Townsman, Thursday, August 9, 2001 The Wellesley Townsman
The Wellesley Free Library’s Young Scientists Program teaches children to discover their backyards
By Beth Hinchliffe
“You know how you can start to be a scientist?” marine biologist Doug Hersh asked of the eager children in front of him.
“You can go out into your very own backyard and just look. Really see the wonders that are there. It’s so exciting to discover the world that’s right under your nose, that you’ve never taken the time to see. That’s how all scientists get started – studying what’s close at hand. What a great opportunity you have to develop an appreciation for nature by looking at the world of your own backyard.”
To prove his point, Hersh showed a collection of jars, each with its own curious inhabitants. “A half-hour before coming here tonight, I went into the yard and just collected all the little beings I found there,” he explained, as the children pressed closer to see the assortment of tiny alien beings.
“These are all in my yard?” one boy asked. Hersh, delighted at the interest and feedback, nodded. “You, too, can find about all the cool things bugs are and do.”
It was the last in this summer’s Young Scientists Program, an adventure into imagination and possibilities created and sponsored for the 12th year by the Committee for the Branch Libraries, organized this year by Maureen Selvidge.
This evening was a “two-fer,” featuring husband-and-wife scientists Hersh and Sarah Little, Wellesley’s Pesticide Awareness Coordinator. Together they led their enthusiastic audience on a trip into the world of bugs.
Hersh demonstrated his technique for capturing his specimens, saying “none of them are hurt, and after you’re through looking at them tonight, I’m going to let them go back into their world.” Wide-eyed with anticipation, the children peered through his microscopes, studied his jars, and accepted their assignment: to prepare insect data sheets on the inhabitants who share their yards.
“Bring in 10 finished sheets to the Natural Resources Commission office at Town Hall, and you’ll get a prize.” Hersh promised.
Hersh, who has Ph.D. from the B.U. Marine Biology Program at Wood’s Hole, and who is an expert in salt mash and seaweed ecology currently working on the Boston Harbor Cleanup for the MWRA’s environmental quality department, raised his audience’s awareness of the life in their yards.
His wife took that a step further with her urgent message about the threat to the balance of insects’ fragile system. “Bugs are very complicated,” Little said, “By understanding what they are and what they’re doing, we can use good bugs to get rid of the bad ones in a good, natural way, without poisoning ourselves, or our pets or our water.
“My job as Wellesley’s Pesticide Awareness Coordinator is to teach everyone in town about the hazards of pesticides –all pesticides- and about alternative methods we can use to keep our town and all its life forms healthy, “ she continued. Then she fired questions at the students: “Are pesticides safe if used as directed?” “No!” a chorus of voices called out.
“That’s right,” she said, pleased. “No more than dynamite is safe if used as directed.”
“Do pesticides stay where you put them?” Unsure, a boy guessed yes.
“No, they don’t,” Little explained. “That’s why we don’t know who or what they’ll hurt. They travel into the air, drain into our groundwater, get carried on the bottom of our shoes, they end up everywhere, hurting everything – the good bugs as well as the bad, and us, too.”
Little, who has a Ph.D. from the MIT Earth and Planetary Sciences Department, left her career in oceanography to have a family. She became increasingly concerned about the high amount of pesticide use in Wellesley, and when the town created the position of Pesticide Awareness Coordinator, she jumped at the opportunity to teach, to share, to make a difference.
She distributed pesticide-free signs to proudly wave on non-toxic lawns, and handed out leaflets on finding organic solutions to lawn and yard problems. Wellesley’s Pesticide Awareness Campaign is spearheaded by the Wellesley Health Department in partnership with the Natural Resources Commission, Department of Public Works, Wellesley Cancer Prevention Project, Charles River Watershed Association, Needham Garden Center, Boston Tree Preservation, Wellesley Bread and Circus, and Strata.
For questions, or to receive copies of the detailed free information Little has compiled about safe alternatives to pesticides, visit the Natural Resources Commission at Town Hall; call 431-1019 x294; e-mail nrc@ci.wellesley.ma.us; or visit the website at www.ci.wellesley.ma.us/nrc/pesticide.
“Tell your parents what you’ve learned here tonight,” she urged her young audience. “Go home and find what life there is in your yards, and learn how to protect that balance – and yourselves.”