Danny's Story

  Sky Center ! 

 I have really enjoyed my two amazing weeks at Earth Camp. I have learned so much about the environment and what we can do to save it. Earth is truly a beautiful place, and I want to keep it that way.   One other aspect of the Earth is the amazing things above it. Space! The Sky Center on top of Mt. Lemmon is a great place to go if you are interested in the greater things above us. When the camp went there I was so amazed at the massive size of space and the beautiful stars, planets, and galaxies. Looking up at these massive planets in the sky made me feel so insignificant, like a drop of water in the ocean, but then I realized I was making a difference in the world, by trying to save it. The Sky Center was very generous and let us use their 24 inch telescope. All the objects in the sky were enhanced, and vivid in color. Unfortunately, we couldn't see all the objects in the sky. That was due to light pollution. Light pollution is a very normal thing here in Tucson. Light pollution is when excessive amounts of light stay in the sky and make it brighter than it should be. There are many ways to stop it. For one putting lights in areas where they are needed, not where they look good. Another main way is to turn off lights when not in a room, or not at home. If you take a little time to hit a switch, you are making a difference. I have decided to make a change in my life to stop light pollution. I am going to get rid of extra lights that are not needed around the house, I am also going to turn off ALL the lights in a room when I am not in it. 



 Crawfish Fishing ! 

The first day we arrived on Mt. Lemmon was quite hectic, but it was calm when we were standing in front of Rose Canyon Lake. Amy told us we were going to catch Crawfish, and invasive species to Arizona. Invasive species means they are a non native species of plant or animal to the state and may possibly harm other species. We spent an hour or so getting our feet dirty and catching crawfish. There were A LOT of crawfish in the water. My group alone caught 33 crawfish. It was quite sad to see all of the lake have crawfish in the water, harming the environment. Although, when I helped remove some of them, I had a great relief I helped lower the population.


NOAO Game 
 

NOAO is a astronomy company that explained light pollution to us. They also talked about Sea Turtle Eggs. When Sea Turtle Eggs hatch they have no mother and must make it to the ocean. They use the moonlight to guide them to the ocean. Although, with light pollution the turtles sometimes mistake other street lights with the moon, they usually die. As a main example, we played a game where we were baby sea turtles. There were other people holding flashlights that represented lights. We didn't know which one was the moon, so we had to guess. Many of us went to the car dealership light and died. It proved to me that light pollution doesn't only hurt humans, but the beautiful animals around us. 


Biosphere 2 ! 
  Biosphere 2 was a stop on our way to Mt. Lemmon. I had been there before but for some reason this experience was different. We walked into the Lower Savanna. The long strands of grass flowed up in the breeze from the "Ocean". it was very calm to stand on the walkway and look down onto the other environments there. It felt like all the regions of the world, were smashed into one. I feel like this experience was different from the rest because I understood how easily climates can change, as an example in Biosphere 2. Biosphere 2 is also a very good place to understand all the different environments in the world, and see their differences and similarities.


Camp out at Mt. Lemmon

The camp out at Mt. Lemmon was very fun !  It showed me the true beauty of the forrest. We played lots of games, my favorite being chocolate river. We were umbaloompas from Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and we had to cross the river, but we couldn't touch the chocolate. So we had to use marshmallows and step on them until the other side... but if you stepped off and no one was on the marshmallow... it would flow down the river and be gone forever!!  I learned a lot of teamwork from that game. It was truly an unforgettable experience.