1183 stories
“New England Boy’s Song About Thanksgiving Day,” based on a poem by Lydia Maria Child, published in 1844. Ever since that time, we’ve associated Thanksgiving with a drive to grandma and grandpa’s house—or at least a road trip to visit family and friends.
We stare in awe as three generations of lioness – a grandmother, mother and two cubs – saunter peacefully near our 4×4. Their blonde, sun-soaked coats blend harmoniously into the surrounding golden grass and for a moment, in the warm silence, it feels like we are in harmony with them too.
We humans seem to have a penchant for studying wildlife. We tag them with satellite transmitters, outfit them with radio collars, spy on them with trail cameras and use other observation techniques—all to learn more about their lives and secrets.
When you hear the word safari, your mind often wanders to the savannas of Africa, the jungles of central and South America, or the Galapagos Islands. These landscapes are rich in biodiversity and draw tens to hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.
There’s no doubt that today most adults and children spend more time indoors interacting with media and technology than participating in outdoor activities. Numerous studies have shown that spending time in nature is good for our physical and mental health. But what impact does it directly have on our creativity?
I met Reyna Oleas, owner of MonteMar on a misty Saturday morning off a dirt road nestled beneath stands of banana, guava and scalesia trees.
More than 1,500 “national” days have been declared, according to the National Day Calendar. For example, January 2 is National Cream Puff Day. March 4 is Marching Music Day. The first Saturday in May is National Start Seeing Monarchs Day. And don’t forget World Emoji Day on July 17.
Three commercial flights, a float plane, a two-hundred-ton marine vessel, and a raft; followed by a trek through swamps, rocky shorelines, and dense brush. This was my journey to the isolated wilderness of Alaska’s Katmai Peninsula. As a member of WWF’s Media & External Affairs team, I work from my desk in Washington D.C.
Nature deficit disorder in children has become widely known, thanks to author Richard Louv and his popular books, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, The Nature Principle and Vitamin N. But research is showing that nature can have sweeping benefits for seniors, too.
The Amazon is teeming with wildlife. While traveling with Natural Habitat Adventures, I had the chance to see so many charismatic species, including pink and gray river dolphins, seemingly endless bird species like kingfishers and macaws, squirrel and woolly monkeys, three-toed AND two-toed sloths, and not to mention caiman.
Forests are important in our warming world. As we burn fossil fuels—such as coal, gas and oil—and cut down and burn forests for agricultural fields, the released carbon dioxide spreads across the planet. That, in turn, captures and traps the solar heat that would otherwise be radiated out into space, and our Earth heats up.
After landing in Belize City, which was bustling with travelers coming and going, we took a short flight over a beautiful dense forest as the rich blue ocean faded in the distance. Our journey truly began once we touched down on land.
