Our Children are spending a lot more of their time in front of electronic devices to amuse themselves and less time outdoors. As of 2010, teen age kids are spending up to 53 hours a week inside the multimedia world, which keeps them in the house and away from the outdoors.

The amount of time indoors is up from 44 hours in 2009.Experts are concerned that today’s children are not getting enough time in the great outdoors and their health and well-being are suffering for the lack of fresh air. Most children, studies show, cannot name 10 plants that grow in their own backyard and as a result, have no idea about the environmental issues affecting our planet.

Bateman and Wieland, renowned wildlife photographers, are sponsoring a program called ‘Get to Know’. Get to Know is a contest that is designed to get kids outside to see, interact and learn about species of plant life that they would not normally encounter in their daily indoor lives.

Kids, ages 5-18 are invited to submit articles, photographs and video entries to the Get to Know website, where a winner will be picked. Wieland considers taking care of the planet to be one of the most important areas of life that kids can get involved in. He believes that getting kids interested in their own yard is a good start to a life of taking care of the planet.

This gateway into the outdoors will lead today’s children and future generations in the fight to address the major problems we are facing. Climate change and deforestation are big global issues that will become the problems for tomorrow.

The Get To Know project has had an impact on a surprising group of organizations. The U.S. Forestry service, the Wildlife and Game Commission, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Children and Nature Network are just a few that has weighed in the program objectives. In all, more than 30 groups have joined.

Winners will receive monetary prizes up to 500 dollars, a weeklong stay in a Canadian National Park and being on the cover of the gettoknow.ca calendar. All the entries have expressed the effectiveness of the program in how they have gotten more interested in the outdoors and how fulfilling it is to impact the future.

Many have expressed a desire to continue to study in college for jobs that would keep them in the environmental industry and allow them to find more ways to impact world. All in all the work of the Get to Know group is making a positive impact on our children and our planet.

Steven Glaser is a former lobbyist for the World Fuel Cell Council who lives in north London with his wife, Ulli, and his sons, Sam, eight, and Leo, five. The 42-year old activist is responsible for the creation of the Bridgestone Eco Rally, which premiered in 2007. Its purpose was (and still is) to raise public sustainable awareness by promoting environmentally-friendly vehicles that range from cars to vans to motorbikes, mopeds and electric pushbikes.

The Eco Rally works because it has nothing to do with politics or special interest groups. Climate change affects everyone and this union of minds attracts geeks, environmentalists and your everyday Joe and Jane who may just be curious about the cars of the future that are here today.

Even among electric cars there are distinctions. Many have different battery ranges and there are even those that can run for as much as 100 miles on a single charge. There are also cutting edge models that run on biomethane from food waste.

The Eco Rally is the site for eco heroes such as Steven Glaser and others of his ilk who dare to push the boundaries of the imagination and expand the frontiers of thinking and innovation. Thinking outside that proverbial box with an eye on the needs for the future is a boon to all mankind.

Check out this video featuring the Bridgestone Eco Rally of this year.

Kudos to you, Mr. Glaser. Kudos to you.

Photo Source:

http://positivetv.tv/news/steven-glaser-eco-hero-the-green-car-rally-organiser/