Be Kind!

A few weeks ago I wrote how stressful the American election was for everyone. The post-election has been even more stressful. The surprise results, disrespect for diversity, uncertainty and anger have been difficult for my circle of people. Today is World Kindness Day which makes me think of my late mother. She was a role model for being kind in everything she did.

Change and uncertainty are scary. We have lost control of our futures and the future of our earth. With all the verbal garbage of the past year no one has a vision of what the future holds. Today as I read the conservative views in the newspaper, I felt they were uncertain and scared also.

Diversity is so important whether you are talking about people, ideas, plants, foods, wildlife, everything. Mono-cultures can’t survive. They are not sustainable. Does anyone want to live in a world where only one kind of plant or tree grows? A world where we eat only one food? What if every dog was exactly the same? What if everyone thought exactly the same, and golf was the only sport to play? How boring!! I know this is silly, but it is diversity that makes life interesting. Diversity makes our freedoms and choices important, we are not all alike.

The uncertainty will not go away, but we can all be more kind. This week I plan to smile more, criticize less, listen better, and appreciate the diversity of our human family and diversity of our earth, and ….

We will all be happier.

Veteran’s Day 2016

I believe in peace and non-violence. The veterans I have known are awesome. The sacrifice of time and lives is more one can imagine. I have gratitude for what all the veterans of the world have sacrificed for our freedoms and hopes for a better world.
In Canada it is Remembrance Day. This is a post from an amazing college freshman, Sherina Harris. Read her here.

My biggest problem with some of our elected officials is they do not understand the implications of their actions. They don’t respect the lives and families of those in our military when they send them into combat. Leadership, Compromise, negotiations, and PEACE wins the day for me.

Below is from a Startribune.com newsletter by Patrick Coolican:

Veterans Day. A letter home from Sgt. Michael A. DiRaimondo, 22, of Simi Valley, Calif.:

Thursday, Sept. 4, 2003: Life is so precious. Living day by day in good health or just happiness is probably what makes me happy right now. I try not to think that what I do makes me happy. Just being alive, having a wonderful family, good friends, watching the sunrise morning after morning that’s what makes me feel good. I think people take their lives for granted. Some just haven’t hit that part of their lives where they stop and say, “I am such a lucky person to have the life that I have.”

DiRaimondo, who planned to be a paramedic firefighter, was killed on Jan. 8, 2004, when his helicopter was shot down while on a medical evacuation mission near Fallujah.

“Keep them in your thoughts and learn about America’s current and potential conflicts. In a democracy, ultimately it’s the citizens who make decisions about war.” Patrick Coolican

Protecting our Waterways

The leaves are falling, and it is raking season. What does this have to do with water quality?

The substances that turn our lakes and rivers green each summer come from our lawns and yards. We think of leaves as waste, but to a lake they are food. The algae in lakes love leaves, and when we feed lakes too many leaves, algal blooms turn our lakes and rivers green and smelly. Protecting water is everyone’s job What can you do? Simple–remember the land/water connection! What we do to the land we do to the water. Clean your streets when the leaves fall from the trees, and when you mow the grass clean your streets, also. Keep our lakes and rivers clean.

A Love Note To the USA From Canada

https://sherinaspeaks.wordpress.com/author/sherinaharris/

“The moral of the story is this: be kind to people, and encourage kindness when you see it. After the horrible, hurtful things that have been said in this election cycle, we absolutely need more empathy and compassion in this world—no matter what our nationality is.” Sherina Harrris

Sherina is a gifted freshman in college. Her blog site is above

My Take On Regulations

**“I’m going to slash government regulations!” Candidates for office**

Who is their audience for this absurdity?

This is my simple take on a very complex issue.

Many candidates for office talk about cutting regulations. What are they talking about? Why doesn’t the media ask them what regulations they want to cut? One presidential candidate wants to cut food regulations? Cut the Food and Drug Administration rules that govern food production, cleanliness, food packaging and temperature? Ridiculous!

Do we really want less regulation on financial institutions? What have we learned from Wells Fargo? Should we allow banks to cheat their customers like Wells Fargo did? I had a problem with U.S. Bank selling my credit card number to a health club. It took months to get my money back after unauthorized charges were placed on my credit card. Banks need to be regulated!

David Brooks has said, that capitalism without a moral compass is a failure. As evidenced by this presidential race, we have lost our moral compass. Capitalism/for-profit businesses should NOT be deciding what standards they want to follow. Does it work to let corporations set their own rules about polluting our water and dirting up our air when profit is a top priority? What do you think?

Regulations and standards are to keep the public safe. Sometimes rules seem extreme, but they keep us safer regulating our workplaces, food, many products, and other necessary things.

Self regulation does not work. Farmers in the United States were given a pass in the Clean Water Act. They think they can regulate themselves. Is that why the corn and soy bean belt in the United States has dangerous nitrate levels in their drinking water? Business and Republicans think regulations are too expensive. But communities, such as Des Moines, with polluted water pay enormous amounts of taxpayer money to clean their water. Smaller communities often must drink and use this dangerous water.

This is a wonderful story of farmers regulating themselves and trying new things to protect our water resources. Read it here.

Then there is the drug industry. Is there anyone that thinks their self-regulation and monopolies are working? MORE regulation is needed of the drug industry!!

It is less expensive to keep from polluting our air and water in the first place, but of course business doesn’t have to pay for the pollution and sick people they create. Five million people die from air pollution every year.

Never vote for a candidate who promises to cut regulations. They can’t be trusted with the health of people or the earth. They are not for what is good for our children, wildlife nor for the good of human beings on this planet! In the long run clean-up is more expensive than doing the right thing in the first place.

Clean Air Act

http://time.com/4219575/air-pollution-deaths/

Have an Awesome Week!

October is a marvelous time of the year, but it is also a stressful time with school starting, the days getting shorter, and the temperatures getting colder. For those of us that live in the United States it is exceptionally stressful with the election. Two articles about happiness stimulated my thinking today. What can we all do to relieve some stress and just be happier? Getting outside for a walk always makes me happier, as long as I can find a quiet outside place. Turn off the TV, get outside and I wish you an AWE day.

Maybe some of these suggestions will increase your happiness:

Go outside and observe. It is a beautiful time of the year
Be mindful and grateful for the people and good things you have.
Drop all your devices and do something you love.
And from Parade.com: Take an AWE WALK in your neighborhood, noticing things as if for the first time.
Finally, maybe lower your expectations , and take a deep breath.
Find the most brilliant tree!

Planting for Clean Water

The Mighty Mississippi

What we do to our land, we do to our river” John Stein MPCA Commissioner

The Mississippi River, one of the longest rivers in the world begins in Minnesota and flows south into the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi River cuts the United States in half, into the east and the west. An investigative report by the Minneapolis Startribune.com. reveals the environmental threats to the Mississippi River caused by agricultural pollution and urban run-off. Many communities use the Mississippi River as their source of drinking water. If we are polluting this great river at the head waters what is the future for all of us, and for the wildlife that also uses this river? What is the future of the Gulf of Mexico as the Mississippi River carries pollution during its journey south? What will be the state of drinking water through the middle of the United States?

The storm drains on my street drain into the Mississippi. What we do on the land affects the Mississippi River. As a trained water steward, I am encouraging urban dwellers to manage the run-off from their yards in a smarter way. There is a new paradigm. Instead of getting the water off our land we are looking for ways to use water run-off by redirecting our gutters and down-spouts, and building rain gardens to capture the rainfall.

Not using chemicals, sweeping our sidewalks and streets, re-directing our down-spouts, building rain gardens, picking up trash, and recycling are just a few things the urban dweller can do to help the Mississippi River. Agricultural interests are another thing, and they need to do their part. Part 3 of this series focuses on farmers along the Chippewa River giving hope:

“Raising the amount of land planted in such perennials by just 10 percentage points — from 24 percent to 34 percent of the Chippewa watershed’s 1.3 million acres — would be enough to tip the river from polluted to clean.

Some 25 landowners now participate, and if they can prove its premise — that a farmer can make money without polluting the Chippewa — they could be a model for protecting threatened rivers all across the Midwest.” Read part 3 report here.

A fun video on building a rain garden:

A Man Wears His Trash

Avoid plastic, fill your glass or metal bottles with water or other liquid.

Enjoy this video, as an individual makes a statement on our consumerism. Each American(USA) consumes 4 1/2 pounds of trash a day. As I shop at grocery stores and Menards, I am overwhelmed by the amount of packaging and waste that goes into our purchases.

What can you do to reduce that 4 1/2 pounds a day? I have just returned from a bus zero waste food coop shopping trip, filling my own bottles, and using only packaging that can be composted(paper not plastic). I work everyday to be a climatarian. You don’t need to be as extreme as I am, just become aware! How can we consume less?

Please recycle plastic bags at grocery stores!

Do You Care About Clean Water, Clean Air?

“The environment is where we all meet; where we have a mutual interest; it is the one thing we share.” Lady Bird Johnson

One presidential candidate has promised that he will eliminate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) if he wins, which means we can kiss the best, most important parts of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act goodbye, along with almost every other federal clean air and water safeguard.

And if you want even more evidence that this candidates extremism will mean havoc for our nation and our planet, look no further than his stance on the climate crisis: he has called it a hoax created “by and for the Chinese.” Read the entire article here.

And a voter’s guide to candidates.