[The intended 'Harry Potter' - Environmental Story Books for children. Aimed, by a Chicago brother and sister team, to To educate, entertain and engage kids in the environmental movement.'
Here is a very well funded, very commercial - aimed at mass up-scale USA market, very slick series of publications ($20 each, 1st one just published), website, products all for sale to encourage children to 'help the environment.' And 'At minimum, [to] pledge to do at least one special thing every year to learn more about the environment or to help protect it.' It's focus seems to be USA-centric.
The Ecoseekers website is for kids to talk with each other about the positive things they are doing for nature. The stated purpose is: 'To educate, entertain and engage kids in the environmental movement.'
'The EcoSeekers is an eco-enterprise for kids. Created by a brother and sister, our goal is to educate and engage the next generation in the environmental movement through branded entertainment, products and an active online and offline community for kids.'
Hopefully Ecoseekers will actively encourage kids to be outside, be in nature, actually see, hear, feel nature not not just read books about nature as merely an intellectual, the thing to do.
The website doesn't link to other environmental books, groups, activies ... it is a whole unto itself.
Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots
http://www.rootsandshoots.org/
- the power of youth is global - program takes a much more global hands on interest in all of nature.]
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The Ecoseekers Pledge
http://www.theecoseekers.com/ecoseekerspledge.aspx
I understand that other kids and adults are influenced by my actions. So, I will try to be responsible in what I do, what I buy and what I say.
I pledge to do as much as I can to learn about and help the environment. At minimum, I pledge to do at least one special thing every year to learn more about the environment or to help protect it. This year it will be:
Land of Curiosities: A New Children's Book Could Create Another Generation of Environmentalists [VIDEO]
Posted by David Neil, Ecoseekers at 12:01 PM on January 31, 2008.
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/75606/
A great gift to teach environmental history and promote eco-values for younger readers.
is the first book in a collection of stories about defining events and themes in the history of the environmental movement as told through the experiences of courageous young fictional characters. Join the Clifton family as they descend into Yellowstone the year that it is declared the world’s first national park. Encounter bison, meet prospectors, travel with railroad men, and run into the Bannock tribe. In their first adventure, James and Alice Clifton must ultimately learn to protect each other and the environment as they uncover the evil plot of Billy “Bloody” Knuckles. Through James (age 12) and Alice (age 9), you will experience a page-turning adventure while learning important environmental lessons and insights.
( See video about the book, website, ...
The highly-acclaimed book includes a 16-page real history section. The book is an intermediate to young adult novel for ages 8 and up (and loved by adults too). A great gift to teach environmental history and promote eco-values for younger readers… For more information and to purchase, visit www.theecoseekers.com and check out the video to your right for more.
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For Educators and the Curious
http://www.theecoseekers.com/educators.aspx
(MORE COMING SOON*)
*here you will find more about the book, the author’s adventures and notes, and the real history of the time period, including primary source documents like journals and other writings from actual people from the 1870s. We will also provide suggestions for educators to incorporate the book and its lessons into their classroom teachings.
Historical Timeline
1836
– Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Nature is published and becomes a central teaching of the transcendental movement.
1854
– Henry David Thoreau’s Walden is published and becomes a celebrated masterpiece on the natural world and personal reflection.
1859
– Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species is published and becomes the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature and species evolution.
1861
– U.S. Civil War begins.
1863
– President Abraham Lincoln recites Emancipation Proclamation: declares black slaves free in seceded Confederate States and allows for the first-time in the history of the United States black men into the Union Army and Navy.
1864 – The town of Bozeman, Montana, is founded.
– The Northern Pacific Railroad is chartered as the first transcontinental railroad in the United States and later aggressively seeks to establish Yellowstone as a national park. Contrary to what Miles and James had hoped, the Northern Pacific Railroad didn’t actually arrive in Bozeman until 1883. Nearly two-thirds (15,000 men) of the laborers who would lay the tracks for the Western Division of the Northern Pacific were Chinese.
– The U.S. federal government grants to the State of California Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove of the Giant Sequoias to be set-aside and protected forever. This idea was the spark that led to the creation of Yellowstone National Park. Yosemite itself eventually becomes a national park in 1890.
1865
– U.S. Civil War ends.
– 13th Amendment to U.S. Constitution outlaws slavery in the United States.
– Lewis Carroll’s children’s book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, is published. Yellowstone had many popular nicknames when the park was created, including “Wonderland,” which was based on the book.
1866
– A German biologist invents the term "ecology,” which refers to the interaction of all living things with each other and their environment. The term literally means "study of the house.”
1867
– Fort Ellis is established.
– John Muir begins 1,000 walk from Indiana to Florida to study and experience the wonders of the wilderness.
– William F. Cody assumes the nickname of “Buffalo Bill” upon allegedly killing over 4,000 bison in a short time period. In subsequent years, his Wild West show tours the country and becomes world famous.
1868
– Frederick and Phillip Bottler establish a ranch known as “the Bottler Ranch” along the Yellowstone River, becoming the first settlement between Bozeman and what would become Yellowstone National Park.
– 14th Amendment to U.S. Constitution grants all people in the United States equal protection under the law.
1869 – The first significant organized expedition known as the Folsom-Cook-Peterson Expedition begins to explore the Yellowstone area to document its wonders.
– Former Union General Ulysses S. Grant is elected President of the United States.
– Wyoming becomes first U.S. territory or state to grant women the right to vote.
1870
– The second significant organized expedition known as the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition explores the Yellowstone area.
– Utah Territory grants women the right to vote.
– 15th Amendment to U.S. Constitution grants black men the right to vote.
1871
– A government funded expedition known as the Hayden Expedition departs from Fort Ellis to explore the vast Yellowstone territory. Ferdinand Hayden leads the expedition along with artist Thomas Moran, photographer Henry Jackson and other scientists, whose efforts influence the public and politicians to establish Yellowstone as a national park.
– A letter from a Northern Pacific Railroad executive to Ferdinand Hayden encourages the creation of a national park for Yellowstone. This is the first known written historical evidence of someone suggesting that Yellowstone be established as a national park.
– The McCartney Hotel is built by Harry Horr and James McCartney.
– The so-called Sheepeater tribe is the only known Native American nation to have resided year-round within what became Yellowstone National Park; but, by 1871 the tribe relocated to the Shoshone Wind River Reservation.
– The Great Chicago Fire destroys large sections of Chicago killing over 300 people.
– The first Major League Baseball game is played.
1872
– Susan B. Anthony is arrested in New York for trying to vote in the U.S. presidential election. Sojourner Truth, a black feminist, tries to vote in Michigan but is denied a ballot and told to leave.
– Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman to run for U.S. President (which James overhead the men in Miles’ shop discussing).
– The first Arbor Day takes place in Nebraska and is subsequently declared a state holiday in all 50 U.S. states and by the federal government to encourage tree planting and increased awareness about the importance of trees.
– Yellowstone National Park is established by the United States Congress and signed into law by President Grant on March 1, 1872.
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About Us
http://www.theecoseekers.com/aboutus.aspx The EcoSeekers is an eco-enterprise for kids. Created by a brother and sister, our goal is to educate and engage the next generation in the environmental movement through branded entertainment, products and an active online and offline community for kids.
Book Collection
Our first book collection tells stories about defining events and themes in the history of the environmental movement as told through the experiences of courageous young fictional characters. We think of our characters as historical guides, providing kids with a framework to better understand and appreciate nature and environmentalism --- but in a fun and non-preachy manner.
Community & Marketplace
Our stories and characters introduce kids (and adults) to The EcoSeekers Community --- a place to learn, share ideas, and interact with other EcoSeekers who have TAKEN THE PLEDGE. Through The EcoSeekers marketplace, kids and adults are introduced to eco-friendly products and other ways to be responsible consumers.
Environmental Commitment
We are committed to finding practical, eco-responsible solutions to fulfill our mission. All books are printed on 50% post-consumer, chlorine and acid free recycled paper, using soy-based ink, and the company’s website and email are powered exclusively by solar electricity. To learn more, click here.
Founders If you would like to know more about the founders ---“Dave and Dee” --- please read on. If you are tired of reading by now but still want to get a general sense of who the founders are and their love for adventures, then take a look at this photo of them in Alaska!
“Soon, we hope, there will be a community of kids across the whole world, telling their own stories, and working together to protect each other and our shared environment. Working together, we can accomplish far more than alone. Come join us…”
David H. Neil (“Dave”) is the co-founder and CEO of The Eco Seekers™. Inspired by the birth of his son, Dave persuaded his sister to join him in creating an eco-enterprise for kids to help make the world a better place.
Dave is also the U.S. Representative of a European company that constructs highly energy-efficient “green” townhouses and condominiums.
Dave previously served as the Director of Special Projects in the CEO’s office of North America’s first and largest community development and environmental bank. He also has significant experience in the nonprofit sector, including work at philanthropic foundation in New York City. In 1995, Dave created and led for six years a 501(c)(3) nonprofit volunteer organization dedicated to the elimination of prejudice and discrimination in local communities through youth-to-youth mentoring and awareness initiatives. At its peak, the organization had six chapters at colleges and high schools across the United States and one in India.
Dave received his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and B.A. from Vassar College with honors in Sociology, where he also served as the student assistant to the President. He has received various public service awards including the Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship Student Advocate Award and the Celebrate Literacy Award from the International Reading Association. He was a member of the USA Today All-USA College Academic Team and a Truman Scholar finalist.
Dave was born in Chicago, Illinois, and currently resides in Nyack, New York, with his wife and son.
Deanna S. Neil (“Dee”) is the co-founder of The Eco Seekers™ and author of “The Land of Curiosities”, which is her first book.
Although she was an active environmentalist as a kid, she fell out of touch with the movement and its goals as she got older. One day, her organics-obsessed brother Dave asked her to write a book for kids about the environment. She became nostalgic -- she remembered picking up trash from her neighbor’s yards and putting rocks in her toilet to conserve water as a kid. She felt reconnected to the environmental movement and longed to inspire children to dream of a healthier planet. With their own dreams and aspirations aligned, the brother-sister team of Eco-Seekers was born.
Dee currently also freelances for Weekend America and Public Radio International. She previously worked for the political talk radio network Air America as Segment Producer for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on Ring of Fire, Associate Producer for the Mike Malloy Show, Production Assistant for Steve Earle on The Revolution Starts Now and for Chuck D's show On the Real, She also worked as a web-content writer and produced and hosted weekly webcasts interviewing Al Franken, Mike Papantono, Laura Flanders and other Air America Radio celebrities.
Dee is a professional singer, actor, storyteller, and biblical translator. She recently appeared as the lead in her first independent film “Cardinal Directions” and she’s worked in theater with Robert Falls of the Goodman Theater, actor Terrence Mann, and Israeli playwright Joshua Sobol. She has toured across the country with the ritual theater company Storahtelling, writing and creating dozens of original scripts, leading educator workshops and providing dramatic interpretation of the Old Testament.
Dee has studied voice since she was 16. She studied opera in Italy, and has performed all over New York City with rock bands, opera ensembles and experimental jazz groups. Her original solo show and nightclub act,Enter Night, played at Don’t Tell Mama’s in New York and on The Battersea Barge in London. Her voice has been recorded on a handful of original albums including “Starshine,” a children’s musical about prejudice, and “Rotations”, original music set to the Christian liturgical year. She was the recipient of a vocal scholarship for study in Milan and the first-prize winner of the Wesleyan University Concert Competition.
Dee received her B.A. from Wesleyan University with honors in American Studies and a focus in literature. She speaks fluent Italian, French and Hebrew.
Dee was born in Chicago, Illinois, and currently lives in Brooklyn.
