Earth, environment, green, nature

replant, and plough no more

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The Guardian reports that we’re seriously boned unless we change our ways … now.

‘It’s a groundswell’: the farmers fighting to save the Earth’s soil

I planted native southern Alberta wildflowers near the house this spring instead of watering and expecting green grass to grow there.  It’s supposed to be conducive to the lives of birds, bees, butterflies, and or course beauty.

Yes, I bought a larger van, but you have to remember that the embodied energy needed to invest into a new vehicle is quite serious – the fuel equivalent to somewhere around 130,000km of driving.  I didn’t even get that far in seven years in the Kia Soul.

I plugged in my little electric foot scooter today.  It costs – and I don’t care if you don’t believe me – I’ve done the research and calculations – about $1.00 of electricity to go about 1000km on this.  Of course, I can’t carry lumber or a family or suitcases and cannot drive in winter.  But it serves its purpose.

And of course there’s my favourite – my bicycle.  But my physiotherapist is frowning on using it just yet.  The bonehead to T-boned my car made sure of that.

RRRRRR strong proponent

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I’m a strong proponent of this.

One Thing You Can Do: Fix It

I’ve been fixing stuff my entire life.  Why throw something out that is 95% alright when only 5% of it is broken?

My idea of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle continues on with the RRR theme –

  • Refurbish
  • Repair Renovate (so long as you’re not like those home reno people on TV who bash the hell out of perfectly good cabinetry with a sledge hammer and pitch it all into a Smithrite)
  • Redistribute
  • Respect
  • Repurpose

and many, many more.

complete crap

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This is amazing.  People are weird.  I switched from a plastic garbage bag in my home office space to a paper bag.  I don’t dump grease, spit, coffee, or any other liquid in it.  Never have.  But people feel compelled to carry plastic around with them anyway.  Aren’t there enough doo-doo bags out there?  You’d think that people would have wax coated paper by now.  “I don’t wanna cut down trees!”  Okay, then don’t.  Use recycled paper.  “Recycling’s not the answer!  Reducing is the answer!”  Okay, then get a smaller dog.  Besides, waxed paper can degrade, and so can poop.  Don’t like paraffin (fake wax from petrochemicals)?  Then walk quickly home with your poop.

Are Plastic Bag Bans Garbage?

The issue is that people don’t want to change their habits.  Back when I was a kid, my mother used a paper grocery bag for garbage with a couple of newspaper sheets at the bottom and stapled an old newspaper to the top of it when full.  Nothing leaked.  All good.

US bond yield curve

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According to CNBC, the US bond yield curve has inverted, a significant indicator of a slowed economy.

Now I’m no professional economic analysis expert by any means – but is it not just as simple as knowing that the industries and, indeed, industrial models you’ve relied upon for “growth” all this time have started to fail because they should?  Did the steam engine not get replaced by the Diesel?  Then the Diesel-electric?  Did stone houses not make way for brick, then wood, then steel & glass?

Is Alberta not suffering now because people have a poor idea of the reputation of oil sands?  Lethbridge, for example, has an enormous amount both of sunlight and wind.  Isn’t the writing on the wall stating that, within 20 years or so, oil will seriously on its way out?  Now I’m not getting on the Liberal bandwagon and saying we should all convert farmland into solar panel land.  …  Then again, you’re building huge advanced greenhouses to grow pot.  Good for you.  (There’s a facetious tone to my remark, by the way, in case you couldn’t hear me.)

Instead of looking at this as a doom-and-gloom thing, this seems to me to be a sure indicator of the need for innovation, changes to the status-quo, advancement of “alternatives” (as though oil is the benchmark and everything else is an alternative).  In short, the stuff you’ve invested in is losing ground.  Stop trying to prop it up with make-shift measures.  Let it die.  Move into something else.

And Trumpy wants to open up more coal mines and “put Americans to work again”, as though going back in time will save us all.  Fool!  And you’re dragging everyone else down with you.

dead bird hanging around

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There’s been a dead magpie hanging in the tree outside our window for a week now.  I thought Parkbridge management would take it out, but no such luck.  I went with gloves and mask to retrieve it.

He must have died of old age.  He wasn’t eaten or pecked apart or chewed up.  Imagine, dying of old age doing exactly what you’re supposed to be doing – just hanging out in a tree.

bugless

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I’m sure by now everyone has heard that there is a serious decline in the quantity and diversity of bugs out there.  One only reads one article to understand how bleak it sounds.  I myself have not had to wash my windshield after highway driving for a few years now.

What is causing this?  Global climate change (“global warming”)?  Pesticide use?  Monocrops?  Everyone watering lawns made of nothing but grass (read: desert)?

I wonder if anyone has thought of radiation, as in radio waves emitted from everything from cellular phones to GPS satellites to 50,000-Watt radio stations to Bluetooth absolutely everywhere?

Floyd and I will plant native flowers in all the bald patches around the house next spring.  We let the greenery in the grass grow regardless of what it is.  If Parkbridge management complains, well … okay.

Comments, anyone?

tiny houses getting big

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The idea of the tiny house is catching on.  The homes as well as the trend itself are getting to be not-so-tiny.  There are a few shows on TV about people building their ideal tiny home.  Floyd saw something in the paper today about a website devoted to organizing and marketing tiny house plans called Tiny House Plans.  I found another called Tiny House Basics.  Pretty interesting if you ask me.

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life out there

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Wow.  Surprises around every corner.  This morning I read an article from NPR.

We (humans) only understand about 5% of the oceans, according to the article.  Yes, we have giant flotillas of plastic out there, but no it’s not too late to figure out what to do about it.  The oceans are still very much alive with a surprising level of diversity in so many places.