Pollinator Planters

Greeley West High School, Greeley, Colorado, USA

Through their environmental class, Joselly Vazquez and Gabriella Lam from Greeley West High School learned about the impacts housing development has had on pollinators. Pollinators play a vital role creating and maintaining ecosystems that many animals depend on whether it’s for food and/or shelter. Almost 80% of our food and plant-based industrial products require pollination by animals. Flowering plants also play a crucial role in watersheds as they help purify water, prevent erosion, and return moisture to the atmosphere. The population of pollinators, especially bees, are decreasing due to habitat loss from increased development –and development in Greeley is continuing to grow rapidly. If local pollinators are affected, the food chain along with water quality will be compromised. To address this concern, Joselly and Gabriella upcycled filing cabinets from their school and turned them into pollinator planters which were then installed around their new school building. Joselly and Gabriella provided habitat and food source for pollinators while also preventing some filing cabinets from being thrown into the landfill. Their project contributed to Targets 6.3, 12.5, and 15.5 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Recycled filing cabinet with pollinator plants in them, planters positioned outside of school, students posing

Implemented project Educating Peers on Environmentally Responsible Vehicle Maintenance

Dayspring Christian Academy, Greeley, Colorado, USA

Oil being poured into a funnel into a vehicle

Austin Cecil, Talon Fusco, Edward Race, and Arthur Race from Dayspring Christian Academy were concerned about the negative effects our vehicles can have on our watershed. That’s why they decided to educate their peers on proper vehicle maintenance and how to properly dispose of certain materials. This team educated sophomores through classroom presentations at their school on how to appropriately perform an oil change on their vehicles, change consumable items, and dispose of the byproduct with minimal effects to their watershed. An educational video was created along with handouts summarizing the information they reviewed. This team’s efforts contribute to Target 12.5 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Man under car catching oil into a pan Students standing in front of class educating

Dreaming in Purple

Greeley West High School, Greeley, Colorado, USA

Anayeli Martinez from Greeley West High School was concerned about the trash she was finding in public parks. Anayeli understood that trash from one watershed can end up in another watershed –even as far down to the ocean– affecting both land and aquatic organisms and vital resources they depend on. To address her concern, Anayeli produced a piece of artwork to illustrate the beauty of the natural world to encourage her peers and community to look after it. She painted a round canvas with illustrations of sea life –seahorses, jellyfish, and sea turtles– in a purple color scheme that included yellow, blue, and pink colors. The canvas is bordered by tissue paper and buttons -representing trash that can surround and infiltrate our watersheds. Anayeli’s artwork illustrates one of her dreams: thriving watersheds across the world contributing to healthy oceanic ecosystems. The artwork has been displayed at the Poudre Learning Center (an outdoor center), a retirement home, and will continue to circulate throughout other locations like Anayeli’s school. Her project contributes to Target 6.3 and 12.5 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Painted round convas with illustrations of sea life, student posing, canvas hanging on wall

Art the Smart Way

Rocky Mountain High School, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

Chloe Pettit from Rocky Mountain High School found that paint has solid pigments that increase the opacity of water and its particles clogs up the gills of fish and cause other harmful effects on them. She also found that solvent based paints such as paint thinners contain mercury, zinc, lead, and chromium –which can cause tumors on fish and other organisms in the water. To address this, Chloe dedicated her time developing an informal website containing video tutorials on how to make paints from scratch using vegetables and fruits. This website was provided to kindergarten and first grade classes in Fort Collins to get students started with their homemade paint kits. Many of these classes created their DIY paints on Earth Day! Chloe’s eco-friendly paints and tutorials helped contribute to Targets 6.3 and 12.5 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

children painting, paints and paint brushes on tables, student posing with white dog

Aluminum Recycling Program

Dayspring Christian Academy Greeley, Colorado, USD

Aluminum makes up a large portion of our waste worldwide. Karrin Chandler, Corrin Sides, and Kylie Van Iddekinge from Dayspring Christian Academy found that a large portion of aluminum was being tossed into the landfill instead of being recycled. Through their research, they found that when aluminum is dumped into the landfills, it quickly breaks down and reacts to produce unwanted heat, liquid leachate, and other gasses, including carbon dioxide. This can cause harmful reactions with other items in the landfill. Runoff from these landfills causes aluminum leachate that contaminates our watershed. To address this concern, Karin, Corrin, and Kylie started a recycling program at their school to encourage their peers to recycle their aluminum cans. They also lead educational sessions at their school about aluminum recycling and its benefits for our watershed. With their efforts, they managed to contribute to Target 6.3 and 12.5 of the Sustainable Development Goals. Their school has embraced this recycling program and the bins have filled up quickly! With the help of future science classes, the program will continue to be maintained for years to come. Recycling bin with cans in it, students posing beside recycling bins

Let’s Be Plastic Free: A Social Media Advocacy Campaign

2022, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, USA

Student standing with $1000 Environmental Contest Winner cheque
Clara, a student at Mira Loma High School, took first place in the 2022 Caring for Our Watersheds competition. Clara demonstrated her design skills and political savvy with her project to advocate for passage of the 2022 California Plastic Waste Reduction Regulations (CPWRR) Initiative and a reduction in the consumption of single-use plastic. Clara aims to raise awareness and garner support for the initiative and cause, and to that end, has designed several appealing infographics which she shared online through public social media ads. Clara’s proposal was well-written, thoroughly researched, and clearly presented. By implementing her project, she was able to further education and outreach on the monumental problem of single-use plastic waste.

Infographic on the plastic waste reduction regulations initiative Recycling poster

Xeriscaping on Campus

2022, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, USA

Students posing by their drought resistance plants
George Washington Carver School of Arts and Sciences students Nickole and Maya are concerned about the multi-year drought that California is experiencing, and particularly how much water is typically used to maintain outdoor landscapes. They devised a plan to xeriscape an area of campus with drought-tolerant species. The team prepped the garden area and adjacent raised bed by removing weeds and adding soil and compost, then planted a variety of species known to thrive with very little water, such as California fuschia. They also installed drip irrigation in their plot, which will serve as a demonstration garden highlighting water-wise, landscaping plants and practices.

Garden bed that has drough-tolerant plant species

Promoting Eco-friendly Art

2022, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, USA

Arana, Bella, Jaiden, Bernie, student from George Washington Carver High School, are creative students with a unique project. This team addressed an issue that has never seen before in the Caring for Our Watersheds-California contest, but was very relevant to them as Resin artists. Their project aimed to promote the use of an eco-friendly art material, Ecopoxy, as an alternative to synthetic resins currently used by many artists. Some synthetic resin products can be harmful to the environment and have adverse effects on human/ animal health. The team created a website and blog and hosted a booth at the Sacramento Earth Day Festival to display their art made of Ecopoxy and educate the public.

Students sitting behind promotion table for eco-friendly art Students measuring our substances for eco-friendly materials

Education for Younger Generations

2021, Northridge High School, Greeley, Colorado, USA

Juan Reveles Hernandez
Education is key for developing informed, active water citizens. That’s why Juan dedicated his time and energy to educate elementary students on their watershed. Juan developed a lesson to introduce students to watershed concepts. He partnered with a 3rd grade teacher at S. Christa McAuliffe and presented the lesson to the students remotely. Juan supplied students with materials that could be found around the home and constructed watershed models with those materials. The lesson was structured in such a way that students had the opportunity to complete the lesson in class or from home. This made it inclusive for students attending class remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. To evaluate his lesson, he quizzed the students before and after they completed the lesson. He found that the students scored phenomenally high after completing his lesson. We have some future water scientists in our presence!
Education for Younger Generations

The Pandas Choice

2021, Northridge High School, Greeley, Colorado, USA

Pamela Perez
Plastic is everywhere and we use them everyday. One of them being plastic toothbrushes. Pamela found that plastic can travel through many other watersheds and end up in the ocean. This in turn affects our water quality and organisms – including humans. She learned that plastic toothbrushes can take up to 400 years to decompose! That’s why she decided to encourage her peers to make the switch from plastic toothbrushes to bamboo toothbrushes. Pamela constructed a presentation with all the details on why it’s important to make the switch. This presentation was shared with peers remotely or presented by teachers, as there were COVID protocols restricting Pamela from presenting herself. Pamela also distributed bamboo toothbrushes to students that reviewed her presentation. Pamela received a lot of positive feedback from her peers. It sounds like her peers are happy they made the switch!
The Pandas Choice