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| Benefits of Eco-Friendly Schoolyards |
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(June 23, 2008) --
Schoolyards can be used for more than just playtime. They also can serve as an excellent outdoor learning environment that teaches kids about smart growth and ecology, says Dick Gaylord, president of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.
NAR has teamed with the Smart Growth Network to sponsor the Sustainable Schoolyards display at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C.
“REALTORS® build communities, and supporting education is an important part of that,” Gaylord says. “The Botanic Garden's Sustainable Schoolyard illustrates outdoor classroom concepts, ecological teaching tools and creative play ideas that can be easily replicated in any schoolyard in America.”
The schoolyard display shows ways in which a typical elementary school can use its schoolyard as an outdoor classroom that can serve virtually any subject and educate students in nutrition, healthy living, and community building.
The colorful schoolyard features a kid-friendly walkway surrounded by vegetable plants known as an “Edible Garden.” It also has a solar-powered fountain in a pond that uses the sun's energy to circulate the pond water, helping the fish breathe and making it difficult for mosquitoes to lay eggs.
The Schoolhouse Rooftop is designed to channel rain water to a nearby barrel, where the water is stored for later use in the garden to give plants the moisture they need to grow.
Visitors can also learn about the principles of ecological design, interconnected natural systems, natural and recycled building materials, renewable energy systems and local wildlife habitats.
The exhibit is open and free to the public through October 13, 2008, at 100 Maryland Avenue, SW in Washington, D.C.
Visit REALTOR.org to learn more about Smart Growth.
— REALTOR® Magazine Online |
| Reprinted from REALTOR® Magazine Online (http://www.realtor.org/realtormag), June 23, 2008 with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved. |
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