Beekeepers ask EPA to ban pesticide toxic to bees - Technology & science - Science - msnbc.com

Beekeepers ask EPA to ban pesticide toxic to bees - Technology & science - Science - msnbc.com

Excerpts below -the full article can be read from the link above

An-i-mal identification lesson 2# - These are bees, they have knees. Bees are not dangerous! (unless you suffer from a specific allergic reaction (which is around 1-2% of the world population at varying degrees) although it's more than likely you may suffer a detrimental reaction to nut tainted products or hidden additives or preservatives or oil based resins used to make your fruit look pretty... you get the idea . Bees make honey and pollinate vegetation. Supermarkets do not make honey, vegetables, fruit or any product derived from an organic source that requires pollination. Ergo Bees are good, supermarkets... meh!

'...Commercial beekeepers and environmental organizations filed a petition Wednesday, asking federal regulators to suspend use of a pesticide they say harms honeybees.....Over 1.25 million people also submitted comments in partnership with the organizations, calling on EPA to take action....Beekeepers and some scientists say the chemicals known as neonicotinoids are lethal to bees and weaken their immune systems, making them more susceptible to pathogens. They say it could contribute to colony collapse disorder, in which all the adult honey bees in a colony suddenly disappear or die.......

The disorder continues to decimate hives in the U.S. and overseas. Since it was recognized in 2006, the disease has destroyed colonies at a rate of about 30 percent a year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Before that, losses were about 15 percent a year from a variety of pests and diseases.......
Bees pollinate about a third of U.S. crops.

.......Frazier said studies have shown that clothianidin is toxic to bees. The pollen that bees take back to their colonies contains the chemical, as does the dust that comes off planters......."It's a subtle long-term issue," Anderson said. "It's like giving bees AIDS. Their immune systems are down and all the pathogens and viruses become virulent. So the bees succumb much more readily."

Anderson, who has pollinated California's almonds and cherries for more than 30 years, said he's backing away from cherry pollination because the trees are sprayed with the chemical......"They do it after we remove the bees, but the trees are retaining the chemical from one season to the next and creating a situation where the bloom is becoming toxic," Anderson said'

A few Bee songs from Preschool Education Songs, Strangely I could not find any Supermarket songs.

The Swarm of Bees
One little honeybee by my window flew;
Soon came another - then there were two.
Two happy honeybees in the apple tree;
One more bee came buzzing up - then there were three.
Three busy honeybees starting to explore
Another bee came to help - then there were four.
Four laden honeybees flying to the hive;
They were joined by one more bee - then there were five.
Five tired honeybees with the others mix;
Now there's a swarm of them - a hundred times six.

Bumble Bee
Sung to: "Jingle Bells"
Bumble Bee, bumble bee,
Landing on my nose,
Bumble bee, bumble bee,
Now he's on my toes.

On my arms, on my legs,
On my elbows.
Bumble bee, oh bumble bee
He lands, and then he goes.

Buzzing Bumble bees
6 buzzing bumblebees
Flying around the hive
One buzzes off and that leaves 5.
5 buzzing bumblebees
Flying near my door,
1 buzzes off and that leaves 4
4 buzzing bumblebees
Flying around a tree,
1 busses off and that leaves 3
3 buzzing bumblebees
In the sky so blue
1 buzzes of and that leaves 2
2 buzzing bumblebees
Flying by the sun
1 buzzes off and that leaves 1
1 buzzing bumblebee
Looking for some fun
It buzzes off and that leaves none.

Group works to cure ‘nature deficit disorder’

Group works to cure ‘nature deficit disorder’

Excerpts below -the full article can be read from the link above 

An-i-mal identification lesson 1# - This is a cow. Cows are not dangerous! Cows make milk, butter, cheese and ice cream, Supermarkets do not make milk, butter, cheese and ice cream. Ergo cows are good, supermarkets... meh!

'Splashing in a puddle. Stomping through a stream. Climbing a tree ... just some of the simple pleasures of childhood — but not everyone’s childhood.

More and more children are growing up with little or no connection to the outdoors. And a recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 8- to 18-year-olds spend more than seven hours a day using entertainment media including television, computers and video games. “The bottom line is that all of these advances in media technologies are making it even easier for young people to spend more and more time with media,” said Victoria Rideout, Kaiser Family Foundation vice president and director of the study. “It’s more important than ever that researchers, policymakers and parents stay on top of the impact it’s having on their kids’ lives.”

The negative health implications of a sedentary childhood are numerous..... Obesity puts children at risk for a lifetime of health problems including diabetes and cardiovascular problems. Overweight children also have an increased risk of developing asthma and other respiratory problems.

Studies have also found that ....children have insufficient Vitamin D levels, which can put children at an increased risk for osteoporosis and rickets. As little as 10-15 minutes of sunlight exposure twice a week, however, is all that’s needed to produce the necessary amount of Vitamin D.

Studies have shown (that) outdoor play can provide relief from some ADHD symptoms. Studies have also shown that interaction with nature can help children who are stressed or have anxiety issues.

An American Academy of Pediatrics clinical report touts the “protective assets and increased resilience developed through free play.”

Nature play isn’t intended to add to the chaos (of family life)but help reduce it. Five Rivers Metro Parks naturalist Doug Horvath suggests ........“The backyard is a perfect place to start,” Horvath said. “Go on a backyard safari, look at shadows, look for bugs. Put a log in your backyard and watch what happens underneath there after a while.” Creating a tiny fantasy home is something families can do in their own backyard with rocks, sticks, leaves, flowers, pine cones or anything else they find......“It can provide an opportunity for families to be creative, work together and provide a tactile experience,”. 

Horvath acknowledges that some parents aren’t comfortable themselves with nature but he insists they need not feel pressure. “Kids have a billion questions and parents worry that they won’t have the answers, but what a child really needs is someone to share in the adventure,” he said.

.....Susan Balter has been a preschool teacher for more than two decades and she has seen the effects of nature deficit disorder firsthand.  “I’m seeing too many kids spending too much time in front of the computer,” Balter said. “Kids don’t know what to do outside or how to explore. And there are physical differences you can see, they are heavier, less coordinated and have low muscle tone.”

Children denied joy of nature, says National Trust

BBC News - Children denied joy of nature, says National Trust

More power to the trust.

Excerpts below -the full article can be read from the link above

'Children are being denied the enjoyment of the outdoors and nature with consequences for their health, the head of the National Trust has warned.

Dame Fiona Reynolds told the Times the freedom of children to roam unsupervised had shrunk massively since the 1970s. She blamed nervousness and technology, adding that the creep of urban sprawl had destroyed safe places to play.She called for children to be taught outside on a weekly basis.

Trust chief executive Dame Fiona said: "Children are missing out on the sheer joy and physical and mental well-being of being able to play outside and experience nature in all its messiness.  "The world is a different place and people have become very anxious about the risks - real or perceived." She called on schools to take the initiative and to change the way they teach children.

"The world is changing. It is more recognised now that some of these more innovative ways of teaching are just as effective for literacy and numeracy as sitting in the classroom in a very structured way."  The trust, which has nearly four million members, believes the cloistered upbringing of children could be harmful.  It cites figures that shows children are three times more likely to hurt themselves falling out of bed than by falling out of a tree.'

Slice of Albuquerque Will be Turned into the Children’s Bosque: More Kids in the Woods Projects and Children’s Forests Nationwide Receive $1 Million Funding

USDA Blog » Slice of Albuquerque Will be Turned into the Children’s Bosque: More Kids in the Woods Projects and Children’s Forests Nationwide Receive $1 Million Funding

An exciting and pertinent project funded by a government service - who knew.

Excerpts below -the full article can be read from the link above 

Urban children in Albuquerque, N.M., will soon be able to descend on 20 acres of forestland along the Rio Grande River, where they will have the freedom to climb onto an elevated fort, hike on a trail through the cottonwood forest to learn about the different plants and animals and do what all children are supposed to do: play outside.


Children’s Bosque – Spanish for forest – is one of eight Children’s Forests and 23 More Kids in the Woods projects in 18 states awarded a total of $1 million in cost-share grants from the U.S. Forest Service. Each of the winning projects has the backing of partners and local communities, and winning proposals either expand current projects or create new ones.

In Albuquerque, it’s a brand new project on an idle piece of land that pulls together a cultural center, a Forest Service employee and the elementary school her children attends.

“They’ve been trying to do something with this site for at least eight years,” said Alicia San Gil of the Forest Service’s Region 3 office in Albuquerque. “We want to make it a space that will attract kids. We’ll make signage, trails and an outdoor classroom that looks like a fort. This site is an urban area with not a lot of play spaces, and certainly not a forested area where they can go. This land is perfect.”

“When we started thinking about the Children’s Forest, it all made sense,” she said. “They have a lot of activities at the center, and the kids can walk back and forth to the Cultural Center from the land. And we have all these employees here who would be great mentors.”

Nature That Nurtures: Scientific American

Nature That Nurtures: Scientific American

Excerpts below -the full article can be read from the link above

Nature is as much a part of us as the skin on our bodies. Denial, separation or removal from nature can cause a dis-ease, just as exposure can be soothing and remedially therapeutic. A number of hospitals have embraced gardens like this for patients undergoing treatment for chronic or terminal illnesses. A number of schools for children and adults with additional needs have also successfully incorporated such gardens into their environments and curricula. This is a really great piece that highlights the benefits of such additions.

'To get an inkling of what a well-designed hospital garden can mean to a seriously ill child, watch the home video posted on YouTube last August of Aidan Schwalbe, a three-year-old heart-transplant recipient. The toddler is shown exploring the meandering paths, sun-dappled lawn and gnarled roots of a branching shade tree in the Prouty Garden at Children’s Hospital Boston. “He loves to be out in the garden feeding the birds and squirrels,” wrote Aidan’s grandmother in an August blog entry. “They will all weigh 30 lbs. each by the time we leave here!”

The garden that Aidan loves—with its vibrant greenery, shaded places to sit and walk, and small, half-hidden animal sculptures that fascinate visitors of all ages—is “one of the most successful hospital gardens in the country,” says Clare Cooper Marcus, an emeritus professor in landscape architecture at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dismissed as peripheral to medical treatment for much of the 20th century, gardens are back in style, now featured in the design of most new hospitals, according to the American Society of Landscape Architects. In a recent survey of 100 directors and architects of assisted-living residences, 82 percent agreed that “the design of outdoor space should be one of the most important considerations in the design.”'

Jury is still out, but iPads may put the pen to the sword

Jury is still out, but iPads may put the pen to the sword

YES!     iPads for everyone!!!! - NOT.

Thousands of years developing a multitude of written languages, the beauty and meditative benefit of calligraphy, the joy of getting that next novel in the series - and we're supposed to bin it all because Apple says so. Bugger that!  Also the way the reporter reports that Charlotte (bless her bobby socks) "caresses her new tablet" is just a tad creepy and makes me wonder if someone is trying just a little bit to hard to do Apple a commercial favour? BTW The radical transformation of traditional methods is exactly the same thing done electronically. People used tablets and styli long before you needed to put batteries in either.  Don't get me wrong, it's beneficial for children of this age to be aware of and proficient in contemporary technology, HOWEVER...... it's just a computer.  Computer do not educate children, educators do. Sorry for the rant but I was drowning in the verbose clichés this piece offers.

Excerpts below -the full article can be read from the link above 

"PEN and paper are not yet in the dustbin of history but the radical transformation being wrought in the learning experiences of year 6 students at Neutral Bay Public School in Sydney's lower north shore suggests time may be running out for traditional methods.

The school has just issued all 145 year 6 students with an iPad as part of a $100,000 year-long trial. Almost all classroom work will now be done on the hand-held device.

''It's better than writing in books,'' says Charlotte Prichard, 11, as she lovingly caresses her new tablet.

Working in groups of two or three on a maths project some students sit at desks, others lie on the floor and some cradle iPads on their knees. Few take their eyes from the screen for a moment, and then only to display their work to their teacher, David Brown.

The iPads, which remain school property and are locked away at the end of the day, have been bought by the school from public funds scrimped from recent budgets - savings made possible by the strong financial support of parents.

The trial is part of a new wave of technology washing through public schools. Alexandria Park Community School in Sydney's inner east has given students from kindergarten through to year 12 access to a laptop as part of a community project.

Students at Neutral Bay can write by hand on the tablets but the deputy principal, Owen Taylor, emphasises pen and paper remained in play.

''We're not throwing out pens and paper and all the 20th-century stuff, but it's not playing as much of a role as it used to,'' Mr Taylor says.

What the iPad does - apart from put a world of knowledge immediately within reach of everyone in the room at the same time - is make technology integral to learning rather than an add-on experience.

Children may still be set the same task - although increasingly they are given individual challenges - but can produce their answer in a format that suits them, says Mr Brown.

On their way to a conclusion they might write, draw, record or film their thoughts on how they tackled the task, and Mr Brown acknowledges it is a struggle to keep pace with avenues his students are exploring.

''I'm pretty good but the kids are always one step ahead of me,'' he says.

He emphasises the iPads need to prove their worth to remain in the classroom. ''It is a trial and if it is not making a significant difference to our kids' learning outcomes then we won't maintain it long-term,'' he says.

Sharon Mitchell, whose daughter Alice Bishop is part of the trial, says it has given students ''a bolt of energy''.

''They've all still got to learn to read and to do their maths,'' she says. ''Everyone bribes and coerces their kids and finds ways to get them motivated. This has given these kids unbelievable motivation.''

Catching Lizards & Nature-Deficit Disorder « AARP

Catching Lizards & Nature-Deficit Disorder « AARP
Not so strange that I remember exactly the same things from my childhood, a lifetime ago and 10,000 kms apart.

Excerpts below -the full article can be read from the link above

Photo the property and work of Luigi Guarino 

'...... Like many of you, I remember a childhood where we were pushed out the door to play and told to come back when the streetlights came on or we heard dad yelling from down the street that dinner was ready, whichever came first! I won’t wax nostalgic about simpler, safer times – that’s not my point. But when was the last time you saw kids just playing outside, team sports excluded?

My kids are all grown now but they still talk about the adventures they had at the stream down the hill from us where a lovely young mother taught them, along with her own little ones, how to fasten a reed loop snare to catch lizards, watch them in the shoe box, and then let them go. 

Or when they caught tadpoles in the same stream and brought them home to their aquarium and watch them turn into frogs (not mom’s favorite!). Or, after we moved to the DC area, racing their friends on their bikes in the “Haycock Woods” over the bumpy trails between the elementary and middle schools. I felt especially blessed the day I was invited to get on my bike so they could show me their special trails.

Now, 10 years later, the “Haycock Woods” has been turned into townhomes, the stream has been walled off as denser housing built up around it, and the bikes have been donated to charity. But the memories live on forever. I believe they helped my children develop a wider sense of responsibility for the natural world, and a deeper sense of connection to it. I worry my grandchildren will have to work much harder for those connections.'