Category Archives: four-leggeds

Hippo to the rescue

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You know, I would love to watch nature programs, but I quit watching them because they always focus on the animals killing one another.  The photographers seem to love the violence of nature.

I mean, you would never know that animals can also show intelligence and compassion, as seen here.

It wasn’t just one hippo, but the group of them, that went in to help the gnu.

The hippo was gently using its powerful jaws to help the gnu, along with its nose–that takes intelligence.  And for it to recognize the danger and do something about it showed compassion.

I think it goes to show the complexity of nature and how shortsighted we are towards animals.

 

Spring

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Heard a songbird singing its heart out this morning…

I think we might have moved past this strong, forceful winter…tomorrow the forecast is for 50 degrees. Woot.

It still might take awhile for the ice road that is the driveway to disappear…mornings will be…interesting…if the temps dip down below freezing at night.  Slip slidin’ away…

Winter brings its own stories–some days I would see deer tracks in the snow, along with bunny tracks.  It is amazing that any of them survive in such brutal conditions.

The poor dog hasn’t seen grass in three months. Heh.

I saw a robin for the first time last week (others saw them earlier). I’m afraid that one of the neighborhood cats might have gotten one, because an area had a bunch of feathers scattered about…

The sun has moved across the horizon…the heated orange coming through the fingers of the trees in the lane…

Welcome Spring.

My environmental journey

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The critics of environmentalists claim that we’re phonies…okay, well, here is my journey…

…my advocating for the environment has been a slow evolving process that includes my experience with mercury poisoning, growing awareness of what we’re doing to the atmosphere, and a spiritual component of realizing everything is connected.

Here are some of the things I do:

–use cloth bags when going to the grocery.  I might use plastic for meat, but I re-use those bags, too, bringing them to the grocery along with the cloth bags.  If you use the cloth bags for meat, be sure to launder them before using again, to avoid contamination.

–avoid plastic packaging. …well, plastic *everything*.   This has been much easier following the GAPS diet because you don’t eat the processed food in packaging, but real food.  If I am given an option, I will buy something in glass packaging before plastic.

—re-use the glass containers for drinking glasses, food storage, plants, etc. I try to avoid ziploc bags when possible.

—don’t purchase synthetic materials like nylon and other materials requiring petroleum.  The list I think is a catch-all, because I think some of the things listed are made with petroleum if plastic or manufactured cloth such as nylon, so some of the products listed could be okay if not using those materials.  Here’s a website on organic cotton, fyi.

–When I had my home, I made a conscious decision not to pave the driveway–it was gravel.  I didn’t spray for weeds, either.  I let my grass grow to 3 inches so that the roots could grow deeply enough to avoid having to water the lawn, especially during the dry time in July–this also helped keep the weeds down. Meanwhile, my neighbors practically shaved the grass off and…wait for it…had to waste precious water to keep the grass from dying in July.    I let a patch of ground that was the former owner’s garden, grow its natural way, without my interference.  Yeah, I was the neighborhood hippie…

—use baking soda, borax, and vinegar for cleaning.  A formula I found in a natural health mag goes like this:  Bathroom cleaner:  6 T vinegar, 2 T borax mixed with a cup– of warm water.  Put this in a 1 qt. spray bottle and fill the rest with water.  Works great, especially if used every day.

—I would like to use non-toxic natural cleaners for laundry, dish washing, etc., but with my finances, this isn’t doable right now. Oh, and fyi, avoid dishwashers–the detergent used in them is highly toxic.

—ride a bike or walk when going somewhere.  This was easier for me when I lived in Fort Wayne, where everything was within walking distance.  I could get to the downtown in 45 minutes to an hour.  There is something to be said for walking or riding–you are much more connected to what is going on around you.  You hear the birds sing.  Feel the breeze.  Hear the ripple of water along the river…driving a vehicle cuts you off from so much, besides polluting.

—use flannel cloths instead of toilet paper and re-wash them.  I know, I know, some of you are going “ick” right now.  No. 1 is fine…No. 2 still requires paper. So there.

—cloth pads instead of chemically manufactured pads.

—use less.  I just use less.  This was part of the learning process of being poor–you just learn how to manage on less.  Not easy, for sure.  I became much more adept at planning meals and using food up before it went to waste.  I didn’t buy as much at the grocery until I needed it.  This is easier if the grocery is within walking distance….which is becoming harder as the independents are being forced out while big box stores are situated out in no-man’s-land, forcing people to drive there.

—garden organically, using compost from kitchen waste, and if you’re really adventurous, pee and poo.   This is not for sissies…so come with your brain in active mode and your determination to get away from petroleum and chemicals.  You will succeed, but you can’t give up when challenged.  Nature does challenge you, but also gives such splendid rewards. 😉

This is an ongoing process, for sure.  I didn’t just wake up one day and start doing all of this.  It was a gradual endeavor with every new discovery of my own contribution to pollution.

So…there you have it…my efforts towards helping instead of hurting the environment.

I think if we all took those first steps, and built on that, we would greatly reduce our dependency on petroleum.  Everything helps and every bit matters.

 

 

 

Another Reason for the Honeybee collapse

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Here’s a report that states high-fructose corn syrup may be behind the honeybee colony collapse.  The commercial honey growers will take ALL of the honey and replace their food with high fructose corn syrup.

Since high fructose corn syrup contains mercury…it stands to reason that it could be one of the culprits behind the collapse.   I say “one” because there is also the pesticide connection.

Again, it’s taking everything and being greedy.  That greed eventually comes back on you.

No Confirmed Link with Pig Feed and virus

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Okay….I’ve been casually reading on this story and find it reeeaaally hard to believe they “can’t find” a link between the dreaded virus in the feed and the pigs contracting the virus.  It just seems a no brainer that if the virus is in the feed…and the pigs come down with the virus…yeah, it’s the feed…and here we have the evidence that the virus can survive not only in feed, but feces and water.

From the article:

While dry ground feed only allowed PEDV to survive for seven days, wet ground feed provided a more hospitable environment, allowing PEDV to survive at least 28 days. Again, the duration could be longer, but Goyal’s study ended. Storing infected feed at room temperature for two weeks should kill the virus.

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The next question is why is blood plasma in the feed to begin with?  Can you say unhealthy, inhumane factory farms?  I knew that you could.

Removing the Dust

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Warrior Publications has this up from John Kane on relearning what our ancestors knew…

Some folks are so far removed from nature that they don’t have even the very basic knowledge of…living.  Living in harmony, that is…

We’ve been fed this false belief that technology is superior to nature…when nothing trumps nature.  Just look at the powerful force of nature during any storm…and how technology takes a hit every time.

Technology has put up a wall between us and nature.  We lose that connection.  We lose the talent of our senses without engaging them daily. (Think of folks walking into water fountains or walking into traffic while talking on cell phones.)

…and when we lose that connection, we lose the ability to value nature–to understand nature.  And as the post says–we lose the ability to know our place within nature and our time here.

Being poor helps with that–washing clothes by scrubbing them on a washboard gave me a sense of accomplishment–I knew that I could do a decent job of it; learning how to manage on so little helps one really learn how to prioritize on what is important–you learn what is fluff and what is substance;  and the biggest re-connect with nature is your own sense of self-worth and pride in that you made it.  You survived.  And nature is better for it because the balance of give-and-take is restored.  You no longer take and take, but realize you must give, too.  Not easy…but ohhh so worth it, in the end.  You gain something so much more valuable.

 

 

Helping neglected animals

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This is for Canada, but I hope that folks will help the shelters in their own areas.  They need cash and volunteers, always.  And this goes without saying– they need folks willing to give a home to an abandoned animal.  Two of the best pets I’ve ever had were from shelters.

And let them “choose” you–they will show an interest, wag their tail or purr, come towards you, or get that “light” in their eyes…

Elizabeth Warren, et al, come out against XL Pipeline

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Well, I’m glad that these folks have come out against the XL Pipeline.

This is, essentially, a rebellion by 22 progressive congressional Democrats against the Clinton-Obama effort to provide a market for the Kochs’ oil. The letter was actually written by Representative Henry Waxman and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, and co-signed by senators Barbara Boxer, Ed Markey, Dick Durbin, Jeff Merkley, and Elizabeth Warren; and Representatives John Conyers, Jr., Barbara Lee, Raúl M. Grijalva, Rush Holt, Louise M. Slaughter, Jerrold Nadler, Judy Chu, Peter DeFazio, Anna G. Eshoo, Sam Farr, Peter Welch, Alan Lowenthal, Mark Pocan, and Steve Cohen.

 

Note how deeply involved Hillary Clinton is in XL– how Paul Elliott, a former staff member, is a lobbyist for TransCanada, along with David Goldwyn.

Secretary Clinton’s State Department allowed the environmental impact statement on the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline to be performed by a petroleum industry contractor that was chosen by the company that was proposing to build and own the pipeline, TransCanada. That contractor had no climatologist, and the resulting report failed even at its basic job of estimating the number of degrees by which the Earth’s climate would be additionally heated if the pipeline is built and operated. Its report ignored that question and instead evaluated the impact that climate change would have on the pipeline, which was estimated to be none.

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Be sure to click on this link about the March, 2013,  XL Pipeline “environmental report” as a hoax.

[…] Therefore, the reason no calculation was done of the XL pipeline’s global-warming impact appears to be that no one who was involved in the study had any climatological expertise or interest.

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But be that as it may: it is by now clear that the State Department’s Draft “Environmental Impact Statement” on XL is neither by the State Department, nor does it address the pipeline’s impact on global warming, nor was anyone who had expertise on global warming even involved in its preparation. The report is thus a triple-hoax, so that to call it fraudulent would put the matter mildly.

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Note that the Obama Administration is trying to force the EU to purchase the Koch Brothers’ dirty oil.  Unreal.

Additionally, I don’t see it mentioned in the article, but I have a huge concern about the petcoke byproduct of this dirty oil that will make its way to Whiting, Indiana.  This is devastating to our environment and the people breathing this toxic garbage.  It seems to me that Indiana has become the garbage can of the Kochs and others who have nowhere else to dump this stuff.  Like I said before, they should start dumping this stuff on the Koch’s lawn, and see how long it takes them to change their minds about the petcoke (haha, I first typed “petchoke”…really, more accurately describes its affects on the lungs of people).