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Connecting with nature in New York City can be hard, especially during school hours.
But the Butterfly Project is working to teach kids about native plants and the role that beneficial insects, particularly pollinators, play in maintaining a healthy ecosystem—even in the city. The goal is to encourage kids to take part in planting and preserving native plants in order to create and support a healthy ecosystem for native pollinators.
Educators with the project use the Butterfly Project Pollinator Curriculum Guide (pdf) in local schools to teach students about insect pollination, to help foster a spirit of independent thinking and a concern for the natural world—and create potential future advocates.
The Butterfly Project helps kids understand something even many adults don't: that pollinators "are indicator species. If they thrive, we can be sure that our air, water and soil are thriving also." And that holds true even in urban environments like New York City, which was once home to plenty more species and with proper care, could be again.
More about butterflies:
Butterflies Not Coping Well With Double Whammy of Climate Change and Habitat Loss
New Study on Butterflies Links Warming Climate to Human Activities
Butterflies: Harbingers of Climate Change
