kindergarteners green principles before they even know how to count? Do they only learn how to spell words that relate to the environment? Are they allowed to have textbooks? I was somewhat joking around but somewhat serious. It just seemed like a lot of money to go into a private school for such young children who don't even understand basic principles yet. She explained that the cafeteria serves healthier and organic food and that most lessons must pertain to the environment or the green movement in some way.

So I finally came around to researching the Green Schools initiative. The best introduction can be found here: http://www.greenschools.net/section.php?id=11

After investigating the site a bit further, I realized that this idea for a school is actually a very good idea. It is somewhat a place rich mommies can send their rich babies, but these schools also have a lot to teach the average public school. There is no reason why all schools shouldn't serve less junk or fast food and no soda; in my high school they began removing these items my senior year. Schools should always recycle, include environmental education, and promote green playgrounds. Overall, I think these 'green schools' are just doing what every school already should, or maybe are trying to do. These schools are just making a greater attemple and have more money in order to succeed in these specific aspects.

Does anyone know anything else about these schools?

1876 Centennial Exhibition

As part of my contribution to my group's final project, I have been researching the 1876 Centennial Exhibition that took place in Philadelphia. Since we will be visiting the Exhibition grounds during Thursday's class, I thought it would be appropriate to share some of my general findings. The 1876 Centennial Exhibition celebrated America's 100th birthday. Held along the Schuylkill River, on 285 acres of Fairmount Park, the celebration was attended by over 9 million people. 37 nations from around the world participated in the event, officially known as the International Exhibition of Art, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine. Philadelphia was the chosen location for the Exhibition because at the time it was the center of industry and culture. The Exhibition showed the world how much America had grown in the past 100 years.

Above is an image of the original Horticultural Hall that stood on the Exhibition grounds. During it's time, the structure was used to display exotic plants brought from visiting nations.

Many of you may recognize this structure, known as Memorial Hall, as the home of Philadelphia's Please Touch Museum. However, during the Centennial Exhibition, this building served as a temporary art museum, where people from all over the globe displayed their artwork.

France designed Liberty Englightening the World, known as the Statue of Liberty, as a gift for America's 100th birthday. At the Centennial Exhibition, France displayed the arm and torch of the statue. The Exhibition raised money to finish the statue by charging visitors 50 cents to climb to the balcony.

Pepsi Refresh Project

I'm sure everyone has seen those commercials on TV by Pepsi about their new project. I never really knew where this idea came from, or where all the money Pepsi is giving away came from. Pepsi decided that it was a better idea to spend the $20 million that they normally spend on their Super Bowl Ads and instead give the money away to people with good ideas. One such idea was submitted by two friends from Passyunk who want to turn the area at the busy intersection of 12th street and Morris Street, one of the city's most famous diagnoal intersections, into a little people watching area. They want to put cafe tables, sailcloth umbrellas and planters in the area to make it more welcoming and relaxing and it'll also allow people to stop and take a break, enjoy a nice refreshing drink or read the newspaper, and just people watch. If they win their category they will recieve $50,000 from Pepsi to help them make this into a reality, and maybe also start to create more in other areas of the city. Their idea is modeled off of the street plazas that New York created. People were hesitant at first, because they closed off a lane of traffic to create the street plazas, but they are actually a great success. People were afraid that the Broadway plazas would create gridlock throughout Manhattan, but instead they have had miraculous traffic-calming and civilizing effects. I personally think this is a great idea, it's a better way to use a boring chunk of asphalt and it will beautify the neighborhood.

here's the article from philly.com
http://www.philly.com/philly/living/green/20100524_Local_planner_needs_votes_on_Pepsi_website.html

and here's their Pepsi Refresh page
http://www.refresheverything.com/reclaimconcrete

I'm posting my comment to Alyssa's last post so more of you see this message. I agree, it's a shame that Fairmount Park doesn't get enough funding. One thing that helps a unit get more funding is when the people ask for it. The squeaky wheel does get the grease. The Fairmount Parks Alliance, http://www.philaparks.org/ regularly sends out emails to try to get people to speak up for Fairmount and get more funding. I encourage you to sign up and add your voice to the call for more funding for Fairmount Park. There is a call for support right now. Go to the site and squeak.

Fairmount Park Funds

Throughout our numerous ventures into Fairmount Park this term, a few of the volunteers we met mentioned the Park's shortage of funds. Originally, this statement wasn't particularly surprising. After all, almost everyone in the United States has been suffering from the economic downturn this past year. However, after reading this article I became particularly concerned. Turns out the city of Philadelphia spends the least amount of money on it's park system, compared to other big cities around the nation. In fact, Rittenhouse Square is funded almost completely by an independent organization known as the Friends of Rittenhouse Square. Unfortunately, even this group is struggling to find the funds to keep Rittenhouse alive. The Friends of Rittenhouse Square rely primarily on member donations. With the downturn in the economy, these donations have become increasingly scarce. The organization is now trying to find a way to keep Rittenhouse as a prosperous park. They are even considering allowing food concessions into the park. After reading this article, I became very upset with the small budget the city provides for Fairmount Park. What do you think?