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.