Hello, welcome to March blogging. The hope of spring fills my thoughts.
I blog on environmental issues, and am most interested in clean water and clean air.
My mission is: Everyday appreciating our beautiful earth, and working for healthy communities through fewer chemicals, less waste, And more fun!
Author: health4earth
Who Do You Trust?
Why do we pick and choose what to believe?
The PBS News Hour did an interesting segment on what Americans believe about GMOs, vaccines and climate change. I hope you will watch. See below.
Because the world is complicated, it is impossible to be an experts on all topics. We need to accept the opinions and facts of someone, and we need sources that we can trust and sources that reliable. How do we determine who to believe?
Our brains try to make sense of a complicated world. Is the simplest explanation the one that we like? What role do our friends, family and religion play in our interpretations? Do Rush Limbaugh or Mike Huckabee know more about science than Bill Nye, the science guy?
I think we believe the explanation that best fits into the paradigm of our view of the world. We want ideas that are simple and easy to understand, We want ideas that don’t limit our freedom or cost us money.
Whose ideas do you trust? This is a fascinating discussion on what the public and scientists believe about climate change, vaccines and GMO products.
The PBS segment follows:
** http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/pick-choose-science-believe/
A new science check site: http://www.factcheck.org/scicheck/
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/bill-nye-on-maher-lets-be-honest-climate-skeptics-are-just-deniers/
Below link: Scientist paid by the fossil fuel industry to raise scientific doubt
http://www.factcheck.org/2015/01/distorting-climate-change-threats-solutions/
http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/article/2015/feb/26/50-fox-news-lies-6-seconds-daily-show/
Advice from our Grandmothers
This is a marvelous post from Mother Nature Network. We all can simplify our lives and be easier on the earth. Our grandmother’s reused, reused and reused. They cooked from scratch, tended gardens and ate real food. I loved my grandparents grass-fed roast beef on Sundays, the marvelous cheese from their cows, and yes, those molasses cookies!
The chickens and the apple orchard were in the back yard. Real plates, cloth napkins, homemade food and family time were all we knew, and there was very little trash or waste
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Looking for Love?
Need a new love? Looking for passion? 
Show compassion and become passionate about our earth. Valentines Day 2015 lets show just a little more love for the earth that nourishes and supports us and everything living thing.
My suggestions for Loving the Earth today and 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 loose 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 Valentines Day
The Oceans Belong To Us All!
The discouraging ocean pollution I saw this year in the Caribbean
Fifteen years ago when I was in the Dominican Republic and I was shocked by the piles of plastic waste standing on the streets. Since then I have been sorry to observe plastic waste in many other countries. It really bothers me when I see it in streams washing into the sea. In January 2015 my adventures took me to St. Kitts, Antigua, Dominica and St Luci in the Caribbean. The plastic bag waste seemed better, but the ubiquitous Styrofoam container use has become ridiculous . Instead of searching for good food it became, “Where can we eat on a real plate?” Most local food was served in Styrofoam boxes, even to sit down and eat inside a local restaurant. Styrofoam containers and plastic bottles fill the gutters and beaches. The Caribbean is without doubt one of the most beautiful places on our earth, but the waste and pollution they are sending into our oceans is unacceptable. An effort is made to pick up trash on tourist beaches and around cruise boat areas. I assume the tourist boards do know this behavior of trashing is not acceptable. Styrofoam breaks into tiny little pieces, it could survive for hundreds of years, and I can’t imagine the harm it does to sea life?
How can the world community help them recycle, replace Styrofoam, and help protect our oceans? The World Bank? Rotary International? Coca-Cola? Plastic Bank? Ocean Conservancy?
Hope For the Future?
The Plastic Collected by The Plastic Bank, is Recycled into Social Plastic®. Please Ask Brands to Help Keep Plastic Out of the Oceans While Helping People in Need By Using Recycled Social Plastic®. http://plasticbank.org/
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/02/12/npr-plastic-sea This is a must listen to!
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-china-plastic-waste-oceans-20150211-story.html
Minnesota Climate Changes MPR Series
This is a “must listen to.” What can we all do to mitigate these changes and prepare for the future?
• Climate Change in Minnesota: An MPR News special report
Minnesota is warmer than it used to be. Rain falls in bigger downpours. Hay fever sufferers have a longer sneezing season, and the ticks that deliver Lyme disease are expanding their range. Red maple trees are moving north. So are purple finches. Moose numbers have shrunk.
Without question, the state’s climate has changed in recent decades. And that’s had an impact on the lives of its wildlife, its plants, its people.
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/02/02/climate-change-primer
http://blogs.mprnews.org/updraft/?elq=3d34d8b90977498d87588724b16139ef&elqCampaignId=4993
Latest Cruise Ship Study
Our oceans are struggling. Ninety-three percent of the heat from global warming is entering and heating our oceans. This is making the oceans more acidic. I was sad to read that some cruise companies are still dumping poorly treated and raw sewage into our oceans.
On my recent Caribbean trip (not on a cruise) I was surprised by how the Caribbean economy survives on cruise boats visiting their shores, and how these mega 10 story boats fill the small harbors of these islands. Many of us that live in the northern latitudes need a break from the dark cold days of winter. With some research you can choose a cruise more friendly to the environment. Read below how you can have a more environmentally favorable cruise:
Cruise ships dumped more than a billion gallons of sewage in the ocean this year, much of it raw or poorly treated, according to federal data analyzed by Friends of the Earth, which continues the call for stronger rules to protect oceans, coasts, sea life and people. – See more at: http://www.foe.org/news/news-releases/2014-12-cruise-ships-flushed-more-than-a-billion-gallons-of-sewage-into-oceans#sthash.BiRiIEeb.dpuf http://www.foe.org/cruise-report-card
http://highseasalliance.org/content/meeting-closes-major-step-ocean
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/center/articles/2015/new-york-times-01-15-2015.html
Keystone Pipeline
Keystone will probably cut jobs. Just think of the number of railroad jobs that would be eliminated!
Transend Violence
Martin Luther King Day
“Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends by defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers” Martin Luther King
We live in a violent world, but we don’t have to make it worse. Don’t reinforce violence in your life. Choose friends that are peaceful and don’t bully others. Avoid violent movies, video games and violent sports events. Turn off the TV, go outside for a walk and look for something new in nature. Enjoy our beautiful earth and the many positive people, pets and wildlife that live here.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
~ Martin Luther King Jr.
2014, The Hottest Year On Record!
“Yesterday NOAA and NASA reported that 2014 temperatures (land and ocean) were the warmest globally since records began in 1880. Fifteen of the last 17 years have been the warmest ever recorded. There will still be cold fronts, but temperatures will continue to rise. Who cares? Anyone living near rising sea levels– and the rest of us who like to eat. A warmer wetter atmosphere is resulting in climate volatility, more wild weather swings between drought and flood, putting more pressure on agriculture and fresh water supplies.” Paul Douglas in the Startribune.com on January 17, 2015.
We can all make a difference in stopping this rapid increase:
1. Carpool, walk and take public transportation to reduce automobile usage.
2. Turn of lights and electronics when they are not in use.
Health4earth 