PBC Reflects As Earth Day Turns 50!

“The environment is where we all meet; where all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share.” —Lady Bird Johnson 

In the 50 years since the first Earth Day was held in 1970, much in our world has changed. Yet, we still haven’t figured out how to replace clean water, clean air, and clean soil as foundations of healthy communities. Since our planet’s health is directly connected to the health of all living things, Princeton-Blairstown Center has long been committed to sharing care, education, and stewardship for our shared home. On this Earth Day – which is taking place as a natural phenomenon upends modern life as we know it – we chose to focus on the ways PBC continues to strive for positive planetary impacts. Here is a sampling of our current sustainability initiatives in our ongoing efforts to be better neighbors to all fellow Earthlings. 

Sustainable Agriculture/Garden Programming 
-Ron Franco, Sr. Program Manager  
In celebration of Earth Day 2020, I wanted to take a meandering stroll down a path of gratitude!  

Throughout my four-year tenure at the Princeton-Blairstown Center (PBC), I have seen our lovely garden grow from just a mere plot producing some veggies to a fully interactive “classroom!” Over the past several seasons, PBC Staff including Chef Bob, devoted Program Managers, and enthusiastic Facilitators have transformed a simple plot of land into an environmental hub of curiosity and learning!   

As a Program team, we have devoted time and energy to creating thoughtful and engaging garden activities and initiatives for our participants. During Summer Bridge 2019, the garden was quite lively, filled with nature knowledge shared through captivating STEM and Literacy lessons facilitated by our talented summer staff.  

roN fRANCO WORKS WITH a leader-in-training IN THE pbc gARDEN IN SUMMER 2018.

Students are encouraged to explore the natural environment of the garden through activities like Mystery of the Food Cycle, which investigates the path our food takes to get from farm to plate, or The Superhero Veg Head Symposium, which entices youth to use their imaginations, have fun, and build team while creating a Vegetable Super Hero!    

Last season, the PBC garden produced more than 375 pounds of nutritious, naturally-grown fruits and veggies that were harvested and brought to share in Egner Lodge Dining Hall. Students were able to eat the food they harvested, and it was a pleasure to provide a Garden-to-Participant-Plate experience to our students and staff. As a bonus, scraps from the dining hall are also composted. The compost is then used to enrich our garden soil, which helps to create as closed-loop a system as possible on our Campus. 

Currently, we have 100 spring transplants in the ground including broccoli, kale, Swiss chard, lettuce, cauliflower, and cabbage. We also recently donated 55 pounds of kitchen scraps (that otherwise would have gone directly to a landfill) to a local homesteader to feed his family chickens!  

This Earth Day, I am infinitely grateful for the opportunity to work with new and fellow staff, as well as new and returning students, to help foster a brave generation of Earth Stewards and Shepherds. 

Environmental Education 
Newly revised for 2020, PBC is excited to offer five curriculum-aligned programs for students featuring inquiry-based, hands-on science learning. Each program combines outdoor exploration with STEM- and SEL-reinforcing activities to help students engage more deeply with both science and the scientific method.

Three months of intensive work by our Program staff created a comprehensive curriculum guide for our facilitators, offering multiple learning extensions for older or younger students, indoor and outdoor expansion activities, as well as a meticulous list of applicable NY and NJ Science Standards to help teachers identify which programs will best suit their students’ learning journeys.

All program topics were selected with a sharp focus on the experiential, hands-on learning that PBC can provide. We are looking forward to sharing our Forest Ecology – Plants, Forest Ecology – Animals, Stream Science, Sustainable Living: Gardens and Soil, and Sustainable Living: Energy programs with students as soon as our Blairstown Campus is reopened! 

Renewable Energy 

WATER FLOWS OVER THE BASS lAKE DAM at pbc.

Solar: PBC’s solar panels were installed in 2007, and in 13 years have produced more than 100,500 kilowatt hours of energy and helped us avoid over 70,000 kilograms of CO2 emissions! There is even a real-time monitoring page that allows visitors to check in on the latest energy-generation statistics, and chart how productive the panels are on any given day.

Geothermal: The newest addition to PBC’s suite of sustainable energy initiatives, 4,900 linear feet of antifreeze-filled tubing was sunk to the bottom of Bass Lake during renovations to Danielson Lodge in 2019. Stored at depths below 10 feet, the liquid inside the tubing maintains a constant 50-degree, year-round temperature, which is then circulated to hyper-efficiently heat or cool the building. The most economical of all geothermal system designs, this setup burns zero fossil fuels for heat, and releases no pollutants!

Hydroelectricity: In 1984, with the help of the Princeton University alum Walt Hallagan ’79 and his dedicated group of hydro helpers, the Center added a hydropower generation system at the base of the Bass Lake Dam that generated between three and four kilowatts of power daily under optimal conditions. Recent multi-year reconstruction efforts on the dam necessitated changes to the design of the system and turbine. In 2020, PBC hopes to return the hydro generator to operational status once water flow patterns over the dam are fully restored.  

Virtual/Distance-Learning Resources 

At this unprecedented moment, with our Earth experiencing an extended pause from the action-packed hustle and bustle of modern human life, PBC is offering a wide range of virtual programming and online content to help you connect with nature and celebrate our shared planet. Join us on our Facebook page on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 3:30 pm to catch our latest virtual learning videos or Facebook Live features, which will continue to be offered as long as possible during our Covid-19 Campus closure. Our entire Program staff are working and learning together (while social distancing, no less!) to create these informative, fun, and engaging environmental education and social emotional learning lessons. We hope you will join us for the journey!