This sucks

Why do we even bother creating our own environmental laws?

http://www.chinahush.com/2009/10/21/amazing-pictures-pollution-in-china/

pomplamoose

funny

For all you cheese makers

I just read an article about using CLEAN men's handkerchiefs instead of cheesecloth for cheese making or any other form of fine straining.

Woolch

What’s Woolch Mulch?

Woolch. Made from 50 percent wool (a bi-product from yarn and blanket making industries) and 50 percent toothpick-size wood shavings (a bi-product from sawmills), woolch was developed by the Minnesota Lamb and Wool Makers Association and tested at the University of Minnesota. This combination of wool and wood shavings has been used on perennial fruits and vegetables such as strawberries with great success. Woolch prevents weed growth on top and below the mulch, retains soil moisture, keeps the soil cool, and lasts longer than other organic mulches such as straw. For strawberries it even allows the daughter plants to root themselves through the woolch material. The lightweight, felt-like mats of woolch can be cut to fit any fruit, vegetable, or perennial garden patch and generally lasts for 2 years in the garden before degrading in the soil.

For more information :

http://www.extension.umn.edu/projects/yardandgarden/YGLNews/YGLNewsMay152009.html#art1

Remember Stumpy Tunes?

I have songs to share! And I am craving new music.

Any interest/ suggestions in a music swap? We had that email address a billion years ago...is there a better or easier way to share some music in 2009?

Must have music.

Crazy $, but cool...

and I bet I could make one! Wooly "hammock" for plants!

http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/gardening/woolly-pocket-gardening-company-089775?image_id=212731

Rural America

USA Today has an article about a shrinking NH town that includes some stats that I've never considered before about rural areas.

• 17% of Americans live in rural areas (that seems so small to me!)
• Only 4% of rural Americans make their living farming

The general idea of the article seems to be that governmental policies and funds for rural America are focused on farming and therefore neglect the majority of the people and industries in those areas.

In the grand scheme of things, I'm not sure what this is all coming to...thoughts?

Dont Move Firewood

With the Emerald Ash Borer recently discovered, just across the Niagara River-

I thought this website does a nice job of getting the message across-
Check out how many people in NY (or your state) have made the pledge not to transport firewood....

http://www.stopthebeetle.info

Beer endangerment

Is this true? Have you heard anything about it? Will you have to re-live days of going to Canada for beer?

Dear New York Beer Activist,

At the request of the New York State Brewers Association, we are alerting you to an issue which could dramatically affect your access to the craft beers made by small breweries all across the country.

As you have likely learned, the state of New York recently enacted a requirement that bottled products sold in your state must bear a New York-specific UPC code for bottle deposit and redemption purposes. This requirement will have severe negative impacts on many businesses, including and particularly, small breweries.

More...

Urban vegetable gardens

Read this story: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/syracuses_community_gardens_ar.html

Now, I have done some research on this topic and it turns out that heavy metal uptake in plants is minimal in normal soil pH.  It also seems lead in urban soils is a common thing.  So the fix would be to bring in some good soil to garden in.

Apparently that is exactly what they did, right Jon?

A Grand Chicken Day Out

It was a lovely day today, so we built our chickens a little temporary playground for some fun in the sun. They are one month old this weekend. The barred rocks - Rocket and his crew.

A broiler and a barred rock - these chickens are the same age!

The reason we call her Fuzzy Longbottoms:

Chillin chicken:

Tartan Day

Will there be celebrations tomorrow?

http://www.tartanday.org/

The Inverse Power of Praise

Yesterday, at work, we had a Youth Development Inservice that focused part of the workshop on the harmful effects of praising youth. This concept was totally foreign to me, but really fascinating. Of course a lot of it depends on context. The research behind reasons not to praise children and youth is very interesting- but what a total change and different way of thinking from what most people are accustomed to! Thought I'd share...


http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/

http://www.alfiekohn.org/parenting/gj.htm


What do you think?

March for Babies

We are going to participate in the March of Dime's "March for Babies" at Long Branch Park this April. If anyone would like to help support our walk by sponsoring us, please visit the link below. Thank you!!!!

The Somerlots

Keeping up with the Jones (or the Somerlots, or Moskals)

Happy Day. As of 4 PM this afternoon, Carrie and I are officially homeowners! We will post some pictures soon. The house is great and needs only a little work to be lived in but we do have lots of plans to slightly remodel it. Right now we need to raise the ceiling in one room and then paint. As of tonight all we have is new doorhandles, deadbolt and locks. We plan to move most of our stuff on the weekend of March 14th. Fairport here we come! More to follow.

Beer grains

From my favorite online cartoon, Toothpaste for Dinner.

New Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer announced last week the intention toestablish a new USDA Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets, whichwill promote markets for ecosystem services including carbon trading.According to USDA, agriculture producers provide many ecosystemservices which have historically been viewed as free benefits tosociety clean water and air, wildlife habitat, carbon storage andscenic landscapes. Lacking a formal structure to market theseservices, farmers, ranchers and forest landowners are not generallycompensated for providing these critical public benefits. Market-basedapproaches to conservation are proven to be a cost-effective method toachieve environmental goals and sustain working and naturallandscapes. Without financial incentives, these ecosystem services maybe lost as privately owned lands are sold or converted to development.

Yarn Projects

The last of the Christmas weaving is done... to be made into 6 more placemats!

Here is the electronic image of the tartan, as designed by Chris's tartan designer software:

And here is the actual result:

And my first knitted baby sweater- for Caitlin.

Diet Soda...

'..Diet soft drinks are the epitome of wastefulness. According to Pimentel, it takes 600 calories of energy to produce the drink itself and another 1,600 to make the aluminum can, not to mention the energy required to ship it from plant to supermarket. The product that comes out of the can has less than one calorie, which obviously appeals to dieters—but to Pimentel, PhD '51, it offers one of the most egregious examples of the problems with America's far-flung food-supply system. And don't even get him started on iceberg lettuce. "It's 95 percent water," he notes, "and shipping water around is inefficient." One head has 110 calories and few nutrients—but shipping it from California to New York takes 4,000 calories of energy. Lettuce, Pimentel says, is "a real loser." '

Read more...

Good Eats

Healthy You, Healthy Planet?

Hey Monkey - do as I say...sorta

Bill and I recently visited the "Evolving Planet" exhibit at the Field Museum in Chicago. It was a huge exhibit, taking up much of the second floor, and most of the interpretation (in my never-actually-professional opinion) was quiet good. The exhibit walked the visitor through the evolution of life on earth. Rooms were set at different points of time with tons of wicked cool fossils and some "sets" with models of trees and enormous bugs of past eras.

Six mass extinctions marked signification transitions of types of life on earth. While the meat of the info could lead you to believe mass extinctions were good (mammals thrived when dinos died...) the visuals (like dramatic red lighting) made those parts of the exhibit eerie. (Ahh! Meteors are falling!!!)

On each interpretive sign there was a time line since...well the beginning of time on earth, with each era in a different color and mass extinctions in red. So, we knew there would be an environmental message at the end regarding the sixth, and current mass extinction. I had high hopes for a solid, actionable message.

Here is what we found. Why is the current extinction happening?

How are humans killing everything? Garbage, densely populated areas which destroy habitat, greenhouse gases and, apparently, the logging industry.

The statistic to shock you into action:

Finally, the self-promoting feel-good message:

That was pretty much it. Three signs in a little nook. But then, the best part. When visitors walk just around the corner, just outside of the exhibit saying that transportation, garbage and (reasonable people could infer) conspicuous consumption are killing species in the same vein that led to the extinction of dinosaurs, giant sloths and some pretty funky looking fish, you find this:


I literally took this photo standing next to the sign about how awful humans are. Any guesses as to the contents of the store? Recycled tote bags for groceries? Wind turbines? Perhaps "adopt an endangered species" packets? "More Fun, Less Stuff" bumper stickers?

Nope.

Plastic dinosaurs made in China. Puzzles made in China. Dinosaur robots, presumably made in China. Tons of short-life, basically disposable stuff made in a polluted country and shipped across a very large ocean.

Mind-boggling.

I tried to find a museum interpretor to help me understand this seemingly hypocritical disconnect (as well as a scientific question about mass extinctions), but couldn't. Apparently these sort of staff leave for the day around 3, though the museum is open until 6. I searched for over a solid half hour and asked multiple security and information employees to help me find someone to talk to and they helpfully said I was asking too late in the day.

So I am left to guessing about the museum's intent. Here are the two thoughts I come up with:

1) Money from museum sales supports conservation programs, like those on the last sign, which purchase and protect land.
My problem with that is this: if humans are causing the mass extinction, purchasing land seems to address a symptom and not the actual problem of unsustainable long-distance consumption. It would seem a futile effort in the long run, unless human consumptive behavior is significantly altered.

2) The museum needs the money from gift shop sales to cover operating costs which make exhibits like "Evolving Planet" - and its message about environmental destruction - possible.
Having worked at a large conservation non-profit, I totally get the fundraising thing. However, if a goal of the exhibit is to get visitors to think about, and ultimately act to change their unsustainable habits and they still want to buy destructive, polluting crap less than 20 seconds after leaving the part of the exhibit that tells them not to, I'd say your interpretation is not very effective and no one is getting your message.

So, here is my question to the Field Museum that I am left to posting here because no one was available at the actual museum. Why not raise money in a way that supports, rather than undermines, your mission? Have a huge ole gift shop with things that will make people feel good about not buying crap.

Start with a big, self-righteous sign about why you don't sell plastic crap made in China. Sell flower seeds for window boxes, or small trees. Treats for birds made by the local YMCA afterschool program? Organic dog biscuits with local ingredients made by local old people? I'd even be ok with books about sustainable living. Show visitors how to actually change their consumption and have fun doing it.

Otherwise, I am left thinking the museum is full of crap and the sixth mass extinction has nothing to do with me.

Forest Fire Policy

I found this article to be interesting. Does anyone have thoughts on the Australian idea of "Stay and Defend" during a wild fire?

Excerpt:

Until the weekend’s fires, the stay and defend idea was “the most talked about strategy in the firefighting world,” according to the Los Angeles Times. Southern California wildland firefighting agencies were even in the process of adopting aspects of the approach. Land managers across the US West were also taking a shine to the idea, which includes heavy doses of prevention, education, and personal responsibility.

Winter photo

Blue jay eatin a peanut.

We saw an Ivory billed at Tug Hill

Not really, but Kevin just finished the Grail bird book and we have been scratching or heads about what we belive after reading that (the woodpecker we saw in Tug Hill was probably nut hatch). We are, of course, only engineers and have limited comprehension of population dynamics, so I thought I would post here to collect some educated responses. (Bill).

The book basically documents how 3 ornithologists from Cornell Ornithology Lab and other places saw an Ivory Billed Woodpecker, but NO other evidence or sightings has been collected since that happened in 2003.  We think there are only 2 incredulous possible conclusions: either all those trained professionals are wrong, or we have to completely change our understanding of how a species goes extinct, and maybe even some of the basic details about that bird. Does it travel hundreds of miles in a day? Is that why they have not found any more auditory evidence? Can a population survive with 3 or 4 individuals spread out among that much territory? That is a very limited gene pool. Is there perhaps and new subspecies of pileated that for some unknown reason evolved in the absence of the ivory-billed to have very similar characteristics? 

Mind you, since they "re-discovered" this previously extinct bird, there has been a huge effort by many orgs to find more evidence. Heck, they even put 1000's of acres of this swamp into permanent conservation just because of this sighting (maybe that was the lab's end game)? No one has found anything. But these sightings were done by respected professionals, who only had much to lose by claiming they saw the birding world's sasquatch. 

While the book was only mildly entertaining it does document a very peculiar biologic phenomenon.

New Year's2008- 2009

This year's event was the largest gathering yet since we started in 2001-2 - 12 adults and 4 children. The location was excellent, providing the right amount of space for everyone to be comfortable, eat very well, go xc skiing, entertain the babies and other young'ins, and to play Guitar Hero on the wall using an LCD projector. For those who couldn't attend in person, you were there in spirit. Additional photos are located here.