We had chosen the subject of Trees and Elephants and how important it is to conserve the woodland forests for the conservation of elephants and the supporting environment. We engaged in direct conversation with the Mahout community to build a dialogue of understanding how elephants can play a role culturally and through natural history.

In the first phase, 17 students from the US as part of the ClicaAbroad workshop were taken to two elephant camps in Karnataka State and they spent time documenting the fascinating life of the Mahouts surrounding the National park. Due to the conflict with school holidays, they couldn’t be present for the opening of the global town hall event.

Here is a writeup on the workshop in the media:

• http://expressbuzz.com/search/with-love-from-ny/380993.html
• http://expressbuzz.com/states/karnataka/studying-mahouts%E2%80%99-life-through-eyes-of-children/385301.html

Later I took a group of 35 school children from Sri Vani School in Bangalore to the surroundings of Nagarhole Tiger Reserve to a local school COPS in Gonikoppa to interact with them and also experience the forest, elephants and surrounding biodiversity. I am enclosing some of the write ups from the students on their experiences and the images.

Write-ups and Letters (Adobe PDFs):

• Connecting Technology and Conservation
• My Days with Nature
• My experience and learning
• The day when I opened my eyes towards the elephants
• Trip to the hottest hotspot of the Western Ghats
• A report on our visit to Coorg
• A report on wildlife educational trip to Coorg

As a child, I never dreamed that someday I would buy a bottle of water in an airport. What commodities will be marketed next? Fresh air? Aerated soil?

Natural products obtained without monetary costs from healthy ecosystems are part of a bountiful harvest called natural capital or ecosystem services. It includes resources (air, water, fish, oil, minerals, etc) as well as living systems (coral reefs, wetlands, rain forests, etc).

An amazing feature of ecosystem services is that they function while we sleep: Streams purify water by flowing over rocky surfaces; earthworms aerate our soils without the use of fossil fuels and heavy machinery; forests produce oxygen, medicines and energy from sunlight. Even more amazing is the fact that these ecosystem services are free – but only if we leave portions of the landscape alone to function naturally.

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• High-tech tables bring museum exhibits to life (WRAL.com)
  Two tables with responsive surfaces display deeper detail about specimens in the Museum of Natural Sciences new Nature Research Center.
• Nature Research Center is dream come true for museum director (WRAL.com)
  Betsy Bennett, director of the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, has been working for years to open a new wing focused on scientific research and interactive exhibits to bring people closer to science and nature.
• Workers prep for Nature Research Center opening (WRAL.com)
  Almost 200 people worked feverishly Thursday to prepare the new wing at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences for its grand opening Friday evening.
• A New World (YouTube.com)
  The Daily Planet, a new spherical theater at the Nature Research Center of the North Carolina Museum of Science in Raleigh, receives its globe markings.
  
• NC Museum of Natural Sciences – Nature Research Center (ABC11.com)
  Heart of Carolina Perspectives
  

I want to bring in this great example of informal science and climate education — the new Nature Research Center wing of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.  Director Betsy Bennett and Center director Meg Lowman (of “Canopy Meg” tropical forest fame) have magnificently brought active science, art, photography, the skills of museum architects & designers, sounds, and even food and drink together into an immersive and engaging learning experience.  My portfolio of images from the opening of the Center last week is now up at  http://www.braaschphotography.com/NCmuseum/index.htm The museum website is http://naturalsciences.org/

Also my app  Painting With Time: Climate Change is now available for iPhones as well as the iPad.  We added a slight charge so we could do more with the app and give half the proceeds to Union of Concerned Scientists.  Link to the app on Apple Store is  http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/painting-time-climate-change/id519699889?mt=8 We are very interested in making this platform more useful to educators and welcome ideas and examples of how it is being used.

• New research center opens to public (technicianonline.com)
• Opening of Nature Research Center draws 70,000 visitors (newsobserver.com)
• The long-awaited Nature Research Center is finally open (newsobserver.com)
• Museum hosts 24-hour celebration of science (wral.com)
• Nature Resource Center opens to public (technicianonline.com)
• Final touches put on NC science museum expansion (wral.com)
• Nature Research Center plans block party for 24-hour grand opening (wral.com)

This video contains excerpts from the documentary film “Church Forest” by Peter Eliot Buntaine & Greg Vander Veer. Find out more here: http://www.churchforest.com

RALEIGH, N.C. — Budding young scientists will soon have something new to explore in Raleigh – the new Nature Research Center (NRC).

The center makes up the new wing of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. It’s been a decade in the planning and two years under construction.

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