[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 121 (Friday, September 5, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1714]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E1714]]
           WELCOMING THE ROLLING RAINFOREST TO SAN FRANCISCO

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 4, 2003

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to bring to the attention 
of my colleagues a wonderful exhibit, the Rolling Rainforest, as it 
comes to San Francisco on its maiden journey across America.
  The Rolling Rainforest is a classroom on wheels. Inside a 53-foot 
tractor-trailer, the magic of a rainforest environment is reproduced as 
a mobile museum, transporting the message of environmental stewardship 
to underserved schoolchildren.
  It has traveled from the nation's capital to the Golden State to 
participate in the 150th anniversary celebration of the California 
Academy of Sciences. During its visit to San Francisco, the Rolling 
Rainforest will reach out to the Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School in 
San Francisco, Lincoln School in Vallejo, and the Golden Gate 
Elementary School in Oakland.
  Since it was first launched in Washington, D.C. last October, the 
Rolling Rainforest has had more than 25,000 visitors come to experience 
the sights, sounds and smells of a rainforest. Inside the exhibit, 
children are introduced to a sloth hiding in the forest canopy, 
beautiful butterflies, and exotic birds line the explorer's path to the 
scientist's hut where experiments are conducted using rainforest 
products--chocolate, vanilla and coffee. It is an enchanted trail that 
leads children on a new discovery.
  Mr. Speaker, rainforests are a precious gift. About 25 percent of the 
world's forests are rainforests, and they are home to one half of the 
earth's plant and animal species. Rainforests possess an ecosystem that 
is based on a complex interdependence of plants and animals. One of the 
critical lessons derived from the exhibit is the essential relationship 
of the rainforest to our surroundings and daily lives.
  These lessons are conveyed in the environmental education message 
from the Rolling Rainforest exhibit, and they are developed and 
delivered in a manner that reaches younger generations. The exhibit 
teaches young people the importance of environmental stewardship in 
their communities and prepares them to be good stewards of the earth's 
natural environment.
  Congratulations to the Discovery Creek Children's Museum on its San 
Francisco debut of the Rolling Rainforest.

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