"e" inc. blog & news

"e" inc. is pleased to co-present IT'S EASY BEING GREEN: FILMS ABOUT ANIMALS AND THE ENVIRONMENT at Belmont World Film's 12th Annual Family Festival (runs January 16-19, 2015 in Arlington & Belmont) Sunday, January 18, 2015, 11:30 AM Studio Cinema, 376 Trapelo Road, Belmont Tickets: $8 and are available at www.ticketor.com/belmontworldfilm www.belmontworldfilm.org | 617-484-3980 | [email protected]

This program features environmentally-themed films that are as educational as they are entertaining. Followed by an interactive activity led by "e" inc., as well as a discussion with 11-year-old Alice Van Evera from Lexington, who was so inspired by one of the films that she started a group that was instrumental in getting a regulation banning solar panels on her town’s buildings overturned. Recommended for age 4-12 ($8).

Films include:

The Dam Keeper: a multi-award winning animated film by former Pixar artists Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi about a pig who keeps the sails on a large windmill dam moving in order to keep pollution out of the desolate town that is the lone survivor of an environmental disaster.

Hedgehogs and the City: a multi-award winning animated film from Latvia by Ēvalds Lācisfrom about two hedgehogs and their animal friends who learn to make money in order to return the city to the countryside.  

Tant de Foret, a visually stunning animated film from France by Burku Sancur and Gregory Goden that speaks of the irony that newspapers warn us about deforestation even though they are made of paper themselves.

Sticky, an animated film from Australia by Jilli Rose that tells the astonishing true environmental story of the return of the stick insects population to Australia after their supposed extinction.  

Young Voices of the Planet, three films about youths from all over the world who are making a difference for the environment.

This past summer, the teens of West End House took part in three different and new processes with our Educator, Jen Hagen.  First, they turned their attention to gardening and began by taking on the job of getting their unused garden ready for planting.  The garden beds were full of weeds, rocks, and bugs. They jumped right in and cleared the beds of everything (but the bugs)!  Everyone had a hand in planting seeds in planting trays. The teens planted all kinds of vegetables and herbs: spearmint, eggplant, tomatoes, oregano, cilantro, summer squash… the list goes on!  They worked together to care for the plants by watering them throughout the summer and making sure they got plenty of sun.

The teens also were involved in some engineering activities to help them get a sense of what a design process can entail.  For example, they ‘tried on’ their engineering hats and designed protective armor for eggs in an Egg Drop Challenge.  Working together in pairs, the teens used materials such as paper cups, straws, rubber bands and plastic bags to create a device that could protect their egg from cracking when dropped from the second floor to the ground.  The creativity and engineering that went into making these protective egg cases was nothing short of awesome!

Carrying on in the scientific spirit, the teens learned about global warming and harmful levels of carbon dioxide. By running several experiments, they were able to demonstrate some properties of CO2 and think up ways to break away from fossil fuels. Then, as another engineering feat, all the teens took part in creating solar ovens. With their self-made, sun-powered contraptions, they made delicious peanut butter cookies.  It was amazing to see their work effort!

Dr. Stern had a great time at the march on Sunday and said that the city had a great spirit.  She loved that so many people (over 310,000!) came out to show the nations leaders that we need change.  

"We are frustrated. Changes must be made to advert disaster and the world's leaders must take action now!" -- Dr. Ricky Stern

She described the passion everyone had for protecting our planet; the same passion that we build in children through our science programs. 

Check out her photos and some of the wonderful signs she saw while there!

While the Fort Point Channel is home to many different marine species, our most common catch is the green crab. This summer, kids from all over the Boston area have been courageously touching and holding crabs to learn about their anatomy and behavior (and to snap some unique selfies). To better understand these crustaceans, kids observe their live specimens and then draw and label their body parts before releasing them back into the channel.

Another fun activity has been designing towns in order to understand the importance of watersheds and the interconnectivity between actions on land and impacts in the water. Groups are given different landscapes and told to design a town. Groups consider where the people live, fresh water supply, where food comes from and how the town disposes of waste. Once all the groups are finished, it is revealed that all the towns are neighbors, joined together by a common river (water source). Groups that had planned on taking trash down river or diverting water from the river for irrigation were forced to rethink once they realized their actions were impacting some of their neighboring towns.

Our summer campers at the Blue Hills Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston have been learning all about ocean environments and ocean protection.  This past week, campers explored squid anatomy and how squids, a cephalopod, have different adaptations from fish and from whales even though they share a remarkable habitat. To underscore these differences, an exploration took place through a fun and hands-on activity -- dissecting squids!  All the children were deeply involved (and excited) by this activity and even wrote their name in squid ink!  The 100 kids, ages 8 to 11, who  are in camp at the Blue Hills Club have loved "e" inc.'s experience-based approach to learning about the ocean and its creatures. 

Summer campers at the Jackson Mann Community Center got up close and personal with squid in a dissection and culinary lesson last week. The kids worked in groups and utilized their dissecting tools to explore the external and internal anatomy of squids. Highlights included: finding the eyeballs, cutting open the mantle to reveal the squid innards, popping the ink sac and then using the ink to write their names, and finding the squid's "pen" (the squid's shell). Throughout the whole process the room was filled with screams as kids were simultaneously grossed out and completely enthralled.

Finally, what's a lesson on squid without calamari? Using a hot plate, some cleaned squids and a basic batter, we were able to fry up some squid rings for the kids to taste. As one 4th grader told me, "It was the most delicious lesson I've ever had!"

Here's our Ocean Explorers River Mural, depicting different facilities that use water all along one long river!

Our Explorers have been growing into Planet Protectors this summer. This week they learned about water as a resource. How do we use water? Ask any of these Planet Protectors! From drinking, bathing, cooking and laundry to flushing the toilet or swimming... we use water in many important ways.

The older campers worked very hard in the "Lugging Water Relay" in which they were able to experience - in a small way - what it is like to have to walk long distances to get water. Our younger campers worked in teams in the "Hand Wash Relay" as they raced to wash shirts in a bucket. Everyone participated in a River Mural that depicted different facilities that use water all along one long river. Such a fun and active week!

Discovering Fort Point/Urban Waters Summer Program 2014

by: Sarah Chang, "e" inc. educator

The summer is well underway as youth groups from all over the Boston area have come to take part in “e” inc.’s brand new Discovering Fort Point/Urban Waters program. During this day long, water-themed experience, kids have the opportunity to learn about the Fort Point ecosystem by observing and interacting with some of the wildlife that lives in the channel. Our catches have consisted primarily of green crabs, sculpins, mussels and moon jellies. The day continues with lessons about the water cycle, watersheds and the importance of water conservation. The kids then learn about fish anatomy, as they complete a recycled art project that transforms used 2 liter soda bottles into colorful fish. Finally, the kids walk along the Harborwalk to the Boston Rowing Center where they learn to row and spend time rowing up and down the channel.

One of the most important things kids are learning through this program is the connection between actions on land and how they affect what happens in the ocean – a concept that is incredibly important, especially in a coastal city, like Boston.

One of the best things about the Discovering Fort Point Program is that it provides kids with the opportunity to experience many new things. A large portion of the day is spent talking about the animals that live in the Fort Point Channel – primarily green crabs. The kids learn how to differentiate girl crabs from boy crabs; how to identify a green crab; what makes a crab a crab, etc. After a debriefing on the safest way to pick up a crab, the kids are given the chance to touch or hold a crab. There are always one or two fearless kids that immediately stick their hands into the bucket and pull out the biggest crab. However, the majority of the kids (many of whom have never touched or seen a live crab up close) begin by tentatively poking the crab’s shell and then screaming. After some encouragement and pointers, the kids will muster up the courage to hold a crab and by the end of the day almost every kid leaves with having held a crab or two.

Dorian, an 11 year old from Dorchester greeted me by saying, “Just to let you know now, I’m not going on any boats.” It's not unusual for kids to be nervous about rowing and I usually just tell them that rowing isn’t until later so they shouldn’t worry about it. Dorian, however, continued to remind me for the rest of the morning that he was not going to be doing any rowing. During our activity with the crabs Dorian immediately says, “Sarah, I’m not holding that thing.” After some encouragement from fellow campers, Dorian cautiously poked the crab’s shell. Comforted by the fact that his fingers were still attached to his hands I was able to help him pick up a crab. As he realized that he was holding a crab all on his own, his face lit up with a huge smile. Before I knew it, Dorian was asking me to pull the biggest crab out of the tank so he could hold it.

Fast forward a few hours to the rowing session. By this time, Dorian was really nervous. But thanks to the comforting and relaxed teaching methods of Rafael from the Boston Rowing Center, Dorian decided to step into the boat and spent the next half hour rowing up and down the channel.

This week we went down to the ocean floor. The older explorers learned that the ocean floor has deep trenches and long mountain ranges...there are even erupting volcanoes under the sea! Everyone demonstrated their knowledge by building their own individual volcano and setting off the "lava" explosion! The younger explorers learned that the sun can turn water into water vapor. Everyone showed their creative talents by making sun masks and then learning a fun sun song.

It was an exciting first week of Summer Adventure Camp for the Ocean Explorer Kids of Healey School.  This summer is all about water and we will be learning a lot about how to protect our oceans and keep our water clean. 

The younger Explorers learned about solids and liquids by observing the properties of blocks, rocks and blue water in a bottle. They learned that water can be a solid and a liquid by doing experiments with ice.  The young Explorers even began to learn about a third state of water…water vapor! Everybody showed their fantastic creativity when they created headbands with either solid or liquid matter.

The older Explorers went on the Incredible Journey of a water droplet, exploring such places as Clouds, Groundwater, Rivers and the Ocean. They also learned about air pressure and water pressure using a balloon that went POP!

Finally, our Ocean Explorers used science to make ice cream. They learned that with some ice - and a lot of salt to cool it down – they could get the temperature just right to start to freeze cream.

Great job this week, Ocean Explorers!

Story by Marianne Salza

“e” inc., a non-profit environmental science learning and action center based in Charlestown, hosted a gathering on June 25 to discuss concerns about the potential impacts of global warming on the Charlestown community.

The Environmental Protection Agency predicts a rise in sea levels of two feet by 2025 due to global warming. Some scientists believe that worldwide temperatures could increase between three to nine degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2050, causing sea levels to rise several feet, flooding coastlines.

“Flooding will be a serious challenge with sea levels rising. Whole areas can be inundated,” said Dr. Ricky Stern, “e” inc. Executive Director. “As we learned from our speakers at the Charlestown climate meet-up, the path rising waters would take in a storm surge could even turn Charlestown into a temporary island.”

Nasser Brahim, Climate Change Professional, and his colleague, Christine McCarthy, Technical Writer, gave a presentation to the guests about preparing for the various effects of climate change.

Brahim has a decade of experience as a climate change resilience practitioner and is currently an adviser at Kleinfelder, an engineering, architectural, and science consulting firm in Cambridge that provides solutions to infrastructure and natural resource challenges.

Brahim explained how people must rethink the ways they support coastal regions in order to protect the city from rising waters.

“The goal of the meet-up was to invite neighbors to learn from Nasser, as well as discuss steps that can be taken. The effects of rising waters could be substantial in Charlestown,” said Dr. Stern. “There are disaster preparations that one can do oneself and with neighbors, and then there are long term mitigations the city is considering and planning.”  

Prevention measures range from barriers put in place at building entrances to protect from surging waters, to building higher off the ground. People can install vital systems, like heat and electricity, upstairs instead of on lower levels of their homes or offices.

Brahim also advises putting natural beds, like coastal saltwater marshes, in the water to slow down and absorb the impact of the surge. Installing rain gardens will help more drainage seep into ground water instead of ending up in drains and flowing into the sea.

“Communities have to become resilient and connected in ways that they can help each other,” Stern said.

Greenovate, Boston’s commission on energy and environmental affairs, is campaigning to reduce the city’s greenhouse emissions 25% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. “e” inc. has volunteered to be a Greenovate ambassador in Charlestown for this climate resilience workshop.

“Greenovate is the hub of the city’s efforts around sustainability,” said Stern. “They have to worry about long range planning for coastal cities.”