Valentine’s Day has always been one of my favorite days, and this year we need to clear our heads and celebrate harder than ever. We all can find something to love. Because I have a passion for our earth. My suggestions are about loving the earth. What do you love??
My suggestions for loving the earth today, tomorrow and forever.
Reduce your plastic use and always bring reusable shopping bags
Recycle, Recycle, and Recycle some more
Turn off lights and electronics
Buy Less and reuse what you have
Pick Up trash and litter. Any litter can end up in streams, lakes and oceans
Walk and use public transit. How many days can you go without a car?
Appreciate the beauty of the earth
Plant seeds of milkweed, cone flowers, bee balm, asters, and Liatris to bring butterflies birds and bees to your yard. And never use chemicals Happy Valentine’s Day
NO one has called, but the White House comment line is closed!
No one has made calls to Donald Trump complaining about his renewal of the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines??? The White House comment line has been closed for a few weeks! This is what he said this week, “As you know I approved two pipelines that were stuck in limbo forever. I don’t even think it was controversial. I approved them. I haven’t even had one call from anybody saying that was a terrible thing you did. I haven’t had one call … Then as you know I did the Dakota Pipeline and no one called up to complain.” Donald Trump
The telephone comment line to might be closed , but you can send a tweet @realDonaldTrump or send a post card. I hope you will do both. You can also call one of his businesses: https://whitehouseinc.org/ or contact him through this link: http://p2a.co/xdL9jbf
An idea for a postcard from NRDC “I am outraged that you have issued executive memoranda clearing the way for the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines with no input from the American public. I urge you to reverse course on these dangerous and dirty fossil fuel projects. These pipelines are not in our national interest and I, along with millions of others, will fight you every step of the way if your administration moves forward with them.” Idea from NRDC for postcard
Today I’m starting an occasional series on good-news events. Three stories have made me happy this past week, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. *First, this is amazing. New Delhi, India, banned plastic bags and single use plastic. It will make a difference for our oceans, and Delhi’s air quality. A plastic ban will not be easy to implement, and I wish them luck. Read about it from Independent News, and from Ecowatch. ** Second, Solar energy added 73,615 new jobs to the U.S. economy over the past year while wind added a further 24,650. According to a new report from the U.S. Department of Energy, solar power employed 43 percent of the Electric Power Generation sector’s workforce in 2016, while fossil fuels combined accounted for just 22 percent. Read about it from Forbes
Making a Positive Difference!
*** Third, PBS did a marvelous story of an American woman making great efforts to educate girls in Liberia. Watch on PBS
February 1st, Lake Superior waves were crashing and pounding the shore, and it was reported that only 5% of the big lake was covered with ice. I was surprised that early morning February 2, our bay became covered with ice. The waves look frozen in time, and the frozen landscape brings a new quiet peaceful reality. How long will it last? Probably not long. Lake ice today is fragile and depends on the winds and sudden whims of this living warming lake. The first big wind will probably break and send the ice onto the shore, or to another bay to continue the fascinating winter entertainment.
Great tweet today: Steve Redmond @sjredmond Groundhog came out, saw Trump was elected and said he wasn’t coming back out again for another 4 years. Nuclear winter? #GroundhogDay
Did voters on November 8, vote for dirty water and dirty air? I know one Trump voter who is totally against the Dakota Access Pipeline. I can’t believe that November’s vote was to trash our water and air! Please call your senators.
No matter where you live, call your senator and tell them to oppose Scott Pruitt’s confirmation as EPA Administrator: (202) 224-3121 You can use this tool to quickly find your senator and click to call them: http://on.nrdc.org/2kkFfOL
Below is from the NRDC, Natural Resources Defense Council:
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is the worst, most extreme nominee ever tapped to lead the U.S Environmental Protection Agency. We must stop him! As Oklahoma Attorney General, he has sued the EPA 18 times to fight clean air and water rules. Seventeen of these 18 he joined with fossil fuel companies in suing the EPA. Pruitt has gone to court to fight rules that would save up to 45,000 lives, and avoid hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks and heart attacks every year.. More than 1 in 10 children in Oklahoma have asthma, which is one of highest rates of asthma in United States.
He routinely allies with big polluters to promote prioritize their profits over the health and safety of ordinary people. How could he possibly be qualified to protect our air and water?
Bottom line: he is unfit to serve as the nation’s top environmental steward. We only need 3 senators to swing their votes the right way to stop him! CALL RIGHT NOW.
No matter where you live, call your senator and tell them to oppose Scott Pruitt’s confirmation as EPA Administrator: (202) 224-3121 You can use this tool to quickly find your senator and click to call them: http://on.nrdc.org/2kkFfOL
And if you live in one of the following states, it is particularly important to call these senators:
Sen. Joe Donnelly (Indiana) 202-224-4814
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (North Dakota) 202-224-2043
Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) 202-224-2523
Sen. Dean Heller (Nevada) 202- 224-6244
Sen. Jeff Flake (Arizona) (202) 224-4521
Sen. Rob Portman (Ohio) (202) 224-3353
Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tennessee) (202) 224-4944
Sen. Joe Manchin (West Virginia) (202) 224-3954
What would cause the clock to get closer to midnight?
Doomsday Clock Now Two and a Half Minutes to Midnight, Thanks to Trump!
What a strange unprecedented week full of lies, “alternative facts” and being told we should all shut up and just listen for once. A week of show and chaos. Many are engaged, protesting, shaking their heads, and knowing this is not sustainable.
Because of Mr. Trump’s words in denial of climate change and his being close to the nuclear trigger we are now closer to Doomsday that we have been since the 1950’s. Thursday the experts moved the clock 30 minutes closer to midnight. Read about it here.
“The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock face that represents a countdown to possible global catastrophe. It has been maintained since 1947 by the members of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists‘ Science and Security Board,[1] who are in turn advised by the Governing Board and the Board of Sponsors, including 18 Nobel Laureates. The closer they set the Clock to midnight, the more vulnerable the scientists believe the world is to global disaster” Wikipedia
We now have a federal government that will not protect us from water or air pollution. Many new burdens will fall on our cities to protect its residents. All of us need to do everything we can to keep city resources focused on what is important. By keeping the city sewers from getting plugged we can make a difference. There are many things that should NEVER be flushed down the toilet, and to send them to their death via the toilet drain is to risk significant plumbing problems as well as environmental pollution. The following list is from http://www.care2.com/
1. Bathroom and cleaning wipes – These “moist towelettes” are marketed to be flushed like toilet paper, these wipes are creating clogs and backups in sewer systems around the nation. Read the entire list of things that should NOT go down the toilet here
And read about the problem these wipes are causing to sewer systems . Please throw in the trash, not down the drain!
Subject: Get your stamps and envelopes…the work begins
Diana Chapman Walsh was president of Wellesley College 8 years ago. She recently emailed her former colleagues the following idea:
Listen Up! The Republicans need to get the message from the majority of Americans that we value and need the benefits of Obamacare. Here’s how we do that.
On January 23rd, everyone who feels that way (our numbers are legion) sends a note to Donald Trump with a simple message:
“Don’t make America sick again. Improve Obamacare. Don’t repeal it.”
One envelope for every ACA supporter in your household…even if they are under 18 years old.
Just that simple message. Put it in an envelope, and put a stamp on it.
On January 23rd, mail it to:
Pres. Donald Trump
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW,
Washington, DC 20500
Can you imagine the picture of 53 MILLION letters arriving at the White House by January 26th? It will be a mountain. That image might help deter the Republicans from killing the most substantial improvement to American healthcare since the discovery of Penicillin.
Do it today! Drop it into a mailbox near you on Monday, January 23rd.
Please send this email to 20 (or more) of your friends, neighbors ann fellow Americans. Ask them to do the same.
This also helps out the US Postal Service, with about $20 Million of stamp sales.
Don’t send emails to Trump…they don’t photograph well.
Saturday was an incredible day for democracy! Thank you to everyone in the United States and around the world who marched or just lent their spirit of support!
“Hey, you have to hand it to Trump, he just became President and bam, America looked pretty great today.”Jack Burditt @jackburditt (Jan. 21, 2017 on twitter)
Women’s March on Washington
From NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):
Washington D.C.
..”We will do, Andas our founders called upon us to do, and hold our government to account. For careless words and misguided deeds that undermine our greatest strengths. For callous judgments that turn the engines of national prosperity to the profits of a wealthy few. For reckless policies that put polluter profits first and put the rest of us at risk.”
—NRDC President Rhea Suh.
Valentine’s Day has always been one of my favorite days, and this year we need to clear our heads and celebrate harder than ever. We all can find something to love. Because I have a passion for our earth. My suggestions are about loving the earth. What do you love??
Health4earth 