April 22 – Anniversary of the Global Selfie Earth Day

Posted on April 22, 2015

As you start to zoom in on the images of
Earth, you begin to see the individual
selfies that people sent in!

You probably already know that today is Earth Day, right? You can check out my posts about this important holiday, from previous years, here and here.

Did you know that NASA encouraged everyone to send in “selfies” last year and assembled all the photos into a global “we are here” portrait? Sometimes we hear about a cool project like that, and then we forget to check out the product! Well, on the NASA website, you can check out the zoomable 3.2 gigapixel image, created from 36,422 individual images that were posted to social media sites on last year's Earth Day.

There is also a delightful video to watch recapping just a few of the more than 50,000 selfies sent in.

Today I want to highlight a couple more world-wide projects...

• Here is the website of a guy who spent 11 years walking around the world. Here is a summing-up article about that loooong walk.

• I've always loved the videos created by Matt, who started out dancing badly all over the world. As the years went by, Matt changed to dancing and juggling and just hanging out with mobs of people all over the world.

• 
  Wired Magazine presents NASA's best images of Earth from space from last year. Also, Space-dot-com presents amazing images of Earth from many different years  – with the amazement mostly coming from how far away the cameras were, not from the beauty of the photos themselves.

• There are lots of blogs of world travelers. This is one by a wonderful young woman who I have known since she was just one month old! 

• 
  Lots of people have done the project of sending stuffed bears around the world as a geography project (here is one example), in a sort of Paddle-to-the-Sea cooperative journey. Of course, it doesn't have to be a teddy bear; it can be any stuffed animal.

• 

  The BBC followed a shipping container for a year to explore the world economy.

• 

  You could try postcrossing, which is a way of getting postcards from random places in the world. Check it out here. 

• Consider mailing off a box with perhaps 30 inexpensive things from your own corner of the globe (maybe a local postcard or T-shirts with a local team imprinted on it)? You would include a note that urges each recipient to take out one of the original items (in a bag marked “original items”) and put in something that represents their own country or culture. Start by mailing it to someone you know and trust - someone who has agreed to the project of trying to get the box around the world and back to you again - someone who will only send it to someone that he or she knows and trusts, too.

Also on this date:

In God We Trust Day 

Chemists Celebrate Earth Day

Birthday of the inventor of rechargeable electric batteries, Gaston Plante 

Oklahoma Day 

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• April holidays   
• April birthdays 
• Historical anniversaries in April

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• May holidays 
• May birthdays 
• Historical anniversaries in May

September 19 – Clean Up the World Weekend

Posted on September 19, 2014

(Third weekend in September)

I remember a very important thing to me was seeing the Earth from another world—the moon—for the first time, at the same time that everyone else in the world saw that same sight for the first time. I think a lot of people realized with a pang just how beautiful and singular and fragile our one world really is. I think a lot of us realized how ridiculous it would be to ruin the only world we can comfortably live on.

And yet...

...We want to have air conditioners and cars, refrigerators and swimming pools. We want to make and buy computers and books, cell phones and surfboards. Many of us want to eat steaks or bacon, and we want to eat fruit and chocolate from all over the world.

And with all that wanting and making, buying and selling, having and having and more having, we end up polluting the air, soil, and water, and we end up cutting down too much of this and growing too much of that, paving too much here and allowing plants and animals to die out there.

This weekend is all about rolling up your sleeves and doing your part to help clean up humanity's messes. Let it be a jump-off place to doing ongoing environmental action—look for ways to save energy EVERY week and weekend, say, and consider making a small donation EVERY month to a wildlife fund.

• 
  Check out the official Clean Up the World Weekend website.

• 
  Find a worthy environmental cause to donate to...maybe a local group? You can find out how charities stack up by investigating them on Charity Navigator. 

• 
  Check out the ideas at PBS Kids.

Also on this date:

Talk Like a Pirate Day

St. Kitts and Nevis Independence Day 

Chocolatier George Cadbury's birthday

Park(ing) Day

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• September holidays
• September birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in September
  

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• October holidays
• October birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in October

October 2 – Phileas Fogg's Wager Day

Posted on October 2, 2013

This year, October 2 is a Wednesday. What better day to celebrate the famous (and fictional!) 1872 wager that launched a (fictional) world-wide voyage:

“I will bet twenty thousand pounds against anyone who wishes, that I will make the tour of the world in eighty days or less....As today is Wednesday, the second of October, I shall be due in London, in this very room of the Reform Club, on Saturday, the twenty-first of December, at a quarter before nine PM; or else the twenty thousand pounds . . . will belong to you.”

Circling the globe was impossible, a long time ago. Sailing ships made the feat possible, but it was rare and remarkable and time-consuming. It took years, not days, to do it. So, when Jules Verne wrote Around the World in Eighty Days in the late 1800s, such a feat did seem very science fiction.

Luckily, Jules Verne wrote science fiction! He had his main character, Phileas Fogg, travel by rail and steamship (and the occasional elephant, hot air balloon, etc.) from London to Egypt, then onto India, Hong Kong, Japan, San Francisco (California), New York City, and back to London. Do you think that Fogg gets back to London in time to make it to the room in the Reform Club on Saturday, December 21, at 8:45 p.m.?

Travel used to be a lot slower in the olden days than it is now. How long would it take to travel around the world these days? What's the fastest way? (See answer below.)

Calling all kids!

Here is an interactive story/game created from Around the World in 80 Days, and here is an interactive storybook version. 

ESL Printables offers some worksheets, but their link to a cartoon movie version of the story seems to be broken. I found a cartoon version on YouTube. 

A lot of kids, families, and classrooms have been inspired by the book to virtually circle the globe in 80 days. Just plot a course and timeline, and enjoy the “trip” with books, videos, games, recipes, and maybe even costumes representing each culture you visit!

Answer to question: If you have a rocket ship, you can circle the globe in just 90 minutes. But most of us would have to travel by airplane, which would take from 24 to 32 hours even on the fastest jets (this estimate includes time to refuel). The current record for fastest airplane flight around the world is 31 and a half hours.

Also on this date:

Republic Day in Guinea 

Political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi's birthday

Great Books Week

MysterySeries Week

BalloonsAround the World Day 

Plan Ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for October holidays, October birthdays, and historical anniversaries in October.

And here are my Pinterest boards for November holidays, November birthdays, and historical anniversaries in November.