It's Katie, The Answer Lady.

Last year, Katie joined our Whole Earth Care Virtual Community and agreed to be our very own "Ann Landers" about all things that might concern us as we try to live with more awareness on this good Earth and with the rest of our Earth Family.

Katie, is back from her summer research in the North, back to working on her Masters in Science and back to answering our questions.

So, without further ado, here's Katie.


Q1- I'm thinking of buying a new car and am looking at a secondhand Prius by Toyota. I hear they are good for the environment, but I keep wondering what happens to the batteries and the battery fluid when the battery needs to be replaced in 10 years. Is it still environmentally "friendly"?"

A1- Good question! In traditional gasoline-powered cars, the battery typically lasts 3-5 years. However, according to most hybrid car producers including Toyota, Honda and Ford, tests have shown that the battery in hybrid cars last at least 150,000 miles with no obvious degradation.

These results suggest that you won’t actually HAVE to worry about replacing the battery every ten years because the battery should last the entire lifetime of the car. Once the car’s life, however, is over, the batteries can be recycled. In fact, Toyota’s website states that it has been recycling hybrid car batteries since the first model came on the market in 1998: “Every part of the battery, from the precious metals to the plastic, plates, steel case and the wiring, is recycled.” To sweeten the deal, they also offer a 200$ bounty for every battery that gets returned. Even better news: if, for some reason, your hybrid car battery does not happen to make its way to a recycling facility, the chemicals inside them are much less destructive to the environment than the lead-acid or nickel-cadmium varieties.

Q2- "These days, everything is advertised as ‘natural’, ‘green’, ‘energy efficient’, ‘eco-friendly’, etc. When shopping for products, what symbols should we be looking for to ensure that we've got the real goods?"

A2- You’re absolutely right. There are a number of different brands of products that advertise “green” and “natural” ingredients and services, and it’s easy to get tricked by this so-called “green-washing”. For food products in Canada to be considered organic, they must be produced without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilization, biological engineering, radiation or sewage sludge. Only meat, and other animal products sourced from animals that were not exposed to antibiotics or growth stimulants are considered organic. Look for this symbol – Canada Organic . Biologique Canada - to ensure that your food products have been approved as organic by authorized inspection agencies:

Officially approved energy efficient appliances are also fairly easy to spot. Just look for the Energy Star symbol.

It gets a little bit trickier to ensure that you’re actually getting green products when you’re buying things like cleaning products, as there is no official regulatory body that approves products as “green”. The US based, non-profit organizations GreenSeal and EcoLogo offer verification for products that demonstrate their green-ness throughout their entire life cycle. These two organizations provide complete lists of all the companies and products that meet their green standards:

http://www.greenseal.org/findaproduct/location.cfm
http://www.terrachoice-certified.com/en/greenproducts/consumers/

Q3- "Do you know where I can find instructions to make a solar oven?"

A3- Well, that depends what kind of solar oven you’d like to make! Solar ovens are based on the general concept of funneling sunlight onto a dark, reflective surface where it can be focused and converted into heat. They work best when used with a dark cooking container or pot, since dark colours absorb heat most efficiently. Solar ovens can be made from simple components like cardboard, aluminum foil and duct tape. The following websites have a number of different solar oven designs with instructions as, well. Good luck, and happy cooking!

http://solarcooking.org/plans/
http://www.re-energy.ca/pdf/solaroven.pdf

Thank you, Katie, for this. It’s a delight to have you on our Whole Earth Care Blog Team.

Send in your questions to Katie, The Answer Lady at: moczero@sympatico.ca

Video:

Here are some astonishing statistics. Did You Know This?
http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=1551
To repeat the question – So what does it all mean?
Any answers, anyone?

This year, the hope is that we will begin to pay more attention to the world around us.

Ann sent this in for us to consider.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.

The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?


In a Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

After 3 minutes a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later: The violinist received his first dollar; a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to listen, then looked at his watch and walked on.

10 minutes: A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes: Joshua Bell played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour: He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made....

How many other things are we missing?

Thank you, Ann.

This is from Carole, in Greece.

'Well, I haven't won much in the line of awards in my life, and I feel a bit embarrassed, and a lot proud. So odd to think my passions for natural life, for clean beaches and drinking water, could ever be awarded!!!!!!!!

Be great to have the ultimate award: a real clean, virginal world, as we dream of.

Supporting you is so easy, Maureen! I'm enthused by the track you are on, though I'm still learning your angle, new to me, thrilling, but still a puzzle, as are all the 'issues' we look at.

We do things, use materials, plant stuff, find philosophies, and we have yet to learn all the consequences of these acts. What a mystery, eh??

Hang in for following chapters!!
Thanks so much! Hugs
I LOVE the bear!!!
c :)

:-) back to you, Carole.


We are still looking for a Naturalist to help us understand the world around us. Great working environment, satisfaction garanteed. To apply or for more information on this Whole Earth Care Blog position, contact me at: moczero@sympatico.ca

Looking for your photos for the Rogues' Gallery


How many different types of tree leaves can you find in your neighbourhood? Do you know the names of these tree neighbours?

Meet you here next week.

Earth Family First,

maureen
Photos by Google Images

Returning After a Long While with Eco Lawn

It's been a month, at least.

It's been a month of no postings with computer problems, a trip to Montreal to visit ailing family, the family home for Thanksgiving weekend and yes, poor time management. It's been a month of days swishing by like the leaves in an Autumn wind, full of busyness, noise and colour. Have you ever noticed how the dawn of each new season brings with it all sorts of change in schedules, family and friend commitments and a whole new list of must-dos?

I have missed our Virtual Community and posting the Whole Earth Care Blog these past four weeks and feel happy to be back at it.

a song with no end

when Whitman wrote, "I sing the body electric"

I know what he
meant
I know what he
wanted:

to be completely alive every moment
in spite of the inevitable.

we can't cheat death but we can make it
work so hard
that when it does take
us

it will have known a victory just as
perfect as
ours.
Charles Bukowski
(The Night Torn With Mad Footsteps)
Web version: www.panhala.net/Archive/a_song_with_no_end.html

Last spring, I had a lawn that was the bane of my neighbourhood.

I had moved into my present home three years ago, with the lawn already laid out in neat rows of sod. The lawn needed care as it sat upon a solid table of clay with no augmentation of top soil. Truth be told, I am not big on lawns. Cutting, watering, fertilizing and weeding a lawn feels like a waste of my time and money and none of these activities are good for our environment, either.

I considered several ways to rid myself of this lawn, but most ideas either were too costly or would cause an uprising of indignant neighbours, as lawns are a great source of pride in this particular neighbourhood. I finally settled upon a plan to try one of the new eco lawns.

Eco lawns claim to be low maintenance, drought resistent and well suited for both sunny and shaded areas. The eco grass grows slower than the usual bluegrass, requires water only while it is getting established, needs mowing only 1 to 3 times during the summer to resemble a traditional lawn, or can be left uncut for a more gentle look. It may be fertilized once a year with corn gluten. It all seemed too good to be true, but worth a try.

Unable to pull the sod away from the dried clay, i put down 3 layers of newspaper. The newspaper blocks out the sun thus killing whatever grass or weeds are under it. Newspaper is cheap, biodegradable and the inks are vegatable based. On top of the newspaper, I threw 3 inches of good top soil which I ordered by the truck at a considerable discount from purchasing the same at a local nursery.

Three wonderfully kind neighbours helped me by watering down the newspaper to prevent the wind from blowing it down the street and picking up shovels to assist me with the top soil. It was a lot of heavy work. Then, I raked over the soil breaking up any large clumps and leveled the area.

One of my neighbours down the street, who was not at all keen on my work, asked me if I had not mistakenly put my new sod in upside down. :-)

Next came the seeding, followed by watering, and more watering, and yet more watering. At this point, I began questioning the whole "eco" part of eco lawns, but it seems the secret is to keep the soil moist until the grass seed sprouts. I was in luck - this was one of the most rainy summers in years. Within two weeks, there was a greenish hue over the soil and then, actual tiny blades of grass began to show.

By now, I had a number of (mostly male) neighbours giving me daily commentaries on the foolishness of my endeavour. I was told that seed is always a bad idea compared to sod, that the newspaper would create only a bumper crop of mushrooms and that weeds would, in the end, kill off any grass that might survive the first blush of lawn.


Within a month, I was overseeding my delicate green lawn with more eco lawn seed. All through the summer, my new lawn grew and I overseeded. Only one small mushroom managed to shove itself up through the dense growth of grass. Weeds did appear, but they were easily rid of by spending 5 minutes a day pulling them out by the roots. By mid-August, the front of my house was graced with a soft green lawn of slim blades that bent over gently at 4 inches.

The commentaries were now sounding more like complements. That same neighbour who first wondered about my upside-down lawn came up to me and said, "Well, it certainly is bushy!"

As October sets in with a chill to remind us that winter will not be far off, I can say with pride that I have one of the greenest, thickest and least weedy lawn in the neighbourhood and it requires next to no care.

Ah, but all is not bliss in this little suburb. The bag of eco lawn seed did not come with a booklet for a neighbour whose need for the traditional fertilized, watered and well manicured lawn surpasses my wildest imagings, nor did it supply me with a video on neighbour relations and negotiations. Despite my attempts to tell him about eco lawns and my requests to let the grass grow, my neighbour has cut my lawn several times over the summer and fall.

I have a question - do I have a lush lawn because of my neighbour's interventions or are eco lawns as wonderful as advertized?

Methinks, it is the eco lawn. And with that belief, I am overseeding my backyard this fall with eco seed. It seems my backyard will be a true eco lawn in 4 years if I overseed it every spring and fall, as the eco grass will gradually choke out the existing lawn with all its weeds.

To find out more about eco lawns, Google Eco Grass, Eco Turf and Eco Lawn.

BE DARING AND GO FOR IT. Be the first in your neighbourhood with a eco lawn. I am totally convinced that by next year my neighbours will be overseeding their traditional lawns with eco grass seed. My new eco lawn speaks for itself.

Did you know that The Whole Earth Care Blog is now a year old?

On Friday, September 25th, The Whole Earth Care Blog held its first Annual Awards Event.

It was a lovely crisp, sunny afternoon when Carole, from Greece, received the first annual award for her untiring devotion to our Virtual Community, commenting on blog postings, offering insights, ideas, and personal reports on her efforts to support our Earth Community. Over the last year, she has sent lovely photos, informative websites and e-zine addresses, helpful and fun videos and short articles. Besides all this, Carole has been very generous supporting me with her encouraging words and check-ins. Thank you so much, Carole.

The award is a Raku pin of a Polar Bear, designed by Barb Sachs. For more information on Barb Sachs' work, go to: http://wwwcirclearts.com/artisans/sachs.shtml

Katie, The Answer Lady is back next week with answers to some of your questions.

So, click into The Whole Earth Care Blog next week.

If you have questions for Katie about the environment, care for our Earth or products that claim to be environmentally healthy, email to: moczero@sympatico.ca

Earth Family First,

maureen

Photos by Google and from personal album

Guest Writer: Shooting the Sublime

This year, the Whole Earth Care Blog will focus on paying attention to the gifts that are offered to us from Earth and our Earth Family.

When we take the time to really see, we become entranced, we fall in love. We wish to become involved, to support and lend a hand. We begin to see that we are a community, a family.


This week, Tom offers us a delightfully witty and insightful article on the digital camera and the true Art of Seeing. Take a bit of time for yourselves, sit back and enjoy.

Give him alms, woman
For there is nothing in this life
Like the sorrow of being
Blind in Granada.
Francisco de Icaza

SHOOTING THE SUBLIME

"Although all the senses participate in the discovering and experiencing the beauty-full, the tourist’s primary job is to see. Unlike joining the Army, tourism remains a relatively low-risk way to see the world. Thus, the most recent icon of world tourism, the digital camera, would seem a welcome complement to the tourist knap-sack. Thanks to this amazing piece of digital wizardry, recording visual experience has become an almost innate skill, rendering obsolete, with a mere push of the button, the fuss and muss of the picture post card with the intriguing foreign stamp, handwriting and the haiku greeting. No more fragile film, light meters, free-hand sketches, travel diaries, nor just plain old remembering; the camera’s the thing wherein one captures the soul of the sublime.

As the sword once empowered the conquistador and the cross the missionary, this sleek, hand-held, magic picture box has become the technological extension of homo viatorius in his role as ‘see-er.’ Since technological progress is neither positive, negative, nor neutral, there are, of course, consequences.

Due to the massive propagation of the digital camera, the tourist is no longer mere solitary adventurer, exploring marvels, great and small, uncovered leisurely on his journey of discovery. In addition to his traditional role as ‘sight-seer,’ the complete tourist must now also assume the role of ‘sight-recorder,’ a seemingly complementary role, but one which imposes a new duty—the bringing back alive of sights seen. The tourist’s unique face-to-face with the sublime then becomes a reproducible commodity, and his new task a social obligation, that is, the duty to reproduce digitally, for self and others, the visual experience.

Assuming this new role as visual trophy collector, however, creates a significant shift in tourist objectives, and it is not merely a shift in emphasis. This new technological icon, not unlike the sword and the cross, empowers the tourist to access a country’s natural and artistic wonders, while avoiding communion with the natives and participation in the cultural routine, thus surreptitiously tipping the delicate balance between the seer and the seen. This imbalance repeats the history of Europe’s colonizing of the New World and the African continent, wherein both the colonized and the colonizer ended up mutually diminished. A camera-safari remains a safari, with all its colonial reverberations; only the porters and the beaters are confused by the invisible kill.

As the desirability, simplicity, and economic availability of the digital camera has anointed it as touristically essential as sun screen and bottled water, the rituals of digital picture-taking have grown exponentially; taking not just a few, but a plethora of photos, has flourished into a primary tourist pastime, equally, if not more importantly, than ‘getting there’ and ‘being there.’ There are currently a number of tour packages which promise participants just enough time ‘in situ’ to take pictures, before swiftly whisking them off to the next photogenic destination. As they say in the trade, 'What you take in, you take out—and fast.'

Because the quantity of shots snapped is limited only by tour-time and battery longevity, myriad photos now record minutely every step of the earnest tourist’s trek both to and from the coveted sight-to-be-seen. And, once face-to-face with the culmination of tourist desire, it is not unusual to witness gangs of fast shooting camera slingers, caught in the cross-fire of an orgiastic digital shoot-out, in which photo gatherers and other strangers are trapped involuntarily in random view-finders, hindering mutually each other’s unbridled quest for the perfect shot, be it of the enchanting verandas of the Alhambra, the mystic light of Sainte Chapelle, the thunderous regard of Michelangelo’s Moses, the moody mists of Iguazu; each individual, intent only on his capture of an ineffable visual trophy, aligns eye and arm and view-finder in his attempt to freeze digitally an elusive epiphany of that infinite fecundity we label ‘Life.’


The digital capturing of the individual’s face-to-face with the sublime, however, often substitutes for the actual experience of beholding the wonder of nature, art or architecture. It is not unusual to see tourists spending precious ‘on-sight` time verifying or admiring the success of their snaps, rather than actually contemplating - with the naked eye - the primary object of their attention. Many seem to prefer the digital intermediary for filtering the experience of the glorious sight before them, as if confident that whatever is not noticed now will be there later--back in the hotel room… or on Facebook.

The act of seeing, however, is not for the double-parked before the rush-hour brothel of the tourist industry, notwithstanding Henry David Thoreau, who, according to a wag of his era, got more out of 15 minutes with a chipmunk than most couples get out of an hour in the sack. I suspect that neither Thoreau nor the chipmunk would approve such a comparison. They would, I believe, support that of Georgia O’Keefe, that painterly voyeur of the sensual flower: 'Still—in a way—nobody sees a flower—really—it is so small—we haven’t time—and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.'

And seeing remains the activity which most distinguishes the human from other animals. Though itself a simple act, seeing, like loving, is not the easiest; seeing requires silencing the clamouring of all our interior selves, being there – wholly - in the reality of now, active loving attention to the object, passive openness to the reality of the sublime. It is somewhat complicated today to see Niagara Falls.

Though we may not even know the name of what is seen nor its history, it is to be welcomed as honoured guest in the caverns of our beings and in the chimneys of our hearts. That it is visible, of this earth, and before us suffices. The encounter may trigger - metaphorically, of course - something akin to the English translation of Chief Joseph’s wonder-full Indian name: ‘Thunder Travelling Across the Lake…and Fading on the Mountainside.’


Not unlike the mystic’s face-to-face with the ineffable, the seer approaches the object-to-be-seen with respect and humility and receptivity to the presence of the real. There is an interior movement, the seer is sensibly enriched, brimful and flowing over; but it is impossible to describe what is received; there is no rational cause-effect, no object of computability. There is just communion with the grandeur of now, a humble being, there, within the eternity of the instant, something like the swan-dive of the spirit…

And, yes, Virginia, seeing happens… even to us ordinary mortals, not through any calculated effort of our own, but only because this is, always was, and always will be, the way of beauty with mankind.

Unfortunately, the faculty of wonder tires easily. Life would seem a great deal fuller than it does if it were not for the fact that the human being is, by nature, a creature to whom ‘O Glory!’ is less spontaneous than ‘Ho-hum.’ Today, however, thanks to digital gadgetry, it seems no longer necessary to commune with the wonders of our world. The grandeur of paintings, sculpture, mediaeval cathedrals, mosques, bridges, boats, and the manifestations of nature may easily be condensed to the square foot of the computer screen, in effect, replacing the contemplative moment and those very human activities which are potentially a part of that o-so-rare seeing event: e.g., a sense of fullness (everything is there; nothing is missing…), communion, awe, gratitude for being, the stopping of time (eternity in the instant of the now), the silencing of the rational, tears (Why not? There is so much…).

Like the ‘video-sizing’ of the Hollywood blockbuster and the consequent downsizing of the movie theatre and the giant screen, the digital camera is merely another evolutionary step in the technological miniaturization of the awesome. In this reductive process, something essentially human is being radically altered: the sublime, reduced to size of a credit card; the concomitant miniaturization of the architecture of the soul. Air travel may have shrunk the world and world tourism may be the express elevator to the department of the marvellous, but, like the lady said, 'The screens just keep getting smaller.' And, unfortunately, we with them.

The history of photography is laced with anecdotes about strangely recalcitrant men and women, refusing to be photographed, for fear that their souls would become imprisoned inside the black magic box. The fear is, perhaps, not unfounded.

And if you think this is just a pile of Luddite balderdash, I have pictures…"

T. L. McKeown
St-Adrien-d’Irlande, Québec

Thank you so much for this lovely gift, Tom.

Earth Family First,
maureen
(Photos from Google Images and family album)

The Awe of It

September. A new beginning. This year, it is my hope that our Whole Earth Care Community grows in courage, determination, unity of spirit and purpose, and love for our mother, Earth and our Earth Family.

Let’s see what we can do this year. Let’s watch as we grow in beauty this year.

Has the moon been up there
All these nights
And I never noticed?

A whole week with my nose
To the ground, to the grind.

And the beloved faithfully
Returning each evening
As the moon.

Where have I been?
Who has abandoned whom?
Gregory Orr

Was there ever a time when you felt suddenly alive? It was like the doors of the world opened for a minute and you could see directly into life. You were able to touch life directly and were not lost in your fears and worries. This experience may not have been during a big event like performing in a play or playing in a championship game; it may have been while walking in the woods or talking to a friend. All of a sudden you felt alive, awake. This quality of waking up, or penetrating into life, we could call mindfulness. Mindfulness simply means being aware, being present. (Soren Gordhamer, from Just Say Om!, Adams Media Corporation, Tricycle.com.)

It’s interesting that we call this state, “mindfulness”. It really has nothing to do with thinking, an activity we quite often confuse with the mind. Mindfulness is dropping the thinking of something or someone, and just being there, present, open, non-judging. It’s being fully awake in the present moment, aware of that which is before us.

Young children do it so well. Just watch a child enthralled with a pebble found on a beach, a bug on a leaf, a little bird singing in a nearby tree. They really, really see it. They become one with what they are seeing. No separation. No you/me or even, dare I say it, I/Thou, but rather the Essential We.

The more we purposely pay attention, practice mindfulness, the more naturally it becomes a way of being for us. We start to really hear the crickets, really listen to what the person next to us is saying, really feel the gentle touch of the autumn breeze on our cheeks, really see the stars in the night sky.

We begin the journey of re-uniting with the world around us. We commune. We become the Essential We. We come home to our Earth Family.

Miracles

Why, who makes much of a miracle?
As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge
of the water,
Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with anyone I love, or sleep in the bed
at night with anyone I love,
Or sit at the table at dinner with the rest,
Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
Or watch honeybees busy around the hive
of a summer forenoon,
Or animals feeding in the fields,
Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining
so quiet and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon
in spring;
These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.
To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread
with the same,
Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.
To me the sea is a continual miracle,
The fishes that swim-the rocks-the motion of the waves
-the ships with men in them,
What stranger miracles are there?
Walt Whitman
(Leaves of Grass)
Web version: www.panhala.net/Archive/Miracles_Whitman.html

Media:

Videos:

The Philadelphia Field Project http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=1647

Dr. Lakshman Yapa asks four very helpful questions:
“What does it take… to live in a healthy body, to have safe and affordable homes, to live in a supportive community, to live, love and die with dignity and it doesn’t take money to do these things?"

Watch this short video. It’s about West Philadelphia, but this video will help us consider what we can do for our Earth Family and ourselves.

Websites:

Toolkits for Sustainability http://www.thenaturalstep.org/en/canada/toolkits

This is a very good website and the toolkits are worth checking out. There's a toolkit specifically for our homes.

Blogs:

Salveged Bliss http://salvaged-bliss.blogspot.com/

Here’s a fun Blog to wander through. Blisse has all sorts of creative ways to re-invent what can be found at Garage Sales, Flea Markets and in attics.

We are still looking for a Naturalist to join us. Minimal work, wonderful working conditions, terrific pay – benefits are great, and can’t say enough about the working community. Apply by emailing me at moczero@sympatico.ca

We also would love to have an amateur Astronomer join our team. It would mean a commitment of four postings a year encouraging us to look up at the moon and stars, helping us understand the seasonal night skies and perhaps sharing a story about one of the constellations. Apply by emailing me at moczero@sympatico.ca

Short stories are wanted of your special experience or place in nature for The Narratives Postings.

Short simple articles are needed for the Guest Writers Postings.

And, Katie, The Answer Lady awaits your latest questions.

Heather wrote,

“Through poetry, reflections, convocation addresses, helpful household hints, testimonials, stories and photographs, Whole Earth Care continues to remind me that even though I have fully embraced recycling, energy saving, bring-your-own-bags, and reduce/reuse, there are entire communities of animals, insects, and people near and far that are effected by my actions and inactions. In my urban life, caught up in the busy day-to-day, this blog reminds me to remember birds, to pause and examine the majesty and delicacy of the earth outside my window, my car window, my classroom window. We live in times of immense oxymorons - driving automobiles to camp in nature, watching television instead of nature, the seduction of shoes while many have none, much freedom here while so little freedom there. My take on these juxtapositions is to choose wisely and consciously. Whole Earth Care spurs this conversation. My dialogue is only beginning.”

Thank you, Heather.

This year I wish us all the growing sense of awareness of our Mother, Earth and our Earth Family and the sense of belonging and oneness that comes with that awareness

Earth Family First,

maureen

(Photos from family albums)

August Interlude

We don’t open our heart and mind because we haven’t experienced the benefit of doing that. Once we have experienced the truth, there isn’t even an issue. There is no worry. The whole question of whether we are ready to open our heart and mind to the truth isn’t even a concern.
(Anam Thubten, from "How a Tomato Opened My Mind" from the current issue of Tricycle) (Tricycle’s Daily Dharma) (tricycle@tricycle.com)

We can’t be present to the Other before us, if we are closed-minded and closed-hearted. We can’t be effective in this world, relate to Earth one-on-one, bring about the needed change, if we keep our hearts and minds closed off from the new experience that is there for us to receive as a gift each moment. Paying attention, with all our senses, opens us to new possibilities, being there with welcoming heart and mind will reward us beyond our imagings.

I dreamt half my life was spent
in wonder, and never suspected.
So immersed in the moment
I forgot I was ever there.

Red-tailed hawk turning
resistance into ecstasy.

The patrolmen joking with the drunk
whose butt seemed glued to the sidewalk.

A coral quince blossom in winter,
pink as a lover's present.

And tilting my bamboo umbrella
against the warm slant

of rain, was I not a happy peasant
crossing the great bay on a bridge that began

who knows when, and will end
who knows when?
Thomas Centolella
(Views from along the Middle Way)
web version: www.panhala.net/Archive/View_45.html

For this posting of Whole Earth Care, I thought it would be fun to hand over the keyboard to other Members of our Virtual Community. I hope it proves to be a refreshing change and, perhaps, it might encourage you to join in on the conversation. It's easy; go to comments at the bottom of the Posting or email me at moczero@sympatico.ca .

This Week’s Suggestion:

An elderly couple in the lobby of the Mayo Clinic spotted a piano. They've been married for 62 years and he'll be 90 this year.

http://www.fark.com/cgi/vidplayer.pl?IDLink=4365716

Let’s do something fun and creative this week that will bring smiles to all around us.

Thank you, Gail, for sending us this lovely video.

Getting To Know Our Neighbours:

Lately, I have been missing the boisterous sounds of tree frogs that I use to hear every summer before I moved away from my country home. Despite the trees around, I have not heard even a single croak from one of those little fellows here in suburbia. It worries me – where could they be?

Tree frogs are found in most countries around the world with ancestors that go back before the dinosaurs’ demise. As their name indicates, they live in trees or tall plants and bushes. They descend to the ground only to mate and spawn, and in those countries where the winters are cold, they will burrow into the earth below the trees where their bodies produce a type of glycerol that protects their body fluids and tissues from freezing.

Usually quite small, they have long hands and feet for grasping branches and leaves, and rough covered discs on their fingers and toes which have a sticky substance that aids in climbing.

Tree frogs are often hard to see as they use camouflage to protect themselves from predators – vivid greens to match surrounding leaves or a grey-brown to look like bark.

They are easiest found in the evening or early night when they start their very loud songs or calls.

It is estimated that a single tree frog can eat as many as ten thousand insects in one summer.

A Fact Or Two:

Cam wrote, “Do Laundry In Cold Water. Here are a few surprising facts.

Up to 90 per cent of the energy used in washing clothes is for heating the water.

If you wash four out of every five loads of laundry in cold water each month, you’ll save about 35 kilograms of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere.

If you wash 80 per cent of your laundry on the cold/cold cycle every year, you’ll save up to $100 or more on your energy bill. ”

Thanks, Cam.

What Can We Do?

Corine wrote: “You would be proud.

I have invested into high tech H20 bottles - metal ones.

I have also started to do laundry - setting the machine to start at 0500 hrs and with me being up between 05:30 and 06:00 everyday, I drip dry most of it now, or hang it outside on a folding cloths line.

All of my light bulbs have been changed over to compacts - new smoke detectors and C02 monitor (x1), and I have recently found sub-compact flood lights - I will be installing them this weekend. There is a great solar flood light package that is now available which I will invest in next.

I also have all major electronics on monster power bars - at night I switch off the power bars to reduce the amount of phantom electricity that I am consuming.

I also have started to practice passive solar control - closing blinds and drapes - and turning on the AC when it is only completely necessary and turning it off at night if it is bearable to do so.

Down the road - more energy efficient fridge, stove and deep freezer. My washer
and dryer is very high tech and energy efficient and I certainly notice it with regards to both water and hydro consumption.

Fantastic, Corine. Mega congradulations.

And Teresa sent us the following Green Tip. I can tell you from trying it, that it works.

Recipe for a Non-Toxic Weedkiller

Into a spray bottle or bottles, cleaned and recycled from your home, add the following ingredients (You can double or triple this recipe.)

1 litre of white vinegar
¼ cup of table salt
1 tablespoon of dish detergent (Sunlight apparently works best)

Swirl gently – Do Not Shake

On a windlass day, spray unwanted weeds.
But remember… even “natural” weedkillers like this one will kill any plant.
So, spray carefully around trees, shrubs and other garden or bedding plants.

Thanks you, Teresa, for your contribution to the positive things we can do to be “Green”.

Media:

Articles:

Natural World Solves Major Environmental Disaster

Now here’s something to help us be more Hope-filled about our future.
http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=3788

Want to improve your cognitive functioning? Take a walk.
http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=3792

Blogs:

Helping “people create, present and appreciate art that heals our relationship with the natural world”.
http://www.greenmuseum.org/

Oh! And there is something else… Our friend Carole from Greece did some investigating into the report on viewing Mars this month. (See the July Whole Earth Care Posting.) Here’s what she found out.

Carole writes, “All the excitement about Mars…, well :-) oooooooooooooooo Dear Maureen! We missed this one! Darn, it’s old news.”

She sent these comments from a website on Urban Legends.


“Original version of a widely forwarded email claiming that August 27 will bring the closest encounter between Mars and Earth in recorded history. Unfortunately, this 'once in a lifetime event' already came and went in 2003.

Comments: This is roughly accurate — or it was in 2003, at any rate, when the above message first began circulating online.

On August 27 of that year the orbital paths of Earth and Mars brought the two planets to within 34.65 million miles of one another — closer indeed than at any other time in the past 50,000 years. Though Mars never actually appeared "as large as the full moon to the naked eye" (as claimed in the email), the red planet did vividly dominate the night sky for a brief time, making 2003's close encounter a once-in-a-lifetime event indeed for astronomers, space enthusiasts, and ordinary observers alike. Nothing so spectacular is predicted for 2009.”

OPPS! But, maybe it got some of us looking up into the sky. That would be a major plus and we would have seen some other amazing sights, even if Mars was not so visible, like the August full moon, the summer constellations and the Perseids.

It’s been wonderful hearing from some of our Virtual Community Members. Their sharing of ideas, photos and green accomplishments help us all realize that we can make a difference together. It encourages us all to be present to each other and to the rest of our Earth Family.

Let’s hear from you. Share with us what “green” changes you have made. Send in your ideas, photos, comments, articles, accomplishments and discoveries. Simply email me at moczero@sympatico.ca

And don't forget to email in your questions for Katie, The Answer Lady. Just write to moczero@sympatico.ca

As an aside, I am thinking we need to make Carole our Whole Earth Care Reporter at Large… :-) What say you, Carole?

Earth Family First,
maureen

(Photos from Google Images and personal album)

2009 - International Year of Astronomy

The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean--
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down,
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
Mary Oliver
(New and Selected Poems, Volume I)

Did you know that this year, 2009, is International Year of Astronomy?


On Wednesday, July 8th from 9:58 to 10:02 p.m., my daughter and I watched the Space Station glide quickly by in the clear night sky. It was the brightest object in the sky moving from west to east. What an amazing treat!

Until Monday, July 20th, we can see the Space Station move at 29,000 Km per minute overhead usually around 10:00 p.m. It’s hard to confuse it with any other object in the sky because of its brightness and speed. There are 13 astronauts on board, two of whom are Canadian.

Here are some wonderful Websites to help you discover the mysteries of the night sky.

The Astronomy Calendar of Celestial Events
http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy_calendar_2009.html

Discover the night sky. Go to:
http://www.thenightskyguy.com/

I find this website very helpful. For free monthly night sky maps, whether you live in the northern or southern hemisphere or along the equator, go to:
http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html

In the last posting, I suggested that we try to locate the Summer Triangle in the night sky.


The Triangle is easily seen with the naked eye as it is the most distinctive group of stars in the summer sky. It is made up from the brightest stars, Vega, Deneb and Altair, in three constellations. Vega is part of Lyra, Deneb is at the tail of Cygnus, the Swan, (also known as the Northern Cross) and Altair is at the head of Aquila, the Eagle.

Try looking up into the sky between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. Look straight up to the zenith and move your eyes slightly to the east and slightly to the south. We are looking for three very bright stars. Once you have the very large Triangle in view, you will be able to see Cygnus, as well.

Gail, from our Whole Earth Care Community sent us this information.

“Mars The Red Planet is about to be spectacular!

This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that
will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history.

The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.

Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth
in the last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in
the night sky.

It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification.

Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.

Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.

By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m. That's pretty
convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history.

So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow
progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month. And be sure to circle Thursday, August 27th so that you will be out in a clearing to see Mars so close to our Earth and her Moon.

Share this with your children and grandchildren.”

“If astronomy is good for the soul, then a summer night is the time for meditation.” Author unknown


Happy star gazing.

Earth Family First,
maureen
(Photos by Google Images)

Summer Times

I haven’t posted Whole Earth Care since the weekend of June 6th. To me, it seems so long ago. There are lots of reasons why I haven’t written – some of them are pretty good reasons, and some of them are just excuses.

But, I’ve not been idle. While not writing, much thought has gone into the Blog, its design, what’s missing, how it can become more interactive, the frequency of postings and length. I have lots of questions about it. Not too many answers, yet.

What I did realize is that Summer is a very busy time for everyone. Sitting at the computer reading a Blog just doesn’t seem to be the best way to spend time.

Instead, let’s spend Summer re-discovering our Home, our beautiful blue Earth. It’s a time to pay attention to our neighbours – 2-footed, 4-footed, multi-footed, and those that stand still and give us shade on hot days, nourish us, delight us with colour, shape and texture. It’s a time to re-kindle and re-state our love for Earth, declare our heritage proudly, stop, savour and rejoice and be grateful for the gifts that we receive from our Earth Family.

To support you and me in this, I have decided to post only once a month this summer. For those of you that might be distraught without a weekly Whole Earth Care posting :-) I may, from time to time, post information, photos or websites that you send me, but I’ll keep it brief and I won’t send a reminder email to those who are on the Weekly Reminder List.

So!

Suggestions for Our Summer Times:

Breath in deep the fresh air, lie on the grass, sand or a favorite rock and watch the clouds, smell the clover – really – it has a lovely scent.

Look at the delicacy of flowers and cobwebs, tree trunks and water spiders.

Pick buttercups and hold them under the chins of your loved ones to see if they love butter.

Run out into the rain, jump into puddles: make the biggest splash. No one is looking.

Learn the names of three different kinds of birds.

Find the North Star, The Summer Triangle and Bootes, the Herdsman in the night sky.

Sit quietly and listen to the many voices of the wind.

Yes

It could happen any time, tornado,
earthquake, Armageddon. It could happen.
Or sunshine, love, salvation.

It could, you know. That's why we wake
and look out -- no guarantees
in this life.

But some bonuses, like morning,
like right now, like noon,
like evening.
William Stafford
(The Way It Is)

What Can We DoThis Summer?

10 Easy Ways To Reduce Household Wastes:

Bulk Stores rule!

No wrapping, no packaging, no frills – just about anything you may need sits in large bins, ready to scoop. From pasta to peanut butter (self-ground) and anything in between. Just go easy on those chocolate chips.

BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag).

Bring a cool-looking tote to take your groceries away in, and forgo those plastic carrier bags that stay around for the next few millennia.

Recycle.

Most cities and towns have a recycling program in place for paper, glass, tin, even kitchen waste. Garages will take your old car batteries and tires. Many hardware stores will take your old paint, batteries and old CFLs.

Compost your kitchen scraps. Your flower beds will be happy.

Lug Your Mug for take-out coffee; many places will even give you a discount for it.

Avoid take-out food. I know, that can be a challenge on a Friday night. But all those plastic and foam take-out boxes produce a big stream of toxic garbage.

Eat home-cooked meals.

Okay, another potential mine field here, but let’s face it: all those plastic and aluminum trays that those frozen dinners and prepackaged meals come in don’t really compensate for their overload of sodium, saturated fats and missing vitamins.

Drink tap water instead of bottled water. Evian and Perrier are no longer cool.

Repair, don’t throw out. Need I say more?

Buy durable.

Sure, it may be a little bit more to get the better quality product, but it will last much longer and always pays for itself in the long run.

The best thing about cutting back on garbage: the instant results and savings.

(Green by Design http://greenbydesign.com/blog/ )

Media:

Online Magazines: The Green Living Magazine for June is ready to read. Good stuff.

http://www.greenlivingonline.com/

Videos: Ain’t No Reason

http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=1483

Articles: Paul Hawken’s Commencement Address
If you read nothing else on this week’s Blog Posting, please read this.

It will take perhaps 5 minutes of your time, but when you are finished

the article, you will be inspired and full of hope.

Pass it on to any graduate you know.
http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=3697

Wildlife Federation Gardening

http://www.wildaboutgardening.org/en/gardening-for-wildlife

If you have any suggestions or discover something wonderful about our Earth Community this summer and want to share it with the rest of us, click on Comments at the bottom of the Posting or email me at moczero@sympatico.ca

And if you have a photo or two to share with us, send them as attachments for The Rogues Gallery.

Happy Summer Times,

Earth Family First,
maureen

(Photos by Google Images)