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Jonah, thanks for that! Not only are we trying to generate this "Top Ten" list, but we are always looking for ways to actively demonstrate the stuff we are talking about--using a hand-crank generator to power different kinds of bulbs, for example (although we haven't actually tried this one yet. Anyone?)
I love the idea of doing a bottled-water taste test. I do a "Kitchen Science" program here and I've done a few product testing programs (popcorn, storage bags, paper towels) but I've not done bottled water. I shall try. Boston tap water is actually quite nice, coming as it does from the Quabbin Resevoir in the western part of the state.
thanks all. This has all been really helpful to me, and I hope everyone else is getting something useful out of this discussion as well.
AD
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Alissa Daniels, Science Program Manager
Boston Children's Museum
617-426-6500 x342
www.BostonChildrensMuseum.org
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny..." --Isaac Asimov
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-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Jonah Cohen
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 2:43 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Top 10 green habits - Touché
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************
Well, perhaps we should play to our strengths.
Talking about how terrible it is that we awful, consumer-driven, greedy energy hogs use up so much more than our fair share of the world's resources sounds both whiny and preachy (regardless of whether it's true or not) and is not likely to win converts. Talking about how a few small, easy changes (thermostat at 62 instead of 68, using appliances like the washing maching/dryer/etc only when the load is full) will save you $$$ might work better. Instead of cussing us out, we can all jopin together in cussing out the electric company.
Don't just yap about saved landfill space etc. Want to get people interested in composting? Have your own compost bin and show it in action - and how you can try this at home. People may roll their eyes at lectures, but a bin full of worms and rotting stuff is gross, and by and large your visitors love gross stuff.
Anything that starts with "You can reduce your carbon footprint by..." makes a lot of eyes glaze over. But everyone loves doing experiments with circuits. Better to do that, and find a way to show how the electric vampire thing works* and how you can stake said vampires through the heart at home by unplugging stuff.... Incidentally saving $$$.
[* I would offer an example of an experiment that illustrates how this whole vampire thing works, but in all honesty I have no clue. Anyone care to enlighten me?]
In the controversy over bottled water, one side points out the eco-impact, the other (usually the bottled water industry] proclaims how much better than tap the bottled stuff tastes. Why not take the scientific approach: we have no idea if people really prefer the taste of one or the other; let's do a blind taste test to find out. Seems like it would be less scoldy of visitors, and more empowering... Plus a bit of a challenge (perhaps the visitor's reaction is "Hmmm, I wonder if there IS a difference?" or "I bet I can tell them apart!").
People love animals - saving them is usually the easy sell of thinking green. But kids also love the destructive power of nature; IMOH one good way to convince folks to keep cats indoors is by pointing out that their pet is a highly adapted predator.
Not to say "don't talk about the environmental issues!", but learning-by-doing is what we're supposed to be good at, right?
And [donning my asbestos suit] here's a possible thing we as museums can do: how much of your resources are used to encourage school field trips to your center vs. encouraging outreach? I'm going to assume the latter is greener; one or two folks traveling to a school in a minivan has got to be more efficient than 1 or several school busses traveling the same distance.
Jonah Cohen
Outreach & Public Programs Manager
The Children's Museum
"Science... boring... losing... interest..."
-The Tick
-----Original Message-----
How right you are , Katie!
What can we do, as educators, to get people to understand this most fundamental of solutions? Yes - other things need to be addressed, but Katie is certainly right in that this really targets the issue. I also acknowledge that people don't like to hear it; but there has to be an angle to get this basic principle understood and appreciated.
--
Carlyn S. Buckler, Ph.D.
Paleontological Research Institution
Museum of the Earth
1259 Trumansburg Road
Ithaca, NY 14850
607-273-6623 x25
[log in to unmask]
priweb.org
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