Plants Rule the Planet

The Green LIONS Garden Group explored the concept of photosynthesis at our last gathering. Students took on the roles of plants, water, carbon dioxide, sugar, light energy, and oxygen to perform a creative skit for our teacher volunteers. The skit helped students to understand the vital role plants play in our survival and the survival of the planet. Through converting light energy from the sun, carbon dioxide from the air and water absorbed through their roots to sugar energy, plants then release oxygen to our benefit and the benefit of all living beings. Because plants can make their own food, they are producers and self-sufficient in optimal conditions.

Once photosynthesis was clearly grasped students and plants placed on their rightful throne, students shaped themselves into a food chain pyramid. Plants represented the largest group, then insects, then small animals and birds, then larger animals, and finally a lone human at the pyramid’s top. The question was then posed to the students, “what if there were no plants?”

If there were no plants then the insects would have nothing to eat and they would die off. If there were no plants and insects, small animals and birds would have nothing to eat and they would die off. If there were no plants, insects, birds and small animals, then larger animals would have nothing to eat and would die off. If there were no plants, insects, birds, small or large animals, then humans would have no food and would go extinct.

However, if we reverse this hierarchy what would the results be? What if there were no humans, then large animals, then birds and small animals, and finally no insects. Plants would thrive! They don’t need us, but we are completely dependent on them. Plants rule the planet!

We then just had to take advantage of our ten pin bowling shape to do a little human bowling!

To end our gathering, Sustainable Student Ambassador Cassie Carbonneau’s mother Mindy, an environmental science teacher in our school system, brought two cute and fuzzy members of the food chain for the other Sustainable Student Ambassadors to ooh and ahh over. The little chicks pecked at the grass exhibiting their taste for plants and insects in a food chain. If chicks are involved...then spring has sprung!

Try This Green Thing at Home

A new feature we are unveiling for the participants in the Green LIONS Garden Group and their families is our Try This Green Thing at Home eco-friendly challenge.

This week we are challenging our families to Switch to Cloth Napkins!

Making this change is a simple and enjoyable sustainable act. Using cloth napkins makes any meal, even a school lunch from your lunch box, seem like a fancy one. Buying or making napkins with patterns can easily hide stains. Linen is a more environmentally-friendly choice over cotton but even cotton is better than paper.

It is estimated that 28% of all trash is made up of paper products. The U.S. uses more than 160 billion paper napkins annually. This adds up to 4 billion pounds of paper waste.

Have fun with your napkin print choices. Allow your children to choose napkins with favorite characters or themes. If the napkins aren’t dirtied by an especially messy meal, then allow them to be used more than once. Perhaps assign a special napkin ring to each family member to keep the napkins separate and available. Switching to cotton napkins easily saves a family money and teaches a sustainable practice they can feel good about.

Plant Anatomy 101

The Green LIONS Garden Group kicked off their spring program with their first meeting of the year last week. With surprisingly spring-like weather outside we could all envision our spring garden and the veggie goodness to come. If we plan to grow plants, first we need to learn a bit about them, especially their anatomy.

From roots to fruit, students learned all six anatomical areas of edible plants—roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds. Each plant is unique in how they present these parts and whether these parts are edible on a particular plant.

Did you know an eggplant is really just a big berry? And in plant anatomical terms, did you know broccoli florets are considered flowers, and a bell pepper would be considered a fruit? A fruit is the part of the plant that surrounds its seeds. So many of the vegetables we commonly eat are actually the fruit of the plant. Maybe calling them “fruit” can help us convince kids to eat more vegetables!

Students enjoyed a Plant Anatomy Relay Race in the warm air. They divided into three groups and chose plants from a grab bag that they had to both identify and determine its anatomical part categories before returning to their group. Each bag had a tricky choice but students quickly categorized their veggie bag contents into their correct anatomical parts.

Next, we toured the garden to see the last of the over-wintering plants and the perennials that are awaiting their spring awakening. Spying a large patch of chickweed some students grabbed handfuls to take home to start their olive oil infusion for making bug bite balm—a GLGG favorite. See the recipe in our last post.

We are excited to embark onour program for this school year, with new students and some club veterans. We can look forward to dirty hands, nourished bellies, sun-kissed cheeks and a full toolbox of strategies to live in harmony with nature.