The road to a greener future may start in northwest England’s Cumbria county, where plastic litter is turning up in an unusual new place: street pavements.

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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Plastic Hits the Road

Tags: environmental protection, MacRebur, materials, ocean plastic, plastic roads, Recycling, VolkerWessels

Sensors are in everything from smart phones to corn fields. They also can be a powerful and engaging tool to teach STEM. SENSE IT, a free, research-based curriculum, involves students in hands-on learning about their local environment by constructing, deploying, and interpreting data from a network of water-quality sensors.

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Filed under: Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, K-12 Outreach Programs, Lesson Plans, Web Resources | Comments Off on Sense It!

Tags: circuits, Curriculum, data analysis, Environmental Engineering, Environmental science, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, integrated STEM, Internet Resources, iSTEM, Lesson Plan, Liesl Hotaling, SENSE IT, sensors, Teacher Resources, water quality, Web Resources

Indoor ‘vertical farming’ could be an answer to urban food needs and shrinking agricultural space – if cost and energy obstacles can be overcome. Already, pioneers are sprouting up in places like Japan, Singapore, and in U.S. university “closed environment agriculture” labs.

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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Room to Grow

Tags: Aerofarms, Agricultural Engineering, ASEE Prism magazine, botany, Controlled Environment Agriculture, Cornell School of Integrative Plant Science, Dickson Despommier, farm to table, food supply, green infrastructure, greenhouse, Murat Kacira, Neil Mattson, Plantagon, plants, Plenty, Public Policy, Sky Greens, Sustainability, Tom Gibson, University of Arizona, University of Wyoming, urban agriculture, urban farming, vegetables, vertical farms

Students learn about the Great Pacific garbage patch, research the extent and impact of plastics pollution on oceans, and present that information as a short, eye-catching newsletter suitable to hand out to fast-food restaurant customers. 

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Ahoy! Plastic in the Ocean

Tags: Class Activities, Common Core State Standards, data analysis, ecosystem, Environmental Engineering, environmental stewardship, GIS, Grades 6-8, graphic design, great ocean garbage dump, Lesson Plan, literacy, Mapping, Marine Science, Pollution, Research, STEAM, Videos, water cycle, writing