PBS – Health4earth

National Pollinator Week

What can you do to help our birds, bees and butterflies? Can you plant some milkweed or other native plants? Can you become aware and reduce the chemicals you use? Can you learn about neonicotinoids and be sure you never purchase plants that have been treated with them? For your information, neonicotinoids have recently been banned from use by the European Union.

Yesterday I had a mourning cloak, a painted lady, a red admiral, hummingbirds, and monarch caterpillars in my yard. Milkweed and native plants make a big difference for pollinators. I am not a fan of lists because experience is better, but here are some native plant lists to get you started: https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder/About and from Audubon

Planting purple cone flowers, bee balm, black-eyed Susan and milkweed are easy ways to get started. After years of trying to get milkweed to grow, I now have swamp milkweed everywhere. It has reseeded itself and thrives in my yard. Also, common milkweed and butterfly weed have sprouted up, but only a few monarch butterflies. The few monarch butterflies have a big job ahead of them, and I am still hopeful we can get their numbers to improve! If everyone does a small part, it can make a big difference!

Below is a video from PBS about monarch caterpillars, enjoy!

Fish for dinner? Where was it caught?

To think that people are going to stop eating fish is a heavy lift. Even the vegans I know will eat fish and sushi. Do you purchase fish and shrimp? Some things to consider:

Why would anyone purchase or eat fish caught in Viet Nam or China? I thought this was such an interesting and strange story, and It should be shared to heighten people’s awareness. Most Americans eat fish caught in Asia while fish caught in Massachusetts is exported to Europe. Why would anyone purchase or eat fish caught in Viet Nam or China? Watch the segment on Dog Fish, a sustainable fish, here.

In the United States it is possible to purchase sustainable Gulf caught shrimp and scallops, as well as wild caught cod, salmon and other fish from the Pacific Ocean. Also, fish from the Great Lakes is excellent.

Be a Climatarian, consider the planet when you make all food and fish choices, and buy local and USA products if they are available. And then there is the thought that we shouldn’t be eating fish at all. Read it here from One Green Planet

Warm Air Holds More Moisture

Have you been caught in a record rain storm and flooding this summer? Chances are that most of us in the United States and Europe have experienced a heavier than normal rainfall. My travel this summer has brought me to see displaced people following storms (nothing like Louisiana or California). I have seen lakes created from heavy rain submerging homes, closed roads and bridges, yards with 20 uprooted trees, and experienced power outages.

What is going on with these storms? July 2016 was the hottest ever recorded since records started in 1880. As the earth warms, some places get dryer, but in other places the atmosphere is able to hold more moisture dumping larger amounts back to earth. Places in Louisiana received 31 inches of rain, unbelievable! I feel sad for everyone displaced from everything they own.

PBS had an interesting conversation about our weather extremes here. Is this all part of climate change?

There are consequences to our warming earth according to meteorologist Paul Douglas, “More moisture in the air, higher dew points and heat indexes, more thousand-year rains, wet basements with greater regularity, and more expensive insurance policies.”