New from Mission:Explore!

“You are only 46238 minutes 14 seconds away from the wildest event of the year.

The Mission:Explore online Summer Camp is going to be 100 days of warped adventures, wild activities and daring challenges. Join the Summer Camp community and from June 1st you will be sent daily missions to explore the great outdoors, no matter where in the world you are.

Carefully crafted by our camp challengers, you will be sent missions to attempt by National Geographic, National Parks, the RSPB, Scouts, John Muir and other exploration experts.

Complete the daring missions outdoors and you will develop your expertise in Mission:Exploring and discover new things about yourself and the world around you. You’ll have some random fun and be able to pick up some rewards too.”

Perfect for children, schools, outdoor groups and parents to make the most of the summer and it’s free to join. Something to share!

PRESS RELEASE >>> MISSION:EXPLORE JOHN MUIR

A unique set of ‘missions’ has been created to inspire people to follow in the footsteps of John Muir – a founding father of the modern conservation movement.

A partnership between the John Muir Trust and Mission:Explore, a group of teachers, artists, activists and adventurers, has created Mission:Explore – John Muir, a free e-book featuring 20 activities that reflect the adventures and ethos of the Victorian Scot.

Supported by Scottish Natural Heritage, it encourages individuals, groups and families of all ages to look, feel, walk, explore, draw, think and even dance in wild nature wherever they find it. Watch how a frog swims, get windswept, create a mini-National Park, and stare at the stars. Missions are illustrated by Tom Morgan Jones and populated with Muir quotes.

It ties in perfectly with Year of Natural Scotland 2013 and the theme of celebrating John Muir. There’s already interest across the UK and in America. Your ebook is free to download from Mission:Explore and John Muir Award web pages, and can be used on smart phones, laptops and tablets, or printed off and used in an old-fashioned way.

“Mission:Explore and the John Muir Award have so much in common. We’re both all about discovering, exploring, conserving and sharing, so making this book together made perfect sense. We had a great time making it and are sure that you’ll have an even better time doing each of the quirky adventures inside. Good luck!” Daniel Raven-Ellison, Guerrilla Geographer at Mission:Explore, and Rob Bushby, John Muir Award Manager.

“These missions are great, you can really see the spark they’ve generated with teachers.”Carol Walker, South Lanarkshire Outdoor Learning Development Officer

ENDS

Notes to editor

Featuring 20 activities that reflect the adventures and ethos of the Victorian Scot, you can access the free Mission:Explore John Muir eBook or PDF in a number of ways:

eBook – on-line with Graphicly http://graphicly.com/mission-explore/mission-explore-john-muir/john-muir

eBook for iPhone or iPad – via ‘Mission Explore John Muir’ in iBookshttps://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/mission-explore-john-muir/id627660952?mt=11 or Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=The%20Geography%20Collective&search-alias=books-uk&sort=relevancerank

Download – as a printable PDF version (5.3MB) from jmaward-mission-explore-john-muir.asp

Find hundreds of other missions on the Mission:Explore websitehttp://www.missionexplore.net/

About The John Muir Trust

• The John Muir Trust is the leading wild land conservation charity in the UK. We love wild places and are dedicated to protecting and improving them for people and wildlife. Over 10,000 members support us in our work. Find out more atwww.jmt.org.

• We currently own and look after some of the finest wild areas in the UK including Ben Nevis, Schiehallion, Sandwood Bay, part of the Cuillin on Skye, Quinag in Assynt and 3,000 acres on the remote Knoydart peninsula.

• We manage our properties according to our wild land management standards, which focus on habitat improvement and encouraging a more natural landscape and ecosystem. See www.wildlandmanagement.org.uk for more.

• The UK’s remaining wild land is disappearing under development at an unprecedented rate with implications for our environment, economy and quality of life. The John Muir Trust is campaigning for greater protection for wild land across the UK through its Wild Land Campaign. Read more at www.jmt.org/wildland.

• Through the John Muir Award, the John Muir Trust encourages people of all ages and backgrounds to connect with, enjoy and care for wild places. Since 1997, more than 160,000 people across the UK have achieved an Award. Read more about this educational initiative at www.johnmuiraward.org.

• We take our name and inspiration from John Muir (1838-1914), the pioneering, influential Scots-born American conservationist who was passionate about the wild. Muir dedicated his life to protecting wild places and he campaigned successfully for the establishment of National Parks to safeguard vast tracts of wild lands, including Yosemite Valley in California.

About Mission:Explore

• Mission:Explore is a collection of books created by the Geography Collective, a unique team of over 25 geographers, teachers, educators and artists who work together to help young people explore and see the world in new ways. It makes books full of illustrated challenges that aim to make children a little more confident, happy, empathetic and knowledgeable. They think that learning in the real world, in real places and about real issues are vital to any childhood.

• Mission:Explore has won awards including National Trust & Hay Festival Outdoor Book of the Year 2011 and a Pink Stinks approved stamp for being gender neutral.www.missionexplore.net

About Year of Natural Scotland 2013

• The Year of Natural Scotland 2013 is the latest in a series of themed years for the Scottish Government. It aims to highlight Scotland’s stunning natural beauty and biodiversity, and promote opportunities for visitors and residents to enjoy our beautiful landscapes, wildlife and heritage responsibly.http://www.snh.gov.uk/enjoying-the-outdoors/year-of-natural-scotland-2013

We’ve just created a new offer that is aimed at schools and clubs that want to use Mission:Explore Food as class/workbooks. You can now buy copies for £9.09 including P&P when you buy a case of 11 books. Click here for full details.

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“Oh blimey this book is brilliant! Every school in the country should have a copy.” Emma Freud

Probably the only book I will ever recommend to undergrads, buy for my kids & use as a plate.” ~ Professor Ian Cook

“It’s truly a work of genius.” The Botanical Baker

“You can use it to build up your relationship together whilst helping them to build a healthy relationship for food” Kelloggsville

“we rate this book very highly and think it is a great resource for the whole family” Cooking, Cakes & Children

“Calling all parents of fussy eaters, here’s the children’s cook book you’ve been waiting for Mission:Explore Food.”Mari’s World

“It teaches kids to build a good healthy relationship with food.” The Syders

“puts your child in control of their learning” Purplemum

One comment from a delegate:
“Essex won’t know what has hit it when the genius of The Geography Collective is unleashed on it by my geography pupils.”

Get in touch if you’d like us to come and enthuse your colleagues in a similar way…

Copyright: Bryan Ledgard / Geographical Association – used with permission

Please comment on this post and we’ll email you back ASAP. Many thanks!

Reblogged from explore:

Reblogged from #GeoEdChat:

Here is the winning blog post all about Mission:Explore Food.

Curated and written by Alison Power, we’re delighted that Alison will be distributing copies of the book to libraries in schools, charities and other organisations in the her local area. It just so happens that this is very close to where Tom Morgan-Jones (the illustrator of Mission:Explore) lives.. and so there will be a lovely and local exchange of the £1,000 worth of books.

Congratulations Alison, Mill Road and Cambridge! We’ll be contacting you.

1 of 100 #Urban100 pictures taken in Bangkok by @TheRealMrRoo

Last week I asked a few people on Urban Earth and Twitter if they would be interested in taking part in #Urban100, a project that I’m calling an open expedition because it’s going to last a year and anyone can join in. The idea is simple, to collaboratively explore urban places by taking 100 photographs over a 500 metre walk. Using the same stop-motion approach that I used in the Urban Earth films we’ll be able to create films that zoom through the urban landscapes, creating a unique representation of our urban habitats.

#Urban100 is open for students of all ages to join and creates opportunities to discuss place (where will your #Urban100 be and why?), representation (what will and will not be shown of your #Urban100 location?), globalisation and localisation (what connects the #Urban100 locations) and much more. This article on the Geographical Association website includes lots of ideas for using Urban Earth in and outside school/university.

This is a chance to take part in an international, collaborative, open, crowd-based urban expedition. To find out more and to join in visit the Urban Earth website and the #Urban100 Flickr Group. If you’ve any questions do feel free to Tweet me @RavenEllison.