August 5, 2017:
Seventh walk of our 4th season!
Unlike our other walks, we started our day off at noon! Thankfully, it was overcast and it wasn’t too humid, making it a great weather for our walk on Ecology. After waiting for all of our families to sign up and take a quick quiz, Cappy and Alicia gave a lesson about why it is important to think about how we effect the environment around us. The cycle is simple. All humans inhabit the Earth and use resources it provides us, such as water, air, wood, and etc. However, we also share this Earth with other living organisms such as trees, plants, animals, fungi, and many many more. Depending on how we humans act, it effects the natural habitats and living things around us. This could help or prevent the natural processes that restore clean water, clean air, food, and other resources. So, we have the obligation to learn and protect our Earth for the continued well-being of everyone and everything.
An easy way to see if our environment is healthy is to look at the organisms that are most vulnerable to environmental changes. This means that organisms that are more vulnerable will decrease in their population rapidly once the environment changes, making the entire food chain or the natural process unsustainable. Today, we observed this by helping the Randall’s Island Park Alliance with their fish count. By counting how many fish of each species are in the East River, we can make judgments about how policies and projects have been effective and the next step to take in creating a positive change.
So, we started our day by walking from Poor Richard’s Playground on 109th street and 3rd Avenue. From here, we walked down 109th street to 1st Avenue. We proceed onto the Wards Island Bridge on 102nd street. On Wards Island Park, we took a break and had a picnic with spaghetti, chips, guacamole, and all kinds of fruit! Once the fish counting started, our families headed down toward the waterfront, put our wader boots and suits on, and helped the Randall’s Island Park Alliance count the fish in the East River!
Stats
Date: June 29th, 2017
Adults:
Children:
Total:
Miles: 1.5 miles
Walking Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 4 hours
Calories: 187**
Co-leaders: Judy Lee, Alicia
**http://www.strava.com
Walking 2.0 mph, slow