Earth Day at the Memphis Zoo

April 16, 2011

Community Project:

The class team consisted of Patricia Whitley, Cathy Wilhelm, and Berlinda Williams-Strong.

Earth Day at the Memphis Zoo.

To educate, conservate, and entertain zoo customers regarding animal and grounds sustainability.

The Players:

Goal:

Objectives:

• To serve as zoo information docents on April 16, 2011, Zoo Earth Day, for zoo visitors.

• To provide educational support for zoo visitors with three primary outcomes. Participants will:

* Gain additional knowledge regarding animal protection and extinction support* Receive information regarding zoo grounds sustainability* Obtain information regarding ways to maintain zoo (the earth’s) ecology

How We Became a Community

• Patricia and Cathy met at a University of Memphis “Discover Your Major Day” in October 2009.

• Berlinda and Patricia met in class in the Spring of 2010.

• Cathy, Berlinda, and Patricia met in a social setting in the Spring of 2010. Thus, a support team of colleagues was born.

• January 18, 2011, we decided to become a team for the sustainability project.

Choosing Our Project Topic

• Patricia chose the article by Packer and Ballantyne (2010), “The Role of Zoos and Aquariums in Education for a Sustainable Future,” as her class discussion board activity article.

• The team briefly brainstormed project possibilities and concluded that Patricia’s article prompted interest for further investigation and research.

• January 31, 2011, the Earth Day at the Memphis Zoo project was born.

• January 31, 2011, Cathy e-mailed a Zoo contact requesting an opportunity to participate in a community activity with an educational purpose during the zoo’s Earth Day event.

Steps of Organization1. Project team met in preparation for visiting with the Zoo officials to discuss the

project and how they will serve on February 17, 2011.

2. The project team met with Dr. Mullins Nelson, in person due to Skype technical difficulties, on February 17 to discuss our course of action and service campaign layout for the Memphis Zoo Earth Day project.

3. Team met Zoo officials, Pam Swanson and Bob Hamilton, on February 19, 2011 at the Zoo.

4. Zoo officials shared draft layout:

* Serve as temporary docents* Touch Carts were explained* Assignment locations were discussed* Zoo Earth Day official date was shared – April 16, 2011

Zoo Earth Day Event

• Team met at 7:00 a.m. for an early breakfast and to discuss the final plans for the day

• Met Zoo officials on Saturday morning, April 16, at 8:30 a.m.• Assignments were issued• Assisted preparing and learning Touch Cart information to present to Zoo visitors

Zoo Earth Day Event• Patricia and Berlinda assigned to SEAFOOD WATCH

Zoo Earth Day Event• Cathy assigned to the RAINFOREST

Observations1. Non-formal education took place for us, as volunteers, as well as the other Zoo

visitors.

2. There was vast diversity regarding ethnicities, cultures, religious beliefs, etc. From Christians to Mennonites were observed as being a part of the visiting crowd.

3. Everyone was interested in learning about the Zoo animals and Earth Day awareness.

Coursework ConnectionCommunities are not built of friends, or of groups of people with similar styles andtastes, or even of people who like the understand each other. They are built of peoplewho feel they are part of something that is bigger than themselves: a shared goal orenterprise, like righting a wrong, or building a road, or raising children, or livinghonorably , or worshipping a god. To build community requires only the ability to seevalue in others; to look at them and see a potential partner in one’s enterprise (8-9).(Dr. Barbara Mullins Nelson, January 28, 2011 discussion board).

• We are all responsible, consciously or unconsciously, for the earth and overall sustainability.

• We have to reframe from “modes of divine presence,” as described by Catholic monk Thomas Berry. In other words, we elevate ourselves to the position of “God” by treating the earth with no thought of outcomes such as depletion, pollution, or extinction (Loeb, 2010, p. 128).

Saving the EarthMaxi Priest Video – “How Can We Ease the Pain”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tec1uIWJ16I

Expected Impact:

• Healing the divide that exists• Triggers continuous learning• No n-formal education is encouraged• Fifty percent of visitors will take away additional information because of

awareness points shared

Saving the EarthRock at the Zoo

• Sums up the “community” relationship of humans, animals, and the earth as a whole.