Crossing Boundaries

Lesson plan to calculate a Biodiversity Index using names in the phone book

Naturalists who capture their observations on videotape (or other digital media) are invited to publish their work online in short video-annotated stories.

Naturalists who capture their observations on videotape (or other digital media) are invited to publish their work online in short video-annotated stories.

The Environmental Literacy Council has been dedicated to helping teachers, students, policymakers, and the public find cross-disciplinary resources on the environment. An independent, 501(c)3 organization, the Council offers free background information on common environmental science concepts; vetted resources to broaden understanding; and curricular materials that don't tell teachers how to teach, but give them the tools to augment their own backgrounds - no matter what their current knowledge.

lessons and materials involved with carbon movement and mitigation

The mission of the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) is to work in partnership with indigenous people in conserving biodiversity, health, and culture in tropical America.

United Nations Environment Program homepage

Great video about Robert Glennon's new book "Unquenchable" and the increasing water crisis in the U.S.

This is a nice explanation that ties right back to Aldo Leopold's ideas about what good is nature? It's good in and of itself.

bad maps

From Cartastrophe Blog: "Yesterday evening, I was having a conversation with one of my roommates about Beaver Island, which lay in the north of Lake Michigan. It's a sizable chunk of land with some interesting history. It was, at one point in the 19th century, home to a kingdom inhabited by a breakaway Latter-Day Saints sect, until the US government facilitated the assassination of its eccentric ruler and the ejection of the Mormon settlers. While mentioning the island to my roommate, I pulled up Google Maps in order to show him where it is. Except it wasn't there. An entire archipelago, in fact, was missing from the map."

international electronic pen-pal connections based on topics including biodiversity

student created podcasts

Students consider sampling strategies that work best using virtual forests.

This has links for the regional maps used in activity 1 from August 25, 2009 Introduction to Bird Population Trends.

New York Nature Explorer is an online tool for finding out about the animals, plants and habitats in your neighborhood or area of interest. As a gateway to biodiversity information, it is intended for landowners, land managers, citizens, municipal officials, planners, consultants, project developers, researchers, students, and anyone else interested in the natural world. Nature Explorer currently contains information on birds, reptiles, amphibians, rare animals, rare plants, and significant natural communities.

Nature Explorer currently contains information on birds, reptiles, amphibians, rare animals, rare plants, and significant natural communities.

US ecoregions and impacts of climate change

fact sheet on how climate change affects birds

poster map of Eastern U.S. forests, protected lands, and risks

map of Eastern U.S. forests, protected lands, and risks

inquiry-based curriculum resources about wind energy, including potential impacts on wildlife