September 28th, 2009
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
OK, this probably only strikes me as funny, but there’s a site called eNature.com.
Sounds like someone found a way to package up some grass, trees and critters and render it as virtual version of the great outdoors. Sometimes it feels like we’re heading that way, toward a day when all intelligence will be captured inside computers. (Or maybe I’ve just been inside too long today.)
Turns out eNature is all about — actual nature. Once run by the National Wildlife Federation, and now managed by a marketing firm, it’s an online tool for finding out more about wildlife. You can get birding tips, learn about mammal tracks and gather all sorts of details to satisfy your inner Scout.
Here you can read the profiles –penned and vetted by experts — of some 6,000 species.
(Photo: Ron Austing)
Here’s the neat part. You’ll naturally want to know about your local species, so there’s a zip code finder, as well as regional maps. Click and up pops your customized list, which you can sort by birds, butterflies, and mammals. This can be useful for planning hiking expeditions, weekend nature travels, putting out the right bird seed, and during the fall and spring, identifying what’s likely to be breezing through at migration time.
Whether you’re into Little Yellow Butterflies or Green Herons, you can get a read on what they look like, where they live and whether they’re likely to swing by.
eNature also features a greeting card section that offers more than just pretty pictures.
Want to tweak your friends into thinking more about the environment? Send them a card like this one (on the right) that connects the dots between hummingbirds and coffee grown on unsustainable plantations that have been stripped of their natural tree canopy.
Birds need those trees when they head south….and you can do your part by drinking Fair Trade, shade-grown coffee.
It’s all about nature appreciation. And until we really see what we’ve got, we won’t protect it like we should.
(Which reminds me, read our story about how Starbucks, the world’s biggest coffee buyer, is trending in the right direction.)
