See Before-and-After Photos of the Changing Environment

"Side-by-side comparisons reveal just how much glaciers, lakes, and snowpacks have been altered by nature and humans.

From the ice sheets of Greenland to the deserts of Arizona, many of the world’s landscapes
have been dramatically transformed as their climate grows warmer and drier. At the same 
time, water use and other human activities have altered many landscapes. NASA has 
accumulated striking photos that show just how much our surroundings have changed. 
Slide across each image to see before and after pictures."

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/12/151229-before-after-earth-features/

This is a great site to show relating to Change - you are able to slide across the images to show the contrast between the before and after images.

Home Furnishings Affect Tigers

 

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2YQb8S/vermontwoodsstudios.com/content/tiger-conservation

"Did you know...
...there are only about 3200 tigers left in the wild? This tiger subspecies, the Siberian Tiger-- the world's largest cat is literally on the brink of extinction with only about 400 individuals remaining in their natural habitat. If you can't stand the idea of letting these magnificent creatures disappear forever, there's something you can do about it. Consider where you and your friends, family and neighbors shop and what you buy. Avoid purchasing imported forest products that result in destroying the tigers' habitat. Here's why:

Siberian tigers live mainly in Russian forests which are now under assault by global timber conglomerates. Tiger habitat is beingsystematically decimated to provide illegal timber that's used to make cheap furniture, flooring and other forest products which are marketed mainly in the USA. In fact, up to 90% of the furniture you see for sale in our country is made of illegally harvested wood that is clear cut from ecologically sensitive habitats like this tiger's habitat."

Farming Preschool Teaches Kids How to Grow Their Own Food

From Sara Barnes at My Modern Met

"In the age of convenience—instant digital technology and fast food—it can be hard for kids to feel connected to nature and to what they eat. With this in mind, Rome-based designers Edoardo Capuzzo Dolcetta, Gabriele Capobianco, Davide Troiana, and Jonathan Lazar have created an innovative way to introduce children to the outdoor environment. Their proposal—which recently won the AWR International Ideas Competition—is called Nursery Fields Forever, and it combines urban farming with a preschool education.

Nursery Fields Forever offers three approaches to learning: from nature; from technique; and from practice. Children will be taught to grow and harvest their own food, as well as interact with animals. These tasks, though small ones, can have a positive effect on kids' everyday lives. The hands-on method instills valuable social skills, teamwork, and promotes a healthy lifestyle from a young age. At the same time, students will also learn about the benefits of renewable energy—including wind turbines and solar arrays—that keep the school running.

“We think that kids should enjoy nature,” Dolcetta told Fast Company. “So we designed this strange school: No classrooms, but open spaces where vegetables grow inside and animals can come in too. It’s a mixing of the two things, school and nature.” With this model, children are engaged in learning that will inspire them to think differently. "A typical school has desks and chairs—in our school, there are not these things. And there's the freedom to stay inside or go outside."

Bike While You Wash

Design students at Dalian Nationalities University in China have created a washing machine drum that is integrated into the wheel of a bike. This means you can wash your clothes as you cycle!

The extra electricity generated as you cycle can be used to power the display screen or stored for future rides.

source

 

Making Wearables from E-Waste

Cyrus Kabiru is an artist from Nairobi, Kenya who is turning e-waste into wearables and art.

source

Here is a short video interview with Cyrus:

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

From ultrafacts.tumblr.com:

William had a dream of bringing electricity and running water to his village. And he was not prepared to wait for politicians or aid groups to do it for him. The need for action was even greater in 2002 following one of Malawi’s worst droughts, which killed thousands of people and left his family on the brink of starvation.

Unable to attend school, he kept up his education by using a local library. Fascinated by science, his life changed one day when he picked up a tattered textbook and saw a picture of a windmill. Mr Kamkwamba told the BBC News website: “I was very interested when I saw the windmill could make electricity and pump water.

“I thought: ‘That could be a defense against hunger. Maybe I should build one for myself’.” When not helping his family farm maize, he plugged away at his prototype, working by the light of a paraffin lamp in the evenings. But his ingenious project met blank looks in his community of about 200 people.

“Many, including my mother, thought I was going crazy,” he recalls. “They had never seen a windmill before.” [x]

In 2014, William Kamkwamba received his 4 year degree at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire where he was a student.

Read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8257153.stm

Dan Tobin's 'The First Law of Kibble'

http://exhibition-ism.com/post/98243527246

Solar Panels in NYC Schools

From boredpanda.com:

Solar-panels on NYC public school roofs are giving students the opportunity to get hands on with science.

 Teacher Vicki Sando founded PS 41’s roof garden in 2003; 2 million dollars and 10 years later, they had a solar array installed.

“We made connections between plant study,” Sando told Capital New York. “Plants are little solar cells. I had my fifth graders take apart a solar calculator and show them how it worked. We don’t have a stand-alone curriculum on solar, but we’ll do projects where we’ll fold it into it.”

According to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, 23 million dollars will bring solar panels to 24 public schools by the summer of 2016. In the meantime, Sando’s students will continue gardening and learning about the world through their roof-top green-space.

This “allows students to see first hand what cleaner energy looks and feels like, which will be increasingly important as these grade schoolers grow up”.

The Surprising Places We Waste Energy

'In Joe Hanson’s third episode of It’s Okay to Be Smart’s energy series, he explores the surprising places that we can be more energy efficient: Food waste, water waste, fertilizer waste, food transportation, gasoline consumption for powering cars, planes, trains, or ships… the list goes on.' source

This video not only deals with science and the environment, it also features many opportunities to link with maths - namely fractions, percentages and measurement.

Alejandro Duran's 'Washed Up' Sculptures

Alejandro Duran has created sculptures out of trash to raise awareness of environmental issues relating to Sian Ka'an in Mexico.

He identified trash from 50 different countries (from 6 continents) that had washed up at the Sian Ka'an reserve and began to create his photographs.

He won the 2015 Project Launch Juror's Award for Washed Up.

More photos from Washed Up can be found at http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/trash-based-photo-series-mirrors-environment-issues