The day begins to wane as you watch the vibrant sunset from the comfort of your trusty canoe, allowing the sun’s fleeting rays to warm your soul. As you paddle along you take note of the tiny turtle family sunbathing amidst a floating log on the nearby bank, and the rhythmic lull of the flowing river as the bow of the canoe bisects the current. You begin to comment on the perfection of the pristine panorama you are beholding, but what is that in the distance obstructing your view…a pile of tires? Unfortunately this has happened to me and many others across the world as we face an epidemic of illegally dumped tires in our lovely waterways, parks, roadsides, and just about anywhere imaginable. As un-anesthetically pleasing as this may be, abandoned tires cause far worse problems to our environment and health. With a little education and effort we can eradicate-or take steps to prevent- the tire pile-up by recycling, re-purposing, or reusing these tires in new and innovative ways.
Tag: local
Nutrition on the Go!
Let’s face it: life is hectic. Some might even call it crazy.
Between work, school, family, and every extracurricular activity in between, we are constantly on the go. Whether you are in the office, traveling for work, or simply making that daily commute, we have a tendency to forget about our next meal. Before you know it, our hangry-side comes out and we make irrational eating choices to solve the problem. Unfortunately, these poor meal choices take a toll on our body and often leave us bloated, groggy, and down right disappointed with ourselves.
You don’t have to live this way! There are simple changes we can incorporate into our fast-paced lifestyle to ensure we are properly fueling our body for even the most chaotic schedule.
Blueways Blues
At Lightning 100’s Team Green Adventures, we love the outdoors. We are passionate about maintaining a clean, sustainable environment for all to enjoy, and it is our goal to get the community of Middle Tennessee involved in our efforts. That’s why we incorporate as many community service events as we can to help raise awareness about environmental concerns.
Each year Team Green Adventures hosts multiple waterway cleanups to collect litter from our beautiful creeks and streams. In 2015, over 100 volunteers gathered for six different waterway cleanups; together we gathered 167 bags of trash and 118 tires!
ASSERT Yourself
Last week Team Green Adventures partnered with KSA Martial Academy for our first-of-three Intro to Self Defense classes. The mission of Team Green Adventures is to get our Lightning 100 listeners and community members outdoors and active, and we emphasize safety on each of our adventures. For that reason we certify our trip leaders with Wilderness First Aid Training or First Aid Training, open these certification classes to our participants, provide an overview of Wilderness Safety on our Resources page, and finally, educate our audience about basic self-defense skills.
This week’s AdventureBlog recaps our Intro to Self Defense course, based on the ASSERT Program. ASSERT stands for Adrenal Stress Strategy Emergency Response Training. Whereas other self-defense programs focus on logical step-by-step skills for getting out of a self-defense situation, the ASSERT program is catered to the adrenal response system using natural day-to-day movements.
Valentine’s Ideas for Active Procrastinators
So here we are, one week away from Valentine’s Weekend. If you’re like me, you probably lost track of time and have found yourself cutting it close without plans!
Don’t freak out.
It’s not too late to take advantage of some great deals for a fun-loving weekend with your sweetheart (or best friend)! This week’s Adventure Blog is a follow up to last year’s “Valentine’s Dates for Outdoors Lovers” blog (which still has some valid tips!)
10 Reasons to Winter SUP!
This week’s Adventure Blog is a guest blog written by Liz Veyhl, co-owner of Nashville Paddle Company, Team Green Adventures’ preferred Stand Up Paddleboarding outfitter. She shares 10 reasons to kickstart your fitness on Stand Up Paddleboards this winter!
Into-the-Black Friday
It never really occurred to me until now: What is Black Friday?
Unofficially, Black Friday is the first day of the Christmas shopping season. It got it’s name in the 1960s to designate a time for retail stores to move from the “red” (losing money at the end of the year) to the “black” (breaking even or making a profit). High-priced items were marked down so steeply, or must-have gift items were debuted for the first time, leading to quick sell-outs. As the years progressed, shoppers “learned” from their losses and changed their behavior to start standing in line earlier, which eventually led to stores opening their doors sooner. Chaos ensued, and the behavior has become ingrained in the American culture. Now, Black Friday deals often aren’t much better than usual sale prices, and the holiday spirit is lost among the shoppers.
But wait.
Let’s go back for a moment to the reason Black Friday began: to move retail stores from the “red” into the “black.”
Salud to Vets
There’s no doubt about it, the more time you spend outside, the better you feel. Americans as a whole are increasingly spending more time indoors due to changes in technology and time use habits, with the average US citizen spending 2 hours and 49 minutes per day watching TV, but just 17 minutes engaging in sports, recreation, and exercise, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There are definite consequences of these habits for the mental stability of our general populous. Anxiety Disorders are among the leading mental illnesses in the United States, affecting over 40 million adults in the United States over the age of 18. Among these anxiety disorders are Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
There is no shortage of evidence on the mental health benefits of getting outdoors. In fact, it even has a name now: EcoTherapy or “Green Therapy.” Simply taking a walk outdoors has been shown to reduce depression scores in 71% of participants in a recent mental health study.
Clean Water for All!
If you’ve ever spent any time in Nashville during the summer months, then you know that our local waterways are a vital piece of the outdoor recreation puzzle here in Middle Tennessee. From canoeing or kayaking on the Harpeth, Piney, Caney Fork, or Buffalo Rivers, to paddleboarding and boating on Percy Priest Lake, to fishing in or hiking along one of our many local creeks, there’s no shortage of ways to enjoy the abundant bodies of water in and around Nashville. Even the Cumberland River is experiencing a resurgence in recreational opportunities of late, with projects currently underway to expand non-motorized boat access near LP Field and Downtown.
Despite the excitement that many Nashvillians feel as summer approaches, bringing with it the promise of long warm days on the water, little time is often spent thinking about the work that must be done to keep our waterways clean and healthy for all to enjoy. As an organization that loves to get people on the water as much as possible, we know that recreational use of local streams, rivers and lakes is a privilege not to be taken lightly, and that we need to do our part to make sure that we can continue to have access to waterways that are clean, safe, and beautiful long after we’ve paddled them. For that reason, we work year-round with several local partners to clean, protect, and maintain our cherished blueways. Here’s a little more on some of the great groups we join forces with and how YOU can get involved with the work we’re doing:
Cumberland River Compact
The Cumberland River Compact is the leading organization promoting increased water quality and health in Middle Tennessee, as they care for the entire Cumberland River Watershed, including the river itself and its many tributaries. Their work ranges from hands-on volunteer efforts like tree and rain garden plantings, stream cleanups, and dam removals, to educational initiatives like their River Talks series, which is aimed at informing the public about all aspects of the health of the Cumberland River Basin. They have made great strides in improving the long-term wellbeing of the watershed, and they continue to promote increased community engagement to further this goal through their active management of the Nashville Adopt-A-Stream Program and other ongoing programs. We adopted our very own one-mile section of Mill Creek through this program in the summer of 2013, and have continued to maintain that area through multiple cleanups every year. The Compact even hosts fun events like the annual Dragon Boat Festival on the Cumberland River to help raise awareness about water quality issues and fund their work, providing Nashvillians with a fantastic opportunity to have a great time while supporting the health of our local waterways. We have our own Dragon Boat team every year, and would love for you to join it!
Bridgestone Americas’ Tires4ward Program
Since it’s inception in 2012, Bridgestone Americas’ Tires4ward Program has aided more than 350 community cleanup events and recycled nearly 100,000 tires from streams and rivers across the United States. Part of Bridgestone’s larger efforts towards sustainability (called their One Team, One Planet initiative), the Tires4ward program seeks to promote a waste-free tire industry by repurposing or recycling one used tire for every new tire they produce. Bridgestone partners with local organizations in communities across the country to collect spent tires for free from cleanup events, making their tire collection services open to any and all who need them. We have directly partnered with this program for the last two summers, pulling more than 100 tires out of the Harpeth, Buffalo and Caney Fork Rivers during our annual summer canoe floats. Keep your eyes on our calendar for summer cleanup opportunities to be posted soon!
Hands On Nashville’s Waterway Cleanup & Restoration Program
In the immediate aftermath of the May 2010 flood, a huge community-wide effort was made towards restoring and cleaning up homes and businesses that had been damaged by record-high water levels, but little attention was paid to the damage done to some of our more minor local streams and tributaries. Seeing a need for a concerted recovery effort, Hands On Nashville created the Waterway Cleanup & Restoration Program to help clean up the debris that was left in Nashville’s waterways long after the flood waters had receded. Over the last four and a half years, local volunteers have participated in hundreds of cleanups around Davidson County, removing some 285 tons of debris from our waterways big and small, helping to restore these vital ecosystems to pre-flood conditions or better. This program has been so successful that the cleanup phase of the project is now complete, allowing Hands On Nashville to concentrate their efforts on promoting the long-term health and resilience of our streams through efforts to plant more trees to strengthen riparian buffers (a vegetated area that lines waterways, protecting it from the impact of nearby land uses) around the city. These plantings have continued to take place into this spring, providing a great opportunity for you to get involved! Other local organizations, such as the Harpeth River Watershed Association, also host regular tree plantings in riparian zones, so be sure to check out ways to lend a hand and do your part with either of these great programs!
So this summer, when you’re out paddling a local river and enjoying a cold brew, take some time to thank the dedicated volunteers who help maintain our waterways and keep them pristine. If you can, pick up any litter you see along the way, and maybe future paddlers will take some time to thank you too!
– Matt (Team Green’s Events Coordinator)
CSAs 101
On the third Wednesday of each month, Team Green Adventures partners with the Nashville Farmers’ Market to host different Nutrition Workshop topics about seasonality. This month, CSAs are in season.
What does that mean?
CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and they are currently “in season” because right now is the time of year when local farmers are planting for the Spring growing season. Community Supported Agriculture programs are membership-based purchase plans in which consumers directly support the farm by helping to cover the upfront costs of farming. In return, the farmer shares the bounty of their farm with their CSA members BEFORE allocating produce to sell at Farmers’ Markets or grocery stores. Each farm has their own unique farming practices and offer different CSA features, so it’s best to speak with the farmer before investing in their CSA.
The AdventureBlog 