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Family Travel Photo-Happy Earth Day!

April 22, 2009

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In honor of Earth Day, I thought this nature collage that Mozart did spontaneously while playing in Plitvice Park in Croatia captures the spirit! She loves to make such things in her play and they remind us a bit of Andy Goldsworthy's wonderful art that we love.

We are grateful that our family travel lifestyle allows her so much time in nature and how she finds ways to play with it and make beauty out of natural elements. Some of the latest studies about how important it is for children (and all of us) to be more connected with nature, are interesting to read.

I know I really appreciate the experience of camping and how it gives me even more time in nature than when we are living in our winter home. We do go out in nature a lot while in the home as we are right on the edge of the country side and walk to everything we need. Still, when we are in the RV we are even more in nature and that is something I have really come to appreciate. I love that Mozart gets to do most of her homeschool outside in nature!

 Even when we are in cities, we are parked in a rural area, so we wake up to trees, bird singing and a more earthy reality as we pop out of bed and walk to the bathrooms or showers. The kid in me, loves that half- awake-and-in-my-pajamas perspective of a new day outside in nature and munching our breakfast together in the morning sunlight under trees. I never fully realized it would be one of the benefits of our world tour!

We are now packing up as we start our transition to our 7 months of travel on the road, so you can probably feel my excitement growing. We will be going slow this year and Portugal (returning to swim with dolphins), Barcelona, Sardenia, Corsica, Italy, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Switzerland are all on the list.
I got sick recently, so we are postponing our Egypt, Jordan and Israel trip until this fall.

I wrote a short note about Earth Day for my friend Darren in England on his popular blog Travelrants, so will post it here too:

This Telegraph article says "Responsible tourism is about“ making better places to live in, better places to visit.” As a world traveling family, we love that idea!

" 9 Tips on How to Travel Greener" helps us all focus on how to travel greener. Interestingly, slow travel is also much, much cheaper than fast travel, so helpful in this economy. We traveled to 4 continents, 29 countries and only took one long airplane flight!

I know cruise ships are popular, but they are the most harmful toursim to our environment. We have seen the massive cruise ship invasions of 30,000 people at once into  small towns like Dubrovnik and Mykonos. It reminds me of the Asian Proverb; "Tourism is a like a fire, you can cook your dinner on it, or it can burn your house down.”

If we want travel and this beautiful earth to be around for our children and grandchildren, we must all become more aware and more responsible. Not just on Earth Day, but every day!

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John

Happy Earth Day! Slow Travel is the most civilised. Air travel is a symptom of our modern disease where millions aim is to make money to be able to afford things like travel. Then find they are too busy earning to find the time to get away. They compromise and fly there, which just creates a problem for future generations.
Good to see you have discovered the art of slow travel and have the time to appreciate the wonders of this planet. Keep sharing your experiences so that others can see the way.
"A rich person is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least"
http://www.theinterviewwithgod.com/popup-frame.html

jen laceda

I agree about the cruise ships! Will never step inside one!

Happy Earth Day and bless your soul and kindness!

Tim

Some cruises are different. We took a 5 day cruise around Prince William Sound in Alaska. The boat was the MV Discovery. Overall length 65'. Number of passengers 12 Number of Crew 3.

Our shore excursions included hikes into the forests and a stop at a family operated oyster farm in the middle of nowhere.

Much better than the big ships.

Happy Earth Day all (I still remember the first one when I was in High School, now I feel old :)

marina villatoro

My husband is a nature nut. And he told me that one of this colleagues, who is a professor of biology, told him that his son, growing up in a city. Has no idea where bananas come from. He took his son to a banana plantation once, and said this is where bananas come from. His 9 year old argued, "No, dad, they come from supermarkets."

This is the sorry state our city kids are experiencing these days. We do all we can to introduce nature to my son's life on a daily basis!
Earth day or not:)

Photo Friday - Banana Plantations In Action

marina villatoro

My husband is a nature nut. And he told me that one of this colleagues, who is a professor of biology, told him that his son, growing up in a city. Has no idea where bananas come from. He took his son to a banana plantation once, and said this is where bananas come from. His 9 year old argued, "No, dad, they come from supermarkets."

This is the sorry state our city kids are experiencing these days. We do all we can to introduce nature to my son's life on a daily basis!
Earth day or not:)

Photo Friday - Banana Plantations In Action

Bridget Smith

Happy Earth Day to you! That collage is beautiful. My to do list for this year is to read "Last Child in the Woods" but it's always out of the library. Must request it.

Enjoy your spring travels. I'm jealous!

Bridget

Jen

Beautiful! My 2yo screamed with delight when she saw the pretty flowers! Enjoy your trip and I can't wait to read about your adventures!

Dominique

Just as I think we should call out folks who engage in destructive business practices, I also think we should just as prominently recognize those who chose an environmentally aware approach.

As Tim already pointed out, our Alaskan cruise was quite the opposite from the massive cruises everyone is talking about when they mention the adverse environmental impact.
http://discoveryvoyages.com/
I know I've mentioned this trip and our captain's awareness of environmental issues. There's even a section on his site about Discovery's dedication to environmental concerns and recognition from the Adventure Green Alaska http://discoveryvoyages.com/approach.php

Love Mozart's artwork. She's truly lucky to have all these great experiences from early on in her life.

Caitlin

I love Andy Goldsworthy. The things he can do with stone and leaf and water is just amazing.

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