Category: Education

Beach Ecology Walk

Debbie Roney Smith on

Healthy Gulf is hosting a beach ecology walk on Tuesday, January 11th at 9 AM. The walk will be along the beach of Santa Rosa Island at Pensacola Beach. The hike will follow along both the Gulf and Sound side of the Island, exploring the changing plant communities and life along the shoreline. The host of the walk will teach attendees about terrestrial and aquatic life by examining what has washed ashore. The hike will cover a total of four miles and will take two hours to complete. The exact meeting location will be provided only upon registration for the event, although it is free. However, space is limited so to ensure a spot, email christian@healthygulf.org or call (850) 687-9968 to reserve your spot today!

Damayan Garden Project

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Damayan is a non-profit located in Tallahassee that works to provide schoolyards, community centers, and low-income housing communities with the necessary materials to establish raised-bed vegetable gardens. The Damayan Garden Project is a volunteer organization that relies heavily on donation-based support from the community. It is run by gardeners, educators, and volunteers who want to help enchance the quality of life in their community by fostering opprotunities for fresh produce, gardening experience, and a healthy relationship with food and community. If you would like to volunteer your time, the organization has numerous opprotunities including new garden installations, weekly garden assistant, social media coordinator, and more! Visit their website for more information. 

Welcome to the New Year: Resolutions

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Welcome to 2022 everyone! The new year has officially begun and you may be feeling the annual societal pressure to create some New Year’s resolutions. However, Dr. Sophie Lazarus, a psychologist at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, believes resolutions should be put to the side. There is nothing inherently bad about setting a New Year’s resolution or using the New Year as an opprotunity to start working on new goals. However, if the drive to commit to resolutions is coming from a place of pressure or obligation, it can create unneeded stress in your life. This is especially true this year as the world continues to try and recover from a global pandemic and a string of worsening climate disasters. Resolutions can be grounding if created with understanding and self-kindness in mind but they can also put pressure on an already strained situation. 

Dr. Lazarus instead advocates for entering the New Year with a general goal of self-improvement; “See if you can be a bit gentler with yourself or give yourself this same kind of grace that you might give to someone that you really love or care about who’s in a similarly challenging situation,” she says. Let go of the idea of perfection, the stress of self-critism, and the belief of having to prove ones worth to others. “So often in these times of stress, we tend to really focus on what’s wrong and what is unknown and what we need to worry about,” she says. “But there are ways that we can kind of try to shift our perspective and even just being more attentive, aware and grateful for the things that are going well or that are stable.”

Florida Frost

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The best way to protect your plants from frost is to make use of natural protections. This means selecting frost-tolerant plants, planting delicate plants close to buildings, and using mulch to help the ground retain heat and protect delicate root systems. 

When there is a predicated frost, you can move potted plants indoors overnight and use appropriate coverings for outdoor plants that cannot be moved. Coverings include sheets, blankets, newspapers, cardboard boxes, or plastic. Plastic coverings should be removed immediately the next day while the other coverings can be left for 2-3 days. 

Winter Solstice

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Today is the Winter Solstice! This is the shortest day and longest night of the year, and occurs annually between December 20th and 23rd depending on the year. Did you know that the Winter Solstice festival in Ancient Rome was called Saturnalia? Saturnalia began on December 17th and lasted seven days; it was held in honor of the Roman god of agriculture and harvest, Saturnus.

In fact, it is a combination of Saturnalia and Yuletide traditions that helped create modern Christmas as the world celebrates it today. Some of these traditions include (1) the reliance on evergreen plants which is represented by Christmas trees and evergreen decor, (2) a celebration lasting 12 days, (3) the use of mistletoe which was believed to have supernatural healing abilities, and (4) the figure of Old Man Winter or Santa Claus. 

Snow in Florida

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Did you know that it has reportedly snowed 24 times in Florida since 2000? Snow occurs almost exclusively in northern Florida, so living in the beautiful Panhandle and surrounding areas means you’re more likely to experience snowfall here. However, snow is less likely to stick to the ground here; flurries, sleet, and light snow are more probable. Florida has also experienced ocean-effect snow. Ocean snow is an effect produced when a plume of Arctic air produces widespread record low temperatures and light snow flurries. 

Giving Tuesday

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Today is GivingTuesday! Created in 2012 to encourage people to do good, this annual event has grown into a global generosity movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity. There are hundreds of ways to participate in GivingTuesday either as an individual or in a group. You can give your voice, goods, time, or money to give generously to your community, an organization, or any person in need. Visit the official GivingTuesday non-profit website to find generosity events near you or view the shortlist of inspiration below:

  • Donate your time, money, or goods to local animal shelters, food banks, thrift stores, and other organizations that operate for the betterment of your community.
  • Start a fundraiser for a cause close to your heart.
  • Do a trash walk in your neighborhood, at a local park, or anywhere else you see the need. Help beautify your surroundings and help the environment, all while enjoying the cool fall weather. 
  • Pack a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child.
  • Adopt a first responder; connect with local police stations, fire departments, and first responders to request a list of names and choose one to support – perhaps by sending a card with thanks for their efforts or small gifts. 

 

 

Cyber Monday in Tomorrow!

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  • The use of the term ‘Cyber Monday’ was first used on November 28, 2005, and has evolved into an annual, international online event.
  • In 2020, Cyber Monday was the biggest online shopping day in U.S. history with a total of $10.7 billion in online spending.
  • In a survey done across the 16 countries that practice Cyber Monday, men accounted for 56% of the Cyber Monday shoppers. 

Small Business Saturday

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Small Business Saturday is an annual holiday that celebrates small businesses and encourages consumers to shop locally at independently-owned businesses. It was founded in 2010 by American Express, and has grown into an event that rivals Black Friday and Cyber Monday – both annual shopping holidays that put big conglomerates over locally-owned businesses. Small Business Saturday draws attention to the importance of small businesses on local and national economies. This year it is more important than ever to support this annual event; small businesses were hit hard throughout the pandemic and are still closing at an alarming rate! Meanwhile, big-box retailers are seeing record-high sales and have been for well over a year. So visit town today, get started on holiday shopping, and support your community! 

Native American Heritage Day

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November is Native American Heritage Month and today is the annual Native American Heritage Day.

This month is dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the heritage, culture, and value of Native Americans through a historical and modern lens. It is an opportunity for the whole country to appreciate and learn about the rich, unique history of Native Americans and Alaskan Natives; additionally, it is a chance to acknowledge and thank the community for their long history of positive contributions to the country’s values, culture, and land. Perhaps most importantly, it is a time to reflect on the obstacles and challenges that they have endured in the past as well as in this modern-day.

Below are some fast facts about the Native American and Alaskan Native population in the USA: 

  • As of 2020, there are 574 federally recognized Indian tribes. 
  • Native Land Digital is an indigenous-led organization that helps map territories, languages, and treaties across the globe; use their online map to find the history of the land you live on. 
  • As of 2020, there are 324 distinct, federally recognized American Indian reservations (including federal reservations and off-reservation trust land).