PLT GreenSchools! in Connecticut: Young Naturalists Inspire Hope
As an urban forester—or a “forest-her,” as my mother would say—I have made a commitment to protect the health of the forests in which we live, work and play. But I have also made a commitment to the educational development of our youth, who will be protecting our forests after me.
I strive to encourage young people, especially young women, to be engaged in the natural resource issues I work on as part of my job with Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). One of the ways to do this is through hands-on learning opportunities for children when they are young—the kind of learning that the PLT GreenSchools! program offers.
As a member of the Project Learning Tree steering committee for Connecticut, I was especially pleased to be asked to accompany PLT GreenSchools! program manager James McGirt on recent visits to two of Connecticut’s GreenSchools! in October. We visited with Green Teams from both the Children’s Learning Center in Cromwell, CT, and the Two Rivers Magnet Middle School in East Hartford, CT.
The students I met on our visits to both schools were impressive. Our first visit was to the Children’s Learning Center (CLC) where we saw the new greenhouse and weather station on the school grounds paid for by a PLT GreenSchools! grant. Many of the students at this school have not spent much time outdoors. The greenhouse offers these youth the opportunity to explore and learn outside of their indoor comfort zone.
In addition to horticulture, the CLC Green Team has been engaged in ecosystem stewardship by testing the water quality of the pond on the school grounds. Through this activity, the students learn the about the connectedness of water ecosystems, since their pond feeds into a brook in the nearby wildlife sanctuary. Eventually, the CLC Green Team hopes to share their water sampling data with DEEP staff, and we look forward to the potential for collaboration.
Our second site visit was at the Two Rivers Magnet Middle School (TRM). Poised and articulate Green Team ambassadors presented their work, which addresses a wide range of environmental issues including the threat to forest health posed by non-native invasive insects like the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) and the emerald ash borer (EAB). Their work is especially great to see because forest health issues receive less attention than other, more mainstream environmental issues such as climate change. You just don’t see activist movie stars like Leonardo diCaprio talking about invasive beetles! (Except for our beloved Smokey Bear, of course!)
Even though neither of these beetles has been documented in Connecticut, these youth are ahead of the curve in recognizing that this could be a problem here. Our best hope for protecting our forests is for people to watch for signs of these insects so we can respond to an infestation before it becomes a widespread problem. The students have written and filmed a humorous skit about EAB and ALB which they will post on YouTube, and will present to younger students. The TRM Green Team youth are creating awareness of this problem in their own creative, enthusiastic way, and I am grateful for their efforts. They give me hope this message will be heard!
Another project at Two Rivers was the installation of a wind turbine on the school roof to provide the school with renewable energy. School administrators have committed upwards of $20,000 in matching funds to a PLT grant so that the roof could be retrofitted for the turbine. James and I even met Mr. Adams, the facilities supervisor, who had impressive buy-in to the work the students were doing. This is a well-organized team, indeed!
I was really inspired by these kids and I hope to hear more about these, and all the yet-to-be-established, Green Schools! in Connecticut. This program and these youth bring me hope that our natural world will be loved and protected tomorrow as I believe it is today.
Rachel V. Holmes is an urban forester with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), where she serves as outreach coordinator for the agency’s Urban Forestry Program in the Division of Forestry. She also serves as a member of the steering committee for Connecticut’s Project Learning Tree.
Photo of author Rachel Holmes (center). Holmes is a forester with Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and serves on her state's Project Learning Tree steering committee.
