Out of the classroom

Tom Fox adores the Newport Beach Upper Back Bay so much that he commutes at least twice a week from Rancho Cucamonga to volunteer with the Naturalists and Friends, the group devoted to preserving the estuary.

Sunday he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement award for his years of service. And although he could not hide his pride at being recognized — the grin rarely drooped through the afternoon — his attention went elsewhere.

It was Earth Day and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. an audience eager to learn about the local habitat came right to Fox’s doorstep. More than 500 people attended the event at the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center on the Back Bay. A slew of environmentally geared crafts and activities, including a sea-life petting zoo, allowed children a wildlife experience that a classroom just could not replace, Fox said.

“When I started I just wanted to help out,” Fox said. “I found out that everything I do is so educational whether I’m working with fish, birds or plant life.”

Now he assists in facility tours and maintenance of tern island, where the least tern nests near the Jamboree bridge in the bay.

“It’s a good education tool when you get the kids out of the classroom and into a new place,” Fox said.

In conjunction with the event, organizers of the Newport Beach Film Festival offered six environmentally focused documentaries for no cost at the center throughout the day. The films covered natural issue ranging from ocean ecosystems to biodiesel fuel.

Rising gas prices brought Jessica Kelly and Stephen B. Strout to join forces and produce the film, “Revolution Green,” an in-depth look at the country’s use of gasoline and oil products.

The film searches out viable energy alternatives for vehicles, while focusing in on biodiesel fuel. Through biodiesel producers Bob and Kelly King, long-haul truck driver and singer Willie Nelson, Kelly and Strout follow the difficulties of using energy alternatives in the United States mainland.

“It helps the environment,” Kelly said. “Until now I didn’t know what that truly meant.”

“We really got interested after meeting with the Kings,” Strout said. “I began this whole journey and it has been awesome.”

The journey is not quite over as the film will screen a second time at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Edwards Island Cinemas.

As much as there was going on inside the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center on the bluffs of the Upper Newport Back Bay, just as much activity buzzed on the outside.

Kids searched the site, stamping purple half sheets to complete an educational scavenger hunt.

Marissa Roberts went home with a sheet full of wildlife facts. “I thought that a bobcat’s favorite food was rats, not rabbits,” Marissa said. “I thought a raccoon’s band around his eyes was black not brown and I learned that the ocean starts right at our houses,” so it is very important to be careful with what is flushed down the drain.

Speaking of bobcats, on display at the very entrance of the event, volunteer Dick Newell presented a 16-month, of a local bobcat family, one mother and her three cubs.

“I know these cats probably better than I know my own kids,” Newell said, adding that it is not as hard as it sounds. Bobcats are very predictable, Newell said. They do something once and one can bet they will do it again.

Hoping that the event will inspire environmental awareness in future generations, Fox will continue to educate the young while sporting a wide grin.

“It opens up a whole world for these kids,” he said and added that they learn to love nature and become less afraid of the wild things.