Happy Birthday Earth Day and Green Up Day!

Happy Earth Day!! Not only is today is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, it's also the 40th anniversary of Green Up Day in Vermont. Green Up Day takes place on the first Saturday in May across the state of Vermont. Kids and adults alike gather in their communities to clean up liter. If you have ever visited Vermont, you will notice right away the impact this one day of action has. Not only do the roads, sidewalks, streams and trails get a facelift, but new generations learn the importance of keeping our environment clean. As a kid, I participated in Green Up Day with my classmates every year. I learned the importance not only of putting trash in the garbage can, but also the how important it is to recycle and to reduce the amount of trash we create. While scanning the ground, bushes and ravines for trash, I began to notice how our garbage impacts the habitats of small creatures in my community. Suddenly one day of action turned into a year-long effort to reduce trash, recycle and protect the natural habitats in my town.

If you live in Vermont, you can participate in Green Up Day on Saturday, May 1st. If you live elsewhere in the country or world, why not start your own Green Up Day? All you have to do is gather a friend or two, a parent or teacher and get greening!

Wisdom of the Wild

Anybody that has ever had a pet understands that there is a sacred bond between human beings and animals. Although we may think of ourselves as the most intelligent creatures on Earth, there is much we can learn from from the animal kingdom. Wisdom of the Wild is a terrific PBS documentary that sheds some light on our remarkable connection with our fellow creatures, including what they can teach us about the world, and about ourselves.

Click here to view the full documentary: Video: Full Episode - Wisdom of the Wild | Nature

The living reef...Here today, gone tomorrow?

Coral reefs are home to the greatest diversity of life on Earth. They protect our shores, contribute to our food chain, and provide us with medicines to keep us alive and healthy. Despite how important the coral reefs are to life on Earth, they maybe gone in less than 30 years due to global warming, over fishing, and the acidification of the oceans.

The reefs need your help! Read NOAA's 25 Things You Can Do to learn how you can help the reef.

Give to be green

This time of year the fun and excitement of giving and receiving gifts is often overshadowed by a certain amount of guilt over mass consumption and wastefulness. And it’s not all in our heads; holiday waste increases by 25% from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. That’s an additional 1 million tons a week dumped in our landfills. So how do you reconcile this concern and set an example for your kids while maintaining the tradition of holiday giving? Well, for a start, you and your kids can gather used books, toys and clothing to give to local charities, hospitals, schools or libraries.

Rummage through that closet or toy bin with your child and pick out gently used items that you don't need anymore. Find places around town like the Salvation Army, Goodwill, and Habitat for Humanity that would benefit from your items or pass them on to neighbors in need. Holding a rummage sale is another option. Earning hard cash will help kids realize that their castaway toys and books still have real value.

Passing on unwanted items to those who can use them is crucial for keeping our lifestyles sustainable. Everything we buy is made from valuable materials from the earth. Harvesting these materials, manufacturing them into products and shipping them around the world take a tremendous toll on our planet both in terms of resources wasted and energy consumed. Giving those items a second chance at life will go a long way in protecting the planet and remembering what the holidays are really about.

check out my non-material gift guides for more great holiday ideas...

Homemade Holidays

I am blogging over at Audubon.com's great blog, The Perch, today. Hop on over and get inspired to be crafty and green for the holidays.

"Creating homemade decorations was my favorite holiday activity growing up. Coming up with new ways to make gift wrap, gift tags, and ornaments from things found around the house and neighborhood was part of the challenge--and the fun. With being green on many of our minds this holiday season, we have an even greater reason to be resourceful and to look to nature for inspiration." Read more...

Rachel Carson - Brave Advocate for the Environment

“If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life.” -Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson, (1907-1964) was a writer, a scientist, an ecologist and a brave advocate for the environment. As a young girl, Rachel’s mother nurtured her daughter’s love of nature. She studied the sea, plants and wildlife, and taught others about the living world around them through her books and articles. As a young woman, she became the Editor-in-Chief of all publications for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, where she wrote pamphlets on natural resources and conservation. Carson strongly believed that people are integrally linked with nature, and must learn to care for it, rather than overpower it. One article she wrote, “Help Your Child to Wonder,” (1956) aimed to teach people about the wonder and beauty of the living world.

In 1962, Carson published the book SILENT SPRING, and with it the environmental movement was born. The book was written to raise awareness of the great harm that synthetic chemical pesticides had on the environment. It took great courage for Carson to speak out against the agriculture and chemical industries. But she firmly believed that we as human beings are just as vulnerable to the toxic pesticides we spray on our fields, homes and trees as the insects themselves are. In defending her book, Rachel Carson stated: “We still talk in terms of conquest. We still haven’t become mature enough to think of ourselves as only a tiny part of a vast and incredible universe. Man’s attitude toward nature is today critically important simply because we have now acquired a fateful power to alter and destroy nature.”

Big Ideas for a Small Planet

Did you know that there are dogs working to save wildlife? Watch the video to find out how, and visit Sundance Channel's The Green to see what other amazing things people, and animals, are doing to protect the planet.

10 little things...

The Audubon Society has composed a great list called "10 Things You Might Not Know About The Food You Eat." To see more 10 Things lists, visit Audubon.org.

1. The average fruit or vegetable we eat has traveled 1,500 miles to reach the table.
   
2. About 40% of our fruit is imported from outside the United States.
   
3. The vast majority - around 80 percent - of the energy used by the food industry goes toprocessing, packaging, transporting, storing, and preparing food.
   
4. Domestic food transport creates 120 million tonsof CO2 emissions annually.
   
5. Fresh peas can be produced with only 40% of the energy required for frozen peas.
   
6. Children who eat conventional diets are shown to have six times the amount of pesticides in their bodies as children who eat organic diets.
   
7. The world's fish species, more than 70% of which are overfished, could be replenished throughsustainable seafood management.
   
8. Many farms offer weekly or monthly subscription baskets of fresh produce, flowers, fruits, eggs, meat, milk and other locally-grown and organic products.
   
9. New York City's venerable Greenmarket helps preserve over 30,000 acres of working farmland.
   
10. Organic crops contain significantly higher levels of vitamin C, iron, magnesium and phosphorous than conventional fruits and vegetables.

Hey Teachers!

Here's a great way to peak kid's awareness of the water cycle, and how it is linked to many environmental issues, by joining in with kids all over the world in conducting research. The Global Classroom Project (TGCP) is a collaboration of thousands of children from 15 countries around the world. Classrooms participate by monitoring, measuring and recording rainfall data. Registration is open for this project that lasts for one more week.

To learn more about the project and the water cycle visit tgcproject.org.

Green your seafood

We often think of fish as being a healthy choice, but quite a lot of seafood is neither good for you, nor good for the environment. Fish can contain chemicals such as Mercury and PCB's (ick!) which are very toxic for your health. And while eating some fish can be a healthy part of your diet, one should consider the environmental impact. Seafood is often overfished, causing extensive habitat damage that can negatively effect the entire food chain. Some fish come from farms with widespread pollution and disease. Luckily scientists have done the research for us and can guide us in our seafood choices. Check out the Environmental Defense Fund's Seafood Selector to learn what are your best, o.k. and worst choices next time you are at the fish counter.