I couldn't stop laughing at how easy the answer is to this one. Did I get it though?! You bet I didn't! And I feel sheepish knowing that the preschoolers did ...instantly too! Try out this fun, fast test for yourself (if you're having trouble seeing the video, please click here):
I'm a big fan of the Children & Nature Network (C&NN). This network has been inspiring my musings about getting my own child back into nature more often, as well as thinking about the bigger picture -- I still struggle with the realities that growing up as a farm child, I had a far freer, more natural upbringing than my own child does, even with all my attempts to fit on his rapidly outgrown hiking boots every summer!
One initiative of C&NN's that I've learned about recently is the Natural Leader's Network. The Natural Leaders Network empowers a worldwide youth movement to strengthen the bond between children and nature. Launched in 2008, it's aimed at encouraging young leaders to take decisive action against nature-deficit disorder. I find it immensely wonderful that this encourages youth to take the helm in getting children back into nature -- it's a win-win situation for all participants, from leadership skills to learning fun!
What is so fantastic about C&NN is how it enables us, whether we're parents, grandparents, community leaders, teachers, or any concerned adult, by giving us the tools, the networking support, and the encouragement to get our own and our community's children involved in nature activities.
You can become involved in C&NN more broadly, or share the information on the Natural Leaders Network with your teens or young adults, by:
The toolkits provided by C&NN are just great. They are like a road map to figure out how to get started, and they give you plenty of neat ideas and examples for building your own Network or Family Nature Club. And if you do anything that you want to share with others, to give them ideas and inspiration, you can list your nature activities and they'll appear on a map on the site!
I've joined up and I'm looking forward to learning more and getting my family and our local children more active by using the C&NN suggestions.
What are some of the nature activities you like doing the most with your children? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Our Friday featured friend for this week is the dynamic and inspiring Whitney Lauritsen. Whitney is a filmmaker, environmentalist, and vegan. She shares her tips and ideas about healthy living on her site Eco-Vegan Gal, using the mediums of video, photography, and writing (yes indeed, she's very talented!).
Whitney is a change-maker with positive-messaging at the forefront of her approach. She explains that she is passionate about making it clear that “change isn’t as hard as it seems. When I ask people why they’re not taking better care of their health or doing more to protect the planet, they usually give excuses like: I’m too busy, I can’t afford it, I like the way I’m living now, or I’m too lazy.” Whitney is sympathetic but she doesn’t buy into these excuses because she is adamant that change doesn’t take too much effort. She does admit that change requires that each of us is dedicated to making it happen but says that it is her “goal to inspire people to take a chance on change, even if it means taking baby steps at first”. We simply love her respectful and tenacious attitude!
Currently working on ways that she can spread her message to a wider audience, Whitney is contemplating redesigning her website, creating a TV show, making a documentary, or perhaps a combination of all these ways.
Whitney is a devoted vegan and believes that it is important to share the benefits of veganism in a way that people can relate to its benefits. She says: “I believe that pitching veganism as a healthy choice (rather than a moral one) is more appealing to mainstream, so that’s been my focus lately. I want people to see how fun and rewarding being eco-vegan is, and how many options are available.” And Whitney does this with compassion and connection, and she is definitely not one to judge other people, readily acknowledging that she doesn't "point fingers and say that my way of life is the absolute right way." Her caring approach works. She told us that every day she is contacted by, or introduced to, amazing companies that have created something that makes being green, keeping healthy and/or living cruelty-free more accessible to everyone.
The Eco-Vegan Gal blog site is the way Whitney uses to promote these companies and their forward-looking products and services. In addition, Whitney features information in her various posts to help both our own health and the health of the planet. She discusses environmental issues, health matters, vegan recipes, and she even shares what she eats to help keep us informed about the ease of making healthy choices. It's a beautifully presented site, and a fabulous resource, well worth bookmarking.
While Whitney doesn’t have any children yet, she says she plans on having at least one child and she thinks about how she’ll raise a family all the time. Concerned that children can be easily impressionable and ready to believe what adults tell them, Whitney says this means that "we have an incredible opportunity to educate them". In doing this, Whitney says that "the key is leading by example and making your choices seem effortless and fun: creating healthy meals that taste good, showing how to recycle/reuse/reduce, and being kind to animals are important experiences for children."
We're really happy to have been able to share Whitney's story so far with you. We think she will take eco-veganism to incredible heights yet, with her array of amazing talents, her dedication, and her clarity of purpose. If you'd like to find out more about Whitney, check out her site Eco-Vegan Gal, her page on Facebook, and be sure to follow her delightful tweets at @Ecovegangal. And a big thanks to Whitney for her time in sharing her story with us.
It is estimated that this year’s World Cup in South Africa will emit 2, 753, 251 tons of CO2 into our atmosphere. That equates to the emissions of around 1 million cars over a year. And it’s a 6 times increase over the last World Cup. And it’s a carbon footprint twice as large as that of the Beijing Olympics. With South Africa being what is known as a “long-haul” destination, international travel for the event will result in the emission of approximately 2,046,539 tons of CO2.
Football (soccer) is probably the most beloved and followed game on Earth, with fans in the millions. Football fans rally to each World Cup for its joy, excitement, patriotism and entertainment. And in doing so, their mass movement from other countries to the host country necessitates transportation, infrastructure creation, accommodation and hospitality improvements, and many other sideline activities that all add up in terms of the ecological and carbon footprint. (And that’s not even accounting for the litter left behind and the plastic used to make the noise-polluting vuvuzelas!)
South Africa has tried to respond to green challenges. It developed a Greening 2010 Framework and a pledge for Green Goal initiatives focused on the environmental issues of waste, transport, water, biodiversity, energy, and responsible tourism. It has purchased many carbon offsets. And a partnership between the Global Environment Fund (GEF), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the South African Department of Environmental Affairs was formed to undertake three major greening projects during the World Cup in South Africa.
So what is FIFA doing to reduce its ecological footprint? FIFA has a green goal program. Upon reading this, however, it quickly becomes clear that FIFA sees eco-responsibility as lying with the host country and anyone else prepared to help the host-country. Reading FIFA’s Mission statement reveals some important and worthy ideals about unity and using football’s power and popularity to help shape a better future for the world. I love that FIFA's core values are authenticity, unity, performance and
integrity. But there is no "sustainability" as a core value, and nothing written about making the most of football's power and popularity to ensure a sustainable future. And surely, a sustainable future is the one most likely to bring about a better future for all, including alleviating poverty, giving every child a chance at a good life, and protecting an environment that sustains us all.
The next World Cup will be in Brazil in 2014, a country that held the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, a country that includes the showcase eco-city Curitiba (where one of the stadia is located). Already costs for doing up the stadia are estimated at $1.1 billion US, with complaints that Brazil's airports won't be able to cope with the influx of tourists expected. Focused on infrastructure development, the Brazilian government has responded by instituting a "growth acceleration program". Renowned for rainforest destruction, and loss of biodiversity, it seems that accelrated development of infrastructure and any purchasing of carbon offsets for the World Cup in Brazil while the rainforests continue to diminish won’t be a logical fit.
What concerns me is that FIFA will continue to expect the host country to shoulder the majority of the responsibility for sustainable initiatives linked to future World Cups. What I’d love to see is sustainability forming a key part of FIFA’s mission statement, and for FIFA to take an active and ongoing role in greening the Beautiful Game. Football reaches out to millions worldwide, presenting an amazing opportunity to put sustainability into action, showing it as a “cool” way of living that everyone can be a part of, as a logical and practical part of creating the better world FIFA hopes to be a crucial agent for.
The trend to an ever-increasing World Cup footprint must cease. We’re all responsible for doing our part but the organizers are principally responsible as the opportunities and the operational power rest in their hands to make a key difference, and to inspire the fans to make sustainable choices.
Is it too much to ask to balance the Beautiful Game with the Beautiful Planet? Recalling the Four Years. Go vision that we can, and must, make a paradigm leap to environmental sustainability, social justice, and spiritual fulfillment by 2014, it's seems like the ideal time for FIFA to include sustainability in its mission.
Dads are stone skimmers, mud wallowers, water wallopers,
ceiling swoopers, shoulder gallopers, upsy-downsy,
over-and-through, round-and-about whooshers. Dads are smugglers
and secret sharers. ~ Helen Thomson
Dads are wonderful beings. Don’t wait an age before telling your dad his true worth in your life.
With it being Father’s Day in North America and the United Kingdom, we're sharing five good reasons for celebrating your dad’s wondrousness:
Our very special featured friend for this week is Narena Olliver, a passionate eco-advocate, dedicated animal lover, author, and creator of the website New Zealand Birds. Narena has a delightfully varied background. She has taught English, bred cattle, published magazines, and entered politics. For six years, Narena was a district councillor and Chair of Planning Hearings for the Opotiki District Council. In addition, she has been a member of the East Coast/Hawkes Bay Conservation Board and of the NZ National Council of Women’s environment standing committee.
A member of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Narena’s passion for caring about New Zealand’s native wildlife is absolute. She tells us that: “I am passionate about natural history, not just birds. I simply bleed for the continuing loss of biodiversity.” And we've discovered that Narena is actively doing as much as she can to help protect biodiversity.
While Narena says that she is neither an ornithologist nor a scientist, she uses her interest in natural history and her superb writing skills to their best advantage by helping us all learn more about our impact on biodiversity. For example, Narena currently writes a monthly column for her local newspaper, raising awareness about the local bird life. She details the threats to birds, and in the tradition of all great people who understand that it’s vital that the message carries a sense of solution, Narena also explains what each of us can do to avert or minimize these threats. Previously, Narena used to write a natural history/environment column for two Bay of Plenty newspapers, the Bay of Plenty Times and the Opotiki News and she writes the occasional article for the New Zealand Herald.
Another string to Narena’s talented bow is her amazing website New Zealand Birds. She started developing this website on New Zealand's birds in 1999 and it is a site well worth exploring (just a hint – given it has over a decade’s worth of dedication lavished on it, you can spend many lovely hours in there enjoying all it has to offer!). A major part of the website is the intensely detailed coverage of the birds found in New Zealand, including illustrations, scientific and historic information on the birds, and other useful information about each bird. There are audio files that allow you to hear the birdsong of various birds and we encourage you take a moment to listen to the beautiful songs of New Zealand birds – you can even listen to the call of the kiwi. And among so much more on the site, there is a section on Maori myth, legend and lore, helpful advice on bird rescue and bird feeding, and information on where to go birdwatching in New Zealand.
As well as Narena’s environmental and writing activities, she runs The Greytown Gallery in Greytown, New Zealand. The store is both physical and virtual, so if you’re not able to make a visit to the delightful Greytown, you can still take advantage of the carefully selected range of items Narena has in stock. Naturally, most of her goodies are bird-themed, but there are also other wildlife items. We love the amazing selection of children’s books which are sure to help you raise an enthusiastic young naturalist, and it’s very hard to overlook the simply
gorgeously printed bird cushions. Narena tells us that the beautiful antique bird prints the store sells are used throughout the New Zealand Birds website. She explains that the prints are “an important part not only of our natural history but also our history.” The sale of the prints funds and supports the New Zealand Birds website, as the site receives no other funding.
Narena told us that while she has no children of her own, she does hold a fear for coming generations. We do think, however, that she is doing her fair share and a super job of it too, at ensuring that our children are well informed and prepared. Her beautiful selection of children’s books is one example, as well as the legacy of her website which children could certainly make great use of when researching and learning about bird life in New Zealand.
It is clear that Narena has a lifelong passion to do all that she can to help protect the wondrous nature around us. She is unstoppable in her passion: “I am now 70 years of age but still do everything I can for the environment. I joke about joining the Sea Shepherd and their efforts to save whales but think I am a bit old now.” We’re not so sure about that Narena – your dynamism, passion, and enthusiasm are an inspiration to people of all ages and we wouldn’t be surprised if Captain Paul Watson turns up on your doorstep some day! We’re so proud of your continued gentle, calm, and ever-present efforts to raise awareness and to make a difference for the better in our world. You are a true inspiration.
If you’d like to find out more about Narena, you can follow her on Twitter at @Newzealandbirds and check out her website and The Greytown Gallery. Thanks deeply for sharing a moment of your time with us Narena.
A fun talk by Rory Sutherland about why it truly matters to sweat the small stuff - he discusses what we really remember and why small things are very important things. He explains why thinking that "big strategy" or "great expense" as always being the better option is actually more of a myth than a reality. Rory also ties in climatology as one large reality where very small changes can have a disproportionate effect. At the end, he asks us all a question about what we should call this need to focus on the small, the less costly, the missing piece in our big-is-always-good worldview. It's worth a moment to watch it (if you have problems viewing it, click here):
The momentum for getting children back to nature is growing, and with good reason too. It's estimated the average American child spends 44 hours a week interacting with electronic media, and children in the United States are spending fifty percent less time outdoors than children of twenty years ago. With the odds stacked in favor of remaining indoors, whether for safety, health, or convenience reasons, the lure of indoors has become all too tempting in recent decades.
Even when we allow the children some outdoor time, it seems we’re still shaping the outdoors with our modern thirst to conquer its potential for harm. We build playgrounds covering the soil, we fence off anything that looks slightly adventurous, and we rule climbing trees or sliding down mud banks as out of bounds.
The problem with an excess of indoor play and playground play is… structure. We are very good at structured play environments. Structure is controllable, assessable, and easily cleaned. It is familiar, and it is one-size-fits-all. Hence, it's a comfort zone – parents, teachers, guardians, and anyone else seen as responsible for children can breathe a sigh of relief that the children are “safe” and are meeting “developmental milestones”. No need for encouraging resourcefulness and getting dirty, it’s all sorted.
And it’s complicated. As parents or guardians we’re expected to conform to one gazillion ways to parent responsibly, to raise bright, career-ready children. As teachers, we’re asked to implement the programs tested by a multitude of unseen experts because "they" say it works. As carers, we’re told one graze and the lawsuit falls.
It’s hardly surprising that in an age of expert-awe, we respond by swaddling our children well beyond the crib. Yet, in removing nature from our lives, we replace it with hazards of our own making. Every time we place our children into our speeding metal projectiles that guzzle gas, we take a risk – of accidents, of leaving our climate so irreparably changed that the future world could be inhospitable. Every time we give our children a cell phone to “keep in touch”, we risk unknown health impacts. Every time we spray germicides, pesticides, fungicides, and wipe away all those “harmful” germs, we’re taking a risk of introducing carcinogens or depleting the immune system’s capacity to cope on its own. Oddly these human made risks have become the heroes of the story of "progress", while nature has become the villain, a part of life to be excluded, sped through, strangled, and depleted.
Yet, nature remains very much a necessary part of our lives, a connecting force we need to be fully healthy and fulfilled. And while being in nature can have its hazards, we increase the potential for danger by not learning about nature, not experiencing it with all of our five senses, and most of all, by not passing on age-old knowledge that helps humans to thrive in nature.
So, it’s good to know that we're noticing what's amiss at last. There’s a growing realization that messing in mud is good, that discovering nature fills a child's world with delight, and that immune systems can strengthen from contact with nature. Nurturing our children's biophilia is starting to be recognized as a need as great as healthy nutrition, warm clothing, and good education. The Children & Nature Network is actively encouraging and supporting people and organizations worldwide who are doing their bit to restore nature in children’s lives (and we love their efforts). And even Hollywood is keen to encourage children back outdoors: Dreamworks Animation SKG has loaned Shrek to the USDA Forest Service and Ad Council with a campaign to encourage children back into nature (you can watch the brief video here):
Without a doubt, it’s vital to restore our children’s sense of and love for nature. And in unfurling our children from their indoor cocoon, as we gingerly step back into what most of humanity has known full well, what does this say about us? Are we reawakening dormant adults who have forgotten what it is like to be outdoors in nature, to stick our hands in oozing mud, and to have eureka moments lying on the ground watching sunlight through leaves? How did we reach this point of needing reminders that it’s okay to go back into the “big thing outdoors”? These are questions of our time... and our children are waiting for the answers.
@TaigaCompany -- Julie Urlaub from Taiga Company ("Oxygen for your business") is a sustainability star on Twitter. A sustainability consultant, Julie consults, blogs and speaks with business leaders to help them address their green/sustainability interests and pressures. What we love about Julie is that she takes the time to share news about businesses that are getting it right, by leading and benefiting from sustainability initiatives.
@Erinely -- Erin Ely from Ely Organics has a total passion for all things organic. A "strategic optimist", Erin is totally committed to sustainable business, social justice and the environment. She spends a lot of time educating herself on these topics and we love it that she then cares enough to share this knowledge with the rest of us.
@MomsofAmerica -- Debra Cincioni is a mom, entrepreneur, technology addict, musician, and a very
positive soul! She has a blog aptly titled Never Underestimate a Mother and we love her upbeat, caring approach to highlighting the importance of moms sticking together. All you need to do is check her Twitter stream to see how incredibly active she is interacting with each one of us as a person. We love it!
@mgonyeo -- Melissa Dion works in the fashion industry and she's a passionate vegetarian who cares
about the green and eco friendly way of living. She shares information about the environment, animals, fashion and the occasional recipe. We love her blog Welcome to Style MD, where there are personal stories, recipes, eco-fashion tips and information about animal care. A lovely lady to follow on Twitter.
@PositiveParents -- Sue Atkins from Positive Parents is a parenting expert, speaker and the author of Raising Happy Children for Dummies.
She is passionate about making life with children easier and more rewarding and we've absolutely loved reading her practical and positive
guidance for bringing up happy, confident and balanced kids. Sue has created a range of Parenting Made
Easy toolkits and she appears regularly on TV and radio, so we're
absolutely confident that her advice rocks.
@pauljimerson -- Paul Jimerson is an amazing artist, brilliant photographer, and avid environmentalist.
Daily sharings of the most delightful and incredible photographs are just one treat we love from Paul on Twitter. In addition, Paul keeps a gorgeous collection of photos on his blog, featuring themes from the California coast, art and architecture, to Haiti, so you can visit these photo displays any time.
@GrowFromHereNZ -- Kaye Reardon, a community-minded organic gardener from the delightful Grow from Here garden store in Wellington, NZ, shares gardening tips we love to benefit from! Her store aims to source plants locally and organically. We love her
description "We are the little garden store that can..." With such a positive attitude, it's no wonder that we're loving her tweets! Kaye's got a big move coming up on June 15, to share premises with the Kreuzberg Summer Cafe. So now you'll be able to buy plants and sip coffee!
@Giftedmum -- Mary B shares her learning about herself, her family, and her place in the world. She loves
nature, metaphysics, true beauty and spirit. She's a keen photographer and also writes poetry. Mary's tweets are always very uplifting and sustaining, as she shares her journey raising her children and all the abundant love she has to share with everyone. Be sure also to check out her delightful blog Living an Abundant Life.
@mommybits -- Shannan is a parenting blogger, a technology geek, and a delightful Twitter resident. We loved the poignancy of her post about her son's fifth birthday and the realization that the years are flying by, which lead us to read her lovely blog Mommy Bits. We love the story Five years ago today -- it brings back that journey for many of us! And we're also enjoying Shannan's tech tips, which are all very useful.
@DanielleSmithTV -- Danielle Smith is the founder and principal author of ExtraordinaryMommy.com, a site
dedicated to reminding all moms of the extraordinary work they do every day in raising their children. Danielle is also a host of MomTV and she calls herself a "California Girl at heart". Although Danielle is always busy giving back ("give good, get good" is her motto), we love how she finds time to share her life with us and how she connects so easily with each and every person for real. It takes an extraordinary mom to celebrate the extraordinariness of all moms, and Danielle's doing this to perfection.
We're really grateful for the chance to be able to get to know such amazing people. And we love all our Twitter followers - each and every one of you opens doors to new knowledge and ways of seeing the world every day. For us, connecting with all of you reassures us that we're striving together towards making our world a kinder, more sustainable place.
In this incredible piece, Carl Sagan reminds us that: "Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else -- at least in the near future -- to which our species could migrate. Visit? Yes. Settle? Not yet. Like it or not, for the moment, the Earth is where we make our stand... To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot -- the only home we've ever known."
Please take a moment to watch this wondrous video. It could just change how you're feeling today.
