LandHelp.info

5 ideas to learn the land

2009-11-19T16:20:00.000-08:00

Take a hike and follow a track to see how animals use environments
Put out 3 bird feeders: fill one with white proso millet; one with black oil sunflower seeds; and one with meal worms or animal fat; see what comes in, where they feed and what they eat
Buy binoculars and watch wildlife close up
Get field guides or use the internet to learn what animals need and what the land provides
Record and reflect on what you learn using words, drawings and pictures

New information about getting youth into nature

2009-03-24T16:12:00.001-07:00

Check out "Next Child in the Woods" Section in LandHelp for new and useful content.

A Better Mouse Trap? Solve a Problem!

2008-10-31T10:24:00.000-07:00

We can all view LandHelp or surf the Internet to find commercial products for removing unwanted mice from the house. Blog your technique with a few words and a picture. Let's see if we can create a better mouse trap together.

Use the Hexagon to Solve Problems

2008-10-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

Multi-dimensional parameters exist from which one’s world view is formed and within which learning and teaching must relate. For people to change, to adapt, to practice good behaviors, their multiple world-context must be addressed. The decision-making hexagon provides an illustration of multi-disciplinary parameters that should be addressed in an interdisciplinary manner. These parameters are at the foundation of all decisions. The context includes:
1. The earth’s physical and biological systems without which nothing functions properly;
2. Economics (money and trade) regulates the exchange of goods and services;
3. One’s personal psychology, personality, wants, needs, and “investment” in the issue;
4. The norms of the group, society and cultures which enable or restrict the actions of individuals and the group as a whole;
5. Power structures through laws and political systems that protect or suppress the rights of individuals and society; and
6. Implementation opportunities or barriers with appropriate technologies, skills and administrative authorities to perform desired tasks are encouraged, discouraged, or nonexistent.

More about the Hexagon
Students of the land need to keep all contextual considerations in mind. Learners should understand each parameter and to make decisions based on an integrated process.
The earth and biosphere have physical and biological attributes and limitations that function as one living organism. Each part of the earth is impacted by bio/physical processes in an interrelated web of life and death that is complex and dynamic. From the standpoint of our biosphere, there is no right and wrong, only change. We should develop a sense of ecological place among society by lessening our disconnect from nature and teach pertinent facts and information from various disciplines. Perhaps ecology is the discipline which can most adequately, but not entirely, influence long-term thinking since it includes many other pertinent disciplines that can encourage environmental consciousness.
Society uses economics (money and trade) to exchange goods and services. Individual and group needs depend upon exchanging natural resources directly or on the products derived from bio/physical resources and human ingenuity. Decisions about money are often at the forefront of decision-making and must be considered in environmental education.
Because humans are part of the earth’s living system, they are both personally impacted by and cause impacts to the system. Humans have needs for survival, security, personal expression and personal worth. They desire legitimate use of the world’s resources and in so doing make limited and lasting impacts. Individuals may be optimistic or pessimistic, conservative or liberal, conservation-minded or exploiters. Their personalities are formed by many processes, but humans can accept or reject environmental actions simply because they want to.
Individuals form into groups and societies with unique norms and cultures. Race, religion, ethnicity, gender, skills, professions, politics, and education are some of the linkages which help to expand or limit thinking and behavior. Groups can encourage or suppress individual thought and action. Actions by groups can help or hinder environments.
Society functions through legal and political systems where heads of families, local chieftains and national leaders rise to power and reflect norms or help to establish
new norms. Persons in political power protect, suppress or lead what individuals and societies can do for the environment.
Within all physical and biological systems there are limitations to what can be known or expected from the environment. Likewise, in human systems, there are barriers caused by the level of individual skills, how opportunities are administered by leaders and whether appropriate technologies are developed and available. The land cannot get help if one lacks appropriate skills, if one’s supervisor does not allow action, or if there is no known solution at the time.

Why Use LandHelp?

2008-10-21T14:01:00.001-07:00

I developed LandHelp to help you who are professionals, land users and just plain folks who can learn more, act more, have fun in the outdoors, and who must become good stewards. Check out http://www.landhelp.info/.

Use http://www.landhelp.info/ to understand and to help humans to be part of the land!

1. Use LandHelp to address your questions and to solve your problems.

2. Use LandHelp to picture how land and its resources should look.

3. Use LandHelp to create the story of your place on the land.

4. Use LandHelp to enact a plan to manage the land whether personal or with others.

Watch for changes.

What is LandHelp?

1. LandHelp is pre-researched and pre-sorted for users to retrieve useful information to manage the land's resources wisely: including soil, water, air, plants, animals, people, and human developments.

2. A First-Stop-Shopping Internet storage and retrieval site with holistic natural resources information

3. A “brand name” used to identify natural resources educational information without bounds

4. A compendium of information links, unique files, and an outline planning framework with links to facilitate planning

5. A common place for professionals to store useful information for people interested in land, plants, animals and how to manage them

Why a Need for LandHelp?

* Information is often created but not used beyond professional outlets

* Persons in need of information are confused about where to go for answers

* Valuable information should be housed in an electronic library.

* Rather that reinvent information, LandHelp is a better way to store and retrieve it.

Put LandHelp to work for you.