Love your Mother Earth

In case y'all didn't know, April 22 is Earth day. I think the fact that its a day before my birthday combined with my love for Pocahontas at a young age should have hinted at the fact that I wanted to be an environmentalist. Anyway, because Mother Earth is far to large to have only one day, I have worked the last two weekends at Earth Day events. I think these events are incredible opportunities to teach kids about our environment. It always amazes me how excited they get about what we are showing or teaching them, and also how much they already know. First up was the Mauka to Makai (Mountains to Ocean) day at the Waikiki Aquarium.

The Mauka to Makai day wasn't something I would normally work on in my office, mostly because I work in the forestry section and we have three interns who work strictly for education and outreach. But because we were short people, I volunteered. Anything to get more hours that don't involve me typing away on a computer right? Man, was I glad I agreed to do this. First of all, its at the Aquarium, which despite being rather small (especially when compared with the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach) was one of my favorite activities to do when we used to visit Hawaii. Its right on the beach and has cool touch tanks, a monk

seal, and a ton of tropical fish to see. But the real reason this event was awesome, was that I met Wyland. Even if the name doesn't seem familiar to you, trust me, you have seen his work. You know the whale tale license plates? Ya that's him. Pretty much anytime you see an incredible mural showing ocean life, it will be Wyland. Long Beachers, he did the whale mural you see near the pike on the Long Beach Arena. Basically when everyone else had Lisa Frank folders in elementary school, I had Wyland. He is a friend of our outreach and education coordinator and was there promoting the water pledge (I'll put more info below). And I was working at his booth handing out signed posters and he just walked over and said, "Hi, I'm Wyland, nice to meet you" all very casual. Meanwhile, the fan girl inside of me was being repressed so I could keep my cool. It was really great to finally meet one of my art heroes. On a side note, my boss invited him to get drinks with us later, but he was already back on the North shore, but next time she has to go out to his house she said she's taking me with her. To see his studio would be beyond amazing. 

Next up on fun Earth Day events was working at the Marine Corp Base. This one was not one of my favorites, mostly because it seemed more like an event rather than focusing on the environment. There were three different tent areas and only one focused on the environment. The other tents had a lot of vendors selling things from green tea and fertilizer to Hotels and diving lessons. It was kinda fun because they let everyone shop in the Marine Mall, which is already cheaper than the regular prices, but on that day everything was 20% off. Unfortunately I didn't really need anything so I just stocked up on some of my favorite Clinique supplies. 

My last earth day event was at Sea life Park. This one I didn't really get invited to work, I just told everyone I was going. I used to really like going to Sea life park when I was younger but hadn't been in years so I was interested in checking it out. It was actually a really great event because there were a lot of cool groups tabling. It was being sponsored by Sustainable Coastlines that had over 650 volunteers clean the beach before heading over to the event. It was just very grassroots which made the hippie part of me very happy. Once the other

volunteer arrived, I got a chance to go explore. You really forget that when you're younger, everything seems much larger than when you are a grown up. It amazes me how small the park was, now that my legs were two times longer. The area I was really excited to see was where they used to have the dolphin show. Its a big arena and in the middle is an island. When I was younger I legitimately thought when I was a grown up, I was going to live on that island, with the pretty Hawaiian guy, our pet dolphins and the pirates across the way. What more could a girl ask for? Unfortunately it now appears that area is being used for dolphin encounters, which makes me think they were hurting on money. I personally am not a huge dolphin encounter fan, mostly because I find something kinda unsettling about putting on a life vest, walking into a shallow pool and then making these dolphins pretend to kiss me for a picture. It made me that much more appreciative of the wild dolphin swim I got to do in New Zealand. 

The other issue all this marine park brought up was the issues regarding animals in captivity. If you've seen The Cove you would know why I would be uncomfortable. Its a documentary showing the dolphin harvesting in Japan for the use of dolphin shows across the world. I would recommend it to everyone, but you will be disturbed and need a box of tissues. These types of places and zoos always make me think about the issues of education and study compared with confining wild animals to small habitats and their constant exposure to humans. I think its great that kids get an opportunity to learn and be inspired by these animals so that later in life they may want to be wildlife biologists or marine biologists. But on the other hand, it can't be good to keep them in such small spaces. I think I have reached the understanding that I am ok with animals that were born in captivity staying in captivity but definitely not with taking wild things and caging them. Also, I think that the San Diego Wildlife Park is a better direction to go than zoos. They have bigger enclosures and they usually get to be on their natural surface (grass, dirt) over concrete. Anyway, just some of my thoughts. 

Lastly, if you are interested in pledging for better water conservation, go check out http://www.mywaterpledge.com/

Up next, Kauai and Birthday!