So you are a part of the Polar Bear Project, what do you get if you win?
At the very least, the satisfaction of helping to reduce carbon dioxide. That is a BIG bonus for us. The very most, a trip to study Polar Bears in the wild. This would also be a great learning experience for us. As educators, we constantly strive to learn more to teach more. As you can imagine a chance to witness the effects of climate change first hand can add greatly to our message.
Why not just go plant trees?
Being that we live in Arizona, it would not be eco-friendly what so ever to plant trees. It takes up much more water than we can afford to use. Some places in Arizona already have to ship water in to town for their people! So we would rather avoid adding to that, so we decided to educate against it, at least for Tucson. However, we are in the process of creating "rain gardens" for neighbors in the community.
What exactly do you do as a volunteer at the zoo?
Our current project involves this exact website! We are developing a presentation which will reach thousands of people within this month alone. It will deal with being more environmentally friendly in daily life as well as the current issues plaguing the world (i.e. the garbage pile in the Pacific Ocean, Global Climate change, etc.)
In general, we present "education animals" which are usually exotic creatures not many people come into contact with on a daily basis. We also take artifacts out to the public to present on the exhibit animals.
How did you get involved at the zoo?
Maia and Heather are a part of the Volunteer program- Maia as a teen volunteer(13+) and Heather as a Docent (18+). If interested (and a resident of the surrounding area), log onto http://www.tucsonzoo.org/ click on the "Support the Zoo" tab, then click the "Volunteer" tab on the left.
At the very least, the satisfaction of helping to reduce carbon dioxide. That is a BIG bonus for us. The very most, a trip to study Polar Bears in the wild. This would also be a great learning experience for us. As educators, we constantly strive to learn more to teach more. As you can imagine a chance to witness the effects of climate change first hand can add greatly to our message.
Why not just go plant trees?
Being that we live in Arizona, it would not be eco-friendly what so ever to plant trees. It takes up much more water than we can afford to use. Some places in Arizona already have to ship water in to town for their people! So we would rather avoid adding to that, so we decided to educate against it, at least for Tucson. However, we are in the process of creating "rain gardens" for neighbors in the community.
What exactly do you do as a volunteer at the zoo?
Our current project involves this exact website! We are developing a presentation which will reach thousands of people within this month alone. It will deal with being more environmentally friendly in daily life as well as the current issues plaguing the world (i.e. the garbage pile in the Pacific Ocean, Global Climate change, etc.)
In general, we present "education animals" which are usually exotic creatures not many people come into contact with on a daily basis. We also take artifacts out to the public to present on the exhibit animals.
How did you get involved at the zoo?
Maia and Heather are a part of the Volunteer program- Maia as a teen volunteer(13+) and Heather as a Docent (18+). If interested (and a resident of the surrounding area), log onto http://www.tucsonzoo.org/ click on the "Support the Zoo" tab, then click the "Volunteer" tab on the left.