While we’re all social distancing and self-quarantining, it’s easy to forget that there is still beauty in this world.
Nature is a great cure. It has measurable effects on our physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Being in nature can reduce our blood pressure and lower our heart rate. It reduces the production of stress-inducing hormone cortisol. It increases our attention span and makes us more receptive to learning. As few as ten minutes in nature can have this effect.
While I encourage everyone to get outdoors every single day to walk around the block, to work in the garden, to visit a park or CWC preserve, or even just to sit on the porch and soak up the sun and the breeze, I know that this is not always possible. The truly amazing thing about the curative effects of nature is that we don’t have to get outdoors to experience them. Just looking at pictures of the natural world has been shown to have a similar benefit!
With that thought in mind, over the next week or two, I thought I’d share some education resources that I created a couple years ago. First up is an alphabet book project featuring Michigan plants. These are all plants that can be found locally, with most being found on CWC preserves. Of the twenty-six species depicted in this book, all but one are native to the state.
I hope you enjoy this project. Please feel free to print, copy and share this book with everyone you know, especially if you’re a parent trying to figure out what do do with your now stay-at-home kids (or know someone who is).
-Mike LeValley
