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ODYSSEY TEAMS THINK GREEN

Odyssey of the Mind has always supported "green practices" and it also encourages tomorrow's leaders to create their own ideas in making the world more efficient. Odyssey students learn that it is important to act now to help the earth and its resources, but it is also important to use innovation and creativity to find new and better ways to treat our planet.

    Go to any Odyssey of the Mind tournament. You will be sure to see tons of materials being reused and recycled as costumes, backdrops, props, and inventions. Because Odyssey students work on a budget, they find useful ways to turn "trash" into "treasures."

    Many judges and supporters are surprised and delighted at the highly detailed costumes made out of discarded bottle caps, newspaper, and anything else you can imagine -- and many things you've never thought possible! Students learn the need and benefits of recycling. Plus, they must think creatively in order to make a lot out of a little. Students who show innovation in this area are rewarded with higher scores for creativity during competition.

    Aside from the green ideas students think of on their own when devising solutions, OotM problems often focus on finding ways to help the environment.

    For example, The Eccentrics asked students to find a real or imagined problem within an Earth system and find a creative way to fix it. This encourages students to learn about potential environmental problems and prepares them to use creative problem solving in order to fix them.

    Envirover challenged students to create a human-powered vehicle that collects trash and delivers it to a factory where it is made into something new. These students could be designing and building the next "green" car, or be finding new ways to recycle products. This plants seeds of knowledge and curiosity for future scientists, doctors, and other positions in innovative fields.

    Another example is Ecology Dozer where teams built vehicles that could transplant trees instead of cutting them down.

    Problems dating back to Odyssey's inception in 1978 have encouraged students to find ways to reuse items and even predicted the need for alternative energy, recycling, and preservation all while enhancing students' creative problem solving skills.

    As a business Odyssey of the Mind also attempts to minimize waste by offering its materials via the Internet instead of bulk mailings. It also has a "green trails" program for World Finals, where participants can explore WF locations on foot.

    NASA, OotM sponsor, also educates Odyssey students about the environment through its Odyssey web portal: earthobservatory.nasa.gov/odysseyofthemind. Students can explore various images of earth and learn about its many regions.

    For example, they can view images from its Landsat-7 satellite. Scientists use satellites to gather remotely sensed images of the land surface and surrounding coastal regions for global change research, regional environmental change studies, and other civil and commercial purposes. OotM students get an inside view of earth's changes through NASA materials.

    Odyssey teams realize the value of our earth's resources. They learn to reuse and recycle and even integrate those practices into solutions. This teaches students to make green living a way of life as they surely incorporate these ideals into everyday practices -- and even invent new, improved ways of doing it!

Plastic spoons, coffee filters, and bottle caps seem like trash to most, but in OotM they can become a new trend!