There is a lot here, but these are excellent.
E-Commerce Comes At A Price
How can E-Commerce be more environmentally friendly?
As a person who prefers to walk or take the bus to do my shopping, I thought Fed Ex and UPS delivering packages was a good thing; it cut down on my driving. packages came in cardboard, not plastic, and it seemed like an efficient way to shop. I don’t like some of the oversize shipping boxes, or the Styrofoam and packing peanuts I see littering the street. The article below came as a surprise to me.
Online shopping has not helped the environment. It is not a sustainable way to live!
http://www.startribune.com/speedy-e-commerce-comes-at-a-price-to-the-environment/369384321/
What can you do instead? 1. Bundle your own shopping trips into one trip. 2. Slow down, do you really need an item shipped to you in 2 hours? 3. BUY LESS 4. Return Packing peanuts to UPS. 5. Reuse packaging.
What can shippers do to be more sustainable? Refuse to use Styrofoam? Bundle their deliveries? What do you think?
Are there more sustainable packing alternatives?
Biodegradable packing materials offer a low-waste alternative to polystyrene packing peanuts. High-profile companies, including Dell and furniture-maker Steelcase, have already embraced a foam-like packaging made from mushrooms, eliminating the waste from polystyrene.
When shipping packages yourself, simply use paper from your recycling bin to insulate breakables rather than reaching for polystyrene peanuts. Crumpled newsprint, junk mail and other waste paper will do the job just as well and will be far easier for your recipient to recycle.
Where Have All the Pollinators Gone?
Each of us is so unaware of the damage we are doing to our earth. This week I was at a seminar on pollinators. Minnesota has lost two of its native butterflies, the Dakota Skipper and Poweshiek Skippering. and many more bees and butterflies are declining in numbers. Also, I was surprised so many people don’t know about neonicotinoids. Neonicotinoids are harmful systemic pesticides that weaken pollinators
Why is there is so much buzz about bees during the winter? The United Nations announced that we are loosing many of our important pollinators that are vital to the pollination of many important food crops.
What is causing this loss? The major reasons we are loosing species of native butterflies, bees and birds is because of mono-crop planting, habitat loss, and our obsession with pesticides. The combination of these three is making it hard for pollinators to survive.
Even a small yard can make a difference for pollinators. First, add more native plants to your yard, they don’t need chemicals. Plant for different bloom times, diverse flowers, and never purchase a plant treated with neonicotinoids ! Be careful and read directions with any chemicals you use on your yard….Try to go without! Finally, bees and butterflies love blooming dandelions and clover…Let them bloom, then weed them out!
Below is from http://www.wildones.org/ What are native plants?
- Native plants are needed as host and nectar plants as our native butterflies, bees and birds go about pollinating our food plants as they forage for their own sustenance.
- Native plants have deep roots which absorb excess rainfall and prevent water from running directly into our rivers and streams helping to provide clean water for everyone.
- Native plants instead of turf lawns help reduce our carbon footprint.
A Lot more to read:
http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2016/02/wild_bees_path_extinction.html
http://ecowatch.com/2016/02/26/save-the-honeybee/
http://www.xerces.org/providing-wildflowers-for-pollinators/
http://citybugs.tamu.edu/factsheets/ipm/what-is-a-neonicotinoid/
Our Shared Responsibility!
“We need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating. We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people who will be most affected by this, for our children’s children, and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by politics and greed.”
Super Tuesday, Please Participate!
Rising Oceans and A Migrant Crisis
2015 was the warmest year on record, and January 2016 was the warmest recorded. Alaska, Minnesota and Wisconsin have enjoyed a mild winter. The winter warmth has been pleasant, and because this is just weather, it will probably be brutal next year. It is the long-term trends that are troubling. Sadly, the problem lies in our oceans. Eighty to ninety per cent of this heat goes into the oceans. So of course the oceans are rising with the melting glaciers. Also, as the oceans heat they expand taking up more space. With record warm years, no wonder that the oceans are rising at a very fast rate.
Our planet is already in crisis as migrants are leaving Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries. We haven’t seen anything in compared to the migrant crisis that will be created by the rising oceans. Those living on the ocean coasts and the islands that will be inundated and disappear will need to find new homes .
The Syrian crisis was caused in part by our warming earth, the continued rising of warm oceans will create migrant problems that will be an even greater challenge! Miami, Venice, Bangladesh and London are a few that could disappear. Where will these people forced out of their disappearing cities, farms, and villages go?
Denial of our man-made climate crisis will not continue to work, and everyone needs to take personal responsibility to reduce their carbon footprints. Just committing to turning off lights and to drive less can make a big difference. What is one thing you do?
Read more below:
A Low Salt Diet Is Best!
Most of us in the north county enjoy a beautiful snowfall, but hate ice. Even with a mild winter, there is thawing, refreezing and ice! As I walk through neighborhoods I see salt residue sitting on sidewalks and streets. Please sweep this up. The salt runs into our lakes and streams and is very harmful to fish and plant life. Highway departments, businesses and homeowners all need to be conscious of the salt they use. My local hardware store has a corn-based product they claim works well that is lake-friendly.
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 the lake or stream.
Suggestions to protect our lakes and waterways:
- Always shovel sidewalks and driveways.
- Remove ice on days when melting is occurring.
- Redirect your drain-spouts so they don’t drain on to the sidewalk. Capture water run-off in a rain-garden.
- Be safe, and try to avoid the ice in the first place which I know can be impossible. A tiny amount of salt can go a long way.
- Sweep up any salt after the ice melts!
- Check out great winter salt suggestions: https://www.wisaltwise.com/
Our Earth Looks Very Fragile!
The Earth’s atmosphere “looks very, very fragile” and “like something that we need to take care of.” Scott Kelly
Scott Kelly returns from the space station on March 1, after spending 365 days in space. He spoke on CNN about his year in space and what he has observed. See his CNN interview below:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/11/health/scott-kelly-space-station-sanjay-gupta-interview/index.html
Happy Valentine’s Day
Love Clean Water and Clean Air
Love Clean Energy
Love our Earth
Love our Diversity
Love Love Love
This Makes Me Sick
This week 5 activist judges on the U.S. Supreme Court delayed implementation of President Obama’s Clean Power Plan. A delay that could throw clean air into years of litigation. This also gives China, India and other countries an excuse to delay their own clean-air plans to reduce dangerous carbon emissions.
This past December 195 nations came together in Paris for an incredible historic agreement. They agreed to work together to reduce carbon emissions. A corner-stone of this agreement in the United States was to require states to reduce their carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2030. To accomplish this states need to switch from dirty coal and oil to the renewables of solar and wind, or however the state chooses to get to a 30% reduction. Twenty-seven states are protesting these new rules, and the Supreme Court says these lawsuits need to finalized before the Clean Power Plan is implemented. My rural electric cooperative does not support clean air initiatives because they don’t want to pay for it. This is a lack of vision for the future. I think that switching to renewables will be cheaper for consumers in years to come!
What these climate deniers don’t understand is the cost of doing nothing about air pollution is much more expensive. The oceans will continue to warm and rise, storms intensify, and the clean up and health issues will continue to cost billions of dollars a year. Many lives will be lost because of this lack of vision for the future.
This makes me sick! Cough Cough!
http://phys.org/news/2016-02-poor-air-quality-million-worldwide.html
“We can no longer continue treating out addiction to fossil fuels as if there is no tomorrow, or there will be no tomorrow!” Desmond Tu Tu
Our Plastic Life is Sad
A recent study by the Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation has found that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. This is a terrible man-made crisis, and not enough is being done to stop the cascade of plastic. Everyone of us needs to take personal responsibility to reduce our plastic consumption. The plastic industry is unchecked, and never should such a nuisance product been put into society without a plan to clean up or reuse. We are stuck with plastic, but we can all reduce the amount of plastic we use today and every day from now on. Especially think carefully before you purchase a plastic tubes that cannot be recycled. There is too much information in this post, but I hope you can find one thing below to help you to reduce your plastic consumption!
http://onegreenplanet.org/crushplastic
14 Ways You Can #CrushPlastic in Your Daily Life
- Carry a spare canvas bag for groceries or small items you might purchase throughout your day.
- Bring a reusable water bottle instead of buying a plastic one.
- Take a mug with you to work or class and ditch the plastic cups.
- Say no to plastic straws and utensils when eating out and bring your own stainless steel reusable ones.
- Use mason jars when grocery shopping to store all your bulk food items.
- Use cloth or reusable bags instead of produce bags when food shopping.
- Replace your plastic food storage bags with stainless steel tins or mason jars.
- DIY your own cosmetics instead of buying ones in plastic tubes. http://www.onegreenplanet.org/lifestyle/ultimate-guide-to-diy-beauty/
- Reduce plastic packaging in your cleaning routine by making your own natural cleaners. http://www.onegreenplanet.org/lifestyle/ultimate-guide-to-diy-cleaning/
- Avoid microbeads in your exfoliating face or body wash.
- Try DIY-ing your shampoo and conditioner instead of buying plastic bottles.
- Switch to bar soap and shampoo to avoid plastic packaging.
- Skip the plastic tube toothpaste and make your own! http://www.onegreenplanet.org/lifestyle/ultimate-guide-to-diy-hygiene/
- Buy plastic-free beauty, hygiene, and cleaning products, like bamboo toothbrushes, plastic-free makeup brushes and natural material sponges.
https://health4earth.com/2015/05/05/surprising-things-about-plastic/
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/people-who-prove-that-living-plastic-free-is-possible/
Health4earth 