PEACE IN NATURE: Aylee Tudek, 16, Shares Her Sense of Wonder, 12/10/12

“If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength.”

― Rachel Carson, ‘The Sense of Wonder’

The sun was surely burning my back; at least it felt like it. I had on my new bikini top with a halter-top over it. Yesterday had been the hottest day yet this year. The grass was finally a healthy green and the dandelions were blooming. The land had come alive with insects swarming over the grass in a cacophony of inaudible background noise. Fairy-pink apple blossoms filtered down through the branches and slanted into the grass, scenting the air. The heavy humidity amplified the scent of rotting fruit issuing from the chicken coop behind me. The smell coming in pungent waves broken up by the recurring sweet odor of the apple blossoms.

Everything was such a bright shade in the sun. Being used to the gray monotony of school and the inside of cars caused nature to appear unnatural. It was a horrifying realization.

I looked more intently at my surroundings. In front of me were the beehives, two of them, a creamy yellow color. Bees spilled out of the open slat in the front, crawling over each other in a gentle frenzy. They whizzed past my head like little torpedoes, missing me each time. The ones coming back from the fields were laden with pollen, appearing to have yellow saddlebags on their back legs.

Read the complete essay at LINK

Aylee Tudek is a 16-year old student at Mt. Abraham Union High School in Bristol, VT. She writes: “Inspired by ‘Last Child in the Woods’ and participating in a composition writing class, I wrote this piece depicting watching the bee hives on my farm." She was "moved to share it with those who may not yet have had the chance to find peace in nature.” 

The BirdNote Story BirdNote.org

BirdNote is the product and vision of a passionate group of individuals dedicated to birds and the environment. This collaboration blends art, science, hard work, and dedication to bring each story to life. 

2013 Birds of BirdNote Calendar Is Here! The popular Birds of BirdNote calendar is back, featuring the photography of Gerrit Vyn, a conservation photographer at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. See a special preview and order your own copy online. read more »

History – How it all began

BirdNote began in 2004 as a project under the auspices of Seattle Audubon. To bring BirdNote to life, Chris Peterson, Executive Director of Seattle Audubon, gathered a team. Writers began to craft compelling stories about the intriguing ways of birds, ornithological advisors ensured scientific accuracy, and dedicated staff, volunteers, and contractors helped form the final professional product. 

Advisors from Western Washington NPR affiliate KPLU 88.5FM, along with Seattle-area benefactors, helped make the idea a reality and brought BirdNote to the airwaves in February 2005.

Expansion – Spreading our wings, and our reach

With its success in the Puget Sound region, BirdNote explored the possibility of expanding throughout the western flyway and beyond. In 2006, Seattle Audubon made the decision to fledge BirdNote as a separate organization, free to pursue a focused creative effort. That nonprofit is known as Tune In to Nature.org. On its seventh anniversary in February, 2012, BirdNote had expanded to nearly 200 public radio stations across the country.

BirdNote.org – The website

BirdNote.org, companion to the radio series, offers resources to dig deeper into the world of birds, birding, and conservation. We encourage you to learn more, share what you know, and what you’ve seen. Get in touch!

(Special thanks to the Lufkin Family Foundation and the Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, for the 2012 upgrade to the site!)

Conserving and developing more sustainable systems is not boring or depriving -- it's actually engaging and innately satisfying. Questioning where things come from and how they're made helps us become deeper, holistic thinkers and will have a major impact on our children. If we truly change our ways we will not diminish or "lose" our lifestyle -- we will gain enormously. We'll lead more thoughtful and meaningful lives together. When people reflect on the highlights of a past year, they often mention a time they have slowed down and connected with family or friends, taking notice of something beautiful in nature. We can have lots more of this.

-- Quote from Peg Winship's last Ask Beth column, February 27, 2007  For the health of our children and the world, fight global warming, February 27, 2007

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/02/27/for_the_health_of_our_children_and_the_world_fight_global_warming/

Ann Beyke as “Rachel Carson: A Chautauqua Performance”

“One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?” Rachel Carson

August 1, 2011 from 2pm to 3:30pm, Del Webb Alegria   http://dce.unm.edu/osher.htm 

This lecture, FREE to Osher Members and residents of the Del Webb Community, will be held at Del Webb Alegria, in Bernalillo, NM 

For more information visit http://dce.unm.edu/osher.htm or call Maralie W. BeLonge at (505) 277-6179.

Rachel Carson was a marine biologist when few women dared even tread the water... Her lifelong love of nature and science led to research on how uncontrolled chemical use in our cities, towns and farming communities devastated wildlife and food sources. Silent Spring, her bestselling book on the topic, detailed this devastation and led to the eventual ban on the use of DDT in the United States. Carson’s work made environmentalism an integral part of our lives.

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute is an active and self-motivated group of people age 50+ who share curiosity and a love of learning. Keep yourself updated on current Osher events by becoming a fan of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute on Face Book: http://www.facebook.com/UNMOSHER

The Sense of Wonder

Posted by Diane Kinney on July 31, 2009, 12:25 pm
Bowker Reads - http://www.bowkerreads.com/

The Sense of Wonder

http://www.bowkerreads.com/reviews/non-fiction/family/the-sense-of-wonder/

• Author(s): Rachel Carson
• Contributor(s): Kaiulani Lee
• Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
• ISBN: 9781433207235
• Release Date: c. 1956; 2007

This lovely reading of Rachel Carson’s The Sense of Wonder serves to reinforce the knowledge that having the capacity to appreciate the beauty of nature affects our lives in countless positive ways. I listened to this half-hour-long CD on at least five separate occasions and each time came away with something new. Renowned for her influential work Silent Spring and credited widely as the founder of the modern environmental movement, Carson is no less of an inspiring force nearly a half century after her death. The Sense of Wonder relates her experiences of sharing the joy of outdoor discovery with her young nephew, Roger, and is part homage to the wild landscape of Maine and part parenting manual.

Contending that the importance of adult encouragement of natural discovery to a child’s development cannot be overstated, the author feels that all too often mothers and fathers are discouraged from doing so either due to the “inconvenience” of these adventures and/or a feeling of ignorance about how to teach things they themselves do not know. Carson strongly believes that whether or not a particular star, animal, or plant is correctly identified by name misses the point entirely—the true appreciation of nature stems from perception rather than knowledge. The struggle to combat materialism and indifference is centuries-old, of course, but I still found it hard to believe that The Sense of Wonder wasn’t written recently. Though a short work, it is extremely powerful, and I highly recommend it for all.