By Town Crier staff

Why don’t spiders get caught in their own webs? Why is kelp vital to the health of the ocean? Thanks to the Environmental Volunteers, 1,500 elementary and middle school students in Los Altos can answer these and other natural science questions.

Students have participated in volunteer-led educational experiences in area preserves where they learn to identify signs of earthquake activity and see how the various components of the natural world live in relationship to one another.

Since 1972, the Environmental Volunteers, a local 501(c)3 non-profit organization, has been inspiring a love of nature in youth. They do this by promoting understanding of and responsibility for the environment through hands-on science education. They believe that all children deserve to learn about the natural world through personal exploration so that they can become responsible stewards of the earth. What children come to know and understand, they are more likely to appreciate and love. And what they love, they will protect.

As Kaye Loughmiller, a third-grade teacher at Oak Avenue School, said about the EV program, “We thought this was a wonderful program and look forward to using it again next year.”

Dionys Briggs, a second-grade teacher at Almond School, concurred: “Lots of enthusiasm on the part of volunteers! Thank you!”

For more information or to volunteer, call 961-0545 or logon to www.EVols.org.

knowledge or experience is required.