The Last Mountain

After that trailer, I'd sign on any dotted line. Powerful stuff. Showing at Sundance.

Film website here.

Alain de Botton

Not to repeat myself, as I did post about another column by Alain de Botton not long ago, but this one is really interesting....

A Point of View: Has our relationship with nature changed?

"The role of the commentator on the environment is at one level to enable us to notice changes that are occurring. But at another level, it is also a question of getting us to care. And this is a tall order, for we are being asked to worry about the possible reduction in the number of our species three generations hence, when we all have to deal with a far more imminent problem - our own death.

We are being asked to worry about other people who are not yet born as much as we worry about ourselves. Never before in the history of humanity have we been asked to care so much about others of whom we know so little. Our empathetic powers have been stretched to breaking point."

Alain is also the author of "The Architecture of Happiness", next on my list of books to read, I think.

Information Landscape Architect

A little bit of self promotion here...... I just started a new blog called Information Landscape Architect.

I hope to cover interesting visuals that inform about nature and the need to preserve it wherever possible. It's something I have wanted to get involved with for a while. Ultimately it is the same goal I'm working towards, getting kids outside, when there is an outside to go to......

I know it's early days but I hope you check it out soon.

A time to be honest

Netmums website have revealed that many mums are lying about how much TV their kids watch or what they cook their families, as they feel an enormous amount of peer pressure to be the perfect mums.

Time to give each other a break and accept that while we all do things differently we all have our childrens best interests at heart and that is what is important.

Many mothers are under so much pressure to appear like perfect parents that they cover up how much television their children watch or what they cook their families, according to a survey.

Such "white lies" also extend to how much "quality time" mothers spend with their partner, website Netmums said its survey of 5,000 people suggested.

The parenting site said mothers often made each other feel "inadequate".

Ali Carr-Chellman

Another great talk over at TED. As a mother of two boys I understood a lot of what she said. Not sure if video games are always the be all and end all..... but the fact remains that boys are being overlooked in the current educational system.

Nature, that's my solution. All kids love being outdoors and boys can really run off a lot of energy while girls collect leaves..... I know, too simplistic but you know what I mean.

Jamie Oliver in L.A.

For the second season of his hit show "Food Revolution", Jamie Oliver has chosen Southern California as his focus. Unfortunately the public schools won't let him into the cafeterias..........

Having worked on projects for the LAUSD, I've seen their cafeterias and what the kids eat and I'm not surprised they refused, too ashamed, I'd say. Mind you, anyone would be able to work that out for themselves, their refusal speaks volumes.

Article at the L.A. Times, here.

Playworks

Via this blog, I found out about the wonderful work Playworks are doing across America, chiefly to get kids playing again.

They were featured on ABC Good Morning America the other day. Check out the report above.