 Evergreens for Solstice Did you know that long before Christmas existed many people used evergreens to celebrate the winter solstice? Solstice is either known for being the shortest day of the year or the longest night of the year. Winter solstice is usually on December 21st every year. During these early older times people believed that the green branches of evergreens meant that the sun would be shining more and the new plant growth represented everlasting life!  First Trees for Christmas The first recorded fir tree decorated for Christmas was dated back to the 16th Century! The tree was decorated with artificial roses and placed for people to dance around them. Christians began hanging evergreen tips from ceiling and decorated them with apples and nuts. German settlers in Pennsylvania displayed public Christmas trees in their communities.  Fun Facts These are a few fun facts about America and Christmas trees: 1850’s- 1st Christmas tree sold in America commercially and the White House had its first Christmas tree which was chosen by President Franklin Pierce. 1900’s- Americans decorated trees in homes with colored popcorn, berries and nuts. 1901- New Jersey has its first Christmas tree farm owned by W.V. McGalliard, who planted 25,000 trees. 1923- President Calvin Coolidge initiated the annual National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on the White House lawn. 1930’s- 1st Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree on display- no lights and was a very small tree.  Recycle, Recycle, Recycle! When the Christmas season is over and you are taking down the tree, it is time to figure out what you can do with it! The following are ways you can recycle your Christmas tree instead of dumping it at the landfill!
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 With Earth Day fast approaching you might be wondering what you can do to reduce your impact on the environment or what special project you can join to be a friend to the Earth! Below are some ideas to make the Earth a better place! Trash Tag Challenge By now we have all seen different “social media challenges” from icy buckets of water to photo challenges. But is there a way to have an impact on both social media and the environment? Make way for the Trash Tag Challenge! People all over the world have been taking before and after pictures of habitats or just the on side of the road. The after pictures are what really make an impact because it shows the many bags of trash the challenger has collected. This is such an easy challenge that can be done just about anywhere!  Its the Last Straw Straws are something that we might take for granted on a daily basis but have a much larger impact that we might think. Each day the world uses 500,000,000 straws and most of those will end up in the ocean causing harm to sea birds, sea turtles, and whales (just to name a few). It's as easy as saying “no” to help reduce the impact of plastic straws in our oceans. Next time you are at a restaurant ask “no straw please” or buy a reusable straw to use as an alternative. To find more information visit One Last Straw and The Last Plastic Straw. Not-So-Trashy Apps Litterati is an app that tracks litter through geotags and brand names to help reduce trash impact while also raising accountability for that litter. iRecycle and Recycle Nation are search engines made for recycling. Use it to find where to recycle certain items in your area. They also provide informative articles on all things recycling. PaperKarma helps reduce unwanted paper mail that you just end up recycling anyways.  There are also other easy ways to reduce your impact that can be easily integrated into your everyday life:
Celebrate Earth Day this by by joining NRT naturalists for our next Family Science Outing April 18 from 5:30-7:00! Keep Sheep Pasture Clean Family Science Outing! Learn about the dangers of environmental trash before departing on a property-wide search of litter! |
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