The Steampunk Seed Traveling Side Show

 

Register here.

The Insect Orchestra Family Day

 "Join the Insect Orchestra!" August 15th 10-11:30 at Blackstone Field.  Registration and masks required.  Limited to 12 participants!

Buzz, whir, click, chirp! It's summer, and the trees, fields, and warm nights are full of sounds! They sound like machinery, but they're actually insects!  Learn how insects make sounds, then make your own instruments with your family using our kit.  Watch the Insect Orchestra here: https://youtu.be/1lTRC86Q7QI or see it on tour at the Rhode Island Museum of Art and Science (rimosa.org) in August and the RI Natural History Survey (rinhs.org) in September.  Part of the "Art and Science at the Park" series with 15 Minute Field Trips.

The Insect Orchestra

This event is on the move!  If you missed it at ASRI, Bristol, you can now view it at the Rhode Island Museum of Science and Art in Providence through August.  

Registration required:  http://www.rimosa.org/

Next we'll have a small, registered event at Blackstone Parks Conservancy on August 18th.  I will add the registration link soon.

In September you can find us at the Rhode Island Natural History Survey building in Kingston.  Stay tuned and stay safe!!

Be the Change

I can’t be at rallies or protests for a number of reasons. I’ve had pneumonia this time of year and have an auto-immune disorder. If I get arrested, I can say good-bye to my teaching career. I have a child that needs me. But I still want to do what I can to advocate for and protect those I love. This is just one action I am am taking in response to these times:

I teach about the environment through art. I teach about the importance, the necessity, of biodiversity. Children thrill at the diversity of colors and shapes and textures in leaves, in seeds. I teach about pollination, not just about the introduced domesticated honey bees, but the solitary bees, the butterflies and moths, the beetles, flies, ants, birds, and even bats that pollinate. Without insect pollinators, humanity would be wiped out. We don’t get to decide which insects get to pollinate our tomatoes, which more often will be a bumblebee, nor should we. Using pesticides and enforcing monocultures is toxic. Words of hate and racism and suppression of other races and cultures is toxic.

Today I continue work bringing nature to children. I am mostly engaged online, but I prepare for the time we can be together again. I struggled with putting nature under a plastic shield, wanting kids to touch actual leaves and galls knowing some would be crushed. Now I seal some of my favorite pressed leaves under lamination so each child I teach can look at their diversity before collecting their own leaves around where we are. I will wipe all the sheets down with Lysol. I’m placing robin egg shells, cicada exoskeletons, dragonfly exuvia, and oak apple galls inside clear plastic cases to pass around and wipe between each student, as they learn how nature solves problems.

We need to change our nature as a society. Be the change you want to see.

We need to change our nature as a society.  Be the change you want to see.

Preparing for a New Normal

As we all adjust to these rapid transitions, I wanted to let you know that you are not alone and there are even silver linings.  With the halt in industry and travel, CO2 emissions are down. Dolphins frolic in Italy. People are enjoying nature more. We've been forced to slow down.

Well, maybe after we learn how to navigate several new platforms, make dinner, and find new ways to live...  Take a deep breath.  Go outside.

In the next days and weeks, I'll be posting very easy and quick ways to live sustainably with little or no money. Some of this will be through repurposing materials, some will be gardening timelines and tips, some will be "mini vacations" around your neighborhood.  It's how I live.

So much of the American lifestyle generates waste at a systemic and institutional level.  The skills I will post here will help you live in a "closed loop", where nothing is wasted.  I hope you enjoy them.

Please leave a comment on what you'd like to learn, what you need.  Sign up for the email list so you know when I post.  There are many free resources at both sides of this page. Use them. Share them.  Learn a new recipe, an edible plant. Look to nature and how the earth solves problems and survives.

If you're able to make a donation, the button is on the right.  (If this post was shared, go to 15minutefieldtrips.blogspot.com.)