It Doesn't Matter if You Don't Believe in Climate Change

As the weather in Maryland is reminding me more and more of Florida each year...we can't pretend we don't see what is happening.

Why do some of the media outlets support climate denying positions?

Because of their business model, of course. Their source of income is from advertisers.  Advertisers want us to buy things, in order for us to stop climate change we have to drastically stop buying things, and using energy.  The advertisers don't make money if we really take the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle mantra to heart, because the most important piece of those big three is the Reduce.  Reduce consuming meat and cheese, reduce consuming factory produced items that have been shipped a long ways, reduce the amounts of electricity and gasoline, reduce flights, reduce food waste, reduce eating highly processed foods, reduce the size of homes...all this means that we need to spend less and the current American consumer economy is not designed to flourish under that model. The economy needs us to spend more each year or we end up in a recession. 

 

We need to change, this is not a political position, it is a scientific position, it is a survival position. If we do not change we will change the climate of the world so quickly that there will be mass migrations and upheaval as land floods, wells go dry and the rains either wash away the soil or the rains don't come at all.

 

What's to be done? We need the mindset of my grandparents and great grand parents, people who lived through the Depression, don't buy what you don't REALLY need, live frugally, don't waste food, and grow a garden and sometimes do without something. What does get bought is used until it is completely unusable and all types of re-use are expended, then the materials can be recycled.  Recycling should be the last resort, reduce and re-use are where the powerful change happens, recycling consumes more resources in the process.  All of this will come to a head very soon, many countries are now refusing to take our recycling, we don't have the landfill space for all that recycling, nor the capacity to recycle it, nor the markets for the recycled materials.  Soon (actually, it is well past the time, as this has been spoken of for decades), we will need to be more conscious of packaging, single use items like zip bags, bottles and those infuriatingly tough, sealed plastic bubbles that everything seems to be packed in will go the way of the dinosaurs. Shampoo bars, reusable cutlery sets of bamboo (my spouse received one of these at a recent business conference), metal straws (eliminating plastic straws is very low hanging fruit), and water in consumable bubbles are all happening now, there will be more innovations and some return to the "old" ways from before the time of plastics. Maybe the marketers can get behind these new/old ideas.

Lots of people talk about reducing, and very few actually want to do this, but it is getting to the point when we will no longer have the choice. All of the little changes are just little changes, we need big changes.  Better planned cities and towns with transport systems, smaller homes that are closer together to make those transport systems work, businesses integrated into the communities rather than far flung outside the communities to make commutes shorter and/or more teleworking. Solar and wind power used in every community that can use them. The list goes on and on!!

 

Now, if we all start doing our part, the world economy and climate are going to change and how we deal with that change will determine how countries (and species) come through to the next century.  We all need to remember that survival of the fittest, really means survival of the fittest for the current, changing conditions, if we do not adapt quickly we will find out the hard way that we are not the fittest. No one wants that.

If anyone who has made it this far still doubts that climate change is real please come visit my lilac bushes, they don't like our recent warm Decembers after chilly Novembers.  They flower slightly in December and then freeze in January.  They are clearly dying.  We were on the southern edge of being able to grow them successfully and now I think the line has moved farther north, inland and upland. There will be more plants to die off like this.  Still doubt?  Try to go skating on the ponds I skated on as a kid in Southern New England in early January, actually, no, don't try that, that's suicide. Here's some documentation on that, my husband sent me this article right as I clicked post on this Blog the first time, Rhode Island 2.5 degrees warmer!!

 

 I recently taught a group of kids about the impacts of climate change, one child raised her hand and said, "What if you don't believe in climate change?" The answer to that is, it doesn't matter if you believe it or not, it is going to happen anyway. (It turns out that she believes in climate change, but a family member is vehemently denying its existence, and makes fun of her efforts to be green.) Some of the kids asked "But hasn't the climate always changed?" Yes, but the earth on its own takes tens of thousands of years to change as much as it has in the last 150 years. Some of the older kids in the back of the room rolled their eyes, of course, they're 13.

Opening the Giant Can of Worms

I took a group of kids on a walk to a wetland and small wooded area two weeks ago, first many of them whined about the long walk, which was five short blocks. I purposely did it in the morning before it heated up. It seems as if we have gone too far in teaching kids about the dangers of ticks, there were about 8 of the 25 kids who would not approach the woods because of their fear of ticks, bugs, or anything else that might crawl. They complained of the heat in the direct sun on the boardwalk and would not enter the woods, even though the kids who did assured them that it was much cooler there.
They were supposed to be doing a scavenger hunt, but their drama was getting in the way.  It took longer trying to deal with the drama than it would have to actually do the scavenger hunt.

We walked back the five blocks, and I gathered them into the classroom to talk about why I just tortured them with walking five blocks in 83 degree humid weather. I started with the fact that I am trying to get them to understand the importance of the woodland and the wetland since climate change is going to be the biggest issue in their lives.  They seemed puzzled. I pointed out the severe thunderstorms that we had had nearly every evening for the past couple of weeks and asked if they remembered any other summer like this.  They didn't.  I pointed out that climate change was going to create more severe weather and that the severe thunderstorms and threats of tornadoes were going to be a more regular occurrence.  They questioned if I really knew what I was talking about.  I told them that 99.9% of scientists believe that climate change is real and that humans created it, they look bewildered.  I oulined how the increase in carbon in the atomosphere, due to the increased of use of fossil fuels in the last 150 years has created  this disaster.  They wanted to know why they hadn't been told about this.  I think they have been taught some of the science of it, but either the schools are afraid to take a stand politically or they couched it in terms the kids really didn't understand.  The kids felt like they had been lied to about it and said so.  Ah, equal time in the media, controversy gets more viewership than unpleasant truth.

I need to go back this week, to work with them again.  The lesson had veered into the "What can I do about this, I'm just a kid" territory and the "What if my dad doesn't believe in global warming? So, I will be making two meals that release similar amounts of carbon, half a hamburger patty and rice and beans for 11 people, and talk about it with them. We'll see how this goes...I had originally planned an exploratory hands on environmental unit done at the wetland, but that may need to wait.

It's ALIVE!

Ah, you all thought the blog was dead, but it was just dormant.
For a while there I needed to cope with the world in which we live, to face the ugliness that we call "us", you know, the one that precedes "them"?  I couldn't write because all that came out was anger and frustration at the hatefulness that seethes through our society. That's not what I want my blog to be about, and if I couldn't say anything that I would want to read myself, I wasn't going to write.

The problem is that I need to write, there is just some force within me that drives me to write.  I try to imagine who I would be in a society before reading and writing became common, and I can't. The roles for women were pretty circumscribed, and unless your family was noble, the females weren't educated, and even then it wasn't a guarantee.  My family was not noble. My fate would have been to be a spinster in someone else's house, a farmer's wife, or a craftman's wife, the option of the strange woman at the edge of the village, who was assumed to be a witch, would have been possible too.


The other thing to imagine is who am I in this society? What is my role here? I can read and write.  I need to read and write, but to what purpose? To entertain a few of my friends online or a greater good?

I teach.  Many days the lessons seem superficial, at other times some of the kids really seem to understand what I am trying to Say, with a capital S. When it clicks, it is glorious, when it doesn't it's just a day at work and I go home.

What is it that I am trying to say? The world is fascinating,

Humidity

complex,

Hickory bark

beautiful,

Frost on car

mystifying,

Pine cone in leaves

  wondrous

Box turtle

 and joyful

Land Art

Googly eyed snacks

and that we need to bring these great ideas, concepts and beauty to the forefront. But how?
Ah, my conundrum.

I have been doing some reading to get me out of the paralyzed thought pattern that I have been in since November 2016, some of my recent reading is about joy and nature, two books that aggregate the science on two of my favorite, connected, topics. I highly recommend both books.


The Nature Fix
Joyful

Now to fill this rut and move on.

Snow Track Highway

 We had snow last week and I learned all sorts of things were going on in my yard without my knowledge.

At the north end of the property, I found fox tracks going across the corner leading to and from my neighbors' properties, new ones appeared virtually every day.  They often don't venture far onto the property, and often walk along the northwest boundary which is covered in prickly wineberry vines. The large male fox comes most frequently, and two smaller foxes came along with him once in a while. 

 

Why the highway? Why there? My husband came up with a theory that seems to fit. On either side of our property are the homes of single male humans, both have a history of feeding stray and/or mooching cats. The cats look pretty plump and well cared for, so I am betting mooching. I think the fox may be benefiting from their largess. Picking up an evening snack of kibble may be the reason for the regularity of their visits.  They are not sniffing out the chicken coop or run, they don't get within 100 feet of either, so they are not waiting to see if we make a mistake in locking up the girls.

 

We knew they were here at night, just after Christmas my daughter went to get something out of one of the cars in the driveway.  She donned her new holiday headlamp and zipped out the door without turning on the porch or spotlight. There was a child-like scream followed by  more animalistic noises, coming from a very few feet from where she was sprinting (She doesn't walk outside she runs, that's just how she has always been...). She whipped around and threw and crashed herself back into the house (that's what it sounded like from the kitchen) and breathlessly yelled, "What__ was__ that??!!  Her father heard the animal scream from inside the house, and soon we were googling fox sounds, apparently she had startled a vixen, who in turn then more than startled her.

I guess we need to walk the goofy hunting dog around the edge of the property more often.

Squirrel's Last Stand

The snow revealed other stories, most of them don't end well for the squirrels. Apparently, at least three met their ends by a hawk or an owl not far from the fox tracks.  Their tracks hop out into undisturbed snow, there are  spots where an obvious struggle took place and then no body and no other tracks.

 

Assorted comings and goings

The cats, of course, crossed the yard repeatedly, checking out the bird feeders and heading toward the homes of their favorite middle aged, kibble pouring men. 

 

Until yesterday, there were no chicken tracks in the snow.  The girls had room service when the temperatures were very low, and when it warmed the door was opened for them to sun themselves, but they declined to get snow on their toes. Finally yesterday, they took their opportunity and ran for the bird feeder rather than their own shelter, snacked for a bit and then hung out in their nest box areas.

 Today, after two days of above freezing day temperatures, the snow is almost gone. No more stories in the snow to read for a while.

Touching back on a previous topic:

Recipe Testing, the good the bad and the really ugly.

So far, for the smoothies we have made one berry/banana/spinach smoothie that tasted great, but looked like refried black beans in the glass. Really ugly.

A golden energy smoothie with steamed carrots, pineapple, oj and honey was next, two taste testers couldn't stand the texture, fibrous was their word, one had two sips and dumped the rest. I thought it was too sweet and the third tester thought it might be too tangy for kids  That one is a no.

The third one glowed green with spinach, bananas, maple syrup and vanilla with ground raw cashews and almond milk.  The flavor was good, but the bananas were dominant.  We know our audience is not crazy about bananas, so the banana would have to be toned down a bit. Maybe a bit of yogurt instead or more raw cashews. This would have to be a Ninja  Power Beverage, Alien Sipper or a Hulking Green Special to sell it to the 6-11 year old crowd. I liked the hint of maple.

Snow and Smoothies

Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Three inches of snow and life in MD comes to a screeching halt.  Some of it has to do with temperatures much lower than we are used to and high winds, most everything was cancelled today, as the New Englander in me scoffs. Then I take a sip of decaf, lean back in my chair and think...an unscheduled day...hmmmmmm...the possibilities.

I'll write a blog, make Turkish Roasted Eggplant Salad a la Moosewood, aimlessly watch the birds at the feeder, play in the snow with the dog, and test smoothie recipes that I may do with one of my after school groups--no sense in making the kids drink stuff that's disgusting and turning them off.

Smoothies are very interesting things.  I was going through recipes online yesterday and wondering at the variety of options and thinking--people actually drink this stuff??? There are the standard sugar bombs that are mostly fruit, and some that add all sorts of odd stuff that would require a trip to Whole Paycheck and have questionable flavor, and then there are all those that the authors claim are kid approved.  Hah!!! I don't know where they are finding the kids who approve these things, but they certainly are not the kids who attend the after school programs.  One called for frozen butternut squash, frozen raw cauliflower, and frozen kale, and then adds oat milk, with Medjool dates for sweetness (Have you priced Medjool dates lately??) and a little pumpkin pie spice. So, this parent/blogger is still making baby food, but adding pumpkin spice and feeding it to her 4 year old.

I can already see the looks on the kids faces if I were to attempt to get them to make it.  I can also already hear all the requests to go to the restroom to hide from it.


I skip right past all of the recipes with essential oils, funky mystery protein powders, or anything that smacks of "medicine". I am looking at ones where I start with fruity, creamy flavors and slowly add a little veggie element.  The longer term object is to get the kids to transfer the stuff they learn to home, and if the parents have to buy a million new things, it just isn't going to happen.  A smoothie with fruit with a few salad vegetables tossed in or peanut butter--those might work--but not turmeric, spirulina, maca, and bee pollen.

At our house, we specialize in banana-peanut butter with cinnamon  or chocolate smoothies, they are kid approved, and usually made after said child has not been feeling well and hasn't been eating much, because it's a huge hunk of calories and fluids. If you have a truly "kid approved" smoothie recipe, I'd love to see it, but all the ingredients have to come from a standard grocery store and not be expensive.

I now pause in writing to try one of the recipes.

The chocolate/berry/spinach/banana/yogurt smoothie gets 2 1/2 thumbs up out of three. The half is because the kid is recovering from a really bad cold and can't really taste anything.  She said she thinks she would like it, if she could taste it. I was going to photograph it, but it had the color of refried black beans, maybe a blind taste test would work better. The recipe called for vanilla yogurt, but I only had plain goat milk yogurt, so I substituted that and added extra vanilla and a little of the forbidden--sugar! I didn't have just frozen blueberries, so I did a frozen mixed berry. We generally don't keep ice cubes in the house, so I used a frozen banana to thicken...as I have said before, I can't follow a recipe. Our blender is showing its multi-decade age, so I blended the spinach and soy milk together first, because I have done this before and chunks of floating greens are not appealing.

Now just to create a nutrition lesson to go with it!

Back in the Chair

It has been more than a year, I know.

Much of the stuff I have wanted to write during this year was not for public consumption, it was for me and only me. I have been ready to write for others again for a little while, but either my schedule or my dead desktop computer got in the way.  Enough of the excuses, I am back and ready to write again.

The important stuff:

My husband found a used 20X zoom Panasonic Lumix  camera, just like the one I dropped in the sand and destroyed, bought it, and gave it to me.  Actually, it is not exactly like my old one, it is the model previous to the one I had.  It doesn't have the GPS on it, which would suck the battery dry, so it is better than the previous one. It looks like someone was given it as a gift and threw it in a drawer, there is absolutely no sign of use on this camera.  Yay! I can play again!!  The cell phone camera just wasn't cutting it for me.

We lost many chickens this year, most of them in one day to a growing fox family.  They were killed on a day that was already horrendously stressful, during a week that I had walked through feeling as if life had punched me in the gut. I came home with the giant hollow inside me and found the backyard full of 3 foot diameter piles of feathers, a separate pile the color of each missing chickie, but one, Ursula, our black Australorp. 

I stood there staring, jaw agape for about five minutes. My neighbor appeared and said she had noticed the piles in the late-morning and offered her condolences. She and I raked up the piles of feathers, so that I could tell my daughter about the loss of the chickens at an appropriate moment rather than have her discover the color coded piles of despair on her way into the house from the school bus. 

 

Over the next couple of days, we kept waiting for Ursula to come home. She and her "I'm in charge here" attitude never returned. 

 

We have three remaining chickens, BB the Buff Brahma who is a little slow in every way. She was injured by the fox, but her massive size might have made it difficult for a fox to whisk her away. She has healed, but is especially skittish. Bubbles the Light Brahma, the beautiful and bossy, is top chick, and Effie, the Amerucana, the loner, but by far, the smartest of the bunch, still hangs at the edge of the flock. I just stopped typing for a few minutes to lock them in for the night, they were already on their perch huddled together, ready for another freezing night in their down jackets.

 

We can't free range them anymore. The fox have found us out. We were resolved not to get any more. Losing them hurts so much, but our resolve has weakened and in March there will be some fluffy little chicks living in our garage, yet again. I think there will be six, which means we will have to find six great female names, suggestions welcomed. We will also need to build an annex onto our run to provide space for the girls.  The projects abound!!

2017 is almost over, the year designation, I know, is completely arbitrary, a human construct, the marking of time beginning and ending is nonsensical, but still I am glad to see 2017 end. Good Riddance.

Messiness, the part I left out

The book on Messiness that I wrote about yesterday covered other types of messiness.  I wrote about them and then deleted them.  After I posted I regretted taking those parts out, I save the biggest chunk I cut, knowing that I needed to say something about it, but it didn't fit in an article about household disorder and the creativity it can inspire.

It has to do with deliberately caused messiness.  Messiness used as a tool for manipulation.  We've seen this employed in the past few weeks, the three AM tweets.  Those were diversionary messiness, messiness to cover, distract from the real issues. It's DT's "look at this outrageous thing I've said, don't read the article on the lawsuit I just settled, it's boring!" situation.  This situation has happened before, whenever a prominent person or organization is under press scrutiny and attention needs to be drawn elsewhere to minimize the actual damage, it happens.  The next time any of these topics are outrageously presented in the news: women's choice, school prayer, flag burning, gay marriage, illegal immigration...anything that gets people really riled up, then scour the news for something that should be front page news, but isn't, because everyone is in an uproar over the hot button issues. It's the movie Wag the Dog, only it's not a movie.
 


Messiness can be a political weapon.  I expect to see much more of it in the next few years, but I hope I'm wrong.

In the meantime, I probably should clean out the stuff in the back of my fridge.