Recently in Outdoor Recreation Category

Just don't tell the Giants it's a "green stadium."

The owners were serious about their efforts to construct a more environmentally friendly stadium, but at a press conference, Giants chief executive John Mara and Jets owner Woody Johnson had some fun kidding about the “green” building. (The Giants’ main color is blue, and the Jets’ is green.) “What I will say to my friend Woody Johnson is that today and St. Patrick’s Day will be the only two days that green is the preferred color in this building,” Mara said.

But many are watching to see if this is the start a new trend in sports. The EPA certainly hopes so, calling the as-yet-unnamed New Jersey stadium a “beacon of green.”

EPA has more, including this and other pics at their Facebook page.

From the header in freelance writer Penny Musco's terrific blog:

I love God and I love His creation! The two are inseparable: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made…” (Romans 1:20). And while I can (and do) enjoy God’s handiwork just sitting on the deck overlooking my back yard, I’ve discovered the national parks provide an even greater variety of environments in which to worship and learn more about the Creator. My prayer is that my humble observations will strengthen you in your Christian walk, whet your appetite for your own exploration of our wonderful parks, and, most importantly, in case you don’t know what in the world I’m talking about, encourage you to “seek the Lord while He may be found [and] call on Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6). He’s knocking on your heart’s door right now (Revelation 3:20).

As a kid who grew up in Washington State's national parks it was an easy decision to add LLNP to the blogroll today. Great to see she's taken up blogging. 

Drop by and say howdy!

The current issue of Backpacker magazine (June '09) has an article "Hike it, Save it" that details 10 wilderness areas in danger of one sort or another. It also lists some recently saved sites.

P.S. The article notes with excitement new land protections under a recent bill signed by President Obama. But no one seemed to care when President Bush signed the biggest increase for National Parks in its history. That didn't matter according to the political partisans. -D

I noticed on a map one day that the entire coast of Oregon consisted of parks. As it turns out, there is 363 continuous miles of protected shoreline. In a day and age where companies and individuals have sectioned off shoreline, or destroyed its natural beauty by building right to the shore, Oregon's approach is refreshing. Of course, we have to be careful of the government trying to take private land. However, Oregon's approach should be carefully considered in preserving nature. I'm all for advancement and economic development, but at what point does it become excessive, over-development? Maybe the answer lies in comparing the two extremes.

Geoengineering. Excerpts:

 Tinkering with Earth's climate to chill runaway global warming - a radical idea once dismissed out of hand - is being discussed by the White House as a potential emergency option, the president's new science adviser said Wednesday...One option raised by Holdren and proposed by a Nobel Prize-winning scientist includes shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun's rays.

It still is radical, and stupid:

But he said there could be grave side effects. Studies suggest that might include eating away a large chunk of the ozone layer above the poles and causing the Mediterranean and the Mideast to be much drier.

And those are just the predicted problems. Scientists say they worry about side effects that they don't anticipate.

Scare tactics:

He and many experts believe that warming of a few degrees more would lead to disastrous drought conditions and food shortages in some regions, rising seas and more powerful coastal storms in others.

Mankind seemed to prosper in past warm periods. It is harder to adapt to cold periods. Cold is harder on food supplies and energy consumption. More scientists are talking about global cooling now. Suppose geoengineering hastens cooling? 

Politicians need to get out of making science policy, or at least put science before politics when making policy. -D

P.S. The Obama "science advisor," on another subject, said:

The U.S. anti-ballistic missile program is not ready to work and shouldn't be used unless it is 100 percent effective. The system, which would be used to shoot down missiles from countries like North Korea or Iran "needs to be essentially perfect ... that's going to be hard to achieve."

Um, if it's "not ready to work" what shot down that satellite last year and why do we have operational anti-ballistic missile ships and bases?

You honestly cannot be concerned about nature and not spend some time outside. Spring is here and the country is thawing (at varying paces, depending where you live). So here's some activities and groups you can look into:

Rails to Trails    National North Country Scenic Trail    American Hiking Society

Geocaching    Waymarking   Trails.com   National Trails Day 

No Child Left Inside   American Camp Association   Appalachian Trail 

Great American Backyard Campout   National Trails System

-D

"We're part of nature...and if we separate ourselves from that, we're separating ourselves from our history, from the the things that tie us together. We don't want to live in a world where there are no recreational fishermen, where we've lost touch with the seasons, the tides, the things that connect us  to ten thousand generations of human beings that were here before there were laptops, and ultimately connect us to God."

We shouldn't be worshipping nature as God, he said, but nature is the way that God communicates to us..."with such texture and forcefulness in detail and grace and joy...and when we destroy large resources...by polluting so that people can't fish, or by making so many rules that people can't get out on the water, it's the moral equivalent of tearing the last pages out of the last Bible on Earth."

-  Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as quoted in Last Child in the Woods.  -D

From Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods:

 ...children [in schools] "will learn that by recycling their Weekly Readers and milk cartons, they can help save the planet," [says David Sobel] and grow up to be responsible stewards of the earth. Or maybe not. The opposite may be occuring, says Sobel. "If we fill our classrooms with examples of environmental abuse, we may be engendering a subtle form of dissociation"...Lacking direct experience with nature, children begin to associate it with fear and apocalypse, not joy and wonder...Children learn about the rain forest, but usually not about their own region's forests, or, as Sobel puts it, "even just the meadow outside the classroom door."

I've been reading Louv's book and it's hard to put down. A very important read for those concerned about health, nature and children. More excerpts later. -D

Studies have been telling us that kids that don't spend much or any time outside are less healthy, physically and emotionally, than those that do.

Sounds like common sense, but in only a generation or so, people have forgotten this truth. Richard Louv writes about these things in his Last Child in the Woods. I'll post some excerpts at a later date, but here is what one reviewer had to say:

Unstructured outdoor play was standard for me as a hyperactive child growing up in the rural Midwest. I fondly recall digging forts, climbing trees and catching frogs without concern for kidnappers or West Nile virus. According to newspaper columnist and child advocate Richard Louv, such carefree days are gone for America’s youth. Boys and girls now live a "denatured childhood," Louv writes in Last Child in the Woods. He cites multiple causes for why children spend less time outdoors and why they have less access to nature: our growing addiction to electronic media, the relinquishment of green spaces to development, parents’ exaggerated fears of natural and human predators, and the threat of lawsuits and vandalism that has prompted community officials to forbid access to their land...Louv links children’s alienation from nature to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, stress, depression and anxiety disorders, not to mention childhood obesity. The connections seem tenuous at times, but it is hard not to agree with him based on the acres of anecdotal evidence that he presents...What little time [children] spend outside is on designer playgrounds or fenced yards and is structured, safe and isolating. Such antiseptic spaces provide little opportunity for exploration, imagination or peaceful contemplation. Louv’s idea is not new. Theodore Roosevelt saw a prophylactic dose of nature as a counter to mounting urban malaise in the early 20th century, and others since have expanded on the theme. What Louv adds is a focus on the restorative qualities of nature for children. He recommends that we reacquaint our children and ourselves with nature through hiking, fishing, bird-watching and disorganized, creative play. By doing so, he argues, we may lessen the frequency and severity of emotional and mental ailments and come to recognize the importance of preserving nature... 
- Jeanne Hamming -- Scientific American

-D

American Hiking Society which is also involved in various conservation efforts. They are also into these carbon offset (credits) fad. I call it a fad because of this: If you don't change your lifestyle and instead buy "offsets" or "credits" isn't that cheating like a shoplifter who says "I'm not going to stop stealing but I'll donate some things I steal to charity" ? But anyway...

You can hike for a cure for Leukemia & Lymphoma [pdf file]. Use Trail Finder to find a trail near you. And check out Trails.com, Local Hikes and Trail Source.

Check out Leave No Trace and read the Leave No Trace Principles

See also Geocaching.

Want to get outside more this year? Try Geocaching:

Geocaching is an entertaining adventure game for GPS users. Participating in a cache hunt is a good way to take advantage of the wonderful features and capability of a gps unit. The basic idea is to have individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations of these caches on the internet. GPS users can then use the location coordinates to find the caches. Once found, a cache may provide the visitor with a wide variety of rewards. All the visitor is asked to do is if they get something they should try to leave something for the cache.