By Roger Williams Park Zoo

Many of us want to do our best to help the environment and wildlife, but with so many suggestions on what to do – grow your own garden, drive a hybrid car, carry recycled bags, etc. – it is easy to feel overwhelmed and find yourself doing nothing! Additionally, many of us try out these new initiatives, only to find ourselves drifting back to our old, familiar ways after a few weeks.

It might surprise you, but even the staff and volunteers of the Roger Williams Park Zoo have a hard time changing habits for the better. However, we understand that the survival of wildlife depends on us, and it’s vital that we keep trying to live better. That’s why we’ve decided to take one small step for wildlife, and we want you to do the same!

What does taking one small step for wildlife mean? Instead of trying to adopt every environmentally responsible behavior that crosses your path, you commit to one conservation initiative for the year. Throughout that year, it is important to remember that it takes time to create healthy habits and that you may falter at times. But this initiative isn’t about being perfect; it’s about moving forward.

The small step we are choosing for 2010 is to reduce our water use by taking a 5-minute shower.

I know what you’re thinking: A 5-minute shower sounds militant. Many of us feel long showers are a deserved luxury, our time to unwind and reflect. But many animals rely on that same water supply, not for enjoyment, but for survival. All the water in our area, whether it comes out of your faucet or runs through the local stream, is connected underground in a water table. When people use excessive amounts of water, it can drain the water table.

This drop can affect water levels in habitats that are miles away. Low water levels in habitats can decrease an animal’s ability to find food, to make a home, and to reproduce. Locally, our water habits affect wildlife like raccoons and the great blue heron, just to name a few.

In addition to helping keep local waterscapes healthy, reducing your shower time can also reduce your energy bill! Environmentally and economically responsible? What are you waiting for? Pledge to take one small step for wildlife today!

For more information visit the conservation page on the Roger Williams Park Zoo website.

ACTIVITY: We’re all in this together!

Materials:

• Shower Coach or other timing device
• Paper and pencil to create a family log

The purpose of this activity is for your family to work together to achieve water conservation success! As a family, discuss the importance of water conservation. You may even want to visit a local waterscape and make a list of all the animals you see that rely on that habitat for survival. A great one is the wetland trail at Roger Williams Park Zoo.

Next, multiply 5 minutes by the number of members in your family. This is the total number of shower minutes (or less) that your family is striving to use each week. As a family design a fun graph or chart where each member can record his/her minutes.

At the start of a new week, begin using the Shower Coach or other timing device to measure the length of your showers. Remember, as a family this is your shower minute allotment. If someone goes over 5 minutes, someone else may have to shower less than 5 minutes for your family to meet its goal. You’re all in this together! Make it fun and encourage one another.

At the end of the week, assess how you did. Even if you don’t hit your ultimate goal, it is valuable to consistently try to shorten the amount of time your family spends in the shower. Again, it’s not about being perfect, it’s about moving forward. Find a way to celebrate your family’s success – a walk outside, ice cream in the park, a trip to the Zoo!

At the start of the following week, make a new chart and try again!

Take to the Trails!
Offers a Week-long Schedule of Free Guided Hikes to Encourage Outdoor Exploration
April 17 – 25, 2010

Audubon encourages Rhode Island residents of all ages to log off the computer and electronics for a day and celebrate planet Earth by plugging into nature.

The big yellow bus pulled into an Audubon wildlife refuge, rolled to a stop, and opened its doors.  With a mixture of excitement and trepidation, students spilled off the bus. But there was one child who refused, and explained, “I don’t want to go, I’m afraid, there might be a lion in the woods.”  For Audubon staff, this fear of the natural world from children of all ages is a reaction they have become familiar with.

Educators at the Audubon Society of Rhode Island have plenty of stories to tell.  They recall the nervous, yet delighted response from urban students holding wriggling tadpoles for the first time. The wide-eyed thrill children experience as they muddy their hands and gently pick up a salamander by a vernal pool. Kids at summer camp, nets in hand, screeching in delight as they spot crabs scuttling along the rocky shore.  There are endless tales of wonder and joy found in the natural world.

Then there are the other stories.  Children who arrive at an Audubon Wildlife Refuge for a school program and are too frightened of the forest to join their class on the trails. Students who fear that hiking on a Rhode Island refuge might bring them into a fatal encounter with an exotic animal.  Youth who are able to memorize word for word the dialogue from a recent television show, but couldn’t identify a maple leaf or pine cone, not to mention any of the birds or other creatures they might encounter locally in nature. And these aren’t just tales of the very young; high school and middle school students are often those displaying the strong fear and lack of understanding of the natural world.

In this day and age, when video games have taken the place of outdoor play, and children learn about nature from a computer screen, the next generation is becoming increasingly disconnected from the natural world. Statistics show that children spend less time playing outdoors than any previous generation. And more and more free time is being spent inside in front of video screens. A study recently released by the Kaiser Family Foundation stated that daily media use among young kids and teens is up dramatically from even five years ago. The average American child (ages 8 to 18) now spends seven hours 38 minutes plugged in per day. That’s 53 hours per week watching electronic entertainment media—an increase of more than one hour per week from just a few years ago. And this increase in electronic entertainment is keeping them inside.

There are more reasons than ever to turn off the gadgets and head outside. This lack of outdoor activity is resulting in high obesity rates, attention disorders and other health issues in children, including increases in diabetes, and heart disease. Besides the obvious physical benefits to outdoor exercise and play, experts cite behavioral and academic advantages as well. And the reality is that today’s youth will face environmental challenges in their future like no generation before.  It is vital that they become educated stewards of the natural world who are prepared to deal with the issues that lie ahead.

There is hope. A national movement has blossomed that encourages families to get outside. Organizations such as the U.S. Park Service, National Wildlife Federation, and others have launched initiatives to encourage outdoor exploration and enjoyment. And here in Rhode Island, Audubon is doing its part to bring nature back to childhood. We offer miles of well-maintained public access trails at wildlife refuges across the state for all ages to enjoy at no cost. Family programs, school field trips, nature walks and more are available year-round to encourage exploration of the natural world. As a member of the national “No Child Left Inside Coalition,” Audubon is working with others to ensure that environmental education legislation becomes law.

And this month, in celebration of Earth Day, Audubon is offering 11 FREE guided walks on wildlife refuges across the state. Families are invited to get out and explore those special places in the state accessible only by foot. Take a nighttime stroll, search for salamanders, explore a salt marsh, or discover the rocky shore of Narragansett Bay. Kids will get exercise and fresh air as they learn about the varied habitats and creatures that call Rhode Island home. There are programs to suite all ages and interests – from mild birding walks on easy trails to strenuous hikes on steep, rocky terrain.

Visit www.asri.org for more information and a complete schedule of FREE Earth Day walks and hikes.

Editors note:
In addition to these free walks, during this week Audubon is also offering a complete schedule of school vacation week programs.  Please call (401) 949-5454 ext. 3041 or email programs@asri.org specifically for school vacation events.

Poksak is a Rhode Island-based social venture that sells pouchable, reusable tote bags in an effort to fund college scholarships for foster children and raise environmental awareness. This week running Monday, March 15 through Sunday March 21, 2010 Poksak has teamed up with Mothers Acting Up (MAU) and Kidoinfo to bring concerned mothers the Power of the Reusable Bag Action Week.

Wanting to find a way to help underprivileged youth gain access to better education, Karen de Bruin a French Professor at the University of Rhode Island and family members Andre and Estelle de Bruin co-founded the social venture, Poksak. By making an environmental friendly, versatile, reusable tote bag the company gives back to the community—helping the environment while supporting the Orphan Foundation of America and local business. The company hopes to enlarge its community through selling its products in small to large academic settings, as well as, co-branding with large companies or organizations that love the poksak and fully support the cause of sending orphans to college.

Poksak’s greatest fans have been schools, mothers, and children. By selling poksaks, schools can contribute to higher education. For each bag sold at $3.99, Poksak donates 25 cents to a scholarship fund that allots scholarships of up to $6000 to qualified orphans. The first scholarship is being awarded in June 2010. Fun for kids, they can stuff the bags back into the cute pouches and then trade them with their friends. Mothers can use them for every day errands; easily store in a briefcase, pocket and purse, and are thus less likely to be forgotten when an extra bag is needed.

Poksaks dream is to come full-circle, meaning that it would eventually like to become an international company, have all of its products made from recycled materials and it would like to not only help orphans go to college, but to hire orphans for jobs and internships.

Buy poksaks locally in Rhode Island at the following locations purchase online at www.poksak.com

• South County Montessori School in Wickford
• Goddard School in South Kingstown
• Bliss Cafe in Newport
• The Secret Garden in Jamestown
• The Narragansett Bike Shop in Narragansett
• Newport Athletic Club
• Jamestown Designs, Jamestown
• Le Petit Gourmet, Newport
• Little Friends Farm, Middletown
• LoveBugs, Providence
• KinderArt, Newport

September 19, 2009 from 9 AM – Noon

Each year on the third Saturday in September, volunteers around the world show they care about their coasts by flocking to the beaches to clean up and document the trash they find. The Audubon Society of Rhode Island coordinates cleanup efforts for the Ocean State. The “Hold the Line!” theme for this year encourages anglers to properly dispose of used and snarled fishing line which can entangle wildlife.

Trash in the marine environment is unsightly, and it’s a threat to wildlife,” said Audubon’s Executive Director Lawrence Taft. “The International Coastal Cleanup gives Rhode Islanders a way to take action and raise awareness of this important issue in our state. The data we collect helps document the problem and provides background for policy decisions on issues such as beach smoking, recycling, and fisheries and wildlife management.”

If you would like to volunteer, please contact one of the local cleanup leaders listed below. For general questions, contact Audubon at 401-949-5454. This is a rain-or-shine event, but may be postponed in the event of a severe storm. Bring a pair of gloves and come prepared to make a difference!

LOCATIONS:

(more…)

Here are few gifts dad may like depending on your budget and his interests. For some local handmade options, check Linda’s crafty gift ideas for dad.

1. Quality time with the kids. A family outing or just dad and the kids may start with breakfast at home or at his favorite diner or coffee shop. (My husband loves having bagels and lox at home as much as dining out at the Modern Diner in Pawtucket) followed by an afternoon outing like a trip to the beach, park, or museum. My husband takes photos wherever we go.

2. An event. Give a gift-certificate (for two, if it includes you) to his favorite local restaurant or tickets to a sports game or music concert.

3. Re-purposed. Wallets and messenger bags made from old sails (Ragged Edge products found at OOP!), tires or street signs make a very stylish statement and are a cool re-use of discarded items.

4. Good for the environment. More cool green gift ideas found on TreeHugger.com include a living ecosphere, bike basket, enamel stacked lunch box, beginner beekeeping kit, and a push reel mower.

5. Techy Gadgets. My husband loves most tech things as do many dads I know. Although my husband may covet the new iPhone3G with cool added or improved features, he will keep the phone he got last year. An iTunes gift card of any value though is always handy and appreciated—allows him to buy music, movies or special apps for phone, music player or computer.

6. Make a book. Have your children help create a special keepsake for dad. Every year we make my husband an accordian book filled with pictures and words documenting our sons’ current stage of development, likes and loves.

Wear Blue on Monday! “World Oceans Day” is officially June 8 starting this year, 2009. Although the concept for this holiday has been unofficially celebrated around the world since 1992, the official designation by the U.N. is a significant step in conserving and protecting our world’s ocean.

“World Oceans Day” provides an opportunity each year to celebrate our world ocean and our personal connection to the sea. The Ocean Project, based in Rhode Island, works closely with the World Ocean Network each year, helping to coordinate events and activities with aquariums, zoos, museums, conservation organizations, universities, schools, businesses.

First we need to teach our children why oceans are important and then learn what we can do as a family to protect them. To help celebrate the event, kids between the ages of 5 and 13 can enter into an art contest expressing “Why I Love the Ocean!” Whole Foods Market University Heights (601 N. Main Street, Providence) is offering up prizes from the store before the entries are sent off to the national judges. Completed entries can either be brought to the store by Monday, June 15th to win prizes locally, or can be mailed directly to the national contest. Click here for details about the art contest.

Why Should We Celebrate World Oceans Day? (courtesy of The Ocean Project,)

The world’s ocean:

• Generates most of the oxygen we breathe
• Helps feed us
• Regulates our climate
• Cleans the water we drink
• Offers us a pharmacopoeia of potential medicines
• Provides limitless inspiration!

It’s up to each one of us to help ensure that our ocean is protected and conserved for future generations. World Oceans Day allows us to:

• Change perspective – encourage individuals to think about what the ocean means to them and what it has to offer all of us with hopes of conserving it for present and the future generations.
• Learn – discover the wealth of diverse and beautiful ocean creatures and habitats, how our daily actions affect them, and how we are all interconnected.
• Change our ways – we are all connected to the ocean! By taking care of your backyard, you are acting as a caretaker of our ocean. Making small modifications to your everyday habits will greatly benefit our blue planet.
• Celebrate – whether you live inland or on the coast we are all connected to the ocean; take the time to think about how the ocean affects you, and how you affect the ocean, and then organize or participate in activities that celebrate our world ocean.

by Katy Killilea

Yogurt and hummus are two of the main food groups for lots of young families, and typically these foods are  packaged in #5 plastics. Number fives aren’t yet recyclable in Rhode Island, so after you’ve reused your containers as paint-mixing receptacles or bathtub cups, they’re usually landfill-bound.

Relief is in sight for environmentally concerned parents of  yogurt munchers. Preserve is a company that needs your #5 plastics—to make toothbrushes, razors, and colanders, and nifty green storage bowls. Participating Whole Foods stores act as collection sites on behalf of Preserve, including both Providence locations and the Cranston store.

For more information, read all about it here!

This morning my boys and I talked about Earth Day. Here are our goals for today (and everyday)

1. Buy less stuff. Buy only what is needed.

2. Use our refillable water bottles more.

3. Recycle paper more (e.g. mail, old artwork) and have less of it end up in the trash.

4. Clean up our park and neighborhood streets and sidewalk today if it does not rain.

5. Turn off unnecessary lights.

6. Turn off the water while brushing teeth.

What are you doing today?

Reviewed by Katy Killilea

Which scenario is worse?

A. Child #1 sneezes on a Duplo block and leaves. Child #2 comes along and sucks on the sneezed-upon block.

B. The blocks have all been cleaned with a hardcore disinfectant. A baby crawls over and starts chewing on them.

Both scenarios give me the heebie-jeebies, but the idea of a child ingesting traces of Formula 409 particularly gets under my skin. If you would similarly be more freaked out by “B,” you will love Dapple Toy Cleaner Spray.

Dapple was created by moms who didn’t like seeing their kids play with objects coated in toxic cleaning chemicals OR another child’s mucus. These cleaning products are intentionally not antibacterial. Instead they work like soap and water—cleaning that’s thorough but mild-mannered. The toy cleaner works beautifully on toys, of course, and also on countertops and the insides of lunchboxes. It would be ideal for cleaning a highchair tray, or any hard surface that your child is likely to lick. The scent is mild and wonderful, like a baby fresh from the tub.

(more…)

Home Work: Lessons from Work-at-Home Parents. This series of Kidoinfo interviews looks at how these parents manage to squeeze in work time at home (whether working for someone else or running their own business) along with juggling kids, home life, and childcare (or lack of it). Do you want to share your home work with us? We love to hear how other parents get through their day. Nominate yourself or a friend or someone you admire from afar and we may feature their work-at-home story.

Today Katy Killilea interviews Kim Falcone , the founder of Lily’s Garden Herbals, a company that creates all-natural and mostly organic herbal products for home and health in Wakefield, Rhode Island.

Kidoinfo: What inspired you to start your business?

Kim: My two daughters, when they were very young. They both inherited respiratory and skin allergies from me, and I grew up using steroids topically and orally as well as antihistamines.
I wanted a different, more natural health journey for them.

How did you start your business?

Kim: It was an evolutionary process. I began offering advice back in the late ‘90s to family and friends regarding natural health and how herbs complement each other. From there, word spread that I was the ‘village herbalist’ in our closely knit community, and folks started to seek me out. During that time I was learning about herbal essential oils. I decided that with the antimicrobial properties so many of them possess, combined with the wonderful aromatherapy they provide, why not use them to clean rather than using the toxic chemicals I had grown up surrounded by?

How do you balance work and family?

Kim: Well, it was certainly a challenge when the girls were younger; however, my hours have always coincided with their school schedules. At three o’clock, I close the office door and put on my mom hat. Now that my older daughter is off at college and my seventeen-year-old drives, I am freed up quite a bit. This is not to say that I am not present when needed. In fact, I find I need to check in frequently to see what she is up to! As far as marriage is concerned, that’s easy. My husband is my business mentor since he is also a small-business owner. We have a broad range of topics to discuss! It keeps our marriage from getting boring!

(more…)