Urban Returns

The healing powers of nature are incredible. If you want to get away from the stresses of everyday life, plan a trip outdoors. You don’t need to travel far to benefit from all that Mother Nature has to offer. For example, schedule a weekend getaway or a mini vacation to a state lake or national park. Camp under the stars while the crickets serenade you to sleep. You’ll forget about your cares with the beautiful evening sky and pine trees as your backdrop. (more…)

When your family wants to get back to nature, you will find that back packing offers you some great opportunities. You can go see some amazing views, you can challenge your children physically, and you can simply spend some time together.

First, remember to tailor the excursions to your children’s capabilities. A short one mile hike might be all that an eight year old can really handle, especially if he or she is used to living a very sedentary lifestyle. A child who is pushed too hard, especially at first, will not enjoy the experience and may grow to resent (more…)

If you want to thoroughly enjoy the beauties of nature, you should consider going hiking. Hiking is great exercise. It allows you to be outdoors and enjoy the beauty of nature. As a young boy I often went hiking with my grandma and we would try and find rare birds. If you have a life that is stressful and you need to be able to relax, try going hiking. Even a few days of hiking will help to change your perspective on life.

One of the best places to (more…)

Starting in the 18^th century, the natural world became a popular nonfiction subject for writers. Charles Darwin (The Voyage of the Beagle, The Origin of Species), John James Audobon (The Audobon Reader), and Gilbert White (The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne) are all well-known in certain circles, but the person most associated with the early popularity of nature writing is Henry David Thoreau. His pioneering work Walden; or, Life in the Woods, published in 1854, was a captivating blend of personal discovery, transcendentalist philosophy, and natural description.You needn’t look back over 150 years for examples of great nature writing, and you needn’t give up all modern luxuries, like running water and wireless internet, to appreciate the wonder of nature. A great place to start is The Best American Science and Nature Writing series. The 2010 edition is edited by theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson, and while there is a healthy selection of scientific essays, there are also a number of wonderful ruminations on nature. The stand-outs include Don Stap’s “Flight of the Kuaka,” an impressively far-reaching migratory bird, and a piece by Jane Goodall on the rediscovery of a presumed-extinct phasmid (a type of insect). Big names like Goodall are also a good place to start if you’re looking for specific books. Goodall has been publishing continuously since 1969, starting with the now-out-of-print My Friends the Wild Chimpanzees. Most of her works center on the relationships between animals, humans, and the environment, as in her acclaimed 1971 work In the Shadow of Man.Christopher Camuto’s trilogy of books centered on the Appalachian Mountains is more concerned with the environment in general. Ruminations on a variety of subjects work their way into his books, including the language of the Cherokee tribe, historical life in the mountains, and the reintroduction of the red wolf into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The trilogy includes A Fly Fisherman’s Blue Ridge, Another Country: Journeying Toward the Cherokee Mountains, and Hunting from Home: A Year in the Blue Ridge Mountains.As with any type of writing, not every nature writer will appeal to every reader. However, reading a good nature book is a good way to remind yourself that there’s a whole world out there, and that each of your actions affects it in some way.

There are some fantastic local hiking trails in the country side of Iowa, particularly in northeast Iowa. It is here you will find great trails as part of the Effigy Mounds National Park. Here the long hiking trails provide unique history of the area, which includes fascinating information about American Indian tribes that once lived in the area. It also provides some incredible views of the Mississippi river and the surrounding states, forests, and wildlife.

With some exploring there are some other (more…)

Visitors who go to New York’s Central Park enjoy walking through the park’s flora and fauna everyday. This vast park offers a world of wildlife, plants, and flowers that many will find interesting. Squirrels can be seen scampering up trees and climbing on limbs by park visitors as they walk down the many walking trails of Central Park. An occasional coyote may be spotted on a hillside while turtles and other small wildlife may come out of Central Park’s foliage. Beautiful birds also inhabit this space, so for bird watchers, this park is a great place to visit. (more…)

Sometimes people feel like they have lost their way. The majority of the world’s population resides in, or very close to cities. Long gone are the days when most of the world’s residents lived off the land and respected all that nature has to offer. Today people only respect what coffee shops and big retail outlets offer, an easy fix to life.

Even with these great and various business that make life so much easier, people always have a yearning to go back to (more…)

When the crowded city streets start getting you down, it’s usually a signal for a change of scenery. You won’t find any more beautiful than in one of America’s national parks. These bastions of wild beauty serve as reminders that man cannot survive on broadband alone.

Acadia (Maine): Located off of Maine’s coast on the island of Mount Desert and on surrounding islands and the mainland, totaling over 47,000 acres. The reserve includes Cadillac Mountainone of the earliest spots to see sunrise in the U.S. Trust usit’s worth getting up early.

Denali (Alaska): This Alaskan park is named for the Athabaskan name for Mount McKinley, which means “the high one.” You can see an abundance of living wildlife and a number of historic sites which point to the park’s millennia-long past. Fossils of wading birds and theropods (bipedal dinosaurs) have been found in the area.

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I was shocked the other day to turn my head on the interstate and see that a new camping location had popped up just outside of town. That sort of random coincidence can be the beginning of a great environmental adventure, with little preparation needed. If you’re planning your trip in advance, though, I highly recommend checking out ReserveAmerica.com.The site’s large databases hold info on over 4,000 parks with over 300,000 campsites, including both federal and private sites. RA was responsible for moving the campground processing industry online, and processed the first such transaction in 1997. The listings stay up-to-date, alerting you to closed-sites and special accommodation details. Whether you’re bringing an RV or just the family dog, you’ll be able to find the site that’s best for you. For more information, visit the site or contact ReserveAmerica at http://www.reserveamerica.com/contact.do.

While it’s always nice to get away and back to nature, at some point you have to come home. With air pollution the way it is these days, that can be a frightening proposition. Lately, almost everybody is looking over their shoulder to see the size of their carbon footprint. In big cities, it’s even more important. With that many people in one place, it can seem difficult to make a difference when it comes to lowering air pollution. And while there’s certainly a large task ahead of us, there are some simple steps you can take to making your home a safer place to breathe.

1. Use energy conservation techniques to limit your energy spending. Turn off lights and devices when not in use.
2. If possible, plant trees near your home to help shade your house during the summer.
3. Purchase Energy Star-rated products to use energy more effectively.
4. Limit your time in the car by combining trips, and follow the speed limit.
5. Don’t idle in long drive-through lines. Go inside instead.
6. Use devices with rechargeable batteries.
7. Recycle applicable products and buy products made from recycled material. It’s a cycle. Get it?.
8. Limit your time in the shower and use low-flow shower heads.
9. Support legislation in your local government that focuses on healthier air.
10. Make sure those letters you send are on double-sided paper. Save paper with a clean side for taking notes or making lists.