Happy Green New Year!

Happy New Year! It's almost impossible to believe it's 2010 already. It seems only yesterday that many people were storing up food for the great Y2K disaster that never happened. At least that got us thinking about our dependence on technology and lack of survival skills in the "real world!"

This year, as we enter the second decade of the second millenium, we should all pause to consider our relationship to the Earth. As each year passes, we're learning more and more about the human impact on our climate, plants, animals and insects and how they're all interrelated in amazing, intricate ways we never paused to consider.

What resolutions will you make this year to live more lightly on the planet? Will you recycle more, drive less and buy local produce. Which of the "Five Rs" will you focus on this year (Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Renew, Recycle), or perhaps you'll work a little bit on all of them?

Remember, reducing our negative impacts on the natural world doesn't necessarily mean we make drastic lifestyle changes. It's better to make manageable resolutions we can keep rather than grandiose ones that will just get dropped altogether after a couple of weeks.

No matter how you approach it, the staff at Chippewa Nature Center hopes your New Year is healthy, happy - and GREEN! We truly appreciate your constant support and look forward to seeing you on the trails.