Steve’s first solo album “Break Away” had fans divided as it was so much different from his work with FM, but many grew to love it as it was something different from the norm.

For the second album Escape Music managing director Khalil Turk introduced Tor Talle to Steve Overland and they started writing together materials for the past 12 months and they decided to take this album towards more AOR/Rock which Steve Overland well known for and much loved for, and the result is “Diamond Dealer“. What Steve gives us with his second outing is a more classic approach to melodic rock, with great songs that have feeling and depth.

Songs such as “Brave new world”, “I’m Still Breathing” and “Heart’s don’t lie”, “Bring Me Water” all hit home with maximum effect. They are sung from the heart and it is another testimony to the fact that Steve is probably the most passionate vocalist that the UK has ever produced.

Visiting a major shrine in Tokyo, I decided to stop and read some of the wishes written on wooden placards. I had thought they would all be about love and world peace. Of course, many are, but some are hilarious. Not sure if it’s bad to read others’ wishes, but they are public and I could not help myself.

Here are some of the best ones in English. Above: “I want a BMW 3 Series with real leather seats and a Bose sounds system and a GPS nav. system with a cute Japanese girl voice and seat warmers so my butt stays warm in the winter.”

“Simon has clear direction in his life and is determined to be + stay debt free with a house that owns . . . . He understands that it is all down to him– go for it tree!!!”

“Wish my daughter Linting (?) come to her senses + break away from Dario completely and never see him again. Wish good health, safe . . . Heal me + let me live a long healthy happy life.”

Below is what all the cards called ema in Japanese look like underneath the giant tree.

More wish cards after the jump.

“Longevity & Happiness . . . . And live in a big home beach side that comes our way. -K & A, Australia”

“I want my mommy and daddy to live forever. Also, I want to be happy.”

“I wish for world peace where love is all around. I wish that my family including my dog blue ! ^_^ would be happy everywhere all the time. I wish for victory in every bball match I play, an (sic) that I wold grow 8 cm taller and be 5 kg slimmer. I would also wish for a good gf ^_^, $500,000, An Aston Martin vantage roadster V8, or an Audi R8-  <break> Please help me fuffil (sic) my wishes, byez, PEACE!”

“I wish that my Pa Pa will slim down to at least 80 kg.”

And lastly one positive message is included: “A world without nukes. Yes we can. PEACE!”

Sheish and I are back in the studio working on the first tracks for what will eventually morph into the follow up to our debut CD, The Stillest Hour. And after steady gigging over the last two to three months, the chemistry was immediately there. We lay down the first takes of seven new tracks, including new(ish) poems And What Voice Says and Heyford Street.

We also recorded a couple of older poems, Hide and Break Away, both of which were published in issue 5 of Mascara Review.

Here’s a new edit of Break Away:

Break Away

i.

This landscape folds in on itself. Everything that
moves – wind, dust, laughter – changes. Streets
soften. Sunlight plays across glass, but windows
appear blank unless viewed from within. Walls
begin to sweat & sour. We give it up & go.

ii.

You’ve put on your Marilyn perfume. Our old
letters have never smelled so sweet, our
memories seemed so true. I’ve plotted our escape
to the island – dawn light breaking in the window
salt breeze carrying the ocean’s secrets.

iii.

It’s past noon and the weather can’t hold. Take off
your silence and your coat. Let’s chance it – throw
ourselves to the season. There’s a cold that starts
in certainty. You see? There’s only one thing
left to do. Sweep you off your feet.

iv.

Here’s a necklace of water. A puzzle
that began the night your mother walked
along the shore and took the ocean by its lapels.
Empty your basket of black stones. When we
arrive, sunlight will follow, the waters will calm.

Yeah it was sounding good… this one won’t take us two and a half years!

The Unseen este o formatie americana de street punk / hardcore, creata in 1993. Este una dintre cele mai importante formatii de acest gen care este inca in activitate. Muzica lor este nervoasa, rapida si agresiva, iar versurile prezinta necenzurat lumea ciudata in care traim. Listen and enjoy!

False hope, de pe albumul “Explode“

You can never go home, de pe albumul “State Of Discontent”

Break away, de pe albumul “Internal Salvation”

Since the return of veteran male solo singers, Park Hyo Shin, Tei and Kim Tae Woo; another special all male ballad group will form to reinforce the male side this fall.

8eight’s Lee Hyun, SG Wannabe’s Kim Jin Ho, 2AM’s Lee Chang Min, and K. Will are the chosen men for the job and they will make their debut on Mnet Countdown singing Big Mama’s “Break Away.”

Those power balladeers have all very distinct voices and it’ll be awesome to see how it turns out

T-Ara’s getting a lot of attention these days and they certainly grabbed my view when I heard they were performing Big Mama’s Break Away on Kim Jung Eun’s Chocolate.

Big Mama is one of the most formidable girl groups and many idols both, guys and girls, still hold their music as one of their most powerful influences. “Break Away” was the single that launched the group into stardom and besides their unique voices, they were what you called idol in a different sense.

I was really on pins on needles with this one because not only is it truly a classic but it’s a very hard song to sing. But the T-ara girls sang the song with justice that it did deserve. Boram, girl, you got some monster vocals.

Check out their performances below!

Break Away Performance

Lies Performance

It’s come to the point where I look forward to my dreams to see what twisted scenario my brain is going to spit out at me while I’m sleeping.  When I wake up and I either haven’t had a dream (to my knowledge), or I already know that I have forgotten it, I feel somewhat frustrated and cheated, although there’s nothing I can do.  But the past couple of weeks, as you’ll know if you’ve been checking in here from time to time, I’ve been having an extraordinary string of weird, convoluted dreams.  Last night’s was more a reversion to type, where I had been with my mother and my nan in town, except for some reason I had to catch the bus up to my nan’s house by myself.  I remember I was smoking at the bus stop, anxiously scanning the streets to make sure that I wasn’t caught by my family.  The bus was taking an extremely long time to turn up, and just before it did, this girl from school that I used to know, called Kate Noble, appeared and began to stalk me, circling the bus stop and grinning in my face (in a creepy way).

I thought I had shaken her off when I got on the bus, which looked more like a coach. The driver indicated that the only free seat was the one directly behind him (right at the front) so I sat there, only to discover that Kate was sat behind me, wearing a knitted black shawl around her head and shoulders so as to make her look like a creepy gypsy, with her heavy black eye makeup and violet lipstick with blinding white teeth.  She kept trying to steal things from me (at one point, the driver of the bus turned round and indicated to me that she had stolen my gold and silver ring, a plastic piece of jewellery my father had bought me as a misguided Christmas present a few years ago), and after a while I turned around and started threatening her to leave me alone, I swore at her and called her a cunt, and she just laughed at me.  That was about it, although I remember a knife being involved, though I’m not sure if I tried to kill her or if she intended to murder me.

I often have dreams where I’m being stalked, where there is a murderer or killer or evil person chasing me for some reason.  I have always loved horror movies, and when I was a child I used to watch the murder mysteries and movies that my mother would tape from the nights before.  Looking back, I guess I was quite young to be watching those kinds of things, but I only occasionally got scared and I found the stories quite exciting and absorbing, as well as psychologically stimulating.  Trying to work out who the killer was, what motivated them to do what they did and their methods was like a detective game for me, and I look back fondly on those times I shared with my mum watching programmes in the mornings when I was off from school.  I never felt like I couldn’t handle watching even the scariest films, and it’s come to the point where none of my friends want to watch a large part of my DVD collection because I have a lot of twisted, scary films.

During my waking hours, watching these kinds of thing doesn’t affect me in the slightest, so perhaps my dreams are a manifestation of that? Not to get all Freudian, but it would make sense if the violent and twisted things that I watch are replicated (in a more abstract way) in the dreams that I have, because luckily in reality I have yet to be stalked by a serial killer or be fleeing from my family who had been turned into vampires or even be followed by a compulsive thief.  Right now, I am watching American Psycho, because I am about a third of the way through Bret Easton Ellis’ book and loving it, so I wanted to revisit the film.  The main character, Patrick Bateman, is quite twisted and yet extremely hollow, actively conforming to a yuppie stereotype and exhibiting no further ambition beyond collecting money, designer clothes and achieving a perfect physique; his addiction to hardcore pornography and penchant for violently murdering beautiful girls is perhaps the most edgy thing about his life which is a qualified success beyond all measure, and yet an utterly heartless and one-dimensional façade.  Perhaps this is why he has developed this irresistible urge to violate, to cause pain and end people’s lives… it’s the most impactful thing that he can do, although the impact is obviously negative.

Despite this, the film is hilarious at the same time as its ideas are interesting and vaguely shocking.  I recognise a world where you are supposed to achieve a checklist of things in order to be “successful” or “happy”: car, well-paid job, trendy social circle, relationship, house… These are all things that I genuinely want, but at the same time I don’t have complete faith that once I’ve achieved these things, I will be any happier than I am now.  I think that most of us seek a way to achieve our wildest dreams while also working towards a more realistic success – one doesn’t necessarily negate the other, but there comes a point where we choose one over the other.  Because not everyone can be famous, most of us go for a realistic, modest version of happiness which is possibly more stable; but either way, nobody knows how much happiness lies at the end of the journey.  I guess that nobody wants to be predictable or mundane, so we search for ways to make us edgy.  Rather than murdering or raping people (as does Patrick Bateman), I choose to have killer fashion sense and make my own music (that’s also in pursuit of achieving my dreams of being a singer, so I try to keep my dreams alive while living an everyday life).  That’s the way that I set myself apart from others, even in my own head.  We all have our own ‘thing’, I guess…

But at the end of the day (I don’t know if this is true in American Psycho the book, as I haven’t even gotten halfway through it yet), it remains to be seen whether it truly satisfies us.  All I want, which is part of the reason why I want to entertain, why I love to sing and create music, why I want to be a Careers Adviser for my more ‘realistic’ vocation, is to make a difference to people’s lives, to have an impact on society, to be important and remembered; to matter. I guess that Patrick Bateman is driven to choosing to murder people (I know it is a paradox to be “driven to choose to do something” but it’s the best, most immediate way I can think of to express how we are at once responsible and moulded by society and environment for the choices that we make) in the same pursuit : to break away from mundane ordinary life, and to make an unforgettable impact.  I hope to do the same, but in a more positive and less damaging, psychopathic way!!!   I hope that my dreams just stay as dreams, because they are exciting, interesting and yet utterly harmless.  I guess that I enjoy Street Fighter IV in the same way – it’s edgy, violent and satisfying, but it’s just a game and I have no desire (96% of the time) to kick anyone’s face in.  I suppose all I am trying to say is that while murder is inexcusable, I can also see how current society, employment and the hierarchies which exist within each can drive somebody apparently successful and balanced to do shocking and unbalanced things.  I just hope to do things which shock people in a good way, rather than in a bad (or illegal) one.

When I was younger and we lived in the country, my family joined the organization ‘The Fresh Air Fund.’

The Fresh Air Fund creates a network between families in inner cities who want their children to spend the summers away from their urban metropolis(es) … yeah I know that’s probably not a word

Anyways the idea … at least the idea my family had … was that in the summer, parents are working and the children and teens are out of school with no supervision – which for most kids means a higher chance of getting into trouble … so in short they are sent to stay in the country where there is nothing to do and families hopefully have one parent who stays at home.

I don’t really remember the first girl that stayed with us other than she took some of my stuff – but a couple years later, Natalie came to stay with us from New York (Queens) I think … but not the decent part of Queens … the government housing part that you see in movies. The reason I wanted to share this is because there are so many kinds who have no one to listen to them (underprivileged or not)!

I’m not sure why, but I’ve been thinking a lot about Natalie and the time she spent with our family. Now that I’m older and am able to reflect on the intricacies and social awkwardness of the situation, I – personally – can’t imagine sending my child away for the summer to live with a family I had never met, knew very little about, aside from a piece of paper, and probably had little in common with. Don’t get me wrong, the organization’s great and a lot of people where I live are host families and I think it’s a great idea … but it’s very one sided … you don’t really get to see their world or understand completely where they (the child) are coming from, but they get to know a lot about you, and some of the children come back year after year and become a sort of extended part of the family they stay with.

I guess though if I put myself in the shoes of the parent(s), grandparents, guardian, or older sibling(s) I can imagine living in a world where anything seemed better … where any opportunity to escape would feel like a miracle. Living in central PA, there are a lot of mountains, and I always grew up wondering what was on the other side (I still do … and sometimes I know … sometimes I don’t). Not being able to see a way out can create a kind of panic – just like being claustrophobic. I think maybe it’s the same as not having transportation and staring at planes or trains wondering who the passengers are, where they’re from, where they’re going.

All of us need an escape … not just physically, but emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. But imagine if you had no money to escape your world, you had no one to listen to you, everyone was constantly reminding you that you could never break out, if no one had ever told you about God or faith or potential!

These kids – whether they’re part of ‘The Fresh Air Fund’ or another organization, church, camp, or community – are living in a world that’s teaching them you have to use people to get ahead, that love is a lie, that money is God, that everyone lies, that even their parents will leave them … wouldn’t you want to break out?!

We as adults have an opportunity to make it up to the children, teens, and young adults who are the victims of the worst crisis our country has faced. Most of them have been affected by divorce, death, AIDs & HIV, sexual abuse, drugs and alcohol abuse, gang violence, unqualified teachers and outdated academic resources, and the list goes on and on. I know it sounds like there is no hope … but there is, and YOU are it!

Day after day I have watched students walk around campus with headphones blasting music drowning out the world, keeping their heads down because they’re afraid of interaction, gossiping about one another, skipping class, abusing alcohol, sex, friends, and not knowing that there’s a better life for them! So I have decided to take a stand and try to make a difference even if it’s just in one person’s life.

This year I’m trying to take a step back and understand where people are coming from more so than I have in the past (unfortunately). With my job, listening and even hearing what isn’t said is so important … sometimes crucial. So I guess the reason I’m writing this is because I signed up to participate in a program on campus called ‘Fast Start’. Fast Start teams up university staff, faculty, and upperclassmen with freshmen who are a minority (whatever that even means now). Anyways … the mentors met for training and were discussing what our roles were as mentors/role models, etc. It reminded me a little of doing ‘Boys and Girls Club’ during college or even ‘Big Brothers & Big Sisters’

I have yet to meet my mentee … but I look forward to learning about her dreams, aspirations, joy, sorrow, faith, language, friends, family, home, classes, professors, roommate(s), and whatever else she is willing to let me listen to!

If you have free time and know a child, teen, young adult who could use a helping hand, a shoulder to lean on, open arms, or any other accurate (but cliched) description of a mentor … I challenge you to change a life!

I challenge you to help someone break out – so that someday they’ll be inspired to do the same! For more information on The Fresh Air Fund visit www.FreshAir.org

I leave you with the words which I can imagine every teen is thinking …

“my empty room – crowded too soon look for the fire escape – picture myself running like hell – making my get away the walls are caving in with no warning this ship is sinking i gotta swim for it i’m running out of air

R:// break me out tonight i wanna see the sun rising anywhere but here

come with me, this could be the only chance we get, we gotta take it

don’t do it now we’ll never make it

lose this crowd, break me out

we’ll stare at our feet – sneak down the street some kind of secret race – they’ll carry on won’t notice we’re gone – so easily replaced the walls are caving in with no warning this ship is sinking i gotta swim for it i’m running out of air

the walls are caving in with no warning this ship is sinking i gotta swim for it i got a feeling we’re better off anyway i don’t care what they say

~ ‘Break Me Out’ by The Rescues

taken by rustlingleafdesign on Flickr

Oh my. Just when I thought I had gotten off of one roller coaster, I get shoved back onto another one.

There are too many things that are out of my control and it’s making me feel disconnected from everything, including myself. My future feels more uncertain than ever, and if you know me, you know that I always like to know what’s coming ahead; what to plan for. This uncertainty is making me let go of what’s important, because there’s nothing concrete to look forward to. All I see is the unknown.

I feel like I’ve lost that spark I had inside of me. That fire that burned bright at the thought of life’s possibilities. I used to be so passionate about many things..and while I rarely found others who were as passionate as me, I stayed strong. Nowadays I find going through the motions like everyone else.

“You were just a child
Ready to explore
And everything you saw
Looked like an open door”
Nelly Furtado – Build You Up

It’s hard to keep putting faith into people when they continue to let you down. Everyone’s just playing this game where they are only in it for themselves, because they too have been screwed over in one way or another. I guess that’s where I was different. No matter how many times someone wronged me, I went into every new friendship/relationship/situation with the highest of hopes and expectations. Where has that led me?

Maybe being away from my family for so long has made me cynical. I’m losing sight of what used to define my life in terms of values, morals, and goals. I just want to be free of this apartment, school, and Boston. I love being here but I need to break away and go back to my roots for a while.

peace&love

I’ll spread my wings and I’ll learn how to fly.
I’ll do what it takes till I touch the sky.
Make a wish, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away.
Out of the darkness and into the sun.
But I won’t forget all the ones that I love.
I’ll take a risk, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away.. __Kelly Clarkson <Break Away>

The song is specially dedicated to those who willing to fly.

To fly as far as possible and as high as possible.

To keep on the trail, hardwork and dedication are the prerequisites to the success.

The path of success may seem like a long journey, but if you believe in yourself and the change that you are capable to make, it is already in your hand.

Let’s go!

Fly across the boundaries to seek for it.

Never give up!

Fly!^^

A few days ago, I was in a bad mood. I was occupied with several issues in my head and was feeling under the weather. Just happened to come across this move on WB channel.

Pleasantville, with the Spiderman Tobey Macguire, Reese Witherspoon and various other actors, for the sheer lack of adjectives, is a very interesting movie. It points at ‘breaking away’ from the mundane and free yourselves to surpass the age old rigid concepts of life.

As immature-ish as it sounds, the movie begins with David (Tobey) and Jeniffer (Reese) being transported in a TV. A 1950 sitcom pulls them in and they end up in a Black and White world which runs, well, almost perfectly. The duo start to break away from the strict rules of Pleasantville, causing initial disharmony which transforms into a revolution amongst the citizens of Pleasantville. Self-realisations with reignited desires to adopt the changing environment, makes the people at Pleasantville bold and rebellious.

The point of the movie is simple, and is simply put as well. All characters living in a grey world realise that it is not the world that can change them – the basic instinct to adapt to newer situations is inherent.

I really liked the movie, though I am not sure if I can vouch for it as one of my favourites.

If you get your hands on it, do watch it on a dull Saturday evening.

Four Korean male singers Lee Hyun (8eight ), Kim Jin Ho (SG Wannabe), Lee Chang Min (2AM) and K.Will performed Big Mama’s hit “Break Away” on stage together for the first time as the “male version of Big Mama”. It was some sort of special performance for M! Countdown on April 30. I thought the singing was OK, certainly has nothing on Big Mama, but the stage presentation was pretty cool. The fact that they chose to perform Big Mama’s song is a testament to how respected Big Mama is in Korean music industry.

8eight Lee Hyun, SG Wannabe Kim Jin Ho, 2AM Lee Chang Min and KWill will transform as the male version of Big Mama.

The 4 will come together to perform group Big Mama’s debut song ‘Break Away’ on Mnet M!Countdown on 30th April for a special stage.

The 4 are known to be vocally strong and the special stage is definitely one to look forward to.

source: kbites

Ross is looking really uncomfortable with my presence. He’s even moving his eyes away from me constantly.

The one who’s acting like a wolf now is me. I’m standing there very still, staring at him straight into his eyes without even blinking.

Heck, I was so under control that I was even hardly breathing and ready to attack him when he least expected it.

I don’t remember how, but I did manage to shift the topic to that of love relationships and he started going in the direction that in that area he hasn’t been handling it well, to which I replied, “yeah, like when you dumped me when you didn’t call me back when you said you would, and not hearing about you ever again.”

Ross once again looked away and had a face of not knowing what to do or say.

“Well, that is how people in this city are” said he. “You go out with them and then they disappear without a trace for no apparent reason.”

I’m still standing still but now with an exaggerated look of ‘WTF are you talking about??’ Oh, I get it. You dated some chick that later dumped you and now you did it to me, and other women, to get even at life?

What a jerk! Honestly, you should change your name to A-Hole.

Ross realized what a total jackass he has made of himself and quickly shifted topics.

“So…what else are you up to?” asked he.

“Well, for starters, I have a blog,” I answered.

“And…what do you write about??”

“About my single life and the guys I’ve met.”

(Ross’s eyes opened real wide and he now has a very concerned look.) “Am I in it??”

“Oh yes you are!” said I with a very big smile on my face. (Score!! Revenge can be so awfully sweet don’t you think?)

Ross doesn’t know where to go from here. I can’t stand being here talking to this guy any longer so I decide to break away.

“There’s someone here I want to say ‘hello’ to…”

“Yeah,” said Ross, “see you in next month’s event.” Ross ran away as fast as an animal runs when being chased or hunted, which at this point didn’t surprise me (him or his behavior).

I didn’t get to say the last word, but this I can definitely say about this ‘not even close’ children’ story: “Y colorín colorado, este cuento se ha acabado” (Snip, snap out, this tale’s told out).

In other words: The End.

Big Mama is one of the few mainstream group in Korea that possess very powerful voices. This song introduces  an awesome and unique R&B melody that we have never seen in Kpop before. The beats, the voices, and the instruments in this song are simply perfect. If you are tired of all those typical Korean ballads or boyband rebellious music, then this is something you should try out.

Please leave a comment if you want to download the song. I can send it to you!

Song: Break Away

Singer: Big Mama

Album: Like the Bible vol.1

Listen:

http://www.imeem.com/people/RogOTmg/music/Gr2NurLi/big-mama-break-away/

MV:

Lyrics: (aheeyah)

Break Away

이젠 날 떠나가줘 이젠 날 다잊어줘
나를 버리고 살아줘 가져가 내사랑을 내게 돌려줘

차라리 떠났다면 차라리 죽었다면
어쩔수없이 참을텐데 이대로 견디기가 너무 힘들어

단한번 나를 봐주기를 말을 해주기를 예전처럼 단한번만
그렇게 너를 기다리고 너를 사랑 해왔는데

Break away no I can wait
내가 널 보내줄께 편하게
I’ll make my way I throw my pain
이젠 난 너 없이도 살수있게

널 떠나 맘 편하게 널 떠나 행복하게 이젠 내 안에 너를 버려
널 위해 힘들었던 지난 날은 지웠어

우연히 나를 보더라도 나를 지나쳐줘 너를 잊은 나를 위해
혹시 너 말을 걸어와도 나는 모른체 할테니

Break away no I can wait
내가 널 보내줄께 편하게
I’ll make my way I throw my pain
이젠 난 너 없이도 살수있게

갑자기 니가 또 생각나 널 떠난 거란걸 잊고서
내가 널 찾아도 넌 모르는척 누굴 찾아왔냐고
또 다시 날 돌아서줘

I’ll make my way I throw my pain
다시 넌 나보고 살순없어
Break away no I can wait 이젠날 다 버리고 떠나줘
I’ll make my way I throw my pain
처음부터 넌 없었던 사람처럼
Break away

Translation:(aheeyah)

Break away
translation by: gyool

Leave me now..
Forget everything now
Throw me away and live..
Return my love that you took

If you left, if you died
Then I would hold it in forcefully
But to take it like this, its too hard

I hope just once that you will see me
That you will tell me
Just like the past times, just once..
I waited and loved you so much..

*break away no I can wait
I’ll let you go comfortably
I’ll make my way I throw my pain
I can live without you now

I left you so my heart is comfortable
I left you so I am happy
I threw you out of my heart
For you, I erased the hard days

Even if you see me accidently
Then please just pass by
For me who is trying to forget you
And if you talk to me
I will pretend I dont know you

repeat *

Suddenly I think of you
When I forgot that you left..
Even if I find you,
You pretend that you dont know saying “who is this..”
And you make me turn back again

I’ll make my way I throw my pain
I cant live again looking at you
break away no i can wait
Now throw all of me away and leave

I’ll make my way I throw my pain
So say that you werent there since the beginning
break away.

     ”Everthing would be great and everything would be good, if everybody gave like everybody could…”                                      ~My Morning Jacket~

As we all know, we have got to change our world.  And it won’t be one person changing the world; it has to be a collective action.  If we all do a little, the result will be a domino effect of positive change, the quintessential butterfly effect. 

So where can you begin?  With spring break just around the corner, I think this week-long vacation is a perfect opportunity for some community work.  I don’t mean you have to devote your entire, valuable and rare vacation time to service.  But maybe an afternoon of that free week?  Or even a day?  Imagine the change that could happen if all the university students across the country did a little service work during their spring break.  The results would be uncountable. 

Okay, so what are your options?  Well there are service trips, such as Enchanting Challenge’s Educational Ecological Service Trip to Tulum, Mexico.  There are also wonderful service trip opportunities through your university, Break Away, Sierra Club, and Habitat for Humanity. 

And if you can’t give your whole break to service?  Don’t worry–there are PLENTY of shorter-term options.  In yesterday’s post we talked about Leave No Trace eco-service projects you can get involved with, such as educational workshops and/or partnership initiatives with hiking groups and state park services.  Leave No Trace focuses on natural restoration, placing nature as the highest priority on our to-do list.  On their website they have the beautiful Frank Loyd Wright quote: “I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.”  If Mother-Earth is your bag, I recommend contacting Leave No Trace today!

(photo taken from the Leave No Trace website)

Another great place to go for eco-service is your state’s department of conservation!  Most of the 50 states have a Department of Conservation, and most of those departments ask for service work to help them accomplish their environmental goals.  For example, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources asks its citizens to help them in their forest clean-up efforts.  On their website they give their residents the following message:

We can only return our forests to their natural state if we work together to combine our time, energy, and resources to remove existing trash and stop the dumping in our forests.

(photo taken from the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources site)

Once again, a call to collective action.  No one can do it alone.  If you think you would like to help your state in its wildlife restoration efforts, I encourage you to visit your state’s department of conservation website and notify them of your desire to help!

Even if you feel that Leave No Trace and/or your state’s department of conservation do not offer programs just right for you, they may be able to point you in the right direction.  Another great resource to check out is the Sierra Club, as the organization has chapters in all 50 states and all of those chapters have lots of local opportunities for you to devote as little or as much of your time as you please. 

Below is a list of some great eco-service initiatives in the US.  Unfortunately, they are state-specific, so are not applicable to all of our readers, but it can help give you an idea of what is out there.

Get Outdoors Nevada (NV)

Adventure Camp with the Colorado Youth Program (CO)

Keep El Paso Beautiful (TX)

Kids of the Bay (CA)

Kids vs. Global Warming (CA)

“Kids Adopt-A-Beach” Cleanup Day (CA)

Village of Round Lake Beach Beautificiation Program (IL)