Discover Park Strategies for Sustainability Activity Source: National Park Service. Adapted with permission. National parks play an important role in preserving our nation’s heritage for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of current and future generations. National parks are in the “forever business.” The National Park Service is always looking forward to ensure that what it does is sustainable. Parks currently are challenged by climate change. For mountainous parks, this could mean loss of remaining glaciers with significant impacts on ecosystems and the downstream waterways. [Read More]

Maintaining Soil Moisture Activity Source: American Geophysical Union. Adapted with permission. Soil is a vital component of almost every ecosystem, and its health often determines the viability of the whole ecosystem. If a soil cannot support the living organisms within it – such as insects, bacteria, fungi, and plant roots – then it is likely that the entire ecosystem will suffer. The same is true on farms. The success of crops is dependent on the health of the soil. [Read More]

Seeding Growth Activity Source: Society of Exploration Geophysicists. Adapted with permission. Much of the food that people eat is produced as crops grown from seeds. What does it take for a seed to grow? How does a seed start to grow? What changes occur as it grows? Understanding the growth of seeds can help us understand food production, which is basic to understanding the issue of hunger in the world. [Read More]

Sources of Minerals Activity Source: Mineralogical Society of America. Adapted with permission. We are surrounded by objects that we depend upon for our everyday lives. From our clothes to our phones, bikes, cars, showers, plates, chairs, televisions, computers, and nearly everything else, we rely on objects made of a variety of materials. But where do those materials come from in the first place, and what happens when we run out of them? [Read More]