(*Disclaimer: As I’m still about 4 months away from motherhood, the following are simply my naïve musings. I fully acknowledge as I explore options on my laptop, in the calm, quiet of my baby-free home that being a new parent is challenging. I pass no judgment on anyone for making the choices they do! I just want to find one that works for my lifestyle and values.)

Who would’ve thought that our babies’ back ends could inspire so much debate? Or to be more precise, how we deal with what comes out of them?

Since I’ve spent much of my life fascinated with disposable waste, it’s no great surprise that the thought of diapers are keeping me up at night. I’m haunted by visions of dirty diaper mountains, plagued by this dirtiest of all parental plights. Disposables or cloth? Biodegradable/compostable eco-friendly/green, or (is it really possible) diaperless? I must say, it’s fairly daunting.

I’ve now spent more time now than I care to admit scouring the Internet and badgering friends for the greenest diaper solutions. While I can’t say I’ve found one that fits all of my criteria i.e. produces close to zero waste, AND leaves Mom and Dad relatively sane, there are a few “better” choices out there that I plan to try on for size. Her little size, that is….

First, a quick review of disposables’ dirty sides:
Waste: Babies use a LOT of diapers. I’ve read anywhere from 3,000 to 6,000 diapers per tot, from infancy through potty training, which amounts to roughly 27.4 billion diapers consumed annually in the US. According to the EPA’s 2009 facts and figures on municipal waste, we sent 3.7 billion tons of dirty diapers to the landfill in 2008, 3.8 billion in 2009, accounting for 2.3% of the total waste stream in 2008, and 2.4% in 2009. And what’s interesting: parents are technically supposed to flush solid waste from dirty diapers into the toilet before tossing them. I can’t say I’ve seen many parents actually do this…am I right here? Which means sending additional tonnage of fecal matter to our landfills.

Chemicals: Disposables are made using chemicals that I wouldn’t necessarily want in contact with a newborns soft skin. They’re often bleached white with Dioxins, contain sodium polyacralate, SAP (super absorbent polymer) to absorb liquids, Tributyl-Tin (a persistent pollutant linked to endocrine disruption and obesity) and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as ethylbenzene, toluene, xylene and dipentene. Of course, there are chemicals associated with conventional cotton as well. A safer bet is organic cotton, bamboo, hemp, wool, or non-toxic, chemical/dye free disposables.

Water: This one depends. Disposables can actually fare better here, compared to home-washing cloth diapers, depending on a few factors. (see below) There are cloth diaper services that reduce water usage through water/energy efficient, dedicated washers – these may or may not come out ahead. More on this later.

Energy: Energy usage for disposables – the crude oil and coal used to manufacture and transport diapers, is considerably higher for disposables vs. reusable cloth. According to the Diaper Pin, it takes a cup of crude oil to make the plastic for a single diaper. Then there are the raw materials used (polyethylene, wood pulp, bleach, sodium polyacrylate), etc etc. And we’re just scratching the surface here!

Finding trusted, sourced information online is challenging. I’ve seen tons of claims put out by both reusable and disposable manufacturers about the respective merits and evils of each. And not all disposables or cloth options are created equally. Here are a few options – including several that we plan to try. We’ll start with what might be the most eco-friendly option of all—ditching the diaper altogether.

ELIMINATION COMMUNICATION (EC) a.k.a. Going “Diaperless”. This is what parents in much of the developing world do, where purchasing pampers just isn’t an option. The idea: parents pay close attention to their baby’s signals, and learn to anticipate their – ahem – every move. When it’s time – maybe she scrunches up her face/wrinkles her brow etc. to signal the coming event – you hold baby over the toilet, or nearby bowl. And by making a “ssss” sound, parents can begin developing a trigger that helps babies understand its “potty time”.

Benefits: major reduction/elimination of diaper waste, no diaper rash, no fussy babies sitting in soiled diapers, acute lines of communication between parent and child, and reportedly much earlier potty training. Parents can try this part of the time to cut back on diaper waste, or full time, for the zealous waste-busters. This is certainly not for everyone – requires some serious vigilance and time, not likely well suited for the working parent. However I must say I’m fascinated, and want to try….even just a least a little bit can cut way back on diaper use. Lets see what I think in 5-6 months…

CLOTH At the center of the on-line diaper debate, cloth diaper are reusable, made from renewable materials, prevent several thousand diapers from ending up in the landfill, and are a one-time rather than a weekly cost, to name a few pros. Some will argue however that cloth diapers use more water and energy due to round-the-clock home washing.

One oft-quoted Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) put out by the UK Environment Agency found minimal differences between the two, looking at a number of criteria for both options to assess their global warming impacts, including the supply chain (energy, water, and air pollution impacts from manufacturing) disposal and/or home laundering scenarios, and waste management. And after 32 pages of graphs, charts, and numbers, comes to the conclusion that – it depends on how parents wash their nappies. Below 60°C, line drying when possible, washing with a full load, using energy efficient washing machines, and passing nappies onto the next generation, cloth washes out as the greener option. And with home washing, sunlight will kill any lingering bacteria, and bleach out stains.

As with all LCAs however, the devil is in the details – the indicators used, and study design, etc. From 5 Gyres perspective, missing from the criteria are the environmental impacts of disposable diapers in the marine environment (cloth will biodegrade, where synthetics will simply fragment into fish food) and some of the other factors mentioned – home washing vs. cloth diaper service from a transportation and chemical standpoint. Others have found fault with this LCA for its flawed assumptions.

There are also Cloth Diaper Services (if the thought of doing laundry 24-7 is enough to drive parents batty) that claim even lower energy/water use than home laundered. Again, I’m not sure how the additional energy expenditures from transportation factor into the equation, or what sort of detergents most of them use, but this still seems a much better option that petroleum-based disposables. And may allow parents without the time for constant laundry to use cloth.

HYBRIDS—REUSABLE SHELL WITH “COMPOSTABLE” INSERTS
Another option for new parents daunted by laundry and/or life with a newborn. A reusable outer shell holds a biodegradable/compostable liner that can be flushed, tossed, or composted, maybe… Two of the top companies here are G-Diaper and Grovia – both with biodegradable inserts. Determining their true compostability is another issue. Overwhelmed by contradictory reviews, I asked two green experts for advice:

Rachel Avalon, a Certified Holistic Nutritionist/Eco Expert, and mother of a newborn has done some extensive research (and practice!) on raising a green baby, and shared her solution – a biodegradable Grovia insert coupled with a G-diaper shell – the best of both worlds without leaks, (apparently a significant issue with G-Diapers) or overly bulky setups. When family members volunteer for the job, she provides a chlorine and fragrance free disposable alternative. And as baby grows, the outer lining is adjustable, and can grow with him/her. So far, Rachel seems happy with her approach. Even so, she’s aimed at re-introducing elimination communication once her baby has the strength and coordination to sit up on a little potty with a bit of her help.

Then, I called Beth Terry for the dirt on compostable diapers. This is another experiment we’ve been thinking about – trying various compostable brands and burying them in our compost bin to compare breakdown times. I was surprised to find that there aren’t really many brands (if any) that are truly compostable.

Beth has done a lot of research on the G-Diaper, investigating their claim of 100% compostability. As she shared, the issue is SAP – super absorbent polymer – a gel that gives diapers their absorbency. While biodegradable diapers contain way less SAP, its still present. SAP doesn’t appear to be biodegradable – it’s a synthetic polymer. So how can these really be 100% compostable? What will happen to these compostable diapers in your home composting facility, as the website suggests we try?

I asked the same question of GroVia, who told me that save for the elastic, everything else in their inserts was biodegradable. As for compostability: “Our GroVia BioDiapers, as well as our GroVia BioSoakers are made with biodegradable and compostable materials. Right now the government does not have guidelines set up for composting of disposable diapers due to the human waste. Due to this unclear definition and legality we can not recommend you composting the disposables or state how long they would take to compost. We can simply state that they are made with biodegradable and compostable materials and give you the facts. We are working with BPI (biodegradability products institute) who is the lead on this and government standards and will be in touch if anything with these guidelines change.”

Hmm…looks like I have more research to do here. I’ll keep you posted on SAP as I dig deeper.

Granted, these both seem like a way better option than plastic, chemical-laden disposables. And we still want to try the backyard composting method (with wet diapers only) for kicks, to see what happens. I don’t think I’ll use this compost on my veggie garden though.

After reading way more than I planned on the topic, I’ve come to the conclusion that as with most environmental issues, there is no one single perfect solution, but there are many great ways to lighten our footprint. So we’ll try a mixture and see what works – a bit of diaperless (even if it only works a percentage of the time) and use cloth as our diaper option, making sure to have a large stash, and line drying to avoid excessive energy use and utilize sunlight for bleaching. If I’m drowning in laundry while still trying to run a non-profit, we always have the cloth service option. And when we have a family member helping out so we can enjoy an evening of adult conversation, we’ll have compostables on hand, which we can experiment with feeding to our worms.

And we’ll remind each other that we have a long life with our little one, in which diapers are just one of many, many choices we’ll grapple with in terms of our impact on the planet…

Parents out there, what’s worked best for you?

This month I have had a life changing experience and from now on I will never be the same person again. It is not the discovery that our local supermarket is finally selling hummus, nor the ground breaking news that my new favourite bottle of wine only costs 2 Euros that have brought about this dramatic turn of events. Whilst these are admittedly big events in my life, what I’m really talking about is my latest and last trip of the winter – to Iceland to ski tour the Troll Peninsula with my father.

After Dad gave me the heads up that he was heading that way to do a bit of backcountry ski exploration, I thought that it would be a fine idea to tag along too, see what all the hype was about, and have a bit of an adventure together. I was ready to be impressed and I had hoped it would be amazing – I’d heard of the cool concept of skiing from summits right down to the sea, had read that Reykjavik had a special vibe, and that the Icelandic people were incredible but I had no idea of just exactly how amazing a place this really would turn out to be. After a night in Reykjavik we boarded a plane to Akureyi in the north of the island and the adventure started as soon as we set foot on the tarmac and were met by probably the best looking mountain guide I have ever laid eyes on. That’s laid EYES people, come on, my Dad might be reading this…

If meeting our guide was a spectacular visual experience for certain female members of the group, it turned out to be nothing in comparison to the awesome landscape that we would spend the week touring together. Northern Iceland is truly immense and when the sun is shining it may be one of the most beautiful places on earth. Even on a cloudy day, when the sun does break through it can light the sea and hills in such a magnificent way that I have only ever seen before in old paintings. Comparisons to Scotland are definitely valid but the difference in Iceland is the mountains – they literally go on and on as far as the eye can see. If trolls are the stuff of fantasy, then the mountains of the Troll Peninsula are equally mythical and legendary.

Considering we were a few miles outside of the Arctic Circle, I was totally prepared that rain/wind/snow/hail/low viz may all have stopped play at anytime on the trip. I thought this would literally come with the territory but fortunately, it was not to be the case. Six days out of six were recorded out on the mountain, anything from 900m to 1,400m of ascent made on a daily basis, steep couloirs skied, and all snow conditions encountered including surprisingly deep floaty powder!! When our handsome guide made the observation that we may have had ‘horseshoes up our asses’ so lucky were we with the weather, I realised just how much fortune was on our side. That was until we were introduced to the local delicacy of rancid shark meat one evening at dinner – let’s just say that anything that reeks of pee and tastes worse than it smells can make you question your luck at anytime!!

To be honest the thing that made me feel the luckiest over the course of the trip was the ability to have shared this trip with my father. I have many more stories that I will tell in upcoming posts but I wanted to start with a realization of what is truly important in this life. Time marches, life moves quickly and can change in an instant so when opportunities like this arise, for whatever reason, it really is so important to seize them if you possibly can.

My father introduced me to this crazy, wonderful world of ski touring several years ago and so it goes without saying that it was just fab to have the opportunity to summit and rip up some quality descents together. At 68 the guy is a total legend and pretty much put the rest of us to shame with his fitness, experience and drinking capabilities over the week! At varying points over the course of the trip, every member of the group was heard to describe him as ‘awesome’ and we all agreed that we sincerely hoped we would still be doing what he was doing when we were 68. Special times are made by special people and I am so grateful to have spent this time in Iceland with my father and so proud that he is my Mountain Dad. I love you Johnny.

For more information on Iceland have a look at www.inspiredbyiceland.com

For details on ski touring on heli skiing the Troll Peninsula, get in touch with JB of Bergmenn Mountain Guides www.bergmenn.com

All images courtesy Sophie Nicolson

It wasn’t until a few years ago, when I was nearing college graduation, that I caught the running bug. When the imminent reality of taking charge of my own life loomed above my head, running was the easiest way to procrastinate starting thesis research, job applications, and making big life decisions. Slowly, running became not only enjoyable, but necessary.

This winter, a few friends from college signed up for the Colorado marathon and were pushing for me to join them in the half-marathon. “When did you say it was again?” my mother casually asked when I mentioned it during one of our weekly phone chats. “Who did you say was going with you?”

“Mom, would you like to come?” I asked, recognizing the restrained excitement in her voice. She pretended to think about it for a of couple days, and was signed up by the end of the week.

Though we lived more than 400 miles apart, training for my first half marathon with my mother was one of our greatest bonding experiences. We’ve always been very close and talk regularly, but I found myself talking (slightly) less about how difficult my 25-year old life is and more about the small moments of accomplishment I felt while training. We swapped running book recommendations, congratulated each other when we increased our mileage, and confessed our latest running gear purchases. She became the person I wanted to brag to after a particularly long run and the person I thought of when I woke to perfect running weather.

Mom got off to a solid start in her training, pushing up to six miles by February, and easily pushed up to nine by mid-spring. I struggled with some knee soreness that started in March, and began to panic in April that I was way behind. “Just ran 10 miles, yippee!” she texted me as I rolled out of bed one Saturday. “Hope I can walk tomorrow!” Meanwhile, I iced my knee like crazy, tried new running shoes, and did my best not to dissolve into an anxious wreck.

“She is going to smoke us,” I would say to Laura, my friend and training partner, on nearly every jog.

Gradually, with a little rest and a few weeks of sticking to running on dirt and grass, I was finally up to 10 miles by two weeks before the race.

4:30 AM on race day morning, May 6th, the Super Moon was still high in the sky as we loaded onto the buses. We stood shivering from cold and anticipation as the sun rose, sluggishly illuminating the curved road we would follow down Poudre Canyon. We started at a trot along the vacant highway, stupefied by views of the Cache La Poudre River and ponderosa studded slopes. Though we hadn’t run together in nearly six months, mom and I were perfectly matched in pace, running together for nearly the entire race. Running behind us, Laura shook her head and laugh as she watched us run with identical gaits, occasionally reaching down to massage the same sore left calf muscle.

I didn’t leave her until mile 12, when I had an inexplicable burst of energy. It may have been the woman coming up hot on my heels, or just knowing there was only one more mile to go, but suddenly my strides became longer and my feet moved on their own. Rounding the curve to the final stretch, I looked back and for the first time all morning, she wasn’t behind me. I crossed the finish line on my own, grabbing for water while searching the crowd for a familiar face. A minute later, I found her in the crowd, beaming with excitement as she wrapped me in an exhausted hug.

I know that I am lucky to have a mother who has pushed me to be an active, healthy person, and I feel even luckier to be able to now run alongside her.

Having traveled for about a year, she landed in Choshi, Japan, and sat out the winter there. She was awaiting April 29th, the day she planned to head out to finish the journey she set out on. Weather conditions proved to be against Sarah, pushing her start date back a few weeks. From Japan, she will travel to Vancouver, Canada, before heading back to London. Of the journey from Japan to Vancouver, Sarah said, “The North Pacific will be the most grueling part of my whole London2London expedition. Physically and mentally, I expect to be exhausted most of the time- the distance, the solitude, the weather conditions and my complete isolation will make it hugely challenging. In spite of the challenges and dangers ahead, I still can’t wait to get out there.”

Having pushed back her start date, Sarah recently blogged, “After standing down last Sunday I headed away from the coast with friends to decompress. The emotion of getting ready to go and calling it off at last minute with the storm forecast was exhausting. Midweek and we headed back to Choshi to wait for a chance to go. As predicted, the storm raged and impressed us all with the raw power with which it battered the coast, hurling spume and spray ashore and turning the seascape to hues of wild grey. I love watching the ocean on days like that, preferably from ashore, tucked up and safe. With no stable window presenting itself for a while longer yet, I have come back away from the coast again to stay with the aforementioned friends. Currently Lee predicts the 14 – 17th of May is offering a good stable window and the most comfortable departure opportunity. We are keen to choose the optimum gap in the weather so that I can settle in to sealife quickly, safely and as comfortably as possible.”

When she is finished, Sarah will have traveled through three continents and over 7,500 nautical miles. Through her adventure, Sarah hopes to raise about $161,900.00 towards four chosen charities: CoppaFeel!, The Jubilee Sailing Trust, MNDA, and Water Aid. She also aims to inspire young people to follow their dreams and believe that anything is possible.

Cycling, rowing, and kayaking alone across the world, this young woman will face dangers never known by most people. The ocean can be one of the most dangerous places on Earth, and the solo journey will prove that Sarah can tackle even the most dangerous of situations.

Bound to hit disastrous situations, Sarah is confident in her ability to complete her journey. We at Women’s Adventure are excited to follow Sarah and watch her become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe on her own man power.

Check out Sarah’s blog and keep up with her journey! And click here to learn more about the charities she supports and make donations of your own for the cause.

The current record was set last summer by a Marion, NC, school teacher, who thru-hiked (actually, ran) the MST in 24 days, 3 hours, and 50 minutes. Only 28 people have completed the trail, and most hikers complete the trail in two to three months.

The 52-year-old Colorado resident and mom of three dedicated this expedition to raising awareness of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail and treatment options for brain injuries. Diane herself had a section of her brain removed to stop terrifying seizures, which she dealt with for 10 years prior to the surgery, but she is now seizure-free and running well!

“The diversity and complexity of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail is what first drew me to this challenge, since the terrain ranges from high peaks to swamps and sand,” Diane says. “I know I’ll run into my fair share of obstacles, but I’m looking forward to exploring a region of the country that is new to me.”

The MST is built and maintained by the volunteers of the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, in cooperation with the N.C. State Parks Division and several federal agencies. In conjunction with this event, Great Outdoor Provision Co. (one of her sponsors) is seeking to raise $40,000 for Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. In addition to the Great Outdoor Provision Co., a Raleigh-based outdoor clothing and equipment retailer, Diane is sponsored by The North Face.

Follow Diane as she hikes/runs on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail on twitter (@MSTEnduranceRun) or the expedition’s website. Greatoutdoorprovision.com/mst-endurance-run will feature news and enable viewers to “track” Diane as she runs, carrying a GPS Spot Messenger unit that will update us mortals on her location.

Or, hike it yourself. The Mountains-to-Sea Trail offers up opportunities for family day hikes and multi-day wilderness experiences.

Last year I had a go at mountain biking for the first time; spending our summers living in the Pirin Mountains in Bulgaria means that I don’t really have an excuse not to.

It was a steep learning curve – I’ve never ridden bikes much before so at first I was quite wobbly on the road, never mind on the trails! A lot of my friends are pretty experienced on mountain bikes so I had to work hard to keep up (and still do!).

I’m one of those people that gets really frustrated when I don’t immediately ‘get’ something and at first I felt like I was spending more time hitting the ground or having to stop and carry my bike over anything technical. At times, I felt like I was never going to able to just point the bike down a hill and go for it. When I watched my friends go zooming past I just couldn’t understand why I couldn’t do that.

I am competitive and like many women, I tend to quite critical of myself so I make things harder than they need to be. My mountain biking improved dramatically over last summer and looking back I’m really proud of what I accomplished even though at the time I felt like I was making very slow progress. I even managed to enter a cross country race (http://pisteandpeaks.com/ourblog/?p=59 – if you are interested!) just 2 weeks after I had started.

Once I stopped analyzing my progress and started just having fun it became so much easier. So ladies if you’re trying really hard to keep up with others and getting frustrated take a deep breath and concentrate on just enjoying yourself. Chances are you’ll be much better company too – I know I was!

Just below California’s Point Conception eight mountains rise from some of the deepest seas in the Pacific, forming the Channel Islands. Currents tear at the island’s shores. Local fishermen warn of prehistoric eating machines. Cyclone winds and monster waves travel the earth’s surface ending their journey on the desolate, rocky beaches of these islands.

My employers assumed I was headed to work for a competitor. When I told them I had decided to wander the country and live in a trailer, the laughter ensued. Surely I couldn’t be serious. But I certainly was: I packed up my dog, some camping gear and my camera. I wasn’t sure what I was doing. I only knew I wanted to find my creative soul, which I lost when I decided to play by the rules of the corporate world.

Each morning on the road, I woke up and decided where I wanted to go. I didn’t have a set agenda or plans on how long I would be gone or what I was planning to do. I have to admit it wasn’t the best idea to venture out this way, but I wanted that freedom. At the time, I didn’t have an iPhone with handy applications to find my way. Instead, I relied on a road atlas that didn’t always warn me how things were going to be at the little tent symbol.

I started writing a blog so loved ones — mainly my mother — would know where I was and how I was doing. But I didn’t stay in one place too long and by the time I settled in a campsite, I usually didn’t feel like writing. Rather, I felt like drinking to toast myself on a job well done. That year, I took photographs with my point-and-shoot camera and when I did write posts, I made sure everyone knew I was having the time of my life and that leaving my job was the best decision I ever made. But in quiet hours, as I settled into my campsite, the questions sneaked into my head. I obsessed about details; I wondered what I was doing. I drank cocktails to quiet my doubts. It was exhausting to keep up my online persona as the happy adventurous spirit while I secretly stressed about what I was doing and why I was doing it. I didn’t want to quit traveling — but I did decide to quit drinking.

Photo courtesy Alison Turner

For the next two years I wandered the country without the trailer, without the alcohol, and with lessons learned from my first year. This time, I decided to camp in a tent instead of a trailer. A car was easier to maneuver and the trailer brought unwanted attention. I posted more and more photographs, and comments began shifting from, “You quit your job to do what?” to “What a beautiful photograph!” I always shrugged off these compliments. I would say, “It’s just a point-and-shoot camera.” In my mind, I didn’t have the right equipment or background in photography for serious work. But now that I wasn’t spending my evenings sinking into an alcohol buzz, I had a lot of time to pick up a new hobby, and photography presented itself. I wasn’t taking pretty pictures of sunsets or ocean views. I took photos of bird feet, tumbleweeds, my dog, Max, and odd sights along the road. The compliments kept coming.

While traveling, I didn’t keep up with the news of the world, but I knew the recession made it an uneasy time financially for me as well as for the entire country. I’d had the foresight to save my money for years before I decided to quit, but as my safety net grew smaller, I knew my time wandering around with seemingly no purpose would have to come to an end. Lucky for me, I found an entirely new revenue stream — one I never saw coming.

A Facebook friend suggested I go camping with a group of women who gathered annually with their Airstreams calling themselves the “Silver Sisters.” I didn’t know anyone, but I connected with them right away. I ended up taking pictures all weekend long. I sent the photos to people at Airstream, who liked them so much they wanted to publish them in their magazine. At the same time, a photo I took on that trip was selected for a group show at MOPLA (Month of Photography, Los Angeles). This was a huge honor and it validated a little of what people were telling me. I began to wonder: Could I actually make a living doing this?

Airstream hired me to be the official photographer of an annual event in its factory in Jackson Center, Ohio. A year and a half after I stopped drinking, I sold my 188-bottle wine refrigerator and my entire wine collection to buy a new camera. It was the best trade I’ve ever made. I bought a Canon 5D Mark ii. Portraits I took of another women’s camping group, “Sisters on the Fly,” were published in Trailer Life magazine. Soon after, the photographs I took at the Silver Sisters rally were featured in Airstream Life magazine. I continued to travel, and the people I met opened doors I did not know existed before. I met a wonderful couple who offered to let me stay at their home in Maine if I ventured up there. I took them up on their offer and met their neighbors, whom I adored. I wrote a blog about them, which caught the interest of Maine: The Magazine, where I continued to contribute. Every opportunity led to another.

Photo courtesy Alison Turner

In 2011, I got more serious about photography. I continued to learn how to use my camera and decided to document the many characters I met on the road in portraits. Eventually, my passion turned to environmental portraits. This year, I had photographs published in Dog Fancy, Trailer Life and Airstream Life, which included two magazine covers. An image of mine was selected to be in the Art of Photography show in San Diego over the summer (15,444 entries and 109 photographs selected) and other photographs were selected for two exhibits (“Dreams” show in December 2011 and “Portrait” show in February 2012) at the Center of Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colo. Earlier in the year, the Long Beach Arts Council selected a group of my images of Long Beach to be in a permanent outdoor installation at its newly renovated transit mall in the heart of the city. And lastly, another photograph was chosen by Photographer’s Forum to be in its hardcover book, “Best of 2011.”

I used to try to convince people that quitting my job was the right thing to do, but I don’t have to do that anymore. The fact is, I have learned to live with less, and while I know I won’t be making the same amount financially, that is fine with me. I know, in my heart, it was the right thing to do for me. It can be scary to be out here, particularly during a recession, but being my own boss has its rewards. I don’t have to answer to anyone but myself. I am not suggesting that you should quit your job to hit the road, like I did. For me, I made the decision only after careful consideration. But because of this experience, I’ve reconnected with my creative soul. I’ll never leave it again.

Story by Alison Turner originally published on Salon.com.   In a few months Alison will be on the road again, this time living out of a van. You can follow her adventure on www.alisonslife.com. You can reach Alison at alisontravels@gmail.com

Most significant, is the increase in the number of youth and young-adults engaging in outdoor activities. Running, biking, camping, fishing, and hiking, are among the most popular activities young people are participating in. Over the past few years, America has been working to inspire young Americans to participate in healthy lifestyle alternatives; and the efforts have started to pay off.

The high numbers of outdoor participants reflects the growing understanding among Americans of the importance of exercise- particularly outdoors. The Outdoor Foundation findings are positive and premeditate healthy lifestyles of America’s people.

Click here to reach out to this organization and encourage youth and women to become more engaged in outdoor activity.