Education and Generation Hot

By Carol Perkins, BEC Water Resource Advocate

Above: Creekside Students doing biological fieldwork

Carol Perkins is working with ‘Generation Hot’ at Creekside 6 Academy at Paradise Intermediate School. Creekside is a sixth grade program in their third year, blessed with three incredibly dedicated teachers. Creekside’s long-term goal is to study the physical and ecological characteristics of Little Dry Creek, a perennial tributary to Butte Creek. Little Dry Creek emerges in the middle of the Town of Paradise and is heavily impacted by septic effluent, road run-off, and anthropogenic channelization. The Paradise Master Drainage plan calls for piping a considerable amount of the creeks in the upper watershed. Creekside hopes to examine the impact of development on water quality and water supply in an effort to encourage the Town to leave the creek headwaters open and natural.

According to Mark Hertsgaard in his recent article ‘Meet Generation Hot,’ children born after June 23, 1988 are members of Generation Hot, a generation that will spend their entire lives confronting the impacts of global warming. The 1988 date signifies when a NASA scientist first warned the U.S. Senate that greenhouse gas emissions were raising earth’s temperatures and global warming became a household phrase, following the publication of this warning in the New York Times.

Butte County has been identified as one of 19 California counties facing extremely high risk of water shortages by mid-century, considering climate change impacts and the projected uses of water. In question is the sustainability of water supplies. Paradise needs to update their General Plan, which should involve looking at water resources and planning development where it creates the least impact on supply (not paving over headwaters of major watercourses) and demand (placing development where infrastructure and reliable supplies exist). The Creekside program idea is that students will be involved local policy making using data they collect, their observations, and global data analysis to affect efficient and creative water management strategies for future development. Perkins hopes to introduce an international experiential learning program into Creekside’s curriculum. Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) is a worldwide hands-on, primary and secondary school-based science and education program. GLOBE’s vision promotes and supports students, teachers and scientists collaborating on inquiry-based investigations of the environment and the Earth system. This program works in partnership with NASA, NOAA and NSF. Having a strong global awareness of environmental issues is essential in preparing and guiding students to become responsible, future stewards of their environment.

Creekside 6 Academy is looking for contributions of time, equipment, and funding. Creekside is idea-rich, but currently does not have the funds to purchase monitoring equipment. Needed are temperature and rain gauges that meet the standards of the GLOBE program. The students of Creekside would like to install a continuous water depth and temperature monitor and sample the water quality of Little Dry Creek and runoff that flows into the creek at a number of points on their campus. If you have the time, equipment, or would like to sponsor Creekside 6 Academy please contact Carol Perkins at swmnhydro@hotmail.com.

From the Fall/Winter 2010 issue of the Environmental News.