For four weeks this past June, Nell Warnes led a collaboration between members of Transition Houston and Mission Milby Community Development Center on a summer education program for area youth.

The class learned about peak oil and alternative energy sources, while making solar ovens from cardboard boxes and materials from the Re-Use Warehouse*. They made homemade butter, cheese and cookies and learned about food origins and processing. They baked biscuits in the solar ovens they had built.

Dean Cook from Transition Houston demonstrated beekeeping, exhibiting a "topbar" hive, designed to be healthier and more comfortable for bees. Dean's demonstration hive featured transparent walls, revealing the secret life of bees. The class also made wax candles, using crayons to be discarded from local schools.

In the last week, the students were given a tour of a traditional weaving exhibit in the museum of the Karenni Community, who came from Myanmar to settle in Houston. The students then learned to weave on homemade looms.

About 20 or 30 kids took part in each session. Everybody had a good time, and learned a few things about the world we live in, our food and clothing, and energy. These sessions could not have taken place without the generosity of time and resources from the volunteers at Transition Houston!
 

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Thanks to Nell Warnes for sharing this story! Photos by Irvin Arana.

*"Construction material accounts for 38% of the waste stream in the Houston area. The Building Materials Reuse Warehouse, a component of the City of Houston Solid Waste Management Department, benefits the community by providing space for excess building materials that would otherwise be dumped in local landfills. We accept material from individuals, supply companies, and builders, and make it freely available for reuse by any non-profit organization. The Reuse Warehouse is funded in part by a grant from the Houston Galveston Area Council, a region-wide voluntary association of local governments in the 13-county Gulf Coast Planning region of Texas." Read more about the Re-use Warehouse here.