We enjoyed showing off our research and service during Gaige Day. It was awesome seeing all the work everyone else has done, and how well they presented it.
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Category Archives: Events
Gaige Day And Reflections
We presented our presentation at the Gaige building to our fellow classmates along with those who visited the building. We talked about our research we did and our EACAP project. On the left side and the middle of our poster we presented our EACAP project. On the right side of the poster we gave a summary of our research we did. For our EACAP project, we went to Glenside Elementary School. We did decorations for their Reading Night which was inspired by The Lorax and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We decorated part of the cafeteria and the hallway that leads into the cafeteria. In total, we spent over 8 hours decorating, including the time we spent buying the decorations and actually decorating our 2 sections. We also helped the farm stand they had during the event where fresh produce was sold to local residents/families. Our reflection as a group is that in the beginning we didn’t know any of each other (for the most part). We all got along together and worked together as a team pretty good. All of us enjoyed walking around and listening to the others present their projects to us in Gaige. Some of them were really good and interesting. As a final thought, by working together we can really make a positive change in the world, even if it’s something small.
First Step to saving the trees
For our first step in the project, after not being able to meet for a couple weeks because of snow we finally got a chance to meet Ms. Boyer who will be over seeing our lantern Fly project. Ms. Boyer runs a garden club at here school that has trees that she wants to keep safe from these lantern flies so we will be tapping and scraping the trees in and the garden. She would also like us to make an educational poster to stick on the garden fences to inform the students, parents and teachers about whats going on so they do not take the tape of the trees.
Your stream has a name.
Achievable Stream team learned how to test water. Dr. Martinez of Pennsylvania State University shared with us a water testing kit that measures the levels of dissolved Oxygen, temperature,conductivity,phosphorus and nitrogen. Tulpehocken Creek located behind Berks Campus had normal readings for a healthy stream.
In Retrospect
A team by the name of the ‘Forbidden Drains’ from Professor Masha Kazempour’s BiSC3 (Environmental Science) class at Penn State Berks recently did their Environmental Awareness & Community Action Project (EACAP) on the topic of illegal waste dumping. Forbidden Drains chose this important topic for two main reasons. The first reason is that illegal dumping is something that affects everyone globally and is a topic which doesn’t get enough attention and has a general lack of awareness associated with it. The second reason is that everyone on the team wanted to do a project where an aspect of it would require part of it to be outdoors. Forbidden Drains also did their research topic as well as their physical EACAP portion on how illegal waste dumping affects everyone and the extent of it. With that in mind, the Forbidden Drains the main goal of the EACAP project was to not only bring awareness to a topic that needs it but also to effectively help bring awareness to the local community which Penn State Berks is directly a part of. The EACAP project spanned the entire spring semester but was an overall success when everything concluded.
As mentioned before, the Forbidden Drain’s research topic was on illegal waste dumping and included topics such as the history of dumping, some of the causes and types of pollution associated with it, and some possible solutions as well as what Pennsylvania is currently doing to actively combat illegal dumping. For the history of dumping, a key topic was the outbreak of Cholera during a time where dumping and hygiene were less important or as prominent as they are today and how, although better than that time era, we as a society need to continue spreading awareness of the dangers and side effects of illegal dumping. There were two main types of pollution mentioned in their research: point and non-point source pollution. These types of pollution are the two main types of pollution found when looking at illegal dumping. The main causes of illegal dumping the group found were waste disposal fees being higher than penalty fines for illegal dumping, general environmental issues, and a lack of awareness by parties involved in illegal dumping. Some solutions the group wanted to make aware to everyone was to wash cars and other vehicles in car washes or areas which the chemicals used aren’t draining into a storm drain/sewer, avoiding using fertilizer before a rainstorm, and properly cleaning up spills were some of the solutions mentioned. The Forbidden Drains also went on to explain that in January 2018, Governor Tom Wolf announced an investment of around $75 million for 13 projects across 11 counties with Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST) which will directly contribute to the battle against illegal dumping. The Forbidden Drains gave us a better understanding and insight into the current problem with illegal dumping globally and in the Pennsylvania region.
The other large part of the EACAP project that Forbidden Drains did was to go to downtown Reading, PA and stencil the saying “Protect Your Water Drains to River” on many of the storm drains along 5th Street. That saying was also stenciled on the storm drains in Spanish to better serve the large Latin American population in the Reading area. This portion of the project was done alongside Michelle Hnath, the liaison that partnered with the City of Reading in order to make this part of the project possible. The main point of this outdoor community activity was to bring awareness to those lacking knowledge of where the material they dump in the storm drains goes and to explain that it is being directly connected from the storm drains to the river. This river is a source of drinking water for a large population in the are and it is used by many locals for water actives and enjoyment and many do not know that they may be affecting the water that they themselves use. During the process of putting these stencils on the storm drains, many locals came up to the Forbidden Drains asking what they were doing followed by a conversation of the importance of illegal dumping and explaining that these storm drains drain directly into the river. The effort was a great experience for the whole team and the objective of community outreach was successful.
The Forbidden Drains set out with the goal to spread awareness on illegal dumping as well as try to help the local community understand its importance, both of which the Forbidden Drains successfully did. Although only four people, this team from the Penn State Berks campus shows us that it doesn’t take many people to make an impact on a community and to further the progress of environmental awareness. If more people pitched in every day as this group did, our world as we know it would be becoming a much more sustainable environment and the current downfall of environmental issues would look much more promising.
Flower Beauties + Earth Fest = HUGE success!
As mentioned in a previous post, Flower Beauties had a change in plans and instead of volunteering at Glenside for most of our time we ended up doing Earth Fest on Wednesday, April 18, 2018. Earth Fest featured different stations, activities, demonstrations, special events, prizes and a photo contest, from 10 am to 1:30 pm on the Perkins Lawn. The stations were staffed by students, Sustainability Team members and local organizations and they focused on saving bees, conservation internships, endocrine disruptors, the Schuylkill River Trail, Sierra Club, the Penn State Berks Center for Agricultural Sciences and Sustainable Environment, Berks League of Women Voters, biogas, plastic bottle greenhouses, addressing the spotted lantern fly, and other topics. A raffle-ticket drawing for eco-friendly prizes also took place at 1 pm. The prizes consisted of pencils which actually have seeds to plant once you use the pencil up, Vegan Friendly Candles, reusable bags, and mugs. It was a really great time to get outside, enjoy the fresh air and learn about different aspects of the environment. One of the coolest stations was building the green house. We got to build a small piece of it and none of us had ever done or seen anything like it before. The greenhouse consists of bamboo and plastic water and gatorade bottles! What a great idea. Overall, it was a beautiful day and the Flower Beauties loved getting to know more about this awesome world we all call home. We have attached some pictures as well.
Clear Skies Ahead
Today, our team began work on the Earth Day poster presentation where we will be talking about topics having to do with dumping into water sources such as nonpoint vs. point source pollution, cholera, and the importance of preserving our water sources. Tomorrow we will be taking part in EarthFest as our hours for the EACAP City of Reading Dumping Project was delayed due to weather issues. Hopefully, weather lets up and allows us to continue our work on the EACAP project and allows for a fun and eventful EarthFest!
Wild Hogs take on Birdhouses
Welcome to Wild Hogs. Our team includes Trent, Zach, Angel, and Korey.
Here is a little information about each group member. My name is Trent Goss and I am a sophomore student studying Agribusiness management. My name is Zach Holley and I am a sophomore studying in Business Marketing Management. My name is Angel Suarez and I am a Junior with a major in communications. My name is Korey Brickel and I am a Junior with a major in Business Marketing Management. We are working with Glenside Elementary school helping them build birdhouses and helping them make new or redo old gardens.
Poster board presentation makes for a beautiful day
On Wednesday November 29th we presented our poster board of our EACAP project, which includes information on both our service project and our research report. This was a great experience getting to do a great service for the kids at Glenside elementary school and was also a great experience getting to research and learn about sea otters. We learned quite a lot about Sea otters and how their population is still endangered but also how their population has made progress as of lately. We will be doing our final presentation on our ECAP project on Wednesday December 6th in class.
Bird Watching Today at Nolde Forest
Our group was at it again today at Nolde but this time we spent the morning taking part in a bird watching study hosted by Cornell University. We started out with a class about the different types of birds so we could recognize them at the feeders. Next we spent the rest of the time watching the feeders and writing down what we saw. We were able to see various types of birds including a red-tailed hawk, chickadees, tufted titmouse, and several woodpeckers. As always, we had a great time talking with the members of Nolde Park.