Teaching Teens to Look for Answers

In the back marshes of Irvine Saturday afternoon, several dozen teenagers tasted wild mustard seeds, smelled sprigs of anise, dodged dragonflies--and learned what they could do to preserve Orange County’s environment.

The outing, which took high school students through the UC Irvine Arboretum and nearby San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh, was part of the university’s 10-day Knowledge and Social Responsibility Program 1998.

The program is designed to give young people tools to address some of the community’s most daunting problems, from crime and poverty to environmental decay and race relations. About 50 Orange County high school seniors as well as two exchange students from China are taking part in the activities, which are co-sponsored by UCI and the National Conference for Community and Justice.

“Kids know that these issues are very important, but many aren’t optimistic,” said Bruce Giuliano, this year’s program director. “We’re trying to get them to think of how things relate to one another. We want to show them that there are not just problems but what some of the solutions are.”

The Saturday field trip through the marshes was led by UCI ecology professor and arboretum director Dr. Peter Bowler.

“We should realize what ‘naturalness’ is,” Bowler told the students. “An ecosystem can be as sexy as a rain forest . . . or something that we pass by every day.”

Bowler took the students through the arboretum, a “museum” of plants and insects, and then through the lower marshes.

Tracing the marshes’ history, Bowler talked about how the construction of salt-collection mines in the marshes decades ago forever tainted the marshes’ fragile ecosystem of plants and animals.

He also took students through the successful habitat restoration in San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh.

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“It was really interesting when he said we can’t just preserve virgin forest but need to save things that may already also be damaged,” said Fountain Valley High School student Jenny Huang. “I hadn’t heard that before, and I think it makes a lot of sense.”

Huang said that she would incorporate some her field trip learning into an upcoming environmental fair in Fountain Valley.

For many, the field trip marked their first look at the marsh area. “I didn’t know any of these things were even here. I’ve never been down this way,” said Aimee Abesamis, a Tustin High senior. “We talk about trying to make a difference and that’s what this is about. People should know that this is here.”