Author: Lisa Mungovan

Today is Tourism Day, but it’s a long time until summer vacation. Instead, explore close to home, and be a tourist in your own town! Today is also the Day Of Forgiveness, so forgive the tourists who don’t know where they’re going. It feels better to forgive someone, than to stay mad at them.

Today is Ancestor Appreciation Day. Did any of your ancestors come from other countries? Make a family tree, label your parents and grandparents, and see how far back you can trace. Then go stomp a soda can for Crush A Can Day. It’s fun, plus it makes it more compact to recycle!

Attention! Chocolate milk does not come from brown cows! One study of 1000 adults, showed 48% of them didn’t know where chocolate milk came from, and 7% thought it only came from brown cows. For the record, chocolate milk is just milk with chocolate syrup added. Happy Chocolate Milk Day!

Half of the olive oil in the European Union, is produced in Spain, resulting in 400,000 tons of olive pits. Instead of throwing them out, Spain uses the pits to create biofuel. The dried pits are turned into something similar to wood pellets, and used to heat homes and power oil mills.

Today is Alpaca Day. The furry mammal is a camelid, and looks like a llama. They are native to South America, and were raised by the Incas for their soft fleece, 6000 years ago. Alpacas will use a common dung heap, so some people keep them in the house! You can also take alpaca-yoga classes.

Today is Save The Koalas Day. The adorable animals live in Australia, but their habitat is threatened by humans and bushfires. They only eat eucalyptus leaves, which also gives them nearly all their moisture. When the forests are cut down, the koalas have nowhere to live and nothing to eat. They need our help.

Food is more fun, when it’s in an edible wrapper. If you roll fillings into a flour tortilla, like a burrito, and then fry it, you have a chimichanga. If you fold fillings into dough, then steam or boil them you have dumplings. Celebrate Chimichanga Day and Dumpling Day, with lots of yummy food.

Today is Johnny Appleseed Day, the birthday of John Chapman in 1774. He traveled around the United States, planting orchards of apple trees. He ate out of his tin hat, which is why he’s often depicted with a pot on his head. It’s also Lumberjack Day, originally created as an excuse to eat pancakes!

California has completed their first solar canal project. The canal, which helps irrigate crops, was covered with solar panels. The panels will shade the flowing water, saving more than 63,00,000,000 gallons of water from evaporating, as well as generate 1.6 megawatts of power. The shade will also prevent the growth, of harmful algae.

A newly discovered species of deep-sea coral has a shiny surface, and long, flexible branches, that look like hair. The coral reminded researchers of the hairy Wookie of Star Wars fame, so they named it Iridogorgia chewbacca. The bottom of the ocean is largely unexplored, so maybe there’s a fish that looks like R2-D2