Celebrating Earth Day During COVID-19

Spend time outside learning about plants and animals to celebrate Earth Day

Wednesday, April 22, 2020 is Earth Day! Normally there are different ways to celebrate Earth Day through community-led events, but this year, everything looks a little different. Because we are still social distancing, I wanted to list a few ideas of how you can celebrate Earth Day and Earth Week this year.

1. Trash cleanup: go to a nearby park and spend an hour picking up trash (using gloves, of course). Have you ever driven or walked by an area in your neighborhood and seen litter? Now is the time to grab a trash bag and some gloves and pick it up! Your actions may inspire your neighbors to clean up some trash, too.

2. Participate in the City Nature Challenge, which will take place on April 24, 2020. Check out the website and see if your city is participating. Then, spend April 24-27 taking photos of plants and animals. April 28-May 3 is part two, in which citizen scientists (that's you!) spend time identifying what has been found. You can participate in both parts or just one.

3. Nature Journaling: spend a hour outside in nature observing a faraway landscape or a close-up plant, animal, or insect. Document your time and observation through a sketch or writing. This is also an excellent way to build a moment of calm into your day and be present during the quarantine. Here are nature journaling prompts from John Muir Laws. Check out John Muir Laws' events calendar to find out about live online drawing lessons, including several during Earth Week.

How will you celebrate our beautiful Earth and the unfolding of spring?

Beautiful Earth Day art from Orion Magazine.

Comments

Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey Driving Tour

Driving tour of Birds of Prey National Conservation Area - click here to see the brochure and map A couple of weeks ago, I took a driving tour of the Birds of Prey National Conservation Area. The driving route outlines some notable geographic features of the area, as well as bringing birds to great spots above the Snake River for catching glimpses of birds of prey. Read more about the history of this unique area here . View of Initial Point Snake River at Celebration Park Helpful bird identification sign at Dedication Point This sign at the Kuna Visitors Center has great ideas for stops along the Western Heritage Historic Byway View from Dedication Point

One Year in Boise!

View from 8th Street Extension Trail A beautiful morning walk in the foothills This week marks my anniversary of living in Boise for one year! I can hardly believe that this time last year, I was arriving in the City of Trees, strolling along the Boise Greenbelt in awe, and taking photos of the river. In some ways, it feels inconceivable that a year has gone by, but in other ways, the amount of things I've done and places I've gone in Idaho this past year seem impressive. It seems like a common theme that individual moments and days can seem slow, but years fly by. In honor of my one-year anniversary of living in Boise, I jotted down a list of some of my favorite memories of exploring this city and state. Memories of this past year (in no particular order): Floating the Boise River twice Showing my parents Boise (driving up to Bogus Basin, running a half marathon, the farmer's market, biking the Greenbelt, hiking Ridge to Rivers trails, etc) Learning wildflowers of

Quarantine Driving Tour of Boise

Map of the Boise Driving Tour to go along with this guide. Find the map here . We're all still under the statewide Stay at Home order here in Idaho, but many of us are itching to get out and enjoy the beautiful spring weather we've been having. Luckily, outdoor recreation is still permissible and encouraged, as long as social distancing guidelines are followed. Another great way to shake things up and enjoy the beauty of this time to year is to take a scenic drive around Boise. I put together a guide of some significant parts of Boise Here is a map with directions between each stop on the driving tour: Boise Driving Tour Map 1. Start at the Idaho State Capitol Building in downtown Boise. Did you know it's the only capitol building in the U.S. that is heated with geothermal water? check out this online tour of the Capitol and this fact page on the Capitol . 2. Cruise through downtown and stretch your legs at Freak Alley Gallery , an alley-way of mural

Boise By Nature

Search This Blog