Pillows and Sheets Will Do Just Fine, Thanks.

Hi everyone!
It's Monday, and it's also Green Sugar Press' blog's day for news.
We start off this week on an intriguing note: in my old haunts of northern Manhattan island in New York City, there lies a best-kept secret: Inwood Hill Park, home to Manhattan's only remaining old-growth forest. It's a special place where eagles have been reared, and it's rumored to be the spot where the Dutch purchased Manhattan Island from the local Indians. It was also one of your Miss' favorite places to run, there among the lush greenery and the old lamp posts and ghosts of history past.
This weekend, though, seventeen trees were cut down by either axe or machete. It's a terrifically sad story, but part of me just can't get past one line in a brief New York Times story this Sunday: the trees may have been cut down by kids looking to find wood to build forts with, or people looking to improve the views from their condos to the Hudson River.

This is the view from Inwood Hill Park. Didn't think you were still in New York, did you?

This makes your Miss very, very sad. First, since when are trees a lousy view? And second, well, second...well, I only ever built forts out of chairs and pillows.
This might because I grew up in the suburbs. But I think it's more because I grew up very, very lucky, with great people around me who knew the value of a good romp in the woods.
When I was in first grade, for instance, I had an extraordinary teacher. We did a lot with nature. We made leaf rubbings, and earrings out of fallen pine cones for our mothers. We took walks through the woods behind our school, and learned about the way that plants turn carbon dioxide into oxygen. The thing is, though, I don't recall these small forays into the outdoors as being classtime. I just remember them as being flat-out fun, except for the day I got my first bee sting, and even then I couldn't stop marveling at the way a small creature to make me feel such agony.
From that year on, I never could see nature as anything other than a living, breathing entity.
The New York City Parks Department is especially diligent about Inwood Hill Park, for obvious reasons. They work really hard to replant trees that have fallen due to natural or unnatural causes. This March, they have their work cut out for them.
Our work, too, is cut out for us. It's our job to take the next generation outside, let them see nature as a playmate, something to be treasured.
This week is going to be the warmest of the year for those of us living in Chicago. It's going to hit the mid-60s, and it's a perfect time a peek out of the windows, to watch things growing and breathing.
Whatever you do, be sure to tell someone else about it. Maybe they'll be able to see trees as more than raw material for a fort, or, oh, OH--maybe they'll get to see forest AND the trees.

Welcome!

Hi everyone!
This is the blog of Green Sugar Press. You can find us online at www.greensugarpress.com, but keep an eye out here for news and updates, and to find out what's on our minds.
Our most regular posters are Miss Midwesterly, Green Sugar's resident writer, and Green Sugar himself, Tim Magner, the founder of our company and all-around green guy.
We publish great books on nature for kids, but we also love keeping in close touch with you here. So be sure to check in with us frequently.
Over the next few days we'll be rolling out some transplants from our old 'blog and some fun features here. So keep your eyes peeled...we're happy to see you!

Cheers,
The Green Sugar Team

Recess getting some respect!

The opening line from Tara Parker-Pope's article says it all: "The best way to improve children’s performance in the classroom may be to take them out of it."

Not only can kids perform better with more breaks (unstructured time outdoors), but they learn while playing.

If I had only kept track of all the parents, teachers and administrators that have given me excuses as to why there isn't more recess.....read it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/health/24well.html

Al Gore and Global Warming

Last night, in Chicago, Al Gore gave another one of his slide shows. This time it was to an enormous crowd of scientists (and at least one person who struggled with high school chemistry). The pictures and graphs painted a gloomy scenario—unless we change our ways and change them fast. Al did ask each and every member of the audience to get involved in policy, but didn't take questions....

Despite a small percentage of fringe "scientists" who still sow doubts in the media, the debate is over—the climate is changing. The "scientists" in doubt are of the same lineage of scientists who in the 16th century clung to the idea the earth was flat and the sun revolved around us.

We're all busy, and to make matters worse the economy is in a tailspin. Do we have to become 'sustainable' too? There is already to much on my to-do list? Can we put off making another sacrifice?

Our solution lies in NATURE. GDP may take a hit in the short-term, but we can improve quality of life in the near-term and over the long-haul.

1.We adults need time away from the grind. Take a break and get outside with the kids.

2.Children need unstructured outdoor activity for healthy childhood development. Just like they need food and water, they need time to wander, wonder and explore with the world they're connected with. It's in our genes and part of who we are. Plenty of research says it also leads to happier and smarter kids.

A fantastic resource: http://www.naturehour.org

3.Nature will show us a better way. I'm not talking about going back to nature, but, rather, the end of the industrial revolution into a smarter way to live. Waste and pollution may have been OK 200 years ago when we were short labor and long natural resource, but if we want innovation and job growth we'll cut taxes on labor and put a price on pollution. Our consumption economy faces a dead-end future unless we redesign what we consume. Imagine a world without landfills and as the children of the world redesign this future, save money by becoming more efficient

Over and Out,
Green Sugar :)

Making the world a better place, and having fun doing it.

A beautiful poem and worth thinking about
when living your life— or influencing children.
And chances are, you're influencing children
more than you realize.

IF....
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Rudyard Kipling

Dirt is good for you!

After becoming mildly depressed reading of continued corporate welfare in the Wall Street Journal, I checked the NY Times for something good. I hit gold in the Personal Health section with an article on dirt! While it stops short of advocating adding dirt to the dinner table, the author points out there are as many negatives associated with being too clean as there are with being too dirty. In sum: letting kids explore is necessary for healthy childhood development!


HEALTH | January 27, 2009
Personal Health: Babies Know: A Little Dirt Is Good for You
By JANE E. BRODY

Since all instinctive behaviors have an evolutionary advantage or they would not have been retained for millions of years, chances are that this one too has helped us survive as a species. And, indeed, accumulating evidence strongly suggests that eating dirt is good for you.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27brod.html?em

Winter Fun...

My long underwear haven't got this much use since I lived in Colorado and skied for a living. Unfortunately, I no longer live in the mountains and when it snows I shovel.....

We haven't seen temperatures above freezing for far too long and a lot of parents are asking—what do we do with kids when it's cold outside?

Set aside some time, bundle up and get outside! (note: wear layers)

Stay warm with plenty of moving:
*sledding (and running back up the hill)
*set up an obstacle course and have races or activities like seeing who can jump the farthest in the snow.

If you have a quiet woods to walk through:
*observe and make note of the differences between summer and winter.
*which local animals are active during winter? follow tracks. can you find animal homes?
*if you're warm enough, consider hunkering down, listening to the sounds and sketching what you see and writing about the experience, i.e. what you see, smell, hear, touch etc.

Just outside your back door:
*make peanut butter and seed covered pine cone bird feeders and hang within viewing distance
*is there enough snow to make snow forts? or to tunnel under the snow?

Mix it up with outdoor activities at the local park district or places like the local botanic garden or zoo. A simple online search might keep you busy for weeks. Or partner up with other families that might have other ideas or places to visit.

Through it all, remember, while it may seem like a hassle (we're busy, the kids are comfy on the couch, it's tiring, etc) make the commitment. If we need time away from "the modern world," developing kids need it more! So, for stronger minds, stronger bodies and great sleep—get outside!

Don't try, do it,
Tim :)

P.S. I'll admit it—I need a new picture. This one is nearly a year ago, taken during a trip in a mud bath at the top of a volcano in Colombia last February...