Lauren Allen

ALT Screenshot of slide 20 in linked PowerPoint here: https://stemteachingtools.org/pd/sessionh The text says: "In 2015, excavators accidentally destroyed a plug holding back waste from a mine in Colorado that dumped toxic elements like arsenic, iron, and copper, making the drinking water there and downstream unsafe and impacting many aspects of life—including farming on Navajo Nation. What could be done to reduce the potential negative impacts of mining on the environment and keep water safe?" Images show a mountain river before and after the polluting event. The river is green before and a sickly yellow after.

ALT Screenshot of slide 11 in linked PowerPoint here: https://stemteachingtools.org/pd/sessionh The text says: The Gullah Peoples of the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia have a long tradition of making beautiful baskets made of sweetgrass. The baskets are made of different materials; sweetgrass, palmetto, pine needles and bulrush. Weavers gather these materials along the shore, and dry them before weaving them into tight coils that hold water. What are some materials that are good for weaving something that can hold water? Are they easier or harder to wrap or weave wet or dry? There is a picture of three hand-woven, beautiful baskets.

ALT Screenshot of slide 18 in linked PowerPoint here: https://stemteachingtools.org/pd/sessionh The text says: The buildings, the concrete, and energy people use cause cities to have a warmer climate than the countryside around them. What other impacts are there of cities on the environment? What might explain inequities in the impacts within the city on human beings and other organisms? What might be done to reduce the negative impacts of cities’ hotter climate on the environment? Below the text are GIS maps showing data patterns related to neighborhood heat as it relates to tree cover.

ALT Screenshot of slide 18 in linked PowerPoint here: https://stemteachingtools.org/pd/sessionh The text says: “Trees are part of large, interconnected communities interacting with their own and other species.” Highly-connected hub trees (or “Mother Trees”) share their excess carbon and nitrogen through mycorrhizal fungi networks to young seedlings in need. Where does this carbon come from? (From The Mother Tree Project)Researchers estimate that forests store somewhere between 400 and 1,200 gigatons of carbon. How much of this carbon is stored in the soils, anchored by networks of symbiotic roots, fungi and microbes? How does that relate to how we can respond to global climate change? (From The Social Life of Forests in NY Times) There is a picture of a gorgeous old growth forest in the Pacific Northwest with fog and sunlight cutting through a stand of trees.