Hope you have been having a wonderful holiday. The Winter 2018 California Project WET Gazette is ‘live’ on the Water Education Foundation website.

The article takes a look at ‘The Life Box’ activity and links to life needs and garden programs. You’ll also find loads of links to winter and early spring events, grants, student contests and a variety of workshops and Special Workshops and Events.

Project WET Coordinators across the country fielded lots of calls from teachers, parents and students involved in the  Lego League Challenge on Hydro-Dynamics this Fall, so Project WET put together a series of lessons to support the challenge. Anyone interested can download the lessons for free at:  http://store.projectwet.org/lego-challenge-lesson-plan-the-human-water-cycle.html 

Finally, the UC Naturalists program has put out a Community Call for Climate Stories and would like to hear yours! Please tell your story by answering three simple questions:

• What motivated you to act? For, example, are you experiencing climate-related impacts related to sea level rise, drought, extreme heat, extreme storms, decreased snowpack, wildfire, or flooding?
• What was your response or change in behavior or practice? For example, have you made changes to your diet, mode of transportation, energy consumption, purchasing/consumption habits, academic or professional goals, work or volunteer efforts?
• What have you learned from your experience? How have the changes you’ve made affected you? What have you learned from your experience? What do you plan to do in the future?

Please share your climate adaptation story in three short paragraphs (three to four sentences answering the three questions above) along with photos, video, or sound recording using our California Naturalist Story Capture Survey by Jan. 31, 2018. Submit your story online at: https://ucanr.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_739VjKjkIjO53Jb.  UC California Naturalist is working with the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research to help capturing authentic experiences of all Californians as they deal with a changing climate. We hope to share the diversity of people, places, and issues that make climate stories inherently unique and at the same time universal. These stories will be featured in the new Climate Adaptation Clearinghouse, which will launch sometime in early to mid-2018.

Hope you have a wonderful start to a new year!  - Brian