I give a lot of thought to the question why I write and what I am trying to accomplish, so when I was recently invited to join in a blog hop about just that subject, I was happy to oblige. Thank you for including me.
You might ask what is a blog hop? Well, someone starts with a thought process and then passes it on to another and it continues around the internet. Kind of like the chain letter of the olden days. I thought it sounded interesting and I love to hear about the process of others, so here goes…..I this case, Bret and Mary (the very cute underwater couple) from Green Global Travel asked Mike Hinshaw from the Nomadic Texan, who in turn asked me. Below you will learn who I have invited.
Let’s start by introducing you to Mike, who describes himself as an all around travel geek. After many years in the retail world he has survived several surgeries, one heart attack and raising a wonderful family. He loves to explore new countries and engage the people, enjoy the food and learn about new cultures. Mike started traveling at an early age and after spending two months in SE Asia, has never looked back. He is currently writing a book, starting a Travel and Food blog and resides in the Austin area. His love of photography is evident to anyone who visits his blog and fells he can never get enough of the fabulous world we love in. You’ll see him stop traveling when he falls over!
Now lets get down to the nitty gritty.
Why I write.
While my fantasy is to write in an office like the one above, the life of a travel writer is not quite that glamorous! I started my career with my own company, and it was a tiny design house in Boston’s South End. Fast forward twenty years to find that my work had taken me around the globe to fascinating places. I was ready for a change, and the travel bug had taken a big bite. I started Green With Renvy as a creative outlet to share what I was learning about green design. At the time I was renovating houses. Frankly it was frustrating dealing with so many contractors, and it left me without a lot of control over my life. While I enjoyed the process, it seemed like more and more of my time was spent day dreaming about eco-friendly locations I wanted to visit. After a few of these trips, I entertained the idea of writing more about Travel and Lifestyle. It was fortuitous when last year I won a ticket to TBEX Toronto from Tim Leffel. That trip changed my life and Green With Renvy-Travel and Lifestyle in Sustainable Shades of Green became a reality. I think responsible, sustainable travel has to be a topic of conversation NOW. There is no time to waste with this. Tourism is taking place all over the world that is having a positive effect. Many places where you would least expect it already understand that ecotourism is the viable alternative. I was blown away by some of the encouraging things I saw on my trips to Myanmar and India. I want to be part of the conversation and share what ever I learn with my readers. As an entrepreneur embarking on a new journey, every day I have that same excited feeling getting out of bed in the morning. You never know exactly what the day will hold and what new thing you will learn.
With farmers market’s overflowing with vegetables this time of year, I thought this info graphic from Robin Medlin Lindars will have your vegetables taking center stage, grilling like a pro on Meatless Monday.
I’m a big fan of gilled eggplant and peppers, but there are so many different choices.
Source: Fix.com Used with permission.
What’s your favorite type of vegetable to grill?
What does the term wilderness mean to you? Fifty years ago this week, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Wilderness Act, one of the first major accomplishments of the modern environmental movement. This landmark bill set aside 9.1 million acres of undeveloped land for the use and benefit of Americans and established the National Wilderness Preservation System. Where are we today after 50 Years of the Wilderness Act?
Webster’s defines wilderness as ‘a tract or region uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings, an area essentially undisturbed by human activity together with its naturally developed life community’. The legal definition for the government, written by Howard Zahniser of the Wilderness Society, states “A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscapes is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” They sound pretty similar. Over these fifty years more than 95 million acres has been added to that initial wilderness, and although that might sound like a lot, it only makes up 5% of the land in the United States.
Most of this area is in Alaska-over 52%. Massachusetts, I was surprised to discover, has only one area on the south of Cape Cod,close to Chatham, the Monomoy Wilderness. It is interesting to see the different areas of the country : California, Nevada and Arizona have the biggest lists.
I was curious about the role New England played in all of this. More than 100 years earlier, Henry David Thoreau experienced the spiritual values of this open space, inspiring us to reflect on the many opportunities it affords us in both body and spirit. He studied original accounts from the Puritans and encouraged us to protect species of birds and plants from invasive species-otherwise known as man more than 100 years before the Wilderness Act entered the picture. Rachel Carson, a courageous writer and conservationist who served on Kennedy’s environmental committee , created quite a stir when she wrote “Silent Spring” in 1962. This expose of contaminants in Cape Cod’s water supply eventually led to the creation of the EPA. The chemical companies outrage and lobbying that followed the publishing of her book, foreshadowed the stalemate we seem to have reached today in Washington.
You would think that the 50th Anniversary would be the perfect opportunity for congress to act and add additional Wilderness land. As a matter of fact, there has been no new land designated as wilderness since 2009. None of the 27 different areas up for review have been approved. While in the past this environmental topic has usually been looked upon as bi-partisan, it now represents the current uncompromising problems in Washington. (But yes, that is fodder for another topic of conversation). Current areas up for designation include magnificent places in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, Michigan, Tennessee, Maine and more. – Celebrate 50 Years of the Wilderness Act by taking action to encourage your Congressman to pass these bills before it’s too late.
