Category Archives: Environment

Read and read some more

In a Nutshell, Philadelphia Parks Alliance

Children deserve to be celebrated and provided with safe, happy spaces to explore and learn new things! Reading stories and visiting nature are two great things to do!

Join Dottie as she reads “In a Nutshell” by Joseph Anthony, illustrated by Cris Arbo. Enjoy nature in the parks, and listen to spring peepers. (May 14, 2020, PWD blog.)

http://water.phila.gov/blog/phillyh2o-at-home-park-peepers

Photo: Shady Nook Creek in Cheltenham. Spring Peepers are by Pennypack Trails.

Hank’s Big Day, Tookany Taccony Frankford Watershed story time.

A New Normal

As of May 2020, we are all carefully considering our behaviors, in order to be healthy and safe. Here in Eastern Pennsylvania, the COVID-19 virus is a real and ever present issue. Stay home, wear a mask in public, stay 6 feet away from everyone. And while you are doing so, take care of the environment, and entertain yourself.

Finding a creative outlet at home is a great thing to do, and if it is up-cycling, that’s a bonus! Here’s a way to utilize paper from junk mail and turn it into beautiful handmade paper. 

While you are being extra cautious with hygiene, be aware that only toilet paper, and human waste are flushable. Please do not flush personal wipes down the toilet. These products are clogging sewer machinery and causing significant problems to the sewer treatment process. See why wipes don’t flush! 

Enjoy nature! Take a walk, garden, enjoy other people’s gardening efforts. At our home, irises are in full bloom. A couple of weeks ago it was daffodils. Below are a few photos.

Be well! 

There are 10 different types of irises in bloom in our yard this week

TTF Watershed Milestones Award

SC-thumbTookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership Inc (TTF) is charged with protecting and improving the quality of the water in our TTF watershed. The Second Annual Watershed Milestones Award Ceremony, held at  Philadelphia Water Department’s Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center  honored people, organizations, public agencies, and companies whose work improves the health of the TTF.

I’m thrilled to receive the Tookany-Tacony/Frankford (TTF) Watershed Association’s Watershed Educators Award for 2013. It is an honor to be working along with all of the others who are making a difference as we work to improve the health of our watershed.

Julie Slavet, Alix Howard, Dottie Baumgarten, State Representative Steve McCarter, PWD Commissioner Howard M. Neukrug
Julie Slavet, Alix Howard, Dottie Baumgarten, State Representative Steve McCarter, Philadelphia Water Department Commissioner Howard M. Neukrug

The honorees  include Denise Eiler, Watershed Educator from the Baldi School; Abington School District, Roots to Re-Entry (Pennsylvania Horticultural Society), and Abington Township Environmental Advisory Council as Friends of the TTF Watershed; Aliyah Patterson as TTF Youth Champion;  Cheltenham Township as TTF Watershed Municipal Leader; and The Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia as Private Sector Steward. Working across Municipalities and Townships, we are making a difference!

TTF arranged for each honoree to receive a Pennsylvania House of Representative Citation from our Representative. State Representative Steve McCarter, a neighbor and friend, personally gave the Citations to those of us in his District.

State Representative Steve McCarter, Dottie Baumgarten
State Representative Steve McCarter, Dottie Baumgarten

Extracted from TTF:

TTF recognizes Dottie Baumgarten for her passion and dedication as a watershed educator committed to improving the health and vitality of our watershed. She worked closely with Cheltenham Township, the Partnership for Delaware Estuary, and TTF to create and develop the Clean Water Partners program to educate and engage businesses on stormwater management.

Dottie is not your average environmental educator with the Philadelphia Water Department. Through her firm, Sustainable Choices, she shares her enthusiasm and knowledge at events and programs from tours to conferences, across the region. An active member of the Cheltenham Environmental Advisory Council, Dottie founded the Friends of Grove Park in Glenside. She teaches sustainability and gardening . . . at House at Pooh Corner in Germantown. *

* The Montessori School in Dresher, PA is also part of the my work, where I teach Sustainable Science. It is in the Wissahickon Watershed.