This American Land will showcase Albany Option’s bioswale Water Quality and Infiltration Improvement Project. A swale is a low-lying piece of land that’s wet or marshy at least part of the year. A bioswale is a specifically designed landscape that uses native plants to cut down on water pollution.

AOS students are planting sedges, camas, Oregon grape and other varieties of native plants and grasses behind their school to soak up and break down chemical compounds in the runoff from nearby roofs and parking lots.

Click here to read the Albany Democrat Herald article about the filming of Albany Options School’s bioswale project.

The CWR project, which is still in process, is a 2-3  month in-school Residency, providing urgently needed school cafeteria food packaging waste reduction, recycling, and composting education in the Title One PS 307 Brooklyn elementary school that has limited resources. The primary project goal is to increase school cafeteria solid waste diversion rate to over 80%, by empowering students to be the agents of change. CafCu facilitates student stewardship training and leadership opportunities, an interdisciplinary Eco-arts Make Change Messaging workshop for 4th – 5th graders, experiential cafeteria recycling, composting and reduction education; and assistance for the entire school community. Project outcomes will be used to develop content for CafCu’s CWR Toolkit, a multimedia “how to” guide for NYC public schools on cafeteria garbage reduction, which will be shared as a free resource for all schools.

It’s Your World…What are you doing to make it a Better Place?

How are you being a steward of the earth and partaking in environmental initiatives to better your community?  To enter the Earth Day 2013 Competition, we want you to share details about an environmental project that you are currently working on, or one that you will initiate now. Tell us about your environmental project by writing a two (2) page paper about the idea, the process, its impact, and how it will affect the future. In addition, we want you to get creative and supplement your paper with a work of art. The art supplement can be in the form of a painting, drawing, video (no more than 3 minutes), collage, or song that highlights your project. Get creative!

The deadline for submission is Earth Day on Monday, April 22, 2013. Please send all submissions to EarthDay@nshss.org. We are excited to receive your submissions!

For more information click here.

11th Annual Earth Day Kids Fest
SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2013

Hosted by the Captain Planet Foundation and the Chattahoochee Nature Center

Presenting Sponsorship by Macy’s Foundation

Join us in this planetary initiative as we join together locally in 2013

ATLANTA – January 7, 2013 –The 11th Annual Earth Day Kids Fest (EDKF) hosted by the Captain Planet Foundation (CPF) and the Chattahoochee Nature Center (CNC) is Saturday, April 13, 2013 from 10am to 3pm. This year’s theme is “Healthy Kids, Healthy Planet”!

EDKF is a highly-motivational action packed and FUN Eco-Event where children and youth learn how to become great stewards of the planet we all call home.  Through engaging hands-on activities and live performances, kids are given the power to lead the way in preserving and protecting our natural resources and biological diversity. Held on the grounds of the Chattahoochee Nature Center, this exciting, family experience is brought to the community by the Macy’s Foundation as presenting sponsor with the City of Roswell, and the Atlanta Journal Constitution also sponsoring.

The day will offer a fantastic array of “edutainment” to engage and entertain families.  Start the morning off with a handshake and photo opportunity with the world’s first and only eco-superhero, Captain Planet! Laughing Pizza is excited to appear at the festival and to bring their power packed musical performance on stage. And things will get a little wild with live native animal presentations by CNC!  Look for much more excitement this year as the planning is underway to provide an entirely new experience for attendees.  You’ll always enjoy the face painting and canoe paddling on the pond, but don’t be surprised to see some new famous faces. A green Eco-Village marketplace will provide guests a place to peruse an array of earth-friendly household goods and ideas to green both homes and businesses.  Numerous local organizations will be on hand to help attendees explore eco-themes and get in the spirit to Be a Planeteer!  Bring your old cell phones and corks to recycle and check back about what else you can do to participate in the local Earth Day action.

Admission is: $6 for Child/$10 Adult/$7 Seniors 65+/$7 Students 13-18/ Kids 2 and under FREE.  Ride a bike from home to receive free admission!  Please carpool as parking is limited, but a complimentary shuttle bus service from St. Francis School near the corner of Willeo/Azalea and Highway 120 is available.

For more information on this annual family-friendly event, please contact Rebecca Gilbert at r.gilbert@chattnaturecenter.org, 770-992-2055 x 236 or the Captain Planet Foundation, 404.522.4270 or You may also log on to www.captainplanetfdn.org or www.chattnaturecenter.org for more details.

About Chattahoochee Nature Center

Chattahoochee Nature Center (CNC) is located at 9135 Willeo Road in Roswell, Ga., and can be reached by phone at 770-992-2055 x 228. CNC is dedicated to introducing people to the ecology of the Chattahoochee River watershed and works to provide a learning environment that allows people to better understand their impact on the natural world and make informed decisions. Please visit them online at www.chattnaturecenter.org.  

Here’s the deal: from April 1 – April 30, CPF must prove our capacity to fundraise by securing $5,000 from 40 different donors through the GreaterGiving.org website. Here’s where you come in: share our message on social media, forward this webpage, or shout it from your roof-top- whatever you do, spread the word! Click Here to log on- right now- to do your part today. Give $5, give $25, give $500- every small (or large!) amount counts. We’re counting on YOU to help us make a positive difference this Earth month- GO PLANET!

“We don’t really think about food sources any longer. Kids for the most part think that carrots come out of a plastic bag.”

-Leesa Carter (Executive Director of the Captain Planet Foundation)

Learning Gardens provide many opportunities for kids to learn science, math, history and language art in the context of a garden. Including understanding how food gets to their plate.

Follow the links to hear the interview with Steve Goss, on Morning Edition WABE 90.1FM and Leesa Carter. She gives an in-depth look into the Captain Planet’s Learning Gardens.

Full version of Learning Garden interview
Shorter version of interview

Click here if you’re interested in installing a Learning Garden at your school.

Saturday, March 16 Captain Planet participated in the 131^stAtlanta St. Patrick’s Parade. The annual family-friendly parade, aimed at celebrating the city’s Irish culture and history ran along Peachtree Street, from the intersection of Ralph McGill Boulevard and Peachtree Street, to Marietta Street in Five Points.

Alongside Captain Planet two local Girl Scout Troops and students from Crawford Long Middle School joined the celebration by handing out seed packets to the parade attendees. The seed packets were filled with okra, bush beans and squash are a great way for the Atlanta community to learn about the Captain Planet Foundation’s Learning Gardens Program. Planting directions were on the seed packets in order to aid people in starting their own backyard or urban garden.

The Parade was staged by Atlanta St. Patrick’s Parade Inc. an outgrowth of the 155 year old Hibernian Benevolent Society of Atlanta’s St. Patrick’s Parade. They donated all of the proceeds to the Captain Planet Foundation’s Learning Gardens Program in order to introduce more schools to outdoor, hands-on education.

To learn more about the Captain Planet Foundation’s Learning Gardens Program click here.

Captain Planet have been invited again to the White House Easter Egg Roll taking place Monday April 1, 2013 on the South Lawn of the White House. The day is full of fun activities that will help educate families on smart ways to incorporate healthy eating and exercise choices into their daily routines.

Click here to see the full list of characters invited to the Easter Egg Roll this year.

Saturday, March 9th at the Georgia State Capitol Captain Planet participated in Lt. Governor Casey Cagle’s 3rd Annual Be Healthy Georgia Day. Captain Planet raced in the Mascot Trot and showed his moves in the Mascot Dance-Off.

Roy Neill (Healthy Kids Georgia Program Director), Leesa Carter (Captain Planet Foundation Executive Director), Lt. Governor Casey Cagle

Lt. Governor’s “Healthy Kids Georgia” program was formed in 2010 to address the epidemic levels of childhood obesity in Georgia and the serious physical and emotional consequences of the problem, the program encourages schools to partner with their local communities and the Healthy Schools program to confront the childhood obesity crisis by implementing health and wellness programs in Georgia’s schools.

Captain Planet Foundation (CPF) has been partnering with the Lt. Governor’s office to add the CPF Learning Gardens Program to their efforts to bring healthy fruits and vegetables to school children around Georgia – and Dole Foods, Kendeda Fund, Publix Supermarkets and SCANA Energy have committed funds to put Learning Gardens into schools around metro Atlanta.

Laura Turner Seydel

February 14th Valentine’s Day, Captain Planet Foundation and Chair Person Laura Turner Seydel joined a worldwide movement to end violence against women and girls. Atlanta’s men, women, and children danced in a flash mob demonstration downtown in Woodruff Park choreographed by Debbie Allen for One Billion Rising.

Atlanta participants met Thursday morning at the Georgia Capitol steps for a press conference featuring Rev. Dr. Bernice King, legendary choreographer Debbie Allen, SPANX founder Sara Blakely, conservation activist Laura Turner Seydel, civil rights icon Evelyn Lowery, Bishop Barbara King of Hillside International Truth Center and Rev. Dr. Gerald Durley, formerly of Providence Missionary Baptist Church.

Click here to read and see slideshow from the Atlanta Business Chronicle 

Click here to see 11 Alive video from Atlanta & Company of Laura Turner Seydel and One Billion Rising Atlanta Director Nikki Noto discussing “One Billion Rising”.

Rev. Gerald Durley, Laura Turner Seydel and Rev. Dr. Bernice King