Eco-teers – Beach Clean Up & Pollinator Project

Eco-teers June Projects

Beach Clean Up - Sat June 10th, 2023

at 4414 N. Surf Road in Hollywood, Florida. (MEEC at the Carpenter House).

On Saturday the Eco-Teers participated in a collective Beach Cleanup/Meet and Greet where we partnered with the Marine Environmental Education Center (MEEC) and worked alongside other organizations such as Youth Environmental Alliance (YEA) and Nova Southeastern University (NSU). We had a booth set up in order to educate the public on Flamingo Gardens and what the Eco-Teers do as an outreach conservation and preservation group. We had a total of 9 volunteers show up with 7 of those being already existing members of the Eco-Teers and managed to collect a total of 28.27 pounds of garbage from Dania Beach.

Pollinator Project - June 11th, 2023

at Southgate Meadows, Tamarac

Backstory: Sue Chalmers (a friend of Flamingo Gardens) has received a donation and a plot of land to create and care for as a “meadow” on the NE corner of Southgate Blvd and University Drive in Tamarac, Florida. Her motto for this project is “Mow to Meadow: Build it and they will come” meaning if we spend our time building a miniature ecosystem we will see a positive result in the way of providing homes and nutrients to other species of insects and birds along with nurturing the growth and bloom of other native plants. For this Project, Sue and I discussed quite a few ways the Eco-Teers can help build upon the reconstruction of this grassy area. Some of those ideas include digging plots, labelling plots of land, removing invasives, planting natives, spreading seeds, and other educational applied experiences. This project is beneficial to the Eco-Teers in that they will learn in a hands-on environment and the process will provide multiple projects for them to take part in and see the results of. 

On Sunday June 11th, about 7 Eco-Teers contributed to the Meadow project by removing invasive species (plants, weeds, etc.), planting native flowers, collecting bidents to spread on another project date that will, in time,  attract butterflies to the meadow. They spent time learning about different species of butterflies and flowers such as Gulf Fritillary butterflies and Sulphur butterflies. They removed 5-10 pounds of invasive weeds that were running through the garden and around our native plants and planted 9 Mexican Poppy (yellow-prickly poppy) or known by its scientific name as “Argemone Mexicana”.

If you would like to join the Eco-teers and help make an impact in our community against pollution and climate change, contact Ashley at [email protected] or call 954-473-2955 for more information.

SW 36th Court Canal Clean Up

12 Eco-Teers gathered at Flamingo Gardens, May 6th, 2023, from the morning hours of 9AM to 12PM. Some were Flamingo Gardens volunteers and others were new Eco-teers members who applied through their science teachers over at their respective high schools (i.e. American Heritage and Miramar High School). 

Their purpose was to collect garbage out of our SW 36th Court canal adjacent to Flamingo Gardens. Eco-Teers spent three hours cleaning up the canal and additional parking on the corner of South Flamingo Road. The volunteers found plenty of bottles (plastic and glass), paper, damaged car tires, etc. A total of 232.22 pounds of garbage was removed that day! 

UPDATE!

On May 20th the Eco-teers conducted another canal clean up. As a group of 14, 61.77 pounds of garbage was collected from and around our canals during the hours of 9AM to 11:30AM. Bringing the total to 293.99 pounds of trash collected out of our local canal. Below are some photos from that day!

If you would like to join the Eco-teers and help make an impact in our community against pollution and climate change, contact Ashley at [email protected] or call 954-473-2955 for more information.

 

Eco-Teers In Action!

With only a few days into the month of March, the Eco-teers have already dedicated much of their time in restoring our coastal habitats and spreading climate change awareness.

1000 sea oats were planted at Fort Lauderdale Beach in partnership with the Youth Environmental Alliance (YEA) in an effort to restore coastal sand dunes in South Florida. Sand dunes provide habitat for several coastal species and protection from storms. Not even the blazing heat could have stopped Ezequiel, Lori, Rami, Han, Sohail, Kevin, Christopher, Laurent, Madison and Faith from getting the job done.

In downtown Fort Lauderdale, some of the Eco-teers spent their day at the Science Festival hosted by the Museum of Discovery and Science. Tiffany and Tori provided a climate presentation discussing the latest climate science, impacts and solutions as part of their climate training provided by the CLEO Institute. 

The science festival also allowed students to compete in the build a better world challenge. The challenge allowed students to design solutions in cutting waste and boosting efficiency in the fight against climate change. Ines, Giuliana and Karen participated in the challenge and won first prize for their project on harvesting rainwater to reduce carbon emissions released from local water treatment plants.

Way To Go Eco-Teers!

Join in on the next projector to become a member please email:

[email protected]