S3E1: From the Tree Canopy to the Prison Grounds

Origins of the Sustainability in Prisons Project

Season 3 is all about the Washington Sustainability in Prisons Project (otherwise referred to as SPP). SPP brings education and training into the prisons to reduce recidivism and protect and enhance our environment. This season will be six or seven episodes long (we’re not sure yet because numbers and math or something) and we will be interviewing a variety of people from SPP, as well as partners and individuals that have participated in the program. Unfortunately, we are missing the Department of Corrections perspective because we were unable to connect with them.

In this episode we are honored to interview Dr. Nalini Nadkarni, whose curiosity and out of the box thinking led to the formation of SPP.  She’s so amazing she even had a TreeTop Barbie made in her likeness!  We will also hear a little bit from Kelli Bush, current Co-Director of SPP.  Kelli will be joining us most, if not all, episodes this season.  Kelli helped us out a great deal this season, helping us make connections with interviewees and providing a lot of background information and assistance.  We couldn’t have created this season without Kelli! Thanks Kelli!!!

Interviewees

Nalini Nadkarni

Photo from NaliniNadkarni.com

Nalini is currently a professor of Biology at the University of Utah, and is a former professor at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. According to her website, “Nalini’s research interests are on: community and ecosystem ecology of tropical and temperate forest canopy organisms and interactions; the effects of forest fragmentation on biodiversity and community function; and the development of database tools for canopy researchers.” She has also “pioneered bringing science education, conservation projects, and nature imagery to the incarcerated.”

Kelli Bush

Photo from sustainabilityinprisons.org

Kelli Bush is the co-director of the sustainability in prisons project. She helps bring nature, science and environmental education into prisons in Washington. She also leads staff from the Evergreen State College that coordinate programs in the prisons. She has a Bachelor's degree in Agriculture Ecology from The Evergreen State College.

Sustainability In Prisons

Moss!

Nalini talked about the origins of SPP, which started with an idea of having incarcerated people help her learn how to grow moss, so sustainably grown moss could be used for horticultural purposes instead of gathering moss from the wild. This idea came about because of Nalini’s scientific work, as well as that of Pat Muir from Oregon State University. It turns out people don’t know how to propagate moss, even in the famous moss gardens of Japan! After shopping the idea around to several prisons, she got a bite from Dan Pacholke, who was the prison superintendent at the Cedar Creek Corrections Center at the time, and the two of them founded SPP. This has led to more scientific study, seminars, environmental training, and education in prisons in Washington State. Nalini has since moved on to Utah (where she’s started a similar program called INSPIRE), but SPP has continued to grow. Nalini remains involved with SPP and often collaborates with Kelli Bush and others, including writing peer-reviewed papers published in scientific journals. One of these describes a collaboration between NASA, SPP, INSPIRE, as well as similar programs in Ohio and Florida, where NASA brought astrobiology education to prisons.

Since we forgot to ask Nalini, we had Kelli join us to explain what an IRB is. She also shares more about some similar programs around the US and around the world that SPP shares ideas with and learns from.

Coming up next

Join us in two weeks (June 21) for our next episode, where we will be hearing from James Jackson, who works with SPP and the Department of Corrections as an Education and ReEntry Navigator. We will also hear more from Kelli Bush about what the Sustainability in Prisons Project is (and isn’t).

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TreeTop Barbie - From Nalininadkarni.com