Traveling through New England, it’s hard not to revel in the landscapes. Rock strewn streams, distant peaks, verdant hollows, pine forests, mountain roads that twist and turn revealing new vistas with every bend. Ah, yes- the restorative power of contact with nature!

Yet, returning home I remember that the familiar city is unfamiliar when viewed from a new vantage point: Gwynns Falls, Jones Falls, Herring Run trails - they all provide that opportunity for recharging the psyche within our very own city. Resolve to take more advantage of them. Be astonished at the easy access and amazing experiences available here. We are lucky to have so many nature experiences near at hand.

Mt. Washington Arboretum is a lovely little pocket of reclaimed land, an inspirational landscape off Kelly Avenue near Mt. Washington Elementary School created and maintained by dedicated volunteers. www.miniarboretum.org/

Lots of labels identifying the native plants. Seating areas to contemplate nature. Even a TKF bench with journal to record and share your thoughts with other visitors.

This Saturday, August 16,  is your opportunity to discover the amazing landscapes along the Gwynns Falls Trail.  Join the monthly Charm City Bike and Brunch for a guided tour.

The ride starts and ends at the same location in Gwynns Falls / Leakin Park at Winans Meadow.  Lunch will be catered in the park. $15.00 per person

Meet at Trail Head 2 (check it out on the Baltimore Green Map)
4500 Franklintown Rd.
10:00 a.m.
Please RSVP to Anne Draddy anne.draddy@baltimorecity.gov or Mike Strawbridge - michael.strawbridge@baltimorecity.gov  410-365-8830.  If you need a bicycle, please let Mike know in advance.

Crossing north of the Clifton Golf Course on Erdman Avenue one is reminded of why Johns Hopkins made Clifton his summer estate. He could see all the way down to the harbor and note his incoming ships from the tower of his mansion. We can’t go up in the tower, but we can still see a dramatic vista south toward downtown from the park. Mother’s Garden at the northwest corner of Clifton Park is one vantage point.

Then turn north on Belair Road and see the eye-popping Box Turtle mural by Charles Johnson.

Pass the new home of the Herring Run Watershed Center, LEED Silver-rated, due to open in September. Turn left on Chesterfield for views of the Herring Run Park where walking paths, wide open spaces, and playfields abound. Right turn on Harford Road and you can opt for Lake Montebello to your left.

Or continue north to the intersection of Harford and Argonne where a hairpin left takes you into Hall Springs Park. There you can connect with the trail along Herring Run, picnic, visit a playground, and see another Johnson Mural.

Last Monday night Baltimore Friends of Parks leaders heard from Congressman John Sarbanes about the progress of proposed legislation to insure that Environmental Education has a place in future federal education funding. The catchy title “No Child Left Inside” will certainly become irrelevant after November’s election, when the Bush-associated, unfunded mandate known as No Child Left Behind fades from view. The hope is that next year’s education appropriation will include a funded mandate for environmental education. To track the bill’s progress and sign onto the national petition encouraging its passage, go to www.eenclb.org.

Richard Louv’s book Last Child in the Woods subtitled Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder is the inspiration and an galvanizing read. If you are inspired to local action, visit http://gbcan.collectivex.com/the site of Greater Baltimore Children and Nature Collaborative, an information exchange spearheaded by Mary Hardcastle, our local link to Hooked on Nature. HON (www.hookedonnature.org) is a non-profit that provides inspiration, training and resource materials for adults who wish to help children connect with nature.

This month on the website we are highlighting the Healthy Eating icon and requesting your nominations. Local Farmers Markets we think we have covered, but restaurants we’ve barely begun to map. It’s a fitting focus in the month when Buy Fresh, Buy Local practices yield so many options for cooking. At the Waverly Farmers Market last Saturday, it was so crowded that I gave up trying to get through to the north end vendors.

Today, purely in the interest of exploring resources, we lunched at Baltimore’s first certified green restaurant, Spoons on Cross Street in Federal Hill. Very tasty food, attractive environment, comfortable seating, and a friendly atmosphere. On the back of the menu is a list of the steps they have taken to become certified by the Green Restaurant Association, www.dinegreen.com. The list is comprehensive, including restaurant design, sourcing of food, choice of carry-out containers and utensils, cleaning practices, and more. No web site yet, so travel on down and try it!

While Janet is busy this week, I, who am moving myself this week, will be working on adding the trail heads for the Gwynns Falls Trail to the map. Now I’m not familiar with the trail myself, so this is your chance to comment and share what you like, love, or just plain know about the trail that isn’t included in my site posts. One thing to note is that there are only trail heads at this point, later we will be able to add a visual path of the trail itself. But for now, get commenting!

– Kara

Doug Retzler has made a mission of documenting green events around town, then making the photos available (via flikr) to all through his website, www.greencitybaltimore.com where people are invited to post information about upcoming green events. Here are a few images of BLOOM! the Urban Forest Project finale, all c 2008 Doug Retzler.

On Wednesdays all summer, at noon or 6 p.m., you can ride around Druid Lake reservoir on a nifty blue bike. Make a donation to support the activity. Or bring your own bike and join the fun. The reservoir loop is 1.5 miles. The views are spectacular; the Druid Hill Park setting makes you appreciate what an asset that park is for our city.

The closing exhibition and celebration of The Urban Forest Project takes place Saturday, June 28th from 5-7 p.m. at Maryland Institute College of Art’s Brown Center. Don’t miss the last chance to support this amazing collaborative effort to shine a spotlight on Tree Baltimore and the value of trees in our urban setting.

For the past three months, banners from The Urban Forest Project have adorned lampposts in parks and streetscapes around Baltimore, from Druid Hill Park to Herring Run / Clifton Parks , from Carroll Park to Patterson Park, and along many major thoroughfares in between. 200 professional banners and 185 K-12 banners were created. Events took place in each park. All this will be on view at Bloom! The Closing for Baltimore: The Urban Forest Project along with music, lite fare, drinks, and remarks by key people involved in bringing this all together.

And there are still ways to participate. Visit http://bmore-urbanforestproject.org to see the products available. You can pick your favorite banner and have it made into a T-shirt. You can get a bag made from one of the banners. Sport a tree-themed sentiment and support The Urban Forest Project.

I joined Wendy Brawer, Green Map Systems Founding Director, to demo the Open Green Map at this conference of public media professionals exploring the ways that mapping informs communication. Much discussion about data visualization through mapping, about the central role of interactivity in creating and sharing content, about taking full advantage of the diversity of media formats/outlets in play these days, and of the imperative for NPR/PBS/CPB to engage or lose audience.

We heard/viewed the presentations of journalists, documentary and public access producers, designer/programmers, and social entrepreneurs. Green Mapmaking generated lots of interest in one-on-one discussions.

The panel about business models and funding mechanisms - commerce, advertising, donation in support of message, investors - was of particular interest. Panelists talked about the difficult search for funding to carry a project from concept through execution and about the importance of visibility, wide adoption, interactivity and # of users as a proof of value.

[NOTE to Baltimore Green Map users. Please make your presence felt beyond web stats by nominating sites and posting comments to blog!]

More about conference at http://www.beyondbroadcast.net

Looking around the auditorium, packed with 300 attendees and 200 active laptops/cellphones/PDAs lighting up the room at any given moment, watching the Twitterstream of commentary generated simultaneously with the speakers…What a multi-tasking society we have become!