Earth Day, Sustainable Prisons Project Style

Posted by undergraduate research associate Sarelle Caicedo.

Earth Day is here! People are often very creative in the ways they celebrate, and there seems to be no exception with Washington Corrections Centers. The Stafford Creek Corrections Center (SCCC)  held their Earth Day celebration event on April 14, 2010, and the Sustainable Prisons Project was there.

About 10 different environmental organizations and businesses set up information tables in a large visiting room in the Corrections Center.  This was the 3rd annual Earth Day at SCCC, and it was a great success. The inmates and the staff had very positive responses to the various information tables.

Greg Falxa explains a "bat condo," one of many constructed at Stafford Creek

Greg Falxa explains a "bat condo," one of many constructed at Stafford Creek

Greg Falxa, a bat biologist at Cascadia Research, came to the event with Sarah Clarke and Sarelle Caicedo, Sustainable Prisons Project student Research Associates. Greg will be giving the May scientific lecture on bat biology and conservation on May 12 at SCCC, so this visit enabled him to promote his upcoming talk with inmates and staff and build enthusiasm. Inspired by the growing success of the bird box project, inmates are now constructing bat boxes (known by the inmates as “bat condos”), and Greg was able to display a recently built bat box.  

Project Research Associates Sarelle Caicedo and Sarah Clarke with SCCC Superintendent Pat Glebe

Project Research Associates Sarelle Caicedo and Sarah Clarke with SCCC Superintendent Pat Glebe

Pat Glebe, Stafford Creek superintendent, was present, continuing to motivate and steer Stafford Creek’s efforts to be a leading practitioner of sustainability. 

Next week, on April 28th, Graduate Research Associate Carl Elliott and undergraduate assistant, Sarelle Caicedo will be giving a joint lecture at SCCC, and they are very excited! The topic of the talk will be prairie plant conservation and conservation of the Purple Martin and Western Bluebird. This talk has been of keen interest to he inmates because they have been involved in hands on projects concerning both prairie plants and these two species of birds. Carl and Sarelle have worked together in the past, propagating plants with The Nature Conservancy, and feel that their joint talk will go well. Stay tuned for details next week on how it goes, and happy Earth week!

5 Comments:

  1. Maíra

    Olá, estou encantada com este maravilhoso projeto! É incrível pois escrevi um projeto pouco menos ambicioso, porém com objetivo de tornar um presídio onde ministro aulas de artesanato com material reciclado, em SUSTENTÁVEL. A

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  2. Maíra

    Olá, estou encantada com este maravilhoso projeto! É incrível pois escrevi um projeto pouco menos ambicioso, porém com objetivo de tornar um presídio onde ministro aulas de artesanato com material reciclado, em SUSTENTÁVEL. Aqui no Brasil os presídios tem condições sub humanas. Estou ministrando aulas no presídio regime semi aberto, para internos q já cumpriram mais da metade da pena. É um trabalho gratificante! Mas além da oficina, estamos com projeto de tornar aquele lugar um presídio sustentável. gerenciando resíduos, com compostagem, horta, captação de água da chuva, aquecimento solar feito com garrafas pet… nossa, muito parecido com o que vocês já fazem. Desculpa estar escrevendo em português, mas com as facilidades do tradutor do google tudo fica mais fácil. Consegui entrar no site e no blog e conhecer um pouco mais deste trabalho desenvolvido aí. Caso possamos ficar em contato, deixo aqui meu e-mail e blog (www.reciclagemearte.blogspot.com) Parabéns! Nosso Planeta precisa de pessoas assim!

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  3. Sarelle

    From:Maira

    Hello, I am delighted with this wonderful project! It’s amazing since I wrote a little less ambitious project, but with the goal of becoming a minister prison where craft classes from recycled material, in SUSTAINABLE. Here in Brazil, prisons have sub-human conditions. I am teaching classes in the prison. It’s a rewarding job! But beyond the workshop, we are the place to make the project a sustainable prison: managing waste, composting, garden, rainwater catchment, solar heating done with our pet bottles …very similar to what you already do. If we can stay in touch, here I leave my email and blog (www.reciclagemearte.blogspot.com) Congratulations! Our Planet needs people like you!

    Hi there Maira,
    Thanks so very much for writing us and for your support of the project! We are encouraged to see other sustainability minded projects occurring around the world. What kind of classes are you involved in down there in Brazil? Once again, thanks for your time and support!

    Sarelle Caicedo
    Sustainable Prisons Project

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