On October 27, 2010, former and current Sustainable Prisons Project Research Associates Liesl Plomski and Jill Cooper attended the South Sound Science Symposium on Squaxin Island where they represented SPP’s Oregon Spotted Frog Captive Rearing Project at Cedar Creek Corrections Center in Littlerock, WA.
The symposium provided an opportunity to network within the South Sound’s scientific community and spread the word about the great success SPP conservation projects have experienced in the past year. Plomski and Cooper presented a scientific poster at the symposium describing the Project, garnering interest in the Project from symposium goers.
The symposium proved to be a great outreach and learning opportunity for Sustainable Prisons Project staff and event attendees. “It was wonderful to see the wide array of cutting-edge environmental work being done in the Puget Sound area,” Cooper said.
On October fifth in Gig Harbor, Washington, Olympia resident Dick Meyer walked through the security gates of the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW) headed for the visit room. “When I worked here thirty years ago,” he said, “they didn’t have all this security.”
The reason for his visit? To bring fair trade education to prisons through the Sustainable Prisons Project’s Science and Sustainability Lecture Series, a program geared toward scientific education and sustainable practices.
A former counselor for WCCW in the early 1970’s, Meyer left social work to become a small business owner in the Puget Sound region. The founder of Traditions Café in Olympia and owner of The Antique Sandwich Shop in Tacoma, Meyer currently uses his storefronts and free time to promote fair trade partnerships and awareness.
Guest lecturer Dick Meyer demonstrates a Tibetan singing bowl inside his fair trade shop in Olympia, WA.
“I view talking about fair trade and doing outreach as something that’s motivating for me to do. Whatever opportunity to engage people in talking about values and relationships is important to me,” Meyer said.
Each month, the Sustainable Prisons Project hosts guest lecturers in three of Washington’s prisons to speak with offenders and DOC staff about topics related to science and sustainability. Speakers include scientists, engineers, environmentalists, farmers, business owners, and community activists, with topics ranging from bear ecology to sustainability in poetry.
Seated in a circle with DOC offenders and Sustainable Prisons Project staff, Meyer began his talk with a brief history of the fair trade movement. According to the Fair Trade Federation, of which Meyer is a member, fair trade is an economic partnership based on dialogue, transparency, and respect. Fair Trade organizations seek to create sustainable and positive change.
Stories about various products, such as clothing and chocolate, stimulated an hour-and-a-half long discussion between Meyer and the offenders about the issues surrounding fair trade. Having brought sample items from his stores, Meyer demonstrated what fair trade products look like and how the average person can go about finding and supporting such partnerships. Nearly all the products were hand-made by women cooperatives in developing countries.
Through the Science and Sustainability Lecture Series, the Sustainable Prisons Project seeks to connect lecture participants to the larger world of scientific research and conservation while introducing offenders to educational and employment opportunities they may pursue upon release. A large part of this involves presenting on lecture topics that have relevancy and meaning to the offenders’ current situation as prison residents.
Meyer discussed the connection he saw between the women sitting with him in the prison and those working across the globe in conditions and economies that fair trade is trying to change. “The information is not readily available about how much the rest of the world has to work to survive,” he said. “And to a certain extent they can’t control their own destiny. The message is not exclusively, but predominately, about women, and to the extent women inmates can empathize and understand; I think that at least one part of it becomes a shared empathy.”
For more information about fair trade, visit www.traditionsfairtrade.com.
Posted by Graduate Research Associate Liesl Plomski
Offenders at Cedar Creek Corrections Center have been preparing their Oregon spotted frogs to be released in late September at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. In this process each frog must be weighed, measured, pit tagged, and photographed. Pit tags are little chips that are inserted under the skin which can be scanned to reveal an ID number. Following release into the wild biologists can recapture frogs, scan the tag, and identify individuals. Once they have identified an individual frog, scientists compare the frog’s weight and size prior to release with current weight and size. These measurements help the biologist assess the individual’s health and may provide an indication of their ability to survive in their natural habitat. If a frog has lost the pit tag, it is possible to identify them from their photo. Each Oregon spotted frog has a unique spotting pattern on its back. Preparing the frogs for release is one more way offenders at Cedar Creek are contributing to scientific research and assisting with the recovery of Oregon spotted frogs.
WA Dept of Fish & Wildlife Biologist Marc Hayes collecting data
Oregon spotted frog photo for identification post-release
Dr. Nalini Nadkarni received an Education Award from Washington Correctional Association for her innovative work as Co-Director of the Sustainable Prisons Project. The annual award recognizes “an individual or agency employed in academia, who has enhanced the success of corrections programs, or furthered the aims of corrections through excellence in education.” Established in 1913, the Washington Correctional Association (WCA) is a professional organization that serves as a forum for corrections. Nalini is honored to be recognized as the recipient of this year’s award, particularly as it highlights our continued effort to blend the lines between academia, science, and prisons.
Nalini at Washington Correction Association Awards
Posted by Graduate Research Associate Sarah Clarke
In September 2009 we kicked off a science and sustainability lecture series at the WCCW in Gig Harbor, WA. Included as part of a yearly Women’s Health Conference titled “The Mind, the Spirit, the Environment Maintained, Equals a Healthy Body Sustained,” our lectures there on Trees and Human Health as well as Toxics and the Environment started what has become a popular series for offenders at the WCCW. Now, 10 months into this series, we recently noted the diversity of presentations we’ve been able to offer at WCCW.
Sarah Clarke, Research Associate, speaks to offenders at WCCW at the conference held in September 2009
Each facility in the Washington Department of Corrections is a little different, and we adjust lecture series accordingly. From the start, staff and offenders at WCCW tasked us to find lectures that integrate the personal health aspects with the environmental aspects of sustainability. This unusual and challenging task has turned out to be very fruitful as it has led to a diverse mix of guest lecturers and topics.
Lectures have included such topics as Poetry and Sustainability, Yoga and Sustainability, Ethnobotany, and more traditional science and sustainability lectures like Nearshore Restoration in Puget Sound, Salmon in the Pacific Northwest, Beyond Waste in Washington State: Reducing Toxic/Solid Waste and Reusing Organic Waste, and Wolves: Endangered Species Ecology, Conservation, and Wildlife-Related Jobs. Future topics include Biology and Ecology of Brown Bears and Purple Martin and Western Bluebird Conservation.
Frequently during lectures we (SPP staff, inmates, and officers) reflect on the maxim “we will not fight to save what we do not love.” As organizers, we feel we have helped offenders not only understand the science of restoration, salmon, and wolves, but also to further their love of the plants and animals native to the Northwest. Offenders consistently show a deep level of curiosity as they ask insightful and unique questions, exhausting available Q&A time.
Posted by Graduate Research Associate Liesl Plomski
Cedar Creek Correction Center inmate, Charles Butts, recently completed a 2 credit research paper on photovoltaic cells with The Evergreen State College. Charles is our first incarcerated student to construct an independent learning contract through The Evergreen State College. Under the guidance of faculty sponsor, Peter Impara, Charles was able to author a paper on the history and current technology of photovoltaic cells. Charles has a background as an electrician and hopes to continue to study solar energy and to open his own business installing energy saving products upon his release. This accomplishment could not have been achieved without the support of Correctional Counselor, Marko Anderson.
Liesl Plomski (SPP Student & Staff), Charles Butts (offender and student), Peter Impara (Evergreen State College faculty) and Marko Anderson (Cedar Creek Corrections Center staff) celebrate as Marko finishes his coursework and receives college credits
Charles has opened to door for more incarcerated students to follow. An incarcerated student from the Washington Corrections Center for Women will begin an independent learning contract on recycling this summer, under the guidance of faculty sponsor, Karen Gaul. The Sustainable Prisons Project hopes to support more incarcerated students in the pursuit of sustainable knowledge in the future.
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, 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
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!
Inmates often communicate through “kites,” traditionally a slang term for any hand-written note passed among offenders or to the outside world. What used be only secretive scribbling has become a formal system of communicating ideas and feedback to correctional staff and partners in the Sustainable Prisons Project.
During all of our activities, we ask inmates to share requests in order to deepen their investment in sustainability. In July 2009, offenders at the Stafford Creek Corrections Center wrote the following kites to express what they would like to learn through our green-collar education programs (courtesy of Stafford Creek employee Ruth Walker, who typed and sent these notes to me):
“I would love to learn about: 1) Residential solar panels and windmills – operation, cost, maintenance; what can I learn now so I can run a business selling by installing systems after prison? 2) Automotive hybrid (electric) transmissions, how they work – again, how can I learn and train now so I can sell and install such after release.”
“I am kiting in regards to your request for lecture ideas. A couple I can think of are water waste and pollution and the importance of turning a light off or the tv and how saving this energy will help conserve by doing the small stuff.”
“Wind energy – from commercial to residential to rural residential. Covering various types of windmills available and their supporting systems. Need information on the various mills and contact addresses-mail, phone, websites in order to locate all the mills available for personal and commercial use. Also, info on what each mill is capable of powering on its own off the grid. Low energy consuming appliances that can be used with and without being connected to the grid. Such as hot water heaters, stoves, fridges, and entertainment systems. These should be separate events as to be able to adequately cover the items. They should also follow each other as hand in hand so to speak.”
“Carbon-offset industry eg. Tree planting to offset CO2
Wetland mitigation banking in Wash. State
Green commercial and residential construction
Green Publications (mags and books we can obtain to read)
Residential solar and wind turbine systems setup and costs
State and describe the big green nonprofits in WA State
The Greenest for profit companies in WA
Greenest modes for transportation people and freight/cargo
Eating healthier in prison natural/organic items on store? Allow 1 piece of fruit to be brought back from chain.”
“Discuss green business degrees. Traditional schools that offer accredited degrees through correspondence. Discuss certificates, Associates, Bachelors of PHD/Doctorate Programs. Maybe bring literature in. I received an MBA via correspondence while at SCCC, but wish it was a green MBA.”
“Green earth events suggestions. Water conservation techniques. Rain barrels, drip irrigation, green home water re-circulation systems; such as ponds with fish and plants, waterfalls, fountains used for aeration, cleansing and purifying used water from a home. Planters for growing herbs using grey water to water.”
“I was wondering, was Benj and Sara (multimedia consultants) going to come back and show us what they’ve created so far as to what they put on the web site? One idea would be to bring back those that have already been here to possibly expand on what they have reiterated already. This could be done in a two part event as to give each at least a half hr, with at least a half hr from 8-8:30 for questions.”
“Sewage disposable and treatment plants. Composting sewage, animal, mushroom, fish, wood waste etc. Warehouse Corp – wood waste, plywood and other wood waste manufactured products. Telephone/electric poles, fireplace logs from pulp, bark. Manufactured boards for houses and decks, fence post and boards, bolts and nuts, poles, recycling plastics. The destroying of farm lands for wall to wall urban housing and new roadways (instead of rebuilding existing roadways and bridges and rebuild them up above flood plains. Water systems for home usage, wells, springs and springhouses, cisterns, usage of rain water. Victory Garden and putting up storage of harvest. Off the grid home power vs. public power, wind, solar, water, generators, man powered, batteries. Finding many grants to buy farms, small business, tools, clothing etc. Insurance, medical, home, transportation, business.”
