So, Kids…we’d love to hear from you. There is a lot of talk about Wii - the video game that ‘gets you moving’…you hold onto two sticks, one in each hand, and make real movements that then appear on your TV screen. You can play football, go bowling, dance, etc.

Have you tried the Wii? What do you think?

As part of our efforts at Bonobo Kids, we want to see kids out in the world doing real things - being active in your bodies and your communities. If you plant a garden with your Wii, on your television, does that count? Can it help the bonobos? Great apes? The Planet????

Leave a comment on this blog with your thoughts and ideas…can’t wait to hear what you think!!!

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NEW YORK, New York, September 25, 2008 (ENS) - The first Kids Gorilla Summit, which is happening on Friday in New York City will enlist young people to make a commitment to help endangered mountain gorillas and the people of Africa. The summit will explore the connection between the urgency of wildlife preservation and inter-related humanitarian issues.

This event and the gorilla conservation campaign it spearheads were born out of a commitment to action made at the 2007 Clinton Global Initiative shortly after last summer’s massacre of 10 of the world’s remaining 720 mountain gorillas, of which, 380 live in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Virunga National Park.

A project of the William J. Clinton Foundation established by the former U.S. president, the Clinton Global Initiative convenes global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges, such as the planet’s dwindling biodiversity.

An endangered mountain gorilla in the DRC. (Photo by Paul Taggart courtesy Wildlife Direct)

The gorilla conservation campaign brings together some of the world’s most respected names such as Kenyan conservationist Dr. Richard Leakey, founder of Wildlife Direct, and South African Anglican Archbishop, activist and Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu.

Turtle Pond Publications and Scholastic, in association with Dr. Richard Leakey’s Wildlife Direct and the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation through the catalyst of the Clinton Global Initiative, are the partners in this effort to protect the mountain gorillas.

Dr. Leakey started Wildlife Direct in 2005 to raise awareness and funds for conservation in some of the worlds most endangered and dangerous places. Operating deep in the jungles of eastern Congo, blogs written by rangers last year alerted the world to the crisis facing mountain gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Funds raised through the blogs have enabled the Congolese wildlife authority, the Congolese Nature Conservation Institute to continue wildlife conservation activities on the ground despite the ongoing crisis that pits rebels and government troops against each other for control of the area inhabited by the gorillas.

“Wildlife Direct was conceived as a way of facilitating exchanges between the front lines of conservation and the rest of the world, to create a community of people concerned about conservation and to allow for direct interaction with and support to the conservationists on the ground,” Dr. Leakey says on his blog.

The Kids Gorilla Summit will now be part of that community. Participants will discuss the new children’s book, “Looking for Miza: The True Story of the Mountain Gorilla Family Who Rescued One of Their Own, published by Scholastic Press. It was written by the best-selling team of Craig, Isabella and Juliana Hatkoff, photographer Peter Greste, and ecologist Dr. Paula Kahumbu who is in charge of conservation, policy and partnerships at Wildlife Direct.

Some 180 students in grades five to seven will view short videos of the gorillas, as well as special animated “Gorillasodes” that were created by students from the United States and Rwanda to help spread the word about the gorillas’ plight.

The young people will discuss the issues with Leakey, Kahumbu and Hatkoff, and they will meet four reporters who are members of the Scholastic Kids Press Corps, reporting from Africa.

After learning about the gorillas and the region, the students will develop their own ideas for solutions with the help of educational, web-based technological tools.

At the end of the summit, participants will be asked to sign the Kids Global Act Pact, which will declare their commitment to taking action to make a difference.

Students nationwide can participate via a live national webcast at http://www.scholastic.com/miza and will be able to email questions to participants.

In addition, http://www.scholastic.com/miza and http://www.miza.com, created jointly by Turtle Pond and Scholastic, will offer students up-to-date information on the gorillas brought from Wildlife Direct’s field-based blogs written by the Mountain Rangers and other activities and resources.

The new curriculum and online portal will be distributed to a million students to teach them about the gorillas, their habitat and the Mountain Rangers, and is intended to empower them to become advocates for change.

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Just before our ‘Yo Kids! Clean up the Beach’ Event, Mathea, author of I’m Lucy: A Day in the Life of a Young Bonobo was interviewed on Plum TV about the book, bonobos and Bonobo Kids…Check it out!

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EcoMV and their Bio Store is revolutionizing the world of products. They have filled their store with carefully researched items that are safe, non-toxic and completely good for the environment.

But, don’t listen to us talk about it, watch this cool video and hear from Mark Martin, the owner, himself! He has some cool ideas about getting kids involved. Enjoy!

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Its September and everyone’s back in school! Why not start off this year by learning 15 simple ways to go green in your classroom! You can do some of these yourself and suggest the others to your teacher!

1.    Make sure your faucets are turned all the way off: 5 drips per second is the same as letting water run in a steady stream.

2.    Open the windows! If the weather is nice out you can adjust the temperature just by opening and closing windows. Use the wind instead of Air Conditioning.

3.    Use recycled pencils!

4.    Use acid free glue sticks!

5.    Use biodegradable cups and plates for snack and class parties.

6.    Take the bus or carpool to school! Every time you drive to school it pollutes the environment. If your parents drive you everyday ask a friend or neighbor if they want to carpool or ride the bus.

7.    Use a lunchbox instead of a paper sack. Lunchboxes can be reused everyday instead of thrown out like a paper bag!

8.    Open the shades! On a sunny day use natural sunlight it’s easier, less expensive and SO much better for the environment than lamps or florescent lighting.

9.    Plant a tree at your school! Trees are a natural way to keep the environment healthy.

10.     Recycle! Every ton of recycled paper saves about 17 trees. All your old papers, juice boxes, cardboard containers and many other things can be recycled. To see what can be recycled check this out.

11.     When your class goes outside for recess, turn the lights off!

12.    Use a refillable water bottle instead of throwing out a plastic one every time!

13.     Educate people about Earth Day!

14.    Use both sides of your paper. Paper has two sides for a reason, use them both!

15.    Tell your Friends: The best way to spread environmental awareness is simply by telling people how.

16.    Tell your teacher. If your teacher is willing to go green they can make a huge difference.
Remember this is your earth, do whatever you can to keep it healthy!

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For a long time people have argued whether apes can communicate and participate in conversation the same way humans do. Janni Pedersen, an Iowa State University Ph.D. candidate from Denmark, and William M. Fields, director of bonobo research at Great Ape Trust, say their study shows bonobos are much better at communicating in ordinary conversations than in controlled experiments.
Some scientists believe that language is a thing only humans possess, Janni Pedersen observed something differently in a videotaped conversation between the bonobo Panbanisha and Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh.
In this video, Panbanisha was in the forest with Dr. Sue and an assistant. The assistant had a dog that Panbanisha did not like! As Panbanisha and Dr. Sue moved from topic to topic using lexigrams, symbols used to represent words, Panbanisha repeatedly stated she wanted the assistant, who was playing with the dog, to carry her. Though Dr. Sue tried many solutions, Panbanisha would not give up, and the assistant was finally forced to stop with the dog and carry Panbanisha.

Janni Pedersen noticed that the conversation between Panbanisha and Dr. Sue included turn taking, negotiating, pauses and repetition, and went far beyond the use of lexigrams. She stated, “She [Panbanisha] was using language to get at what she wanted. She is very, very clever and is fully capable of following the conversation the same way a human does.”

This is just yet another example that bonobos are just like us!

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‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.’ Margaret Mead

On Wednesday, September 17, 2008, a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens are inviting people around the world to turn off their lights for ten minutes.

Here’s their invite -

World darkness: on September 17, 2008 from 21:50 to 22:00 (9:50-10:00), local time everywhere.
Proposal: to turn off all lights and if possible all electrical appliances, so our planet can ‘breathe.’
If the response is massive, energy saving can be tremendous.

The Internet can be very powerful. Please help spread the word to make a difference.

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The I’m Lucy booksigning and beach clean-up event was a huge success! Here’s what we did: author, Mathea Levine, signed books and read the story several time and we gave 20% off of the book for all kids that brought in trash from our local beaches.

WHY? Because we didn’t want to just do a booksigning. We wanted kids to do something good for our environment. We want kids to understand that when we clean up our own backyards, the positive effects are felt across the planet - even all the way to the bonobos in Africa.

• There were wonderful articles published in both the Martha’s Vineyard Times and the Martha’s Vineyard Gazette.
• We had eye-catching ads and posters that featured our sponsors.
• Mathea and the event were featured on Plum TV.
• We had great food at the event.
• We sold many books.
• We cleaned up some major beach.
• One family brought enough trash from Philbin to fill the back of their SUBURBAN.
• This same family has decided to make beach clean-up be an annual tradition - a way to say thanks to the island at the end of each summer.
• We made a great video (now in production) of the event.
• The winning trash family was awarded a bonobo adoption in their names (proceeds supporting our frontline partner, Bonobo Conservation Initiative and their new adopt program - more details coming soon!)
• We generated enough island sponsors to donate I’m Lucy: A Day in the Life of a Young Bonobo to every island library, school, daycare and kid-included social service agency on the island (totaling 26 donations!)

A HUGE thank you to all of our generous sponsors and community supporters who donated their time, services and/or money to our event last weekend:

South Mountain Company (a green building company)

MV Fiber Farm (the world’s first natural fiber (wool) CSA (community supported agriculture)

Suzanne Lanzone & Daughters (a realtor dedicated to conservation)

Writing Roads (a writing & marketing company specializing in blogging and Web 2.0)

Elizabeth Whelan (a most fantastic graphic designer and illustrator)

Table Talk Cookbook (the family cookbook with tons of heart and a focus on local)

Randi Baird Photography (photographer extraordinaire specializing in the documentation of environmental activism)

EcoMV (the store that is making a different with sustainable, eco-friendly products for life)

Allied Waste (our partners that hauled all of the trash away!)

DaRosa’s Printing

UPDATE: Here’s another great story about kids cleaning up in Georgia!

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Of course, we’re suckers for a bonobo baby! Way too cute! Little Geri was born at the Columbus Zoo on August 27th. In the picture above, Geri is held by her mom, Unga, and she has an older sister at the zoo named Gander.

We found the information on the Columbus NBC TV stations website. And, while we were thrilled that they reported the news, we were less than thrilled that they reported the facts incorrectly. Twice in the article they said that bonobos were small chimpanzees when in fact bonobos are a separate species and calling them small, or pygmy, chimpanzees can be detrimental to their survival.

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A 26 year-old male bonobo, Mabruki, has just entered the bonobo exhibit at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens in Florida - home to Lucy, Lorel and Kaleb. Lorel is mom to both Lucy and Mabruki, though Lorel and Mabruki were separated 17 years ago when Mabruki was 9.

Mabruki actually arrived in Jacksonville in mid-May, but was slowly introduced to the group and kept in quarantine to preserve the health of the bonobo group. So far, all is well, including quite a bit of grooming between mom and son on their first night together. Zoo keepers believe this is a sign that they recognize each other after all this time.

Two female bonobos from San Diego are due to join the Jacksonville group in the near future as part of the plan by zoologists of the AZA to support the survival of this important species. We’ll keep you posted!

If you’re in the Jacksonville area, be sure to go visit the whole bonobo clan!

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