Care for Our Earth! Grants for Teachers
Schools Save Energy, Cut Traffic and Pollution
See article featuring teachers who received
grants in last year's program here
(PDF file).
The Air Pollution Control District invites teachers to apply for
"Care for Our Earth" grants, a partnership program with the Santa
Barbara County Education Office, with support from the Southern
California Gas Company.
Teachers (4th-12th grade) can apply for grants
to conduct environmental service projects with students in one of
two areas: reducing energy use at schools; or cutting traffic and
pollution at schools.
Download
flyer with application
form (PDF), or apply online at
the Santa
Barbara County Education Office. The deadline for
applications is November 19, 2010. See below for links and
resources, and contact
Mary Byrd
at 805-961-8833 for more info.
Reducing energy use
Examples: Students could measure energy used by
particular appliances, and/or identify times when lights are left on
or equipment is left plugged in and turned on. Students could review
school energy bills, identify potential savings, and make
presentations to principals. Students could develop and institute an
energy-saving program. Grant funds could be used to purchase
measuring equipment, compact fluorescent lights, plug strips, or
supplies for charts and presentations, or for field trips or
speakers.
Resources:
Cutting traffic and pollution at schools
 Examples: Students could draw map of school and
neighborhoods and place pins on the map for development of "walking
school buses" or multi-family carpools. Students could do a
transportation survey and make recommendations to parent groups or
administrators. Students could plan a celebration of "Walk to School
Day" or "Bike to School Day."
Resources:
Wheel of Change
The District offers countywide classroom presentations for K-12th grades
and college classes with lessons on our atmosphere, air pollution, global climate change,
and what we can do to make a difference.
Presentations can be tailored to the particular focus and level of
the class, and can include a game using the Wheel of Change (pictured
here with APCD Public Outreach Intern Allison King).
To schedule a presentation, contact Mary Byrd
at the APCD at 961-8833. See presentations and teacher resources on
this page.
APCD also makes presentations for clubs and afterschool programs, and attends
science nights and other school events.
Safe Routes to School discusses efforts to encourage kids to bike or walk to school (or carpool or take
the bus).
Air Pollutants
& Your Health describes the pollutants of greatest concern in Santa
Barbara County, and their health effects.
Daily Air Quality Index
provides the AQI for
air throughout Santa Barbara County.
Ozone data shows levels of
ground-level ozone measured
at county monitoring stations, updated hourly on this website.
Toolkit to Reduce Diesel Emissions at
Schools provides resources for schools to hear about effects of diesel
exhaust pollution, and reduce emissions.
Air Quality and Air Pollution
Videos are available free in English and
Spanish from the California Air Resources Board, click on the title to go to
the order page on the state's website:
"A Breath of Air: What Pollution is Doing to Our Children," and
"With Every Breath: Health Effects of Smog".
Lessons and activities for K-12 from Project A.I.R.E. (Air
Information Resources for Educators) are available for download (free) from the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website.
Air
Pollution: What's the Solution?
activities from the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency curricula help students learn about
ground-level ozone.
The National Science Teachers Association
includes lesson plans and activities to teach air quality concepts - search
at NSTA Science Store under the
term of interest.
Air Care Air Quality Education Program
from Think Earth
includes a curriculum for middle school www.EDSpecialists.com.
The California Air Resources Board website's
Know Zone
page includes information on air pollution, lesson plans, and resources for
students: www.arb.ca.gov/knowzone/knowzone.htm.
Alternative transportation
Safe Routes to School
Lesson Plans for
the Classroom , developed by Marin County teachers, includes
plans for
multiple grade levels. (For more on the Safe Routes to School program locally, see
this page.)
For more information on local programs encouraging alternative
transportation, see Traffic Solutions' webpage here:
www.trafficsolutions.info.
Additional alternative transportation resources and links are on
this page:
www.italladdsup.gov/resources/
Car Care for Clean Air
The National Safety Council's
Cleaner Cars Module
encourages responsible car care habits for future drivers. Fact sheets and other
resources are also available on this page of the agency's website:
www.nsc.org/ehc/airqual.htm.
Community events such as Earth Day offer an opportunity to
showcase environmental education projects.
Shop teacher Mike Shallenberger (right) was honored with an air
pollution education grant from the APCD and the Santa Barbara County
Education Office. He and his students
at La Cumbre Junior High School in Santa Barbara converted a diesel Mercedes to run on
100% waste vegetable oil from a local restaurant. The students added a
second fuel system to the car, with a tank in the trunk for the
vegetable oil, a filtering system, and a hot-water circulation system. Said one student: “Before
this project, I never knew that a car could run on vegetable oil.
I learned a lot about how cars work, too.” The project was showcased at
the South Coast Earth Day Festival. For information on countywide Earth
Day events, see this page.
The CREEC Network (California Regional Environmental
Education Community Network) has information about environmental education
resources for teachers, including a Resource Directory for Region 8 (Santa
Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, and Kern Counties). See www.creec.org/region8.
 US EPA's Office of
Environmental Education - Kids' page, teachers' page, regional programs,
students' page.
School Health page from California Air Resources Board - environmental
health conditions at schools and resources to reduce pollution.
How
Your Lungs Work (American Lung Association)
UCI Science Education Programs
Science education programs for teachers and students developed by UC Irvine.
Rocky Mountain
Institute pages for students and teachers on energy.
Also see the Students and
Related Links pages on this website for additional
links to air pollution and other environmental resources.
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