Colorado’s Avid4 Adventure is the only carbon neutral day, resident & travel camp in America

Avid4 Adventure offers financial incentives for families to reduce their environmental impact

Boulder, CO. Avid4 Adventure, Colorado’s five-year-old outdoor adventure program, is taking responsibly for their carbon footprint by reducing their pollution of all types and paying carbon offsets for the waste they can’t reduce. Avid4 Adventure summer day camps introduce kids ages 5 and up to kayaking, rock climbing, canoeing, mountain biking, hiking, white water rafting and horseback riding.

“We looked at how much carbon our camps put into the atmosphere and then we figured out how we can reduce here, eliminate there and offset the rest,” says Dave Secunda, Program Director of Avid4 Adventure. “Now we are the only camp that we know of in America that is carbon neutral.”

Avid4 Adventure reduction efforts so far:

• Prevented the burning of 17 tons of coal, or the weight of 42.5 minivans
• Prevents 33 tons of CO2 emissions; that’s 238 male African elephants

Transportation produces the camp’s biggest carbon output, so Avid4 Adventure will offer discount coupons to families who carpool, take public transportation, bike or walk to camp. Conserving families can use the $20 per week coupon for dollars off other camp programs. For families that do drive to camp, Avid4 Adventure uses a portion of their payment to purchase carbon offsets. In addition, each staff member gets a RTD Ecopass, discounts on bikes and company vans for car pooling.

“This is an opportunity for families to reduce their kid’s summer activities impact on the environment and to learn about outdoor resources that are close to home when their child wants to go again to places where they went on camp days,” says Secunda. With rising gas prices this summer driving great distances for outdoor adventures will be expensive.

The goal of offsets and incentives to families is to make the company not just carbon neutral, but carbon negative.

“Avid4 Adventure is a pioneer as an environmental conscience summer camp because they try to understand their impact and take responsibility for it,” says Pete Chandler of Colorado’s Green Heart Institute. Chandler hopes to see other programs and schools follow Avid4 Adventure’s lead because he says, “They’re practicing what they preach.”

Avid4 Adventure inspires life-long active outdoor lifestyles and environmental stewardship through personal development experiences and family adventures, designed around the logistical needs of parents. Avid4 Adventure programs include summer camps, multi-day and family trips, and a school program that brings the outdoors to school, instead of bussing the kids to the outdoors. Visit www.avid4.com for more information.

Packing Waste Free Lunches for Kids at Camp & School

You know you live in the Front Range of Colorado if your child speaks of “sustainability,” “being green,” or how “eco-friendly” something is before (s)he enters Kindergarten. As Bob Dylan predicted years ago, “The times they are a changing,” and within our homes and communities we are beginning to realize that our lifestyle choices can not only influence our immediate families and friends, but the general welfare of the entire planet. As Avid4 Adventure strives to set the model for outdoor education companies by becoming completely carbon neutral in 2008 and teaching your kids the benefits of healthy, outdoor lifestyles, we will also ask for help in our mission by implementing a “Waste Free” policy for our multitude of day camps and summer programs.

As landfills overflow and incinerators pump contaminants into the air we breathe, many parents (Avid4 parents excluded, of course) are still taking the easy, careless approach to their children’s lunches. In fact, it is amazing at lunchtime discussions during Avid4's School Outdoor Education Intensives how amazed children become when they discover what their food labels mean and where their lunches are coming from. Although sending a child off with a Lunchables may be the most time efficient way to go, there are other costs involved that are often neglected. Environmental?… yes! Cost?… yes! Diet?… yes, again. I’m still searching for a parent that will argue the health benefits of the skittle-topped cold pizza that I saw a student chow last week.
Therefore, in the unfortunate age of genetically-modified vegetables, mad cow-infested school lunches, and rampant, wasteful consumerism, it is great to know that each day we can make a difference simply by packing waste free. Here are some easy steps to unite your child daily with his food and the environment, maximize the amount of money schools can spend on education by eliminating the need for excessive trash removal, and hopefully reduce the estimated 67 pounds of trash that each child is responsible for yearly:

• Pack food in re-usable containers that are inscribed with your child’s name.
• Use a re-fillable drink bottle.
• Use a cloth napkin instead of paper.
• Pack re-usable utensils.
• Elicit the help of your children. Even toddlers can assist the process by scooping chips into a Tupperware or filling bottles with water.
• Maximize leftovers. I’ve become a master of setting a portion for my next day’s lunch aside before I dive into dinner. That way, my lunch is packed the night before and eliminates the early morning madness.
• Encourage your children to bring home all leftovers in his or her lunch box to either re-use, compost, or properly dispose of.

Not only will adhering to these principles reduce carbon emissions and add
fuel to your compost piles, but it will teach your child the benefits of a waste-free lifestyle. I have seen this wisdom transfer to other facets of children’s lives… for example, don’t be surprised if you start hearing “games from the Salvation Army work as well as brand new games,” “wilderness experiences can occur at a local park and not just National Parks,” and maybe even, “I’d rather ride my bike than get in the car.” Packing waste-free lunches is an essential step in an ever-intensifying process to help your child internalize all of the words that (s)he is bombarded with and truly become “green, sustainable, and an eco-ambassador for his or her friends and family.”

Kyle Littman is the Camp Director for the Boulder Avid4 Adventure summer program. Although more passionate about your children than his lunchbox, he is excited about his cooking compost, sprouting seedlings, and nitrogen-rich soil content.

Moving Your Child Off Training Wheels: The Avid4 Adventure Progression

One of the earliest memories your son or daughter may have when looking back on his or her childhood is learning how to ride a 2-wheeler. Will you be remembered as the parent that wouldn’t let go? Or perhaps you’ll be of the hockey goalie mentality… pad your child up and let ‘em rip? My own parents’ legacy is that of the first bike lesson leading to the first emergency room visit (although, luckily being the 3rd son, my oldest brother was the victim). Regardless of the method chosen… no worries! We all heal from our childhood scars eventually (although my brother’s chin may claim differently) and likely develop a positive relationship with bicycles at some point during our lifetime.

Certainly I’m biased, but the Avid 4 Adventure method for teaching children how to ride bikes is certainly the best around. I have taught kids to ride in under ten minutes if the boy or girl is ready. However, before getting your kid’s helmet strapped on and his or her bike off the hook in the garage, make sure your child has a desire to learn. If she or he is still not ready, your choices are either to 1. wait or 2. take him or her to the park and subtly point out all of the other kids his or her age that have removed their training wheels. Before you know it, (s)he will be off and riding the trails in Boulder with the Avid 4 Mountain Bike Intensive.

The Progression:

1. Find a bike that seems to be too small for your child. Set the seat so that your son or daughter can easily touch his or her feet to the ground. If you have the proper tool (not essential) remove the pedals from the bicycle.
2. Have your child simply walk the bike back and forth in a straight line, and then in circles once he or she masters the previous skill.
3. Ideally, find a grassy slope with a slight decline. However, I have had lots of success on pavement or sidewalk, but make sure there is a slight decline to the learning area.
4. With your child on the seat, have them walk their feet and gently feel the motion of the wheels as they descend the hill. To keep their spirits up, assist them by bringing the bike back up the hill for them.
5. Next, your child is ready to see how long he or she can keep their feet up in the air and balance the bike as it descends the hill.
6. This time, before he or she descends, have your child give 3 push-offs with their feet before they lift their feet in the air to practice their balance and initiating momentum.
7. At this point, pedals become important, but only one at a time. See if your child can lift their feet to their pedals as they are cruising down the decline. Some kids are better off trying first one foot, and then the other.
8. By now, your child is ready to actually pedal. Encourage him or her to push off once, twice, three times (starting speed is critical to success!), lift their feet to the pedals, and then pedal forward. Oh yeah, make sure they have a firm understanding of what the term “forward” feels like on a bike.

You’ll be amazed on how quickly this process can be, or perhaps how not ready some kids are. Regardless, it’s important to remember that you should not move on to the next step until the previous one is mastered. Also, this method is 100% hands-off so that children develop a firm grasp on their own balance, as opposed to balance resulting from your hand on the back of the seat. In addition, a 15-minute lesson on Step #1 is a very successful primer for future success before jumping on a tag-a-long for a cruise down the Creek Path. Slow, incremental steps will lead to much greater success than a bad fall which inevitably leads to weeks of resistance.
And remember, when all else falls, call on us at Avid 4 (info@avid4.com) to do the dirty work for you. As I learned when teaching an X-girlfriend to ski, sometimes it’s not what you are saying, but instead who is saying it. Keep on pedaling!

Kyle Littman is an Avid 4 Adventure Camp Director and happily resides in Boulder. He has been car-free for nearly a decade and still claims that his #1 thing to do with kids is teach them how to ride a bike. If you have any questions, email Kyle at kyle@avid4.com.