Location(s)

Take a closer look at the Old Woman Creek beach and learn more about coastal processes and Lake Erie with Brenda Culler with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Office of Coastal Management. Please call for directions (419) 433-4601.

What might green collar jobs look like in Cleveland? To get some idea, see the dozens of Cleveland kids combining work and hands-on environmental learning this summer.

For the second straight year, teams of young adults participating in Cleveland’s Summer Youth Program are building rain barrels, digging and planting rain gardens, collecting water samples and cleaning beaches at Lake Erie, painting ‘Dump no waste’ stencils at storm drains, reading water meters, and using GIS to track light poles for Cleveland Public Power.

Cleveland, Youth Opportunities Unlimited, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District and Neighborhood Progress, Inc. (NPI) are the program sponsors.

We visited with the teams building rain barrels and laying the groundwork for a rain garden.

Cleveland’s Kareema Jackson and Robben Abkins (pictured) were busy converting 55-gallon drums into rain barrels— tapping out and caulking plugs for diverter hoses and twisting-on spigots—in a city-owned warehouse on the southwest side. They will build and install 280 rain barrels at residences in NPI’s six 'model block' neighborhoods. After their crew meets a 40-barrel-a-day quota, the barrels are loaded onto trucks and another team will ride out to homes where supervisors help them place two cinder blocks for a base and hook them up to a backyard downspout.

Beyond Pesticides Ohio seeks to protect the public, in particular the most vulnerable (children and the chemically sensitive), by promoting safe and effective alternatives to the use of toxic chemicals. A special focus is the promotion of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods in schools.

The group won a significant victory recently by convincing the State of Ohio to legislate that all Ohio schools, public and private, be required to adopt safer IPM pest control policies as part of amendments to Jarod's Law. According to BPO executive director Barry Zucker, "Our Pesticide Alternatives for Safer Schools project (PASS) played the lead role in assuring that a strong, clear definition of IPM was adopted. Despite heavy lobbying from a powerful segment of the pesticide industry to resend the IPM requirement, we were able to push back and preserve this school IPM mandate."

Each year, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History honors a local teacher involved with conservation education. Nominees are leaders, imparting lessons about the region’s native biodiversity. The award is presented at the Museum's Conservation Symposium which is held the Friday after Labor Day each year.

This year's symposium is on Friday, September 5. Its title is Keeping Current: Stream Ecology, Conservation and Restoration.

Nominations can be submitted here, and are due by June 30, 2008.

Despite rain and colder-than-normal temperatures, 363 students rode their bikes to school this morning on the first day of Bay High School Bike To School Month sponsored by Century Cycles. A total of 543 students at Bay High School have signed up to participate in the program, out of a total school population of 820.

Century Cycles and Bay High School (BHS) are teaming up to encourage BHS students to kick the car habit and ride their bikes to school during Bike To School Month on April 28 – May 23, 2008. Co-sponsored by Century Cycles and the Project Earth environmental club at BHS, Bike To School Month educates students on the environmental and health benefits of forgoing motorized transportation, plus it rewards them with prizes as they accumulate bike-rides to school throughout the month.

Inspired by a car boycott organized by BHS students last spring to protest high gas prices, Century Cycles owner Scott Cowan approached his alma mater with the idea for Bike To School Month. Cowan’s idea found an enthusiastic supporter in Eryn Whistler, a science teacher at BHS and adviser to the Project Earth environmental club, which will be administering the program at the school on a day-to-day basis, checking in the bicyclists and helping them redeem their prizes.

• Twenty marketing education students at Beachwood, Mayfield and Richmond Heights high schools are hosting a "Green Dream” showcase today that features green ideas in art, music, home makeovers, a light bulb exchange, organic food and exhibitor displays ranging from geothermal technology to environmentally friendly weddings. Proceeds from the event will be used to build the “Ultimate Green Classroom” at Beachwood High School.
• These 13 schools in Cleveland are making a difference (and changing preconceived notions about inner-city schools) by helping students succeed, according to a new study supported by the Cleveland and George Gund foundations.
• Are you harboring a computer graveyard in your basement? Round up those old monitors and beige boxes before the end of April and your city service department will help you connect with a local recycling center. More information.

Location(s)

The Oberlin Heritage Center four-week day camp for boys and girls ages 8 to 13. This session is, "Exploring the built environment: An architecture workshop for kids".

Learn more about the basic elements of architecture, historic buildings and green building through hands-on activities, constructing mini buildings, exploring the center's historic buildings and taking a walking tour of Oberlin.

Call 440-774-1700 or email tourinfo@oberlinheritage.org

Building up our kids' appreciation for the living ecosystems of Northeast Ohio means getting them engaged—through science, art, math, music, language arts and games.

The following is a list of eco-minded programs and camps for kids and young adults in the Northern Ohio area (if you see that one is missing, please post a comment with the information).

Location(s)

Summer Farm & Science School at Crown Point Farm and Education Center, 3220 Ira Road in Bath, Township. Offers children 6-8 and 9-11 the opportunity to investigate the interactions of people, plants and animals in the farm community. Children will become members of Crown Point's diverse community engaging in science, art, math, music, language arts and games to develop critical thinking and team-building skills.

Six one-week day sessions: June 16-20, June 23-27, July 7-11, July 14-18, July 21-25 and July 28-August 1.

Fee is $175 per week. Partial scholarships are available for families with special financial needs on first-come basis.

Register by May 15. For more information call (330) 668-8992, ext. 101, or visit www.crownpt.org.