Resources for Activity 5: Green Space

Overview:
In this activity, students investigate green infrastructure and native plant communities at the neighborhood, community, and regional scales and then explore the dual needs of accommodating population growth while protecting green space and native plant communities.

Student Pages:
Tall Tree Tales
Case Study - Greening Baltimore One Block at a Time
Earth & Sky: Up on the Roof
Green Inventory
Case Study - Greening Maryland: Connecting the Dots

Websites Referenced in Activity 5:
American Factfinder (http://factfinder.census.gov)
American Forests (www.americanforests.org)
Green Map (www.greenmap.com)
Envision Utah Implementation Toolbox (www.envisionutah.org/implementation_toolbox.htm)
The National Arbor Day Foundation (www.arborday.org/arborday)
Global ReLeaf (www.americanforests.org/global_releaf)
Baltimore County Greenways, Water Trails and Protected Lands (http://dnrweb.dnr.state.md.us/download/greenways/atlas/ba_greenwway.pdf) Greenways (www.dnr.state.md.us/greenways)
National Urban Tree Deficit(www.americanforests.org/graytogreen/treedeficit)

Earth & Sky Radio Correlations
This activity can be supplemented with related Earth & Sky radio shows that you can download for use in your classroom.
Learn about the PLT and Earth & Sky Initiative.

Searchable Databases
Place-Based Resource Database
Case Study Database

Additional Resources
My Community, Our Earth: Geographic Learning for Sustainable Development (MyCOE) is designed for youth to develop their own projects using a vast array of free on-line resources including: a student project guide, GIS software, gallery of past projects, access to maps and data world-wide, and a pool of expert mentors. The student project guide is also offered in Spanish. For teachers and parents, the site contains a downloadable flyer and poster and is complete with an instructor’s guide.

Green Cities: A Guide to Sustainable Community Development, an official document of United Nations World Environment 2005, is Harmony Foundation's latest publication. Green Cities offers a thorough overview of sustainable community development, inspiring success stories, and resources and tools for establishing priorities and taking action.

Alliance for Community Trees: Supports grassroots efforts dedicated to urban and community tree planting, care, conservation, and education

Earth from Space - This Smithsonian Institution website provides students (and teachers!) access to views of conditions and events on earth that are nearly impossible to document from the Earth’s surface. The site proves interactive; explaining how satellite imagery is gathered and used to better understand the world around us.

World Wetlands Day - February 2, 2008
Free educational materials are available to help you celebrate World Wetlands Day, sponsored by Ramsar Convention.  This year, the theme - "Healthy Wetlands, Healthy People" - aims to emphasize that the strong relationship between healthy functioning wetland ecosystems and human health underlines the importance of management strategies that support both the health of wetland ecosystems and the health of humans. Materials for 2008 include a poster illustrating key topics and a CD_ROM containing PDF versions of thematic fact sheets
Read more about the topics that will be covered in the thematic
fact sheets.

"What Happened to Our Village Green?"  Article by C.E. Hunt, Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Virginia aerial photos over time and with school locations – aids educators in leading meaningful watershed experiences with their students.

The Orton Family Foundation provides a growing bank of case studies, tools, web resources and success stories that they hope will help inspire, inform and improve the way communities engage in land use planning.