I’ve come to the realization that the only place all four of my kids are completely happy is on the beach or on a forest walk.  With the different ages, it’s too hard to keep them all happy for an extended period of time at parks, the aquarium, science world, etc.  They all head off in separate directions and everyone ends up frustrated.  But get them near the ocean, tide pools, a forest with stumps to climb…magical things happen.  Everyone is happy and that makes my life SO easy!  The only drawback to this wonderful discovery is that bears are almost as common as dogs in the forested areas where I live as many neighborhoods back onto green belts and new neighborhoods have built homes high up into the trees.  It is not uncommon to see either a coyote, deer, or bear in our local neighborhoods. Yikes…it’s scary!  I don’t know how I would handle myself if I was alone in a forest with 4 small children and ran into a black bear.

I figure knowledge is empowering, so hopefully by the end of this article, I’ll feel more confident to explore the amazing nature that surrounds us in BC.  It is such an amazing lush and beautiful province, filled with trees that take your breath away.  This time of year the salmon have completed their annual run up the rivers to spawn, but wild berry bushes have started to sprout everywhere you look, which bears love to eat!  I would say a bigger problem in our community is people that leave their garbage at curb side the night before pickup and that property developers have built huge communities where the forest once remained untouched.  There has been lots of housing development of late.  But when deep in a forest, you are in the bear’s backyard, so you need to adapt. Here are tips to avoid bear encounters:

Avoiding Bear Encounters In The Forest:

→  Travel with others.  haha..with my kids I always have company.  Inviting friends with an adult to join us for walks would be a good idea.

→  Avoid wearing strong perfumes.

→  Keep children and dogs close to you at all times.  Stay together as a group.

→  Watch for fresh bear signs: bear poo (large with seeds visible), tracks, scratches on trees.

→  Make noise.  I smile as I type this because there is no louder gang than my brood all together.  You can clap, sing, talk loudly to warn a bear you are coming.  I will invest in some bear bells for the kids.  They are inexpensive and my kids would love the novelty of wearing them!  Anything that helps keep them a little safer.

If I can learn how to use it properly, I’ll also invest in some bear spray.  On most given days I have no clue where my wallet or car keys are…I’m not sure how effective finding bear spray in a stressful situation like a bear encounter would work for me.  <smile>  But, you can bet if one of my kids was in danger of being attacked, I could figure it out quick.

I don’t know where I heard ’scream and run’ as the advice for encountering a bear at close range, but I’ve learned this information is not correct.  If you encounter a bear you should stand still, speak to it firmly but calmly, and wave your arms slowly or clap so that the bear will recognize you as a human.  You retreat slowly and quietly without making eye contact with the bear.

I discovered a few interesting facts involving endangered animals that I wanted to share.  I’ve had endangered animals on my mind since the boys and I visited our zoo last weekend.  We never miss an opportunity to discuss animal issues, especially when we say hi to the tigers that Francesco believed he’s rescued from extinction from his birthday party donations.  The boys mentioned at the zoo that perhaps it would be nice to save a different animal species at his birthday party next year.  The impact and dialogue that resulted from Francesco requesting donations in lieu of gifts, just continues to build.  Every hawk/eagle that circles the sky, one of my boys always comments that we’ll have to save them next.  I love that they are thinking of helping animals above the fun of receiving presents. I’m still receiving positive comments and feedback from parents about this idea.

The highlight of our zoo visit is the miniature train you can ride that tours the entire zoo.  The part that I enjoy the most is the train conductor who gives interesting and adorable animal facts over their loud speaker while driving the train.  They are such cute bits of information for the kids - here are a few:

♦  All zebras have the same number of stripes…they are just organized in a different pattern on each zebra.

◊  If you shaved all the fur off a tiger, the stripe pattern would still be visible on their skin.

♦  Flamingos are not naturally pink.  The alpha and beta-carotene in their diet makes them this color…without it they would be gray.

◊  A giraffe’s heart weighs 25 lbs.  Also, a  giraffe only sleeps for 1/2 hour per day (24 hour period).  If a giraffe naps for 1 minute…that is considered a deep sleep.  (Yikes!!)

♦  And lastly, what started me on this topic - the Siberian Tigers at our zoo, will likely be extinct in the wild by the year 2010.  Right now they are considered extremely endangered.

Francesco has always loved those tigers at the Vancouver Zoo and it makes us so sad to think about how endangered their species is.  It got me thinking that a ’softer’ way to introduce a younger child to the plight of endangered animals is to engage them in a really fun activity.  Take them to Build-A-Bear!  This may sound like a contradiction to most Eco activities, but we are talking about a great way to provide information and education without the child even realizing it.  Build-A-Bear makes it easy by featuring World Wildlife Fun Friends.  For every animal purchased in their WWF Collection, Build-A-Bear will donate $1 to the World Wildlife Fund.  What a great idea! 

hmmmm ..can you imagine if Webkinz did the same thing?  With how many Webkinz creatures they sell…the dollar amount would be incredible!  I’m just thinking out loud, but I might need to send off an email.  <smile>

Well, it’s either a very sad or happy day for the polar bears…I can’t decide which. Today, the US Government has decided that the polar bear species should be protected as a threatened species. The problem is the decline in Artic sea ice from global warming.  According to World Wildlife Fund, “If current warming trends continue, they may disappear within 100 years.” That would mean my great-grandchildren wouldn’t know what these elegant and beautiful animals would look like in the wild.

Climate change is destroying polar bear habitat, putting the species at risk of extinction.  Sea ice, which polar bears depend on for hunting animals, melted to record low levels last summer. The projection for ice melting this summer is expected to be “extreme” also.  Geoffrey York, coordinator of WWF’s Polar Bear Conservation Program says “Based on the best available science, if current sea ice trends continue, two-thirds of the world’s polar bears will be lost by 2050. We should be taking every action possible to reduce stresses on polar bears, and we believe that oil and gas activities pose formidable risks to the Arctic sea ice ecosystem and the polar bears that inhabit it.”

I find eye-opening information like the above quote, a great platform for discussions with my kids.  I showed Angelo some polar bear pictures from the web and explained what was happening with the bears.  He had two comments.  “I KNEW Francesco should have saved the polar bears at his birthday party!”  (Francesco’s party benefitted the tigers from friends bringing a donation in lieu of gifts.)  And his other comment “Well, thank goodness Sophie is saving them if we can’t!” (It’s timely, but the boys are attending a birthday partythis weekend, where the little girl decided she wanted to help the polar bears rather than receive presents.)  If only children ruled the world… Countries would be on time-outs - rather than at war and the preservation of animals would be more important than the excessive importance of oil and gas!  

An article in my local news inspired this article, as I felt such a strong reaction to what I was reading.  Talk about feeling the consequences of your actions!  A person decided to dump litres of latex paint into their storm drain which flowed into a local creek which happens to be a high volume fish-bearing waterway.  What caused me to gasp is my 4 year old was releasing coho fry into this very creek only weeks ago on his first preschool field trip.  Because of this action, about 44,000 fry and eggs narrowly escaped death,  because the quick acting creek’s president shut off the creek intake and switched to the back-up well water.  They won’t know if the thousands of fish will be affected, but it makes you stop and scratch your head.  Even if the storm drain isn’t marked, come on!

So I did some digging on the disposal of hazardous household waste… paints, antifreeze, antibiotics, etc.  The culprit in the above crime (latex paint) is one of the easiest types to dispose of, along with water based paint, as it’s less harmful to simply ‘dry up’ this paint.  If you buy cat litter or sawdust, fill up a paper bag with it, and then pour the remaining paint into the bag.  Wait for the paint to be absorbed and dispose of the bag with your household trash.

You cannot do this for oil-based paints as they post potential environmental and public health risks.  You need to contact your local hazardous materials resource centre for information on proper disposal.  OR you can give away or donate leftover paint to a local theater group or non-profit organization.  Or even more fun, you can also locate a user for your paint through freecycle.org, an online swap shop.  I’ve never heard of this website before, but it’s a nonprofit movement of people who are giving away stuff.  It’s all about reuse and keeping good things out of landfills.  I logged onto this site and found local communities with groups setup, close enough by to drive to and this is a worldwide site!  Very cool find.

Something that is piling up in my cupboard after a bad flu and strep throat season is old antibiotics.  You know that last little bit of medicine that never gets used up?  I’ve been collecting my bottles of old antibiotics in a safe place and when it’s worth the trip for me, I can bring it to my local pharmacy.  My pharmacist told me to take a marker and black out my personal information on the label, then bring them in and they’ll look after proper disposal of what would be a harmful substance to the environment.
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I read an interesting article at our local Ecology Centre that describes how you can save money if you know the category your city’s water falls into:   Soft, Medium, or Hard.   If your water is soft, you can use 1/2 the recommended amount of laundry detergent and still have your clothes clean.

Why?  The target water category that detergent is developed for is medium to hard water.  The water in our city (Vancouver’s Lower Mainland) is categorized as ‘very soft’.  A few Canadian cities marked as having moderate to hard water are Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax.   Regina is listed as having very hard water.   Because cleaning product manufacturers’ typically recommend amounts based on moderate hardness, we having ’soft’ water can use much less detergents, starting at 1/2 the recommended amount and adjusting from there.  

The chemical that produces a ’sudsy’ action in cleaners is called  surfactants.   All detergents, personal/home care cleaning products, even toothpaste contain surfactants…they can be found in anything that produces suds and they increase the level of cleaning power.    Laundry detergents contain the highest level of surfactants.   When the amount of laundry detergent is overused to wash clothes, excess surfactants  get released  after treatment.   This can have a negative impact on fish and other aquatic life.   While saving money for your family is a bonus with reducing your amount of detergent, think of this action as one more way to help our local ecosystem.