Summary: 11/30 Meeting & Tree Exploration

On Friday, 11/30, Barbara Nes (wonderful parent of Green Team Kid Celina) kindly led our team of Green Team Kids on a tree exploration within our own Mason-Rice campus.  Although we're all regulars at the Mason-Rice playground, most of us have probably not focused our attention on the trees surrounding the playground.  Barbara started off by talking to the students about trees, the important role they play in our ecosystem, their needs and signs of disease.  We then journeyed through the woody area behind the basketball courts, and then along the creek, identifying various types of trees that show signs of sickness.

During our journey, the students also observed the squirrels, as well as (unfortunately) the soil erosion and unusual amount of trash in the area.  In particular, Celina pointed out to the rest of the students pollution in the creek in the form of a white foamy substance which she had observed over a week ago. As the students looked into the creek, they pointed out other polluting items in the water and discussed potentially constructing nets to clean up the creek (a great idea we will consider for a future Green Team Kids meeting!).

As a final activity, we talked about the concept of "biodegradation" and the problem with certain types of materials like plastic and styrofoam. To get a better sense of the concept, we buried the following different types of trash into the ground; which we plan to dig up in the spring:
- Small piece of a banana peel
- Small piece of an orange peel
- Small piece of a styrofoam plate
- Small piece of a plastic wrapper
- Small piece of aluminum foil
- A pretzel bite

We can't wait to see what will happen to these items!  Thanks everyone, see you next Friday (12/7)!