Crow Talk

Come help count crows! The Seattle Crow Survey has been going on since 2000. The survey is conducted by University of Washington researchers and volunteers to study crow populations in the Seattle area. Surveys are conducted four times a year.

Come volunteer for the summer survey on Sunday, June 18th. You'll work in pairs and be assigned a route in the Seattle-area. The survey includes following a map to drive along your route, as well as getting out at certain stops to walk around...counting crows all the while.

My husband and I are regular volunteers with the Downtown/Mercer Island and Ballard/Queen Anne routes. We've counted hundreds of crows. Come join us.

Seattle Crow Survey
http://courses.washington.edu/vseminar/survey.htm

1. Benzene in Soda
FDA: Too Much Benzene In Some Drinks
High Levels Of Cancer-Causing Chemical Found In 5 Beverages On Market
5/19/06 CBS News
A government analysis of more than 100 soft drinks and other beverages turned up five with levels of cancer-causing benzene that exceed federal drinking-water standards, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday. The five drinks listed by the government were Safeway Select Diet Orange, Crush Pineapple, AquaCal Strawberry Flavored Water Beverage, Crystal Light Sunrise Classic Orange and Giant Light Cranberry Juice Cocktail.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/19/health/main1638170.shtml

Questions and Answers on the Occurrence of Benzene in Soft Drinks and Other Beverages
5/19/06 CFSAN/Office of Food Additive Safety
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/benzqa.html

Data on Benzene in Soft Drinks and Other BeveragesData from November 2005 through April 20, 2006
5/19/06 CFSAN/Office of Food Additive Safety
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/benzdata.html#back

2. Misc. EH News
Tests show high levels of formaldehyde are being found in FEMA trailers
5/22/06 Louisiana Weekly
An environmental group says thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims in Mississippi and Louisiana may be living in unsafe conditions after tests it conducted showed dangerous levels of formaldehyde in some government trailers.
http://www.louisianaweekly.com/weekly/news/articlegate.pl?20060522t

Radio Program: Red Tide Returns to Northeastern Shellfish Area
5/22/06 NPR/All Things Considered
Shellfish beds are closed to harvesters from Maine to Cape Cod, the result of a toxic "red tide" algae bloom. The ban on clamming and other shell-fishing for the second year in a row comes as the summer season starts.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5423250

Radio Program: Alabama Town's Dump -- and a Legacy of Racism
5/16/06 NPR/All Things Considered
There are plans to bring a new dump to Uniontown, Ala., where the county commission approved the project because the area desperately needs jobs. Commentator John Fleming says this is the kind of case that has been labeled "environmental racism" for many years. Everything in this part of Alabama is about race, he says -- but the Uniontown dump just might not have anything to do with race.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5409149

EH Headlines are reprinted from the UW's Department of Environmental Health EH Voices listserve.

Interactions of crows, songbirds, and people across a gradient of urbanization

John Withey, local crow expert and organizer of the Seattle Crow Count, is presenting his Ph.D. defense: "Interactions of crows, songbirds, and people across a gradient of urbanization"

When: Monday, June 5, 2:00 p.m.
Where: Winkenwerder 201, University of Washington, Seattle

Refer to this campus map for the building location:
http://www.washington.edu/home/maps/southcentral.html?WFS

There will be a selection of favorite crow bait for snacks (fresh of course).

The June/July issue of National Wildlife features an outstanding article by Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.

The Nature-Child Reunion
Americans must address the growing need for bonds between nature and children to improve the health and well-being of both. To read the article, go to:
http://www.nwf.org/nationalwildlife/article.cfm?issueID=107&articleID=1338

Explore Diverse Environmental Topics at 2006 NAAEE Conference

As environmental educators, we experience diversity every day in our audiences, subject matter, communication styles, and the places we deliver our message of the importance of environmental literacy. The 35th annual North American Association for Environmental Education conference offers a diverse range of strands that show how to build the role of EE in society.

From Thursday, October 12, through Saturday, October 14, hundreds of concurrent presentations, panels, posters, and roundtables will explore these ideas. Additional preconference workshops and field trips provide more in-depth opportunities for hands-on activities around the same topics.

Register for the conference by August 1 at http://www.naaee.org/conference to obtain the "Early Bird" rates!

The World Headquarters of Laughing Crow Curriculum in lovely Ballard will be featured in the Pipers Creek Watershed Real People's Garden Tour on June 3rd. Come take a peek at our watershed-friendly garden which includes a rain harvesting cistern and a rain garden featuring native plants. Our garden is pesticide free. We're part of Seattle Public Utilities' RainCatchers Program.

Pipers Creek Watershed Real People's Garden Tour
Back by popular demand for the fifth year! Spend a lovely Saturday peeking into the gardens of real people with families, jobs and kids. We will provide a map so you can take a self-guided tour of these beautiful gardens at your leisure. See watershed-friendly landscape strategies in action and pick up free information you can use in your own garden. Maps will be available at Carkeek Park 30 minutes before tour. Supported by Piper's Creek Watershed Project, SPU's Creek Steward Program, Carkeek Park, CWCAP's Salmon Friendly Neighbors and the Broadview Garden Club. For registration and information call (206) 684-0877 or e-mail carkeek.park@seattle.gov. Pre-register by May 27.

Dates: Sat, Jun 3, 2006
Time: 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Fees: Free

Welcome to the Earth as Art Gallery. The striking, provocative images on this website provide many art and science learning opportunities.

As described on the website: Here you can view our planet through the beautiful images taken by the Landsat-7 satellite, and most recently, the Terra Satellite's Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER). This gallery of images uses the visceral avenue of art to convey the thrilling perspective of the Earth that satellites provide to the viewer. This project is a partnership of USGS and NASA. http://earthasart.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.htm

Visit this wonderful website for a story of a little boy named Ezra and the hummingbird who nests outside his window. This site offers intimate photographs that tell the story of Lola and her baby Fan-Fan. This website was created by Pat Little, a Seattle-area gardener.

http://www.writely.com/View.aspx?docid=bbfhwngm4w9mg

The Washington Toxics Coalition invites you to Coffee with the Coalition on Thursday, June 1, 2006.

Please join WTC for coffee, tea, a light breakfast, and an opportunity to meet our staff and board. This month, WTC and the Toxic Free Legacy Coalition are releasing the results of our groundbreaking “Pollution in People” study looking at the levels of arsenic, lead, mercury, PBDEs, pesticides and other chemicals in ten people in Washington. The results will show the extent to which toxic chemicals from everyday activities and products are contaminating our bodies.

You are invited to join us on June 1st, to hear WTC staff scientist, Erika Schreder, and study participants discuss the results and share plans for using them to educate our elected officials about the need for a common-sense chemicals policy that will ensure only the safest chemicals are used to create consumer goods, grow food, and support industries.

Where: The historic Good Shepherd Center Chapel in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle, 4649 Sunnyside Avenue N, 4th Floor.
When: 8:15 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.,Thursday, June 1, 2006.
RSVP by phoning Lori Mudge at 206-632-1545 ext. 115 or by e-mailing lmudge@watoxics.org by May 30, 2006.

The NASA ERC is holding a workshop on Astrobiology Activities for Your Classroom at Lakewood High School in Arlington (17023 11th Ave NE) from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday May 20. It is geared for educators who work with students in grades 6 to 12.

The workshop leader will be high school science teacher Dani Leach. She has lots of great astrobiology activities to demonstrate and we will be giving out sample disks from the Voyages Through Time astrobiology curriculum, as well as cds, posters and activity books from the NASA Astrobiology Institute and the NASA PlanetQuest folks.

Educators who attend will get a lot of great materials and ideas from this one! Pre-service teachers and informal educators are welcome to attend. To register for this free workshop, call (206) 543-1943 or e-mail nasa@u.washington.edu.

This summer the NSF SPRITE project is offering a free teacher institute, which uses curriculum that integrates art, music, and student-created computer animation to teach math and science concepts. The curriculum is especially directed to girls and other students traditionally underrepresented in many areas of math and science.

The summer Teacher Institute, which takes place from July 24 to August 4, provides training in developing and implementing practical animation curriculum for use in individual classrooms. Teachers receive a $700.00 stipend for their participation, 5 free graduate education credits from Seattle Pacific University, and (thanks to the support of Microsoft) a free license for the use of the necessary software for both teachers and students.

If you would like more information or to complete an online application, visit : www.SpriteProject.org

King County has just launched a helpful website for gardeners. Check out the Northwest Native Plant Landscaping Guide, available at: http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/PI/Go-Native/

As described by Greg Rabourn with the Native Plant Salvage Program: "This interactive Web site allows you to browse through a database of more than 100 plants and photos, view or print beautiful sample landscaping plans and even create your own customized list that you can save, email or print."

Happy gardening.

The May issue of Environmental Health Perspectives is now available at: http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2006/114-5/toc.html

Topics include:

• Putting the Earth in Play: Environmental Awareness and Sports
• The Regulation Equation: Factoring In the Price of Health
• Traffic, Susceptibility, and Childhood Asthma

Free lesson plans for grades 9-12 are available at: http://www.ehponline.org/science-ed/

• Lesson 1: Toxic Tic-Tac-Toe Students play Tic-Tac-Toe using information from an article aboneurotoxicants insin our environment.
• Lesson 2: Is Organic Food Worth the Extra Cost? Students calculate pesticide exposures in foods and evaluate the benefits of organic foods after reading an article comparing organic foods and conventional foods.
• Lesson 3: What's in a Picture? Students analyze past and current magazine advertisements for menthol cigarettes to investigate how tobacco companies market their products.
  

What is Laughing Crow Curriculum up to these days? I have been engaged with two exciting projects.

First, Pacific Science Center and NASA's Space Telescope Science Institute have enlisted my services in developing a curriculum on "Light." The curriculum will be used by community groups around the country in partnership with regional science education museums. The curriculum will include science activities for grades 3-8, while also providing a model for community groups to access and adapt NASA resources. In the future, this curriculum will be used by summer camps, after-school programs, scout programs and other community groups.

Secondly, the Gear-Up Program at Asa Mercer Middle School in Seattle has engaged my services to develop content for the Urban Naturalists Summer Science Camp. This four-week camp program focuses on environmental science, environmental health, and environmental justice topics. The camp provides middle schoolers with many opportunities to express themselves, including an Open Mic, an Art Gallery, a self-published Zine, and a Film Festival featuring campers' productions.

Welcome to the new website. Please check back regularly for new posts including resources, news stories, upcoming events, science activities and more.