Jasmine Muñoz and Chibogu Izuora created a Spring Break activity guide for k-12 students for their community partner, Dunwoody Nature Center. Below are digital scans of the guide, but it was intended and produced for print:
As the semester ends, I am excited to continue working with the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance (WAWA). Getting an inside investigation of the work that they do and being on-site on their premises has been a wonderful experience. Additionally, I am enjoying our final project as it brings together two of my passions, environmental sustainability and policy and advocacy. While it did not come as a surprise that WAWA has an environmental justice division that was able to give us a lot of direction and options in terms of our project, what was a bit unexpected and exciting was their promotion of the Public Service Commission and how utility bills connect to the work that Wawa does. So, as a part of our project, we are advocating for widespread understanding of the Public Service Commission as well as some environmental bills that recently did not pass.
It is cool to hear how this all connects; it gives me a better understanding of the overlap between environmental justice and all aspects of our life, including something as tangible as our utility bills. WAWA particularly serves people who are energy dependent or energy vulnerable by being in a watershed area. For those who may not know, energy burden refers to the percentage of household income spent on utility bills that exceeds or nears 6%. In Atlanta high energy burdens disproportionately affect African American and low-income households.
I would recommend that others volunteer with this organization. Not only because they have a wide range of cool and interesting events, but also because this organization is addressing the dynamic overlap between environment and community in comprehensive and impactful ways.
Although we got off to a slow start, the past few weeks with WAWA have been wonderful! Volunteering at clean ups and going on “mushroom” hikes- I have been able to do exactly the type of work I hoped I would be able to do. For example, last week, I volunteered at Wawa’s Urban Forest Festival. The full festival was comprised of a series of events hosted at a few different locations. I volunteered at the events hosted at Wawa’s Outdoor Activity Center in West Atlanta. I really enjoyed this experience because the Outdoor Activity Center sits on 21+ acres of urban forest. This forest has trees that are even a hundred years old, and it is an absolutely beautiful atmosphere.
The first part of my volunteer work was in taking up English Ivy weeds from an area of the forest. Even though it was extremely cold that morning, I still really enjoyed the mindless physical labor proximity to soil and vegetation. The entire experience was very stressful leaving. After that, I was able to experience a mushroom hike- a hike through the outdoor activity center forest with a fungi extraordinaire, who pointed out and explained different mushrooms as we went on a hike. I had no idea such a niche topic as mushrooms could be so interesting and so complex.
After the hike, WAWA hosted a hosted lunch and a celebration where we were able to do a clothing swap, eat pizza, and socialize. Throughout all of these experiences, I was also canvassing for our project for this class. Our project involves spreading awareness on the Public Service Commission and advocating for an environmental bill that, unfortunately, did not pass this year. However, with renewed advocacy efforts starting now, hopefully the bill will be brought back up in session next year.
The Public Service Commission is an incredibly important position in local politics. I would like to say I was surprised by how many people do not know about the PSC; however, I only just learned about the Public Service Commission this year. Essentially, the Public Service Commission interfaces with Georgia Power to control our utility bills. This very important and immediately impactful position often goes unchecked as so many people do not know about it. However, this year, two seats are up for election on the Public Service Commission in District 2 and District 3 in Georgia. Wawa encouraged us to spread awareness about this commission because of how immediately impactful it is, and also because residents in watershed areas often face even more logistical nuances around their utilities. WAWA, as the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, serves people who face this heightened level of concern.
In addition to teaching people about the Public Service Commission, my teammate Freya Shah and I also encouraging people to contact their elected officials on behalf of HB 644, which is a bill that would allow Georgia’s environmental protection division to revoke or not grant permits to companies that have a history of environmental violations. I’m really enjoying working on this project with Wawa as it directly correlates to my interest my career interest. As a public policy major, I believe that everything ties back to policy when it comes to solving problems. It is important to systematically address those issues within policies that govern what is legal and illegal. Advocating for and affecting policy while also enjoying the presence of a forest is an amazing experience. I am grateful to be working with Wawa this semester. Volunteering with them these past few months has increased my desire to continue working with them after the course of this class.
Dua Spall and Raihaanah Bint Abdullah Muslim worked with the Dunwoody Nature Center, an organization with an emphasis on outdoor environmental education. To help communicate this organization’s message, they produced an infographic about the importance of environmental education for young children with evidence from DNC’s record of providing quality, public environmental-educational programming.
The Dunwoody Nature Center focuses on educating the public about nature and encouraging environmental stewardship. On my first volunteer day, I was told to follow a group of students on their school field trip. At first, I was disappointed by this because I thought it would be boring. I imagined that school field trips were not that insightful for kids or adults, nonetheless. Claire, a volunteer from a high school, seemed excited at this prospect. Her enthusiasm about the field trip made me wonder if it would be worth it after all.
Contrary to my preconceived notions, school field trips are fun and educational. The field trip was split up into an indoor portion, where the kids were introduced to animal furs, an owl’s wing, and a live snake to learn about animal groups, and an outdoor portion where the kids were shown a live toad and tadpoles and learned about watersheds. It was interesting to see how easily they got excited about the live animals. When the instructor showed them the tadpoles and toad, they huddled around him in awe. The funniest thing about the experience was their reaction to the animal furs and the owl wing because the kids were concerned that the instructor had just stolen the fur and wing from the animals to teach the course. At some point the instructor had to clarify that “no animals were harmed in the making of this program”.
That field trip is a highlight of my experience with Dunwoody Nature Center. I thought it was nice that the kids were learning about watersheds because I only recently learned about them in another seminar. The Dunwoody Nature Center has a variety of programs that enable children and adults to interact with nature. Through these programs they promote environmental awareness and stewardship. Recently we have been preparing for the Fairytale Forest Festival which takes place this weekend. As the name suggests, this festival incorporates interactions with nature and fairytales.
I am developing my project with Dua. Our experience with the Dunwoody Nature Center has inspired us to create a product that focuses on environmental education. Some ideas that we have discussed so far include infographics, a website, and a survey. I recently spoke with Dr. Finck about developing a short survey for festival attendees for feedback on the educational aspect of the festival. We might also make a broader survey that addresses environmental education in general. This one will be longer and target individuals at 40 years and under.
These two groups of students organized and promoted creek cleanups and worked to increase creek access in their areas as part of Atlanta Creek League. Below are some photos of them planning their events as well as an example of some of the promotional materials they created.
And if you’re in the Georgia State area, you can support the ongoing work of Atlanta Creek League by signing up to Play for Clear Creek (Jaz’s Team)!
For their community partner, Blue Heron Nature Preserve, Ava and Milo researched and created educational signage for a native plant and pollinator garden. Their 8-foot sign included facts about plants, insects, and birds that may be found in the garden as well as original art rendering the flora and fauna of the preserve. This spring, they mounted it in the garden at a height that would make it accessible to all visitors, including children.
The Blue Heron Nature Preserve (BHNP) is more than just a pretty place to stretch your legs. During our time volunteering our coordinator has emphasized the importance of learning what it takes to keep a nonprofit organization moving toward its goals. During our first few weeks, we met with individuals from the different departments that help maintain the vision of the BHNP. Essentially, it can be broken down into four main categories; management, development; education; and environmental science. The Executive Director explained her role as the main representative of the BHNP to other organizations and government offices, she also is responsible for managing the staff and making final decisions about future operations and developments. Those on the development side are in charge of securing funding and planning outreach events with corporate and private donors. Education is one of the most important roles for this non-profit, not only for the hard work of planning summer camps, and after-school programs that require teaching staff, supplies, and a lot of forward planning but because it is through these programs that the BHNP receives most of their funding. And last but certainly not least is the environmental science department which acts as the guiding light for all decisions of development and educational program, making sure that preserving, caring for, and monitoring the precious ecosystems within the preserve are done in a beneficial and meaningful way.
Ava and I are volunteering under the environmental science department head, Denise Cardin, one of our duties is to help with the ongoing tree survey. A tree survey can be thought of as taking inventory of all the mature trees in the area, identifying them, taking measurements, marking their location, and noting any observations of poor health such as signs of rot, fungi, Ivy, and harmful pests.
Here we are working on one of the trees just outside the parking lot area. This was a fun tree to work on because it did not match any of the descriptions listed in provided Tree ID Booklet we were provided. Being a plant nerd, I took this as a challenge and tried my best to piece together a reasonable identification for it, my best guess was it was some kind of Yew, based on the branching pattern, and leaf orientation. Luckily, I have a plant ID app on my phone which came in handy once I figured out what I was looking for and was able to confirm that it was indeed a Yew tree. It was moments like these that I find the most rewarding working outside, I love learning more, and figuring things out like a puzzle. Ava was also extremely helpful taking notes as we talked and joked about anything and everything.
Next week we will begin work on our project, installing an educational sign that explains the importance of the locally endangered native flowers growing in the preserve. We are all really looking forward to getting started and bringing our vision to life!