December's Animal of the Month!

For the month of December, my mom has requested the erect crested penguin (Eudyptes sclateri) to be the animal of the month. Penguins are her favorite animals. If you would like to suggest an endangered animal to be featured, email me at viridorari@yahoo.com.

Recognizing Green Actions & Tigers

I wanted to highlight some green and sustainable things I've noticed on campus!

My friend John re-purposed a Snapple bottle into a coin jar!

 He decorated it with stickers :)

In my hall, we have the option to hang dry our clothes instead of using the dryer. 

Yay for saving energy!

Revealing September's Animal of the Month

My experience at an interactive zoo in Oklahoma this past summer inspired me to declare the tiger as September’s Animal of the Month. At the GW Interactive Zoo, I had a unique opportunity to see some of the world’s rarest tigers and hold and interact with two tiger cubs. To read about my experience and see pictures, check out this free write post.

            While tigers are perhaps one of the most well-known animals on earth, revered as majestic, and the subject of many literary and poetic pieces, as a species, they are on their last legs. There are six subspecies of tiger, all of which are endangered. This month, rather than focus on one subspecies, I will touch on all six. Here is an overview of each:

Free Write: The Garold Wayne Interactive Zoo

While visiting my family in Texas from July 20^th-24^th, I had the opportunity to visit the world’s largest animal rescue park, The Garold Wayne Interactive Zoo. My Aunt Jane, a frequent visitor of the park, generously drove us three hours from her home to Wynnewood, Oklahoma, where the park is located. She is always eager to introduce her friends and family to the park for the first time.

As we entered the park, I saw a sign that informed visitors that the cost to run the park and care for the animals for one month was $60,000, and that the park was entirely reliant on visitor donations and entry fees. As we traveled through the zoo, I saw countless signs hanging on animal’s enclosures asking passerby to sponsor them (starting at $25.00 a month).

Suggested Reading: Thirteen Gold Monkeys

I will be forgoing "Activism Spotlight" today. I'm busy preparing for my departure to Texas tomorrow!

Suggested Reading

 Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes at zoos and conservation programs? Have you ever heard about the release of captive animals into the wild, and wondered how it was done? Is wildlife conservation important to you? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you need to get your hands on a copy of Benjamin Beck’s Thirteen Gold Monkeys.

    Beck was a part of the first ever expedition to reintroduce zoo born golden lion tamarins from the United States into the wild coastal rainforests of Brazil. Between 1983 and 2005, Beck helped coordinate the release of 149 zoo born golden lion tamarins into the wild. Thirteen Gold Monkeys is the fictionalized account of Beck’s adventures with the first two of these reintroductions, in which the reader sees both the humans’ and the monkeys’ points of view. In the story, Beck gives us rare glimpses of what it takes to organize and run a zoo, the infinitely complicated process of preparing zoo animals for the wild, and the scientists’ and caretakers’ emotional entanglement with the animals they are responsible for.

Weekly Green Challenge: Ride Your Bike

For Green Challenge #10, I asked viewers to plant a tree, whether they went out and bought one or transplanted a sapling to a more hospitable area (i.e., from a garden to the edge of a forest). Well, Viridorari viewer Bruno sent in a picture of the tree he and his family planted! Together, they went out and selected a Colorado spruce to commemorate his graduation from high school, and now the tree has a permanent home in their front yard.

Picture courtesy of Bruno

If you have planted a tree recently, email me a photo of your tree at viridorari@yahoo.com and I will feature it on the next Green Challenge!

In last week’s Harsh Facts about car dependence, one of the facts was:

Americans now use motor vehicles for more than ninety percent of their daily trips. Keep in mind that a quarter of all car journeys are less than two miles.

This week, I want you to change that. Think of all the places you drive to that are two miles away or less. For me, that would be the gas station down the road from my house. We visit there frequently for things like toilet paper and dog food and soda when we’re not ready to go for a full grocery shopping trip.

So, throughout this week, instead of driving to these nearby locations (two miles away or less), ride your bike. If you really want to challenge yourself, increase the distance to four or five miles. Not only will riding your bike instead of driving your car be gentler on the environment; it’s healthier for you too. If you’re falling behind on your exercise, incorporating some bike rides into your schedule is an easy and fun way to make up for it. Hopefully at the conclusion of this week you’ll decide to continue replacing your car with your bike for short distance trips.

Suggested Reading & Activism Spotlight: Save The Golden Lion Tamarin

Activism Spotlight

Picture courtesy of: www.savetheliontamarin.org

In honor of this month’s featured animal, the Golden Lion Tamarin, I’d like to shine to spotlight on an organization called Save the Golden Lion Tamarin (SGLT). Based out of the Washington D.C. area, SGLT was created in 2005 by a small group of conservation professionals dedicated to protecting the golden lion tamarin. SGLT provides technical and financial support to their sister organization, the Associação Mico-Leão Dourado (Golden Lion Tamarin Association, AMLD), based in Rio de Janeiro.
SGLT’s mission is as follows:

1. To protect the Golden Lion Tamarin, a tiny endangered primate, and to protect and restore the globally outstanding biodiversity of its natural habitat, the Brazilian Atlantic Coastal Rainforest.

2. To cooperate with other organizations with similar purposes.

3. To enlighten and educate society about preservation of the environment, especially the Atlantic Rainforest and the Golden Lion Tamarin.

4. To support and promote the efforts of AMLD, a Brazilian non-profit registered under the laws of the city and State of Rio de Janeiro, whose mission is the conservation of the biodiversity of the Brazilian Atlantic Coastal Rainforest focusing on the long-term protection of the golden lion tamarin in its natural habitat.

Green Challenge: Go on Vacation! (Amazing pictures)

Thank your for being understanding about my absence last week. Finals are important.

For this Green Challenge, I’m going to ask you to go on vacation.

That’s right, a vacation!

I’m not asking you to spend a fortune on it either- there’s no plane ride involved, unless you want to go all out. Actually, for this vacation, you could be there and back in a day.

The weather is becoming more and more gorgeous. I think it’s about time that people started to leave their houses after being cooped up all winter, go outside, and enjoy nature’s beauty and bounty. So, sometime this week, take a day off from work, let your kids skip school (unless you want to wait until next weekend), and for one day, go enjoy a national or state park. There are currently 6,624 state parks and 59 national parks across the United States, so chances are, there’s one not too far from you.

Too busy this week? That’s fine. Sit down with your family, choose a park together, talk about what you want to do at the park, and make plans for another week. Natural preserves offer numerous activities for your family, such as fishing, hiking, swimming, sports, horseback riding, animal watching, photography opportunities, and much more. Some of my favorite times with my mother have been when we were hiking together at a park. It could be a perfect opportunity for you to talk with your family about the importance of preserving and enjoying nature.

(International viewers, hang in there, I’m going to include some global natural attractions after I’m done writing about U.S. state and national parks!)

Guest Writer: Tell a Story...

Unfortunately, I was unable to find a Guest Writer for last week, and I thought I wasn't going to have one this week either. Just a couple of days ago, one my school's Spanish teachers, Diane Genovese, agreed to be this week's Guest Writer, churning out an awesome piece about her students the very same night I asked her and saving the day. I want to give Mrs. Genovese a special thanks for working with such a last minute deadline while maintaining her infamous enthusiasm.

I take French, so I've never had Mrs. Genovese as a teacher. However, I did meet her at an open house with my younger step sister, who has her for Spanish, and when I'm in the language hallway I often hear her singing Spanish songs with her students. I know that she is one of those people who loves what she does, and her students can only benefit from her wholehearted approach to teaching.

I asked Mrs. Genovese about guest writing after I saw a bunch of Spanish posters pop up around the school on Earth Day. Her students' posters included environmental terms in Spanish and colorful, splendid artwork of plants and animals. When I saw all of the creative, bright posters in the halls, I knew that she was behind them. To read Viridorari's Earth Day post, go here.

Activism Spotlight & Suggested Reading: Food Waste

 Activism Spotlight

Recently, a headline caught my attention, and I thought the story that accompanied it would be perfect for this week’s focus on food waste. If you’ll recall from this week’s harsh facts, while many American’s waste horrendous amounts of food, others rely on food stamps for survival:

“The average American wastes 209-254 pounds of edible food each year, while 17.2 million American households in 2010 were deemed “food insecure,” meaning it was difficult to provide food for everyone in the family. About 46 million Americans, or one in every seven people, relied on food stamps that same year.”

Source: http://www.facethefactsusa.org/facts/supersized-hunger-pangs-supersized-waste-infographic/

The headline was: SNAP Food Challenge: 1 family, $16 per day.

A family of four living in Massachusetts, including Peter and Nova Biro and their 9-year-old twin daughters, Sophie and Lily, decided to take on the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) Food Challenge for one week earlier in March. They tackled this challenge to raise awareness about hunger and poverty and supplement Nova Biro’s work with LeadBoston.

Picture courtesy of http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/snap-food-challenge--1-family---16-per-day-152819355.html

Activism Spotlight: Bat Conservation International

Due to the length of the post, the "Suggested Reading" section featuring Viridorari's first guest writer will be published as a separate post from "Activism Spotlight." Normally, the two sections would be posted together.

Activism Spotlight

To go along with this month's chosen animal, the Giant Golden-Crowned Flying Fox,  this first Activism Spotlight will shine on an organization called Bat Conservation International (BCI). Founded in 1982 by Dr. Merlin Tuttle, and based out of Austin, Texas, the mission statement of BCI is to conserve the world's bats and their ecosystems to ensure a healthy planet. BCI recognizes that bats are vital to the world's ecosystems, but are unfortunately among the mos misunderstood and endangered species in the world. BCI conducts and supports global science-based conservation efforts. Their innovative programs combine research, education, and direct conservation to ensure bats will be around to maintain their ecosystems and sustain human economies for a long time.