Friday, April 30, 2010

Happy Earth Day! Check out our "Green Challenge"

It's Earth Day today!  Today we celebrate this beautiful planet that we inhabit and how we can increase our efforts to protect and preserve it.  Cheers to Mother Earth!

Today I was honored by being asked to present in front of approximately 1200 elementary school students at 3 different assemblies.  Needless to say, it has been a very busy day :)  But, one that made me feel proud to be a part of the movement.

So you might ask what little old me had to say to 1200 students?  Well, believe it or not, I have picked up a few things in the 118 episodes that we have done, and 30 of those have been specifically on "green" topics.     Wow, has it been that many?  Hard to believe.  Anyway .... what I like to tell kids is that they are the change of our future.  They are the ones who hold the power in their hands.  I talk about what I like to call, AHA!  That is becoming Aware, changing Habits, and becoming Ambassadors of our environment.  This is something that I strive to do in my own life.  I figure I had better be someone that can "walk the talk."  :) Through each green episode that we film, I increase my awareness of the problems and solutions that are out there.  After I learn, I challenge myself to gradually change my habits to help lessen my footprint on the planet.  And now, I am proud to be an Ambassador of the environment and share everything that I have learned with today's youth.   And let me tell you, they totally get it! To them, it is not an overwhelming task.  Being the change is absolutely attainable!  I challenge you as well, young or old, to be the change.

Want to win a cool prize?  We are hosting a "Green Challenge" to all the students and to all of you as well. Send an e-mail to CuriosityQuest01@yahoo.com and tell us what you have become aware of, how you have changed your habits and how you are an ambassador of our environment.  We will choose the best letter and will send you an awesome Curiosity Quest gift package.  Be The Change and tell us how you are doing it.  It is that simple.

In the meantime, take care of Mother Earth and do your part :)  And as always Stay Curious!

~Joel

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Happy Spring!

Hey everyone.  Happy Spring to you!  It is a beautiful day here in Southern California, if you don't take into account the hurricane force winds that we are experiencing where I live :)  Regardless, it is a beautiful day.  The trees are blooming, the frogs are croaking and I am happy to say "good-bye" to Winter.  


Springtime for Curiosity Quest is a time where we start to build our Summer shooting season and schedule.  We are putting together the ideas you sent us and forming them into episodes.  We will start filming again in the Summer.  So, I guess you could say this is the boring part of having a TV show.  Not much action right now, but nevertheless it is important to do all the legwork before we start to shoot.  So, since there isn't much to discuss on the CQ front, I thought that I would share some of the letters that we have received lately.  


One recently came to us from Kris in Auke Bay, Arkansas.  He wrote, "I'm curious about the ice sculpting event located in Fairbanks, Alaska.  These sculptures are sooo large!  How is this possible?"


Well Kris, I was not aware that this event even took place!  But, after a little research I learned the competition, where they carve these amazing ice sculptures, is called the World Ice Art Championship in Fairbanks.  It takes place in February and March of each year and countries from all over the world participate.   Not only does Fairbanks host this amazing competition, but it is also one of the best locations to view the Aurora Borealis.  It sounds like an amazing place to visit.  Alaska is definitely on our list of places to go and we will keep your letter in mind when we finally do.  Thanks Kris!


Another letter came to us from Jenna in Whitehouse, Ohio.  She wrote, "I love the mini, hard carrots! I have them almost every day! I'm curious about why they are so small. Do they cut them from larger carrots or do they just grow that way? I'm curious! "  


I love this question Jenna.  I have to say that I never really thought about it, but now that you brought it to my attention I am very curious!  When I browsed thru the internet in search of the answer, I found mixed answers.  Some say that they are cut into the 2 inch pieces from large carrots and others say that they breed these carrots to be sweeter and harvest them when they are young.  Looks like a great show idea!  We will definitely keep this one in mind so that we can solve the baby carrot mystery :)  Thank you Jenna!


We love all of your letters that come flooding in every day from all over the nation.  Thank you for continuing to support Curiosity Quest!  We look forward to hearing from you!


In the meantime,
Stay Curious!


~ Joel