Students from Full Circle Nature School presented information they have learned about soil and water health and conservation to the Piedmont Soil and Water Conservation District Board during its recent meeting. Students shared information they gained over the course of a several months long unit investigating “The Importance of Water.” During their study the Soil and Water educational staff helped kids perform estuary assessments and demonstrate storm water runoff impacts on waterways. The students presentation included information on using worms to create healthy soil amendments, investigating and evaluating stream health, understanding the issues creating by storm water runoff and the ongoing concerns of contaminating fresh water sources through pollution via energy production. According to a press release, the students also presented a list of concerns they would like to Board to help bring to light with the community they serve. The list was generated in a student’s round table discussion held at the end of their unit of study.

“The list included some of the following statements: We want: our children to have safe and healthy environment, future generations to have clean water and healthy food that is grown with respect to ecosystems and safe for us to eat,” officials said in the release. “Students also expressed things they would like to see happen to impact better care for our natural resources and the future in their community: More needs to be done to hold factories and business accountable for polluting our environment. The mining industry is necessary, but mountaintop removal is unacceptable. We can make energy from renewable resources like solar and wind. Better education programs for the public need to be supported.”

The release cited that students also shared some of the emotional reactions they have had during the unit: “The way people are treating the environment makes us feel: Disappointed in the people that have allowed this to happen; Angry, horrified and disgusted with the adults that put profit before the environment; Worried about animals and people living with pollution that is causing them to be sick and Worried that future generations will not have a safe healthy world.”