2012 Earth Week Wrap-up

Shedd Aquarium’s 2012 Earth Week events were a great way to celebrate our blue planet.

On Tuesday, April 17, Shedd partnered with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District to promote an easy water-saving home tool: rain barrels. Students from Gompers Fine Art Option painted colorful scenes on more than a dozen 55-gallon rain barrels. Some of the barrels will be donated by MWRD back to the school.

April Fish of the Month: Pacific Cod

Your seafood choices can have a big impact on the health of our oceans and lakes – so make sure they’re positive ones! Every month, Shedd’s Right Bite team highlights a sustainable seafood option that’s both good for you and our planet. The Fish of the Month for April is Pacific cod.

Teacher Feature: Underwater Robotics

When Stephanie Hoerner was a first-year teacher, she wanted a unique way to engage her eighth-grade students. Stephanie had attended Shedd’s Underwater Robotics professional development program, in which she built her own remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and used it to conduct field research. She adapted this program for her students, to give them an interactive learning experience.

Winter Adaptations: Smallmouth Bass

Just like many other animals—including us—smallmouth bass have developed behavioral patterns that help them to get through icy midwestern winters, triggered by changes in light and temperature. Research from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources suggests that smallmouth bass throughout the species northern range in Canada always begin migrating from their summer habitat one week after the autumnal equinox. This clockwork behavior may be connected to a light-sensitive part of fishes’ brains called the pineal gland.

Wreath-Cycled Challenge Winners

In Shedd Aquarium's recent wreath-cycled challenge, local classes worked together to create wreaths made of recycled materials were displayed as part of Shedd’s holiday décor. The participating teachers, students and their families were also invited to a special event on Dec. 22 to celebrate their projects and participation! Enjoy photos of the winning wreaths in seven categories:

Overall Winner: Learn Charter School

December Fish of the Month: Oregon Pink Shrimp

Santa Claus is comin’ to town—what will be on his “nice” list this year? Mr. Claus and Shedd Aquarium support seafood that is abundant, well-managed and caught using ocean-friendly fishing gear. Shrimp is standard holiday fare, but the vast majority of these crustaceans arrive on our plates with significant sustainability challenges. December’s Fish of the Month, Oregon pink shrimp, is an exception and can be found on Shedd’s “best choice” list for sustainable seafood.

Teacher Feature: Freshwater Ecology Program

Last summer, Elmwood Park High School biology and physics teacher Matt Lazzarotto was accepted into the freshwater ecology program, one of Shedd's weeklong professional development programs. Shedd partnered with Minneapolis-based Wilderness Inquiry, an outdoor education company, to host 10 kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers from across the country. Matt and the other educators spent a week camping and kayaking on Lake Superior near Bayfield, Wisconsin, using the same techniques as park researchers to investigate the health of different aquatic ecosystems.

Shedd to the (coral) rescue!

This week Shedd Aquarium took part in a rescue operation in the Florida Keys that combined military precision with extreme environmental sensitivity to save more than 1,500 coral colonies and fragments from destruction. That’s no surprise because the request for assistance in saving the corals came from the Naval Air Station Key West and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Meet Chuck Knapp: Conservation Scientist

Dr. Chuck Knapp, Shedd’s director of conservation and research, has been one of Shedd’s most active ambassadors for conservation for nearly 20 years. Anyone who has been on one of Shedd’s iguana research expeditions knows Chuck and his passion for West Indian rock iguanas. Since the early 1990s, he has been a champion of the critically endangered iguana species that populate remote islands in the Bahamas.

Each island or cluster of tiny cays (pronounced “keys”) has its endemic species; Chuck has concentrated on the iguanas of Andros and the Exumas chain. In addition to his months-long fieldwork, Chuck has gone into settlement schools and community meetings to raise local awareness of—and pride in—the unique iguanas and foster a desire to conserve them. His long-time collaboration with the Bahamas National Trust, a conservation organization, resulted in the creation and expansion of a marine park that encompasses the lizards’ dwindling habitat. He was also instrumental in developing an international action plan to ensure the protection of the iguanas on Andros.

November Fish of the Month: Rainbow Trout

U.S.-farmed rainbow trout, a mild, almost nutty-flavored fish, is on Shedd Aquarium’s best-choice list for sustainable seafood.

Today more than half of our global seafood supply comes from aquaculture, or fish farms. While many of these operations are not only unsustainable but also a source of serious environmental contamination, aquaculture can also be done “Right Bite right.” And Shedd supports farms that practice environmentally friendly methods.