A note from your Mother

A legacy?

2011-08-10T10:09:00.004-05:00

I will be taking an indefinite leave from this blog to put my efforts to use where they will be more productive. This blog, and the many links I've researched and included, will stay here for anyone who will take the time to care and look.

It will be a legacy of sorts. My own little personal legacy to whoever takes the time to linger here.

I'll just leave you with two things before I go. First, some images of who we are all leaving a legacy to. That legacy is the planet we all live on.

Whether you believe our planet is struggling under our selfish demands, whether you believe our difficulties are cause by sunspots or normal planetary climate fluctuations, or whether you believe that everything is a result of some ancient prophecy of the "end times", if you have a heart, you will be moved. Perhaps you will be moved enough to act. I know I have been.

And finally, you might be interested to know that on September 14 and 15, there will be a global event sponsored by the Climate Reality Project. For 24 hours video will be streamed live from around the globe, showing how the changing climate is affecting every one of us.

Here a very brief video describing the event.

For more information about the Climate Reality Project, please refer here:

http://climaterealityproject.org/

Go now. BE the change you want to see!

What if they're right?

2011-07-16T17:00:00.014-05:00

Earlier this month the United Nations issued another report about the state of the planet. Whenever I see reports like this online, invariably there are nasty comments made in the comment section about the United Nations. Never constructive criticism, never better ideas. I see the same thing whenever there's a report about the planet's dwindling resources, and that humans have had something to do with our changing climate.

But what if the United Nations and Al Gore, and all the others who are regularly viciously criticized for sounding the alarm are right?

Just this week there was news that 14 states in the US, from Florida to Arizona, are suffering a drought reminiscent of the dust-bowl. You can see one of the articles here on the New York Times website:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/us/12drought.html?pagewanted=all

And there was again news of a deepening drought in Africa, described as a "vision of hell." You can see the BBC News report here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14078074

Are we going to wait and see, and criticize others, and go on with our lives until it affects us personally? On our own street, in our own community? Or are we going to wake up and try to change the way we do things before it gets to that point?

Here is a summary of the UN's report:

“UN Warns of ‘A Major Planetary Catastrophe'"
by the United Nations

“Humanity is close to breaching the sustainability of Earth, and needs a technological revolution greater – and faster – than the industrial revolution to avoid “a major planetary catastrophe,” according to a new United Nations report. The world is facing exploding population, an energy crisis, global climate change, increasingly destructive natural disasters and increasing starvation.

Major investments will be needed worldwide in the developing and scaling up of clean energy technologies, sustainable farming and forestry techniques, climate-proofing of infrastructure, and in technologies reducing non-biological degradable waste production, according to “The World Economic and Social Survey 2011: The Great Green Technological Transformation,” published today by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). “It is rapidly expanding energy use, mainly driven by fossil fuels, that explains why humanity is on the verge of breaching planetary sustainability boundaries through global warming, biodiversity loss, and disturbance of the nitrogen-cycle balance and other measures of the sustainability of the earth’s ecosystem,” the report says. “A comprehensive global energy transition is urgently needed in order to avert a major planetary catastrophe.”

The survey says $1.9 trillion per year will be needed over the next 40 years for incremental investments in green technologies. At least $1.1 trillion of that will need to be made in developing countries to meet increasing food and energy demands. “Technological transformation, greater in scale and achievable within a much shorter time frame than the first industrial revolution, is required,” it says. “The necessary set of new technologies must enable today’s poor to attain decent living standards, while reducing emissions and waste and ending the unrestrained drawdown of the Earth’s non-renewable resources. Staging a new technological revolution at a faster pace and on a global scale will call for proactive government intervention and greater international cooperation. Sweeping technological change will require sweeping societal transformation, with changed settlement and consumption patterns and better social values,” it adds.

In the preface to the report, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon writes that “rather than viewing growth and sustainability as competing goals on a collision course, we must see them as complementary and mutually supportive imperatives. This becomes possible when we embrace a low-carbon, resource-efficient, pro-poor economic model.” The survey concludes: “Business as usual is not an option. An attempt to overcome world poverty through income growth generated by existing ‘brown technologies’ would exceed the limits of environmental sustainability.”

According to the report, global sustainable energy transition needs to be achieved within four decades, a significantly faster rate than in the past. Global sustainable energy policy must take into special consideration the 3 billion poor people who aspire to gaining access to electricity and modern energy services. The scope of current national and global policies and programs does not “add up” to the scale of actions needed to meet global emission reduction targets. Paradoxically, they are also overly ambitious in terms of their expected outcomes and are inconsiderate of certain biophysical, techno-economic and socio-political limits to scaling up known technologies. A reality check of current plans is needed so that realistic and well-targeted initiatives can be devised at a far greater scale.

There is a need for comprehensive, strategic and systemic approaches that emphasize performance goals, niche markets and technology portfolios, especially those related to end-use. In order to take pressure off the technological innovation imperative, individual limits of 70 gigajoules (GJ) primary energy use per capita and 3 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per capita by 2050 may need to be considered. Such energy-use and emissions caps would not affect the development related aspirations of developing countries. The sustainable energy transition offers significant economic opportunities for both developed and emerging market economies, but poses additional development challenges for poorer and more vulnerable countries, which would therefore require enhanced support from the international community.

To meet both the objectives of conquering poverty and protecting the environment, the World Economic and Social Survey 2011 calls for a complete transformation of technology on which human economic activity is based. The "great green technological transformation" that the Survey champions will have to be completed in the next 30 to 40 years, that is, twice as fast as it took to accomplish previous major technological transitions. Because of the limited time frame, Governments will need to play a much more active and stimulating role to accelerate the green energy transformation. The Survey details new policy directions and major investments in developing and scaling up clean energy technologies, sustainable farming and forestry techniques, climate proofing of infrastructure and reducing non-bio-degradable waste production.

There are 22 countries regarded as facing a “protracted food security crisis” are home to over 165 million undernourished people (about 20 per cent of the world’s total). The proportion of undernourished people ranges from under 15 per cent in Cote d’Ivoire to almost 70 per cent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2010a).

The report comes out yearly. Last year’s survey called for a major overhaul of the machinery for international finance, aid and trade. While humankind has made enormous progress in improving material welfare over the past two centuries, this progress has come at the lasting cost of degradation of our natural environment. About half of the forests that covered the earth are gone, groundwater resources are being depleted and contaminated, enormous reductions in biodiversity have already taken place and, through increased burning of fossil fuels, the stability of the planet’s climate is being threatened by global warming. In order for populations in developing countries to achieve a decent living standard, especially the billions who currently still live in conditions of abject poverty, and the additional 2 billion people who will have been added to the world’s population by mid-century—much greater economic progress will be needed.

Continuation along previously trodden economic growth pathways will further exacerbate the pressures exerted on the world’s resources and natural environment, which would approach limits where livelihoods were no longer sustainable. Business as usual is thus not an option. Yet, even if we stop global engines of growth now, the depletion and pollution of our natural environment would still continue because of existing consumption patterns and production methods. Hence, there is an urgent need to find new development pathways which would ensure environmental sustainability and reverse ecological destruction, while managing to provide, now and in the future, a decent livelihood for all of humankind."

Quoted from: http://beforeitsnews.com/story/783/989/UN_Warns_of_A_Major_Planetary_Catastrophe.html&SID=NL

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Source: United Nations
www.un.org/en/development/desa/policy/wess/wess_current/2011wess.pdf

My thanks to Julie,
you can find her here:
http://juliemitchellspiritfigures.blogspot.com/

for making me aware of this report,

which she read on the excellent and informative blog

http://coyoteprime-runningcauseicantfly.blogspot.com/

here:

http://coyoteprime-runningcauseicantfly.blogspot.com/2011/07/un-warns-of-major-planetary-catastrophe.html?

Our home

2011-07-11T20:19:00.000-05:00

Lingering oil

2011-07-05T10:41:00.004-05:00

There was another devastating oil spill in the US over the weekend, and it makes me wonder how many we never hear about. This spill, in Billings, Montana, is pouring oil into the Yellowstone River.

(click map to enlarge)

The most recent reports from today, July 5, indicate that the spill was larger than first thought (which more often than not seems to be the case). Also, the river is rising, which is making any cleanup efforts more difficult. (Source:
http://www.volunteertv.com/national/headlines/Rising_river_could_hinder_spill_clean_up_in_Montana_124998404.html

Additional sources:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43619388/ns/us_news-environment/

http://www.npr.org/2011/07/04/137595163/teams-gauge-yellowstone-rive-oil-spill

Once again the culprit is ExxonMobil, the same oil company which was responsible for the huge 1989 oil spill in Valdez, Alaska. Until the BP Deepwater spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, the Exxon Valdez oil spill was the largest oil spill in US history.

Even though we don't hear about these oil spills after they are superficially cleaned up, the oil lingers for many many years. If you think the Yellowstone river will be cleaned up soon, or that the Gulf of Mexico is back to normal, just take a look at this short video, which shows how Alaskan fishermen are still finding oil in areas where fish were once plentiful.

This video from:
http://www.assignmentearth.org/

I've written about oil spills before, including these two posts:

http://amazingmotherearth.blogspot.com/2010/08/here-spill-there-spill-everywhere-oil.html

http://amazingmotherearth.blogspot.com/2010/08/oil-spill-history-links.html

The Ocean and 50 ways to save it

2011-06-23T09:45:00.002-05:00

More information at Conservation International:
http://www.conservation.org/Pages/default.aspx

More information at Blue Frontier Campaign:
http://www.bluefront.org/

Each and every one of us can do things, even very small things, to help save the oceans, including using less plastic and opting out of our throw-way culture. There are more great ideas in this book, by environmental journalist and author David Helvarg:

available on Amazon here:
http://www.amazon.com/Ways-Ocean-Inner-Action-Guide/dp/1930722664

Amazon also allows you to preview the book, so you can see many other tips without ever having to buy the book.

Earthecho is another terrific website for information about our oceans. Earthecho International was founded by siblings Philippe and Alexandra Cousteau in honor of their father Philippe Cousteau Sr., famous son of the legendary explorer Jacques Yves Cousteau.

You can find it here:
http://www.earthecho.org/

"The ocean nurtures each and every one of us,

without it human life cannot be sustained."

~ Dr. Robert D. Ballard

author and discoverer of the Titanic

Food Forests and the Farm of the Future

2011-06-08T10:19:00.003-05:00

"A Farm for the Future" is a 48-minute video well worth watching about the future of our food supply and use of permaculture. In this video, Wildlife film maker Rebecca Hosking investigates how to transform her family’s farm in Devon into a low energy farm for the future, and discovers that nature holds the key.

If you don't have the time to watch the first video, this second video is much shorter. In it, Britain's Martin Crawford takes you through his edible forest garden, which is a model for resilient local food growing.

Food forests are not a new idea. Here's a short video about a 300-year old food forest in Vietnam:

And another short video about a 2000-year old food forest in Morocco:

There are a variety of interesting links, including links to information about permaculture, at EcoFilms Australia, which you can find here:
http://www.ecofilms.com.au/

A teardrop from the '70s

2011-05-21T16:57:00.000-05:00

7 Billion in 2011

2011-05-03T17:42:00.002-05:00

Everyone you love lives on this pale blue dot

2011-05-03T09:07:00.001-05:00

Another good video about hydraulic fracturing (fracking) . . .

2011-05-01T16:46:00.002-05:00

Earth Days

2011-04-20T06:49:00.002-05:00

It has been one year since the BP oil spill, and 41 years since the first Earth Day. Are we doing any better? In some way we are, but we create new problems daily and have far to go.

Please watch the following trailer of the documentary "Earth Days." It is a well-done film about the history of Earth Day and the politics, science and philosophies impacting the health of our environment.

If you are interested in watching this documentary online, you can currently see the entire film here for free:

http://video.pbs.org/video/1463378089/

Building for the future

2011-03-10T12:37:00.006-06:00

Before I take a long break from writing on this blog, I'll leave you with some links I found fascinating, featuring architectural trends with the future in mind.

Swiss home which won the 2010

Passivhaus Architecture Award

more here:

http://www.archi-europe.com/news-964-stylish-super-efficient-swiss-home-wins-the-2010-p.html

Super-efficient Passive Housing began in Germany and is already well established throughout Europe. It promises an overall energy savings of about 70% and a 90% lower heating load with on-sight solar power. This type of building can produce more energy than it consumes, while drastically reducing CO2 emissions. The concept of super efficient passive housing is slowly catching on in the US, as well.

For more information about Super-efficient Passive Housing, you could start here:

http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/64/passive-power-house/

and here:

http://the-passive-house-magazine.info/countries/americas/usa/super-efficient-passive-house-standard-draws-fans/

Dan Phillips and his company, Phoenix Commotion, in Huntsville, Texas, have made an art of using recycled building materials in the aesthetically pleasing, sustainable homes they build.

photo: Phoenix Commotion

Here's a fabulous video where Dan Phillips explains his philosophy of building sustainable homes:

Visit the Phoenix Commotion website here:
http://phoenixcommotion.com/

the "Hobbit House" in Wales

The "Hobbit House" in Wales is another low-impact house that uses recycled materials in an imaginative way. You can read more about it, from the man who built it with his father-in-law here:

http://www.simondale.net/house/index.htm

as well as another little article about it here:

http://www.littlehouseinthevalley.com/recycled-residences

Earthship House

Earthship Biotecture is another company using recycled rubber tires, aluminum and glass bottles to create interesting and exciting new buildings. Find out more about Earthship here:

http://www.earthship.org/

and here:

http://www.move.com/trends/earthship-green-sustainable-buildings/

wine bottle ceiling

Over 5,000 discarded wine bottles were used to create this fabulous accoustically-improved ceiling in a Buenos Aires restaurant, pictured above. You can read about it here:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/02/5000-wine-bottles-recycled-into-acoustics-improving-ceiling-at-buenos-aires-restaurant.php

photo: Phoenix Commotion

Bottle caps have been used to create art in this mural, above. Even discarded pipes and other junkyard metals can brighten up your sustainable home, as this artist shows with her highly-collectible art made from recycled materials:

vase and flowers by

Paula Art

clock by

Paula Art

To see more art by Paula, visit her website here:

http://www.paulaart.com/

Some communities are choosing to discard the sprawl of the last 70 years. New Urbanism is catching on, with it's cozy little houses, many with porches, built closer together, to encourage neighborly interaction.

These new New Urban developments are pedestrian-friendly, and offer a mix of residential and retail within easy walking distance. It's the old small town concept revisited. To read more about New Urbanism, you could start here:

http://www.newurbanism.org/

and here:

http://newurbannetwork.com/about-new-urbanism

One young architect in Beijing has taken the idea of low-impact urban living to the extreme with this tiny solar egg-shaped house which was all over the internet recently.

Solar egg-shaped house, Beijing

If you missed it, you can read about it here:

http://www.switched.com/2010/12/09/dai-haifei-solar-powered-mobile-egg-house-grass/

And, if you think all of these ideas in efficient housing and recycling old materials is new, you need to check out this link. The Romans had advance building techniques over 2000 years ago that we could still learn a great deal from today. They already had underfloor heating and water technolgies that allowed them to transport water great distances, provide running water in homes, and keep water hot for the public baths.

Here's a good article to get you started, if you're interested in seeing what the Romans were already doing over 2000 years ago:

http://www.pasthorizons.com/index.php/archives/11/2010/romans-can-teach-us-a-lesson-in-energy-efficiency
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Greenwashing

2011-03-09T08:49:00.001-06:00

Dolphins

2011-02-25T09:12:00.004-06:00

Today's post is about dolphins, since I've been reading some disturbing news about baby dolphins washing up on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico this week. This year they are dying at 10 times the usual rate.

Bottlenose Dolphin

Image and additional information found here:

http://www.solcomhouse.com/dolphins.htm

The number of dead dolphins washed up along the shores of Alabama and Mississippi is now up to 43. I found my information here today:

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/briefs/articles/90036316?Gulf+of+Mexico+baby+dolphin+deaths+alarm+scientists

But by the time you read this, that information may have changed, so by all means please search for updated information on your own.

(Update - March 5, 2010 - I found another interesting blog post concerning the alarming number of dead baby dolphins here today: http://oilonthebeach.blogspot.com/2011/03/surfrider-activist-witnesses-baby.html)

I also found some disturbing information about the US Navy's recent plans to wage a 5-year warfare "test" on marine mammals in the area here:
http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/us-navy-planned-to-massacre-millions-5-yr-warfare-testing-video

According to the above article, over 11.5 marine animals will be decimated as a result. Where is the outrage?!

And, in case you're still not convinced of the intelligence of dolphins, a short video about how dolphins saved a dog in Florida recently. . .

The article about the dolphins saving the dog can be found here:
http://www.nbc-2.com/Global/story.asp?S=14088636&hpt=T2

Living in Dante's Inferno

2011-02-14T09:43:00.002-06:00

This is a photo of a child in the Philippines. For the people of his community, the main source of income is scavenging through the garbage which is being transported from Manila to a landfill in Navotas.

The other source of income is charcoal making. For eleven years, the charcoal-making business has been the primary source of livelihood of 400 families. There are around 36 holes used to produce charcoal, located by the seashore of Manila Bay.

This is poverty. This is home for the people of Ulingan around Pier 18 in the Philippines.

Sidney Snoeck is a photojournalist in the Philippines, and writes a blog about this place and the plight of its people. He describes it like this:

"My impression of Ulingan when I first visited the place was that of Dante’s Inferno. A place enveloped in thick fumes with pitch black people and half naked kids working in extremely unhealthy conditions. The people are dirt poor, the kids have to work all day long and they are obviously malnourished and sickly. Many of these people also have lung problems caused by the environment.

"Last week I heard that the people of Ulingan will be forced to make place for another “recycling” company (similar to the one operating Pier 18). All the houses and the charcoal factories will be demolished to make place for the arrival of tons of garbage."

You can read Sidneys' blog for yourself here:
http://my_sarisari_store.typepad.com/my_sarisari_store/

If you are interested in helping the underprivileged children of the Philippines, here is the link to a wonderful no-frills, non-profit organization which can make sure your money does the most good:

http://www.projectpearls.org/

Project Pearls goal is to provide Peace, Education, Aspiration, Respect, Love and Smiles.


* All photos in this post are by Sidney Snoeck.*****

Pop goes the pipeline

2011-02-11T08:37:00.009-06:00

Today's news of a gas pipeline explosion in Ohio closely follows the news a few days ago of a similar explosion in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania in which 5 people died.

raw video found here:
http://www.fox8.com/news/wjw-news-columbiana-county-gas-explosion,0,299501.story

With our aging pipeline infrastructure, and the demand for oil and gas continuing to rise, I was curious to see if I could find information about how many pipeline explosions have occurred recently around the world. I learned that in just the past few years there have been serious pipeline explosions in California, Texas, Mexico, Canada, Egypt, Nigeria, and Belgium.

This does not even include the oil refinery and pipeline leaks in Chicago in 2010, or the others I wrote about in previous posts here:

http://amazingmotherearth.blogspot.com/2010/08/here-spill-there-spill-everywhere-oil.html

and here:

http://amazingmotherearth.blogspot.com/2010/08/oil-spill-history-links.html

While worldwide statistics regarding oil and gas pipeline explosions are not so easy to find, here are just a few of the links I found with a simple Google search:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pipeline_accidents

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-13/fatal-gas-blast-prompts-scrutiny-of-aging-u-s-fuel-pipelines.html

http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=AP&date=20110211&id=12984736

http://www.kget.com/news/local/story/PG-E-releases-list-of-high-risk-pipelines-two/RbrpFt-GPE-4IE-FVlvdWw.cspx

http://www.bizmology.com/2010/09/15/pges-gas-pipeline-explosion-what-lies-beneath/

http://www.un-naturalgas.org/hydraulic_fracturing_a-z.htm

The U.S. alone is crisscrossed with more than 2.5 million miles of fuel pipelines, or enough to circle the earth about 100 times. That makes me nervous. How about you?
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Update March 5, 2011 - Here's a link I found today regarding an onshore natural gas "blowout" that took place near Yellowstone Park in Wyoming in 2006, and how it's still affecting the local resident, their environment, and their property values:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110305/ap_on_re_us/us_onshore_well_blowouts
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Drill baby drill - fracking the American West

2011-02-09T16:31:00.006-06:00

Associated Press photo

Vast fields of previously out-of-reach oil will soon be mined by a dirty process called fracking in a rush to tap the Niobrara Shale underlying Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska.

I wrote a post describing fracking and the polluted frac water which results in a previous post, here:
http://amazingmotherearth.blogspot.com/2011/01/frac-water-and-year-3000.html

According to an article on Yahoo News today :

"This new drilling is expected to raise U.S. production by at least 20 percent over the next five years. And within 10 years, it could help reduce oil imports by more than half, advancing a goal that has long eluded policymakers.

"That's a significant contribution to energy security," says Ed Morse, head of commodities research at Credit Suisse.

"Oil engineers are applying what critics say is an environmentally questionable method developed in recent years to tap natural gas trapped in underground shale. They drill down and horizontally into the rock, then pump water, sand and chemicals into the hole to crack the shale and allow gas to flow up."

and

"Environmentalists fear that fluids or wastewater from the process, called hydraulic fracturing, could pollute drinking water supplies. The Environmental Protection Agency is now studying its safety in shale drilling. The agency studied use of the process in shallower drilling operations in 2004 and found that it was safe."

and

"With oil prices high and natural-gas prices low, profit margins from producing oil from shale are much higher than for gas. Also, drilling for shale oil is not dependent on high oil prices. Papa says this oil is cheaper to tap than the oil in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico or in Canada's oil sands"

To read the complete article on Yahoo, please visit here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110209/ap_on_re_us/us_shale_oil

I just have one question. When will we begin to talk seriously about conserving our limited natural resources?

When will we begin to see that we are using riskier and riskier methods to get at the ever-elusive oil and gas we are so addicted to?

Who will really profit from all of this drilling and fracking and polluting?

OK that was more than one question, but really, what are we doing to the planet? Is all this destruction and pollution necessary, just so we can drive to the mall in our own little boxes to buy more crap?

H2Oil

2011-01-26T16:32:00.007-06:00

If you still think the United States gets most of its oil from Saudi Arabia, you are wrong. America's biggest oil supplier has quickly become the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, ever since former Vice President Dick Cheney went to size up their potential back in 2005.

These controversial tar sands are located under Alberta's ancient boreal forests. But extracting oil from them is a dirty business, using up to 4 barrels of fresh water to produce only one barrel of crude oil. This mining process also produces at least three times the CO2 emissions of regular oil production. This makes it the dirtiest oil in the world, and these tar sands will only produce enough crude oil to feed the global appetite for oil for about 50 years. (http://h2oildoc.com/home/tar_sands)

The fresh water used to extract the oil is being diverted from local water sources. But the environmental impact will eventually be felt much further away - in the Great Lakes Region of the US and Canada - which contains 20% of the world's fresh surface water. (See:
http://solveclimatenews.com/news/20081017/alberta-tar-sands-poison-us-great-lakes-region-too for more information.)

Canadian filmmakers last year released the documentary called "H2Oil" about the impact on the local people and the environment. Here's the trailer:

And a here's a poignant still shot from the film:

For more information about the Alberta tar sands and the documentary 'H2Oil" please visit their website:
http://h2oildoc.com/home/

Other good websites for information about tar sands:
http://oilsandstruth.org/

http://www.tarsandswatch.org/
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Rare earth elements

2011-01-20T13:58:00.004-06:00

Electronic waste

Source:

http://www.mnn.com/local-reports/oregon/local-blog/is-green-technology-in-the-us-at-risk

You may not realize it, but rare earth elements (REE) have probably become an important part of your everyday life. And they are becoming even more rare as our major source for these metals, China, has cut exports to other countries.

REEs are critical components in much of the technology we have come to take for granted. They are found, among other things, in:

- Hybird vehicles

- Rechargeable batteries

- Mobile phones

- Plasma televisions

- Disk Drives

- Catalytic converters

- Aluminum baseball bats

- Medical devices

Source:

http://sufiy.blogspot.com/2010/02/investors-rush-into-rare-earth-element.html

The high-tech and environmental uses of REEs has grown significantly in the last 40 years.

Source:

http://orignal.blogspirit.com/archive/2011/01/04/innovation-and-rare-earth-elements-a-key-issue-for-2011.html

And as our need for more and more REEs grew, the source of these resources has shifted to China.

Source:

http://logisticsviewpoints.com/2009/07/01/our-green-economy-is-made-in-china/

Currently most obsolete electronics are destined to be dumped somewhere, usually out of our sight in a third world country like Ghana. In addition to leaking mercury and lead, REEs are being discarded.

dumped electronic waste, Ghana

But, especially since China announced last year that it would be limiting the export of REEs, Japan and Germany are on the forefront of developing aggressive programs to recycle valuable components.

So, why should we care about this?

The US, for example, imports almost all of these rare earth elements from China, which currently produces about 97 percent of the world supply.

Quite simply, if China significantly cuts exports, prices for these elements - and the products they appear in - could and would jump dramatically. Many other countries, like Japan and Germany, will obviously be in the same situation.

The internet has lots of up-to-date information about this topic. I started here when I was researching it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_earth_element

http://ewasteguide.info/e-waste-campaign-gra

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5493796/china_technology_and_the_economics.html?cat=15

http://cenvironment.blogspot.com/2010/09/chinese-dominate-precious-metals.html

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/11/08/can-the-us-compete-on-rare-earths/america-should-not-panic-about-rare-earths

http://www.mnn.com/local-reports/oregon/local-blog/is-green-technology-in-the-us-at-risk

http://orignal.blogspirit.com/archive/2011/01/04/innovation-and-rare-earth-elements-a-key-issue-for-2011.html

http://logisticsviewpoints.com/2009/07/01/our-green-economy-is-made-in-china/

http://earthsky.org/earth/keith-long-rare-earth-elements-in-14-u-s-states

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2010/1020/China-s-lock-on-market-for-rare-earth-elements-Why-it-matters

http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2010-08-31/rare-earth-elements-crisis

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/05/business/global/05recycle.html

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world-news/japan-germany-seek-rare-earth-recycling-as-hedge_498215.html

http://agmetalminer.com/2011/01/20/we-may-not-need-rare-earth-metals-after-all-japanese-research-suggests/

In the beginning, there was nature . . .

2011-01-18T07:49:00.000-06:00

Just a sweet little video from Italy today, about nature and people and our connection to everything around us. It's well worth 4 minutes of your time.

I love this photo, which I took in January 2010 along a Lake Michigan beach.

Yes, global warming does cause more snow to fall in some places

2011-01-15T13:04:00.002-06:00

This is especially for all those people out there who say that global warming/climate change is a hoax because it is snowing more in some areas. Here's a short, informative report from ABC News to explain how it can snow more in some places, rain more in others, and both be the result of global warming.

Personally, I think we should get away from the term "global warming", because it confuses too many people. Let's start only calling it "climate change" - or better yet "Catastrophic Climate Change".

From the extreme winter storms throughout Europe and North America,

to the extreme flooding in Australia, Brazil, and elsewhere,

to the desertification in many places on earth,

we humans have an impact on the planet which cannot be denied any longer.

For more information on desertification, which is the degradation of land in arid and dry sub-humid areas due to various factors: including climatic variations and human activities, please refer here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desertification

here:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/conservation/issues/desertification1.htm

here:
http://typo38.unesco.org/en/cour-06-2006/cour-06-06-fact-fig.html

here:
http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/biogeography/desertification.html

here:
http://www.ifad.org/events/wssd/gef/gef_ifad.htm

"Climate change poses clear,

catastrophic threats.

We may not agree on the extent,

but we certainly can't afford the risk of inaction."

~ Rupert Murdoch

Frac water and the year 3000

2011-01-13T14:49:00.008-06:00

solid frac water waste

removed from the Beaver River (Pennsylvania)

December 15, 2010

(photo: Keith Srakocic/AP)

Frac water is the result of hydraulic fracturing, also called "fracking" or "fracing." Hydraulic fracturing is the use of water under very high pressure to fracture underground rock in the mining of oil and especially natural gas. (Find a full description here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing

According to a recent Associated Press article:

"The natural gas boom gripping parts of the United States has a nasty byproduct: wastewater so salty, and so polluted with metals like barium and strontium, that most states require drillers to get rid of the stuff by injecting it down shafts thousands of feet deep.

"But not in Pennsylvania, one of the states at the center of the gas rush. In Pennsylvania, the liquid that gushes from gas wells is only partially treated for substances that could be environmentally harmful, then dumped into rivers and streams from which communities get their drinking water."

(Read the complete article here:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11004/1115432-454.stm#ixzz1AwmaqyHj)

In addition to the deliberate dumping of frac water in Pennsylvania, there was also a 13,000+ gallon spill of this toxic water which was discovered in Novemeber. (http://www.northcentralpa.com/feeditem/2010-11-22_dep-investigating-13000-gallon-frack-water-spill-lycoming-county)

click to enlarge

As you can see from the illustration above, whether frac water is deliberately dumped, or "safely" pumped far underground, the water supply is in real danger of contamination. Especially when you learn that 50% of Americans get their water from underground sources.

Since 2005, the hazardous chemicals like benzene which are used in fracking have been exempted from the Clean Water Act, at the urging of then-Vice President Cheney.

More on that here:

"What is Fracking and why did Cheney gave them a pass to poison in 2005?"
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978667268

and here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-grandia/how-cheneys-loophole-is-f_b_502924.html

ABC News reported on the dangers of fracking in June 2010:

The above report used footage from the documentary "Gasland" (http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/).

For even more information about this topic, please refer to the following websites:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/fossil-fuels/gas-fracking-documentary-finds-nationwide-problems

http://www.truth-out.org/a-fracking-war-industry-attempts-debunk-gasland-film61598

http://shaleshock.org/

http://www.bluenc.com/dangers-fracking-explored

http://www.forbes.com/2009/09/28/cabot-hydraulic-fracturing-business-energy-fracking.html

According to a recent Forbes magazine article (link shown above), over 80% of the wells drilled in the U.S. today use some form of fracking.

"And in the Marcellus basin, a shale rock formation that stretches across Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and West Virginia, usage is more like 100%. Without the high flow rates created by the frack, the gas wouldn't be economical to go after. With the fracks, geologists figure the Marcellus has more than 50 trillion cubic feet of gas, enough to meet all of U.S. needs for two years."

click to enlarge

From these two maps you can see where in the U.S., and the world, natural gas is being mined.

click to enlarge

While I couldn't find too much information about the use of fracking in other countries, I did find a United Press International article about its use in Russia here:

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Analysis/2010/02/01/Walkers-World-Russias-fracked-future/UPI-21421265042152/

If you are interested in learning about the use of this type of mining for natural gas in other parts of the world, please begin an online search of your own. I'm sure there is much more information available on the Internet. I know I've only touched the tip of the iceberg with this little blog post.

Now about the year 3000. . .

While I was preparing this post, I saw a new article about predictions for what our Mother Earth might look like in the year 3000, even if we begin to clean up our environment right now. Here's the first part of the article:

"Even if humans stop producing excess carbon dioxide in 2100, the lingering effects of global warming could span the next millennia. The results? By the year 3000, global warming would be more than a hot topic - the West Antarctic ice sheet could collapse, and global sea levels would rise by about 13 feet (4 meters), according to a new study.

"Using a computer model, researchers looked at two scenarios - an end to humans' industrial carbon dioxide emissions by 2010 and by 2100 - stretched out to the year 3000.

"Even if humans were to stop emitting excess carbon dioxide - or if they figured out a way to completely capture it - the effects of global warming would continue to accumulate. That's because previously emitted carbon dioxide lingers in the atmosphere and the oceans, unlike land, warm only gradually, according to one of the study researchers, Shawn Marshall, an associate professor of geography at the University of Calgary."

Find the complete article here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20110113/sc_livescience/globalwarmingdirepredictionfortheyear3000

"Climate is gone.
I don't think you need to worry"

~ Karl Rove

Republican strategist

and keynote speaker on the opening day

of a two-day shale-gas conference

sponsored by Hart Energy Publishing L.L. P.

(Source:

http://articles.philly.com/2010-11-04/business/24953218_1_marcellus-shale-obama-climate-change-legislation)

We are what we eat - bad news and good news regarding our food sources

2011-01-09T16:36:00.004-06:00

photo source:

http://planetsave.com/2009/02/10/step-inside-the-cage-of-a-factory-farmed-egg-laying-hen-with-animalvisualsorg/

I'm not even sure where to begin with this topic. There is so much wrong with our food system.

This is a map which shows the factory farms in the U.S. A factory farm, also called an industrial farm, raises large numbers of animals in extremely confined areas, creating large pools of waste materials. The main products of these farms are meat, milk and eggs, raised for human consumption. You can find an interactive version of this factory farm map at http://www.factoryfarmmap.org/.

factory farm photo source:

http://blog.savemaumee.org/category/factory-farms-cafo/

Mark Bittman, journalist, cookbook author, and food-lover, had two interesting and eye-opening posts about factory farms on his blog recently. You can read them here:

http://markbittman.com/america-the-sht-factory

http://markbittman.com/horrific-animal-abuses-uncovered-at-smithfiel

For an article about the factory farm horrors found recently at Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer and processor, please visit here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20101217/ts_yblog_thelookout/undercover-investigation-of-smithfield-foods-reveals-factory-farm-horrors

There is a video of what they found at Smithfield, but I didn't have the stomach to post it here. You can see if for yourself at the link above, if you're interested.

And, in case you missed the film "The End of the Line," the first documentary to deal with the devastating effects of overfishing on our oceans, please visit their website here for more information:

http://endoftheline.com/film/

Finally, the good news:

Here's an interesting trailer for the film "FRESH."

and a video about Growing Power and Will Allen:

Growing Power advocates urban farming (farming on a small scale in urban settings), and access to fresh, healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food. Will Allen, the founder of Growing Power, has received numerous awards for his work, and was invited to the White House in 2010 to join Michelle Obama in launching her program to fight childhood obesity in America. He was also listed as one of TIME magazine's 100 world's most influential people.

To learn more about Growing Power and urban gardening, please visit their website here:

http://www.growingpower.org/

Urban farming photo source:

http://www.organicnation.tv/blog/cnn-urban-farming-movement-like-a-revolution.html

Some fascinating trivia to end the year

2010-12-29T16:59:00.002-06:00

As I begin writing this post today, with only two more days left in the year 2010, 26,810 species of animals and plants have become extinct this year alone.

But our Mother Earth continues to amaze me. This year, a Japanese salmon species thought to be extinct for over 70 years, called the black kokanee ("kunimasu" in Japanese) has been found alive and well by a scientist in a lake near Mount Fuji.

black kokanee

(AP photo/Kyoto University via Kyodo News)

To read the full article about the black kokanee, please visit here:
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-scientist-japan-fish-thought-extinct.html

I also recently learned that leaf-cutter ants, which raise a crop of fungus to feed their colony of millions of ants, have been farming much longer than humans have. Did you know this? They also have been using natural pesticides to protect their crops. Amazing!

A queen leaf-cutter ant of the species Atta

looms over a tiny worker in their fungal garden.

(Photo credit: Cameron Currie)

To read the complete article about these amazing ants, please refer here:

http://www.livescience.com/animals/farmer-ants-symbiosis-101123.html

And finally this. Did you know that scientists are not even close to knowing how many species live on Earth? There could be three million, or there could be 100 million. Scientists agree only that there are a lot more than the 1.9 million we've already named. And that possibly one-third of all species on Earth are tropical beetles!

30 most common beetle species

in cacao agroforestry system

in Sulawesi, Indonesia

(Image credit: Merjin Bos)

found here:

http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0305-sulawesi.html

One of the reasons we haven't been able to get an accurate count is that most of the world's creatures are very, very small. But new technologies, like DNA sequencing, are making it easier to discover more and more about our planet's treasure trove of biodiversity. (Source: http://articles.cnn.com/2010-12-07/living/o.science.mysteries.not.solved_1_extrasolar-planets-earthlike-universe?_s=PM:LIVING)

The Endangered Species Print Project

2010-12-18T07:26:00.003-06:00

Here's another great gift idea for the art and nature lover.

According to their website:

The Endangered Species Print Project offers limited-edition art prints of critically endangered species.

The number of prints available corresponds with the remaining animal or plant populations.

For example, only 45 Amur Leopards remain in the wild, so for this edition, only 45 prints will ever be made.

An organization whose mission is to the ensure the survival of the species depicted, is chosen to receive 100% of the sales price of each print.

You can find them here:
http://endangeredspeciesprintproject.com/home.html
*
*
*

Great gift idea

2010-12-15T13:58:00.003-06:00

If you're looking for a gift that will make someone very happy, and help save endangered wildlife at the same time, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has a variety of wonderful ideas for you. Through their online gift center, you can adopt your choice of over 100 species of beautiful plush stuffed animals. Your symbolic adoption of a real animal helps support WWF's global efforts to protect wild animals and their habitats. From tigers to sea turtles, penguins to pandas, three-toed sloths to tigers, they have the perfect gift for you.

Here are some links to get you started:

http://www.worldwildlife.org/ogc/species_category.cfm

http://www.worldwildlife.org/ogc/index.cfm?sc=AWY0805WCG00&CFID=47284388&CFTOKEN=35e93c5dafd9e1f-EB88CAFD-C71C-3318-824FD4145B65645F

http://www.worldwildlife.org/ogc/species_SKU.cfm?gid=33

Going . . . going . . . gone?

2010-12-14T11:00:00.003-06:00

This year, 2010, was the Year of the Tiger. One hundred years ago, there were still 100,000 tigers in the wild. Today there are as few as 3200.

Yes, only 3200.

In November, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hosted the Global Tiger Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. The leaders of 13 tiger-range countries met to try to save these gorgeous animals from extinction.

The next Year of the Tiger is 2022, and the goal is to double the tiger population by that year.

The two major reasons these animals are so endangered are illegal trade/poaching and deforestation/loss of habitat.

To learn more about the World Bank Group, the makers of this video, please visit their YouTube channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/WorldBank

or visit their website, here:
http://www.worldbank.org/

For more information about the Global Tiger Summit, please visit here:
http://english.cntv.cn/program/china24/20101122/101548.shtml

To visit the official Global Tiger Initiative website, please visit here:
http://www.globaltigerinitiative.org/

To learn more about what's being done to save the tigers, and to donate to the cause, please visit The World Wildlife Fund's Save Tigers Now website here:
http://www.savetigersnow.org/

As I write this post, I see on the ticker in the sidebar to the right, that 25,685 species have gone extinct on Earth as of today in 2010 alone. Let's try to work together to ensure that these beautiful tigers aren't on this list some day. There is still time to save them.

Indigenous people: Not only animals and plants face extinction

2010-11-15T11:48:00.007-06:00

According to the latest estimates, there are only approximately 370 million indigenous people, spread across 70 countries, left on earth. Descendants of those who inhabited a region when large numbers of people from different ethnic origins arrived, these indigenous people still practice ancient traditions and retain social and cultural traditions distinct from those of the dominant society in which they live.

Earlier this year, thousands of indigenous people from around the world once again came to the United Nations to push for better rights for their native communities. Here is a short video from BBC News about their 2009 conference.

Just this month, Canada joined most of the nations on earth in signing the UN Declaration of Indigenous Rights. (See http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/300206 for more information.)

To read the UN Declaration of Indigenous Rights, visit here:

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/drip.html

To read the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2008, please visit here:

http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

For some interesting and informative short articles and videos regarding the rights of indigenous people and the challenges they face, please visit here:

http://www.globalissues.org/article/693/rights-of-indigenous-people

Do you know what you are eating and breathing?

2010-11-09T08:10:00.010-06:00

Did you know that one company, Monsanto, has a frightening amount of control over what each and every one of us eats and the very air we breathe?

The entire documentary, "The World According to Monsanto," is available for free in 10 small videos on YouTube. Here's video #1.

Another documentary you might be interested in is called "What In The World Are They Spraying?" and it deals with the topic of chemtrails and geo-engineering (climate engineering). This video is also available for viewing in 7 parts on YouTube. Here's video #1 of that film.

For more information about geo-engineering, you could start by looking here:
http://www.handsoffmotherearth.org/about/

Looking at the Great Lakes for Blog Action Day

2010-10-14T16:05:00.007-05:00

Lake Michigan

2009 Great Lakes Photo Contest Winner

Shawn Hamer – Auburn Hills, MI

Water is the focus of this year's Blog Action Day. I have lived for many years in the Great Lakes region of the US, so the issues surrounding these important bodies of water are of utmost concern to me.

To me, water isn't only an issue in places where water is scarce. It should also be an important issue where there is still a viable water supply.

The Great Lakes are such a vitally important issue because they hold 21% of the Earth's surface fresh water. They form the largest group of freshwater lakes on the planet, by total surface and volume. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes)

There are five Great Lakes - Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior. Four of them straddle the US/Canadian border, with only Lake Michigan lying completely in the US. The Great Lakes region contains not only the five main lakes themselves, but also numerous minor lakes and rivers, as well as approximately 35,000 islands.

(click to enlarge)

When I recently found the following map, which shows the world's access to safe drinking water, the need to protect our precious fresh water sources became an even more important issue for me. (Find more here: http://www.theglobaleducationproject.org/earth/human-conditions.php)

Percentage of population without reasonable access to safe drinking water.

Reasonable access to safe drinking water is defined as the availability of at least 20 litres (5.3 gallons) per person per day from an improved source within 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) of the user's dwelling.

The Great Lakes are a source of drinking water to millions of people in the US and Canada, they are a source of food, a place of recreation and a means of transportation for people and goods.

According to www.great-lakes.net,

"The pollution of our waterways became a national issue in June of 1969, the day that the Cuyahoga River, flowing through Cleveland, Ohio, on its way to Lake Erie, caught on fire because it was so polluted. Although this was not the first time that the Cuyahoga River had been in flames, the 1969 fire caught the attention of the nation and the fight began for increased water pollution controls, which eventually led to the Great Lakes Water Quality Act and Clean Water Act in the 1970s."

Pollution affecting the Lakes includes:
-industrial waste water containing toxic metals
-sewage discharge (which can lead to cryptosporidium, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee_Cryptosporidium_outbreak)
-fertilizers and pesticides from agricultural lands and homeowners
-oil, grease and salt from highways
-sediment from construction sites and eroding shorelines
-animal waste
-phosphorus
-and mercury, just to name a few.

This pollution has resulted in deformities and illness in fish, gulls and humans.

An article on the website www.eoearth.org details the issue of mercury in the Great Lakes.

"Although mercury is a useful metal, it is highly toxic affecting the nervous and cardiovascular system. Exposure to mercury could lead to nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, severe kidney damage, hallucinations, memory loss, nerve damage, inability to concentrate, increase in blood pressure level, loss of color vision, tremors, loss of dermal sensitivity, slurred speech and even paralysis and death."

(See http://www.eoearth.org/article/Mercury_in_the_Great_Lakes for more information.)

The problem with mercury is so widespread, that the EPA Environmental Protection Agency has issued safe eating guidelines for local fish since at least 1993. (See http://water.epa.gov/scitech/swguidance/fishshellfish/fishadvisories/archive/2006_tech.cfm)

"Because the Great Lakes look so big

we perceive them to be able to handle anything we throw at them.

Their size belies their fragility."

~ Cameron Davis

new Great Lakes Czar for the Obama administration

The Evanston Review, June 26, 2009

The Saint Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway opened the Great Lakes to ocean-going vessels over a century ago. Since then, invasive species have been finding their way into the great Lakes with uncomfortable regularity. Currently there are already 185 invasive species in the Lakes.

According to an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

"It is a problem that lacks the graphic horror of the Gulf oil spill, but is more environmentally catastrophic in that it unleashes a pollution that does not decay or disperse - it breeds.

"Native fish populations have crashed, freshwater beaches have suffocated under mounds of rotting algae, bird-killing botulism outbreaks have soared and the lakes' invasive species problems have spread down Chicago's canals, into the vast Mississippi basin and across the continent."

Quagga mussels and mollusks have already caused tremendous problems. In the past five years, the mollusks have sucked much of the life out of Lake Michigan, seriously depleting the fish-sustaining plankton. And if Lake Michigan were drained, you would be able to walk the 80 miles between Milwaukee and Muskegon, Michigan, on a bed of quagga mussels.

And, since the Great Lakes are a gateway to the rest of North America, these invaders have spread beyond the region.

..

To read the entire article in the Journal Sentinel, please refer here: (http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/104220354.html )
While the Lakes have many issues challenging them, one of the most recent is due to Asian carp, which could become next next invasive species to torment the Lakes.

Asian carp will be a devastating nuisance.
-They can grow to a over 100 pounds.
-They swim in schools so thick the water roils.
-They starve out native species by consuming up to 20% of their weight in plankton per day.
-They pop out of the water like porpoises and have knocked boaters into emergency rooms.

If the Asian carp are successful in entering Lake Michigan from the South, an annual $1 billion commercial catch and a $4 billion sports fishing industry would be at risk as Asian carp would eventually invade the entire Great Lakes system. (See http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/09/asian-carp-knocking-on-great-lakes-doors/)

If you are still looking for some more information about the Great Lakes, another wonderful resource is the Great Lakes Water Institute, here: http://www.glwi.uwm.edu/

For general information about water, two good places to start are http://water.org/ and http://blogactionday.change.org/

Mother Earth still has a few new things to show us

2010-10-04T14:01:00.010-05:00

piglet squid

discovered 2009

Just today, the results of a decade-long World Oceans Census were also released, showing the connectedness of the world's marine life. Read the article at Yahoo News here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101004/ap_on_sc/us_sci_marine_census_4

For more information, you can also check out the Census of Marine Life's own Decade of Discovery website here: http://www.coml.org/

And, for a short article and a really interesting little video about the 52 new marine species found recently by American and Indonesian scientists, please visit this link:

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/care2/51/52-new-marine-species-discovered.html

The human spirit needs places

where nature has not been rearranged

by the hand of man.

~ Author Unknown

The Cove

2010-09-02T14:11:00.005-05:00

Since yesterday, dolphins are once again being slaughtered in Japan. Documented in the recent film THE COVE, this brutal and bloody slaughter is done in secrecy, and most Japanese do not even know this is happening. I won't post any pictures of the carnage here, because they are too graphic and disgusting.

If you would like to donate to help spread the word about the slaughter and stop it, or learn how to take action in some other way, please visit: http://www.thecovemovie.com/ for links and more information.

2010-08-19T12:58:00.002-05:00

Surviving:

How Animals Adapt To Their Environments

available from: Amazon

The difference

between animals and humans

is that animals change themselves

for the environment,

but humans change the environment

for themselves.

~ Ayn Rand

So, do we humans have more of a right to this planet than all other living things? I don't think so!

The real price of a gallon of gas

2010-08-19T12:30:00.001-05:00

Out of sight, out of mind

2010-08-17T11:42:00.003-05:00

oiled sea turtle

Grand Terre Island, Louisiana.

By now you've probably seen quite a few photos of the poor animals who have been injured or killed as a result of the Gulf oil spill. Terrible images which make many of us want to turn our heads and ignore their plight.

But out of sight, out of mind, does not make the problems go away.

Did you know that oil spills aren't the only oil-related issue adversely affecting our planet's wild animals? Plastic, which is usually made from petroleum and natural gas, has become a huge problem, as well.

Photo from AP

and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

The photo above has been on the internet for the last several weeks, showing a 6-month old bear in Florida who had stuck his head into a plastic jar. For at least 10 days the little bear followed his twin and his mother, unable to eat or drink anything because he was unable to remove the jar from his head. He was close to death when some biologists found him and were able to help him.

Unless plastic is recycled, it can last for thousands of years. Animals get caught in it, eat it, and feed it to their young, causing terrible harm.

Stomach contents of dead albatross

There are giant islands of plastic garbage floating in the both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, made up of tons of plastic.

This map shows the locations of five major islands of plastic garbage floating in our waters.

Wikipedia

Please, if you can't recycle your plastics, discard them properly. Leave lids on jars and cut plastic rings, such as those holding six-packs together.

Better yet, become aware of all the plastics around you, and try to use products with less packaging. And recycle, recycle, recycle.

Sometimes I can really relate . . .

2010-08-09T14:30:00.000-05:00

. . . to the words of this little song

Oil spill history links

2010-08-09T10:17:00.005-05:00

So, to continue my post from last week, www.marinergroup.com has compiled a list of oil spills which happened around the world between 1967 and 2004 here:
http://www.marinergroup.com/oil-spill-history.htm

For an up-to-date list of some of the largest oil spills between 2004 and now, check out Wikipedia here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_spills

Gas prices have risen

as the number of wells drilled

and drilling permits have increased.
(Click graph to enlarge)

The National Wildlife Federation: Great Lakes Resource Center website also has a terrific page online which explains clearly how we cannot drill our way to lower gas prices. You can find that information here:
http://online.nwf.org/site/PageServer?pagename=glnrc_climate_cannotdrilltolowerprices

You can find plenty of graphs, charts photos and maps online which will give you some idea of how much co2 (carbon dioxide) each country is emitting. The clearest map I found to post here is from 1999, so some of the information has changed. China and India are becoming larger contributors to worldwide co2 pollution as they become more developed.

Here's the map from 1999 (click map to enlarge):

Here a spill, there a spill, everywhere an oil spill

2010-08-02T14:35:00.004-05:00

You've heard or read about this summer's two latest oil spills in the US, right? There was a "small" one in Utah in June, which briefly threatened Utah's Great Salt Lake.

(See more here: http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-06-15/business/21910877_1_gallons-of-crude-oil-spill-oil-industry).

And in July, there was one in Michigan, which flowed into the Kalmazoo River, and threatens to enter Lake Michigan.

(See more here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100727/ap_on_bi_ge/us_michigan_river_oil_spill
and here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100729/ap_on_bi_ge/us_michigan_river_oil_spill).

It made me wonder about the just how pervasive oil drilling and oil pipelines are.

While searching for information online, I came across some interesting information. In an April article on the Forbes.com website entitled "Drill Here: America's Untapped Oil and Gas Reserves," I found this map:

from:

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0426/outfront-oil-gas-obama-drilling-drill-here.html

I don't know about you, but it scares me to think that *they* might decide to try to get at all of this oil, before they finally decide to push conservation and alternate sources of energy, instead.

While browsing the internet, I also came across this map of existing oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico:

And as recently as March, the following map was shown on Public Television's Nightly News Hour, showing the areas which had been newly approved for offshore drilling:

Here in Wisconsin, there has even been some discussion among several politicians running for office about drilling for oil in the Great Lakes. It's currently banned, but who knows what the future holds?

The 5 lakes which make up the Great Lakes are an incredibly important natural resource and source of fresh water to both the US and Canada. The Great Lakes are the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth, by total surface and volume. Can you imagine oil spills in these precious bodies of water? For more information about the Great Lakes, go to Wikipedia, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes.

I have much more to say about this topic, but it will have to wait for another post on another day. I can't tell you how frustrated and angry this blind addiction to oil makes me.

Simple tips for a healthier you, and a healthier planet

2010-07-21T07:54:00.001-05:00

Here are two short videos with simple tips we can all follow.

And, did you know that, in addition to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, there is another serious oil spill in China right now? It's the result of an oil pipeline explosion 5 days ago, and is China's largest reported oil spill to date. Read more about it here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_china_pipeline_explosion

Dead penguins washing ashore in Brazil

2010-07-20T17:19:00.002-05:00

Hundreds of Magellan (also called Magellanic) penguins have been washing ashore and are dotting the coast of Brazil this year. Autopsies of the penguins are showing that their stomachs are completely empty - meaning they are starving to death, possibly due to overfishing. In an average year only about 10 of these penguins, some of which typically wash ashore along the Brazilian coast this time of year, are dead.

For the complete short article, please click here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100720/ap_on_sc/lt_brazil_dead_penguins

Here's also a link to a post I did about penguins when this blog was still new and floundering about, finding its way:
http://amazingmotherearth.blogspot.com/2009/02/found-papers-collage-of-rockhopper.html

Over 6000 items are made from oil

2010-06-29T09:56:00.006-05:00

One 42 gallon barrel of oil creates 19.5 gallons of gasoline.

Source: American Petroleum Institute (www.api.org). Figures are based on 1995 average yields for U.S. refineries. One barrel contains 42 gallons of crude oil. The total volume of products made is 44.2 GALLONS - 2.2 gallons greater than the original 42 gallons of crude oil. This is called "processing gain," where other chemicals are added to the refining process to create the products.

In 2007, the U.S. used approximately 20,680,000 barrels of oil per day. To compare the U.S. oil consumption to that of other countries, refer to: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_oil_con-energy-oil-consumption

Two thirds (2/3) of oil is used for transportation. (Source: http://eia.doe.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=oil_use)

Besides gasoline, more than 6000 other things are made of oil. Here's a short list from green/yahoo.com:

Ammonia
Antifreeze
Antiseptics
Art Supplies
Artificial limbs
Aspirin
Astroturf
Awnings
Bandages
Cleaning products
Candles
Carpets
Caulking
Clothing
Crayons
Creams
Cosmetics
Cutlery
Dentures
Dice
Dyes
Electronics
Film
Fishing line
Floor wax
Foam
Glasses
Glue
Glycerin
Guitar strings
Heart valves
Helmets
Ink
Insulation
Lubricants
Medicine
Nail polish
Nylon
Paint
Paint brushes
Panty hose
Petroleum jelly
Plastics
Records
Refrigerant
Roofing
Shampoo
Shaving cream
Shoes
Shower curtains
Skis
Soap
Solvents
Sports equipment
Tires
Toys
Trash bags
Umbrellas
Upholstery
Vitamin capsules

Gulf drinking water contaminated by dispersants

2010-06-28T11:54:00.007-05:00

A video from GreenopolisTV:

For more info, visit greenopolis.com

Even before the BP oil spill disaster, the Gulf of Mexico was dealing with dead zones in the gulf every summer. The dead zones are caused by various pollution sources, including fertilizers, sewage and emissions from vehicles and factories, which flow down the Mississippi River.

Gulf of Mexico dead zones, pre-oil spill

For more information about dead zones, you can start here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_zone_%28ecology%29

and here, at the Texas A&M website:
http://www.tamug.edu/research/Biofuels/research.htm

Are sperm whales the canary in the coal mine?

2010-06-24T17:17:00.005-05:00

This article was written by Associated Press writer Arthur Max
and appeared today on yahoo.com

Report: Toxins found in whales' bodies bode ill for humans

June 24, 2010 - AGADIR, Morocco – Sperm whales feeding even in the most remote reaches of Earth's oceans have built up stunningly high levels of toxic and heavy metals, according to American scientists who say the findings spell danger not only for marine life but for the millions of humans who depend on seafood.

A report released Thursday noted high levels of cadmium, aluminum, chromium, lead, silver, mercury and titanium in tissue samples taken by dart gun from nearly 1,000 whales over five years. From polar areas to equatorial waters, the whales ingested pollutants that may have been produced by humans thousands of miles away, the researchers said.

"These contaminants, I think, are threatening the human food supply. They certainly are threatening the whales and the other animals that live in the ocean," said biologist Roger Payne, founder and president of Ocean Alliance, the research and conservation group that produced the report.

The researchers found mercury as high as 16 parts per million in the whales. Fish high in mercury such as shark and swordfish — the types health experts warn children and pregnant women to avoid — typically have levels of about 1 part per million.

The whales studied averaged 2.4 parts of mercury per million, but the report's authors said their internal organs probably had much higher levels than the skin samples contained.

"The entire ocean life is just loaded with a series of contaminants, most of which have been released by human beings," Payne said in an interview on the sidelines of the International Whaling Commission's annual meeting.

Payne said sperm whales, which occupy the top of the food chain, absorb the contaminants and pass them on to the next generation when a female nurses her calf. "What she's actually doing is dumping her lifetime accumulation of that fat-soluble stuff into her baby," he said, and each generation passes on more to the next.

Ultimately, he said, the contaminants could jeopardize seafood, a primary source of animal protein for 1 billion people.

"You could make a fairly tight argument to say that it is the single greatest health threat that has ever faced the human species. I suspect this will shorten lives, if it turns out that this is what's going on," he said.

Payne called his group's $5 million project the most comprehensive report ever done on ocean pollutants.
U.S. Whaling Commissioner Monica Medina informed the 88 member nations of the whaling commission of the report and urged the commission to conduct further research.

The report "is right on target" for raising issues critical to humans as well as whales, Medina told The Associated Press. "We need to know much more about these problems."

Payne, 75, is best known for his 1968 discovery and recordings of songs by humpback whales, and for finding that some whale species can communicate with each other over thousands of miles.

The 93-foot Odyssey, a sail-and-motor ketch, set out in March 2000 from San Diego to document the oceans' health, collecting pencil-eraser-sized samples using a dart gun that barely made the whales flinch.

After more than five years and 87,000 miles, samples had been taken from 955 whales. The samples were sent for analysis to marine toxicologist John Wise at the University of Southern Maine. DNA was compared to ensure the animals were not tested more than once.

Payne said the original objective of the voyage was to measure chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants, and the study of metals was an afterthought.

The researchers were stunned with the results. "That's where the shocking, sort of jaw-dropping concentrations exist," Payne said.

Though it was impossible to know where the whales had been, Payne said the contamination was embedded in the blubber of males formed in the frigid polar regions, indicating that the animals had ingested the metals far from where they were emitted.

"When you're working with a synthetic chemical which never existed in nature before and you find it in a whale which came from the Arctic or Antarctic, it tells you that was made by people and it got into the whale," he said.

How that happened is unclear, but the contaminants likely were carried by wind or ocean currents, or were eaten by the sperm whales' prey.

Sperm whales are toothed whales that eat all kinds of fish, even sharks. Dozens have been taken by whaling ships in the past decade. Most of the whales hunted by the whaling countries of Japan, Norway and Iceland are minke whales, which are baleen whales that feed largely on tiny krill.

Chromium, an industrial pollutant that causes cancer in humans, was found in all but two of the 361 sperm whale samples that were tested for it. Those findings were published last year in the scientific journal Chemosphere.

"The biggest surprise was chromium," Payne said. "That's an absolute shocker. Nobody was even looking for it."

The corrosion-resistant metal is used in stainless steel, paints, dyes and the tanning of leather. It can cause lung cancer in people who work in industries where it is commonly used, and was the focus of the California environmental lawsuit that gained fame in the movie "Erin Brockovich."

It was impossible to say from the samples whether any of the whales suffered diseases, but Wise found that the concentration of chromium found in whales was several times higher than the level required to kill healthy cells in a Petri dish, Payne said.

He said another surprise was the high concentrations of aluminum, which is used in packaging, cooking pots and water treatment. Its effects are unknown.

The consequences of the metals could be horrific for both whale and man, he said.

"I don't see any future for whale species except extinction," Payne said. "This is not on anybody's radar, no government's radar anywhere, and I think it should be."

See the original article on yahoo.com here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100624/ap_on_sc/whaling

This American Land

2010-06-14T09:40:00.004-05:00

Here's a fabulous link to over 50 short (2 - 3 minute) videos about various aspects of our natural environment in North America: http://www.thisamericanland.org/

Some of these short films are currently airing as "fillers" on our PBS stations. There's some very interesting information here. I hope you take a moment to look at the website.

Love,
MOM

Our Amazing Mother Earth - a short video of our beautiful planet

2010-06-11T13:12:00.005-05:00

Love,

MOM

Gulf Restoration Network

2010-06-08T22:40:00.004-05:00

I just learned of this organization, the Gulf Restoration Network, which was already working to clean up the Gulf of Mexico before the horrific BP oil spill. It's a terrific resource for accurate information about the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the BP disaster.

And, if you're looking for a way to help, it provides the opportunity to put financial contributions directly into the hands of an organization that can do some tangible good. It also provides several petitions you can sign.

You can visit their website at www.healthygulf.org, read their blog here, and see their YouTube videos here.

And just in case you haven't heard this ridiculous quote, here's one that just cannot go unnoticed:

"This is not an environmental disaster,

and I will say that again

and again."

~ Congressman Don Young (R- Alaska)

speaking about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill

For more stupid quotes that make me wonder about the sanity of some very well-known and very vocal people, check out the link at fourgreensteps.com/infozone/ (for the list of 10 stupid comments, click: here.)

This video is from gwu.org, the Gulf Wildlife Rescue Unit.

Love,
MOM

If we don't open our eyes, this will happen again and again

2010-06-02T10:05:00.009-05:00

Did you know that the current Gulf of Mexico oil spill is not the first one in this area? The Ixtoc I oil spill of 1979, which occurred in the Bay of Campeche was, until now, the largest oil spill in history. Here's one link to get you started: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixtoc_I_oil_spill

----------------------------------------------------------

"Ixtoc 1 collapse caused largest peacetime spill

and was a lesson-packed forerunner of BP disaster"
--------------------------------------------------------------------

The quote above is from an article in the June 1 issue of the UK's The Guardian, to read the entire article about the parallels of the two oil spills, click here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/01/gulf-oil-spill-ixtoc-ecological-tipping-point

And, from the Legal Planet Blog, the blog of the UCLA Berkeley School of Law, there's this interesting article (http://legalplanet.wordpress.com/2010/05/31/weve-known-the-risks-in-the-gulf-for-forty-years/), which shows that as far back as 1971 there were major concerns about the risks to the Gulf of Mexico's delicate ecosystem.

Did you know that June 1 is the beginning of hurricane season in the Gulf?

Do you remember the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska? Did you know that last year was the 20th "anniversary" of that oil spill, and that the area's ecosystem is still suffering from the affects of the spill?

Watch this short video to see what I mean:

And here's a link to another video, this one with Dr. Riki Ott (whom I have met in person!). She is a long-time Alaska resident, a community activist, marine toxicologist, former commercial salmon "fisherma'am" and author of two books on the spill. In this video, she also addresses how a disaster like this has long-term affects on the people who live in these devastated areas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84W5kaz4AxA

Love,

MOM

A woman's prerogative

2010-05-30T12:10:00.003-05:00

My last post on this blog was many months ago, and I had planned never to post here again because I wasn't happy with the low readership. But, since it is a woman's prerogative to change her mind, I have decided to open this blog again. The number of comments a post receives will no longer concern me, even if I once again put many hours of research into a post.

Although any and all comments are still welcomed and greatly appreciated!

There are too many important things happening in our environment, some good - many bad. When something catches my interest, I'll be posting about it.

And, to start off on a positive note, here are two fantastic links:

The photo above is from webecoist.com, where you'll find beautiful photos and information about some of the most incredible wonders from the 7 continents. (http://webecoist.com/2009/09/08/7-geological-wonders-from-the-worlds-7-continents/)

Worldreviewer.com also has some fabulous information about the top 10 environmental experiences in the world. It's a wonderful site, whether you are fortunate enough to be able to actually travel there or are more of an arm-chair traveler. (http://www.worldreviewer.com/travel-guides/environment/)

See you again soon,
Love,

MOM

The last one

2009-10-25T11:50:00.011-05:00

This is my last post on this blog.

For those of you who have followed this blog, and especially those of you who have commented, I want to say a heartfelt "thank you!"

I won't delete this blog, because maybe someone will stumble across it and find it interesting. I've devoted a great deal of time to finding all the links, so I'll leave them here.

Before I go, there are two more issues I had planned to post about, so I'll touch on them briefly.

The North American pika has been called our "canary in a coal mine." A few degrees increase in temperature could mean extinction for this little rodent, which lives in the mountains in western North America. Pikas are very sensitive to temperature, and even a few degrees rise in average summer temperatures are forcing the pika to climb higher and higher into the mountains looking for cooler air. They are running out of places to run to, and are also running out of food and shelter at higher altitudes.

For more information on the very real plight of the pika, you could start here at planetgreen.discovery.com, and here at worldwildlife.org.

Coal ash has been closely tied to contaminated groundwater, and increases everyone's risk of cancer. Every year coal-burning plants across the country generate enough ash waste, 130 million tons of waste, to fill a cargo train that would stretch from Washington DC to Melbourne, Australia.

Nearly 600 toxic waste ponds, almost twice as many as previously thought, are scattered across the US in 32 states.

The coal ash is poured into unlined storage ponds and dumped into abandoned and active mines across America, where it poisons drinking water with arsenic, lead and a host of other chemicals. Our own household trash, even banana peels and apple cores, is more strictly regulated than coal ash.

Click here to read about what "60 Minutes" had to say about this problem, and to watch a very short video. You can also find a map here at publicintegrity.org, so you can see if there is a toxic coal ash pool contaminating the groundwater near you.

"You can tell how high a society is
by how much of its garbage is recycled."

~ Dhyani Ywahoo
(Native American)

I wonder what North American would look like today, if it had been left to its indigenous people, the Native Americans, the First Nations. Just a thought. . .

Love always,
MOM

International Day of Climate Action

2009-10-22T10:59:00.009-05:00

This Saturday, October 24, is the International Day of Climate Action, sponsored by 350.org. On this day, over 4400 actions and events will take place in over 172 counties to spread awareness of the effects of climate change.

350 is the most important number in the world right now. It's what scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We are already above this mark, hovering around 390, and the number is rising.

For more information, or to get involved, visit 350.org (here).

Some timeless words of wisdom:

"We stand now where two roads diverge.
But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem,
they are not equally fair.
The road we have long been traveling
is deceptively easy,
a smooth superhighway
on which we progress with great speed,
but at its end lies disaster.
The other fork of the road -
the one "less traveled by"
- offers our last,
our only chance
to reach a destination that assures the preservation
of the earth."
~ Rachel Carson

"Never doubt
that a small group
of thoughtful committed citizens
can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
~ Margaret Mead

Love,
MOM

Blog Action Day

2009-10-14T19:16:00.009-05:00

October 15, 2009, is blog action day, a day when 13,000 blogs, posting 31,000 blog posts, from 155 countries, reaching over 17.9 million readers will be writing about climate change. With the world's population projected to reach 7 billion in 2011, and up to 10.5 billion by 2050 (http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6038), the time to act to change the course we are on is NOW!

To find out more about Blog Action Day, or to participate in this annual event, go here: http://www.blogactionday.org/.

According to 350.org, 350 ppm (parts per million) is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Our current level is 390 ppm, which the leading scientists of 92 countries and many environmental and health organizations agree is causing damage to the planet and its most vulnerable people.

Africa is among the first places where people and animals are acutely affected by climate change already. In East Africa, in the countries of Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia, nearly 20 million people rely on food aid because of drought caused by climate change. A recent report by dw-tv (http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4711350,00.html) details the humanitarian crisis. The drought-related starvation there is already widespread among both humans and animals.

In Kenya, drought and poaching have killed over 100 elephants already this year, the same threatened elephants one million tourists flock to the savannah to see every year (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32755115/).

In Mali, in West Africa, the worst drought in 26 years is killing the last remaining desert elephants (http://baraza.wildlifedirect.org/2009/05/22/most-severe-drought-in-26-years-killing-malis-desert-elephants/).

For more information about these issues and more, please visit the the Oxfam International website (http://www.oxfam.org/en/climate).

To find out about the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change, which takes place this December, please visit the official conference website (http://en.cop15.dk/).

According to the Pew Center on Climate Change (http://www.pewclimate.org/), one of the most significant challenges in addressing global climate change is reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emmissions resulting from the use of coal.

Currently approximately 20% of the global greenhouse gases are caused by coal which is used primarily to generate electricity. Rising energy demands in the US, China and India will continue to drive up coal consumption in the future

Click here to see the complete list of coal and climate change facts.

If you live in the US, you can find out exactly where the coal to generate your electricity comes from at ilovemountains.org (http://www.ilovemountains.org/mc/show_connection.php?zip=+Zip&x=30&y=21). Since much of the coal is now mined through mountaintop removal, coal is becoming an even bigger environmental problem, leaving toxic waste and flooding in its wake wherever it is mined.

Please refer to http://www.ilovemountains.org/resources/ for more information about mountaintop removal mining.

And if that isn't enough, I just read today that the Arctic ice cap is expected to disappear in 20 to 30 years (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091014/ts_afp/britaincanadaarcticclimateenvironmentscience).

Do we really need any more reasons to get motivated and do what needs to be done?

We humans have gotten the world into a mess in a relatively short period of time. We need to do something now to change the course we are on.

Mother Earth can survive quite well without humans. But humans won't fare so well without a healthy Mother Earth.

Love,
MOM

You can change the world

2009-10-13T09:58:00.006-05:00

I found this terrific blog today and thought you might be interested. You can click on the picture above or go to http://reducefootprints.blogspot.com/ for all kinds of helpful information about how we each can make a difference and make Mother Earth a cleaner, better place for us all. And for our children and grandchildren.

We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors,
we borrow it from our children.

Remember, we can do great things if we all work together.

Love,
Mom

Water, water, everywhere. . .

2009-06-29T15:10:00.005-05:00

. . . and not a drop to drink. . .

Did you know that 1.1 billion people worldwide are estimated to have no access to clean drinking water? That's one in every 6 people on our planet. Many of them are children.

Please watch this very short video from charity: water (charitywater.org) which brings this truth much closer to home:

If you are interested in helping, children's safe drinking water (cdsw.org) has a program which distributes PUR packets to make potentially deadly drinking water drinkable. For as little as $1, you can provide a child with fresh water for 50 days.

Recently, I became aware of one of the more tragic stories regarding water quality and shortages. A few months ago 1,500 farmers in India’s agricultural state of Chhattisgarh committed mass suicide in response to the devastating effects of water shortages on their crop production. You can read more about it at BlueLivingIdeas (click here).

Did you know these facts about water?

1. In some organisms, up to 90 percent of their body weight comes from water.

2. Up to 60 percent of the human body is water.

3. The human brain is composed of 70 percent water.

4. Human lungs are nearly 90 percent water.

5. About 83 percent of our blood is water, which helps digest our food, transport waste, and control body temperature.

6. Each day humans must replace 2.4 litres of water, some through drinking and the rest taken by the body from the foods eaten.

So you can see just how important clean water is to the survival of all of us. For tips on how to conserve water, visit the "Water Use it Wisely" website (click here) or here for 49 tips from Americanwater.com.

"When you know better
you do better."
~Maya Angelou

Love,
MOM

World Oceans Day

2009-06-08T08:42:00.014-05:00

Today is World Oceans Day. Hawaii was the first U.S. state to observe World Oceans Day in 2008, thanks to the efforts of three girl scouts: Chanel Gemini, Nika Kashyap, and Sabina Van Tilburg. The concept for World Oceans Day was first presented to the United Nations by the government of Canada in 1992. You can read more about the project here.

Today more than 50 nations and 200 organizations are encouraging people around the world to respect and protect our magnificent oceans. Another great source of information is World Ocean Network.org.

Click here for a short video about what you can do to help prevent more plastic from ending up in the environment. (This link takes you to Endangered Spaces.blogspot, which is also listed in my Interesting Green Places Blogroll on the left of this blog.)

Recently I've been seeing more and more information about endangered animals,and two of the most recent I've learned about live in the ocean. The first is the Hawaiian Monk Seal.

The Hawaiian Monk Seal is considered the most endangered seal in American waters, and only about 1200 are left. They are disappearing due to starvation and erosion of native habitat. There is some interesting information about the seals here, at the wild ones.org.

Tragically, a pregnant female and a male seal were recently found shot to death. You can read about it here at the Marine Conservation blog.blospot. The Marine Conservation Biology Institute's website (click here) is another good source of information about the Hawaiian Monk Seal, as well as many other ocean-related topics.

I recently read that there are only 120 Western Gray Whales left in the Ocean, making it one of the most critically endangered whale populations on earth. Only 25 to 30 of these are reproductive females. Their primary threat is large international oil land gas corporations.

Gray whales were saved from the brink of extinction once before in the 1940s when they were overfished by commercial whaling operations. There are two populations of gray whales in the Pacific Ocean. The eastern Pacific population, which lives along the U.S. and Mexico coast, is doing well now, with about 20,000 whales. But the Western population is in deep trouble. If you are interested, there is more information here, at the IUCN Western Gray Whale Conservation Initiative, and here at the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) website.

You can sign up to receive your own ocean-related e-mail updates from Oceana.org (click here) or visit the Oceana.org website's main page here.

Love,
Mom

A Springtime pleasure

2009-06-01T10:00:00.008-05:00

Only a week or so ago, this was our view as we took our walk.

"The world's favorite season is the spring.

All things seem possible in May."

~ Edwin Way Teale

Almost overnight, all the fat, heavy leafbuds burst open, and the glorious tender green of Spring was all around us.

"In June,

as many as a dozen species

may burst their buds on a single day.

No man can heed all of these anniversaries;

no man can ignore all of them."

~ Aldo Leopold

Last year I took pity on a pack of six pansies I found at a local garden center. They were the only ones left, looked neglected and forgotten, and were priced at 1 cent for the pack! How could I resist that? While I have always thought pansies were beautiful, I had never used them in my gardens. This little packet of pansies proved to be one of my best investments and bloomed happily for most of the summer.

This year I made it a point to buy some more pansies and I'm absolutely delighted with the variety, since when I bought them, most of them had not yet started to bloom.

Pansies, also called pansy violets, are one of the earliest spring blossoming plants. In cool regions they flower in summer, while in warm regions, pansies flower in late winter and spring. They are biennials, but are mostly planted as annuals. According to floriography (the practice of assigning symbolic meaning to flowers), 'pansy' stands for 'loving thoughts.'

More flower symbolism associated with the pansy is "merriment" and "you occupy my thoughts." The pansy is also called the heartsease or Johnny Jump Up. The name pansy is derived from the French word pensée meaning "thought" or "remembrance", and was so named because the flower resembles a human face. In August the pansy is thought to nod forward as if deep in thought.

The pansy has even been given its own day of the year, February 4, and in days gone by the thought of the day was "I think of thee."

"Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made

and forgot to put a soul into."

~ Henry Ward Beecher

"Be like a flower

and turn your face to the sun."

~ Kahlil Gibran

"Remain true to the earth."

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Love,

MOM

Happy Birthday, Rachel Carson

2009-05-27T14:21:00.010-05:00

"If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom,
then the emotions and the impressions of the senses
are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow.”

American ecologist, marine biologist and writer Rachel Carson was born May 27, 1907. Often called the mother of the modern environmental movement, her landmark book Silent Spring (1962) raised awareness of the risks of pesticide use, especially the indiscriminate use of DDT. The book influenced President Kennedy, who had read it, to call for testing of the chemicals mentioned in the book.

Carson began writing Silent Spring in 1957. In it, she described in detail how DDT entered the food chain and accumulated in the fatty tissues of animals, including human beings, and caused cancer and genetic damage. A single application on a crop killed targeted insects, as well as countless other beneficial ones, for months, and remained toxic in the environment even after it was diluted by rainwater. Carson felt that DDT and other pesticides had irrevocably harmed birds and animals. The book's most memorable and famous chapter, "A Fable for Tomorrow," describes a nameless American town where all life, from fish to birds to apple blossoms, and even to human children, had been "silenced" by the effects of DDT.

"The more we notice the wonders

and realities of the universe about us,

the less taste we shall have for destruction."

Her other books Under the Sea Wind, The Sea Around Us (which stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 86 weeks), and The Edge of The Sea all dealt with the inter-connectedness of nature and all living things. Rachel Carson died of cancer in 1964.

“If I had influence with the good fairy

who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children,

I should ask that her gift

to each child in the world

be a sense of wonder so indestructible

that it would last throughout life.”

More information about Rachel Carson is available at Rachel Carson.org. The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) also has an interesting article about the book, Silent Spring, here.

Love,

Mom Y

10,449

2009-05-22T08:54:00.009-05:00

10,449. As I begin this post, that's the number of species of life on our planet that are estimated to have become extinct so far this year. So far today, 28 species have disappeared from the planet. You can see the poodwaddle ticker on the left of this blog for current statistics.

I know we ocassionally hear of new species being discovered in remote regions of Mother Earth, and that is good news. But like a woman who balks at being controlled, Mother Earth does not do well when man tries to dominate her.

This kind of information always distresses me, so I often need to look around me for the reassurance that much is still well in the world, after all. So I went for a walk.

I walked where I often walk with the dog, and instead of my usual line of vision, I decided to look up, far up, and among the newly green leaves I spotted one single, very tall slender tree with the most beautiful blossoms. It's far too tall to be a magnolia, and it's absolutely gorgeous! Does anyone know what it is?

A while later I looked down and saw patches of beautiful blue. I couldn't get close enough, because I like to stay on the pathways, but it looks to me like patches of forget-me-nots.

I also looked in my own garden where the recent rains and warm weather have encouraged many of my favorites to reappear. I looked up and saw the honeysuckle, where I'm glad to say I've spotted quite a few bees this year already.

The lilacs are incredibly fragrant this year.

The deer ate most of the branches of this bush, and completely destroyed two others just like it, but these few remaining branches still provide a pleasant view from my kitchen window.

This knotty tree trunk looked especially photogenic, as did the very fragrant flowering bush in front of it.

Finally, I looked down.

And I'm always so glad to see my favorite, the bleeding heart, make its brief appearance every spring.

I hope you find some beauty on your journeys. And don't try to control your Mother Earth too much, OK?

Love,

Mom Y

Take a walk with me

2009-05-08T13:17:00.007-05:00

Let's take a closer look . . .

Wild mushrooms find all they need to survive among the dead trees people so easily dismiss as eyesores.

I wonder how long this rock as been here, and what created all the holes. Did a squirrel plant the daffodil bulbs?

Wild violets, dandelions and creeping charlie have always been among my favorite signs of Spring. Who says you should destroy them with toxic chemicals when they pop up in your lawn? Everything on Mother Earth has a purpose. Don't be so quick to judge, OK?

I'm glad you were able to take this little walk with me. I hope we can do it again soon.

Happy Mother's Day!

Love,

MOM Y

Survival Instinct

2009-05-04T12:51:00.007-05:00

Amid the fallen trees

and the rubble

and the concrete

and other remnants humanity leaves behind,

there are beautiful miracles

Trout Lily

(also known as: Fawn Lily, Adder's Tongue, Dogtooth Violet)

waiting to be discovered.

Love,

MOM

Goldman Prize

2009-04-30T08:10:00.003-05:00

Foggy morning, April 2009

Every year for 20 years the Goldman Environmental Prize has been awarded to ordinary people throughout the world who have done extraordinary things to help preserve, protect and clean up their local environment. Since the first prize was awarded in 1990, it has become the world's largest prize program for grassroots environmental activists.

One recipients is chosen each year from Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America.

The 2009 recipients are:

Africa: Marc Ona Essangui, Gabon

Asia: Rizwana Hasan, Bangladesh

Europe: Olga Speranskaya, Moscow, Russia

Island and Island Nations: Yuyun Ismawati, Indonesia

North America: Maria Gunnoe, USA

South and Central America: Wanze Eduards & Hugo Jabini, Suriname

In North America, Maria Gunnoe won for her work in her native Appalachia to stop the destructive practice of mountaintop removal coal mining. In this type of mining, entire mountaintops are bulldozed away, coal is extracted, and the rubble is allowed to be dumped into the valleys and waterway adjacent to the mines. This causes irreparable devastation to the immediate area, and affects anyone downstream of these sludge-polluted or blocked waterways.

Maria has a website here, if you are interested in reading more about her or the devastating practice of mountaintop removal coal mining.

As always, I urge you to just search for additional information on your own, as well.

Remember when Mom always told you to clean your room? She still wants you to clean up after yourself!

:0)

Love,

Mom

Every day, a new beginning. . .

2009-04-27T15:52:00.005-05:00

Sometimes you get the most wonderful surprise, if you have patience. You get this ^ from this >

Try to make the best of whatever your day begins with.

Love,

Mom

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T08:50:00.007-05:00

Weeping Willows in Spring

Today's note is about the air we all breathe. A recent blurb on the World Wildlife Fund's website stated that 20% of the world's oxygen is made in the Amazon.

This bit of information stuck with me, since the EPA earlier this month finally ruled that carbon dioxide is a lethal pollutant, on the level with methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride - all notoriously toxic pollutants. There's an interesting article in Forbes here, if you are interested in reading more about it.

According to the EPA website, "The largest source of CO2 emissions globally is the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas in power plants, automobiles, industrial facilities and other sources. "

Trees absorb carbon dioxide, removing and storing the carbon while releasing the oxygen back into the air. According to the Tree People website, "In one year an acre of mature trees can provide enough oxygen for eighteen people."

Yet trees are being cut down, and often clear cut - leaving no trees at all to absorb the carbon dioxide, create oxygen or prevent soil erosion. In fact, according to this Amazon website, "In the Amazon between May 2000 and August 2005, Brazil (alone) lost more than 132,000 square kilometers of forest—an area larger than Greece—and since 1970, over 600,000 square kilometers (232,000 square miles) of Amazon rainforest have been destroyed."

Trees are a vital part of the environment. Please value the trees in your part of the world. If you can, plant a tree. The air you breathe may depend on them.

Love,
Mom

A note from your Mother

2009-04-20T12:46:00.004-05:00

Spring moss on a tree trunk

Just a quick note to let you know there will be some changes around here. This blog has a new name to better reflect the content. “A note from your Mother” better reflects my earth-inspired rants and raves. :0)

Any future artsy things I will be making will be found here, at the new “Bleeding Heart Studio.”

I hope you visit again soon and can stay a bit longer next time.

Love,
Mom

yellow & purple & blue

2009-04-16T10:45:00.005-05:00

A little sunshine, temperatures in the 60s

and look what you get!

The forsythia blossoms are about to bloom.

Yesterday they were just tight little green buds.

Later today or tomorrow they'll be in full bloom!

The rabbits ate the first patch of crocuses to the ground

shortly after they started blooming a few weeks ago.

This new patch opened up yesterday,

and it's even bigger and more beautiful

than the first one.

Thought I'd take a picture of it

before the rabbits find it!

I'm not sure what these are,

but they are popping up all over,

even on the lawn.

I love that, don't you?

When you find beautiful little surprises

in unexpected places?

Dawn

2009-04-13T15:58:00.003-05:00

This morning I didn't need to squint too much to see the beauty of the sunrise. I'm not sure if it's the pollution over Milwaukee that made the colors so brilliant this morning, but I'm glad I was able to see it in time to take this picture.

Space - The final frontier. . .

2009-04-01T11:06:00.006-05:00

Forgive me for channeling Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise there for a second, but I just heard some rather perturbing news. Did you know that there are now in excess of 600,000 pieces of space debris circling around our planet? These are pieces of junk of varying sizes that have been discarded by astronauts either on purpose or accidentally.

If you are interested in more information, you can look here, here, here, or here, or simply use your search engine to search for "space debris." A few of these articles even have photos of the earth with the debris in plain sight. It's shocking. And it's amazing that rockets we send into space actually make it there and back safely as often as they do, without colliding with something.

Hmmm. Is that a shooting star or someone's tool belt streaking across the sky? Imagine the assemblage art pieces someone could make out of all that junk!

March Snow

2009-03-29T15:00:00.004-05:00

I can appreciate the beauty of a Spring snowstorm, because I know the snow won't be on the ground for five more months. I've recently discovered that I really enjoy photography and am trying to become a better photographer, using just my simple little Canon PowerShot A510. I'm definitely a point-and-click girl! I like the way the camera captured the falling snowflakes in the dark.

The Camera Never Lies

2009-03-26T13:36:00.009-05:00

Blogging has given me the great opportunity to see myself and my surroundings more clearly. In an effort to see more of the good in the world again, I've been exploring my surroundings and found these few things to share with you today.

A Russian Olive tree trunk.

I love the texture of the tree in this top photo.

Rocks waiting for a garden.

Peeling paint

There really is a kind of beauty almost everywhere, if you take the time to look for it.

Taking a break

2009-03-09T09:56:00.004-05:00

I'm taking a short break from blogging. Researching all the endangered and threatened animals has become quite a depressing project. There are so many, I don't know where to begin. I want this blog to be more positive in the future, so I need to step back for a bit and come back with a fresh outlook. See you again soon!

Found papers collage of Rockhopper

2009-02-20T15:07:00.006-06:00

I'm finally getting around to using recycled materials. I recently found a huge box of artist's papers at a thrift store and have been thinking of how to put them to their best use. This is my first attempt at a small torn-paper collage. I used all found papers and just added a few minor details with an Inktense pencil and a damp brush. I'm thinking this might be the first of many small collages, which will become part of a larger piece at some point.

The Northern Rockhopper Penguin is the type of Penguin featured in the animated film Happy Feet. According to a report on the MSNBC World Environment website in January of this year, their numbers have declined by 90% since the 1950s. That's equivalent to losing 100 birds every day for the last 50 years. Over 80% of the total population of this species lives on two remote islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. (Gough Island and Tristan de Cunha Island)

Researchers are currently trying to find out why so many of these birds are dying, but climate change seems to be the major reason. In fact, more than half the world's penguins are facing varying degrees of extinction. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last December proposed listing the African Penguin as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

Five other penguin species are proposed to be added to the threatened list: the yellow-eyed penguin, the white-flippered penguin, the Fiordland crested penguin and the erect-crested penguin, all from New Zealand. The Humboldt penguin of Chile and Peru is also to be added to the threatened list.

According to a report on Discover.com in February of this year (click here to see the article), Argentina's Magellanic penguins are moving further north, laying their eggs later than they used to, and struggling - often unsuccessfully - to feed their chicks, also as a result of climate change.

Two wolves

2009-02-12T08:07:00.007-06:00

You may have read this before. It's been circulating the internet in the form of e-mails, and unfortunately I don't know who wrote it. It's so true on many levels . . .

Two wolves.

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, "My son, there is a battle between two 'wolves' inside us all. One is Evil. - It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

"The other is Good. - It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

What would Frida say?

2009-02-04T15:49:00.012-06:00

In 1941 Friday Kahlo painted a self-portrait with four of her beloved parrots. So much has changed in the world since Frida was alive. To publicized the plight of the endangered Mexican Green-Cheeked Parrot, I've substituted them for Frida's parrots in my painting.

According to a WWF (World Wildlife Federation) list of the 10 most endangered species, this parrot is a popular pet because of its ability to mimic the human voice. Their numbers in the wild have been significantly reduced because of the huge demand for these wild birds as pets in the US . Unlike some other exotic birds, these are not raised by breeders to be sold as pets. Although the sale of the Mexican Green-Cheeked Parrot is now against the law, large numbers of them are still being illegally traded across the Mexico/US border. The average lifespan of these birds is 65 years.

For more information about these beautiful birds, you can click here (starescue.org), or here at the WWF website.

Mermaids and Oceans and Bears

2009-01-31T16:42:00.010-06:00

According to an article in the January 5, 2009, CALGARY HERALD, experts predict that 2/3 of the world's polar bears, including all of those in Alaska and most of Canada's western Arctic will be gone by 2050 due to climate change and the melting of polar ice.

Isn't that a shame?

I decided to do something I'm going to call environmental folk art. Is there already such a thing? If there isn't, there should be, and this is my first contribution.

The quote on the painting is by 17th Century philosopher Blaise Pascal: "The least movement is of importance to all nature. The entire ocean is affected by a pebble."

This one says "What if mermaids were the Angels of the Sea?" and shows the mermaid supporting a polar bear adrift on a small piece of ice in the melting Arctic waters. (Unfortunately real polar bears don't have mermaids to help them fight extinction.)

Here's a detail:

Let's take a peak, shall we?

2009-01-26T12:27:00.009-06:00

"It has taken between 50-300 million years to form, and yet we have managed to burn roughly half of all global oil reserves in merely 125 years or so, " according to the website oildecline.com. (Click here to connect to that site). And, you may not be aware that while the U.S. has 4% of the world's population, we currently use 25% of the oil. And many countries around the world are trying to catch up to "our way of life" !!!

Is this really what we want for the planet? Is it even possible? Not when experts now say that it would take five planets to support all the people currently living on Earth in the lifestyle we currently have in the U.S.

The term peak oil refers to the point where the rate at which world oil producers can extract oil reaches the maximum level. According to many experts we have reached that point and our ability to find and extract oil is rapidly decreasing. For more in-depth information about peak oil, you can check out websites such as peakoil.net (click here), or energybulletin.net (click here), or simply do a search on your own. It's really not a complicated issue to understand, but it is important to the quality of life for our children and grandchildren that we begin to deal with it now.

With that in mind, you might like to check out the Drive Smarter Challenge (click here) for information on how to save money, and gas, with the car you're driving today.

Every little bit helps!

The Natural Step

2009-01-21T12:21:00.012-06:00

I recently became aware of a growing movement called The Natural Step. The focus of the organization is to research the science of sustainability and link that science to real world applications to develop a sustainable society.

The movement started in Sweden in the late 1980s, when Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt, a Swedish oncologist, was treating many children with cancer. He began to see how important the role of our environmental exposures are to our overall health. The Natural Step framework builds on a basic understanding of what makes life possible, how our biosphere functions and how we are part of the earth’s natural systems. Left alone, the earth is a sustainable system. As we continue to learn, however, the accumulated impacts of human activity over the past two centuries are now threatening our continued well-being.

According to The Natural Step we must:

eliminate our contribution to the progressive buildup of substances extracted from the Earth's crust (for example, heavy metals and fossil fuels)
eliminate our contribution to the progressive buildup of chemicals and compounds produced by society (for example, dioxins, PCBs, and DDT )
eliminate our contribution to the progressive physical degradation and destruction of nature and natural processes (for example, over harvesting forests and paving over critical wildlife habitat); and
eliminate our contribution to conditions that undermine people’s capacity to meet their basic human needs (for example, unsafe working conditions and not enough pay to live on).

Sweden is heading in the right direction, and we can, too. YES WE CAN! Their goal is to be fossil fuel free by 2020.

According to a New York Times article last year levels of carbon dioxide, the principal heat-trapping gas, are continuing to rise at an accelerating rate. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide reached nearly 385 parts per million in 2007, up from 280 in 1850 and an increase of 2.6 parts per million from 2006, chiefly from the burning of fossil fuels. This has also been substantiated by NASA. In fact NASA has warned that unsafe levels begin at 350 parts per million.

According to Antarctic ice core data these are the highest levels in 800,000 years!

We need to begin to change our behaviors as a human race now, before it is truly too late. It can be done! Wouldn't it be great if it became patriotic to conserve?

Cruise Control

2009-01-12T13:45:00.008-06:00

In my quest to find just exactly what it was I wanted to do with this time in my life, I took a four-month course in all things related to the travel industry. It was interesting, to say the least, and led me to do quite a bit of research into the cruise industry and sustainable travel options. Did you know, for example, that the largest cruise ships now can carry more than 5,000 passengers and crew.

They are floating cities that produce enormous amounts of waste. In one week they can dump:

210,000 gallons of human sewage,
1 million gallons of gray water (water from sinks, baths, showers, laundry, and galleys),
25,000 gallons of oily bilge water,
Up to 11,550 gallons of sewage sludge, and more than 130 gallons of hazardous waste.

The gigantic luxury liners release pollutants into the air that can lead to acid rain and contribute to global warming. They can also spread invasive species by dumping untreated ballast water in coastal zones.

For more information check out these sites: Friends of the Earth, Oceana.org, or just type in something like "Cruise Ship Pollution" into your search engine. It will truly make you ill.

Sustainable alternatives are available, however. There is an entire industry of small ship cruise lines which offer less destructive cruises, including river cruises. They enable you to see beautiful scenery up close without the dumping of wastes and the erosion of natural wonders, such as coral reefs, resulting from the ships's wake.

And, since I'm ranting about the oceans, here's another tidbit you may not have heard of. Did you know that there is an island of plastic debris in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Japan twice the size of the state of Texas! It's ten million tons and growing, and it even has a name - "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch." It's been growing ten-fold every decade since the 1950s.

For more info check out this, or this, or this article at mindfully.org.

As Maya Angelou said so beautifully and simply, "When you know better, you do better."

Let's all start making more informed decisions before it is truly too late for some of the most vulnerable places and species on Earth.

Be the change

2009-01-07T12:08:00.006-06:00

I haven't always been the most optimistic person in the world. In fact, I have more than my share of days when I'm angry, depressed and/or in despair. It's not just all about me, either. I worry often about the planet and everything that lives on it.

But this year instead of just complaining or agonizing in silence about the state of things, I'm going to follow the words of Mahatma Gandhi, I'm going to do my best to "be the change I want to see in the World."

Just a warning, though, there will also be some ranting about the plight of endangered species and ideas for how we can all help to keep our precious Mother Earth healthy.

I hope you join me, and I welcome your comments!