(upbeat music) - [Gabriel] Coming up next on NewsDepth.

We celebrate Earth Day by visiting Hawaii and Alaska.

Mary takes us on a hike around Ohio's only National Park.

A beekeeper answers your questions about their job.

And Margaret speaks to an entomologist about dung beetles.

NewsDepth is now.

Environmental groups urge Hawaii State lawmakers to pass a tourist tax to help protect the state's natural resources.

Hello everybody, I'm Gabriel Kramer.

And welcome to NewsDepth's special Earth Day episode.

Today we'll be starting in one of the most biodiverse states in the entire country, Hawaii.

Biodiverse means an area has many different types of animals and plants and dozens of environmental groups have rallied at Hawaii State Capitol trying to protect the state's biodiversity.

With a couple of weeks left in the legislative session, this was a last ditch effort to urge lawmakers to pass an environmental stewardship fee.

If passed, tourists would pay the fee by staying in hotels.

The proposed tax is meant to help protect the state's natural resources.

As Kristen Consillio reports, a tourist tax has been debated for years.

- [Kristen] With the federal government cutting tens of millions of dollars to protect Hawaii's natural resources, the work of dozens of environmental groups is in jeopardy.

- We have to keep our people safe from fires and floods and pollution.

- [Kristen] Carissa Cabrera is part of the Care forina Now Coalition, made up of more than 70 groups and small businesses working to stop the impact of disasters.

- And we know hurricanes are increasing.

We know we experience flooding on the windward side, and we know we have fire risk on the leeward side.

So we need to act now to protect our people today and future generations.

- [Kristen] They say it's even more critical today for lawmakers to increase the transient accommodations tax, known as the hotel room tax, for visitors starting in 2027.

- It would dedicate that increase to environmental stewardship, including removing invasive species, planting native plants, those type of solutions.

- [Kristen] And address a $560 million shortfall for environmental programs.

- You know, a healthy forest means that we can recharge our aquifers, we can have drinking water, we can have clean water for our communities.

So, if we don't have that, you know, it's a scary proposition for our communities.

- [Kristen] This is the latest push to tax tourists to help pay for climate change and conservation.

- All of these things need to happen years in advance before a disaster strikes.

- Thank you, Kristen.

And that brings us to our poll for the week.

Do you think a tourist tax to preserve natural resources is a good idea?

Jump over to our poll page to cast your ballot.

You can choose between yes, because our natural resources should be protected, or no, because that is unfair to tourists.

On our last episode, Jeff told us about how some animal species evolved from wild to domesticated and we asked you if you had any pets at home.

Almost 64% of you said you have a dog.

About 36% of you told us you have a little feline friend at home.

21% of you said you had a different kind of pet.

And in fourth place we have fish.

16% of you said your pet is aquatic.

12% of you reported not having a pet.

I don't have a pet either, so I would be with this group.

We have a tie for seventh and eighth place.

8% of you said you have either a lizard or a rodent.

And about 6% of you told us you have a pet bird.

Thank you all for voting.

Now, speaking of cute creatures, some of you sent us letters answering our write-to-us prompt from two weeks ago.

You know, the one about new underwater discoveries?

Let's dive into these letters.

Fourth grader Sage from Botkins Local School in Botkins sent us this diagram of their discovery.

"If I found a new creature, its name would have my name in it.

It would be called the Sagantula.

I would also show it to the world after I studied it."

And from Edison Elementary in Willoughby, Nayeli, who is in the second grade, said they would like to see an octopus just like the one they found under the iceberg.

Nayeli also wrote that they are very excited for Earth Day because their class gets to help clean up the playground.

Antonio sent us this drawing of a new whale and told us even their dad likes watching NewsDepth because they have learned so much together.

And Tira, also from Edison Elementary, wrote to us to say that they really enjoyed watching our animal stories.

Thank you so much for sending us all those letters.

Before we fly back to the mainland, let's visit a recycling plant in Alaska.

From washing machines, junked out cars, and even jet engines, this recycling business in North Pole, Alaska is on a mission to repurpose as many kinds of materials as possible.

Alex Bengel reports.

- I plan on proving to the world that there is zero waste.

Nature has zero waste.

Why should we have waste?

- [Alex] A wall of cars lines pathways at K&Kr Recycling on the old Richardson Highway in North Pole.

The facility is run by Chena Power, which along with Chena Hot Springs Resort and Kodiak Narrow Cape Lodge represents an employee stock ownership plan.

Opened in 1984, the 100-acre facility accepts a wide range of items including vehicles, washing machines, dryers, refrigerators, and barbecue grills.

- [Karl] We take everything from light bulbs to jet engines.

You know, the whole gamut.

- [Alex] However, liquids like oil, antifreeze, and Freon must be drained before appliances are brought to the facility.

- [Karl] We don't try to ship anything with tires on and we take the tires off.

I have a large stack of tires here that I'm just getting ready to build a retaining wall out of them.

So, they make a great retaining wall.

- [Alex] K&K doesn't charge people for dropping things off and will pay for non-ferrous metals.

- [Karl] All the coppers, the zincs, the aluminum, the tin, we'll buy it from you.

- [Alex] While it has the capacity to accept cardboard and paper to make fuel pellets, Karl says Chena Power is looking for a local market for that product.

- [Karl] And then we'll be back into the cardboard and paper recycling once we figure out a market for this stuff.

You can't ship it outside and make any money.

You have to turn it into something here.

- [Alex] K&k accepts materials six days a week, making use of whatever they can.

Once gathered, many of these materials are baled into dense cubes, which can then be shipped where they can be further processed.

- [Karl] We prepare the steel.

That way you get top dollar out of it.

If you didn't prepare it, you wouldn't get enough to even ship it.

- [Alex] All materials go to Seattle.

From there, the prepared metals end up in a variety of places.

- It goes to either refineries in America or sometimes they export it overseas.

Sometimes it goes to Taiwan, sometimes it goes to Korea, sometimes it goes to China.

It depends where the market's at.

- [Alex] In a year, the facility ships 10,000 tons of material, with some years seeing as much as 50,000 tons.

- In Ohio, we are fortunate to have the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Located in Northeast Ohio, the park is 33,000 acres and stretches from Cleveland all the way to Akron.

And it received the distinction of national park in 2000 to protect the area around the Cuyahoga River from growing cities.

Mary takes us on a tour of some of the park's top features.

(upbeat country music) - California has nine, Alaska has eight, Utah has five, and Ohio has one.

Can you guess what I'm talking about?

National parks, of course.

A national park is a historic or scenic area of land protected by the federal government.

Ours is called the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

It's a whopping 33,000 acres and stretches along the Cuyahoga River between Cleveland and Akron.

At first, the area was designated as a national recreation area by President Gerald Ford and Congress in 1974.

At the time, cities were expanding and folks wanted to be sure the area was kept wild.

Then, in the year 2000, the spot was re-designated as a national park by President Bill Clinton.

Let's take a tour.

Throughout the park are the remains of the Ohio and Erie Canal, a major transportation system in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

- And we're riding exactly where the mules would pull the boats up Erie Canal.

It's really neat.

- [Mary] Today, you can hike and bike the route of the old canal on the Towpath Trail.

This 87-mile trail extends all the way from Cleveland through the park and down to Boulevard.

The trail attracts more than 2.5 million hikers and bikers per year.

Along the trail are visitor centers where you can learn about the history of the canal.

Another park attraction is the Brandywine Falls.

The 60-foot waterfall is one of the most popular places to visit, especially during the warmer months.

There's also a trail that goes around the falls and underneath them where visitors can view the falls head on.

Pretty cool.

How about a stop at Richie Ledges?

Here, you can see the park's geology up close.

Covered in thick moss and fern, the ledges are massive walls of rock, the result of sand and quartz pebbles that were left behind by the rivers and seas that covered the area millions of years ago.

All right, one last stop.

Beaver Marsh.

This part of the park used to be less than scenic.

Before it became part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, there was an auto repair shop there.

So, instead of birds and wildlife, the land was covered with rusty mufflers and dented bumpers.

To clean up the area, people had to team up with some furry friends.

Beavers built a system of dams, which in turn helped bring water back into the area and created a new wetland.

Today, the beavers can still be spotted in the home they helped to build along with some diverse wild neighbors.

And luckily, we can all visit their neighborhood and so many more stunning natural treasures in Ohio's one and only national park.

- Thank you, Mary.

Next time you're out on a hike, you might just bump into News Hound.

You know, he's always out in nature.

Let's catch up with him to see what he's found for this week's Petting Zoo.

(exciting safari music) (barking) Hey there, News Hound.

Okay, look at him go.

He must be on the trail of something good.

Oh, he found a story about an emotional support skunk.

You can check out the full story on our website and YouTube channel.

Thanks, News Hound.

Have you ever been part of a book club where a group of friends read a book and meet up together to talk about it?

Well, try to imagine your entire school being in the same book club.

Students at Bellevue Elementary don't have to imagine.

That's why they're receiving this week's A+ Award.

The One School, One book program is a program that encourages reading all across Ohio by having every student in a school and their families read the same book.

Bellevue Elementary joined the program back in 2017 and it's safe to say that it's been a hit year after year, promoting the love of reading and having fun doing it.

The first book that Bellevue read was "The World According to Humphrey" by Betty Birney, which the students loved so much, Humphrey even became the program's mascot.

And as the mascot, Humphrey attends the annual kickoff assembly.

The committee for the program pours their hearts and souls into it each year, planning a folder of activities.

From parades to scavenger hunts, Bellevue does it all for the One School, One Book program.

The gym teachers even get together to teach the students a flash mob dance, where they'll hear the song played on the announcements and break out into the dance.

But it's not just fun for the students.

Families get to join in, as well.

The parents are also very involved because they're reading the same book, too.

Everyone gets together and celebrates at the Family Fun Night, with plenty of games and popcorn to go around.

Mrs. Fries, who is a teacher at Bellevue, is getting to experience the program as a parent for the first time after being on the committee since the program began.

This year's book, "Toys!"

was dedicated to Bellevue's librarian who unexpectedly passed away last summer and has been running the program every year since its beginning.

With this year's book, students got to put together Mr.

Potato Heads and got into classrooms with different toys from the book.

Great job to the students at Bellevue Elementary for reading a lot and having a lot of fun while doing it.

And special thanks to Aiden Holt, the NewsDepth intern, for producing this week's A+ segment.

All right, let's get back to the news.

Beekeepers in Minnesota are all abuzz.

Honey season is kicking off and keepers are hoping for a sweet one.

Dave Anderson reports.

- [Dave] Last Saturday was Bee Day for a lot of people.

It wasn't an amphibious landing as much it was an airborne assault.

It was the day a semi-load of queen bees from the south came to their new homes with northland bee-keepers in Carlton.

Vanessa Rowers of Miel Honey and her dad look forward to this time of year when fresh bees get put into new hives.

- I do, I do.

It's really fun to help him put all the bees in there.

I managed to get a few hives done by myself.

Nobody died.

No bees died.

- [Dave] Nationally speaking, Vanessa's dad, Mark Walters, says there's a lot of bees that died over the winter, which is a tough time for them nationally, especially in California where many hives spend winters in almond groves.

- The amount of bees that died this winter was something like 60% in these big commercial things, and in one place I even heard 80%.

- [Dave] Walters tells us that bees surviving the winter, even in warm climates, is complicated by coming to cold climates like ours in April.

He thinks this year will be all right as he and all keepers keep an eye on the forecast.

- It says ballpark around 50 degrees and that is gonna be very nice.

- [Dave] Our honey bees usually aren't out of the woods, so to speak, until May.

By then, Mark, daughter Vanessa, and grandson Odin hope to be elbows deep in fresh honey.

9-year-old Odin is not afraid of bees.

- When they make honey it's a fun process and it tastes really good.

- Beekeeper Mark says the biggest problems facing pollinators are pesticides, a lack of variety of pollen, nectar for food, and cold weather.

The beekeeping profession plays a vital role in maintaining ecosystem balance, supporting agriculture, and ensuring the health of pollinator populations worldwide.

Beekeepers are skilled specialists who work closely with bees, often in challenging outdoor conditions where patience, precision, and a deep understanding of bee behavior are essential.

They must be knowledgeable in apiary maintenance, queen breeding, disease control, and seasonal hive management.

An apiary is a place where beehives are kept, typically a collection of hives or colonies of bees.

Beekeepers use specialized tools and protective gear to ensure safety for themselves and the bees while optimizing honey production and pollination.

The salary for a professional beekeeper in the US varies widely.

It ranges between $30,000 to $60,000 per year depending on scale and region.

Now, we meet Susan Robinson, beekeeper and owner of Buzz 10 Honey.

She is here to answer some of your questions about her job.

- Good morning, students.

My name is Susan Robinson.

I am a hobby beekeeper in Massachusetts.

I have two beehives in my yard and I love beekeeping.

Lucas at Evening Street Elementary School in Worthington and he wants to know, "How do you take care of them?

There's like a thousand bees in the hive.

It's so impressive."

Well, let me tell you Lucas, it's a little bit unnerving in the beginning to open up a beehive and go into the hive to take care of the bees.

But I wear lots of protective clothing, including a bee jacket, and I wear bee gloves, and I have some equipment that helps me move the bees around and the hive around.

Judah from Lakeview Intermediate in Stow sent in this question.

"What's your typical day-to-day?"

Well, really the bees do all the work and I will observe them coming into the hive and going out of the hive, just by standing close to the entrance.

They do the work, and I only open up the hive in the springtime, usually once a week, or maybe even once a month.

They don't really need too much attention.

I just want to make sure that they have plenty of food and the queen is doing her job and laying eggs, and the rest of the hive, the boys and the girls, are all getting along.

The boys are called drones.

They don't really do much work.

And the girls are called workers.

They do all the work.

Ryleigh from Woodlands Elementary in Huron wanted to know, "What do they do with the honey?"

So, the bees gather nectar beginning in the springtime when the flowers start coming out.

The nectar is the juice that is inside the flower, and they suck that juice out of the flower using their very, very long tongue called a proboscis.

When that nectar goes inside the honeybee, that nectar churns and churns and churns inside the honeybee's honey stomach.

And they then come back to the hive and they go inside the hive and they start spitting out that nectar to another bee and that goes inside the other bee's honey stomach.

And that bee will churn and churn, and what they're churning is enzymes.

And that's breaking down the nectar and getting it ready to make honey.

The second bee that is inside the hive, she's a girl, she's a worker, of course, she goes into the frame and she'll spit out that nectar into a small little cell and it's kind of like the consistency of water.

The bees will flap their wings outside the hive.

They will draw cool air into the hive and the cool air rises and it takes the moisture out of that cell.

And once it's almost sticky enough, that's when the bees will generate wax.

The females, the girls, they will generate wax from their bellies and they will cap over that little cell that's inside the hive.

And then the honey is their food.

So, they actually eat all the honey.

But the bees are really, really hard workers, so they always gather extra nectar and they put it way up in the attic of their hive, their house.

And any extra nectar that they turn into honey, that's when the humans go in and they take it out of the hive.

And the extra honey is the honey that the humans will eat and consume.

- Special thanks to Susan for answering our questions.

And in case you were wondering, the name of her company, Buzz 10 Honey, was inspired by her other job driving a school bus.

Her bus number?

Number 10.

Next episode, we'll have our last Career Callouts segment of the season.

This time, we'll be chatting with a welder.

A welder joins metal parts together using high heat to melt and fuse them.

They can work in construction, manufacturing, or repair work.

We need your help coming up with interview questions.

So, tell us, what would you ask a welder about their job?

Students can use our inbox form online or send us an email to newsdepth@ideastream.org to send in their questions.

While bees often steal the spotlight, they're not the only insects with fascinating jobs.

Enter the dung beetle.

In this Spot on Science, Margaret meets some dung beetles and entomologist Nicole Gunter from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Dr. Gunter shares with us the unique qualities of the bugs and their impact on the environment.

(upbeat digital music) - Normally, finding a piece of toilet paper stuck to your shoe is super embarrassing.

No one even wants to be associated with going to the bathroom.

What?

Go to the bathroom?

Me?

No, never.

Insects on the other hand aren't so shy.

Dung beetles especially enjoy cuddling up with the stinky stuff.

Now, before you run away screaming, I met a scientist who studies the buggies in all their environmental glory.

PhD researcher Nicole Gunter is an entomologist at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

An entomologist is a scientist who specializes in the study of insects.

Nicole has even described more than 50 new insects, jumping spiders, parasites, and dung beetles.

And she's made some huge finds about the evolution of beetles.

Watch out, because she may just convince you that poo-loving creatures are cool.

I invited her to the studio to talk about her work, but I started by asking her how she got interested in entomology.

Take a look.

- Well, it started as a kid.

So, I grew up with lots of forest around my house and every day I would just go out into the backyard and look at nature and what was around me.

So, there was always lots of butterflies and flies and bees and beetles, and I was really curious about the diversity, all of the shapes, forms, and colors of beetles.

They really were attractive to me.

- Well, can you share a little bit about some of the guys you brought in today?

- So, this is dung beetles.

They get their common name for their association feeding and breeding with fecal matter or the dung of primarily mammals.

So, what they do is they use their really cool antennae that they have to detect the smell of the dung and they either fly or walk towards the dung, which then they'll usually find a mate and they'll collect a proportion of dung to make a a ball out of, which they'll eventually lay their egg in.

And in that ball, a single larvae, which is the grub or the juvenile of the dung beetles, will develop.

It's a really neat and safe strategy to ensure that your offspring survive.

- So, tell me a little bit about the ones that don't get as much recognition, because I was surprised when you said that we've got dung beetles in Ohio.

- Yes, so, there are actually more species of dung beetles than there are mammals.

Most of them are in this smaller size range here, so you might not see them that often in nature.

And a lot of them are black or brown.

So, unless you are specifically poking around through poop, looking at them, they might be unnoticed.

So, like you were saying, we do have approximately 10 species here in Ohio and most of them are pretty small.

So, we've got this little one here, the scooped scarab.

It's really common in Ohio.

And a few more in this case are also found here.

We even have some of these really beautiful rainbow scarabs here in Ohio, but you might not see them so regularly.

- I do see a lot of different colors here.

There's like blue and green and orange.

What do those colors do for the bugs?

- So, that's a really interesting question.

While they're really distinct and bright and brilliant to human eyes, a lot of scientists think that the predators that would eat, potentially eat dung beetle adults, like birds and reptiles, might not be able to see these same brilliant colors.

So, what stands out to us as being bright and reflective might actually camouflage really well for the dung beetles.

- Ah!

And you said, what I think is interesting, you might think of a dung beetle like, "Ooh, that's gross!"

Like, let's get rid of them.

But you said they're really important for the environment.

Can you talk a little bit about that?

- Yes, so dung beetles provide critical ecosystem services in particular in nutrient recycling.

So, you can imagine the composition of dung is almost like a fertilizer.

And as part of their biology, they're burying these dung balls in tunnels under the soil.

So, through building these tunnels, they're aerating the soil, which increases water retention in the soil.

Once the dung beetle emerges, still parts of that dung ball are left under the ground in that tunnel.

So, it's a fertilizer at the same time.

So, it increases soil quality because they have better aeration, fertilization, and water retention.

It makes the pastures and soil grow better.

And at the same time, by burying some of the dung, it reduces parasite transmission for anything like worms or protozoan parasites that could be transmitted in dung.

So, they're really critical for the ecosystem and often go underappreciated in nature.

- Thank you, Margaret.

Well, that's a wrap for this episode of NewsDepth.

Teachers, we'd love to hear how we did this season.

To share your feedback with us, you can fill out our end of season survey linked at the bottom of this episode page.

And students, you know we always wanna hear from you, and there are plenty of ways for you to stay in touch with us.

You can send us a letter.

We're at 1375 Euclid Avenue.

That's Cleveland, Ohio, zip code here, 44115.

And you can email us at newsdepth@ideastream.org.

Plus, you can catch all of our special segments on YouTube.

Hit subscribe if you're old enough so you don't miss out on any of our new videos.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Gabriel Kramer.

We'll see you right back here next week.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] NewsDepth is made possible by a grant from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation.

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