NaSA PoD Project Update #4

Posted on March 12, 2022 by Stevo

Yesterday I took the PoD to meet metal fabricator Tim from Appalachian Sheet Metal and Fabrication in Weaverville, NC. Tim made some detailed measurements of the side of the Casita where the custom windows will be installed. Below is a photo of Tim making his measurements in preparation for the fabrication of the window frames.

It will take a few weeks for Tim to work his magic but hopefully, by early April I will be able to share the details of what Tim has created for us.

Also today Jim and I installed the PoD’s new skylight in the hole left by the removal of the old roof vent fan. In the next sequence of photos, you will see the process from start to finish. The first photo is taken from the roof of the Casita before I prepped the area around the hole in the roof. You can see the remnants of the old sealant as well as several broken screws sticking through the roof.

The old sealant came off easily with a razor blade but the old screw shafts had to be filed down to the roof-line with a metal file – that took a while. In the next photo, the surface has been prepped and cleaned and all screw shafts have been filed down.

Next Jim and I constructed the aluminum frames to hold the Lexan skylight. This was not as easy as it sounds and I could never have done it alone – Jim’s knowledge, expertise, and very nice tools allowed us to miter the corners of the frames and get everything lined up in preparation for installation

THANK YOU JIM!!

This is a photo of the skylight in its frame (with protective blue plastic coverings) just before I installed it on the roof.

In this next photo, we see the skylight installed in its final location on the rooftop with plenty of sealant under and around the skylight.

We needed to create a custom ultra-low-profile skylight since the solar array and its frame will need to be placed as close to the roofline as possible. An interesting point of note is that soon, with the placement of the solar array above the roof – the sky will not be very visible through this skylight. Maybe when that happens we will need to call it a solar array viewing port.

Soon, when the weather returns to something like spring (it is now 20F and windy with a dusting of snow on the ground!) I will work to install a trim piece around the interior of the skylight port…which at the moment appears as in the next photo (taken before I installed the skylight). The top layer is the fiberglass shell of the RV. Below that is a gap of about 1/2 inch, then the foam backing of the carpet, and finally the carpet itself. I plan to install an edge-hiding trim piece around the carpet and then glue the carpet up to the ceiling with construction glue…but to do that we will need warmer weather.

That is where we are in the build at the moment and we hope to have much warmer weather soon – so hopefully, more modifications will happen much faster.

I leave you with two of my furry family members who were enjoying the sunshine while Jim and I worked on the PoD. That is Cosmo the cat in the foreground rolling in the warm moss, and Tangie the “Carolina Mountain Red Dog” (rescued mixed-breed terrier thing) in the background. They both love the warmth of the early spring sunshine 🙂

We hope to have the ENP NaSA PoD in service on or before Earth Day 2022!

Stay tuned – there is much more to come.

Please subscribe and follow this blog for more updates.

This is an amazing project that will serve to educate and inspire all the curiosity seekers it meets. But to do this thing right – we do still need your support. If you choose to assist us in making this project a reality, this unique mobile classroom will greatly benefit the nature and wildlife conservation, science, and renewable energy awareness education of all of our outreach program participants in the WNC region as well as our wonderful students at Trails Carolina and Trails Momentum who will all greatly benefit from the wonders it will contain while they are in the field on expedition.

Please consider supporting this project via the donate link on our website or our GoFundMe page: www.gofundme.com/lets-build-a-mobile-outreach-classroom

The construction and use of this unique mobile classroom will be documented on this blog, our end-of-year newsletter, and soon on our YouTube channel.

The ENP NaSA PoD and the Mighty Bolt EV (our primary outreach vehicle) are owned by ENP and used primarily as the ENP company outreach vehicle and mobile outreach classroom. They will be charged and fueled primarily with cleanly generated electricity provided by the ENP/Trails student-built classroom solar array and NaSA PoD’s rooftop solar array. They will serve as outstanding teaching tools for our Trails students, ENP outreach program participants, and everyone we meet via our outreach programs.

Please note: any/all ads that appear below this post are not provided or endorsed by ENP nor are we supported in any way by these ads – they are an automated feature of WordPress.com.

NaSA PoD Project Update #3

Posted on March 7, 2022 by Stevo

Over the past few days, much progress has been made.

The new door latch has been installed and works fabulously!

Over the last week or so I have also been working to get the PoD’s water system installed. This will be needed to supply the PoD’s human and animal inhabitants with life-giving water during outreach events -especially multi-day events – and allow the humans to grab a shower after the end of a long day of bringing nature and science knowledge to the masses 🙂 The mass of the 25 gallons (200 lbs) of water in the two tanks (the 3rd is the water heater) will also serve as a ballast system to help counter-balance the added mass in the solar-electronics cabinet.

Step one: Find a place to install the new water tank – this looks like a good location.

Step two: move the water pump to a new location.

Step Three: replace old water pipes with new PEX water pipes.

…and even more new pipes. In the next photo, you can see how all the various water pipes connect the two tanks allowing them to balance the water supply between the two tanks. The off-white upper tank pictured in this image is also where the water filler is located – its fill hatch is on the outside of the vehicle at the end of the white PVC tube on top of the tank. Also in this photo, you can see the new 50 Amp shore power connection cable coiled on the bottom right of the image.

We also installed the new water filler hatch – but we first had to make a larger hole. We made the new hatch hole using an existing hole – the old 12-volt battery off-gassing hole – a bit larger to accommodate the new fill point.

This is what the old battery vent port looked like before we modified it.

Marking the new hole…

Cutting the new hole…

The new water filler port installed.

We also installed a new shore power cord port after the original unit suffered a RUD (Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly) while I was attempting to open it one cold day in February – the plastic was old and brittle and just fell apart in my hands. Hopefully, this new one will serve us for many years.

Back to the water system.

After the pump and all the pipes were in place, we then installed the new 9-gallon water tank.

The system is not yet connected and tested since we are missing a few small water line adapters that we could not source locally. They should arrive later this week and will complete the final connections that will make the new water system complete. If you look closely in this image and to the left of the center you will see where the adapters are needed – where the blue water line ends in a brass 90-degree elbow fitting – it is at this location where we need to have a unique small adapter to connect the water line to the tank. We also need to install a system drain valve – it will go in the space above the brass elbow I just mentioned and will have an outlet tube that passes through the RV’s floor allowing the system to be fully drained in the event of cold weather.

We also installed a clean-out port (the circular white port in the top of the original water tank in the below photo) as well as the new filler line between the tank and the externally mounted gravity fill port we mentioned earlier. The clear hose on the right is part of the water system’s air venting system.

We filled some old gas line and drain holes with body putty then drilled some huge holes through the floor of the RV and into the frame and then preliminarily installed the raised and strengthened sub-floor in the soon-to-be solar-electronics cabinet. It is not bolted in place just yet – we still need to sand and paint the fiberglass walls, let them dry, then we will be able to bolt it all together – but to do that, we need warmer weather…

We installed an external weather-proof heavy-duty outlet. This will be used to power the presentation monitor as well as the microscope station and Level 1 EVSE (electric car charger).

Lastly, we preliminarily mounted the final two Victron solar storage batteries on their support structure and then compared them to the cardboard analogue we constructed several weeks ago. The cardboard unit is smaller because it was constructed without a frame – but not to worry – the support frame’s measurements were accounted for so all should fit nicely in the new solar-electronics cabinet.

The carport staging area is looking crowded. Hopefully, we will soon be able to start putting all these parts back into the PoD.

A great photo from many years ago. During this week in 2017, I took this photo of the first toad of spring. Note: the First Phase of our classroom solar array is in the process of being constructed in the background 🙂

That is where we are in the build at the moment and we hope to have much warmer weather soon – so hopefully, more modifications will happen much faster.

Currently, we are still waiting for word from the welder and trying to find a sheet metal fabricator. Once they work their magic we will be able to install the solar modules and continue with the installation of further components. Warmer weather in the early spring will be most helpful and much will happen fast so please subscribe and follow this blog for more updates on this unique project!

We hope to have the ENP NaSA PoD in service on or before Earth Day 2022!

Stay tuned – there is much more to come.

Please subscribe and follow this blog for more updates.

Please consider supporting this project via the donate link on our website or our GoFundMe page: www.gofundme.com/lets-build-a-mobile-outreach-classroom

The construction and use of this unique mobile classroom will be documented on this blog, our end-of-year newsletter, and soon on our YouTube channel.

Please note: any/all ads that appear below this post are not provided or endorsed by ENP nor are we supported in any way by these ads – they are an automated feature of WordPress.com.

NaSA PoD Project Update #2

Posted on February 28, 2022 by Stevo

Since our last update we have made some good progress on the conversion from camper to mobile outreach classroom.

We installed some custom cut and painted paneling – THANK YOU JIM! – inside the future solar-electronics cabinet (the old refrigerator space) and then cut two holes for the ventilation fans that will serve to keep everything cool. Note: all is unfinished so everything will look rough around the edges.

The first cooling fan in place – a perfect fit!

Looking at the exhaust side of the fan from the kitchenette side of the solar-electronics cabinet.

Looking at the inside of the lower fan from inside the SE cabinet.

The next photo is the intake side of the lower cooling fan. It is in the NaSA PoD’s entry way directly across from the air conditioner so on very hot, sunny, days when the A/C is running – this fan will serve to pull cool air in from the A/C unit only 2 feet away, thereby keeping the electronics cool and efficient which will in turn keep all of the PoD’s occupants – animal and human – comfortable and safe.

After getting the paneling and fans in place Jim and I temporarily mounted some of the solar-electronic gear. Below are the two Victron solar charge controllers in their future locations below the upper cooling fan. The cardboard structure to their right is the carboard crafted inverter/charger analogue…

…which will soon be replaced with the recently arrived Victron Inverter/Charger unit such as the one pictured below.

We then temporarily installed the Victron Battery Management System (BMS) and Lynx Distributors as in the photo below. Note: It looks crooked but that is an optical illusion created by the curvature of the RV’s shell. Second Note: this device is “naked” in that its pretty blue coverings have been removed. When complete it will have all its coverings in place.

After drilling all the holes to facilitate the future mounting of the electronics we removed the old, soggy, flooring of the soon to be an electronics cabinet revealing perfectly intact marine-grade fiberglass underneath…well, except for two holes which we will patch with marine-grade sealant.

We then fabricated a new floor covered by a nice piece of aluminum diamond plate. None of this is bolted in place just yet but will be very soon. The ugly yellow-brown fiberglass parts of the walls will also be sanded and painted to make the space far more presentable when we are teaching programs on renewable energy and/or attending festivals and events.

I then removed the fiberglass structures that support the sleeping area…

…exposing the hot water heater (the white device on the right) and the fresh water tank on the left. The stack of red tool boxes will become habitat pods that will house our reptilian education animals while presenting outreach programs. Each habitat pod will provide security and climate control for their sensitive scaly occupants.

This is the fresh water tank in its original location. I opted to move it to a new location to shift some of the weight from the “passenger side” to the “drivers” side of the RV to offset some of the weight from all the new solar-electronics gear going in place soon. The new location is directly across the room in the spot where the old 12volt battery once resided beside the hot water heater (the white thing under the old 12 volt battery. The water tank is not bolted in place just yet…

…in fact, it has yet again been removed and is just taking up space with all manner of other tools and parts as I work to modify the RV to begin service as an outreach education classroom.

I have also decided to remove all the Casita’s power management systems since they will no longer be needed – the Victron components will do all they could do – but far better and safer. The old electronics were originally located just to the right of center where the spaghetti-like pile of wires are now. Don’t worry, I know where all of them go 🙂

While waiting for some parts to come in the mail I removed the door latch and discovered it was really rusty and had an eroded area on its mechanism – this was why the door could not be locked.

I received the new unit – the one on the right below – and will be installing it very soon.

We also installed the new countertop and induction cooktop – THANK YOU JIM for your expertise and creativity in making this nice new countertop and THANK YOU BOB for the suggestion on the cooktop – we have tried it and it works perfectly!

That is where we are in the build at the moment and we hope to have much warmer weather soon – so hopefully, many more modifications will happen much faster.

Currently, we are still waiting for word from the welder and sheet metal fabricator. Once they work their magic we will be able to install the solar modules and continue with the installation of further components. Warmer weather in the early spring will be most helpful and much will happen fast so please subscribe and follow this blog for more updates on this unique project!

We hope to have the ENP NaSA PoD in service on or before Earth Day 2022!

Stay tuned – there is much more to come.

Please subscribe and follow this blog for more updates.

Please consider supporting this project via the donate link on our website or our GoFundMe page: www.gofundme.com/lets-build-a-mobile-outreach-classroom

The construction and use of this unique mobile classroom will be documented on this blog, our end-of-year newsletter, and soon on our YouTube channel.

Please note: any/all ads that appear below this post are not provided or endorsed by ENP nor are we supported in any way by these ads – they are an automated feature of WordPress.com.

I leave you with a cute photo of Orville our education Opossum snoozing in his new plush bed – he sure does have it made!

Mobile Outreach Classroom Update #1

Posted on February 13, 2022 by Stevo

We have made some progress since our last post where we revealed our new Mobile Outreach Classroom Project that we have named the

ENP NaSA PoD

We had a nice spring-like day so we took the opportunity to install the air circulation/vent fan into the hole we cut into the side of the camper a few weeks ago.

It works very well.

We also installed a new LED light above the kitchenette area.

There is still a bit of trim work to be done around the fan/backsplash.

Cosmo watches through the old fan hole in the roof 🙂

We hope to have the ENP NaSA PoD in service on or before Earth Day 2022!

Stay tuned – there is much more to come.

Please subscribe and follow this blog for more updates.

Please consider supporting this project via the donate link on our website or our GoFundMe page: www.gofundme.com/lets-build-a-mobile-outreach-classroom

The construction and use of this unique mobile classroom will be documented on this blog, our end-of-year newsletter, and soon on our YouTube channel.

Please note: any/all ads that appear below this post are not provided or endorsed by ENP nor are we supported in any way by these ads – they are an automated feature of WordPress.com.

The ENP Mobile Outreach Classroom Project

Posted on February 9, 2022 by Stevo

Due to the disruption of the pandemic keeping us from presenting our programming indoors as much as during the pre-pandemic era, we are now creating a new way of conducting our outreach programming outside of the classroom: we are building a mobile outreach education classroom!!

In the spring of 2021 we received the first sizable donation toward this project from Lake Toxaway Charities – THANK YOU LTC!!!

We knew we needed more support to make the awesome happen so continued our fundraising over the next few months while searching for a frame on which to build the classroom.

Then, late in 2021 with the help of our friend Mandy, a wonderful past ENP volunteer who is now a park ranger, we located a 16′ Casita travel trailer that we determined would be perfect for converting into our new mobile classroom. We then began a furious fundraising drive to raise the funds we needed to purchase the RV – including a Facebook (Meta) fundraiser and a still-active GoFundMe campaign and yes, we did raise some funds with the help of many of our generous friends and past supporters – but sadly, we were unable to raise the needed funds fast enough to cover the purchase price by the deadline – and then time ran out and we thought we had lost our chance at the RV. Then, a few days after the deadline had passed we received an amazing surprise – an incredible donation from a wonderful new ENP supporter that covered the entire cost of the RV (THANK YOU “A” and family)!! Therefore, due to their amazing generosity, we were able to make this dream a reality and purchase the camper.

Another few days passed and we received several more sizeable donations – this time from a few of our amazing longtime supporters and friends of ENP for many years.

All these, together with all the others gathered in the initial fundraising campaign, were used not only to purchase the RV – but they will allow us to completely retrofit the little Casita camper into the amazing mobile outreach classroom we have dreamed about for so long!

Along with the much-needed donations we also received wonderful and much-needed input from some of our closest friends, loved ones, and supporters of ENP who helped us see the many different angles such a complex project would entail. THANK YOU ALL!!!

We have taken in all their heartfelt input and informed opinions, made many sketches, consulted with many experts (it is always very important to listen to and take the advice of the experts into consideration when making any big decision), and now we are deep in the process of converting this little Casita camper into an amazing mobile outreach education classroom that will serve our Trails Carolina and Trails Momentum Students as well as everyone we meet through our outreach programs in the county and the region!

With the help of one of our most awesome recent graduates from Trails Carolina, (Thank you again A!) we came up with a name for our mobile classroom: The SS ENP NaSA PoD which stands for:

Science Steve’s* Earthshine Nature Programs Nature and Science Adventure Pod of Discovery!

*Science Steve is what my students call me 🙂

We took over ownership of the RV in late December and have been working as much as possible over the last few weeks in the attempt to have it ready for service by Earth Day – Friday, April 22, 2022!

When the PoD is complete it will contain the following educational systems:

Two custom-built Hardy Systems animal habitat pods will be designed and constructed by longtime friend and ENP supporter Jim Hardy. These habitat pods will provide comfortable, heated life support for up to 12 of our reptilian animal ambassadors. They will also be removable for ease of transport to and from the RV.

A microscope station for stream and field exploration.

A field guide library for identifying your finds.

A Little Free Library.

A real-time air quality and weather monitoring station.

A 1780 watt bifacial solar array and Victron Energy power system donated by Bob Harris of Black Bear Solar Institute (Thank you, Bob and BBSI!!!). This system will provide a clean energy supply to all of the PoD’s electronics and systems – including the Hardy Systems habitat pods, and RV systems – this feature will be most important when the PoD is being used for both short term day-use programming and long term multi-day programming at events and festivals where an overnight stay is needed.

A fold-out awning that will allow comfortable programming on those super hot summer days and in light precipitation.

A large flatscreen monitor that will allow the showing of nature and science documentaries in an outdoor setting.

Hand sanitizer stations to keep the germs at bay.

A custom paint job.

And more!

THANK YOU!!!

to everyone who has donated/supported this project so far! You know who you are and you are all truly amazing people! THANK YOU for your generosity and your trust in supporting this project and my little 501c3 – your generosity is above and beyond treasured and your trust is so deeply precious to me and without all of you working together with me to make this project (and all the others) happen – it would have all been impossible.

Now for a photo album of the ENP NaSA PoD project up to this point. I will continue to update this blog with more photos (and soon – videos) as the build continues so if you are not subscribed please do so in order to receive updates.

When we first met.

It is a really nice Casita camper that was renovated by the previous owners to include everything needed for comfortable camping including…

A fully functional kitchenette.

Nice 2 burner gas stove.

Double bed with extra thick mattress.

Working roof vent fan.

Working Dometic fridge.

Nice dinette.

Functioning latrine/shower.

And sink

Custom cabinetry and a working air conditioner!

But much of this would need to change for it to become our new mobile outreach classroom.

On December 31, 2021, we took over ownership of the Casita and toted it home to ENP HQ.

Sadly it is just too heavy to pull with our EV like we wanted to do – but that will change one day when we trade in our Honda Pilot for an all-electric EV pickup and then the package will be complete.

Once safely back at ENP HQ, we began the process to modify the camper into a portable classroom.

The old roof vent had to go…

…when fully open it would have been in the way of the new solar array.

The new vent fan location was sketched out on the side of the RV. This new fan will also replace the vent hood over the stove.

Jim cutting the hole for the new fan – which will double as a unique “kitchen window.”

New vent fan/kitchen window hole. We have not installed any of the windows or the fan due to the cold temperatures that would not allow the sealant to cure effectively.

The stove is history as well. We are dropping the gas in favor of an all-electric system including an induction cooktop for use during overnight events and campground programming.

The Dometic fridge was just taking up space…

…so we removed it. This space will now be used as a solar-electronics cabinet. Our new fridge will be a highly efficient 12-volt chest fridge/freezer stored under the bed.

This is a cardboard analogue of the solar-electronics package that will provide renewably generated electricity to power all of the classroom/RV systems. The real one will be much better looking and far more functional.

The solar-electronics cabinet with the cardboard analogue in place.

Looking into the bottom of the area where the batteries will reside. The cardboard box is a battery analogue – four batteries of this size will fit in this space after we construct a custom support structure to hold them safely.

The vent ports on the backside of the old fridge on the outside of the RV are no longer needed so we…

…removed them and made the holes larger in order to install observation windows that will allow students to view the solar-electronics package as well as help to make the PoD more weathertight.

Looking at the solar-electronics package analogue from outside. The new windows will drop in and cover up all the rough edges and all the exposed wiring will be made safe and secure.

Due to the cold winter weather we have been receiving lately we have not gotten very far with the outdoor work on the conversion of the RV into a mobile classroom. However, we have been working on the design process of how the solar array will fit together and function and we have ordered the components needed to secure and protect the solar-electronics gear. We have also consulted with a local welder who should be contacting us any day now with a quote for the custom roof rack that will support the solar array, weather/air quality monitoring station, and a few other components. We are also in communications with a sheet metal shop about creating the window frames to fit the viewports for the solar-electronics cabinet. We have also received the solar modules and most of the solar-electronics package including the components seen below:

Four Canadian Solar 445 watt bifacial solar modules (panels).

The four new Victron Energy 200Ah LiFePO4 batteries.

The Victron Energy power distribution bus and Battery Management System.

Lots of other components as well!

And this brings us to today.

Currently, we are waiting for word from the welder and sheet metal fabricator. Once they work their magic we will be able to install the solar modules and continue with the installation of further components.

Warmer weather in the early spring will be most helpful and much will happen fast so please subscribe and follow this blog for more updates on this unique project!

We hope to have the ENP NaSA PoD in service on or before Earth Day 2022!

The construction and use of this unique mobile classroom will be documented on this blog, our end-of-year newsletter, and soon on our YouTube channel. Please consider supporting this project via the donate link on our website or our GoFundMe page: www.gofundme.com/lets-build-a-mobile-outreach-classroom

The ENP NaSA PoD and the Mighty Bolt EV (our primary outreach vehicle) are owned by ENP and used primarily as the ENP company outreach vehicle and mobile outreach classroom. They will be charged and fueled mostly with cleanly generated electricity provided by the ENP/Trails student-built classroom solar array and NaSA PoD’s rooftop solar array. They will serve as outstanding teaching tools for our Trails students, ENP outreach program participants, and everyone we meet via our outreach programs.

Earthshine Nature Programs Newsletter 2020

Posted on December 1, 2020 by Stevo

Note: I apologize in advance for the bizarre formatting in the following post. I have tried everything to rectify the issues – yet they persist.

It has been a very strange year but we are still here. Although we lost close to 100% of our nonprofit income this year due to not being able to present our outreach programming to the public in schools, camps, festivals, special events, and birthday parties – it was your support that kept us above water…but only just.

Even with the global pandemic we still managed to accomplish amazing things this year!

Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation

In the spring of 2020 we rescued a family of young Opossum joeys who lost their mother. They were close to the age where they would have left the warm home of their mother’s pouch to strike out on their own so we gave them a few days to build their strength, fed them tasty natural treats, and released them in a remote forest. (See them in the Virtual Leaf Festival video linked later in this document). We rescued only one Eastern box turtle this year. Strangely, it was found in the bathroom of a motel in a nearby town. There was no suitable box turtle habitat near the motel so our hypothesis is that a visitor to the motel may have picked it up during a local forest excursion on a local highway or byway, it may have come from out of state, it may have been a “pet,” that was forgotten when its “owner” departed – or it may have been left intentionally. Whatever the case, we have no idea on its origins and therefore, due to its questionable origins, it cannot be released into the wild for fear of vectoring a disease to the local box turtle population – so it is now in our quarantine facility. Come spring of 2021, if it checks out health wise, it will join our small population of non-releasable education ambassadors in our newly improved box turtle habitat.

Yes, that’s right, one of this year’s major projects was to improve and enlarge our outdoor box turtle habitat. The students of Trails Momentum worked very hard over the summer to increase the habitat’s size by over 2x its original footprint. They also built a newer and better shelter/overwintering structure for our 9 non-releasable resident Eastern box turtles and our two Red-footed tortoises who share the habitat during the warmer months of the year. The students also built a very nice stone shelter structure in the box turtle habit and named it “Turtlehenge” – so cool!

This year we also relocated several Copperheads, a dozen hatchling Common snapping turtles, and one massive Timber rattlesnake. These beautiful and very misunderstood animals were discovered in areas that are highly used by humans therefore, for the safety of all parties, they needed to be moved to new habitats. While the trans-location of reptiles is not the ideal option – it is far better than the other option of death. I moved these animals to remote locations in protected areas with excellent habitat and resources that will hopefully serve to meet their needs for the rest of their lives.

A New Recruit!

In the fall we adopted a female opossum from the wonderful folks at Appalachian Wildlife Refuge. They had rescued her after she was hit by a car and lost an eye. She also has some neurological trauma and therefore, due to her injuries, is non-releasable. She will spend the rest of her days with us where she will live in our awesome ‘possum palace as an education ambassador for her kind.

Opossum facts: The Virginia Opossum, or ‘possum, is North America’s only native marsupial. Female Opossums have a pouch on their belly where they can carry up to 13 joeys. When the joeys are old enough they climb onto their mother’s back and cling to her soft fur and watch everything she does – this is their “home schooling” time where they learn all there is to know about being an Opossum. When they are too heavy to hold on, they fall off and start their lives as mostly solitary, mostly nomadic, most important members of the forest community. Opossums have 50 teeth – that is more than any land mammal in North America! Opossums are omnivores and will use all those teeth to eat just about anything including carrion. Some of their favorite foods are wild berries, grapes, persimmons, strawberries, bananas, and any insect they can catch including all the pest species that would invade your home and garden as well as small rodents such as mice, moles, voles, and rats. They will even eat lizards and snakes including venomous snakes such as Copperheads and rattlesnakes! Opossums have a very strong resistance to the venoms of these snakes and therefore, if bitten by their meal, they just shrug it off and continue on with their serpentine lunch. Opossums are also highly resistant to the Rabies virus so it is extremely rare for an Opossum to catch, carry, or transmit rabies. Opossums are nocturnal so you will usually not see them during the day as this is the time they are comfortably sleeping in whatever warm place they have found to call home for the night. Opossums do not hibernate so they may be seen at almost any time of the year – but not usually during the coldest times when they just stay home, roll over, and sleep in until it gets warmer. They are not equipped for excavating burrows so they will often use the abandoned burrows of other animals such as Groundhogs, skunks, foxes, and sometimes the crawl space under your house. Opossums have very dexterous toes and opposable thumbs on their hind feet – just like we have on our hands. These adaptations help them hold onto tree branches when they are searching for some of their favorite foods – birds and their eggs, rodents, and fruit. Opossums also have a prehensile tail that helps stabilize them when navigating in the tree branches and it also allows them to carry bedding materials back to their den to make a soft nest to sleep in as in this photo of Potter some of you may remember from almost a decade ago.

When frightened and/or cornered, Opossums will snarl, growl, and show their wide toothy grin, but they rarely bite. If the threat does not abate the Opossum will “play ‘possum” – it will go into a self-induced, involuntary comatose state where it will fall over, often defecate and urinate on itself, stiffen, – and for all intents and purposes – appear dead. This incredible tactic serves to deter the would-be attacker from feeding upon what looks like a possibly sick animal and it departs to find a better meal. After a time, the Opossum reanimates, grooms itself, and continues on about its day as if nothing happened. Opossums are amazing and wonderful creatures that help us far more than we will ever know. While they are misunderstood by many, they deserve our respect and admiration for the special and vital role they play in helping to keep nature in balance.

Outreach

*Photo: Our volunteers are AMAZING and make it all possible!*

Unlike every year during the decade since our founding, due to the pandemic in 2020 we were only able to present one in-person public nature education program this year in February. We did however, adapt to the situation and present several virtual programs for private family groups, one science museum program, and one virtual festival. Please feel free to watch two of these via the following links.

Virtual LEAF Festival video

Asheville Museum of Science Ask a Scientist Series

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=526509431592103&ref=watch_permalink

Sadly, until the pandemic subsides and things start to get back to some kind of “normal,” we will not be able to physically take our animal ambassadors and our outreach programming classes into any classrooms, summer camps, festivals, or special events. However, we will continue to introduce and educate thousands of people to the wonder and beauty of wildlife, nature, and our deep interconnectedness to our shared environment via our virtual programming and via our YouTube channel. These online platforms allow us to offer alternative and safe ways for you to learn and support nature, live alongside and respect wildlife, and be better stewards of our shared environmental life support system with the adoption of cleaner, more energy secure, renewable energy and transportation technologies such as our focus – solar energy and electric vehicles.

Speaking of vehicles, September 29^th, 2020 was our one year anniversary of driving the ENP Chevy Bolt EV – The “Mighty Bolt” as we lovingly call her – as our dedicated outreach education and wildlife rescue vehicle.

Photo: *Mighty Bolt meets young Rat snake.*

Keep reading for some mighty cool “Mighty Bolt” stats from the first year of driving the ENP Mighty Bolt EV:

14,356 miles driven.

That is an average of: 1,196.33 miles per month. 299.08 miles per week. 42.72 miles per day.

Electric fuel used: 4,330.17 kWh Avg. miles/kWh: 3.2 Avg. kWh/100 miles: 31 Avg. MPG Electric: 110.3

Estimated Gallons of Hydrocarbon Fuel Saved: 613 Estimated CO2 Avoided: 12,153 lbs.

Fuel costs: For the 14,356 total miles traveled: $176.71 – or, $14.71 per month. $3.68 per week. $.52 per day.

So that breaks down to an average of $0.012 cents per mile for the Mighty Bolt’s electron fuel.

$0.1 cents per mile! I will let that sink in for a moment.

The math: 176.71(fuel cost)/14,356(miles driven) = .0123 (cost/mile)

I have calculated that if ENP were still using a gasoline powered vehicle for our work, its fuel costs would have been around .13 cents per mile which would add up to around $1,800 for one year of use – and that is not including repairs, ”tune ups,” and maintenance costs! The ENP outreach EV is over 75% solar charged so its operational costs are lower than if it were to be charged only on grid power. Even if we had charged the Mighty Bolt EV on grid power alone it would have only increased our operational costs to: $433.017 – wow! Still a much better deal than anything powered by fossil fuels. The math: 4,330.17(kWh used to fuel EV) x .10(energy cost/kWh) = 433.017

Driving electric over the last year has given ENP an operational cost savings of over $1,600! No matter who you are, where you are from, or how much money you have to burn – you must logically agree the choice is mighty clear: the Mighty Bolt EV is the best choice for ENP in getting from point A to point B!

A very revealing energy use chart for year one with the Mighty Bolt EV.

The ENP Bolt EV is truly Mighty, it is over 75% solar charged and therefore costs ENP only .01 cents/mile to drive, it has a very small environmental footprint, and it serves as a wonderful energy education teaching tool inspiring the next generation to think above and beyond the status quo.

SO COOL!

*Photo: The Mighty Bolt after a canoeing expedition on a local lake.*

The ENP EV Motto: Drive electric to preserve nature, wildlife, and wild places. Drive electric for the health of you and your family. Drive electric for freedom from dependence on expensive, polluting fossil fuels. Drive electric for energy independence. Drive electric for a better future for all.

Learn more about driving electric at: www.blueridgeevclub.com

(ENP Executive Director Steve O’Neil co-founded this club)

This EV is owned by ENP and is used primarily as the ENP company outreach vehicle. It is charged and fueled mostly with cleanly generated electricity provided by the ENP/Trails student-built classroom solar array. It also serves as an outstanding teaching tool for our Trails students, ENP outreach program participants, and everyone we meet.

Organic Garden and Chickens

2020 was the fourth year for our student organic garden project. This year, after letting the chickens free range in the garden and turn and fertilize the soil over the fall and winter months, we decided to plant our garden in the soil again. This no-till all-natural fertilization and planting method worked surprisingly well. It allowed us to produce almost as many tasty organic vegetables as we produced in the 2019 straw bale garden experiment. We also noticed more vigorous plants and far less pests this year and it may be due to the chickens scratching up and eating many of the pests overwintering in the soil. We believe the only way to have a truly organic garden is to not use any toxic chemicals or fossil fuels in the preparation and tending of the garden so, as in past years, this year the students and I prepared the garden using only human and chicken power and fertilized it with composted food scraps and composted animal waste from our chickens and education animals and a few local horses.

The students planted and tended the garden throughout its growing season and we never used any toxic insecticides, herbicides, or synthetic fertilizers! I am happy to say that our fourth year of the garden project was a great and tasty success with over 100 yummy squash, endless bunches of green beans, countless tomatoes, Peruvian black corn, red and yellow carrots, and several varieties of peppers – and this year our Passion fruit vine produced dozens of tasty fruits! All of this wonderful organic produce was shared among the students, staff, chickens, turtles, and tortoises! We also constructed a new grape arbor and planted six apple trees – so next year we hope to have an even more fruitful harvest.

*Photo: Happy birds basking in the summer sun 🙂*

Our small flock of friendly laying hens had a slow start but grew to over 25 birds this year! Several of the new recruits stayed with us and several more were adopted by chicken people in the community. Our chickens are free-range, organically fed, and have been hand-raised by our students as pets. They are wonderful therapy animals – with the great side benefits of giving us tasty organic, free-range eggs, no-cost organic fertilizer, and toxin and pesticide-free pest control for our student organic garden project!

*Photo: Moonlight with her chicks. She is nesting in the coop-car – a salvaged EV converted into a chicken nesting coop.*

Just in case you missed it, ENP was featured in The Laurel of Asheville

Read the story at this TinyURL link: https://tinyurl.com/yb7zxhdp

Or just search online for “Laurel of Asheville Earthshine Nature”

The ENP Renewable Energy Program

*Photo: A drone’s eye view of the ENP office/classroom/science lab/organic gardens.*

On November 8^th 2020 we celebrated three full years of producing clean, renewable, “locally grown” solar electricity for our classroom and electron fuel for the ENP outreach EV! With the generous support of Bob Harris of Black Bear Solar Institute, Pisgah Forest resident Jim Hardy, Lake Toxaway Charities, Trails Carolina, Trails Momentum, and our many other wonderful project supporters – maybe you were one of them – and all of my amazing Trails Carolina and Trails Momentum students, ENP interns, and volunteers – this project has been an phenomenal success! As of the writing of this document our student-built solar array has produced over 22 megawatt-hours of clean, renewably produced, electricity! Since the classroom solar array became fully operational on July 04^th 2019 (our Energy Independence Day) it has consistently, quietly, and without any harmful toxic pollution or emissions, produced close to 4 times the power we need to meet the daily needs of our classroom building, education animal habitats, our all-electric outreach vehicle’s electron fuel needs – all this and with power to share! We produce so much electricity that we send the surplus out to the local energy grid giving our closest neighbors on the campus of Trails Momentum renewable energy. Some of that excess power even goes to our nearby off-campus neighbors. Over the course of the entire year that excess has totaled close to 10 mWh – so our classroom has now become a renewable energy power plant not only for the campus and students of Trails Momentum but also for the local community!! Due to all that excess energy production, we have built up so much energy credit with Duke Energy that we could turn off the array and run on solar credits for several months without paying anything for energy!

*Photo: An even higher drone’s eye view*

With the completion of Phase 2 last year, the most complex portion of our classroom solar array project is now complete. We are now continuing with fundraising for Phase 3 – the final Phase of our classroom energy project. This will consist of a “secure power” off-grid circuit that will allow us to use energy direct from the solar array – this backup power system is almost finished and when online it will allow us to harvest electricity directly from the solar array when our grid connection is offline, giving us power as long as the sun shines. The final components of Phase 3 is a “plug and play” battery storage system that will store excess electricity produced during the day and will then supply that stored solar energy to all our building’s systems at night and during power outages. We will then only use our grid connection to Duke Energy as a back-up power source during long periods of dark/rainy/stormy weather. Isn’t science amazing! To make the remaining portion of the 3^rd and final Phase of this amazing student energy project a reality for our classroom, our students, and our animal ambassadors, we need your continued support in this final push to the end.

*Photo: Steve and a student place the first solar module (panel) on Phase Two of the Classroom Solar Array*

Please consider making a year-end gift to Earthshine Nature Programs and help us reach our renewable energy-powered goals. Read on for several other unique ways you can support us later in this document.

Watch this short time-lapse video of Phase Two of the solar array’s construction!

Supporter Spotlight – Jewell and Joe Mimms

My mother-in-law Jewell Mimms was born in 1939 in the beautiful, wild, mountains of Western North Carolina in a small log cabin without electricity or running water. She spent her life dedicated to her family and friends, her religion, reading almost anything, and to her music. She was an accomplished musician and could play the piano and guitar, and she had a beautiful voice and loved to sing with friends and with her daughter, my wife Marian. Jewell’s husband Joe Mimms was born in 1928 in southern Georgia and, like his wife, he grew up on a remote farm without electricity or running water. Joe joined the Navy when he was a teenager where he became a master radio operator/electrician and later focused on the new and quickly evolving fields of computers and radar. Joe’s mastery of these technologies led him to serve in all branches of the armed services save for the Marines and Coast Guard. After leaving the service Joe worked as a communications and computer specialist for NASA during the Apollo era. Joe was one of the specialists responsible for keeping the massive deep space network tracking/communications antennas at the Pisgah Tracking Station (now the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute) locked on the Apollo spacecraft as they journeyed to and from the moon! Joe loved nature and spent much of his off time hamming it up on his amateur radio set, in the forest hunting deer, or on the lakes and rivers fishing for catfish – his favorite. Jewell and Joe supported Earthshine Nature Programs with generous donations for many years because they had a very close connection with nature when they were young and felt that kids today were drifting away from this most important connection with nature. They understood that Earthshine Nature Programs’ education programs and projects serve to connect people of all ages with the natural world and how important that is in today’s world. Jewell and Joe left us over the last few years but their legacy lives on in all of the projects and programs they supported with their donations over the past decade. Thank you Jewell and Joe for your love, wisdom, knowledge, and for your support of ENP – you are both so greatly missed by so many.

*Photo: Steve and Joe fishing a few years ago.*

Our Wildlife Conservation Programs: Turtle Tracks, Snake Tracks and Snake Trails

Our wildlife tracking programs have ended and we are now focusing all our energy on our classroom and environmental education outreach programming, wildlife rehabilitation, and renewable energy education programs as well as on reporting our findings from the reptile conservation projects we conducted over the last decade of following misunderstood reptiles. What we learned while tracking these wild reptiles is far too much to fit into the pages of this newsletter so we have decided to write it all down and share it with you in three very special publications. The first of these three publications – The Rattlesnakes of the Blue Ridge – contains a naturalist’s perspective on everything we have learned by following the secret lives of Utsanati and Zoe – the two wild Timber rattlesnakes we followed in their native habitats for four years in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of WNC. Within the pages you will find an overview of the natural history of the Timber rattlesnake, a consolidation of my field observations and personal reflections, tracking and activity maps, and many high-quality photographs. This document, and the others that will follow on our Eastern box turtle and Black rat snake conservation projects, will grant fascinating insight into the lives of these unique, wonderful, and very misunderstood creatures as well as useful information on coexisting with these animals and other native wildlife species on your lands. All proceeds from the sale of this, and the future documents in this series will be 100% directed toward our continuing nonprofit wildlife conservation, rehabilitation, and environmental education missions.

*Photo: Ben Franklin – a rescue turtle from many years ago.*

To purchase a copy of The Rattlesnakes of the Blue Ridge, and/or Turtle Tracks: Box Turtles of the Blue Ridge or Snake Trails: The Rat Snakes That Live Among Us at the special price of $30.00 each – please contact us via our email address or via the contact link on our website http://www.earthshinenature.com/contact

There Are So Many Ways to Support Our Work

We welcome your support in keeping our unique programming alive – especially now with the pandemic greatly reducing our nonprofit outreach income. There are many ways you can choose to help us make our programs and projects a reality. During the pandemic the best and safest way to support us isthrough direct donations of funds and supplies and there are several ways to do so;

Donate on our website www.earthshinenature.com/donate via the PayPal link – while you are there please take a look at our website wish list for more detailed information on our current needs.
Send us a donation to our “snail mail” address – contact us for more information.
Visit our GoFundMe campaign www.gofundme.com/enpsolartrails and/or Patreon pages www.patreon.com/earthshinenature and support us with one-time or ongoing monthly donations.
Visit our Amazon Wish List at this TinyURL Amazon link: https://preview.tinyurl.com/y6mvwzm5 or by searching Amazon for the Earthshine Nature Programs Wish List.
An easy way to support us – at no cost to you – is via Amazon Smile donations. Just visit: smile.amazon.com and sign up to support Earthshine Nature Programs and every time you make a purchase on Amazon using your Amazon smile account, a portion of Amazon’s profits will be donated to ENP!
Support us with a Legacy Donation. This is a gift from you to ENP in your will. It could be monetary, land, or even a vehicle donation. For more details please visit: www.earthshinenature.com/donate
After the pandemic subsides you may donate time and energy by volunteering with us as we always have many opportunities available from working festivals, in the garden, cleaning animal habitats, etc.
Due to the pandemic we are exploring new ways of conducting our outreach programming outside of the classroom. To that end we are now looking for a hard shell mini-camper to use as a portable outreach classroom. A camper donation of any size or age will be considered but our best fit would be a small unit we could pull behind our outreach EV such the smallest versions of the Scamp, Casita, Lil Snoozy, or Happier Camper mini-campers. If you choose to donate a used or new mini-camper to ENP we will be sure to put it to good use as a mobile outreach education classroom that will benefit all our program participants on the road at schools, camps, festivals, and all of our Trails Carolina and Trails Momentum students.

*Photo: Steve teaching in the Trails/ENP classroom.*

However you choose to support us, your support will have a lasting positive impact on our ability to bring our nature, wildlife conservation, and science literacy messages to the hundreds of young naturalists, scientists, and thinkers that we encounter each year via our outreach programming in the local and regional community, and through our wonderful partnership with Trails Carolina and Trails Momentum where Steve works as naturalist to provide nature knowledge, science education, curiosity, and inspiration to their populations of outstanding youth. Learn more at: Trailscarolina.com and Trailsmomentum.com

All donations to ENP are tax deductible. Receipts available upon request.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT

*Photo: 2019 intern Abby and friends at a local river festival.*

Without your continued support, Earthshine Nature Programs would not function. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation, end of year, or legacy gift to us today and in the future. Earthshine Nature Programs is a 501c3, donation-funded, volunteer operated, wildlife conservation and rehabilitation, environmental stewardship, science education and communication, not for profit organization.

At ENP we are passionate about sharing our love, respect, and curiosity for nature, wildlife and wild places, environmental stewardship, science literacy, and reason with everyone we meet – especially our classroom and outreach programming students. It is the students of today who will make the big wildlife and nature conservation, science, and energy decisions of the future, and it is our goal to communicate to our students the most up to date, unbiased, peer-reviewed evidence, practices, technologies, and environmental ethics so they will be better informed and ready to take on the world and will be the change that will guide us all forward. We feel that by sharing the facts and evidence, demonstrating working models of what is possible, respectfully coexisting with each other, and by working together toward the common goal of creating and maintaining a better world for all living things today and into the future, we will bring the changes that will make all of our dreams come true.

Earthshine Nature Programs (501c3) is supported primarily through monetary, resource, and time donations from caring, concerned individuals just like you. We work hard to fundraise and acquire grants and donations from any and all sources that would like to support us. With your help with a one-time donation of equipment or funds, a year-end gift, a legacy gift, and/or your continuing patronage, and eventually – post pandemic – we will get back to hands-on volunteering. With our help, together we will continue to create something truly unique and wonderful that will serve to educate and inspire the thousands of students, summer campers, knowledge seekers, and others we meet each year with a newfound curiosity, a greater respect, an evidence-supported understanding, and a powerful conservation ethic for caring for the natural environment that supports us all and gives us all life.

Steve and Ashley by Evan Kafka www.evankafka.com

THANK YOU ALL

Sincerely, Steve O’Neil

Executive Director of Earthshine Nature Programs (501c3)

Email: earthshine.nature@gmail.com

Website: www.earthshinenature.com

Nature Blog: www.earthshinenature.wordpress.com

YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/snakesteve68

EV Blog: bluewaterleaf.wordpress.com

!THANK YOU!THANK YOU!THANK YOU!

Posted on November 29, 2019 by Stevo

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT IN 2019

This year you helped us make the following amazing things possible –

and so much more!

Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation – In 2019 we rescued 9 young Opossum joeys that lost their mother while crossing a road. They were very close to the age where they would have left the warm home of their mother’s pouch to strike out on their own so we gave them a few days to build their strength, fed them all kinds of tasty natural treats, and released them in the forest near the classroom.

We also rescued five Eastern box turtles. All were injured while attempting to crossroads and after some shell splints and recovery time all but one were released back into their home habitats. The remaining turtle has an injured eye so it will continue to reside with us until it recovers from its injuries and starts eating on its own and we hope to be able to release it into its home habitat next spring.

Update on the Black rat snake with terrible oral infection (aka “mouth rot”) that we rescued last year. He fully recovered, was eating very well, and was released this past spring. Take a look at his release day video on our YouTube channel via this link: https://youtu.be/1b5HrXXRouY

Outreach – We teamed up with our crew of wonderful volunteers to take our animal ambassadors, our wildlife, and environmental conservation message, our didgeridoo music, and our renewable energy, EV, and science advocacy programming into many local and regional classrooms, summer camps, festivals, and special events, introducing thousands of people to the wonder and beauty of wildlife, nature, and our interconnectedness to our shared earth. We offered great ways to support nature, respect and live alongside wildlife, and to be better stewards of our environmental life support system with the adoption of renewable energy and transportation technologies such as solar power and electric vehicles. The above photo was taken at our spring fundraiser at Oscar Blues in Brevard, NC where many folks came out to meet our education animals, experience several electric vehicles, and some (including me) even tried out an awesome One Wheel electric skateboard!

A new set of wheels for ENP

Over the last 6 years we used our Nissan Leaf fully Electric Vehicle (EV) in most of our outreach classes and programs, wildlife rescue calls, and in the monitoring of Eastern box turtles, Black rat snakes, Timber rattlesnakes, bats, and Black vultures. It was a wonderful vehicle but sadly, due to a design flaw in the battery chemistry of 1^st generation LEAF’s, its driving range degraded to the point where it was no longer useful to us for our outreach programming needs. In September of 2019, with generous support from some of our primary benefactors, we acquired a new outreach vehicle – a 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV. It is 100% electric and has a driving range of 238 miles per charge – although we are often getting closer to 250 miles. The Bolt is the perfect vehicle for our mission as its battery is charged primarily from our classroom solar array making it truly zero-emission so it does not pollute the precious environment that we strive so hard to understand, preserve, protect, and share with you. This new outreach vehicle will allow us to expand our service area bringing our programming to a much larger audience. The ENP EV Motto: Drive electric to protect and preserve nature, wildlife and wild places. Drive electric for the health of your family, drive electric for freedom from dependence on toxic, polluting fossil fuels. Drive electric for energy independence. Drive electric for a better future for all. Drive electric for fun!

I took this photo a few days after acquiring the new Bolt. I was on the way home from work and stopped to assist a Rat snake across the road.

*This new EV is owned by ENP and will be used as a dedicated company outreach vehicle and it is charged primarily by local renewable energy sources. It will serve as an outstanding teaching tool for our Trails students, ENP outreach program participants, and everyone we meet. Learn more about driving electric at: www.blueridgeevclub.com

Organic Garden

2019 was the third year for our organic/heirloom student garden project. After the very successful straw bale squash garden experiment of 2018, this year we decided to plant the entire garden using straw bales as the substrate. This experiment worked surprisingly well allowing us to produce many more tasty organic vegetables from our little garden than in previous years.

We believe the only way to have a truly organic garden is to not use any toxic chemicals or fossil fuels in the preparation and tending of the garden in any way so this year the students and interns prepared the garden using only human power and fertilized it with composted food scraps and waste from our education animals. The students planted and tended the garden throughout its growing season and amazingly we had virtually no “pests” on our garden vegetables and we never used any toxic insecticides or herbicides! I am happy to say that our third year of the garden project was a great and tasty success with over 150 yummy squash, big bunches of green beans, countless tomatoes, Peruvian black corn, purple and red sweet potatoes, several varieties of peppers, and for the first time our Passion fruit vine produced several tasty fruits – all of this wonderful organic produce was then shared among the students and staff!

CLUCK CLUCK

Our small flock of friendly laying hens grew to over 25 birds this year! Several of the new recruits were adopted by Trails employees or found homes with chicken people in the community. Our flock of chickens are free-range, organically fed, and have been hand-raised by our students as pets, and are wonderful therapy animals – with the great side benefits of wonderful organic, free-range eggs, no-cost organic fertilizer, and free pest control for our organic garden!

Our rescue hen Midnight and her new chick in the “Coop Car.”

Just in case you missed it – last year ENP was featured in The Laurel of Asheville

Read the story at this TinyURL link: https://tinyurl.com/yb7zxhdp

(or just Google “Laurel of Asheville Earthshine Nature”)

The ENP Renewable Energy Program

On November 8^th, 2019 our student-built classroom solar array project celebrated two full years of producing clean, renewable, “locally grown” solar-produced electricity for our classroom and electron fuel for our outreach EV! Add to all that awesome the incredible accomplishment this year of the completion of Phase Two of the solar array! That’s right, with your help we have completed Phase One and Phase Two of this amazing classroom energy project and the array is now complete!!

Steve and one of his awesome students installing the first solar module in Phase Two of our classroom solar array.

This time last year our student-built solar array had produced over 6.5 megawatts of clean solar produced electricity. With the completion of Phase Two, the now complete and fully functioning array has produced well over 12-megawatt hours – and that is just since mid-summer when the completed array went online full time! With the generous support of Bob Harris of Black Bear Solar Institute, Pisgah Forest resident Jim Hardy, Lake Toxaway Charities, Trails Carolina, Trails Momentum, and our many other wonderful project supporters – maybe you were one of them – and all of my amazing Trails Carolina and Trails Momentum students, ENP interns, and volunteers – this classroom renewable energy project has been an outstanding success!

Since the completed classroom solar array went online on July 04^th, 2019 (our Energy Independence Day) it has consistently, quietly, and without any harmful toxic emissions – produced close to 4 times the power we need to meet the daily needs of our classroom building, education animal habitats, and our all-electric outreach vehicle’s electric fuel needs – all this entirely on 100% clean, “homegrown,” solar power!

We produce so much electricity that we send the surplus out to the local energy grid giving our closest neighbors on the campus of Trails Momentum some “locally grown” on-campus renewable energy. We are now producing an excess of around 823kWh of electricity each month and sending this out to the local grid. Over the course of the entire year that excess has totaled around 9.8 mWh – so our classroom has now become a renewable energy power plant for the campus of Trails Momentum and for the local community!! Due to our excess energy production, we have built up so much energy credit with Duke Energy that we could turn off the array and run on the solar credits for several months without paying a cent for energy! With the completion of Phase 2, the most complex portion of our classroom solar array project is now complete. We are now moving forward with fundraising for Phase 3 – the final Phase of our classroom energy project. This will consist of a “plug and play” battery storage system that will store excess electricity produced during the day that will then be used to keep all systems online at night and during power outages. We will then only use our grid connection to Duke Energy as a back-up power source during longer periods of dark/rainy/stormy weather – isn’t science amazing!

Watch a short time-lapse video of Phase Two of the solar array’s construction via this link: https://youtu.be/12wtCSldnKc

To make the 3^rd and final Phase of this amazing student energy project a reality for our classroom, our students, and our animal ambassadors – we need your continued support in this final push to the end. Please consider making a year-end gift to Earthshine Nature Programs and help us reach our renewable energy powered goals.

Cute little Jumping spider says it is time for everyone to GO SOLAR!

Supporter Spotlight — Bob Harris and Jim Hardy

ENP would not be possible without all of our amazing supporters – including you. Two of our biggest supporters are also two of the most outstanding and most generous people on earth – Bob Harris and Jim Hardy. Jim and Bob have donated countless hours of their time, expertise, skills, and resources to make things happen for ENP, and for the students of Trails Carolina and Trails Momentum.

Jim Hardy is the master carpenter who has donated hundreds of hours of his valuable time and expertise as he has overseen, directed, and worked with our students and me on the construction of the solar array, our theater-style seating, the new fire escape steps, building electrical and other key building upgrades, many of the tables in the classroom and our “‘Possum Palace” Opossum habitat.

Bob is the incredible electrical engineer who designed the solar array, installed the wiring for the array, upgraded the classroom power grid, and donated countless technical and educational components and support to our classroom and outreach EV. All of these things have contributed immensely to the wonderful educational environment we are working to create for our students at ENP and Trails Science.

THANK YOU Bob Harris and Jim Hardy for your wonderful and most generous support – you are true HEROES!

Wildlife Conservation Programs

Turtle Tracks, Snake Tracks and Snake Trails

The Turtle Tracks and Timber Rattlesnake Tracks programs have ended and we have now decided to focus our energies on our classroom and environmental education outreach programming, wildlife rehabilitation, and on reporting our findings from the reptile conservation projects we conducted over the last decade of tracking misunderstood reptiles. What did we learn while tracking wild reptiles? – waaaay too much to fit into the pages of this newsletter – so we have decided to write it all down and share it with you! The stories and the answers are in the works in the form of three private publications currently available only to ENP supporters – namely you. The first of these three publications – The Rattlesnakes of the Blue Ridge – is ready now! It contains a naturalist’s perspective on everything we have learned by following the secret lives of Utsanati and Zoe – the two wild Timber rattlesnakes we followed in their native habitats for a four year period in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of WNC. Within the pages you will find an overview of the natural history of the Timber rattlesnake, a consolidation of my field observations and personal reflections, tracking and activity maps, and many high-quality photographs from the field.

This document and the others that will follow on the Eastern box turtle and Black rat snake will grant fascinating insight into the lives of these unique, wonderful and very misunderstood creatures as well as useful information on coexisting with these animals and other native wildlife species on your lands. All proceeds from the sale of this and the future documents in this series will be 100% directed toward our nonprofit wildlife conservation, rehabilitation, and environmental education mission.

Zoe – By Steve Atkins

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of The Rattlesnakes of the Blue Ridge, and/or Turtle Tracks: Box Turtles of the Blue Ridge or Snake Trails: The Rat Snakes That Live Among Us at the discounted price of $25.00 each – please contact me via the links at the end of this newsletter.

Opie D. Opossum – by Evan Kafka

Clean Air Carolina Blue Sky Award

Photo by Clean Air Carolina

On November 07, 2019 ENP was honored to receive the Clean Air Carolina Blue Sky Award at a very special awards ceremony in Charlotte, NC. This award was presented to us by Clean Air Carolina for our volunteer work with the Clean Air Carolina Air Keepers project which is working to install air quality monitors in all 100 counties of North Carolina. We will continue to work with Clean Air Carolina and other organizations and individuals who value clean air, clean water, diverse wildlife, and energy independence for people, wildlife, and our shared environment.

In case you missed it last year ENP/Trails Science was featured in a Clean Air Carolina video clip with Miles O’Brien: https://youtu.be/mhQ4Kk3oq9o

Learn more about Clean Air Carolina: www.cleanaircarolina.org

Your Support

We welcome your continued support in keeping our unique programming alive. There are many ways you can choose to help us make our programs and projects a reality.

Donate time and energy by volunteering at our Science and Nature Center classroom – we always have loads of projects from working in the garden, cleaning animal habitats, yard work, etc; so if you like to get your hands dirty for a good cause then just contact us at earthshine.nature@gmail.com or call Steve at (828) 606-8939 to set up a time to give us a hand around the classroom/farm. Another great way to support us is through the donation of much-needed supplies – our wish list can be found on Amazon by searching for the Earthshine Nature Programs Wish List or by visiting this tinyURL link: https://tinyurl.com/yahlsvnp Another easy way to support us is through Amazon Smile. Simply visit: smile.amazon.com and sign up to support Earthshine Nature Programs. Then, every time you make a purchase on Amazon using your smile.amazon.com account, a portion of Amazon’s profits will be donated to ENP at no cost to you! Yes, it really is that easy to support us! If you would like to directly support our projects and programs there are several ways to do so. We have an ongoing GoFundMe campaign where you may donate to our solar project and more – visit: www.gofundme.com/enpsolartrails

We also now have a Patreon page where you can choose to support us with ongoing monthly donations of any size. Visit our Patreon Page: www.patreon.com/earthshinenature

Lastly, you may also donate to us via the PayPal link on our website at www.earthshinenature.com/donate or mail a donation to our address below. All donations to ENP are tax-deductible. Receipts available upon request.

THANK YOU SO MUCH

Without your continued support, Earthshine Nature Programs would not function. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation or end of year gift to us now and in the future. Earthshine Nature Programs is a 501c3, donation-funded, volunteer owned and operated, wildlife conservation and rehabilitation, environmental stewardship, and science education charity organization.

We have a wonderful partnership with Trails Carolina and Trails Momentum to provide nature knowledge, science education, curiosity, and inspiration to their populations of outstanding youth.

Learn more at:

Trailscarolina.com

and

Trailsmomentum.com

A note from naturalist Steve O’Neil

I am passionate about sharing my love, respect, and curiosity for nature, wildlife and wild places, environmental stewardship, science literacy, and reason with everyone I meet – especially my classroom and outreach programming students. It is the students of today who will make the big wildlife and nature conservation, science, and energy decisions of the future, and it is my goal to communicate to my students the most up to date, unbiased, peer-reviewed evidence, practices, technologies, and environmental ethics so they will be better informed and ready to take on the world and be the change that will guide us all forward. I feel that by demonstrating working models of what is possible, respectfully coexisting with each other, and by working together toward the common goal of creating and maintaining a better world for all living things today and into the future, we will bring the changes that will make all of our dreams come true.

Earthshine Nature Programs (501c3) is supported primarily through monetary, resource, and time donations from caring, concerned individuals just like you. I work hard to fundraise and acquire grants and donations from any and all sources that would like to support us. With your help with hands-on volunteering, a one-time donation of equipment or funds, a year-end gift, or your continuing patronage – together we will continue to create something unique and wonderful that will serve to educate and inspire thousands of students with a new curiosity, a greater respect, an evidence-supported understanding, and a powerful conservation ethic for caring for wildlife, nature, and the environment that supports us all. Your support will assist us in sharing with others the value of adopting responsible, secure, clean energy and transportation resources we can all work to bring to our homes, businesses, and to the roads, thereby lowering our impacts on our shared environment and in the process, become better stewards of the earth and empower our shared futures through the findings, methods, and tools of science.

Photo by Evan Kafka

THANK YOU ALL

Sincerely, Steve O’Neil

Executive Director of Earthshine Nature Programs (501c3)

Email: earthshine.nature@gmail.com

Website: www.earthshinenature.com

Nature Blog: www.earthshinenature.wordpress.com

YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/snakesteve68

EV Blog: bluewaterleaf.wordpress.com

Earthshine Nature Programs Update 2019

Posted on July 4, 2019 by Stevo

It has been a very busy 2019 at Earthshine Nature Programs! In the pages of this posting, I offer an update to catch you up on the happenings over the first half of 2019 at ENP!

Adventure News

Early in the year, I journeyed to that outstanding nexus of all geekdom the wonderful nerd incubator that is Kennedy Space Center in Florida!

I was on a pilgrimage of adventure, awe, wonder and it was an information gathering mission for the science classes I teach to the brilliant youth of today (and I was on a mission to check this off my bucket list since I was a 4-year-old kid watching the last of the Apollo moon landings on a black and white cathode ray tube console TV way back in the early 1970’s!)

While at KSC I was in my element and felt the need to share a small part of my experience with my students and with you so I made an educational “teaser” video for anyone interested in learning about NASA’s out of this world space exploration history – check it out below- then get yourself to Kennedy Space Center!

While on this spaced-out star trek I also completed another amazing life milestone even bigger than my nerdy space quest – I connected with my biological father! Yes, you read that right – through the marvels methods and tools of science I was able to have my DNA sequenced, then a few weeks later I was touring Kennedy Space Center with one of the people who brought me into existence – my biological father!

WOW!

What an amazing journey it has been – to the historic past of US space exploration and into my own history! Here’s a photo of my absolutely awesome father and I visiting in Florida. Isn’t science, life, the universe, and everything – just amazing!

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Public Service News

Early in the year, I produced a new video documenting Asheville NC’s adoption of Proterra all-electric city busses! Check it out below!

Then, while visiting an NC beach in May, I became very frustrated (again) with the way we human animals are mistreating the planet so, like I always do, I picked up others people’s carelessly cast-off litter and produced a short Public Service Announcement about littering – view it below.

PLEASE DO NOT LITTER!

and

please work to keep our home planet clean by picking up the litter/pollution carelessly cast aside by others onto our shared earth, air, and waters.

Remember to always Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose, Rethink, Refuse, Resist

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Outreach News

The amazing ENP volunteers and I have presented several reptile and wildlife outreach programs to many local schools and organizations and events.

Reptiles, wildife, nature, local ale, One Wheels, electric vehicles and renewable energy – yes, it is a thing because we at ENP make it a thing and you should too 🙂

Abby and crew at the Upper French Broad Riverfest on June 22nd!

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Wildlife News

It is summer and the reptiles are on the move.

A few weeks ago I was on my way to the office when I encountered this cute little Rat snake crossing the road.

I tried to lend him a hand and he was not very cooperative but eventually, with some gentle coaxing, I was able to encourage him to move along into the forest where he would be out of danger from humans and our machines.

Then a few days later Abby and I were on the way to the classroom to work on the solar array and we discovered a young Timber rattlesnake making her way across the road – so we gave her a bit of a “hand” in getting to the other side.

I carefully used my tongs to gently lift her and move her off the road to the safety of the forest – she quickly moved off rattling all the way – such an amazing encounter!!

Upon arriving at the office Abby spotted a young Rat snake moving across the chicken yard in the direction of the chicken coop car where a mother hen had just hatched out three new chicks!

I decided to move this cute little chicken thief to the other side of the building in the hopes that he would move off and not come back for a chicken dinner!

While working on the classroom solar array we discovered this cute little Jumping spider out for a stroll – isn’t she just soooo cute!!

Here’s a close-up:-)

Wildlife Rehabilitation News

We have successfully rehabilitated one once very sick Rat snake (black snake) who lived with us since the fall of 2018 and have released him back into his home habitat.

What a grand success story – check out his release video below!

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Charlie, one of our Red-footed tortoises, has laid eggs!!

We are incubating them now and hope to hatch them by late summer –

more on this later as things develop 🙂

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We have fostered 9 orphaned young Opossums, who lost their mother in an incident with a motor vehicle – and released them into the forest near our classroom. (In the pic you only see five but the others are underneath…)

Opossums help us so much yet they are so mistrusted and misunderstood. Watch this amazing video on the Opossum and learn how awesome they truly are!

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In April, May, and June several of our hens hatched 10 new chicks!!

Everyone loves spending time with the chicks!

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Clean Air Carolina Air Keeper Project News

With all of our other projects taking up most of our time we have not had much time as we would like to devote to getting more air monitors installed in the WNC area. However, we were able to successfully install one monitoring station in Murphy, NC thereby filling in the big gap in coverage in the far western part of NC.

Are you air aware? How is the air quality in your area? Take a look at the map and find out. In the coming weeks, I hope to install two more air monitors in the WNC area and close in the remaining gaps in the far western part of the state as well as in the area north of Asheville. If you are interested in hosting an Air monitor in NC (or anywhere) feel free to contact me for more details on how you can become an Air Keeper or if you are in NC please check out Clean Air Carolina and find out how you can become an NC Air Keeper and be part of the solution.

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ENP Crew News

We have an awesome new ENP intern! Let’s welcome Abby M. to the crew!

Abby loves animals and nature, is very capable in everything she sets her mind to, is focused and passionate about science and environmental conservation, she has studied abroad in the rainforests of Peru, and is great with animals, people, and power tools which is always a big plus.

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The ENP/Trails Science organic garden is doing great!!

This year the students and I planted the entire garden in straw bales and if the amazing growth is any indication we will have a wonderful harvest!

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Solar Project News

We have been working very hard on bringing the western portion of Phase Two of our classroom solar array online and as of 5/24/19 we made it so!

On May 24th we threw the switch on an additional 7.2 kW of solar that, with your support, we have added to the existing 4.8 kW Phase One array (the blue one).

That is solar hero Bob Harris of Black Bear Solar Institute and I throwing the switch on the new western array!

This new increase in solar capacity means our science and nature center classroom and the ENP all-electric outreach vehicle are now fully powered/fueled* by the sun!!

*When the ENP EV is charged on-site. My recent energy audit study on the ENP EV revealed that, as of the date of the study, the ENP outreach EV was 48% solar charged – however, that number has undoubtedly increased with our addition of more solar generation capability as well as the continued “greening” of the energy mix in the area in which I live. I will complete another energy audit after the completion of the eastern segment of Phase Two and report the results here and on my EV blog.

Next, I offer a series of mostly chronologically arranged photos of the construction of the western segment of the Phase Two classroom solar array starting about 3 months ago.

ENP long-time intern Pierce and his girlfriend Erin gave us a hand one day on the solar array support structure and much more – THANK YOU PIERCE AND ERIN!

Solar Hero Jim Hardy installing a support beam.

The support structure taking shape, as well as our straw bale garden experiment!

Jim and Abby cutting steel support beams for the Eastern array.

The students all worked very hard to help make this amazing project happen for their classroom!

THANK YOU ALL FOR WORKING SO HARD ON YOUR SOLAR ARRAY!!!!

The completed Zilla Rac solar support framework ready to receive solar modules!

The students and I moving the new SolarWorld solar modules into place!

Bolting it all together!

Putting the final solar modules in place!

Bob wiring the modules into the system.

Connecting the SMA SunnyBoy inverter*!

*A wonderful benefit of using SMA Inverters is if/when grid power goes out the Secure Power Circuits from the solar inverters will – when the sun is shining – provide us with up to 6 kW of emergency power to run key habitat, lighting, education support systems, and the entire campus internet system – very cool indeed!

Bob Harris and Jim Hardy – heroes for renewable energy, the environment, education, our students, and our little log cabin classroom!

THANK YOU JIM AND BOB

WE COULD NEVER HAVE DONE ANY OF THIS WITHOUT YOU!!!

After we powered up the western array, Bob worked his magic and networked the new inverter with the original unit so we could visualize the energy output from anywhere in the world – check it out HERE!

As you can see from the first partial day of operation both solar arrays together were putting out over 9.8 kW!

On the first full day of operation, we put out over 1.6 times as much power as the original Phase One array alone – circled in red!

We produced a total of 58.16 kWh of electricity for the first full day of operation – that is 33.16 kWh above our average daily usage of around 25 kWh per day. On the second full day of operation, we produced a total of 56.49 kWh and at midday hit a peak of 10,044 watts of clean solar produced electricity!! Our best production to date on the Western Segment of Phase Two has been on a cloudless cool spring day when we generated a bit over 63 kWh of clean solar electricity – that is well over twice our average daily use! Then, about two weeks later, on a very overcast, rainy, and gray day, the array produced 25.50 kWh of solar-generated electricity!! So what this means is that our array produced enough electricity to cover all of our needs even on a cloudy day – without even seeing the sun itself !!!WOW!!! If this trend keeps up we will not be paying for and using fossil fuel generated power for much longer – especially after the eastern segment of the Phase Two array comes online very soon.

For those of you interested in how much money we are saving by going solar – the answer, for now, is – all of it. Our power bill for May 2019 was only $3 above the standard grid connection fee charged by Duke Energy! Before going solar, our monthly energy cost to operate our classroom/ENP office averaged over $200. Add in the all-electric outreach vehicle and that would be another $15. But now, with our amazing student-built classroom solar array we have almost dropped our facilities and transportation energy use costs to zero! Once the eastern segment of Phase Two goes online – it will be well below zero and far into the positive.

The Eastern Segment

After we completed the Western segment of the Phase Two array we started work on the Eastern Segment. Below I offer photos of that project.

I took the following photo a few weeks ago of Jim, Abby, and her boyfriend Mitch from high on the roof while we were working on the eastern array.

Bob and Jim working with me to put one of the eastern array’s frame pieces in place.

Moving more solar modules

Bob, Abby, and I showing off one of the solar modules that will soon be producing fuel for the ENP/Trails classroom and the ENP all-electric outreach vehicle – a 2012 Nissan LEAF. I find it simply amazing that several very thin pieces of modified and purified silicon (sand) and a few other unique compounds fused together and sealed under another flat piece of glass (more sand) with a few wires connecting everything together and then pointed at the sun – produces clean fuel for our outreach vehicle and electricity to run the entire classroom/office building for zero operational costs, without any moving parts – and from my own “backyard!”

Why aren’t more people doing this?!?!?

The Eastern array starting to take shape while my little pup Tange looks on.

Abby and I moving a solar module up onto the frame.

Careful…

Success!!!

Building a solar array means tapping into your inner monkey!

Peace – through teamwork, cooperation, perseverance, some monkeying around – and lots of SCIENCE and ENGINEERING!

The very last primary solar module goes into place!

WOO HOO!!! It is DONE!!

Tightening a hold down bracket

Bob tightening another hold down

Bob running more electrical conduit

SUCCESS!!

As of June 06, 2019 the primary construction on the Earthshine Nature Programs/Trails Science student-built classroom solar array is officially complete!!

Throughout the entire project, the students have left their mark on the project and left their signatures on the support structure 🙂

Over the next 10 days, we worked on wiring up the Eastern Array, installing the safety fencing, and completing the classroom building’s new power grid wiring project that we started in the fall of 2018.

The photo below shows two of the new electrical boxes in the process of being installed.

Bob Harris installing the new main breaker box.

Now, compare those top of the line, incredibly safe electrical box units to what we had before pictured below and you can see why this electrical evolution upgrade project was so important for the safety of our students, our classroom, and our education animals.

Before this electrical system upgrade, many of the building’s power outlets had failed and a few of the circuit breakers would get uncomfortably warm to the touch thereby requiring us to resort to using many extension cords to keep systems in operation. After we powered on the majority of the new system I removed most of the extension cords and took this photo as a reference of what once was – yikes!

This new power grid is not only higher quality, a magnitude safer, and more energy efficient than what we previously used, it has also allowed us to interconnect the easternmost segment of the Phase Two solar array into the new power grid.

As the sun was setting on June 15, 2019, Bob Harris made the final connections and threw the switch on the Eastern segment of the array bringing the entire Classroom Solar Array online and ready to produce power.

As I write these words on June 16th, 2019 the first rays of the morning sun has just started hitting all 60 modules of the array and by midday, we will see what this amazing student, volunteer, and community constructed and donation supported solar powered renewable energy generation facility is capable of!

Below is a photo of “first light” hitting the newly completed ENP/Trails Science Classroom Solar Array on June 16th – Father’s Day! I took this photo using the ENP/Trails Science BloomSky weather camera – follow the link and view our completed classroom solar array in real-time anytime you like 🙂

At the end of the day the newly completed Classroom Solar Array had produced over 67 kWh of clean, “locally grown” renewable energy – and it was even partly cloudy/hazy mid-day as evidenced by the solar production curve from the newly networked SunnyBoy inverters.

Even with the clouds and haze our array produced more than enough electricity to power all our classroom/office systems, fill our Duke Energy net metering “credit bucket” to overflowing, and it also become a small scale local energy generating station providing cleanly generated electricity not only for our classroom and outreach vehicle’s needs – but also for the campus energy grid thereby “greening” the other buildings on the campus of Trails Momentum!

Now that the Eastern segment (on the right) of the Phase Two Array is complete, online, and producing electricity alongside the Western segment (on the left) of the Phase Two Array and the original Phase One Array (the middle one) – it will bring the total system capacity up to 19.2 kW of solar produced electricity!! Due to environmental factors and system losses, our maximum output on perfect days could reach upwards of 18 kW and possibly hit production targets of over 80 kWh – only time will tell!

UPDATE: On the first day of Summer 2019 the array produced an astonishing total of 83.34 kWh of electricity!!! That is over 3 times our energy needs – truly amazing!!!

Take a look at the beautifully perfect power curve from that day…

A few more amazing stats…

Now the same curve showing the inverter output.

The below graph shows our to-date monthly production numbers for 2019 – outstanding!

Now let’s compare the solar output for

June of 2017…

…and June of 2018…

And now, June of 2019

WOW

Now take a look at our annual solar electricity production since day one of almost exactly three years ago. Our 2019 levels will soon surpass all of 2018 and 2017 combined – and as I write it is only now the fourth of July – now that is some amazing homegrown energy independence and freedom! In fact, to mark this special day, from now forward I will forever refer to July 4th as the ENP/Trails Science classrooms

Energy Independence Day!

And now our energy production numbers to date.

The key numbers to notice here are the following:

Total energy produced since going online in late June of 2017:

11.184-megawatt hours!!!

That is enough solar-generated electricity to offset the energy needs of

1.55 average American homes for one year!!

This may not seem like much but until a month ago we were using almost all of the energy produced by the 4.8 kW Phase One array – and we still managed to generate a small surplus. Now that we have all of Phase 2 complete and online we will generate much, much more!

How did I come up with those numbers you may ask:

According to the UCS the average American home uses 7,200kWh/year.

1 (MWh) / 7.2 (MWh) = 0.13889 Homes per MWh

0.13889 (Homes per MWh) x 11.184 (MWh) = 1.553 homes

Data Sources:

http://blackbearsolarinstitute.org/

https://www.seia.org/initiatives/whats-megawatt

https://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/how-is-electricity-measured.html

Now that we have completed Phase 2 and the entire array is now complete, online, and producing loads of electricity, it will be very interesting to see how long it takes us to blow the top off of those numbers.

Science and evidence tell us that burning things (fossil fuels such as coal, oil, natural gas, gasoline, diesel fuel, etc.) for energy/fuel releases toxic air pollution and Carbon Dioxide (CO2) into our shared atmosphere. These compounds, directly and indirectly, harm our health, our planetary life support system, and all our futures. By going solar we at ENP and Trails Science are no longer using toxic fossil fuels to power our classroom and outreach vehicle. We have avoided releasing 8.6 tonnes of CO2 into our shared atmosphere as well as all of the associated pollution – and that is a very good thing!

The average American is responsible for releasing 19.8 tonnes of CO2 annually. By installing our classroom solar array we have reduced our classroom’s carbon footprint from 19.8 to 11.2 tonnes. Adding in the 6 tonnes of CO2 removed by driving an all-electric solar-charged EV outreach vehicle and we reduce our CO2 output down to 5.2 tonnes! We are well on our way to net zero!

That is most impressive!

Calculate your own carbon footprint using the following websites and work to reduce your impact on our shared earth.

https://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx

https://www.conservation.org/act/carboncalculator/calculate-your-carbon-footprint.aspx#/

https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/consider-your-impact/carbon-calculator/

https://www.c2es.org/content/calculate-your-carbon-footprint/

https://www3.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator/

Our amazing new solar capacity will produce loads of surplus power, far above and beyond what we use. This surplus power will, at first, go toward filling the overflowing net-metering “credit bucket” for our classroom that we will then pull from at night and during periods of low light/rainy/wintery weather. This large output of power and overflowing electron filled credit bucket will effectively remove our Duke Energy power bill for the classroom building and most of the electric fuel bill for the ENP all-electric Nissan LEAF outreach vehicle – WOO HOO!!

Eventually, when we bring online the third and final Phase of our classroom solar energy project – the “plug and play” battery storage bank* – we will then channel a portion of any excess power produced during the day into those batteries for later use at night and during periods of dark weather. At that time, our connection to the Duke Energy power grid will remain as a backup – just in case – and it will act as an emergency “generator” in the event of a major power outage coinciding with a long period of dark/rainy/wintery weather (if we ever see wintery weather again…)

However, if over time, we discover that we are able to make enough power for all of our needs and if the system operates without issue in all weather through all seasons – we hope to eventually unplug from the grid entirely thereby making our science classroom and ENP office 100% off-grid, self-sufficient, energy secure, and net zero.

Now that is what I call true freedom!!

Freedom from all the problems of burning toxic fossil fuels – freedom from the insanely high human and environmental health costs, the endless war, and dirty politics connected to and feeding upon the acquisition, transport, and use of fossil fuels.

*We are now raising funds to support the Phase Three battery bank and associated battery inverter system. If you are interested in supporting the third and final phase of this awesome classroom renewable energy project, please follow the links at the end of this blog post for more information on how you can support us.

THANK YOU!

All donations to ENP are tax deductible.

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THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED US IN MAKING THIS HAPPEN!!!!!

YOU ARE ALL HEROES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER!!!!!

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Above all of the obvious awesomeness of producing clean, “locally grown,” energy-secure, renewable energy from the sun to power our classroom building and outreach vehicle – our primary reason for all the time, effort, classroom, and community teamwork, fundraising, and focus on this multi-year-long project is the continuing STEM education of our students, visitors, and outreach program participants and you reading this blog post. To put it simply – our students, visitors, and outreach program participants and you are the future of science-supported nature, wildlife, and environmental conservation of their futures and of our planetary life support system. By introducing all of you to the most up to date, scientifically accurate, and unbiased, nature, wildlife, environmental, energy, climate, and renewable energy-focused peer-reviewed science, as well as to these functional projects that they work together to create in class that directly benefit their classroom and learning environment and education – we are hopefully planting great seeds of curiosity in science, technology, engineering, math (STEM), nature, ecology, clean energy, and clean transportation systems as well as forward-thinking progress that works to benefit all of us, our shared environment, and of everything moving forward.

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BE THE CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD

AND THE WORLD WILL CHANGE

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Speaking of change, today* was monumental for us in more ways than one.

*much of this post was written on 5/24/19.

While we were powering on the Western segment of our new solar array in support of using clean, “locally grown” renewable energy (instead of – toxic and expensive – in more ways than your bank account – fossil fuels) to power our classroom, outreach vehicle, and our future – over a 1.5 million school-age students, many of their teachers, supporting parents and other adults, and scientists from all disciplines from all around the planet, in thousands of cities and hundreds of countries – were walking out of their classrooms, offices and laboratories to protest their government’s inaction on fighting the most challenging environmental and social issue of our time:

Anthropogenic climate change.

I stand in support and solidarity with the students, scientists and others who are attacking this most urgent issue head-on with peer-reviewed evidence, science supported solutions, and peaceful action such as but not limited to; the adoption of energy-secure “homegrown” renewable energy sources, zero-emission electric transportation, and the election of policymakers who understand and support the findings of science and will choose to deny the status quo and work very hard to make the needed changes in the system that will be most beneficial for everything and everyone moving forward.

In support of these goals I attended the March 15th, 2019 Fridays For Future event and plan to attend the September 20th Global Climate Strike event as well. I encourage all of you reading this to join me from wherever you are and to attend, organize, band together with your classmates, teachers, professors, and co-workers, and peacefully walk out of your school, laboratory, office, home, church, place of business or other institution to show your support for ending our toxic addiction to fossil fuels and adopting clean, energy-secure, “locally grown,” renewable energy systems and electric vehicles to power, transport, and and empower a better, more prosperous future for us all.

Learn more about this planetwide movement for positive change at: https://www.fridaysforfuture.org/

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Earthshine Nature Programs* (ENP) is a volunteer operated wildlife and environmental education and conservation and renewable energy outreach education nonprofit (501c3) based out of Pisgah Forest, NC. It is operated by its founder and Executive Director Steve O’Neil. Steve is on a mission to connect people with nature and wildlife and in doing so he works to foster a renewed curiosity in the natural world that supports us all.

Through his hands-on wildlife, nature, indigenous music, renewable energy and science outreach programming at camps, schools, birthday parties and special events in local area and in the WNC region, to his unique experiential citizen science-based projects and experiences in his Trails Science classes, Steve strives to educate and inspire his students and people of all ages to get excited about nature, wildlife, the sciences, and above all else – caring for, and becoming better stewards of the fragile natural environment that supports us all.

Steve is also a full-time naturalist and environmental science educator at Trails Carolina and Trails Momentum near Brevard, NC where he and his students and interns care for a menagerie of animal ambassadors, most of which are ex-pets and non-releasable wildlife. Some of these animals were once wild but after surviving run-ins with cars, dogs and habitat loss, were rehabilitated by Steve (an NC licensed wildlife rehabilitator), his students, and volunteer staff.

Gollum the Eastern Hellbender – one of Steve’s animal ambassadors.

These animals are housed in the rustic log cabin Science and Nature Education Center classroom that is also the office of Steve’s nonprofit

Earthshine Nature Programs

High above the ENP/Trails Science Classroom cabin (Note: This photo was taken in 2017 – before Phase Two of the classroom solar array had been started).

Steve is an avid supporter of renewable energy – especially solar – and he supports the great need for trusting the findings of science to facilitate the final goal of transitioning our society away from polluting fossil fuels to renewable energy sources and renewably powered electric vehicles for the sake of our health, the health of our shared environment, and future generations of life on Planet Earth.

Questions? Contact Steve at earthshine.nature@gmail.com

The ENP website: www.earthshinenature.com

The ENP Blog: www.earthshinenature.wordpress.com

The ENP Youtube Channel: www.youtube.com/user/snakesteve68

Facebook: Earthshine Nature Programs and The Blue Ridge EV Club

Steve and a Snapping turtle friend he rehabilitated and released into its native habitat.

A history lesson: Steve O’Neil founded Earthshine Nature Programs (ENP) when he was working as an outdoor guide and naturalist at Earthshine Lodge in Lake Toxaway in 2010. In 2013 ENP incorporated as a 501c3 and became a separate business entity from Earthshine Lodge yet ENP kept the name Earthshine as a reminder of its humble beginnings at the wonderful Earthshine Lodge. The name Earthshine is foremost in our mission because we believe that stewardship of the EARTH, and all the life contained within this fragile oasis of life in space, should SHINE brightly above all other issues because without clean air, water, and environmental balance – we have nothing.

There are several ways you can support us.

1. Monthly Patreon support via our Patreon page.

2. Direct donation of materials/funding via one of the following links.

If you would like to donate anonymously, please visit our donate page at www.earthshinenature.com/donate or donate to our GoFundMe campaign or support us on our new Patreon Page. Yet another option for supporting us is our new Solar Sponsorship program – read more about it below.

or

Snail mail your donation to

Earthshine Nature Programs

134 E. Dogwood Ln.

Pisgah Forest, NC 28768

3. Sponsorship of a solar module (aka solar panel).

How the solar sponsorship program works.

You may choose to sponsor (donate) one or more solar modules at the donation level of $500 each.*
*Your sponsorship covers the cost of the solar module, its support structure, and the electronic components needed to tie Phase 2 into the existing & operational classroom solar array.

After your donation is complete – your name/company name (or the name of your choosing) will be permanently affixed to the frame of your sponsored solar module(s) and/or inscribed on a nearby commemorative plaque listing all classroom solar project supporters. (you may opt out of any of these perks)

Sponsors will also receive a certificate of sponsorship, a donation receipt, and the following private web links that will allow you to check in anytime & see your donation in action supporting our classroom, our students, our education animals, and the future!

– A unique web address and private login/password that will allow you to directly access our classroom solar array’s real-time energy production status.

– A unique web address to a private live web camera providing a birds-eye view of our classroom solar array in action! (and organic garden during the growing season)*

– A web address to our weather camera that provides yet another unique view of our classroom solar array in action and a daily time-lapse video of the weather at our site.*
*No students/staff will be identifiable to protect their privacy.

And if you choose: A set of one of a kind “solar earrings” or a “solar pendant.” Handmade of remnants of solar cells by Naturalist Steve O’Neil and his interns. These unique items do not generate any power but they are all one of a kind, unique, and beautiful.

To sponsor one or more solar modules please contact Steve at earthshine.nature@gmail.com

4. Support us by shopping on Amazon with Amazon Smile by following this link: smile.amazon.com and under the Supporting Link choose Earthshine Nature Programs and Amazon will donate funds to ENP each time you make a purchase – at no cost to you!

THANK YOU!!

Without your continued support, Earthshine Nature Programs and the Trails Science program would not function. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to ENP now and in the future. Earthshine Nature Programs is a 501c3, donation funded, volunteer owned and operated, wildlife conservation and rehabilitation, environmental stewardship, and science education charity organization.

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ENP has a wonderful partnership with Trails Carolina and Trails Momentum to provide nature and science education and inspiration to their populations of outstanding youth. Learn more at:

Trailscarolina.com

and

Trailsmomentum.com

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A note from naturalist

Steve O’Neil

I am passionate about sharing my love, respect, and curiosity for nature, wildlife and wild places, environmental stewardship, science, and reason with everyone I meet, especially my classroom and outreach programming students. It is the students of today who will make the big nature and wildlife conservation, science, and energy decisions of the future, and it is my goal to give my students the best possible unbiased exposure to the most up to date, peer-reviewed evidence, ethics, practices, and technologies so they will be better informed and ready to take on the world and be the change that will guide us all forward. I feel that by demonstrating working models of what is possible, respectfully coexisting with each other, and by working together toward the common goal of creating and maintaining a better world for all living things today and into the future, we will make all of our dreams come true.

Earthshine Nature Programs (501c3) is supported primarily through monetary, resource, and time donations from caring, concerned individuals just like you. I work hard to fundraise and acquire grants and donations from any and all sources that would like to support us. With your help with hands-on volunteering, a one-time donation of equipment or funds, a year-end gift, or a continuing patronage – together we will create something wonderful that will serve to educate and inspire thousands of students with a new curiosity, greater respect, passionate understanding, and conservation ethic for caring for wildlife, and nature, and the adoption of responsible, secure, clean energy and transportation resources that we can all work to bring to our homes, businesses, and on the roads, thereby lowering our impacts on our shared environment and in the process become better stewards of nature and empower our shared futures through the findings, methods, and tools of science.

THANK YOU ALL

Sincerely,

Steve O’Neil

Executive Director of Earthshine Nature Programs(501c3)

Steve and Ashley – By Evan Kafka

Learn more about us: www.earthshinenature.com

Follow our Nature Blog: www.earthshinenature.wordpress.com

Find us on Facebook at:

“Earthshine Nature Programs”

Watch our nature video series on YouTube at: www.youtube.com/user/snakesteve68

Follow our Electric Vehicle Blog: bluewaterleaf.wordpress.com

Earthshine Nature Programs

earthshine.nature@gmail.com

JOIN US for our SPRING BENEFIT EVENT!

Posted on March 17, 2018 by Stevo

Date: April 16, 2018

Location: Oskar Blues Brewery – Brevard, NC

Time: 5-8:30 PM

Through his hands-on wildlife and nature outreach programming at camps, schools, birthday parties and special events in the region, to his unique experiential citizen science-based projects and experiences in his classes, Steve strives to educate and inspire his students and people of all ages to get excited about nature, wildlife, the sciences, and above all else – caring for, and becoming better stewards of the fragile natural environment that supports us all.

Gollum the Eastern Hellbender – one of Steve’s animal ambassadors.

Steve is an avid supporter of renewable energy – especially solar – and he supports the great need for trusting the findings of science to facilitate the final goal of transitioning of our society away from polluting fossil fuels to renewable energy sources and renewably powered electric vehicles for the sake of our health, the health of our shared environment, and future generations of life on Planet Earth.

Working toward that grand goal, over the last few months Steve and his students, and Pisgah Forest resident and environmental hero Jim Hardy, finished Phase One of the construction of a grid-tied solar power station that now provides 5.3 kW of clean solar produced electricity for Steve’s log cabin classroom and the ENP nonprofit office.

This array was constructed from donated components and in-kind donations from generous local individuals and businesses as well as great support and expertise from Bob Harris of Black Bear Solar Institute in Townsend, Tennessee.

View the construction of our solar array in the video below.

Phase One of this student-built solar array is now complete and online; however, it provides only around 5.3 kW of electricity or 50-60% of the power needed to operate the building. To provide 100% of the power needed for all our daily needs we are now working on Phase Two of our classroom solar project. Phase Two consists of 10 more solar modules, their support frame and wiring totaling around 3.0 kW of solar. To date, we have raised around 35% of the funds needed to complete Phase Two and it is for this reason that we will be holding a fundraiser on April 16^th at:

Bring the family and friends and join us as Oskar Blues hosts their Making a Difference Monday fundraiser for

Earthshine Nature Programs

Between the hours of noon and 8:00pm Oskar Blues will donate a percentage of taproom sales to Earthshine Nature Programs! Proceeds from this fundraiser will support Phase Two of the construction of our student built and maintained classroom solar array project. Learn more about this community supported renewable energy project by reading the full story on my previous blog post linked below:

https://earthshinenature.wordpress.com/2017/01/31/update-enptrails-classroom-solar-project-phase-one-is-complete/

Watch a video of the day we first activated our classroom solar array last summer!

Now that you know how and why we did it, please come out in support of making it even better with Phase Two of our classroom solar project!

At our benefit event you will learn all about our wildlife education, rehabilitation and outreach programming and interact with many of our friendly education animals including Rosie, Rex, and Charlie the Red-foot Tortoises, Ashley the Red Tailed Boa Constrictor, Fiona the Ball Python and Piggy the Western Hognose snake.

We are working on having several Special Guests!

(these could change but may include)

Peter Kipp of Curtis Wright Falconry with his birds of prey! Get your photo made with a bird of prey sitting on your hand!

Meet Walter Kidd of Serpentarium Magic and Peewee the 22 foot long python!

Meet members of the Blue Ridge Electric Vehicle Club and learn all about and possibly take a ride in an electric car! The Blue Ridge Electric Vehicle club will have several sleek, fast, EVs on display including the all-new 2018 Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model S & X, BMW i3, Chevrolet Volt, and Bolt EV, all new Honda Clarity and the much anticipated Tesla Model 3!

Browse local nature and wildlife themed art, photography, and jewelry for sale by Steve Atkins, Kathy Wright Hardy, Christina Ramsey and Chance Feimster.

Find out how you can do more to conserve and protect our fragile environment when you chat with representatives from Clean Air Carolina, Sundance Power Systems, Joyce Pearsall of Monarch Watch, Alan Cameron – a volunteer with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission and Friends of Dupont State Forest – Alan will have a Green Salamander for you to learn all about and much more!

Explore our fundraiser table of unique items and if you have any items you would like to donate to the sale table please do contact us or just bring them the day of.

Fun!

Live Music!

Local Beer!

Great Eats provided by the

Oskar Blues Chubwagon!

If you are unable to attend or would like to donate anonymously, please visit our donate page at www.earthshinenature.com/donate or donate to our GoFundMe campaign or support us on our new Patreon Page. Yet another option for supporting us is our new Solar Sponsorship program – read more about it at the end of this blog post.

or

Snail mail your donation to

Earthshine Nature Programs

134 E. Dogwood Ln.

Pisgah Forest, NC 28768

All proceeds from this fundraiser will support the completion of our classroom solar project and are tax deductible.

Questions? Contact Steve at earthshine.nature@gmail.com

The ENP website: www.earthshinenature.com

The ENP Blog: www.earthshinenature.wordpress.com

The ENP Youtube Channel: www.youtube.com/user/snakesteve68

Facebook: Earthshine Nature Programs and The Blue Ridge EV Club

Steve and a Snapping turtle friend he rehabilitated and released in its native habitat.

*Steve O’Neil founded Earthshine Nature Programs when he was working as outdoor guide and naturalist at Earthshine Discovery Center in Lake Toxaway in 2010. In 2013 ENP incorporated as a 501c3 and became a separate business entity from Earthshine Discovery Center yet ENP kept the name Earthshine as a reminder of its humble beginnings at the wonderful Earthshine Discovery Center. The name Earthshine is foremost in our mission because we believe that stewardship of the EARTH, and all the life contained within this fragile oasis in space, should SHINE brightly above all other issues because without clean air, water, and environmental balance – we have nothing.

There are several ways you can support our Classroom Solar Energy Project

1. Monthly Patreon support via our Patreon page.

2. Direct donation of components/funding via one of the links above.

3. Sponsorship of a solar module (aka solar panel).

How the solar sponsorship program works.

Solar Sponsorship spaces are limited to 18.

Of those 18 spaces – five are already taken as of April 8, 2018.

After your donation is complete – your name/company name (or the name of your choosing) will be permanently affixed to the frame of your sponsored solar module(s) and inscribed on a nearby commemorative plaque listing all classroom solar project supporters. (you may opt out of any of these perks)

– A unique web address and private login/password that will allow you to directly access our classroom solar array’s real-time energy production status.

– A unique web address to a private live web camera providing a birds-eye view of our classroom solar array in action! (and organic garden during the growing season)*

And if you choose: A set of one of a kind “solar earrings” or a “solar pendant.” Handmade of remnants of solar cells by Naturalist Steve O’Neil and his students. These unique items do not generate any power but they are all one of a kind, unique, and beautiful.

To sponsor one or more solar modules please contact Steve at earthshine.nature@gmail.com

Rat Snake Tracks Field Report for Summer 2016 and 2017

Posted on September 25, 2017 by Stevo

Video footage in this edition of Rat Snake Tracks was filmed in August 2016 and September 2017.

The Snake Tracks project is an ongoing Rat snake habitat use and movement study using radio telemetry techniques and UAV’s (drones) for canopy surveys and monitoring.

If you were a student at Trails Carolina or the Academy at Trails Carolina during the 2015 season you may have helped “Science Steve” locate Apollo the Black rat snake and you may be in this movie, in front of or behind the camera, learning and living 🙂

This project is supported by in part by Trails Carolina, The Academy at Trails Carolina, Trails Momentum , our donors, and people just like you. If you would like to support our projects and programs with a donation and learn more about us please visit our website.

Earthshine Nature Programs is a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to wildlife conservation, rehabilitation, science, and renewable energy education and awareness.

NOTE: The parents of the student(s) appearing in this video granted permission for us to record their special moments sharing time with our educators and the Apollo the rat snake.

Earthshine Nature

Nature, wildlife, energy, & science education for everyone.

ratsnake

NaSA PoD Project Update #4

NaSA PoD Project Update #3

NaSA PoD Project Update #2

Mobile Outreach Classroom Update #1

The ENP Mobile Outreach Classroom Project

Earthshine Nature Programs Newsletter 2020

!THANK YOU!THANK YOU!THANK YOU!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT IN 2019

A new set of wheels for ENP

Organic Garden

CLUCK CLUCK

The ENP Renewable Energy Program

Supporter Spotlight — Bob Harris and Jim Hardy

THANK YOU Bob Harris and Jim Hardy for your wonderful and most generous support – you are true HEROES!

Wildlife Conservation Programs

Turtle Tracks, Snake Tracks and Snake Trails

Clean Air Carolina Blue Sky Award

Your Support

THANK YOU SO MUCH

A note from naturalist Steve O’Neil

Earthshine Nature Programs Update 2019

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED US IN MAKING THIS HAPPEN!!!!!

YOU ARE ALL HEROES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER!!!!!

If you would like to donate anonymously, please visit our donate page at www.earthshinenature.com/donate or donate to our GoFundMe campaign or support us on our new Patreon Page. Yet another option for supporting us is our new Solar Sponsorship program – read more about it below.

or

THANK YOU!!

JOIN US for our SPRING BENEFIT EVENT!

Earthshine Nature Programs

We are working on having several Special Guests!

(these could change but may include)

Fun!

Live Music!

Local Beer!

Great Eats provided by the

Oskar Blues Chubwagon!

or

Rat Snake Tracks Field Report for Summer 2016 and 2017

Share this:

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Share this:

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT IN 2019

A new set of wheels for ENP

Organic Garden

CLUCK CLUCK

The ENP Renewable Energy Program

Supporter Spotlight — Bob Harris and Jim Hardy

THANK YOU Bob Harris and Jim Hardy for your wonderful and most generous support – you are true HEROES!

Wildlife Conservation Programs

Turtle Tracks, Snake Tracks and Snake Trails

Clean Air Carolina Blue Sky Award

Your Support

THANK YOU SO MUCH

A note from naturalist Steve O’Neil

Share this:

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED US IN MAKING THIS HAPPEN!!!!!

YOU ARE ALL HEROES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER!!!!!

If you would like to donate anonymously, please visit our donate page at www.earthshinenature.com/donate or donate to our GoFundMe campaign or support us on our new Patreon Page. Yet another option for supporting us is our new Solar Sponsorship program – read more about it below.

or

THANK YOU!!

Share this:

Earthshine Nature Programs

We are working on having several Special Guests!

(these could change but may include)

Fun!

Live Music!

Local Beer!

Great Eats provided by the

Oskar Blues Chubwagon!

or

Share this:

Share this: