Bunchland

Bunch gives  props to Brighton, UK teenager Ruby Reynolds. When Ruby, 14, had questions about our environment, climate change and the role pollution might have played in recent weather disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, she took a camera along and created Melt – a teenager’s view of global warming. Intermingled with thought provoking interviews with kids and grown-ups alike, she unflinchingly implicates her own carbon footprint and discusses alternative sources of energy. The beautifully shot and edited 16 minute film is a thought provoking examination of how we can all reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

The National Audubon Society’s Pennies for the Planet site gets kids  from all over the planet collecting pennies to save wild species and wild places. The site offers  simple and fun ideas for fundraising initiatives kids can actually do and encourages them to make small changes in their everyday life that conserve energy and show respect for the planet.  Ideas for fundraising on the site include wheelie-a-thons and sponsored neighbourhood cleanups but  kids and parents are encouraged to come up with their own quirky and imaginative penny-making projects.  What can you come up with?

David Suzuki’s name has been synonymous with grassroots environmental advocacy for over 30 years. Recently, he was named by Treehugger.com as one of the top 9 environmental icons of all time. One of the nice things about Suzuki’s style of advocacy is that he brings planetary stewardship right into our living rooms, non-judgementally offering suggestions to help each of us see our contribution to the environment in non-threatening baby steps. Now, he wants to do that a little more literally. Through the month of April, David Suzuki wants us to open up our living rooms to friends and neighbours and have conversations about what we can all do to live well, simply.  Read more...

Adolescent medicine practitioner and Yale faculty member Dr. Sydney Speiesel has written an article for Slate about the multitude of different treatments available to autistics, and examines the efficacy of some of the more popular ones before questioning why parents swear by treatments which don’t stand up to scientific scrutiny.  Read more...

Secret Agent 23 Skidoo is on a not-so-secret mission – to bring real, modern music to families. After spending over a decade touring nationally with a live hip hop group, 23 Skidoo recognized a need for music that parents could share with their kids – and really enjoy sharing, so he returned to Asheville, NC and got  a band together to make it happen. Secret Agent 23 Skidoo mixes classic hip hop beats with influences from bluegrass to reggae. The result is infectious, sophisticated music that allows him to make music and be with his daughter, which, as he says, “is the whole point, anyhow”

Getting silly with the kids can be a really fun time, and a really great bonding experience. Kids love it when grownups engage them on their level, and laughing with our kids is just good fun. In this spirit, Bunch would like to point your bunch to Zoomdoggle‘s Gurn-a-thon.  What’s Gurn? Well, according to Wikipedia: “A gurn or chuck is a distorted facial expression, and a verb to describe the action” and “Gurning contests are a rural English tradition. They are thought to have originated in 1297” Still don’t believe us? Check out this BBC page for the 2001 World Gurning Championships

When you’re done giggling over the silliness over there, why not take some pictures of your bunch’s wacky gurns and send them on to Zoomdoggle for a chance to win a set of Buckyballs. As an incentive to get silly with your kids, Bunch families who enter and identify themselves in the comments with a link to Bunch will receive awesome Bunch t-shirts!  Feel free to send your  silly face pictures to us directly, as well!