{"id":260,"date":"2012-01-31T03:40:01","date_gmt":"2012-01-31T09:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/?p=260"},"modified":"2013-07-11T10:43:48","modified_gmt":"2013-07-11T15:43:48","slug":"nature-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/?p=260","title":{"rendered":"Nature Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>What is a guardian? I am not sure. It sounds like it could be another reality TV show that I don\u2019t want to watch. My thesaurus says that a guardian is a \u201cprotector, sentinel, or keeper\u201d. I consider myself a nature guardian, but none of those words describe what my feelings are. Last week, I scraped a dead squirrel off the road and buried it. Last summer, I let a dragonfly out of my car. I found a bunch of cans in the park and recycled them. Everyday I have many opportunities to express what I think is a guardian. During the school year my guardianship shifts to children and I try to stay connected to them, I am caring and encourage them to do their best everyday. My desire is to act on my student’s behalf, so they can take their place in the world, and contribute in a positive way.<\/p>\n

I believe everyone expresses his\/her guardianship in a unique way. I try to stay connected to the Earth and be caring, by physically doing something for the Earth on a daily basis. This is something I want to do, and in many ways, it is a type of food that sustains my spirit. I am not trying to save the world, and bragging about what I am doing for the Earth. But I feel blessed to live here, and I am trying to remain true to myself.<\/p>\n

Fifty things you can do every day to be a nature guardian.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Take a hike and be open to the beauty that is around you.<\/li>\n
  2. Spend time outside every day<\/li>\n
  3. Learn 10 common sounds<\/li>\n
  4. Learn 10 common birds<\/li>\n
  5. Go camping<\/li>\n
  6. Go biking and appreciate nature that is around you<\/li>\n
  7. Pick up your dog\u2019s poop<\/li>\n
  8. Pick up cans and trash in a local park.<\/li>\n
  9. Pull out buckthorn and other invasive weeds<\/li>\n
  10. \u00a0Do a volunteer project to improve the land<\/li>\n
  11. \u00a0Go canoeing, kayaking, or swimming in a lake<\/li>\n
  12. \u00a0 Reduce your electrical usage: turn off lights; reduce heat; air dry your wash<\/li>\n
  13. Reduce the number of trips you take in your vehicle<\/li>\n
  14. \u00a0Bike to work once a week<\/li>\n
  15. \u00a0Don\u2019t use herbicides or pesticides on your lawn or plants<\/li>\n
  16. \u00a0 Plant a vegetable and butterfly garden<\/li>\n
  17. \u00a0 Keep a nature journal<\/li>\n
  18. \u00a0 Make a \u201cfort\u201d out of natural materials and spend some time in it.<\/li>\n
  19. \u00a0 Take photographs of nature<\/li>\n
  20. \u00a0 Write a poem or prose about something you saw in nature<\/li>\n
  21. Adopt a vacant lot and plant it with native trees, shrubs or prairie (depending upon what was once on the land).<\/li>\n
  22. Learn 10 common trees and shrubs<\/li>\n
  23. Create a compost heap, and recycle your kitchen waste<\/li>\n
  24. Reduce the amount of trash you put into the landfill each week<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Still working on the other twenty-six…..<\/em><\/p>\n

    Help me out.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Add to the conversation and say what you think a nature guardian is. \u00a0\u00a0 Add to the list above.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What is a guardian? I am not sure. It sounds like it could be another reality TV show that I don\u2019t want to watch. My thesaurus says that a guardian is a \u201cprotector, sentinel, or keeper\u201d. I consider myself a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-connecting-to-nature"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=260"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2679,"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260\/revisions\/2679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}