Ocean Conservation Organizations: Help Save The Oceans & And Its Babies

Walking between the rolling clay hills at Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, you can stumble onto a scene that looks like a lumberjack went mad. But this wasn’t the work of an axe or saw. Over 200 million years ago, fallen trees washed into an ancient river system and were buried quickly enough that oxygen was cut off and decay slowed. Minerals, absorbed into the porous wood over thousands of years, crystallized and replaced the organic material forming what we call petrified wood. The crystals are hard and brittle, fracturing easily when subjected to stress. Over time, the still buried petrified trees broke like glass rods – giving the appearance today of logs cut with a chainsaw. Photo by Jacob Holgerson, National Park Service.

Four Reasons to Go Outside

Recently, people have had more reasons to stay indoors than ever before. It is important that we keep our health and safety at the forefront of our priorities. But it is also important to remember the effect that being inside for too long can have on you. Being outside and connecting with nature has proven benefits to your health.

Fact, nature walks can improve your memory. Have you been feeling scatter brained the more cooped up you have been in your house? A study done in 2008 by psychologists Marc G. Berman, John Jonides, and Stephen Kaplan ran experiments to show that walking in nature can improve memory, or what they refer to as “attention restoration theory.” (1)

Fact, nature can improve your health. I don’t just mean by extracting important medicine from vital plants, or essential oils. I am talking about Vitamin D directly from the sun. Just because we do not photosynthesize like plants, doesn’t mean we do not gain anything from a little sunlight. Vitamin D is necessary to our body and, according to Harvard’s Health Department, is potentially linked to fighting diseases like cancer. (2)

Fact, walking through nature can relieve stress. Scientists led by Liisa Tyrvainen of the Finnish Forest Research Institute ran a psychological investigation into the psychological impacts being in nature had on stress levels. Their findings “suggest that even short-term visits to nature areas have positive effects on perceived stress relief compared to built-up environment.” (3)

Fact, outdoor time is imperative for childhood development. According to the Child Mind Institute (4), playing outdoors is important to children for a variety of reasons such as reducing stress and fatigue, to building confidence. The outdoors provides kids with a stimulating environment that allows them to safely engage in independent and creativity inducing scenarios. Without a phone screen constantly supplying thoughtless entertainment, they are challenging themselves to provide their own entertainment by interacting with the world around them.

The Sawgrass Nature Center hosts a unique environment for people of all ages to engage with nature and enjoy wildlife. By visiting you are not only providing yourself with a healthy walk through nature and a chance to see interesting  wildlife,  you are also helping to sustain a center that has been protecting and healing Florida’s native wildlife for twenty-five years.

https://sawgrassnaturecenter.org/2020/09/15/spending-time-outdoors-is-important/

Citations:

Berman MG, Jonides J, Kaplan S. The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting with Nature. Psychological Science. 2008;19(12):1207-1212. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02225.x

Harvard Health Publishing. Spending time outdoors is good for you, from the Harvard Health Letter. Harvard Medical School. July, 2010. https://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/spending-time-outdoors-is-good-for-you

Liisa Tyrväinen, Ojala A., Korpela K., Lanki T., Tsunetsugu Y., and Kagawa T. The influence of urban green environments on stress relief measures: A field experiment. Journal of Environmental Psychology. June 2014. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494413000959

Cohen, Danielle. Why Kids Need to Spend Time in Nature. Child Mind Institute. September 2020. https://childmind.org/article/why-kids-need-to-spend-time-in-nature/

Shoutout to our volunteers who managed to catch some great pics of a few of the SNC’s permanent residents. Featured is Cory the Red Rat Snake, Leonidas the Bearded Dragon, and one of the blue jays in our aviary. 

The reptiles featured here are used as educational ambassadors for their species. That means they’re used by professionals to teach visitors about their ecological roles and niche in the environment and why it is so important to protect their species. Leonidas the Bearded Dragon is used in particular as an example of an exotic species. Both reptiles featured here were surrendered pets that the previous owner could no longer care for. Used to a domesticated life rather than hunting for and sheltering themselves, these animals would not survive in the wild on their own. 

We hope your Thanksgiving was as great as Nelly’s, our resident Turkey Vulture!

Tomorrow an incredible natural phenomenon known as the super blood moon lunar eclipse will take place at 5:45AM EST. “In the United States, the total eclipse will begin at 7:11 a.m. ET and end at 7:26 a.m. ET, but will be partially visible from 5:45 a.m. ET to 8:52 a.m. ET,” (https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/25/world/may-full-moon-lunar-eclipse-scn/index.html). A lunar eclipse is described as an event where the Earth’s shadow blocks the sun’s light that reflects off the moon. 

Celestial events like a lunar eclipse have long caught the attention of humans throughout history. There are also many myths and legends about the full moon affecting human behavior. Whether it’s just a really cool event to watch, or something more, what is the connection between the moon and us? 

Scientifically speaking, the moon has a gravitational pull on the Earth’s oceans. The moon’s pull is what is responsible for creating the tides. The tide is essentially the rising and lowering of the ocean against the shore. The change in period between higher and lower local ocean levels is referred to as high and low tide. As the moon circles the Earth, it’s gravitational pull gets greater and weaker in the areas it moves closer to or further from. The greater the pull, the higher the tide, and vice-versa. 

Find your local high and low tide here: https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/map/index.html?region=Florida/ 

In nature, many animal species have oriented themselves to respond to high and low tide. For example, sea turtles will come up to shore during a high tide to lay their eggs. Since other animal species have developed behavior that responds to certain aspects of the moon, it isn’t too crazy to believe that at some point down the evolutionary line, humans may have done something similar. However, there aren’t too many studies to prove this. 

While many studies have been done on how the Full Moon can affect sleep cycles in humans (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25266502/), this might be better chalked up to the slow adaptation to artificial light in the 21st century. And while there are many who believe that hospitals, emergency rooms, and even classrooms get crazier than usual on the day of a full moon, there isn’t much to prove that either. A better question to ask might be, is the superstition around the full moon becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy? Let us know what you think! 

The Sawgrass Nature Center was notified via email today that we will be one of the many businesses featured on the Female-Founded Business Finder. This is a joint project between the Stacy’s Rise Project and the Hello Alice social business platform. The directory is featuring businesses run and founded by women. It can be found by scanning the QR Code on a bag of Stacy’s Pita Chips during the month of November or by clicking here:  www.femalefounderfinder.com. 

It is important for women to come together and support each other to close the gap between genders in leadership. We are proud to promote this business finder and other businesses of all backgrounds being run by women for women. 

Friendly reminder that the Sawgrass Nature Center (legally Coral Springs Nature Center and Wildlife Hospital) is a non-profit, charitable organization that runs on donations and is dedicated to the conservation of wildlife and environmental stewardship. We rehabilitate and released injured, sick, or orphaned wildlife brought to us by the surrounding communities. We also provide a home to over 100 non-releasable animals due to permanent injuries or their non-native status. Our education department is responsible for organize on and offsite programming as well as developing a program to provide free educational and professional development resources to Title I schools in South Florida. 

Feel free to check us out on our website, or like us on social media. We really appreciate the support :)

Raccoons like the pool to cool off, but they also use it to wash their hands and food. 

One of the SNC’s permanent residents is a red rat snake we call Big Red. Red Rat Snakes are native to Florida and can be commonly found in the Everglades. All snakes have an ecological role to play in the environment, so even if you don’t like them, it is in our best interests to respect them and leave them alone.  

If you want to learn more about red rat snakes and how the SNC helps them, click the link: https://sawgrassnaturecenter.org/2014/11/07/lets-learn-about-rat-snakes/

“Fragile & paper thin, is the compelling nature of many perfect things. Like butterfly wings, unfolding from a chrysalis, vibrant & vital in release. Exploring their place in this tangled world, faint heartbeat fluttering over roaring air, velvet lace floating on fitful winds. Barely there for the briefest of moments, then with one final, breathless flourish—gone again”.

RhymingTherapy—November 2020 (Caper White butterflies in my garden last weekend) poem inspired by @Writerscreed challenge “we need unfolding”