Getting Outside with PokémonGo
By: Danny Woolums
Bluegrass Greensource
Environmental Educator
For many young adults like myself, PokémonGo has been the realization of a dream we’ve had since we were children. Becoming a Pokémon trainer and catching all 150 of the magical creatures excited me and my brother while we battled it out on our GameBoys. Almost 2 decades later, I get a text from my brother asking when are we going to meet up so he can show me all of his supposedly more powerful Pokémon.
Beyond the nostalgia that the app brings me, I have found it a truly rewarding experience. On a more professional note, as an environmental educator, I am pleased and interested in how this game invites individuals of all ages, including those who aren’t nature-inclined, to get outside and engage with their local environment in the quest to catch them all.
If you aren’t already familiar with this phenomenon sweeping the world, I recommend reading this article from USA Today. By interfacing with real world through Google, integrating local landmarks, and then using the camera on your phone, Niantic has engaged users with the world around them in a way they’ve never before experienced.
PokémonGo has been a fantastic tool of getting people outside and talking to one another. Perhaps you’ve driven past a city park and seen a far higher number of people congregated together anxiously staring at their phones followed by a moment of shared joy. I have walked by so many people who I make eye contact with, laugh, and then continue walking because we’ve just exchanged a knowing look that says we’re all on the hunt for a nearby Pikachu.
PokémonGo is not without its naysayers. Some may argue, how does this interface encourage social interaction and engagement with the local environment, when you’re staring at your phone? I would only point them towards several individuals and organizations who are harnessing the power of this global phenomenon to educate and do good work for the earth. There’s the guy from Reddit, who decided to also pick up litter in the parks he was walking in, and encouraged other users to do the same. That post has more than 5,000 views on the Reddit platform. Biologists are using the game as a research tool, and are encouraging users to submit upload photos of real animals they find to Twitter using the hashtag #pokeblitz, so that the online scientific community can identify wildlife the game players didn’t previously have knowledge about.
Above all, I think about all of the people who are outside despite the weather, ignoring their televisions, not blasting the A/C, not turning on the lights, and the people just really enjoying playing outside for the first time in years. We can lament and condemn all we want about what it means for us as a society that it takes a game to get us outside, and I’d be more than happy to engage in that conversation, but right now I see that there’s a bulbasaur nearby and I am about to go outside, enjoy some sun, and catch it. Maybe I’ll see you there.
Blending Environmental Education and ESL at Lansdowne Elementary
By: Ashley Bryant Cheney
Bluegrass Greensource
Environmental Educator
At Bluegrass Greensource, we love summer. It’s a time to take part in environmental educational activities outside of the walls of the classroom, to recharge, and reflect about the next year’s cycle of education programs. I’ve spent part of mine at Lansdowne Elementary School, helping, perhaps surprisingly, students with their ESL (English as a Second Language) Summer Camp.
Through the summer break, Lansdowne Elementary hosts students working on their English skills. The majority of the students are refugees from 4 countries, including Nepal, Syria, Iraq, and the Congo. In addition to refugee students, Lansdowne also invited Hispanic students from Mexico and Venezuela who needed the added language support.
You may be asking, what does Environmental Education have to do with ESL? Using Content-Based Instruction (CBI), Environmental Educators use environmental topics to help students develop the language skills they need to be successful: vocabulary, conversation, listening, and even writing skills. Incorporating environmental topics into language learning not only teaches students new words and concepts, but also helps cultivate a sense of personal responsibility that extends outside of the classroom. Many themes and topics can spark the interest of young language learners, but topics of environmental conservation and care stretch across all cultures.
Environmentally friendly actions naturally lend themselves to meaningful language use. While it may not appear that teaching recycling promotes language practice, discussions about basic recycling leads the class to discussions of the practical differences between materials (paper vs. paper towels) and shapes (plastic bottle vs. plastic cup). When students have the opportunity to put that knowledge into practice, they are more likely to remember the language they have learned just by walking to the recycling bin in their classroom.
Students at Lansdowne ESL Summer Camp have already learned the names of different materials (such as cardboard and plastic) associated with recycling, but they have also learned some other basic environmental concepts, including the parts and functions of trees and worms, how solar power works, animal habitats, and even the macroinvertebrates (which was a new word for everyone) living in our Kentucky rivers and streams.
My favorite part of this camp is how learning about the environment can help children feel more at home in a region that may feel strange or new to them. It’s my hope as an educator that these new language skills and concepts will empower them to make small changes in their everyday lives that have a big impact in our local environment.
Green Waves Radio: July 22, 2016 | Guests: Roscoe Klausing and Dan Stever, Klausing Group
Green Waves Radio: July 22, 2016
Host: Chris Porter, Development Director
Guests: Roscoe Klausing and Dan Stever, Klausing Group
In this episode, Chris interviews Roscoe Klausing and Dan Stever of the Klausing Group, a commercial landscaping business in Lexington, KY. Roscoe and Dan discuss the ways commercial landscape can make measurable impacts on our urban landscape, by designing landscapes that reduce water use, protect stormwater systems, and helps restore the natural habitats.
Green Waves Radio: July 15, 2016 | Guest: Joshua Bills, MACED
Green Waves Radio: July 15, 2016
Host: Chris Porter, Development Director
Guest: Joshua Bills, Energy Efficient Enterprises Program Coordinator with MACED Mountain Association for Community Economic Development
In this episode, Chris interviews Joshua Bills about his work with MACED to create a clean energy future in Kentucky.
Green Waves Radio: July 1, 2016 | Guests: Carl Steele, Step Forward Lexington and Ashley Bryant Cheney, Bluegrass Greensource
Green Waves Radio: July 1, 2016
Host: Chris Porter, Development Director
Guests: Carl Steele, Step Forward Lexington and Ashley Bryant Cheney, Bluegrass Greensource
From event support to picking up litter, our work wouldn’t be possible without our awesome volunteers! In this episode, Chris interviews Carl Steele of Step Forward Lexington and Ashley Bryant Cheney, Bluegrass Greensource educator and volunteer coordinator, about the importance of volunteers in the nonprofit community.
Step Forward Lexington is a newly developed online hub for volunteers to discover opportunities to give back- visit www.stepforwardlex.org to sign up to be notified when it goes live.