Environmental management teaches pollution prevention to area students

  • Published
  • By Scott Moorman
  • 96th Civil Engineer Group
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Convincing kids that cleaning up dog poop and turning off their bedroom light might be a hard sell. Showing them how pet waste can infiltrate their favorite beach and how wasted electricity produces smog might not make it any more exciting, but it may lead to a cleaner environment.

"It's important to teach children about their impact on the environment at a relatively early age so that they can develop good habits now that will carry on into their adult lives," said Russell Brown, 96th Civil Engineer Group Water Quality Program manager. "We like to focus on stormwater pollution prevention since we have such beautiful natural water resources to protect in our local community."

To teach fourth and fifth grade students how their everyday activities can have an impact on water and air quality, members of the 96th CEG's Environmental Management Division and environmental support partners from Science Applications International Corporation visited several Okaloosa County elementary schools.

SAIC environmental engineer Katherine Eichling began the presentation with the interactive air pollution simulator Smog City2. Available through www.airnow.gov, the program demonstrates how individual choices and environmental factors such as weather, emissions and population affect the quality of the air we breathe.

Projecting a cityscape onto the classroom wall, Mrs. Eichling manipulated the computer generated town's wind speeds, air temperature and cloud cover to illustrate how those factors increase or decrease the Air Quality Index. As she added emissions-generating factories to the landscape and vehicles on the streets, the students watched the AQI rise, setting off potential health warnings.

"We don't have a lot of pollution producing industries in our area," Mrs. Eichling said. "However, wind can transport air pollution from other cities and affect our local air quality."

She told students turning off their bedroom light and unplugging electronics when not in use were not only ways to conserve electricity and save their parents money, but it also helped reduce emissions from energy plants.

Pam Brown, a fourth grade teacher at Annette P. Edwins Elementary in Fort Walton Beach said Eglin's air quality presentation was an age-appropriate way to help students understand the concepts of costs and risks to society and the environment posed by non-renewable energy sources.

Next, students crowded around a topographical environmental landscape made of molded plastic. Travis Adams, SAIC environmental scientist, demonstrated how rainfall on the models residential, industrial and agricultural areas plays a role in water pollution.

Dripping food coloring on the roadways to simulate oil spills and sprinkling cocoa powder to imitate soil and pet waste, Mr. Adams squirted water from a spray bottle onto the seaside ecosystem.

"Watch how rain picks-up the dirt and dog business and flows into your favorite swimming hole," Mr. Adams said to the students. "Now let's say you get splashed in the face and get a mouth full of that water."

Cleaning up after a pet and soaking up oil and chemicals around the yard were simple ways students were told they could do to prevent storm water pollution that can travel for miles.

"I didn't even know stormwater was that important," said Keyshaun Hawkins, an Edwins Elementary fourth grader. "I learned that when dogs use the bathroom and you don't clean it up, it can get into the water and kill fish."

In its third year of presentation, the 45-minute lesson was taught to approximately 190 students in the local area.

"The presentation aligned nicely with the benchmark in which we teach that reusing, reducing, and recycling natural resources improves and protects the quality of life," said Mrs. Brown.

Following the class, Mr. Brown gathered the audience around a storm drain located six feet from their class room door. As he thanked the teachers and students for allowing him their room, he displayed a "No Dumping, Drains to Bay" marker Eglin uses to identify its storm drains. He asked the group to stick the same blue and silver medallion on their storm drain as a reminder for others.

"Many people still mistakenly believe that rain water entering stormwater inlets go to a treatment plant," said Mr. Brown. "The fact that stormwater may reach area creeks and bays untreated makes it that much more important to protect our stormwater drainage systems. We have some very bright students who were quick to pick up the concept of keeping potential contaminates from mixing with the stormwater runoff generated by the abundant rains showers we have in this area."

"I think the students came away from the presentation understanding in greater depth that it is up to each of us, in even the most basic ways, to preserve the Earth's natural resources," said Mrs. Brown. "Eglin's presentation enabled the students to grasp that concept in an interactive and therefore very meaningful way."

SAIC provides contract support for the 96th CEG Environmental Management Division and provides expertise in environmental compliance, pollution prevention, engineering, natural resources and outreach.