Happy February!
February, the perfect month to think about kindness and love, and to apply that kindness to the people around you, and to all the people you meet. Here is the new February calendar. Happiness Calendar
Wishing you new friendships, and happiness this February!
It’s winter, and in the United States and Canada we are caught between the cold Arctic, and warmer Gulf moisture. All of this causing our snow, cold and winter thaws. This also produces icy sidewalks and icy roads. For many of us the ice is the hardest part of winter to deal with, but what are the best practices in dealing with winter ice?
Using salt on roads, sidewalks and driveways permanently pollutes our lakes and streams. With rain and snow melt his salt washes into our water, it never leaves, harming pets and wildlife. Once salt gets in our water bodies it’s there for good.
Control ice, but also protect our lakes and streams, best practices:
1. Shovel. Clearing walkways before snow turns to ice will reduce the need for salt.
2. Select the right product for the right temperature. Sodium chloride (salt)doesn’t melt snow below 15 degrees Fahrenheit, so use sand for traction in colder weather. Many products are marketed as environmentally friendly, but read the label, they still contain chloride (salt).
3. Scatter. Use salt sparingly and only where it’s necessary, and use only on ice. Shovel instead of spreading salt!
4. Sweep up leftover salt and sand to prevent it from running off into water bodies. 5. Rearrange downspouts so they don’t drain on to sidewalks causing sidewalk ice.
It takes only one teaspoon of road salt to permanently pollute 5 gallons of water. Once salt is in the water, there is no way to remove it. Salt harms fish, plant life, and the over all quality of lakes and streams.
Be winter safe, but be a friend of our lakes and streams!
2018 is the year of the bird!
What does that mean? It means Audubon, National Geographic, Cornell, BirdLife International, and most importantly, bird lovers everywhere are teaming up for a year of action for birds! 2018 is the centennial of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and what better way to honor our most important bird-protection law than with our own small ways of protecting birds. Sign up to take a pledge to help birds here.
Birds are struggling because of loss of habitat, and heavy use of pesticides and other chemicals by farmers, corporations and gardeners. My thing is creating a friendly habitat for birds. Audubon has plants for bird friendly yards. Read at Audubon
Wishes for Hope, Harmony, Joy and Community
Come and Sing
People who make music together cannot be enemies;
At least while the music lasts.
We are friends forever when we sing together.
The whole world is better when we sing
So let’s sing forever, hold our hands together
Make the whole world better, come and sing! Song by Wallace Hornady
And thoughts from Bill Bryson in “The Road to Little Dribbling”
“Why can’t we have the best public schools?
May I tell you what I would like to see? I would like to see a government that said, “We’re going to stop this preposterous obsession with economic grow at the cost of all else. Great economic success doesn’t produce national happiness. So were going to concentrate on just being lovely and pleasant and civilized. We’re going to have the best schools and hospitals, the most comfortable transportation, the liveliest arts, the most useful and well-stocked libraries, the grandest parks, and cleanest streets, the most enlightened social policies!”
I am sending a message of Hope on this World Day of Peace
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today… Aha-ah…
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace… You…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world… You…You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one John Lennon
Buy less stuff: Reuse, reuse and reuse the things you have
and eliminate your use of pesticides, and all chemicals in your home. Your family, your pets, birds and butterflies will be much healthier.Ways to be a better environmental steward from Ecowatch
From Earth911 ways to be more sustainable. Read at Earth911
As 2017 rolls out and 2018 rolls in, remember to set some environmental goals for the new year. As people of this planet earth we all should be aware of our warming climate, and how we are causing it! Yes, it is very cold in many places this new year, but it is the over all tend that our planet is warming, not just one or two events, that we need to worry about. Extreme weather events, warming and rising oceans, and drought should not be ignored. CNN has an easy list of things you can do. Read it here.
Climate Reality, https://www.climaterealityproject.org/ has a more serious and difficult list, things most of us just don’t want to do, but should seriously think about! This is their list:
The challenge begins, how can we use our holiday left-over food? My full refrigerator is daunting, and I am determined not to waste any of it. The freezer is one of our best tools to save food, but also using left overs in a new creative way: wraps, rice bowls, tacos or enchiladas, soups and stir fry. Save The Food has ideas to reduce food waste: https://www.savethefood.com/
Tonight I am serving. “Make your own rice bowl!” choosing heated leftovers to put on a hot bowl of brown rice in the fashion of a salad bar.
Not only does wasting food, waste valuable resources and lots of water, but also food in our landfills decomposes creating and giving off methane gas which is a harmful air pollutant contributing to global warming.
From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, household waste increases by more than 25%. Added food waste, shopping bags, packaging, wrapping paper, bows and ribbons all adds up to an additional 1 million tons a week to our landfills. (Source: EPA)
December kindness continues:
This my third post on December Kindness. I hope you can help spread some kindness this week. Kindness is a sustainable behavior. How can we all make our communities more kind and pleasant?
** Show gratitude, “Thank You!”
** Take a walk, focus on the beauty of winter.
** Make a special effort to watch for pedestrians when you drive.
** Smile
** Positive Energy Day: Be positive to your family, and those you encounter at work. Admit if you make a mistake!
** Volunteer
** Listen with eye contact
** Use real dishes and silverware, reuse. Think, “Zero waste!”
** Complement People Day!
** Sacrifice Your Place In Line Day!
** Shovel or sweep someone’s sidewalk.
Other ideas for kindness: https://health4earth.com/2017/12/01/kindness-spread-it-now/
Health4earth 
