Investigating contaminant transport and environmental justice issues in a local watershed through service learning projects with Sierra Club Dr. Jennifer.

Investigating contaminant transport and environmental justice issues in a local

watershed through service learning projects with Sierra Club

Dr. Jennifer Houghton

Rhodes College

This course in the context of geology at Rhodes

All geology courses count as “science with lab” but currently only Environmental Hydrogeology also incorporates service learning

Service learning at Rhodes fits into a category described as “Participate in activities that broaden connections between the classroom and the world… to become engaged citizens, participating in the local community”

Geology courses offered but no department

Majority of students taking geology courses are non-science majors, remainder are Environmental Science minors (we don’t have a major yet…)

Beginnings and finding community partners: a circuitous story

Most interested in getting students doing real science:

summer before this academic year, approached several not-for-profit organizations around town

many dead-ends (why not USGS, DU, Nature Conservancy)

eventually Sierra Club responded positively

In the process, also contacted several schools to try and set up a community connection for working with school children (my second choice)

many more dead-ends (contacts from colleagues)

until a new teacher at Douglass High School very near to Rhodes was reaching out for her “Green the Block”event

Douglass is rapidly becoming a second academic family to me and has opened (and continues to open) many doors in the community

this was the key although I didn’t know it when I started that relationship

Obligation vs. Inspiration

I “inherited” this class already approved for service learning - was I up to the task?

Now I am trying both approaches (peer learning in the public schools and scientific data collection with Sierra Club) this semester and they mesh surprisingly well BECAUSE of the overlap in these components of the Memphis community

No longer a resident by-stander in Memphis.

Sierra Club project designed for this semester and being refined during this workshop:

A semester-long effort to collect hydrogeologic data particularly in the Douglass neighborhood (because it is close enough to campus) and record observations by community members that can be used by the local chapter of Sierra Club.

Memphis is home to one of only a few SC chapters in the US focusing on Environmental Justice:

Issue: Why am I not doing a placement/intern style service project?

http://www.sierraclub.org/ej/programs/

Chickasaw Group of Sierra Club:

Recent water-related issues in Memphis:

Chlordane (pesticide) pollution in local creeks and ponds where people (still) are subsistence fishing

history of Cypress Creek/Velsicol and N. Hollywood Dump/Pond

My initial plan:

Characterize this contaminant in the watershed as a lab during the semester.

Unexpected issue:

Not possible - policy regarding the necessary lab facilities at Rhodes (I have 1 research student working on this now but cannot process enough samples)

Probably a blessing in disguise…

Instead in the course:

Part I:

Students will be learning hydrogeology concepts and methods in the lab and the field but as part of a coherent characterization of water quality issues in local low-income, predominantly minority neighborhoods.

1. Soil infiltration rates in the field and with samples collected from near the homes of Douglass students (Results will be communicated back to those students and their families)

2. Grain size analysis and calculation of hydraulic conductivity of sample collected by Douglass students (Results will be communicated back to those students)

3. Characterizing and mapping runoff in the Douglass neighborhood, which is bounded by and drains into the Wolf River (I hope to have an opportunity for my

students to present these results at a community meeting, although these are not yet held regularly… a word here about Ms. Briggs and the gardens)

OTHER EFFORTS : water quality in the field, most likely along tributaries of the Wolf River because of proximity; characterizing groundwater input to a stream and measuring movement of bedload vs suspended load (results will be reported to the Sierra Club)

Part II:

Students will also be interviewing a broad segment of the Memphis population to document and map (using GIS) where people have been seen to be subsistence fishing in the City and the maps will be made available to Sierra Club to help them target their efforts.

After mapping, students will come up with a recommended sampling strategy in the event of future resources for study on contaminant transport to the “hot spot” fishing areas. (this may not be anywhere near the neighborhoods we have been working in though)

Photo-documenting in the field posted warnings against fish consumption

The other major hurdle:

Local chapter of Sierra Club meets once a month BUT agenda is set far in advance

They DO have a newsletter distributed to all TN members every other month so we will tap into that instead.

Our SC organizer will sponsor brief updates for us in each of the 3 newsletters (I am not a member)

We will keep our results and observations on a Wiki page online and direct members to keep checking back for updated findings during the semester. (Virtual connection to that community)

The main page of the Wiki is visible to anyone, but any other linked pages are password protected - student work is kept private and only final edits approved by whole class will be posted to main page. (Also will need a disclaimer about reliability of data and methods)

Getting Rita Harris involved.

Outcomes and impacts:

First trial is in progress…unknown

My goals for students:

1. more informed citizens (future voters)

2. more active citizens (pay it forward)

3. appreciation for interactions between human land use and environmental quality as it relates to surface and groundwaters (personal responsibility)

I also hope that students will feel part of this community by the end (is this realistic?)

Any advice for how to assess what impact the service learning component of the course had on students?