Sunday, February 22, 2 to 3 p.m.
Exploring Rainforests with Joe D’Angeli – All ages
Meadowlands Environment Center
Designed to delight as well as to educate! Learn about the critical importance of protecting the world’s dwindling rainforests. Audiences will get to “explore” tropical rainforests of the world by getting up close and personal with live exotic rainforest animals from around the globe. Discover the importance of the tropical rainforest, its creatures, and why we must save the last rainforests and their inhabitants. $8/person; $6 MEC members. Register here.

In partnership with AmeriCorps, FoodCorps recruits, trains, and places emerging leaders into limited-resource schools for one year of paid public service, building healthy school food environments.

TEACH children about what healthy food is and where it comes from.

BUILD and tend school gardens.

BRING quality local food into public school cafeterias.

Applications are open through the end of March  for 2015-16 – click here. You can even serve in New Jersey – click here.

The NJMC will host a free talk on Tuesday, Feb 24^th at 11:00 am  at Terre a Terre Restaurant in Carlstadt.

Chef Todd Villani will talk about the sustainable décor of his restaurant, Terre a Terre.

Then Steve Feldman, co-founder of Green Demolitions and Renovation Angel, will talk about recycling luxury kitchens for charitable purposes. Special guest, former Giant football player Amani Toomer, will tell about his experience as a Renovation Angel.

The presentation will be followed by an optional prix fixe lunch. Click image for full-size flier. Please RSVP to Debbie Lawlor at 201-777-2410 or debbie.lawlor@njmeadowlands.gov

Next month’s First Sunday Bird Walk, slated for March 1st at Mill Creek Marsh, has been relocated to DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst. This due to hazardous conditions at the Secaucus site. Meet at the Environment Center lobby at 10:00 am.

Ridgefield Park Eagles Are on an Egg!

Losen Slote/Mehrhof Eaglepalooza!

Don Torino of Bergen County Audubon, in his latest article for Wild New Jersey, writes, “Native American cultures called the full moon of February the hunger moon or starvation moon because this is when winter tightens its grip and food becomes the scarcest for both man and wildlife.”

Read here how you can help the wildlife in your own back yard.

If there’s one thing we have plenty of in the Meadowlands, it’s shipping containers. They are considered something of an eyesore around here. But there’s a trend I’ve been following for several years now: using them to construct buildings. I’ve seen shipping containers converted into rural schools, emergency relief housing, and luxurious vacation homes. Talk about recycling! I just came across this article and thought I’d share in case you’ve never have heard about container buildings. Perhaps you’re getting ready to build your retirement home…or maybe you’re an entrepreneur who sees a great opportunity using locally available materials.

See more container houses here.

Sunday, February 22, 2 to 3 p.m.
Exploring Rainforests with Joe D’Angeli – All ages
Meadowlands Environment Center
Designed to delight as well as to educate! Learn about the critical importance of protecting the world’s dwindling rainforests. Audiences will get to “explore” tropical rainforests of the world by getting up close and personal with live exotic rainforest animals from around the globe. Discover the importance of the tropical rainforest, its creatures, and why we must save the last rainforests and their inhabitants. $8/person; $6 MEC members. Register here.

Thomas Jefferson. Theodore Roosevelt. Franklin Roosevelt. Lyndon Johnson. Richard Nixon. Jimmy Carter. All presided over major federal initiatives affecting the land we live in/on. Some argue that Nixon was not at heart an environmentalist, but the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency all happened on his watch.

My personal favorite is Teddy Roosevelt. He consistently lobbied Congress for wilderness protection, used the Forest Reserve Act of 1891 to set aside 150 million acres of timberland as public domains, and was instrumental in the creation of the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park System and the Agriculture Extension Service. And he popularized the ideas of resource stewardship and respect for nature.

Read about the rest on Mother Nature Network

It’s exciting when there are flashy or unusual birds in our area. We naturally want to see them. But please remember that all NJMC landfills are off limits. All viewing must be done from roads and roadside clearings. For the protection of the wildlife and for your own safety, please do not enter restricted areas.