Category: nature

The Baby Bird and the Snail: Nature Storyboarding Acts of Kindness

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Collected natural treasures nest story of bird and snail

Today is International World Wildlife Day, last year I shared some ideas about how we can help conserve and protect wild plants and animals. I hope you’ll read that post when you’ve got the time.

This year, in honour of World Wildlife Day, I am sharing a story Ro wrote and storyboarded when she was 8. It is a story of a baby bird who lost her mother and made a new friend, the snail. The image she created that inspired the story is shown above (my photo, her arrangement).

During the warmer seasons, when snow and ice do not cover the ground we are always picking up little pieces of beauty as we walk about the city from one place to another. We are, as many of you know, pedestrians by default. Being walkers, slowly moving through the city, we always come home with a variety of pretties: feathers, shells, pinecones, flower petals, and so on. One day when we came home Ro decided to story board with the treasures. Ever since she was quite young she had played with a felt story board, which she loved. On this summer day, she decided to translate this activity into a new context using natural treasures. To begin, she used some white chalk to make a framed background on our porch and then went to work creating. When she was satisfied with her creation she called me over and shared her story.

The beauty she had created visually, and more significantly the beauty of the story itself, was so touching I had to take a few photos and transcribe the story. It’s been 3 years now, and finally, the right day has arrived to share.

Here is Ro’s story:

The Baby Bird and the Snail

“One day a baby bird’s mother went out as usual to find food, but did not return. An accident took her life.

The baby bird was heartbroken and cried in the nest for many days.

Others heard the cries and figured out what happened, so they began bringing gifts of food and beauty to sustain the baby bird.

The nest became surrounded in gifts, but still the baby bird did not emerge.

And so, a young snail decided to risk it’s own life and go into the nest to comfort the bird.

The bird was so touched by this (risky) act of kindness that she realized others cared for her and that she would have a friend to go through life with.

The end.”

I hope this story will touch your heart, inspire acts of kindness and connection across species and ways of life, and that you’ll be inspired to create beauty with natural, sustainable materials.

Today is World Wildlife Day, so hug a tree, kiss an animal, and love all life. Find, make and share the beauty of the natural world and simple acts of kindness. Raise yourself, raise others, raise positive change. Together we can raise a generation of global guardians.

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Let’s be friends! Please come find me in other places:

World Wildlife Day: What You Can Do to Help Conserve and Protect Wild Plants and Animals

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“The future of wildlife is in our hands”

Today is the United Nation’s World Wildlife Day. World Wildlife Day is a day to celebrate wild plants and animals, but also, like every day, it is a day to work to conserve and protect them.

Here are a few simple things you can do to cultivate a love and respect for wildlife in yourself and the people, especially children, in your life. It seems natural and logical that love and respect will translate into conservation and protection efforts.

1)      Spend time in nature, in the wild, and learn about the abundant life, cycles and systems around you. By spending time in nature you are likely to enjoy yourself, create memories and ultimately develop a sense of respect and understanding of your embeddedness in (and precarity of) the system of life on Earth. We are nature. It is not around us; it is us. Our actions have a direct impact on plants and animals, as they have direct impact on us. While I don’t think we should be self-motivated to protect wildlife, if that’s a reason that motivates you, seize on it and let it push you to conserve and protect, and to lighten your impact on other forms of life. We all share this one planet, but it is critical to understand that it is not just about sharing. From a selfish perspective, animals and plants play important roles in sustaining life on this planet, without them, their is no us.

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2)      Learn about and interact with plants and animals. Book learning and documentaries can be great, but there’s nothing like real life experience. Augment book learning with experience. Observe and interact with the plants and animals around you. You don’t need to go to a botanical garden or a zoo. Grass is plant life and when you look closely there is much to observe. Think of animals in the broad sense, you don’t need to track deer to observe the wild, insects are everywhere and we can learn much from them. All animals are important and each has something to teach us about our humanity. Ultimately : be creative and open minded in finding the wild around you. The wild could be a field of wildflowers on an abandoned city lot — tread lightly by the edge, observe and learn. The wild could be lifting up rocks at the public park to say hello to beetles and worms. The more children (and we adults) have real life experiences with living plants and animals the more we can empathize with them, the more we feel a part of their world, and us a part of theirs. Our interconnectedness becomes embodied.

Nature Story Board Collected Feathers Snails Acorns Flora Hippie in Disguise

3)      Support the efforts of wild life conservation and protection agencies such as World Wild Life Fund and the Jane Goodall Institute. You can share their messages and follow them on social media. If you have spare dollars and pennies you can support them in a financial way. For the last three years Ro’s birthday present from us and her friends has been funding the protection animals through the Jane Goodall Institute and WWF (we do this through the EchoAge platform). This, by the way, is a great minimalist gift — an immaterial gift that doesn’t clutter your home but has a profound effect on others.

2017 Update:

Since posting this last year, I joined my friend Rebecca Lane in launching the Global Guardian Project. The Global Guardian Project is a monthly digital publication for homeschoolers, educators and families who wish to learn more about the earth’s animals, plants and ecosystems, and how we can take simple actions to be positive changemakers in our communities, and as adults how we can raise a generation of global guardians. We are mindful to present information in a child-friendly and sensitive way, that does not incite fear and worry, but rather leaves children feeling empowered to play a part in stewardship.

Each month we release a new digital “learning capsule” featuring a country and its plants, animals, local activists, and culture. We also include art projects, maps and downloads, recipes, inspiring videos of kids doing awesome things to help animals and ecosystems, interviews with eco families and worldschoolers, and a podcast with an original (and fun!) meditation for children and families. For educators and homeschoolers (and super keen parents) we also include curriculum prompts based on STEAM – Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics, as well as vocabulary lessons.

If you are interested in learning more about this resource and the project, please leave a comment or send me an email. You can also visit the Global Guardian Project website. If you decide to sign up  for a subscription, please use my discount code HIPPIEINDISGUISE to get 10% off, which makes the cost only $13.49 per month. You can cancel at any time, no questions asked. You can also purchase single issues if a subscription doesn’t interest you.

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I’d love to hear what you do to help protect and conserve wild life and how to cultivate this same interest in others. Please share in the comments below.

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You might also like my post:

Ecominimalism: Sustainability and Minimalism, Interview with Robin

Inhaling the Season, Inhaling the Moment: A Story of Cycling Through a Snow Storm

The Mathematics of Love: A Heartfelt Story of Growing a Family