Children go to school to be educated, and it is there that they should be learning about the importance of going green and the effect global warming and greenhouse gases have on the environment. There is no better way to teach than by way of example, and as such, schools have a responsibility to go green in a way that children will see and emulate their superiors.

The Paxon Hollow Middle School is leading the way with teaching by example. This year they held a project focusing on an environmental garden and outdoor classroom. Teachers and staff built a walkway using rubber mulch from 263 recycled tires, and planted 28 shrubs in one of Paxon Hollow’s inner courtyards. The new garden was decorated with ceramic pavers made by the art students and other eco-friendly paraphernalia. With this project, the school earned itself a beautiful new garden for learning, and an opportunity to teach children about the importance of going green and using rubber mulch.

Rubber mulch has a place in many different areas of a school. Gardens and walkways are beautified with rubber mulch flooring, and there is no safer playground flooring than rubber mulch. Gyms can also greatly benefit from rubber floormats, and recycled rubber equipment can be used for labs, art, and other classes. Eco-friendly rubber mulch has many varied uses in a school.

While the effects of pollution and overcrowded landfills must be taught by schools parents also have a duty to educate their children by example. When used in backyard playgrounds and home gardens, rubber mulch adds beauty and a sense of satisfaction in making the world a better place. Children are also kept safer when playing among recycled materials and nature’s gifts of flowers and greenery.

There is no better way to teach children about the importance of recycling than by practicing what we preach.

Making money in today’s economy is harder than ever. Huge corporations threaten every mom and pop shop, and small stores are forced to close daily. One way to combat this onslaught is by getting a degree, and healthcare is looking more promising than ever, as it provides a treasured sense of security. Healthcare is also a growing field that attracts many students because nurses, therapists, and doctors all earn above the average salary. Colleges nationwide are revamping their classes to include many more science majors, with some colleges having yearlong waiting lists to get into some programs!

With so many students taking science labs, laboratory safety is of growing concern. What may seem like a fun education can quickly turn dangerous. Rubber flooring provides one way safety can be enhanced by providing traction when carrying chemicals, and more importantly, preventing vial breakage and chemical burns. Because rubber is softer than concrete and tiles it can absorb the impact of glass tubes and vials that hold dangerous products. In a setting where students can be careless it is of utmost importance that the lab be properly outfitted in the case of any mishaps. Rubber flooring also helps safeguard expensive equipment that colleges can ill afford to replace if damaged.

Rubber flooring is cheaper long term since it requires less maintenance and upkeep, all the while providing quality and long-lasting durability. Many colleges also favor Rubberecycle flooring because its eco-friendly aspect helps them brand themselves as an environmentally responsible university. Rubber flooring is derived from used tires, a clear endorsement of recycling and reusing. By installing rubber flooring in laboratories throughout the country, colleges will be sending a strong message of environmental responsibility to their students, while preserving safety measures and expensive equipment.

There is something about children at play that captures a moment of pure innocence and beauty and makes adults stop with nostalgia. The scene of children running through the grass, laughing and carefree, makes for a picture that is threaded with the joy of life, the innocence of youth, and the bliss of ignorance. This element was made into art this week at Brooklyn Utopia’s Park Space/Play Space. The reception on parks and public spaces took place at the Old Stone House in J.J Byrne Park, on the Park Slope-Gowanus border.

The upstairs gallery featured works such as Marina Zamin’s immersive video installation “Brooklyn Canals” and an animation projected onto a canvas with cutout flower pots and windows. There were also panoramic photo-murals of various blocks on Kent Avenue, as well as picture-postcards and descriptions of eminent domain cases across the city.

Some of the other works in the exhibit merge public space with technology. Lynn Cazabon’s “Uncultivated” project displays pictures of plants with QR codes beneath them. When someone scans the code, they are directed to a website which pinpoints the location of the plants and gives their species.

Then there is Skymills, an app which calls on the Old Stone House’s Dutch legacy and erects virtual windmills that can be viewed through an iPad or iPhone. The mills also create virtual skywriting, and the maker envisions the app as a virtual public space where users plant trees or write virtual messages that all users can see.

This entire exhibit of awe-inspiring art was itself inspired by children at play. In this, Rubberecyle is the expert. The beautiful scene of children playing can become ugly when injury intervenes. Recycled rubber mulch for playgrounds is eco-friendly, and it prevents injuries with added shock absorbency that truly allows children to play freely. The mulch will also appeal to the artist’s love of color, as it comes in a spectrum of colors to suit any setting, and gives a clean look. The makers of Playsafer mulch may also be called artists, for in their own way, they too, are making art, by providing playground equipment for children.

Natural disasters are always tragic. Sometimes they prove to be fatal, killing anything in their paths, while at other times they leave swaths of destruction in their wake, ruining people financially. Yesterday’s tornadoes in Kentucky were no exception to the devastation. Miraculously, no fatalities have been reported. Damages, however, have been estimated to be in the billions. It’s so sad to watch a lifelong dream, whether it’s a house or a business, go up in flames, shattered beyond repair. The victims need our prayers for it is so tough to start life all over midway through. If there is one silver lining it may be that the destruction these tragedies bring upon us can bring some clarity and focus to the damage this planet faces if companies continue with their pollution and destructive factories. It hurts to put both problems in one sentence. However, people must know about the severity of pollution and natural disaster for they are one and the same.

A light at the end of the tunnel is the work of companies that are trying to save our planet with eco-friendly practices. Rubberecycle goes a step further: they help people make their lifestyles more eco-friendly with recycled rubber mulch.

Tires, the biggest consumers of rubber, are increasingly being recycled rather than buried or burned. Rubber mulch has proven to be an excellent way tires can be reused in an environmentally friendly way. Although rubber represents just a tiny problem in the smoggy world of heavy industry, companies and nations alike should follow this commendable example and come up with creative uses for their used products.

Rubber mulch is used for many important purposes every day. For years children coming home from the playground would inevitably be wearing dirty clothes stained with grass and med from where they landed when coming off the slide. Rubber mulch has revolutionized the playground with clean recycled mulch serving as the landing area of playgrounds nationwide. This is both safer and cheaper in the long run.

Rubber mulch is also used in horse arenas to prevent dust from being kicked up when the horses run. Mulch in arenas also protects the horses’ hooves, with an added shock absorbency that adds a bounce to their step and prevents injuries.

Another excellent function of rubber mulch is for landscaping. When used for gardening, rubber mulch helps those who are going green make the process even more environmentally responsible.

Rubber mulch is undoubtedly one excellent step forwardi n saving the environment, but many more must be taken in the coming years.

The days when a playground consisted of a tire hung on a tree and a grassy lawn are pretty much over. Today’s playgrounds are ever bigger and better, with playground equipment that is designed to exercise kids’ mental and physical boundaries and the latest in high tech materials. Enter the Imagination Playground.

Designed by David Rockwell, Imagination Playground takes the concept of free play and creativity to a whole new level. The playground equipment is made up of big blue foam blocks of all shapes and sizes. Using oversized cogs, wheels, spools and tubes, children create whimsical sculptures, construct castles and forts, and design vibrant vehicles that move. Joining curvy blocks with grooves, they form elaborate ramps and tracks and send balls rolling through. They stack, connect, design, configure and play – the possibilities are endless!  Imagination Playground is good for both indoor and outdoor playgrounds, but children will most enjoy themselves on rubber mulch flooring so they can bounce around safely.

Imagination Playground Blocks are made of a cross-linked Polyethylene foam manufactured in the United States. The closed-cell foam is soft, lightweight, waterproof, and biodegradable. It is resistant to sun, heat, mold, mildew, corrosion and micro-organisms. These highly-durable blocks can be transported to a landfill or returned to the manufacturer to be recycled when they are no longer wanted on the playground, making them eco-friendly, as is rubber mulch for playgrounds, the premium playground flooring. In fact, Imagination Playground was featured in UL’s Safe and Healthy Environment pavilion at the Earth Day Eco Village on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. during Earth Week. The UL pavilion featured interactive kiosks on family safety and provided useful information on maintaining healthy environments and the importance of safe play.

Imagination Playground materials can be purchased in a box or case for private use, or parents can take children to visit Imagination Playgrounds. The flagship playground is at South Street Seaport in Manhattan and a new playground is set to open at the Providence Children’s Museum during the April Spring Break. There are Imagination Playgrounds all across the country, and internationally, as well. With new technology and rubber mulch playground flooring, the possibilities for children’s’ play are endless.

It has recently come to the attention of officials in Lakewood, NJ that there is an entire community of homeless people living on state land. The dwellers, numbering approximately seventy people, live in tents, camping style, and their camp has been come to be known as ‘Tent City.

The controversial ’Tent City was ‘founded’ in 2005 by homeless people squatting on vacant land. The camp is illegal, as the residents have no permits to reside on the state-owned land, and as the years have passed the camp has grown. Officials fear that with the coming of spring and warm weather the camp will continue to expand. There have also already been two lives lost in the camp to fires and unsafe conditions, a reality that officials fear will multiply, as the camp has no safety regulations or restrictions.

After countless eviction notices, this week Lakewood Township took action by closing off two of the entrances to the camp with huge piles of mulch left by the Department of Public Works. They hope that the restriction on vehicles and supplies entering and leaving the camp will force the dwellers to move.

Aside for safety of the dwellers, Township officials maintain that ‘Tent City’ is a hazard to the environment. The inhabitants are cutting down trees to make way for more tents with no regard as to how the trees are cut, or how many. They are also causing pollution, and chasing away animals, destroying forest ecosystems that took years to build. By blocking the entrances with mulch, officials were making a statement, saying that they are looking after numerous objectives: the safety of the inhabitants, the law of the city, and the preservation of the environment.

Rubber mulch is a new and improved version of wood mulch, and it is extremely environmentally friendly. Made from recycled tires, the mulch helps with playground safety, and is useful in many settings, such as playgrounds, landscaping, horse arenas, and more. Supporters of the environment are turning to rubber mulch as an eco-friendly alternative.

As the officials of Lakewood Township work to evict the squatters on their land, they must walk a thin line: obtaining their objective while preserving whatever life is left in what used to be a vibrant forest.

With the economy in the dumps many students, despite the high cost, are staying in college with the hope that a degree will give them better job opportunities and security. Countless studies have shown that people entering the workforce armed with degrees get jobs faster, and with a higher salary. For students starting college, it is an immense burden to try and figure out what career they want to pursue. One great option is physical therapy.

The job market for PT’s is currently very hot with a serious need in all areas. It provides a healthy starting income in the sixty thousand dollar range, with six figure potential. When in practice, physical therapy even helps the therapist stay in shape since there is a lot of exercise involved. A big chunk of the job is done in exercise/workout rooms. These rooms are usually padded with rubber mats to ensure safety and a more productive work environment. New physical therapists who are just starting out may not know to ask for it, but when looking at a prospective job, it is important to ensure that the necessary equipment is available, including rubber flooring. Rubber floors provide cushioning from falls, and provide extra traction for patients, enabling them to progress at a faster rate.

Whenever one makes a career decision, all angles must be considered in order to make the right choice. Deciding upon a career can be life changing, and ensuring that it will be an enjoyable and productive experience is essential. Other than workaholics, most dread the Monday morning sunrise; an enjoyable work environment can help one achieve greater happiness in every aspect of one’s life. The most important factor is work safety. An oil rig engineer’s salary starts at six figures due to the sizeable risk encountered on a daily basis, and these jobs are plentiful because people want, rightfully so, safe jobs.

Not only is physical therapy safe, it can actually enhance one’s active life, enabling a fit and healthy lifestyle. It’s very important that rubber flooring should be used in all exercise rooms. Rubber is safer, more comfortable, and cheaper in the long run. One must always remember to factor in safety when making a major decision, such as career choice.

Dieting. For many this word brings pictures of hunger and having to starve for hours to achieve goals. As the friend of a compulsive overeater who won the battle of her life three years ago by losing ninety pounds, I can tell you with confidence that there is a better way. There are countless diets and programs out there designed to help you lose weight but there’s only one method that will help you lose weight while doing good for your body, and that is by working out and doing exercise. Besides for keeping you in shape and feeling great about yourself, working out also keeps your body healthy. The best way to work out is in the comfort of your own home. Having a workout room situated in your home is cheaper than you think. The biggest cost cutter is rubber flooring. This is a safer and more comfortable choice than concrete or carpet.

Working out at home gives you the convenience of doing exercise whenever you have time, not only when the gym is open. This opens up many possibilities, such as an early morning workout session followed by a refreshing shower. Morning workouts can greatly affect your day. Besides for waking you up and taking the place of a caffeine fix, it also gives you an extra adrenaline rush for the rest of your day. Many refrain from working out at home, believing that expensive machines must be purchased in order to workout correctly. This notion is patently false, as proven by many studies showing that working out without machines by doing pushups, sit-ups, and working with small equipment and weights is a lot more beneficial than spending an hour on a treadmill. Having rubber flooring and rubber wearmats is essential when doing body exercises in your home. The rubber flooring absorbs hard impact and cushions your body as you work on getting yourself in shape.

As every overeater will tell you, dieting is a monumental climb. To a compulsive overeater, going without the bar of chocolate that is so tempting is paramount to a non-dieter going without water while working out. It is with this knowledge that I have reached the conclusion that the best way to diet is by doing exercise at home, so there can be no excuses not to work out. Although experts advocate eating healthy, dieting by doing safe exercise on rubber flooring is the best way to lose weight.

With childhood obesity on the rise around the world, parents are finding it increasingly harder to get their kids outside to play. Czech designer Pavel Tuma and his team are looking to change that with a new 5D playground in the works. While coercing children into physical activity, the playground combines online favorites, video games, and other interactive features for a complete experience that is fun, educational, and merges the old with the new.

The team of designers spent two years coming up with the specifics for this otherworldly playground. They describe it as a playground the size of a tennis court, with a 5D box right next to it. The box is a sort of mini-computer center, with a touchpad and sensors relating to the five senses. Each child would have a chip to enter the game, which is a series of physical and mental challenges that have to be overcome.  The playground itself is very attractive visually, with numerous hurdles of different kinds, a multimedia box, and various surfaces, rubber mulch among them.

The software will have six areas of knowledge – geography, history, natural sciences, entertainment, and general knowledge. Quizzes vary between concentrating on one subject, and across the board knowledge. Pavel envisions a scenario where teachers give his team the test questions a day in advance and they would take care of the rest, allowing the children to take the test through the playground system. On a nice day the test could take place out in the open, and teams of students could even play against each other. By the time they get home from school, they would have received their test results by mail, with photos on Facebook of the kids in the playground.

This playground project is still in the making, but there has been interest from countries all over the world, some looking to fight childhood obesity, with others looking at it as a source of tourism. From the looks of it, computerized playgrounds have a bright future.

February 9 saw the closing of the International Year of Forests 2011, organized by the United Nations. The event celebrated forests for people and featured stories from around the world, summing up the contributions of the international community to a healthier, more sustainable future. The program featured presentations of the five Forest Heroes Awards, screenings of forest films, speakers from international organizations, youth participation by the winners of the 2011 Universal Postal Union letter contest, and the announcement of the 2011 children’s art contest winners. The event also featured the launch of the commemorative Forests for People book with 75 articles from 35 countries.

2011 was named the International Year of Forests by the UN in an effort to raise awareness and strengthen the sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests for the benefit of current and future generations. Governments, regional and international organizations and civil society organizations were expected to create national committees and designate focal points in their respective countries to facilitate organization of activities in support of the International Year of Forests.

The “Celebrate Forests. Celebrate Life.” campaign was the official U.S. celebration. Coordinated by the NASF in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. celebration aimed to elevate awareness and understanding of the value of America’s forests and showcase the connections between healthy forests, people, ecosystems and economies. American citizens were encouraged to organize events nationwide to celebrate America’s trees and forests. From nature walks and trees plantings to hearings on Capitol Hill, families, coworkers and friends were celebrating America’s trees and forests throughout 2011.

The action precipitated by the Year of Forests was closely watched by the Arbor Day Foundation, as well as many other eco-conservationist organizations. They have all been working hard to condemn deforestation, and conserve trees. They are hoping that the International Year of Forests will help shed light on this important cause.

Rubberecycle has worked hard to save trees as well as promote recycling, and they have applauded this move by the UN. Rubberecycle products are made entirely from recycled rubber, and recycling works in tandem with conserving trees.