Cascade Outdoor Activity Center Hosts Disney, Youth Green Event

The West Atlanta Watershed Alliance (WAWA), Bioponica, REI and Radio Disney came together Saturday for a multi-faceted green "Nature in Your Neighborhood Festival" at southwest Atlanta's Outdoor Activity Center.

Activities at the center, 1442 Richland Rd., included the National Wildlife Federation's first Great American Backyard Campout, mini workshops on sustainable gardening and introduction of the Biogarden, an organic incubator designed by Bioponica of Atlanta. The futuristic farming concept combines fish and plant life with composting to make a sustainable food source for communities.

 “This chemical free, low cost system can exist anywhere in the world under the right conditions,” according to  Dr. David Epstein, D.O. who designed the system wtih Kenneth Lowell, P.E.

Atlanta Parks Commissioner George Dusenbury agreed. “ You can’t find this anywhere else in Atlanta," Dusenbury said. "Environmental education is one of today’s necessities.”

REI donated use of 80 sleeping bags, tents and sleeping pads for the first Great American Backyard Campout. REI Outdoor School Senior Instructor Daniel Jesse this is the first event of this kind.

"We want to get kids into the out doors and camping,” Jesse said.

Radio Disney added to the environment, energetically, entertaining participants by providing music, singing, line dancing and other interactive activities.