by Ingrid Zabel

Last updated April 22, 2020

Celebrate the 50th Earth Day with us and learn about the wonders of the natural world, past and present. With so many challenges—habitat loss, plastic pollution, and climate change among them—Earth Day is a call to action, and action often starts with appreciation for and education about our world.  We hope you enjoy this sample of the educational resources we have to offer, and that they inspire you to care for the environment we all share.

Essay

Videos

See also Episode 2 and Episode 3 of Fossils@Home on PRI’s YouTube channel. After watching, you can impress your friends with your knowledge of tabulate corals and left-handed snails!

Phenology is the study of seasonal and cyclical changes in life, and springtime is when some of those changes we welcome the most are happening: buds are breaking, leaves are emerging, flowers are blooming. Want more phenology? See Trees Awake! #2, #3, and #4 on PRI’s YouTube channel.

Online Exhibits

This exhibit lets you see into the past by telling the story of one specific site along Cayuga Lake at two different times: today and 300 years ago. . Learn about life in and around Cayuga Lake, how it has changed in recent history, and the implications of these changes for the future of the lake.

Learn@Home Activities

Coming THIS SATURDAY (APRIL 25, 2020):

From Saturday April 25 @10AM to Sunday April 26 @10AM., the Cayuga Nature Center is sponsoring a Social Distance BioBlitz in honor of the 50th Earth Day. Join us from wherever you are social distancing and contribute to our understanding of seasonal change in the Tompkins County area biosphere. We are calling all nature observers to photograph plants and animals in your neighborhood using the iNaturalist app (available for your smartphone--visit your favorite app store). iNaturalist is a crowd-sourced online application, so if you don’t know what your species is, no worries, someone else will! With your help we hope to get a snapshot of the seasonal variation from our surrounding hilltops down to the shores of Cayuga Lake. All ages, all experience, all locations are welcome – please join us!

Sign up for iNaturalist here: https://www.inaturalist.org/

Tutorials on using iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/video+tutorials

You’ll find lots of activities on our Learn@Home STEM Education page.  Here are a few examples: