'Farm-On-Wheels' making it's way around Chicago...

Props are good. I like props, so I knew Truck Farm Chicago would work. With a 'farm-on-wheels' that lets kids harvest and eat food, it's easy to engage in conversations about health. I just wasn't sure the plants would like being on the bumpy road day after day. Well, from the kale to the onions and spinach, to the chard and broccoli, we're growing food. And yesterday we harvested the first fruit from our strawberry patch. The look on the student's face after he bit into it was priceless. :)

P.S. This link takes you to Jamie Oliver's blog and an article on an innovative school in Chicago, The Academy for Global Citizenship. And Truck Farm gets to visit next week :)

"I'm only trying to love my kids the best I can..."

A line I get from parents all the time:

"I'm just trying to love my kids. How do I have time to worry about the environment?"

And when the dinner needs to be made, Johnny needs help with homework, the car needs an oil change, Sarah's being bullied, the bills need to be paid and I may get laid off from work... then worrying about the environment falls pretty low on the list of "things to do right now." I understand that.

I also understand that we're living in crazy times. The 21st century is the most exciting time in the history of the world to be alive. Like it or not, change is upon us. Some say we're in an age of information. Bill McKibben prefers to say it's an age of distraction. Yes, we're bombarded with messages, but most is delivered in shallow sound bytes, and much comes from advertisers hawking goods and services for consumption. I'll argue we owe it to ourselves and our kids to dig deep and learn what's really going on. What kind of world are we giving our kids? What does the world look like past the Industrial Revolution?

If there's one book I'd recommend for parents ('green-minded' or not) looking for answers, it's The Ecology of Commerce (revised edition, 2010). Author Paul Hawken comes at it from both a business and environmentalist perspective and leaves us with hope. He makes sense of business, it's relationship to the environment and then articulates a plan of how doing business and doing good can become one in the same. In fact, we're already on the path. It's early and the powers of status quo are strong, but the opportunities are HUGE.

So, being an environmentalist won't add more to your to-do list. Rather, it'll be like falling off a log and improving your quality of life. And for most, that probably means spending more time with the kids they love so much. Hopefully, some of that time is spent playing outdoors. :)

OK, enough with adult books.

These days most of the books I read are for kids and as long as I refer to re-reading books, I picked up Maniac Magee from my shelf last week and didn't put it down 'til I finished it. It's a super entertaining story about a wunderkid and at the top of my recommendation book for any 5th or 6th grader. Or adult...

Quote of the day:

“Education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire."

-William Butler Yeats

Exercise is good for kids...

Whenever I visit a school I try to learn as much as possible, always making it a point to ask students how they spend their day. I'm interested for a few reasons, including discovering how much physical activity they get. While my "research" is anecdotal, there's plenty of evidence (besides our waistlines) that shows we get less exercise than we used to.

An

d while

we might "know" exercise is good for our bodies, and we may even "know" exercise improves our mood,

there's mounting evidence showing exercise as being good for brains, especially young, developing brains.

So, when I see kids, parents and teachers push back against

reducing gym time,

cutting recess,

narrowing curriculums,

increasing homework loads, I say keep pushing.

Less can be more when it means more time for play and getting our heart rates up. Less homework, less rote learning and fewer organized activities can lead to healthier and more creative kids, who also happen to test better.

Consider checking out

Spark, a book on the science of exercise and the brain. Dr. Ratey's blog

http://johnratey.typepad.com/blog/

See you outside,

Tim.

P.D. A recent article in Mother Nature Network about a study of high school teens who do better walking to school here.

Time to Take Play Seriously: A Little Perspective

I note the calendar (it says 'September') and watch the sun set (earlier each day), yet I refuse to acknowledge what we know to be true: summer's end is fast approaching. For me, summer represents the best of childhood: long days without schedules, mostly playing outside. So, while school may be back in session, let's hope administrators understand what we know: outdoor play time is critical for healthy childhood development.

Why? For the vast majority of our history, formal education didn't exist. We were hunters and gatherers and childhood was about acquiring the skills and instincts we'd need to be successful adults. Fail in our development tasks and we'd be incapable of feeding ourselves and extending our lineage.

So, here we are 10,000 years into our time as farmers and 200 years as industrialists. Our ability to track game and identify foodstuffs, roots and fungi have all but vanished. Times have changed, as have the instincts needed to survive, but the best way for children to learn remains the same: play.

Children are wired to acquire new skills and knowledge and they do it best without fear and consequence. Said another way, play for it's own sake, self-chosen and self-directed, comes with the benefit of learning as a by-product.

Consider learning a foreign language, how to dance or even how to hit a ball. Without concerns about achievement our minds and bodies instinctively pick up the basics. With repetition, our skills improve. As adults, with structure and pressure, our bodies and minds freeze up. We're inhibited. Adults are able to deal with stress better than children, but children are wired to learn. Compare the way a child picks up new technology versus an adult. Too often, as adults, in our desire to raise Einsteins, we make children act like adults and hamper their development. Remember, Einstein never used flash cards.

So, how do we allow kids enough time to be kids if they're sitting in a classroom most of the day? Be cognizant of their needs and, no matter how they spend their time at school, there are still enough waking hours for playtime. For more, head to the http://www.childrenandnature.org website.


See you outside,
Tim.

Last week I headed east for a wedding in Long Island. Needing an excuse to spend more time in NY, I scheduled a few school visits. While the schools were neat and the wedding a fantastic party, the highlight may have been a stop en route- Oberlin College in Ohio.

Not only did I get to see one of my heros, educator David Orr, and tour one of the highest performing buildings ever built, I was treated to the best damn asparagus of my life.

Just off Oberlin College's campus lies a 175-acre former commodity crop farm recently given new life. A few years ago, when housing developers nearly turned the depleted farmland into a cookie-cutter subdivision, Oberlin College stepped in and saved the day. The result: The New Agrarian Center at The George Jones Memorial Farm, a restored prairie and wetland with a small farm that grows real food.



The land had been a soybean and corn farm reliant on large doses of fossil fuels to make it go- from the production to the manufacturing to the distribution of processed foods. In the process, wildlife and jobs were eliminated, soil eroded and the air and water polluted.

Today, the land provides animal habitat, cleans local water, sequesters carbon and, in only a couple of acres, grows $60,000 worth of vegetables a year (by comparison, the same amount of land will yield less than $1,500 worth of corn). Just as importantly, it's a teaching tool. College kids intern on the farm and Cleveland elementary kids arrive by the busload to get their hands dirty. They learn about farming and ecology hands-on and are treated to some things kids don't get much of these days—real, local food, and knowledge of where it comes from.

I learned most of this from Director Brad (who pointed out the blue herons) and Educational Programmer Evelyn (who didn't mind me eating two asparagus for every one I picked)....Thank you!




P.S. I'll be back with the high-tech building......it's closer to a living tree than it is to a traditional building.

Growing Green Minds: The Benefits of the Great Outdoors
Published in www.afreshsqueeze.com

Children benefit from time in nature outdoors. I spend as much time as possible with kids and see the results firsthand. Even if it’s just exploring in the backyard or at the park down the street, the outdoors provide an opportunity to engage all the senses -- see, hear, touch, taste and feel -- in a way electronics can’t. Kids exposed to nature early and often usually are more aware, have higher energy levels and increased levels of self-confidence. The evidence of needing nature for healthy childhood development is far more than just anecdotal.

Sample research findings:

Unstructured outdoor play provides excellent opportunities for cognitive, social, and emotional development in children (Burdette & Whitaker, 2005).
In a study of 400 youths, a majority reported that wilderness challenge programs had major positive impacts on their physical, emotional, and intellectual development and well-being (Keller & Derr, 1998).
Participation in green outdoor activities such as fishing was associated with reduced Attention-Deficit Disorder symptoms in a sample of children from the Midwest (Faber Taylor, Kuo & Sullivan, 2001).
Henry David Thoreau said: "...the more slowly trees grow at first, the sounder they are at the core, and I think the same is true for human beings." In other words, let kids be kids -- get them outside in unstructured activities so they can develop their affinity to bond with the natural world. Wander with toddlers while their imaginations soar and pay attention as elementary schoolers explore their expanding worlds.

Consider efforts to get your children hooked on nature to be an investment in your family’s health. Turn off the blackberry, put away the wallet and get outside! Getting involved is not as difficult as you might imagine. For ideas, visit:

The Chicago Wilderness' "Leave No Child Inside" program
The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
Chicago Botanic Garden is a North Shore gem and packed full of opportunities.
Make 2009 the year of connecting your kids to nature.

For our youth, nature and environmental education shouldn’t be about melting ice caps and disappearing rainforests. Contemporary environmentalist and place-based educator David Sobel sums it up: "If we want children to flourish, to become truly empowered, then let us allow them to love the Earth before we ask them to save it." For older children inspired to make a difference, consider our local Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots organization.