Author: news
What to do outside before summer is over
August 7, 2015By Kiley Sotomayor, Summer Environmental Art Intern
Now that we are in the final month of summer vacation, it is the perfect time to fit in something you’ve been unable to do all summer in between graduation parties, sports games, and weddings. For me, that means doing new things and spending as much time as possible outside. The Schuylkill Center is a great place to do both! I’d like to recommend three things to check off your list before August flies by:
Hit the trails. We as a country spend about 8.5 hours a day in front of the screens, usually sitting.…
#StormSnakes – The Experiment Continues
July 30, 2015By Leslie Birch, 2014-2015 LandLab Resident Artist
My LandLab project started with the idea of examining water quality and morphed into understanding and mitigating stormwater run-off, the primary water quality concern facing the Schuylkill Center’s streams. It's been interesting to see the changes along the way, much like a meandering stream. There's been discovery in understanding how storms are affecting the land at the Center, brainstorming around ideas to deter the run-off, and definitely a period of inventing. Last we left off, I had been in discussion with Steve at Stroud Water Research Center about the sensors for my stream monitor.…
Natural Philadelphia: Where Do We Fit In?
July 24, 2015By guest contributor Rhyan Grech, Audubon PA
Are humans a part of nature? This important question spans generations, geographic locations, fields of study, vocations, religions, political parties and the city of Philadelphia. Working to protect wildlife and their habitats in the fifth most populated metropolitan area in the country may sound like a one-step-forward-two-steps-back sort of process, but it’s exactly what Audubon Pennsylvania and many other organizations are doing. And illustrating the relevance of our work to every city resident is a challenge we all share. (more…)
Which Environmental Leader Would You Put on the $10 Bill?
July 16, 2015By Beth Crawford, Summer PR & Communications Intern
Over the past few months, social media has been inundated with a simple, but powerful hashtag: #womenon20s. The grassroots organization that launched the groundbreaking campaign, Women on 20s, created buzz for the movement by inviting the public to vote for influential female leaders in United States history. After more than 600,000 people cast their votes, Harriet Tubman was chosen as the potential face of the new $20 bill. Women on 20s petitioned President Obama to request that Jacob Lew, Secretary of the Treasury, consider a change to the $20 bill in time…
A Real Picnic: Celebrating 50 Years
July 15, 2015By Mike Weilbacher, Executive Director
Editor’s Note: We celebrated our 50th anniversary with a public picnic on July 11, 2015. Below is an excerpt from Executive Director Mike Weilbacher’s remarks at the event.
On July 1st 1965, a young science teacher reported to his first day of work, and what was then called the Schuylkill Valley Nature Center opened its doors to the public. The science teacher’s name was Dick James, and Dick went on to build one of the country’s premier centers for environmental education, retiring almost 20 years ago in 1996. His widow Karin directed our Center’s library…
Fridays in the Field: A Wagner Free Institute of Science Yard Adventure
July 6, 2015By Guest Contributor Annie Zhang
Throughout the year, the Wagner Free Institute of Science hosts groups for interactive, science focused field trips. Though the winter chill confines groups to our Victorian-era natural history museum and lecture hall during most of the school year, summer allows us to expand our teaching landscape to our large and beautiful yard.
Our yard is a grassy, serene, tree-filled oasis that wraps around our building and is a rare sight in our mostly-concrete North Philadelphia neighborhood. It contains many “living teaching tools.” One is a bee-friendly flower garden that allows children to view our most…
Natural Dyeing: from plant to fabric
June 30, 2015By Guest Contributors Elissa Meyers and Mira Adornetto
After pulling out green cotton fabric from a naturally fermenting indigo vat, our workshop group watches excitedly as the green transitions into a dark indigo blue. This incredible process, which occurs as the indigo dye oxidizes has been used for thousands of years in numerous places and cultures. Throughout human history, color has been applied to fibers on every continent, starting as far back as 2,600 BCE. Plants, shellfish, and insects: wildflowers, trees, mollusks and bugs, have been used to dye fibers.
Since the industrial revolution dyeing went from natural colorants like…
Making nature relevant: finding common ground
June 18, 2015By Gail Farmer, Director of Education
This April marked the 45th anniversary of Earth Day, and we have come a long way since that huge 1970 event. But clearly, we have a long way to go: a recent study by the National Environmental Education Foundation found that two-thirds of the public fails even a basic environmental quiz and a whopping 88% cannot pass a basic energy quiz. This same study found that 45 million Americans think the ocean is a source of fresh water and 130 million believe that hydropower is America’s top energy source.
Alarmingly, this environmental literacy gap…
What’s blooming at the Schuylkill Center?
June 11, 2015By Melissa Nase, Manager of Land Stewardship
Welcome to our new mobile Field Guides! We'll regularly post guides about what's blooming, what animals you can see, and other interesting things to observe in the woods, meadows, and streams. These posts are designed to be easy to read on a phone, meaning you can take this mobile field guide out with you as you walk, hike, and play. See other Field Guide posts here.
Tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipfera)
The most common tree you will see on the Schuylkill Center’s property, this tree has distinct yellow and orange flowers and leaves that look like…
Interview with Deenah Loeb: Art in the Open
June 8, 2015By Christina Catanese, Director of Environmental Art
Editor’s note: Deenah Loeb is a Schuylkill Center trustee who also serves as the Executive Director of the City Parks Association and was on the founding creative team for Art in the Open, a citywide event in which artists create their work outdoors on the Schuylkill Banks for three days in May. This summer, nine artists from Art in the Open 2014 will present their work in the Schuylkill Center gallery and on the trails this summer in the show Open Spaces. Director of Environmental Art Christina Catanese recently sat down with Loeb…
