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Category: Make a Difference: Community & Calls to Action

  • The Great American Backyard Campout 2011

    The Great American Backyard Campout 2011

    kids in tent

    Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons.

    It is to grow in the open air, and to eat and sleep with the earth.

    -Walt Whitman

    It’s that time of year again! The Great American Backyard Campout takes place on Saturday, June 25th.

    “On June 25 thousands of people across the nation will gather in backyards, neighborhoods, communities and parks to take part in a one-night event that will provide a memorable experience for all generations to connect with nature. Great American Backyard Campout reminds us all of simple pleasures we had as a child and how these memories can inspire the next generation of children to appreciate the wonders of the outdoors.”

    As a kid I probably only camped half a dozen times, but those are some of my very favorite memories: the squirrels chattering, the birds chirping, the dampness of the early morning air, the fishing at the parks, the cooking over campfires and reading by flashlight, and most of all, the lying in sleeping bags after dark and talk, talk, talking to my dad.

    This summer I hope to camp at a bunch of different state parks, but first we’ll participate in the annual Great American Backyard Campout, part of the National Wildlife Federation’s “Be Out There” movement. (Longtime readers will remember that last year’s campout was particularly exciting, as I played referee between The Dogness and a baby raccoon.)

    The average kid spends seven hours exposed to electronic media each day.

    And just four to seven minutes engaged in outdoor unstructured play each day.

    That’s… just tragic.

    Research has shown that spending time in nature can combat child obesity, reduce stress, generate a sense of well-being, help you sleep, and reduce allergies. (Not to mention, it’s fun. Remember fun?) Way more detail about “nature prescriptions” and the benefits of unstructured outdoor play for kids’ health here.

    It’s also been established that kids spend less time in front of a screen when parents believe it’s safe to play outside. Makes sense, right? The Great American Backyard Campout is a wonderful opportunity to get to know your neighbors better. Ask around and enlist area families to join your camping team! Spend the night playing and sleeping outdoors… and maybe you’ll all be more comfortable with your kids playing together outside on a daily basis, with a collective eye keeping watch.

    Register for the campout here.

    There are a couple different ways to register:
    1.  Create your own team (camp with your family, invite friends and neighbors)
    2.  Register as an individual camper
    3.  Join an existing team near you. There are quite a few shared events taking place at parks and campsites across the country.

    While on the site make sure to check out the recipes, nocturnal wildlife guides, campfire songs & games, nature activities, etc that they have provided. The National Wildlife Federation really does a good job helping parents prepare for a night of fun and education in nature.

    Be part of something big… about 100,000 participants registered in 2010. Half were individuals & families who camped in their backyards or neighborhoods; 34% were youth groups and 16% were involved in organized campsites of 100 or more campers. I love collective efforts like this. We’re making a difference in kids’ lives, ya’ll.

    There is NO COST to register and participate, but campers can opt to fundraise to support the NWF and their efforts to get kids outdoors. I went ahead and set a goal of $50, but I’d love to raise more than that. Pretty pretty please consider donating on Team Elton’s behalf.

    HEADS UP FOR LOCAL PEEPS: If you’re in PA or thereabouts, and have never camped in a PA state park, you might want to look into their First-Time Camper Program. Twenty bucks will get you a camping spot for a weekend with rental of needed camping gear (tent, sleeping pads, cooking stove, etc) included. Park staff will also help you set up your tent (I need to learn to do this; Jeff has always done it for me). That’s pretty awesome.

    If a child is to keep his inborn sense of wonder,
    he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it,

    rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.

    -Rachel Carson

    Are you a camping family? Any tips to offer for when I take the big plunge and camp somewhere other than my own backyard?

    ___________________________________________

  • Endangered Species Day: What You Can Do

    Endangered Species Day: What You Can Do

    “[What is the] extinction of a condor
    to a child who has never seen a wren?”

    -Robert Michael Pyle

     

    The Endangered Species Coalition has a Public Service Announcement video embedded on their website that begins by asking,

    “Can you imagine the woods without owls?
    The wetlands without frogs?
    Or the flowers without bees?”

    I think that for most children, the answer is yes.

    They can imagine that pretty easily.

    Because they don’t go into the woods or wetlands.

    And they’ve been taught to stay away from bees. Bees bad.

    green spider on webToday is Endangered Species Day, the day where I remind you that once the intricate ecological web starts losing threads, it’s only a matter of time before an anchoring foundation thread goes and the whole business falls apart. We depend on multitudes of species in ways we don’t even understand fully yet. We have no idea which threads could cause the web to unravel; it’s ultimately in our best interests to protect them all, before humans find themselves on the endangered species list.

    Is that a selfish and self-centered way of approaching the subject? Perhaps. But those are the facts, man. We live in a world of natural checks and balances that have evolved over time, and the more we monkey with pesticides and habitat the more likely it becomes that we will encounter a tipping point to that balance, and cause the infrastructure to collapse like a house of cards.

    The Most Important Thing You Can Do To Protect Endangered Species:

    Take your children outside for broad lengths of unstructured nature time.

    • So they know what they could be missing. Help them to learn the names of the trees, to recognize the calls of the birds, to notice the abundance of life that goes on all around us. Become backyard naturalists.
    • Take them to zoos, unless you can afford to go exploring in the rainforests and the sahara. If the ethics of zoos bother you, then go ahead and talk to your kids about that. But let them look a tiger in the eye.
    • Help them to form a bond and empathy and affinity with nature. I’m going to come right out and say it: teach them to care about something other than themselves and their immediate family.
    • Tell them that the power is in their hands. That their actions, even the little ones, make a difference, for good or for bad.Maybe this will help us all to remember that the same is true for all of us.

    The Second Most Important Thing You Can Do:

    Help preserve animal habitats.

    • Don’t use herbicides or pesticides.
    • Don’t litter.
    • Try to limit chemicals and plastics in your life. As much as you can.
    • Volunteer for cleanups. Or just throw away that random McDonald’s bag at the park. Every little bit helps.
    • Garden for wildlife.

    The Third Most Important Thing You Can Do:

    Advocate.

    The Endangered Species Act does a good job of protecting the plants and wildlife listed as threatened or endangered. But in the U.S. there are 6,500 species that scientists believe are at risk of extinction. Only 1,200 are officially listed.

    Some other good tips from the Endangered Species Coaltion:

    • Slow down when driving
    • Recycle and buy sustainable products
    • Never purchase products made from threatened or endangered species
    • Report any harassment or shooting of threatened and endangered species

     

    One more thing.

    Care.

    endangered animals

    Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
    nothing is going to get better.

    It’s not.
    -Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

    StopExtinction.org

  • Why We Need Modern Day Victory Gardens

    Why We Need Modern Day Victory Gardens

    I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community
    and as long as I live,
    it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.

    I want to be thoroughly used up when I die,
    for the harder I work the more I live.

    -George Bernard Shaw

    The boys and men of Europe marched to war in the summer of 1914. As a by-product of the fighting, fields of crops were crossed, slashed, burned, rendered useless. This set into motion a food production imbalance that proved catastrophic in 1916, as crops failed everywhere. Rations were set into place; all of Europe submitted to meatless days and dairy could only be had with a physician’s explicit prescription. Italians were allowed only nine pounds of sugar a year, and that only if sugar was to be had.

    It was up to us here in the United States to feed the world’s starving and we rose to the challenge. In 1917 Charles Lathrop Pack organized the National War Garden Commission and brilliantly marketed the war garden campaign: selling the victory garden as an act of patriotism, of freedom, of independence and the American Way.

    To waste food was to fail our troops and aid the enemy, it was as simple as that.

     

     

    “…every one who creates or cultivates a garden helps and helps greatly, to solve the problem of the feeding of the nations – and that every housewife who practices strict economy puts herself in the ranks of those who serve the nation.  This is the time for America to correct her unpardonable fault of wastefulness and extravagance.

    Let every man and every woman assume the duty of careful, provident use and expenditure as a public duty, as a dictate of patriotism which no one can now expect ever to be excused or forgiven for ignoring.”

    -Woodrow Wilson, in a proclamation to the American people,
    nine days after U.S. declaration of war

     

    When all was said and done, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates, the Greatest Generation planted more than 20 million victory gardens: producing up to 40% of the vegetable produce consumed nationally in their own backyards, conserving food and funds that could be diverted to our troops in the pursuit of victory.

    Victory gardens have enjoyed a slight renaissance these past few years; First Lady Michelle Obama has emulated Eleanor Roosevelt in instituting a victory garden on White House grounds. Urban homesteaders and locavores cultivate gardens to free themselves from Big Ag and oil dependence.

    It’s not enough.

    Nationally gas prices are up 38% over last year. The average driver will wind up spending $1000 more on gasoline, forcing many to shift money from their grocery budget.

    The uptick in gasoline prices hits us again in the form of increased food prices.

    Globally, we waste over a billion tons of food a year, or a third of all food produced; $54 billion worth of food is thrown away annually in this country. 98% of that ends up in landfills, not compost piles, wasting more gasoline in transport and contributing to global warming.

    Yet 68% of Americans are overweight or obese.

    Meanwhile, in 2009 (and presumably more since then), 50.2 million Americans lived in food insecure households; about a third of those are children. 14% of Americans are on food stamps, an increase of more than 58% over 2007.

    Nearly half of those considered food insecure don’t actually receive food stamps or other government nutrition-assistance programs.

    And healthcare costs per family have more than doubled over the past decade.

    Do we really need to suffer a war-induced food crisis before we are compelled to step up?

    As a generation that, for the most part, has lost its sense of civic duty, agricultural skills and connection to the earth and the seasons, would we be capable of answering that call if it were issued? Are we made of tougher stuff?

    We need to relearn those skills, to be able to live in a self-sufficient way, to be able to provide for our countrymen should the need arise.

    —————————————————————————————————————————————

    But I’m saying the need is already here, and many are fighting a great war at this moment. Just to feed their children decent food.

    • Try your hand at gardening this year. No need for great expectations; as Emerson said, “Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.” We learn by doing.
    • If you have gardened before, experiment with new crops; see just how much your victory garden can yield.
    • Don’t waste food.

    “Those who cultivated the soil could hardly do more than they were doing,” said Luther Burbank, a member of the National War Garden Commission, in speaking of the matter. “It was becoming evident that food, which before had been taken as a matter of course, was in reality the foundation of all life, all knowledge, all progress. What could be done? It became necessary to conserve carefully what already had been produced, and then produce more. Agriculture and horticulture had not generally been taught in the schools; the old hit-or-miss plan of farming was all too common’ the home garden was neglected and the school garden a novelty. To the call both to conservation and to increased production, the American people have responded nobly. How quickly they have changed their attitude, how splendidly they have made good by adapting themselves to the new conditions! When the war garden movement was started, the problem of food production was on the way to be solved.”

    Be honest with yourself.
    Are you part of the solution? Or the problem?

    ________________________________________________________________________

    Content & Photo Sources:

    Wikipedia: Victory Garden

    Small Homestead: History of the Victory Garden

    “Do Your Bit For America”, Woodrow Wilson proclamation 15 April 1917

    The War Garden Victorious: its war time need and its economic value in peace, by Charles Lathrop Pack. This is available in its entirety online and hugely fascinating. I would have simply titled this post READ THIS with a link, if I thought people would actually do it.