Green Options

It’s summer vacation, and one thing parents often hear from children used to being stimulated by school all year is, “I’m bored!”.  Personally, I am never bored, so I have little compassion when I hear my daughter issue this utterance, but I have found a new book that I think will help her overcome the doldrums. Let’s Go Outside!: Outdoor Activities and Projects to Get You and Your Kids Closer to Nature is a great resource for bored children.

Just as I have little understanding of boredom, I also never find myself needing an activity while experiencing nature beyond hiking and observing; however, children are a different breed. They sometimes need help focusing their energy.  Author Jennifer Ward provides 52 outdoor activities.  From “Playground for Poets” to “Five Fine Forts”, the summer boredom crisis is solved (and these activities are limited to warm summer months).  Furthermore, these games and projects are designed for children ages 8-12.  Here’s an example:

In our family it is so important that we connect with Nature every single day, it calms the whole tone of the family and helps us to all have healthier, happier and deeper relationships with each-other.

Our time in Nature is very unstructured and is the perfect getaway from our stressful work lives. I wanted to give you a quick tour of our personal special place in Nature and would love to hear more about yours!

It is with pleasure that I write this review of special children’s book written by our Green Options colleague and Eco Child’s Play contributing writer Joe Mohr, aka Mean Joe Green!  Not only is Joe a great political cartoonist, he’s a children’s author too.  His new book Go Out!  Go Out! is unique not only because it comes from Joe, but it is also a short book (14 “pages”) designed for your iPhone using istorytime.

From kite-flying to corndog buying, Go Out! Go Out! is a rhyming story that shares a small sample of the wonderful experiences that are waiting for us just outside our own front door.

Joe believes it is important kids get outside, no matter where they live!  I couldn’t agree more, and my family spends most of their days in the great outdoors.

In southeast Utah rests a peaceful town located on the banks of a peaceful river. Here the Green River flows between two canyons, Gray and Labyrinth, allowing for farming and ranching in an arid desert. Driving through Green River, Utah doesn’t take but a few moments, including a stop to purchase some mouth-watering melons, for which Green River is famous. But Green River now has a new claim to fame.

Transition Power Development LLC (TPD) has proposed construction of a 2 unit nuclear power plant known as the Blue Castle Project situated just outside of the peaceful town. In order to maintain the 2 unit nuclear power plant, massive amounts of water would be required. The Kane County Water Conservancy District (KCWCD) has filed a water-rights application in order to facilitate the project. The application requests 29,600 acre-feet of water, which would be diverted from the Green River, a part of the Colorado River drainage.

Salt Lake City, UT - The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) announced that on May 28, 2009 an agreement was made with Equity Oil Company (”Equity”) concerning oil and gas leases on lands in Utah’s San Juan County.

The agreement “gives SUWA certainty that oil and gas development in an important part of the Hatch Point proposed wilderness area will be subject to the applicable Resource Management Plan and additional restrictions,” said Stephen Bloch, Conservation Director and Attorney for SUWA.

25% of all the world’s large-scale terrestrial migrations have already ceased due to habitat loss and human-caused changes to the landscape, and it may not be long before all migrations disappear entirely.

That according to a new study, which warns that with continued population growth, development and habitat encroachment, storied epics like those of wildebeest parading across the Serengeti or herds of bison rumbling across North American plains shall become tall tales of the past.

Utah’s Book Cliffs exist as one of the largest expanses of land in the lower 48 states without a paved highway.  The BLM, however, is considering a project that would change that. Uintah County’s Seep Ridge Road Paving Project proposes paving over an existing road, which would allow greater recreational (and other, including hunting and oil and gas exploration) access.  The proposal states that:

“the road is currently composed of dirt or native material and several segments of the existing road do not meet current federal and state road design standards for public safety. All projections indicate a continued substantial increase in light and heavy vehicle traffic on the road, primarily associated with energy development in the Book Cliffs area.” (UT-080-08-0238 section 1.2)

There are no security guards or high-tech alarm systems to protect this treasure. Instead, it is the rock climbers, hikers, campers and recreationists that are working overtime to protect this gem from being stolen. Rock Canyon in Provo, Utah has long been a haven of solitude for the humble seeker of peace and the nature lover alike; but recent disputations over land rights have formed darkening clouds on the horizon.

In the mid-1990s Richard Davis purchased nearly 80 acres of Rock Canyon along with a 1906 mining claim. Recently, Davis has sought to use his claim in order to mine quartz from the mountain; a prospect that has recreationists and naturalists up in arms.

Richard Davis, however, has legal rights to the land; and with consent from Provo city and the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, Davis has control of the reigns with how he will use his land. His plan: mine quartz, which is beneficial for the lucrative minerals with which it is layered. In order to obtain the quartz, rock would be cut away from the mountain, which one pro-canyon activist, Jim Knight, compared to cutting off the nose of the Mona Lisa.

It’s come to my attention of late that many of us focus on the difficulties in parenting.  We are quick to gripe about our children’s behavior, habits, friends, language, school, clutter and seldom make mention of their beautiful smiles and outrageous thirst for life.

So, I’ve decided to become grateful.  Every day I will find some reason I am grateful… it may be directly related to my children or not.  No matter what there will be a connection because I am THEIR MOM, no matter what.  That is my first job… my first priority.

Tonight I reflect back on our day.  I see the smiles on their faces when they come rushing in the front door at the end of the school day.  Normally I would focus on the noise and mayhem that follows suit… today I just see those happy faces, so eager to rush in and tell me all about their days.

The kids I nannied LOVED when I planned this for them. They were all so different in their likes and dislikes but they ALL enjoyed this.  You can make it as elaborate or as simple as you would like.Depending on the age of the children, how long you would like to spend outside, and how long you have to prepare is what should determine how you should plan out the hunt.Think of things you would like them to see (and take a picture of or draw a picture of in their own notebooks)

• Pinecones, dandelions, seeds.
• Insects, such as a butterfly, dragonfly, grasshopper, and beetle.
• A spider web.
• Leaves from an oak or maple tree.
• Frogs, toads, and lizards.
• Wildflowers.
• Mushrooms.
• Wild berries (do not eat them unless they’ve been identified as non-poisonous!)
• If you’re by the ocean, look for seashells and seaweed.

When they caution people about sitting in the “splash zone” at SeaWorld San Diego, believe it.  Really.  They should call it the soak zone.  It’s a great way to cool off on a hot day, but it can ruin any electronic device you own not placed in a watertight case.

My family and I had an opportunity to visit SeaWorld San Diego this past January.  Among the most popular attractions in San Diego, SeaWorld San Diego welcomes over 4 million visitors a year with their sea animal performances, aquariums and a few amusement rides.  SeaWorld San Diego’s aquariums feature more than 5,700 fishes representing 434 species.

While SeaWorld San Diego has a long way to go to earn the distinction of being an ecotourism attraction, the park uses revenues from its admissions to actively implement conservation and animal rescue initiatives, even if they’re only softly mentioned throughout the park in signs and during announcements before animal performances.  After all, we can’t start caring about nature if we don’t have an opportunity to interact with it.  And for that, SeaWorld has honed its craft to capture the imagination of young and old alike and rekindled for many an awe and wonder that many of the avid conservationists and naturalists enjoy daily.

Instead of volunteer docents associated with living history museums providing interpretive programs, highly trained communicators and performers narrate the story of Shamu and friends as well as other exhibits throughout the park.  In a world where a connection to nature couldn’t be more important, SeaWorld can jump start a greater appreciation of it, even if our understanding comes with splashes and tricks.  Like they say at the Shamu Show: “We belong to the same family…”

There’s a lot to fascinate a small child or family at SeaWorld San Diego.  But I was more amazed by what most visitors never witness, at least not directly, in the park:  the SeaWorld Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Program and a water filtration system that actually makes the water cleaner than when it first enters the park.