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April 22, 2006
Earth Day: Saving The Planet, One Tree At A Time
I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.
I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.
And I´m asking you, sir, at the top of my lungs--
he was very upset as he shouted and puffed--
What´s that THING you´ve made out of my Truffula tuft?
Look, Lorax, I said. There´s no cause for alarm.
I chopped just one tree. I am doing no harm.
I´m being quite useful. This thing is a Thneed.
A Thneed´s a Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need!
It´s a shirt. It´s a sock. It´s a glove. It´s a hat.
But it has other uses. Yes, far beyond that.
You can use it for carpets. For pillows! For sheets!
Or curtains! Or covers for bicycle seats!
The Lorax said,
Sir! You are crazy with greed.
There is no one on earth
who would buy that fool Thneed!
- The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
I still remember my first school Earth Day. Back then, one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books was The Lorax. Frankly, it still makes my favorite booklist and I've already bought a nice copy for my future children, in case there are no trees left to print it by that time.
That year, we all, each and every student, got a little dogwood sampling. We were tasked with planting them somewhere, preferably in a garden. We wrapped the fragile bare roots in wet papertowels (back then none were recycled) and took them home. Mine ended up in our backyard, and over the years, it grew into a lovely tree, flowering every spring. I wonder now how many actually survived the bus trip home?
Sure, Earth Day isn't just about trees, but I'd argue that trees are a nice emissary to the environment, easy to understand and explain. Earth Day is a day to reflect on the fact that you are a member of a planetary community, a world citizen. A citizen with a responsibility to live in a responsible manner with respect to the environment.
Over the years, I have been involved in all sorts of Earth Day programs, from garbage collection to tree planting ceremonies. I even spoke out against balloon send-offs at my old primary school after my 2nd grade graduation send-off balloon landed on an island used for missile testing.
But here's my real piece of advice about Earth Day: You don't necessarily need to go out and join some community program in order to celebrate Earth Day.
All you need to do is make a resolution.
Like New Years, only something much more likely to actually come true. Make a resolution to change one thing, no matter how small, and stick to it. Make it a family thing. No matter how small it is, it can make a difference if everyone did the same. Encourage your friends and neighbors to - ask them on Monday morning.
What did you do for Earth Day?
Our family did ____.
Need some ideas on things you can do without too much effort? Consider some of these little changes to daily life:
- Most recycling centers now take ALL JUNK MAIL. Put it in the recycle bin
- Don't print something out until the last moment when you need it. Use 2-sided printing whenever possible. If your eyes are good, use 2-up printing as well for paper savings of 75%.
- More than 50% of all garbage nowadays from the average family is recyclable. Are you meeting that target?
- Favor recycled materials when possible, from bath tissue to greet cards. Here's a great shoppers guide from NRDC.
- If you can, switch to synthetic oil in your car - you can go much, much longer between changes
- Lower your power consumption - better lightbulbs, donate the garage fridge, keep computers off when not in use, etc.
These are just a couple of examples, there are lots and lots of Earth Day sites out there with activities and ideas. I just gave you a couple of the ones our household has implemented successfully over the years.
Posted by sorsha at 12:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 18, 2006
Scared Off The Menu: Exotic Game Gets A Break
In a rather ironic twist of fate, disease scares like SARS and H5N1 (bird flu) have caused many people around the world, in Asia especially, to avoid eating wild exotic fare. Instead, they are sticking to safer menu choices like beef, farm-raised poultry and fish.
Normally adventurous Chinese diners are eating fewer owls, civets and other wildlife due to fears of SARS and bird flu
...
Wild animals have long been delicacies in China, where they are served at banquets to show off the host's wealth.
More at: MSNBC.com: Civets, other wildlife off the Chinese menu
The Civet, a group of cat-like creatures, has not only been shown to be a vector of SARS, but there have also been cases of civets contracting bird flu after hunting and eating infected wild birds. This isn't very surprising, considering where the civet lies within the food chain. The Fossa from Madagascar is part of the civet family.
Despite the fact that many civet species are on the endangered species listings, they are still hunted for their musk (perfumes), their fur, and for eating. However, with rising health concerns, fewer and fewer of these exotic animals are showing up in the blackmarket.
Posted by sorsha at 3:07 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 5, 2006
Give A Hoot
Have you ever noticed how few movies there are out there about wildlife conservation? Oh, sure, there's the occasional animal movie like Flipper or Old Yeller, but stories of endangered creatures and the people who spend their lives protecting them are few and far between. The ones that do make it are the heart-rending biographies of often rather reclusive individuals who come to bad ends - like Diane Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist and Timothy Treadwell in Grizzly Man.
There was a fascinating summer movie poster at the theater last week. It had bulldozers approaching a couple of really cute little burrowing owls, and with a funky cast including Luke Wilson, and producers like Jimmy Buffett, it's actually the first comedy with nature-conservation undertones that I can recall in a long time. Sorry guys, but Without A Paddle doesn't count.
Based on the Newbery award-winning young adult novel by Carl Hiaasen, Hoot is a story of three children who take on greedy developers looking to bulldoze over some endangered burrowing owls.
HOOT revolves around a Montana boy who moves to Florida and unearths a disturbing threat to a local population of endangered owls. Determined to protect his new environment, the boy and his friends fight to prevent the adults from making a big mistake.
More At: HOOT: The Official Movie Website
You can find out more about Hoot, including the author's Hoot FAQ on Carl Hiaasen's website.
Posted by sorsha at 4:33 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 1, 2006
Flora & Fauna For Fools
Ahh, April Fool's Day, a favorite of pranksters and children alike. I cannot tell you how upset I was to find that Desktop USB Fondue Set was vaporware.
I thought this year, instead of tricking you, I'd share some nature-related April Fool's hoaxes throughout history. Some of these are beyond anything reasonable, but others are amusing in that they may actually come true some day. Either way, I hope you enjoy!
A Vermonter's Nightmare: The Exploding Maple Trees (2005)
NPR's All Things Considered followed how the declining maple syrup industry of the North East had lead to untapped maples exploding from an excess of sap. They had a great interview with a farmer and Vermonters got a good laugh at the nation's expense. As a former Norwich, VT, resident myself, I found it all greatly amusing. You can listen to it here.
Hotheaded Naked Ice Borer (1995)
Discover Magazine reported on a new Antarctic species called the Hotheaded Naked Ice Borer. A bony growth on its head, fed by blood vessels, allowed the animal to melt holes in the ice in order to hunt for prey, like penguins. Supposedly, the magazine received more mail about this article than any other in their history.
Mountus Eruptus: Mount Edgecumbe (1974)
The residents of Sitka, Alaska were used to living along the Ring of Fire, but they had been under the impression that their particular volcano, Mount Edgecumbe, was a dormant one. However chaos ensued when they woke up to black smoke billowing from it's cone. The town clown, a Mr. Porky Bickar, was later found burning tires up on the summit.
Tender But Juicy: Whistling Carrots (2002)
Tesco, a Brit supermarket, published an advert for the genetically enhanced whistling carrot. The carrots had natural airholes, which caused the veggie to whistle when they were properly cooked.
Swarms and Swarms of Em! (1949 & 1994)
No one likes bug storms, after all. Back in 1949, a New Zealand DJ announced that a huge mile-wide swarm of wasps was approaching. He urged listeners to protect themselves by wearing their socks over their trousers to leave honey traps outside their doors. Hundreds of people dutifully heeded his advice. About 45 years later, in 1994, Arizona residents woke to find bright fliers posted around town warning of "Operation Killer Bees" and the aerial spraying later that day to eradicate a killer bee population. On the bottom of the flier the name of the sponsoring agency: Arizona Pest Removal Information Line (For Outside Operations Listings), the acronym being "April Fool", but few people noticed.
The Michigan Freshwater Shark Experiment (1981)
The Herald News reported that a government study of fresh-water sharks was underway in three nearby lakes. Two thousand sharks, including blues, hammerheads and a few great whites, had been released into the lakes for the study despite safety concerns of local public officials.The fish were also to be protected, and fishermen could not catch them.
Don't Disturb the Squirrels (1993)
A German radio station Westdeutsche Rundfunk (WDR), Europe's biggest broadcaster, reported that Cologne passed a new city regulation requiring park joggers to run no faster than 6 mph in order to avoid disturbing the mating squirrels.
Tasmanian Mock Walrus or TMW (1984)
Floridian pet owners were featured in the Orlando Sentinel hoax about the Tasmanian Mock Walrus, TMW for short. The cute little four inch long mini-walrus purred like a cat and had the cuddly temperment of a hamster. Even better, it was easily house-trainable and liked to eat cockroaches - a serious problem in Florida. The clincher was that while several TMW's had been smuggled into the country, local exterminators were pressuring the government not to allow the animal for fear of losing profits. This caused quite a few people to search out their own TMW before it was too late. The picture was actually that of a naked mole rat.
Surrogate Mother Elephants for Woolly Mammoths (1984)
The Technology Review reported the efforts of some Soviet scientists attempting to bring back the woolly mammoth from the ice age by inserting its DNA into elephant cells. The cells were then placed in elephant mothers. Interestingly, this might actually happen someday, since according to the February 9th, 2006 edition of Nature, the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Mammuthus primagenius has been determined.
White Lions Need Washing More Often (1860)
In late March, Londoners began receiving invitations to view the annual washing of the White Lions at the Tower of London. In centuries past, the Tower had housed the Royal Menagerie. The crowd gathered at the White Gate at the appropriate time, but nothing ever happened and so people slunk away. This particular joke was a long-standing one often played on unsuspecting visitors to the cit, even so far back as the late 1600's!
Dino-Dragons: Smaugia Volans (1998)
Nature Magazine reported the discovery of "a near-complete skeleton of a theropod dinosaur in North Dakota." The newly discovered dinosaur, aptly named Smaugia volans, was special because researchers believed the dinosaur could have flown. Smaug was the name of the dragon in JJR Tolkein's The Hobbit.
PETA's Tournament of Sleeping Fish (2000)
Even the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has a sense of humor. PETA warned that would sabotage the bass fishing tournament in East Texas's Lake Palestine by putting tranquilizers in the lake before event, thus putting the fish to sleep.In their words, "this year, the fish will be napping, not nibbling." The feds took this threat seriously and dispatched a number of rangers to guard the fishes.
And Going and Going: Viagra for Hamsters (2000)
The Independent reported that a Viagra-like pill called Feralmone had been designed to treat sexually frustrated pets, including hamsters, since there are few things as sad as a pet suffering from feelings of sexual inadequacy sitting idly in its cage. Hamster owners were instructed to sprinkle the drug into pet food and also advised them to lay down some newsprint on the floor of the cage for once the pills began to take effect.
You can read about quite a few of these hoaxes and others at the Museum of Hoaxes: The Top 100 April Fools Day Hoaxes of All Time.
Posted by sorsha at 9:12 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
