Get outside with Abundant Safari! http://AbundantSafari.com Take a field trip to the top 10 family- friendly outdoor spaces in Johnson county, Iowa! Plan an adventure for your 4-H club or a family outing for youth and adults.  Print off your own personal journal and collect a rubbing at each location. http://AbundantSafari.com/pub/pub-AbundantSafariJournal.pdf    

Iowa City’s Backyard Abundance announces the implementation of their newest program, Abundant Safari, a self-guided tour to key local natural sites and innovative, sustainability projects. While targeting area children, it is available to all residents at any time. The program will be launched by the Urban Edible Landscaping Tour on September 9 from 2 pm – 4 pm. The tour begins at the City Plaza Children’s Garden next to the Iowa City Public Library at 123 S. Linn Street.

Using the Safari website, http://AbundantSafari.com, individuals or groups can find information to design a walking, bike and car tour to sites of their choice. Destinations include Iowa City public gardens, parks, prairies, wetlands, and recycling sites. This program highlights many outstanding natural areas in Iowa City and provides a framework to explore these sites, have fun, and learn about nature. There are 10 sites to explore this year and another 10 will be added in 2013.

Help YOUR family make the connection to these fabulous outdoor spaces – You and your kids will be getting exercise, learning science, math, nature’s engineering, and strengthening your relationships all at the same time! Save money by exploring locally! Get outside this year!

If you are in eastern Iowa, try this out and let us know about your experience!  http://blogs.extension.iastate.edu/isuecofamily

Kristi Cooper

I also gathered our food scraps throughout the week intending to find a place outdoors to leave them, only to discover that that was discouraged because it attracted wildlife like skunks and raccoons to the living areas.  So, I put it in the trash before we left. Strike two.

Luckily we did NOT strike out. We were able to maintain several sustainable practices away from home.  Reducing waste was a big start. We cooked our meals and washed our dishes, thus eliminating lots of disposable dinnerware and fast food containers. We purchased fresh food, reducing convenience packaging. Because we drove (a high MPG vehicle), we could bring reusable drink bottles and re-use the ones we bought.  We also brought a couple of cloth shopping bags for groceries.  We re-used the plastic shopping bags for wet beach wear and sandy shoes!    Bath towels were used all week instead of daily clean ones.

Since hind-sight is 20-20 vision, here’s what we could do next time:

• Take a zip lock bag  for food scraps. Add water with the scraps each time and keep it in the freezer.  It can become an “ice pack” for anything you bring home in the cooler. Add it to the compost pile when you get home.
• Go to http://earth911.com/  to learn about recycling policies before your trip.
• Ask at the reservation desk about nearby recycling centers.
• Find retail and grocery stores in the area that take recycled materials.

Don’t take a vacation from caring for the environment this summer!  Please share YOUR  tips for an eco-friendly vacation!

Kristi Cooper

In addition to enjoying the cinema, we also enjoyed (very expensive) popcorn served in an eco-friendly bag. I  rarely go to the movie theater so I don’t know if the bag was made for the benefit of the hype behind the movie or if they have been doing this because it is important to do. Maybe both! Anyway, the bag is printed (soy based ink) with facts about how it was made with recycled material and that you should recycle your beverage bottles instead of throwing them in the trash.  Good concepts, except the paper bag is coated  – presumably to keep the butter from leaking onto your lap – so it cannot be recycled or composted after using it at the movies. Of course, I couldn’t throw it into the gigantic trash barrel by the exit door of the theater.  So, I kept it and am using it to store nature items I collect to share with participants in my Nature Explore workshops.

Iwas  interested in the advertising that was produced for the movie  – in addition to our receipt-like tickets, we each received a plastic coated “book mark” with the  Lorax quote “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, it’s not going to matter, it’s not” and environmental facts about the auto company who generously sponsors the movie, etc.  I wish I was not so suspicious, but I was a little ‘put off’ by the blatant use of “green” concepts to get me to spend $50 on tickets and treats. It worked ’cause I didn’t think I could wait until the movie came out on DVD or for rent.

Back in the day, when we were kids (and poor college students and young parents) we popped our own popcorn, put it in paper grocery sacks and hid them in our coat when we went to the movie.  Tickets were MUCH cheaper then, BTW.  The bags did not sport advertising about how green or renewable they were and we used them again as a trash bag, fire starter for the burn barrel or weinee roast pile.  Composting and air quality were not on my radar back then. 

SO, how far have we come?  I am still challenged to think critically at my practices and make choices that are the best I can make given what I know and what is possible.  I am encouraged by the line from Ted, the main character in The Lorax: “That’s me, the guy who still cares!”   I know I am one of those people and I know you are too, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this blog!

What do we sacrifice in the name of being “green”? Do you believe that what you do makes a difference? (It does!)

Kristi Cooper

Years ago, we were the first family to sign up with this company when they came into the neighborhood.  The owners of this company were sooo new that they didn’t have recycling cans with the company name on it yet.  So they brought us a small red storebought rubbermaid can to use for our recycling.   Each week the recycling truck came by and the contents of my can was sorted into different bins on the truck. That little red can inspired us to do more recycling and before long,  not surprisingly, the recycling going out of the house was more than the trash.  Over the years, that first recycling can wore out and we replaced it with a larger can and my son stenciled RECYCLING on the lid and the sides so it would not be confused with the ‘garbage can”. 

Sometime in the last few years, the neighbors who signed up for pickup with the same company began to have bright red and green bins at the curb. Periodically I would call the company to clarify a recycling question and also ask about the can, and they would say, “We know which is your recycling.  Its ok to use what you have.”

Until last week! When I called and told the owner that my recycling had gone into the garbage truck, he apologized.  “I started a new guy this week and he didn’t know. I’ll bring you new recycling tubs next week.”  I guess he didn’t want to have to explain why we had a different can than the rest of the neighborhood. And HERE they are - 2 of them!  The green one is for paper and the red one is for the  plastic, metal, glass and cardboard.  They are shiny and colorful and they don’t fit into the kitchen closet with the old ‘system’ we had developed.   Oh well, time for a change!  I am just glad my recycling will still go where its supposed to go – NOT to the landfill.

Do you have recycling in your town? What can you recycle?

Kristi Cooper