Green Hour : MyBlogHer Profile

I am a 33-year-old woman living outside Washington D.C. with my husband, son, and two cats. I work for the National Wildlife Federation, also located in Reston

My career has been an interesting journey -- from working briefly in book publishing, I worked for a very wonderful literary organization in New York City, The Mercantile Library. Then I moved to Northern Virginia and became a reporter for a weekly newspaper, then an editor for that paper.

In the meantime, I got married, the newspaper industry began to convulse and sputter, and my priorities started to change. I also spend a lot of time with my neice and nephew (1- and 5-years-old respectively).

We seem to be on the edge of a new era -- one hopefully where being "environmental" is not a political identity -- but a way of life for everyone. And a deepening realization that the world needs people to take care of it -- conservatives, liberals, independents. It has to start inside your house, with your family.

So I started working for the National Wildlife Federation as an online media coordinator for Green Hour. This blog is an offshoot of that web site, which has a simple goal: get kids outside. The strategy is to give parents the tools they need to reduce the amount of screen time kids absorb every day (6.5 hours per day, according to one study).And to give children freedom to explore in the outdoors. This doesn't mean send them on some wilderness adventure: just introduce them to a city park, a backyard, a cluster of trees by the side of the road!

Seems simple, but parents are so busy, their kids so scheduled, and the TV and computer so addictive --  an hour of firefly catching isn't in the cards for some kids.

So that's what I'm working on now and I feel great about it. This blog will share with you what I am learning on this journey and hopefully give you some tips for sharing the outdoors withthe kids in your life!

Anne