To Till and to Tend

Wondering where the new, trendy vacation spot of summer 2008 is? Your backyard!

As the end of the summer draws near and kids are home from camp, many families and individuals alike are looking to vacation close to home. There has been a new rise in staycations –vacations in which you stay at or close to home. With so many reasons – rising gas prices, a shaky economy, or plane frustration (pun intended) many are taking advantage of all their local areas have to offer.

Adults take off from work, and relax at home. Kids camp out in the backyard or traverse local campgrounds.  Couples are visiting the regional spas or resort areas. Wherever you live, there are adventures to be found around the corner: go visit museums, historic sites, beaches, forests, parks, zoos and my favorite – the local tourist traps that you try to avoid every other day of the year.

What many Americans don’t realize is their staycation is not only an economical vacation but an eco-friendly one as well. A cross country flight from New York to L.A. can add 8,000 lbs. of CO₂ into the atmosphere – one way! Even with possible extra car-miles, by staying close to home you can dramatically reduce potential carbon dioxide from being emitted into the atmosphere.  Eating out is a big part of vacation, by staying close to home you can eat at local restaurants that cook with local ingredients. And with all the money you save from not having to buy a plane ticket you can afford to spend a couple of nights in a local green hotel.

As a proud Long Island resident, I recently staycationed to Orient Point, the most eastern tip of the northern fork. Along the way I saw the beautiful farms and wineries Long Island agriculture had to offer.  The local berries melted in my mouth, and the abundance of wine… (unfortunately not being of age, I could not fully enjoy the latter).  Explore and share with us what your hometown has to offer!

See what others had to say about this and get ideas on what you can do: Consumer Reports, Gristmill, MSNBC travel

When I was 12, I joined my friend for a daring swim in the beautiful, albeit jellyfish infested waters of the Mediterranean.  Back then, the Israeli coast would get an annual, two-week bout of jellyfish.  I wasn’t there long enough to wait it out, so my friend and I jumped in and were undeterred by the mild stings on our bodies.  Then, I had an encounter with a jellyfish that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy – it and I met as I dove under a wave.  It, and more importantly, its tentacles, hit my face, leaving a scar that lasted years.  (Fortunately, the family I was with knew not to pee on me.)  Though painful beyond words, it was a reality of sharing an ecosystem. 

But the tides have turned – more and more people are sharing my story.  And we have climate change to thank.

As mentioned in a recent NY Times article, “(jellyfish) are the cockroaches of the open waters.”  Jellyfish thrive in weakened environments.  Scientists say that, thanks to climate change and overfishing of jellyfish predators (like tuna), populations of jellyfish are proliferating.  Not only are beaches around the world closing, but the New York City Triathletes had to deal with (and one maybe died from) the stings of this maritime beast.

Jellyfish aren’t the only living creatures that are enjoying the CO₂ filled, warming planet that humans are creating.  Already, populations of poison ivy, superweeds and disease-carrying mosquitoes are increasing, yielding greater incidences of itchy children, resistant weeds and malaria.  I am lucky enough to be non-allergic to poison ivy’s oils (so far) and the organic “farm” on which I “work” has minimal weed problems.  Still, the spread of malaria scares me – more than half the world’s population lives in malaria infested regions – and you may have gathered that I don’t like jellyfish?

Each of us will undoubtedly feel the ramifications of climate change differently.  I am fortunate that I have few to mitigate.  Yet, the global poisons of climate change exceed the stings of jellyfish, and it is for those reasons we need to act.