Treetopmom's blog

Sometimes concern for doing the right thing for the environment can make us get wrapped in strange dilemmas. How do we rationalize issues such as using space-age materials to get closer to nature? The gas used in driving to the far outskirts of civilization? Here's an interesting discussion of one of these questions:

Does burning wood in a campfire have more impact on atmospheric CO2 than just letting the wood decompose naturally?

Summer is getting hot, hot, HOT and every New Yorker can help protect our growing, green neighbors by watering them.

Here are some tips from Million Trees NYC about the best ways to help street trees while conserving water:

Call2Recycle gives you the ability to look up retailers who accept used rechargeable batteries and cell phones for recycling. Just enter your zip code and go!

This Saturday, July 24th, the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance is coordinating the City of Water Day events at Governor's Island. From Red Hook to Spuyten Duyvil and beyond, the waterfront is an integral part of NYC history - all 578 miles of it. City of Water Day is a festival on Governors Island that brings together everything fun and exciting about the water surrounding our city. According to Metro NY, this event was the second-most attended day on the island last year.

There's no place better to be on a hot day than in or on the water, and a day on GI is always fun, so go check it out! Click here for complete event info.

As for me, I'll be at Drupal Camp 8 in downtown Brooklyn.

The Brooklyn Public Library has some lovely art exhibits in the main library lobby area. This month, one of them is A Brooklyn Bestiary - woodcut prints by Lisa Studier.

The library artist's statement is almost as lovely as the art and chock full of surprising fun facts.

I just discovered another Children & Nature blog, AZ Writer on Blospot. I'll definitely be following this one!

Isn't camping supposed to be about getting away from the idiocies of "civilization"? Not according to Iowa State Senator Merlin Bartz, who says that campgrounds should segregate LGBT families, and only allow straight people to have access to designated family camping areas.

Don't let stupid bigotry come between people and nature. Read the article on Change.org and take action!

The Infrastructurist blog has a nice article about The World's 10 Greatest City Parks with satellite images and descriptions of ten great places. Read the comments to learn about even more great city parks.

Today is World Water Day, and the Nature Conservancy has a neat, interactive map showing where various regions and communities get their drinking water. Check it out here.

I grew up around the NYC water system (actually the older portion which is now mostly just backup) so I have a pretty good idea, but a lot of people just think theirs comes from a faucet.

Or should that be "against climate change?"

Take action at the Blog Action Day site.