Ever wondered where your #1 and #2 went after you flushed? And what exactly do we do with all those wastes? Join EarthEcho and the South Cross Bayou Advanced Water Reclamation Facility as we go behind the scenes of Pinellas County’s largest wastewater treatment facility to learn about how we recover our favorite waste, a solid #2, and make it into a safe product that can be used as a fertilizer to grow crops. With streaming footage from inside our egg-shaped digesters to our fertilizer factory, we’ll give you a firsthand look at how science, technology, and engineering allow us to protect human health and keep our waterways clean from “poo-lution!”

Join Smithsonian Marine Ecosystem Exhibit marine science educator, Laura La Beur, as she shares facts about the Oculina Reef, a deep-water coral reef habitat off the coast of Florida and introduces the Oculina Ecosystem exhibit at the St. Lucie County Aquarium in Fort Pierce, Florida. A feeding of the exhibit will follow.

Sharks are iconic and misunderstood species with a long evolutionary history. There are over 500 living shark species, all with unique adaptations, that have radiated into nearly every aquatic habitat. There is tremendous diversity in species life histories, reproductive modes, habitat use, sensory biology, ecology and behavior. Sharks are under global threat from human exploitation, primarily for shark fins. Over 30% of shark species are at risk for extinction. Today, research and conservation efforts are targeting effective ways to protect endangered species. Dr. Mikki McComb-Kobza will share the story of sharks rise, diversification, and fascinating adaptations. She will discuss her current research on white sharks in the North Atlantic and other aspects of her ongoing conservation projects.

What can historic dock photos reveal about fisheries? The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s new citizen science project, FISHstory, aims to find out. FISHstory (pronounced like history) trains volunteers to identify and count fish in historic dock photos From Daytona Beach, FL from the 1940s-1970s. Data collected will help fishery managers build a more complete picture of these fisheries prior to the beginning of dedicated catch monitoring programs. To gather this data, we’re using the power of the crowd through the online crowdsourcing platform, Zooniverse. The project is completely online, open to all, and includes fish identification training materials for those that aren’t fish ID experts. We need help from citizen scientists like you to unlock the data in these photos! Join EarthEcho International and the South Atlantic Fishery Management staff, Allie Iberle and Julia Byrd, to learn more about FISHstory and how you can get involved in the project!

The FISHstory lesson plan will prepare students so that they can participate in the SAFMC's citizen science project, FISHstory, on the Zooniverse crowdsourcing platform. Students will learn the basics of fish morphology, anatomy, and more! 

EarthEcho’s Passport to Adventure is a self-guided summer activity challenge for students age 8+ designed to connect young environmentalists to conservation and STEM throughout the summer.

America's National parks are her crown jewels: Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Yosemite. But did you know that there are over 80 national parks that protect special ocean, coastal and Great Lakes places? The largest of those is South Florida's Biscayne National Park. Join us in meeting some of the park's rangers as they share the ways that the park's four ecosystems fit together, how the park fits in with other protected areas, and how all of us working together can protect our one and only ocean!

The Bundled Up with Blubber worksheet provides background information, detailed instructions and more to accompany our Snack-Sized Science video.

The Fantastic Filtration worksheet provides background information, detailed instructions and more to accompany our Snack-Sized Science video.

The Bud Burst worksheet provides background information, detailed instructions and more to accompany our Snack-Sized Science video.