Suggested Resources
Suggested Podcasts
WJCT – ADAPT
In the ADAPT podcast, host Brendan Rivers talks with six people who are working to help Northeast Florida adapt to sea level rise and climate change. Guests include Florida’s first-ever Chief Resilience Officer and an environmental psychologist who teaches people how to talk about climate change. The ADAPT podcast comes from WJCT Public Media in Jacksonville, Florida, which is also behind the digital magazine ADAPT, at adaptflorida.org.
American Rivers – We are Rivers
“We Are Rivers” takes it’s listeners on a journey to tell the stories of rivers and the important relationship they have with us. It explores the culture and history of the west and our nation by talking with adventurers, writers, water experts, and artists about their connection to rivers, and how they impact their lives. The podcast series covers a wide array of topics across the Colorado Basin and other rivers across the country and includes topics such as climate change, environmental justice, and human impacts on river health.
Suggested Videos
‘The Science of…’ – The St. Johns River
Highlight, explain, and celebrate nature, technology, science, and scientific endeavors in North East Florida. Explore the natural world as well as interconnected people, research, business, and history. And of course, explain some scientific concepts that matter to North East Florida.
Lost Springs – Margaret Ross Tolbert
Experiencing a landscape scarred and abandoned by government failure, an artist must come to grips with the impending loss of her subject matter: a collection of majestic freshwater springs exposed only for a short time before being smothered and forgotten beneath waters held back by an aging and purposeless dam. Every three or more years, the water behind the Kirkpatrick Dam (aka Rodman Dam) in north-central Florida is lowered, exposing an environment that is still raw with both tragedy and hope. This lowering of the water known as a ‘drawdown’ allows more than 20 springs to cough back to life for a short few months before the weight of the water comes back and smothers their flow again.The film explores themes of loss, wonder and experience in nature as Tolbert joins local and regional experts on a boat trip up the long-fabled Ocklawaha River to witness this newly-revealed, transient landscape and to find the lost springs of the Ocklawaha.
Visit our Free the Ocklawaha page to learn more about the drawdown and what you can do to get the Rodman Dam removed
UF IFAS Extension: Bite-Sized Science
These 30 minute pre-recorded webinar series are presented by UF/IFAS Extension Florida Sea Grant agents. Topics range from animals to plants to global issues such as climate change.
Ted-Ed – Nurdles Quest for Ocean Domination
TED-Ed is TED’s youth and education initiative. TED-Ed’s mission is to spark and celebrate the ideas of teachers and students around the world. Everything we do supports learning — from producing a growing library of original animated videos , to providing an international platform for teachers to create their own interactive lessons, to helping curious students around the globe bring TED to their schools and gain presentation literacy skills, to celebrating innovative leadership within TED-Ed’s global network of over 250,000 teachers. TED-Ed has grown from an idea worth spreading into an award-winning education platform that serves millions of teachers and students around the world every week.
Watch ‘A Plastic Ocean’ on Netflix to discover the world’s oceans brimming with plastic waste and investigate pollution’s environmental impacts.
Toxic Puzzle: Hunt for the Hidden Killer – Trailer
TOXIC PUZZLE is a medical and environmental detective story where documentary filmmaker Bo Landin follows ethnobotanist Dr Paul Alan Cox and his scientific team around the world in a hunt for the hidden killer. The pieces come together in a toxic puzzle where cyanobacteria in our waters become the culprit. Are these organisms, fed by human pollution and climate change, staging nature’s revenge by claiming human lives?
Walking on Water – Jenny Adler
Bringing the aquifer to life, this place-based environmental education program is designed for 5th graders in Florida. The Floridan Aquifer provides drinking water to 92% of Floridians, yet it is invisible to most people. Beneath our feet, the state’s most significant water supply is often forgotten, yet it is threatened. The goal of this program is to better connect the next generation to Florida’s unique freshwater resources and help these future caretakers understand where their water comes from and why that matters. Explore the wonders of the Floridan Aquifer. With support from the National Geographic Society, Dr. Jenny Adler developed and implemented an environmental education program called Walking on Water, which immerses young Floridians in their drinking water through underwater photography and the first 360 virtual tour of the Floridan aquifer.
Watch ‘Water’s Journey: Hidden Rivers of Florida‘ and ‘Water’s Journey: The River Returns‘ to track the path of water through the Floridan aquifer.
Suggested Reading
During this time of virtual learning, please support you local bookstore in finding the below books. Call ahead to have them pull the book and then go pick it up. This will maximize your social distancing but also will continue to support local businesses who are struggling to make ends meet. Many of these books are available as ebooks through big bookstores such as Barnes and Noble.
All Ages
The Young Naturalist’s Guide to Florida by Peggy Lantz
National Audubon Society Field Guide to Florida
Lower Elementary
Over in a River by Marianne Berkes and Jill Dubin
My River by Shari Halpern
The Raft by Jim LaMarche
Upper Elementary
Trouble on the St. Johns River by Jane Wood
Middle and High School
River of Lakes: A Journey on Florida’s St. Johns River by Bill Belleville