Celebrate 60 Years of Earth Observations with NASA
Why Does The GLOBE Program Observe Clouds?
Clouds are a major component of the Earth’s system that reflect, absorb, and scatter sunlight and infrared emissions from Earth. This affects how energy passes through the atmosphere. Different types of clouds have different effects, and the amount of cloud cover is also important. Clouds can change rapidly, so frequent observations are useful to track these changes.
And while NASA has numerous satellites orbiting Earth, their GLOBE Observer program needs your help (as Citizen Scientists) to make their data more complete. This is where NASA’s GLOBE Observer App comes in – allowing you and your patrons to photograph clouds and record sky observations and compare them with NASA satellite images.
Celebrate 60 Years of Earth Observations with NASA
In its 60 year history, NASA has spent a great deal of time looking outward to find and learn about planets in our solar system and beyond. This Earth Day, however, our focus turns to the numerous NASA missions that study the planet that we live on and help us understand the Earth’s complex, dynamic systems. Join STAR Net, Marilé Colón Robles (NASA) and Jessica Taylor (NASA) to learn how you can celebrate Earth Day with NASA with programming ideas for children, teens, and adults!
Libraries have long been in the reduce-reuse-recyle business. Way before the first Earth Day celebration kicked off 46 years ago, we’d been resource-sharing and reducing consumption for generations. Earth Day is Friday, April 22nd. Don’t miss this opportunity to show your community how the library honors and sustains our most precious resource, our planet.
Here are 5 things you and your library can do to celebrate Earth Day this and every year!
1. Partner with your local community supported agriculture (CSA) and be a food pickup location, like the Valley Cottage Library.
2. Engage your community to participate in a regional litter cleanup of parks and roads, like the Mundy Branch of the Onondaga County Public Library.
3. Craft using recycled and found materials, like the Daniel McHugh Library in Piermont, NY.
4. Work with your administration and board to sign a resolution like the Climate Smart Community Library Pledge the Kingston Library ratified.
5. Help the Earth Day Network reach their goal of 3 Billion Acts of Green by reducing e-waste, beginning a composting project or ending use of disposable plastic in your library.
from Rebekkah Smith Aldrich's Sustainable Libraries
Earth Day is an annual event held to raise awareness and promote action. There are literally thousands of events held world wide to exemplify the commitment communities, cities and countries have to making the earth healthier.
In some communities libraries not only participate in Earth Day events and activities but lead them as well.
In 2011, the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library hosted the Green Fair: “get your green on!” Love it.
TSCPL brought 20 community organizations together, they challenged the community to come up with 150 Green Ideas, the first 200 attendees at the fair received a free lilac bush, there were demonstrations by master gardeners and energy conservationists, a soil tunnel, gigantic wind generator propeller, live music, eo-crafts for the kids, and animals – including the humane society who brought pets for adoption. (I don’t even know what a soil tunnel is! I must learn more!)
The library provided a bit of reader/watcher advisory as well (GREAT list of books and movies to promote at your library as well!)
The library published a “Green Report Card” on itself prior to the event to show they had a serious commitment to the issues: “Does the library practice what we preach – I mean aside from being Topeka’s No. 1 book recycler?”
This wasn’t just an Earth Day celebration. It was an expression of the library’s role in the community as educator, collaborator, partner and leader.
Now while the TSCPL event may sound a bit bigger than you were thinking, no worries. There is a whole spectrum of ideas out there from small to large to choose from, here are just a few.
Pledge your activities, encourage your patrons to do the same and advertise your commitment to The Earth Day Network’s “billion acts of green” through the library!
