Happy Ground Hog Day!

Useless and Fun Ground Hog Day Facts you wish you knew!  Hey, we're all about sharing fun!  Our friends at the Huffington Post did all the work for us, so why not share the HogLove?

To put more of an eco-spin on it, Ground Hogs are just another reason to keep our waterways clean and our forests standing.  Humans are not the only living creatures on the planet and didn't our Mommas teach us how to share?!


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/groundhog-day-2012-facts_n_1245259.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003#s649298&title=Woodchucks_Dont_Chuck

Are you BioHappy? Biohappiness key to future - SciDev.Net

Are you happy? Most of us living in the suburbs do not have to think about biodiversity or living in harmony with nature. Our 'hood was plowed, planned and built, with little regard for the surrounding trees, plants & animals. Because the EcoChics like to expand our minds and think outside ourselves, it is worth noting that there are many areas of world where they do think of such things because they live it.

It's never too late to live in harmony with, or at least have a mild affinity for, nature. Along with that may come a feeling to help give a voice to those other folks around the world that need to be able to survive with their nature [somewhat] intact.

Biohappiness key to future, says Swaminathan - SciDev.Net

Earth Day : Not Just for TreeHuggers

You don't have to be a Tree hugger to appreciate Earth Day.

Earth Day, started in the '70s, is really just a day to call attention to: "Hey, you, yes, YOU, you can do a little something to be a more responsible human being". Let's not forget, that no matter what side of the aisle you sit on Global Warming, we cannot deny the fact that humans can help or hurt where they live.  Which picture below do you like?

Earth Day is Every Day. Every day we have a choice: do what's best or do what's easiest.  Let's be honest,   humans boil everything down to two things: money & time.   Check out the list below, most things on there do not require much more money, no more time, but there certainly is a better choice:

• letting water run while shaving or brushing teeth : vs : turn off the water til you need it
• Leaving the TV & lights on when you leave the room (for a long time) : vs : turning them off until you return
• tossing everything in the trash : vs : tossing recyclables in a bin (usually close to your trash can)
• idling your car in the bank line : vs : turning it off until you're ready to leave
• buying fancy coffee from standard growers that burn down rain forest to plant coffee plantations : vs : buying shade grown or earth-friendly coffee
• using whatever paper products (25% of trees are cut down for paper) : vs : buying 100% recycled content.  Now this one does cost a little more, but unless you are on a super-tight-uncomfortable budget, trust me, you can afford it.  Just start out with one product : paper towels, and move on from there.  Ever hear of rags?  No need to have Bounty clean up the gallon of milk that spilled; a rag will do it, rinse it & toss it in the dirty laundry,  it will be fine & it works.

I could go on & on with this list, from little money to more costly, but I think you get the picture.  

Earth Day is about every person can do something and each of those somethings will add up to major changes.  Did your Mom ever yell at you for throwing gum out of the car window? "If everyone did that, we would have gum everywhere!"  And you thought, "Holy cow, it was just a piece of gum, what's the big deal?"  Think about that now, as an adult, if that really did happen. That would be gross.  Piles & piles of chewed gum.  Now do you see...that's the power of a little thing, done by lots of people, having a big impact.  We can use those same actions for the powers of good, and not evil, and pick our "one thing" to do good for the earth.  Hey, it's where you live!

Check out this site for some great tips:

http://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2011

Who Cares about Global Warming?

Oooh, to many people, those could be fighting words!  The problem with the fight over global warming right now is the debate itself:  Does the earth have natural heating up/cooling down phases (seems to)?  Is global warming caused by humans?  Did scientists exaggerate the facts?

Unless you are one of the aforementioned scientists on either side of the debate, there are many questions that we as "regular folk" will never be able to authoritatively answer.  But, our perspective here is this:  standing around arguing about how or who caused global warming is like arguing about who started the fire as you watch your house burn to the ground.  Clearly there are things we need to know and learn in order to fix them, but there are so many other things awry.  We much prefer the term "Global Quality".  There are a plethora of ways in which our industrialized world harms itself.  How we have "warmed" may be up for debate, but how we "are" is not.  Take a look at the Ganges:  polluted, with pockets of trash all over the place.  Madagascar's rainforest: 90% deforested.  Plastic bags littering the oceans and beaches covered in plastic pebbles. 

The above atrocities are preventable and reversible.  There is also a definite cause to all of the above: humans.  Perhaps we should concentrate more on the tangibles that we can see, focus on how to better those, while we debate the other.  Global warming is now so linked with the political machine, that it may be years before we make progress.  But, you can choose to stop using plastic  bags today.  We can choose to lessen our dependence on plastics today.  You can donate to an organization that is fighting to save the world's last remaining rain forests today
- and they are making headway in that fight.

We may not have all the answers, but we know we can chip in, lead the way and make a difference.