Celebrating Earth Day

By NIU STEAM Instructors Newt Likier and Lindsay Van Geem

If you ask a kid what their favorite planet is, you’ll likely get a bunch of different answers—some of which might not even be in our solar system! But if you ask us, there’s no place like home – our favorite planet is Earth. There’s nothing like it, at least not in our neck of the universe, and we’re excited to celebrate our wonderful home on April 22, otherwise known as Earth Day.

The theme this year is “Invest in Our Planet,” which pushes for social unity in fighting against climate change, from big corporations right down to the everyday person. According to an EarthDay.org press release, human beings need to create “a 21st century economy that restores the health of our planet, protects our species, and provides opportunities for all.” 

That feels like a big mission, especially if you’re just a normal person trying to get by. But every little bit helps protect and preserve our planet. To take a step or two toward going greener, there are a couple things you can do at home: plant a garden and make a compost bin.

Here are our tips for starting your garden at home, and getting kids involved.

For your garden, we’re coming up on the perfect time to start planting. You usually want to wait until just after Mother’s Day before starting to avoid a late frost. Some plants that are easy for beginners and usually produce a nice crop are squash and zucchini, peppers, and potatoes. If you have kids helping you plant, talk to them about the environmental cost of food you can buy at the grocery store, especially if that food comes from very far away. How much gas does it cost to fly or ship a non-local vegetable fast enough so that it’s still fresh for purchase? Encourage your kids to help design the layout of your garden, and then let them have the first bite of the crop you produce. 

To push your garden further, use a plastic bin as a compost bin for daily kitchen scraps. If you add earth worms, they’ll help things along by eating your waste and producing healthy fertilizer. It might not smell very good, but your plants will thank you for the nutrition! For families looking for a bigger challenge, try building a compost bin out of lumber. This is also a great chance to talk about what happens to the stuff we throw away and get our learners thinking about recycling and waste management. 

Another way to get your learners invested and involved is at NIU STEAM’s summer camps out at the Lorado Taft Field Campus in Oregon, Illinois. We have two middle school camps out there this summer: Nature Studies and Survival Storytelling. Nature Studies has a focus on going green and connecting with our environment, while Survival Storytelling connects learners with essential low- or no-carbon footprint skills to survive the wilderness, and then asks them to write an engaging story about the experience.

Learn more at go.niu.edu/steamcamps!