tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89254195674443854112024-02-18T22:30:53.000-08:00Tikkun OlamTikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-79538815190427585022011-09-28T17:32:00.000-07:002011-10-01T10:01:17.349-07:00Green Art<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTvldJbszPHTfir2doJ4gDs4B5IWoXO2F5C_o4sqb2ytPnuB82rD1V1HBO8Q8jzblhjFbrMS9OYV5OO_F6DOXMP4or5nWFG4IR9g325UbE0mmd7iqJ2DmuXbN4SxpQb19Dbt5I4W_z71w/s1600/Recycled+Paper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="240px" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTvldJbszPHTfir2doJ4gDs4B5IWoXO2F5C_o4sqb2ytPnuB82rD1V1HBO8Q8jzblhjFbrMS9OYV5OO_F6DOXMP4or5nWFG4IR9g325UbE0mmd7iqJ2DmuXbN4SxpQb19Dbt5I4W_z71w/s320/Recycled+Paper.jpg" width="320px" /></span></a><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I’m an artist and for the past few years my art-of-choice has been jewelry design. Since I started my blog, I’ve been playing around with the idea of how to make my business greener, my jewelry say, “I care about the environment”. I wanted to show that you can have wonderful, beautiful things that are eco friendly. That "new" doesn't always mean "better". Then I got an invitation to participate in the Pleasanton Green Scene, a local environmental fair. This seemed like the perfect excuse and opportunity to try working with recycled, re-purposed and scrap materials. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk5L4qfVLzKCdwmhyphenhyphenZ00sQVr3mscQLFVHzPixvV1SARhdpk99FwFO2Np9tLLIKxnwveK4bM0D8ihArcmB0FJGspHnvcNckVulo4Jh-bmS-TXtxlfWOmxHsPGJhF3fwQbr9mKO7WqzwlbQ/s1600/Recycled+ComicBracelet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="149px" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk5L4qfVLzKCdwmhyphenhyphenZ00sQVr3mscQLFVHzPixvV1SARhdpk99FwFO2Np9tLLIKxnwveK4bM0D8ihArcmB0FJGspHnvcNckVulo4Jh-bmS-TXtxlfWOmxHsPGJhF3fwQbr9mKO7WqzwlbQ/s200/Recycled+ComicBracelet.jpg" width="200px" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Sunday comics beads</span></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: right;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">My goal was to create a simple line of upscale jewelry, made from trash. I planned to use discarded (cleaned!) soda cans, plastic bottles, old clothes (also, cleaned!), recycled glass beads and newspapers to make wearable art in the same style as my traditional pieces. Then I scoured the internet for ideas and to see if people had already tried my ideas. I didn’t find nearly as much as I expected, but it was fun to see what other people are doing.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmmQUdQWW0PTT4mnFRw2uCUvaKu5bPjdo2D3UXu4W1wvFOzMBnF-znU60d4WAW3iuwQvUv7vDw4x7DthctpOUu73mlepuDW-b7renXbcp05u9wNTkQ3Eiezdh4GOaXdT9m-sfSk4MvtNA/s1600/Recycled+RedPendant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="200px" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmmQUdQWW0PTT4mnFRw2uCUvaKu5bPjdo2D3UXu4W1wvFOzMBnF-znU60d4WAW3iuwQvUv7vDw4x7DthctpOUu73mlepuDW-b7renXbcp05u9wNTkQ3Eiezdh4GOaXdT9m-sfSk4MvtNA/s200/Recycled+RedPendant.jpg" width="150px" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Recycled bottle glass</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I was able to purchase recycled bottle glass beads, but the majority of what I needed – all of the paper and plastic beads-I had to make by hand, one at a time. I tried to use reclaimed materials whenever possible, though I still had to use some new metals and stringing wires. For some items I used hemp cord, which is new, but sustainable. I guess my new jewelry is something like 98% post consumer waste. </span></div> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN92CRzm6IOB9C2JfseaQMEkJ4gEIgYm3_YE4GZker5Nb5_GcBkHr_7qb1R-nFxMtLrDysC8DEFnxEwCBpbGIV2KXXx-okSWONqz1RgO79P2ReCWDUEUgYBHxRr34av-0HKbbO8fB5Xfw/s1600/Recycled+PinksBracelet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="150px" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN92CRzm6IOB9C2JfseaQMEkJ4gEIgYm3_YE4GZker5Nb5_GcBkHr_7qb1R-nFxMtLrDysC8DEFnxEwCBpbGIV2KXXx-okSWONqz1RgO79P2ReCWDUEUgYBHxRr34av-0HKbbO8fB5Xfw/s200/Recycled+PinksBracelet.jpg" width="200px" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Recycled plastic bottle beads </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">& recycled glass</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I’ve really enjoyed experimenting with the new materials. Since I got the green fair invite I’ve made a whole line of seriously upcycled jewelry, like pop can earrings, recycled glass wire wrap, plastic bottle bracelets, newspaper necklaces and a lot more. Sounds like a bunch of junk! Well, I guess it is…or was.</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Paper, hemp & recycled glass</span></td></tr>
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</div><div class="Style2" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">City of <city w:st="on">Pleasanton</city> 2<sup>nd</sup> Annual Green Scene</span></span></div><div class="Style2" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Thursday, October 6, 2011</span></span><br />
<strong><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times;">400 Rosewood Drive, Pleasanton, CA 94588</span></strong> </div><div class="Style1" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin-right: 183.75pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">10:30 am – 1:30 pm</span></span></span> </div> <br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1f0_JuPJ_GV-Kj5UcgWqtu2R-tqE3jL_AXBkpDFKZR8F34-mnkmQawAreFTuRQSnvjRmnifTiCPc_pF0bfSvlQIaY6oodVTd3fZTZoCMfWcY8IIWFSAJRSWT0MXaZDL7V71Y7KK2JOY/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200px" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1f0_JuPJ_GV-Kj5UcgWqtu2R-tqE3jL_AXBkpDFKZR8F34-mnkmQawAreFTuRQSnvjRmnifTiCPc_pF0bfSvlQIaY6oodVTd3fZTZoCMfWcY8IIWFSAJRSWT0MXaZDL7V71Y7KK2JOY/s200/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" style="cursor: move;" unselectable="on" width="143px" /></a> </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><em><span style="color: #bf9000;">“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.</span></em></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><img height="96px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvYQnt84k3_F6hC1h_jhNvi2nwV5zZ_qV-pMnddMlgeEMhfSMewTs3NdV__VkYjCNAeK4y2UHq8CJInS_Pg8kDXail0ZgFb-NIov0_7R_h6cvyOYQvm1vQUWa8_843nH7YW_s_oLptOwE/s200/Recycledtropicalneck.jpg" style="filter: alpha(opacity=30); left: 539px; mozopacity: 0.3; opacity: 0.3; position: absolute; top: 842px; visibility: hidden;" width="96px" /><img height="96px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1f0_JuPJ_GV-Kj5UcgWqtu2R-tqE3jL_AXBkpDFKZR8F34-mnkmQawAreFTuRQSnvjRmnifTiCPc_pF0bfSvlQIaY6oodVTd3fZTZoCMfWcY8IIWFSAJRSWT0MXaZDL7V71Y7KK2JOY/s200/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" style="filter: alpha(opacity=30); left: 38px; mozopacity: 0.3; opacity: 0.3; position: absolute; top: 1105px; visibility: hidden;" width="69px" /></div>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-41472382345188454722011-04-24T14:26:00.000-07:002011-04-24T14:26:56.881-07:00This Week I Will Plant Seeds<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHFK2r2mO5T589nujjR1RbIAUEOvZVCAfpQSQxSOKcUiVTV8dkvN9xreBBd7CPJX16pmKhUK-oaRuc-Nrv5HF5AaxMBuZpN6GH-ugkfLzaD09rkKAzTBmfKAemBaY7KVhJrhZmjK1uXFw/s1600/Garden+Box+Growing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="240px" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHFK2r2mO5T589nujjR1RbIAUEOvZVCAfpQSQxSOKcUiVTV8dkvN9xreBBd7CPJX16pmKhUK-oaRuc-Nrv5HF5AaxMBuZpN6GH-ugkfLzaD09rkKAzTBmfKAemBaY7KVhJrhZmjK1uXFw/s320/Garden+Box+Growing.jpg" width="320px" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">How does my raised garden bed grow.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">(Photo: RC)</span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #274e13;">Growing Food</span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">What better week to plant seeds and get this summer’s crop underway than the week we celebrate Earth Day. Even if the weather is still cold, April has the exciting feeling of spring and new starts. Many plants are blooming where I live and the hills are still green from the winter rain. It’s just beautiful! Unfortunately, my backyard isn’t quite so beautiful, but I’m working on it. I have a vision of what it will be in a couple of months and right now I’m still optimistic. I actually started many of my vegetables in March, so I will be planting a combination of seeds and seedlings. I’m curious to see how the seeds I plant outside compare to what I’ve started indoors. I also already planted cold weather vegetable seeds in my raised bed, which was new for me. Well underway are radishes, turnips and snap peas. I hope we get some good eating from the box, but even if we never get a bite, it looks fantastic. And this week, I’ll keep working on my garden and I will plant soy bean, zucchini and lima bean seeds.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgENvuM-z_0qO3USrlbsiugfXK0oDFdoeBOC5OQtgdomFV1tG49_0Uvn3AoIxbiDFwSatQ9rGFElDFhgsGJc5cWS6ygi8t2J_EI1w0RuD8hPSKj2Pr1UQqSmD1goPPt-6YHyRXwjSqGjlo/s1600/Jiffy+Pot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="181px" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgENvuM-z_0qO3USrlbsiugfXK0oDFdoeBOC5OQtgdomFV1tG49_0Uvn3AoIxbiDFwSatQ9rGFElDFhgsGJc5cWS6ygi8t2J_EI1w0RuD8hPSKj2Pr1UQqSmD1goPPt-6YHyRXwjSqGjlo/s200/Jiffy+Pot.jpg" width="200px" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Basil in a Jiffy pot. (Photo: RC)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">My garden doesn’t have much of a layout. If there is a spot I can dig and gets some sun, I’m sticking things in the ground. I’ve sprinkled marigold and cilantro seeds (Or was that basil? Oh well, I’ll find out later.) in clay pots, dug a hill to help with drainage for winter squash and mixed great quantities of compost into my heavy clay soil for the tomatoes. This is the first year my son will actually dig a hole where I want it, and he’s been happily digging perfect circles all week. I find I’m moving a lot of soil around to level areas, add amendments and build hills and ditches. It’s really been very good exercise.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjap5nMonnIOq4Lc1-JzDfIlVl2v386LCZn3zOe02A1gpcul5_bOtybA5CwocOSKf3Rx3NuhKB6xZ4vHjGWcGOHQGqederA0lUzgLZ6LWx28FX9r9JBPvbPjR_qYKnHHM44fKoCkUyvfmM/s1600/SeedlingsIn+PeatPots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="132px" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjap5nMonnIOq4Lc1-JzDfIlVl2v386LCZn3zOe02A1gpcul5_bOtybA5CwocOSKf3Rx3NuhKB6xZ4vHjGWcGOHQGqederA0lUzgLZ6LWx28FX9r9JBPvbPjR_qYKnHHM44fKoCkUyvfmM/s200/SeedlingsIn+PeatPots.jpg" width="200px" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Marigolds in peat pots. (Photo: RC)</span></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">If your soil isn’t workable yet, just remember that in the summer my dense clay will be so hard you can’t tell dirt clods from rocks. I have to work on it now while I can and you probably have plenty of time. Check the frost dates for your area and seed package instructions to know what to start indoors and what to start outside and when. Many regions will be starting seeds indoors now. It’s also a good idea to decide what plants you want to add to your garden as natural pest deterrents. I always plant marigolds around my veggies to help keep the insects away. This year I learned that planting basil with tomatoes is also effective, so I’m trying that as well. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">The Basics</span></div><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">For <span style="color: #4c1130;">indoor use, I use a variety of pots to start my seeds, but my favorites are the ones I make myself. These are just empty yogurt containers with a few holes drilled in the bottom. I stack them to drill and they’re done in seconds. They’re very sturdy and can be reused and recycled. I also like jiffy pellets, which are super easy – and fun to expand. Peat pots and paper cups are okay, but not my personal favorites. They tend to get too soggy to handle easily. Any good potting soil will do – I get what’s on sale. And any non-leaky tray(s) works to put the filled pots on. I saved up clear plastic food containers to use as mini greenhouses. Even soda and milk containers with the tops cut off were great for containing the pots. I never buy more plastic (pots and trays) for gardening anymore. </span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Then just fill pots with moistened soil. Poke a hole to the depth given by the seed instructions and drop in 2-3 seeds. Push the dirt back into the hole or sprinkle some extra soil to cover the seeds. Water gently and well.</span></div> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeA88gJxTI5-K1Qbd6VA5JLuEQOTpKTuT_JuKPNnOlquzDm7H7z5PlHfNJWfsvwdSvpym7xDVYWp4Ct00Y88IBgwbP8uEjPb7OYrUBI4D3Ly_wzJJxfTNSP5WLJ_MJYIWHuLzdv_Z6T6c/s1600/Terrarium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="137px" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeA88gJxTI5-K1Qbd6VA5JLuEQOTpKTuT_JuKPNnOlquzDm7H7z5PlHfNJWfsvwdSvpym7xDVYWp4Ct00Y88IBgwbP8uEjPb7OYrUBI4D3Ly_wzJJxfTNSP5WLJ_MJYIWHuLzdv_Z6T6c/s200/Terrarium.jpg" width="200px" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">An unused terrarium makes a </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">great greenhouse. (Photo: RC)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Set all the filled pots into tray(s) to contain drips. Now, you can either set the trays aside and wait, making sure the soil is always moist, or cover with plastic to create a greenhouse. Again, there’s no need to use plastics just for this purpose and throw it away. I used a combination of used dry-cleaner bags on their way to the trash and trash can liners that will be used in garbage cans afterwards.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">As soon as sprouts appear, move seedlings to a sunny spot. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOFieebdJjt2i_9xi9-23V8TrGzDgmMhvMFYxAMfsGJufZCLyQOvGVM4dchQQRZaUX-67gVRXm3RvRu6hFSq4C-mzO5_C9KmI_9bW-TjiWb_jpRxqo-kLCRKwGKiXaGlMwajI9zF4hyphenhypheniM/s1600/Growing+in+MilkJug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="195px" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOFieebdJjt2i_9xi9-23V8TrGzDgmMhvMFYxAMfsGJufZCLyQOvGVM4dchQQRZaUX-67gVRXm3RvRu6hFSq4C-mzO5_C9KmI_9bW-TjiWb_jpRxqo-kLCRKwGKiXaGlMwajI9zF4hyphenhypheniM/s200/Growing+in+MilkJug.jpg" width="200px" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Squash seedlings in a milk </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">container. (Photo: RC)</span></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">When seedlings get their first true leaves, use a scissor </span><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">to cut away all but the strongest seedling in each pot.</span></div><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">After that, it’s pretty much up to you and the weather when you start bringing them outside a few hours a day (hardening off the seedlings) </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">and transplanting them in your garden.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Above all, have fun. Seeds want to grow. Precision and special equipment are totally unnecessary. And sometimes a little adversity creates the strongest seedlings.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">What to plant when</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/What-To-Plant-Now.aspx"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/What-To-Plant-Now.aspx</span></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">A few seed sources</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://www.superseeds.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">https://www.superseeds.com/</span></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://www.burpee.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.burpee.com/</span></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://www.territorialseed.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.territorialseed.com/</span></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://sustainableseedco.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://sustainableseedco.com/</span></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">and, of course, local retail stores</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Lots about companion crops</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/companion-planting-zm0z11zhun.aspx?page=3"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/companion-planting-zm0z11zhun.aspx?page=3</span></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.organicgardening.com/sites/all/themes/zen/og/pdf/companion.pdf"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.organicgardening.com/sites/all/themes/zen/og/pdf/companion.pdf</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://www.companionplanting.net/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.companionplanting.net/</span></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://www.companionplanting.net/ListofCompanionPlants.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.companionplanting.net/ListofCompanionPlants.html</span></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1f0_JuPJ_GV-Kj5UcgWqtu2R-tqE3jL_AXBkpDFKZR8F34-mnkmQawAreFTuRQSnvjRmnifTiCPc_pF0bfSvlQIaY6oodVTd3fZTZoCMfWcY8IIWFSAJRSWT0MXaZDL7V71Y7KK2JOY/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Find Master Gardeners by you – and lots of help, too</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://www.ahs.org/master_gardeners/index.htm"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.ahs.org/master_gardeners/index.htm</span></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1f0_JuPJ_GV-Kj5UcgWqtu2R-tqE3jL_AXBkpDFKZR8F34-mnkmQawAreFTuRQSnvjRmnifTiCPc_pF0bfSvlQIaY6oodVTd3fZTZoCMfWcY8IIWFSAJRSWT0MXaZDL7V71Y7KK2JOY/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200px" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1f0_JuPJ_GV-Kj5UcgWqtu2R-tqE3jL_AXBkpDFKZR8F34-mnkmQawAreFTuRQSnvjRmnifTiCPc_pF0bfSvlQIaY6oodVTd3fZTZoCMfWcY8IIWFSAJRSWT0MXaZDL7V71Y7KK2JOY/s200/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" width="143px" /></a><span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.</em></span> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBki6D6j56qNlj0oU69XfwZNi-5qGw7oOY0dFkUYO7IrwhyVldnrAH4PVMIRJeJjaVc8GLpgk-dyBytXZr84fcnDg8SvNnjb5v7Os_D-NblPde7lh9UBQQFrVEyMoMVzX34OW_Z6myOGU/s1600/Snake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="125px" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBki6D6j56qNlj0oU69XfwZNi-5qGw7oOY0dFkUYO7IrwhyVldnrAH4PVMIRJeJjaVc8GLpgk-dyBytXZr84fcnDg8SvNnjb5v7Os_D-NblPde7lh9UBQQFrVEyMoMVzX34OW_Z6myOGU/s200/Snake.jpg" width="200px" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I was so happy to see this visitor while </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">digging in the garden. (Photo: RC)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table></div></div></div>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-27730969446749755792011-04-18T11:03:00.000-07:002011-04-18T11:03:17.282-07:00This Week I Will Participate In An Earth Day Event<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYxV9ITK7Fb0NKtSnk-x8fsrLVurHq9eOkN7xgQhTDuicaUnzdeEmg_Xmt8RMHfSc04B_1Ix7R_uGT5JbQvrSCW5qiZ9mV1Gkq-mJZNX_lUeojOBJQKmeZ6bpVKL3nNbtsGT6YyUuKOts/s1600/Mariposa+stream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYxV9ITK7Fb0NKtSnk-x8fsrLVurHq9eOkN7xgQhTDuicaUnzdeEmg_Xmt8RMHfSc04B_1Ix7R_uGT5JbQvrSCW5qiZ9mV1Gkq-mJZNX_lUeojOBJQKmeZ6bpVKL3nNbtsGT6YyUuKOts/s320/Mariposa+stream.jpg" width="179" /></a><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">A couple of months ago I was asked to develop an activity to demonstrate the benefits of being a locavore for my city’s local Earth Day event. This was pretty exciting to me, especially since it’s only been a half a year since I decided I really needed to do something about climate change other than worry and started this blog. Since this was to be a family event, my plan was to motivate kids to eat local foods – and maybe inspire a few grown ups along the way, too. The original plan was to show a side-by-side comparison of local versus imported cherry tomatoes. I would show the environmental costs of buying Chilean tomatoes, buying farmer’s market tomatoes and tomatoes grown at home to create a concrete example of what we save by eating locally. However, while I really liked this idea and so did the city’s sustainability manager, I ended up helping at the sustainability manager’s booth - which turned out to be a great opportunity for a newbie advocate like myself. (Though, if anyone wants to do the cherry tomato math, I promise to use the data!)</span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">The Family Earth Festival was Saturday. And what a gorgeous day it was, just the kind of day that brings people to northern <state w:st="on"><place w:st="on">California</place></state>. And makes us want to preserve what we love about where we live. A perfect day for an Earth festival. It was really informative to me because I got to be on both sides of the booth. I got to tell people about how to be more environmentally conscious and I got to walk around hear what others could teach me. It was also really interesting to me to see who came to the festival and where they were as far as climate change issues. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">We asked people to make one commitment toward sustainability and we heard every thing from “I’ll recycle my cans” to “I’m planning to go 100% solar”. Most people were more like me and committed to riding bikes more, not use throw-away bottles, buy more local food. Surprisingly, young children often said they would clean up litter. I guess they’re being taught to make the planet cleaner by picking up trash. We told them that’s great as long as trash goes in the right containers so it can be recycled and gave them 100% reclaimed materials wrist bands. There were many teens around, too. They surprised me in a different way. Many of the teens at the Earth Festival were part of their high school environmental clubs. They had already made so many positive changes it was hard for them to come up with a new sustainability commitment. This was so reassuring! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">When I left my booth and walked around to other booths I learned many things from the gardeners, environmentalists, naturalists and even utility representatives. A few of the tidbits that got my attention were:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="square"><li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">That a worm bin doesn’t have to stink. The one the worm farmer brought actually smelled pretty earthy and good. However, you probably will get a lot of fruit flies, which he told me are harmless to your garden.</span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><br />
</div><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="square"><li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">That depending on the variety, you can grow an oak tree 30 feet in only ten years. Gardeners were giving away three varieties of young oaks that grow well in my area.</span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="square"><li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">That the water department gives out little tablets to drop in your toilet tank to see if it leaks (into the bowl) – which is apparently a huge source of wasted fresh water. The also had attractive drought tolerant plants on display to show your yard doesn’t have to look like a desert, even in this arid region.</span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="square"><li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">That the City of Pleasanton, where I live, has a program in which trained 15-22 year-olds come to your home and do a sustainability and energy assessment – for free. They also do simple jobs like replacing all your incandescent bulbs and installing a retractable clothesline and they make recommendations for bigger projects you can choose to do.</span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I really appreciated the opportunity to participate in this event. I strongly urge you to take advantage of the Earth Day activities offered by your city. You never know what you might find there!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Earth Day is this Friday, April 22nd</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Earth Day Info</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://earthday2011.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://earthday2011.org/</span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1f0_JuPJ_GV-Kj5UcgWqtu2R-tqE3jL_AXBkpDFKZR8F34-mnkmQawAreFTuRQSnvjRmnifTiCPc_pF0bfSvlQIaY6oodVTd3fZTZoCMfWcY8IIWFSAJRSWT0MXaZDL7V71Y7KK2JOY/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1f0_JuPJ_GV-Kj5UcgWqtu2R-tqE3jL_AXBkpDFKZR8F34-mnkmQawAreFTuRQSnvjRmnifTiCPc_pF0bfSvlQIaY6oodVTd3fZTZoCMfWcY8IIWFSAJRSWT0MXaZDL7V71Y7KK2JOY/s200/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" width="143" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Earth Day events and activities through the Nature Conservancy</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://earthday.nature.org/?autologin=true"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://earthday.nature.org/?autologin=true</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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<img height="96" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYxV9ITK7Fb0NKtSnk-x8fsrLVurHq9eOkN7xgQhTDuicaUnzdeEmg_Xmt8RMHfSc04B_1Ix7R_uGT5JbQvrSCW5qiZ9mV1Gkq-mJZNX_lUeojOBJQKmeZ6bpVKL3nNbtsGT6YyUuKOts/s320/Mariposa+stream.jpg" style="filter: alpha(opacity=30); left: 142px; mozopacity: 0.3; opacity: 0.3; position: absolute; top: 190px; visibility: hidden;" width="54" /></div>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-23419544287863608142011-03-31T11:19:00.000-07:002011-03-31T11:19:54.213-07:00This Week I Will Eat Sustainable Fish<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitEoEWlF_4Sl4_kzXQrA4Zy-Lmsrz7mR70COJWPqpJ5gEnuO6yoiHtOp1_ic3MpIsR-uJBbnIxl4i0O0U86lbfpZXaaDAGSVdaFfrkAVlQUIxOGS5a9tiYDMZ4p2d2Ao_QqhMxwV2Of34/s1600/AlaskastockNet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitEoEWlF_4Sl4_kzXQrA4Zy-Lmsrz7mR70COJWPqpJ5gEnuO6yoiHtOp1_ic3MpIsR-uJBbnIxl4i0O0U86lbfpZXaaDAGSVdaFfrkAVlQUIxOGS5a9tiYDMZ4p2d2Ao_QqhMxwV2Of34/s320/AlaskastockNet.jpg" width="213" /></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I almost missed it, but March 22<sup>nd</sup> was World Water Day. I got lots of email about freshwater scarcity (hard to imagine this time of year with mudslides and flooded roads), looming droughts and acidification of our oceans. Like with global warming I found the environmental issues concerning fresh and ocean water completely overwhelming. I basically just looked at the pretty pictures of fish and frogs sent by the Nature Conservancy and crawled under a soon-to-be-dry rock. Then I heard a radio show on the Oceana organization, whose sole focus is ocean conservation. They talked about the problems of over fishing and destructive fishing practices like bottom trawling and how one way we can help is by eating sustainable fish. Now, that I can do.</span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I realize that for many people what fish to eat is not a frequent issue, but as I’ve mentioned before, I rarely serve red meat. Add to that, my ten-year-old is crazy about fish. I want to give him food that both sustainable and healthy, so it’s time for me to look into this.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Why Bother?</strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“The oceans supply us with food, help regulate our climate, and supply a livelihood for millions of people…But our seas are not the infinite bounty they appear to be. Today, no part of our oceans remains unaffected by human activities. And among the many factors influencing our ocean ecosystems, none has a greater impact than fishing…Over the past five decades technology has allowed us to fish farther, deeper and more efficiently than ever before. In 2003, the Pew Oceans Commission warned that the world's oceans are in a state of ‘silent collapse’ ” – Seafood Watch, Monterey Bay Aquarium</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>How Will It Help To Change The Fish I Eat?</strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeTS4XjIOLSHe1u0QUxAffk8vEBi5q0R-ejjbgpPSDFglPkqfOPWlrg5Y_2P6zQhrX7Pi375pFH6HaOtkRjIjMrGEEE8dx-Jv8ygM_k_pOeq-X-4JsSETe40IQyuMuqPs3mOwnfefBFnE/s1600/AlaskastockBoat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="110" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeTS4XjIOLSHe1u0QUxAffk8vEBi5q0R-ejjbgpPSDFglPkqfOPWlrg5Y_2P6zQhrX7Pi375pFH6HaOtkRjIjMrGEEE8dx-Jv8ygM_k_pOeq-X-4JsSETe40IQyuMuqPs3mOwnfefBFnE/s200/AlaskastockBoat.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I actually might not need to change what I serve my family, but I do need to check what’s okay and what’s not. For example, I was surprised to learn that farmed salmon is much worse for the environment than wild-caught Alaskan salmon. According to Sea Watch, wild-caught Alaskan salmon is among the most intensively managed species in the world, with excellent monitoring of both the fish populations and fisheries and their freshwater sources are relatively pristine. On the other hand, most salmon farming is done in open pens and cages in coastal waters. Waste from these farms is released directly into the ocean. Parasites and diseases from farmed salmon can spread to wild fish swimming near the farms. Also, it generally takes three pounds of wild fish to grow one pound of farmed salmon. This is a huge problem for wild fish populations and the environment. And if that’s not bad enough, I found that Environmental Defense Fund has issued a </span><a href="javascript:openNewWindow('http://www.environmentaldefense.org/page.cfm?tagID=15802','popup','popup',780,580,'scrollbars,toolbar,resizable,location')" title="Environmental Defense Fund"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">health advisory </span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">for farmed salmon due to high levels of PCBs. Well, my son will be happy to learn that this week he’s getting wild-caught Alaskan salmon.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>How Do I know What’s Right?</strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">It’s a lot easier than ever before to keep on top of what fish to eat. There are printed materials, online information and even a phone app to get up-to-date recommendations for sustainable fish choices including ocean-friendly restaurants and businesses. This sounds great to use while I shop, since I don’t usually know what’s available. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I started off overwhelmed, but now I’m looking forward to getting some tasty, sustainably harvested fish. It’s a relief to know I don’t have to feel guilty and that there are good choices to be made.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://na.oceana.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://na.oceana.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Sustainable seafood phone apps</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_iPhone.aspx"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_iPhone.aspx</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Monthly sustainable seafood recipes</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/recipes/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/recipes/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong><span style="color: #274e13;">Growing your own update:</span></strong> It’s time for many of use to start our herb and vegetable seeds indoors. I’ve already got most of mine sprouted because I just couldn’t wait. I started almost everything in empty plastic food containers, so hang on to your used yogurt cups and muffin clamshells! They make great pots and trays.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1f0_JuPJ_GV-Kj5UcgWqtu2R-tqE3jL_AXBkpDFKZR8F34-mnkmQawAreFTuRQSnvjRmnifTiCPc_pF0bfSvlQIaY6oodVTd3fZTZoCMfWcY8IIWFSAJRSWT0MXaZDL7V71Y7KK2JOY/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1f0_JuPJ_GV-Kj5UcgWqtu2R-tqE3jL_AXBkpDFKZR8F34-mnkmQawAreFTuRQSnvjRmnifTiCPc_pF0bfSvlQIaY6oodVTd3fZTZoCMfWcY8IIWFSAJRSWT0MXaZDL7V71Y7KK2JOY/s200/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" width="143" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.</em></span></span></div><img height="96" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitEoEWlF_4Sl4_kzXQrA4Zy-Lmsrz7mR70COJWPqpJ5gEnuO6yoiHtOp1_ic3MpIsR-uJBbnIxl4i0O0U86lbfpZXaaDAGSVdaFfrkAVlQUIxOGS5a9tiYDMZ4p2d2Ao_QqhMxwV2Of34/s320/AlaskastockNet.jpg" style="filter: alpha(opacity=30); left: 149px; mozopacity: 0.3; opacity: 0.3; position: absolute; top: 112px; visibility: hidden;" width="63" /></div>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-4136882605649513512011-03-18T04:39:00.000-07:002011-03-18T04:39:16.046-07:00Bloggers Day of Silence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtxXduvNVLThThXbgoOjBn8NUWsTIoy0OWq7Hv2ebYl4kAPyqTTL5JETCBrngWGXpNPKUE2RIBsWWCjnqK4gc8Z1TgUdEjBaUYKD5Z-uE9pgIMpIxQtz62VZdhJgi6NMOxjODhjrM6c5s/s1600/forjapan_250_600_badge.gif" imageanchor="1" style="color: #de85b1; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtxXduvNVLThThXbgoOjBn8NUWsTIoy0OWq7Hv2ebYl4kAPyqTTL5JETCBrngWGXpNPKUE2RIBsWWCjnqK4gc8Z1TgUdEjBaUYKD5Z-uE9pgIMpIxQtz62VZdhJgi6NMOxjODhjrM6c5s/s400/forjapan_250_600_badge.gif" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976562) 1px 1px 5px; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; border-bottom: rgb(204,204,204) 0px solid; border-left: rgb(204,204,204) 0px solid; border-right: rgb(204,204,204) 0px solid; border-top: rgb(204,204,204) 0px solid; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 4px; position: relative;" width="174" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"></span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"></span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">List of Charitable Organizations:</span><br />
<ul><li><a href="https://www.jdc.org/donation/donate.aspx" jquery1300448094856="1" target="_blank" title="American Jewish Joint Distribution Committe Japan Releif"><span style="color: blue;">American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee</span></a><span style="color: blue;"> </span></li>
<li><a href="https://secure.americares.org/site/Donation2?df_id=1505&1505.donation=form1&linkid=topnav#__utma=1.1876775474.1300145658.1300145658.1300145658.1&__utmb=1.1.10.1300145658&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1300145658.1.1.utmcsr=charitynavigator.org|utmccn=%28referral%29|utmcmd=referral|utmcct=/index.cfm&__utmv=-&__utmk=70557584" jquery1300448094856="2" target="_blank" title="AmeriCares"><span style="color: blue;">AmeriCares </span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?idb=0&amp;5052.donation=form1&amp;df_id=5052" jquery1300448094856="3" target="_blank" title="American Red Cross Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief"><span style="color: blue;">American Red Cross </span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://architectureforhumanity.org/programs/2011-sendai-earthquake-and-tsunami" jquery1300448094856="4" target="_blank" title="Architecture for Humanity Japan Relief"><span style="color: blue;">Architecture for Humanity </span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.convoyofhope.org/go/headlines/entry/en_route_to_japan" jquery1300448094856="5" target="_blank" title="Convoy of Hope Japan Relief"><span style="color: blue;">Convoy of Hope </span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://secure2.convio.net/dri/site/Donation2?idb=990459100&1170.donation=form1&df_id=1170&JServSessionIdr004=bf8sh8bif2.app246b" jquery1300448094856="6" target="_blank" title="Direct Relief International Emergency Relief for Japan"><span style="color: blue;">Direct Relief International </span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=240&__utma=121179421.928508558867860700.1300145978.1300145978.1300145978.1&__utmb=121179421.2.10.1300145978&__utmc=121179421&__utmx=-&__utmz=121179421.1300145978.1.1.utmcsr=charitynavigator.org|utmccn=%28referral%29|utmcmd=referral|utmcct=/index.cfm&__utmv=-&__utmk=51968425" jquery1300448094856="7" target="_blank" title="Doctoers without Borders, USA Japan Relief Efforts"><span style="color: blue;">Doctors Without Borders, USA </span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.fh.org/learn/news/disaster/japan-tsunami?promocode=WU63WD1C3" jquery1300448094856="8" target="_blank" title="Food for the Hungry Japan Relief Funds"><span style="color: blue;">Food for the Hungry </span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/japan-earthquake-tsunami-relief/" jquery1300448094856="9" target="_blank" title="Global Giving Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund"><span style="color: blue;">GlobalGiving </span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.rescue.org/donate/japan?ms=ws_ircz_jpn_zzzz_ts_1103zz" jquery1300448094856="10" target="_blank" title="International Rescure Committee Japan Relief"><span style="color: blue;">International Rescue Committee </span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.internationalmedicalcorps.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=1967" jquery1300448094856="11" target="_blank" title="International Medica Corps Emergency Relief for Japan"><span style="color: blue;">International Medical Corps</span></a><span style="color: blue;"> </span></li>
<li><a href="https://www.mercycorps.org/donate/japan" jquery1300448094856="12" target="_blank" title="Mercy Corps Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Efforts"><span style="color: blue;">Mercy Corps</span></a><span style="color: blue;"> </span></li>
<li><a href="http://www.opusa.org/contribute/money/" jquery1300448094856="13" target="_blank" title="Operations USA Japan Relief Efforts"><span style="color: blue;">Operation USA</span></a><span style="color: blue;"> </span></li>
<li><a href="https://secure.oxfamamerica.org/site/Donation2?df_id=5460&5460.donation=form1&JServSessionIdr004=ikvzi0bog1.app228b" jquery1300448094856="14" target="_blank" title="Oxfam Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief "><span style="color: blue;">Oxfam America </span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.ri.org/donate/donate.php" jquery1300448094856="15" target="_blank" title="Relief International Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Response"><span style="color: blue;">Relief International</span></a><span style="color: blue;"> </span></li>
<li><a href="https://donate.salvationarmyusa.org/site/c.tvI3IeNUJsE/b.5760419/k.2CB3/Donate_Now/apps/ka/sd/donor.asp?c=tvI3IeNUJsE&amp;b=5760419&amp;en=5oIzGIMjG4LIKSOmH3KFKPMxEoKRLXOxEdKFLRNAIkLRK1NIG" jquery1300448094856="16" target="_blank" title="Salvation Army Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Efforts"><span style="color: blue;">Salvation Army</span></a><span style="color: blue;"> </span></li>
<li><a href="https://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/Giving/Project_donations?pc=13953" jquery1300448094856="17" target="_blank" title="Samaritan's Purse Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief"><span style="color: blue;">Samaritan’s Purse</span></a><span style="color: blue;"> </span></li>
<li><a href="https://secure.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6617251/k.7E71/Donate_to_the_Japan_Earthquake_Tsunami_Children_in_Emergency_Fund/apps/ka/sd/donor.asp" jquery1300448094856="18" target="_blank" title="Save the Children Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Efforts"><span style="color: blue;">Save the Children</span></a><span style="color: blue;"> </span></li>
<li><a href="https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/ShelterBoxUSAInc/OnlineGiving.html" jquery1300448094856="19" target="_blank" title="ShelterBox USA Japan Relief Fund"><span style="color: blue;">ShelterBox USA</span></a><span style="color: blue;"> </span></li>
<li><a href="http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?funnel=&amp;item=2200736&amp;go=item&amp;section=10324&amp;" jquery1300448094856="20" target="_blank" title="World Vision's Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Efforts"><span style="color: blue;">World Vision</span></a> </li>
</ul></span></div></div>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-46361639759324341162011-03-04T10:46:00.000-08:002011-03-04T10:46:56.011-08:00This Week I Will Build a Raised Garden Bed<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUNUYleQE8SnCCLIXpdVvh-cma2FWEcj4CxINEyfTFMYG6oB3BQwHCfGU_JhfxDaBJkEgCRRjy3Q56yT6IIUhRWYCfPXqsU2VXX1mOmVEM4d8NQJ9Fh8uiyS1YrB0OcfQrsMfAcAC2O1Q/s1600/My+Veggie+BedDetail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUNUYleQE8SnCCLIXpdVvh-cma2FWEcj4CxINEyfTFMYG6oB3BQwHCfGU_JhfxDaBJkEgCRRjy3Q56yT6IIUhRWYCfPXqsU2VXX1mOmVEM4d8NQJ9Fh8uiyS1YrB0OcfQrsMfAcAC2O1Q/s200/My+Veggie+BedDetail.jpg" width="105" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #660000;">Since I ordered some cold-weather vegetables seeds, I better have somewhere to plant them. And since the cold-weather vegetables I plan to grow are root vegetables they can’t go in my regular garden spot. The soil where I live is dense and clayey, lousy for root veggies, which is why I haven’t grown any before. The solution is to build a raised bed and fill it with looser turnip/radish-friendly soil. Many raised beds are only 6” – 8”, but what if I want carrots later? I’m making mine 12” deep. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #660000;">I find it interesting that in trying to do good for the planet; I keep coming back to gardening. Most environmentally conscious actions are actually inactions. I won’t drive. I won’t use plastic bags. I won’t buy meat from <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">New Zealand</place></country-region>. But growing food, especially growing food without chemicals, is a positive action I can take that reaps many benefits. It is actually good for the planet and for us, not just “less bad”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, until I can design a new solar car engine, I will write about growing food. And this week I will build a raised garden bed.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLzgr6tTfkgjWkzJNXYsSrj8JMUkMaGQK9OKxEpcI6ElE4D22Msrrqj-bHcy3a4QdehmEbTnnRCNFBZfA_sk_ZoRSVEipthH9zQke0PbGuZ6chYywL51525c8p4J6Y7MjtPHuMn0E32pM/s1600/My+Veggie+Bed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="197" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLzgr6tTfkgjWkzJNXYsSrj8JMUkMaGQK9OKxEpcI6ElE4D22Msrrqj-bHcy3a4QdehmEbTnnRCNFBZfA_sk_ZoRSVEipthH9zQke0PbGuZ6chYywL51525c8p4J6Y7MjtPHuMn0E32pM/s320/My+Veggie+Bed.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's the bed. I threw stuff on top to keep out <br />
the neighborhood cats until I can plant</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #660000;">After looking at prefab garden beds, I decided to build my own because it would be a fraction of the cost. I already bought the wood (sorry, I don’t know where it came from, other than, “my region”) and 3” galvanized screws. The lumber yard cut my 2” x 12” x 16’ board, which cost $16, into four foot lengths. I recruited my dad to help me assemble it. We used simple butt joins and the work was quick and easy. The biggest problem was that dad wouldn’t let me drill. I like to drill. Anyway, I leveled the ground while he made pilot holes and the whole thing was done and in place in under 45 minutes.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-size: large;">Why Bother?</span></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #660000;">I should have much more control over gardening conditions with a raised bed. My choice of soil, easier watering, no soil compaction from walking near the plants. I should be able to plant very densely in the four by four box. If you don’t have a lot of planting room this is supposed to be a great solution. I’m thinking about making a grid and trying the four-square method in which 1’ x 1’ section is treated as its own garden, often with a different kind of plant. And for me, I’ve never been successful with root veggies in the ground. Now I’ll know if it’s really my soil, or just me.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHFQafN1BhLBzcfPjWzrKUxDB9yyofF2Qy5ILna-DY9ZIRu1WGcgvKiG4phiCsag0QS2t5lpKmQSw7wlwWqe0jrVr0dstR_8DwM_FlHV0kTxPDzEt7aK_RCbAwgrL02x7HqsKBv1aLTTk/s1600/My+garden+dirt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHFQafN1BhLBzcfPjWzrKUxDB9yyofF2Qy5ILna-DY9ZIRu1WGcgvKiG4phiCsag0QS2t5lpKmQSw7wlwWqe0jrVr0dstR_8DwM_FlHV0kTxPDzEt7aK_RCbAwgrL02x7HqsKBv1aLTTk/s200/My+garden+dirt.jpg" width="138" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of the rest of the <br />
garden. There's still a<br />
lot of work to do.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #660000;">Even so, I consider this an experiment. I built one 4’ x 4’ bed and I’m planting the rest of my garden straight into the ground, like always. I’ll see how much difference the box really makes for me before I go building raised beds all over the yard. This experiment cost about $60, mostly for the soil. I bought a recycled, composted mixture from Costco at $7.79 per bag. If I had a pickup truck it would have been cheaper and bag-free.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #660000;">My seeds arrived this week and I can’t wait for a calm time to do some sowing!</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><em>P.S. I’ve been saving clear plastic clamshells and lidded containers from food to use as mini greenhouses for seed starting.</em></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-size: large;">DIY Raised Garden Beds</span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://green.thefuntimesguide.com/2010/04/diy_raised_bed_garden.php"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://green.thefuntimesguide.com/2010/04/diy_raised_bed_garden.php#</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-build-a-raised-vegetable-bed/index.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-build-a-raised-vegetable-bed/index.html</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.sunset.com/garden/perfect-raised-bed-00400000039550/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.sunset.com/garden/perfect-raised-bed-00400000039550/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://eartheasy.com/grow_raised_beds.htm#a"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://eartheasy.com/grow_raised_beds.htm#a</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"> (Click on Build You Own)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #660000;">What to Plant When</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/What-To-Plant-Now.aspx"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/What-To-Plant-Now.aspx</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #7f6000;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1f0_JuPJ_GV-Kj5UcgWqtu2R-tqE3jL_AXBkpDFKZR8F34-mnkmQawAreFTuRQSnvjRmnifTiCPc_pF0bfSvlQIaY6oodVTd3fZTZoCMfWcY8IIWFSAJRSWT0MXaZDL7V71Y7KK2JOY/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1f0_JuPJ_GV-Kj5UcgWqtu2R-tqE3jL_AXBkpDFKZR8F34-mnkmQawAreFTuRQSnvjRmnifTiCPc_pF0bfSvlQIaY6oodVTd3fZTZoCMfWcY8IIWFSAJRSWT0MXaZDL7V71Y7KK2JOY/s200/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" width="143" /></a>“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.</span></em></span></span></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<img height="96" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1f0_JuPJ_GV-Kj5UcgWqtu2R-tqE3jL_AXBkpDFKZR8F34-mnkmQawAreFTuRQSnvjRmnifTiCPc_pF0bfSvlQIaY6oodVTd3fZTZoCMfWcY8IIWFSAJRSWT0MXaZDL7V71Y7KK2JOY/s200/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" style="filter: alpha(opacity=30); left: 597px; mozopacity: 0.3; opacity: 0.3; position: absolute; top: 747px; visibility: hidden;" width="69" /></div>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-26770423329438670402011-03-01T06:50:00.000-08:002011-03-01T06:50:21.040-08:00This Week I Will Read My Mail<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #660000;">What a crazy week. I don’t have time for much and couldn’t figure out what to write about when I noticed my accumulation of environmental mail. Since I’ve started this blog I’ve been slowly adding organizations that I want to hear from. I’m interested on keeping up with the environmental news; new research and findings, political updates and ideas for fighting climate change. Some organizations send a newsletter once a month, some send email almost every day. At first I would inspect each piece, gleaning what I could and feeling guilty if I didn’t take the advised actions. Lately, I barely get a chance to read anything and feel guilty about that. Well, I really need to catch up, so I will prioritize my inbox and this week I will read my mail.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-size: large;">What I Currently Get</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong><span style="color: #660000;"><place w:st="on"><span style="color: #333333;">Union</span></place><span style="color: #333333;"> of Concerned Scientists</span></span></strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">To sign up for news, resources and action alerts go to </span><a href="http://ucs.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=sign_up&s_src=subscribe&s_subsrc=tasknav"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://ucs.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=sign_up&s_src=subscribe&s_subsrc=tasknav</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><strong>The Nature Conservancy</strong></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">To join online go to </span><a href="https://support.nature.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=registration_xx"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">https://support.nature.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=registration_xx</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><strong>ForestEthics</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">To learn about their campaigns against deforestation in the <country-region w:st="on">US</country-region> and <place w:st="on"><country-region w:st="on">Canada</country-region></place> and get updates got to </span><a href="http://forestethics.org/about-us"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://forestethics.org/about-us</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><strong>The City of <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Pleasanton</place></city>’s Climate Action Plan</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">If you live in <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Pleasanton</city> <state w:st="on">California</state></place> you may not even know we have a plan. If you want to get updates subscribe here: </span><a href="http://www.pleasantongreenscene.org/contact"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.pleasantongreenscene.org/contact</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">And check out the homepage for more information. </span><a href="http://www.pleasantongreenscene.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.pleasantongreenscene.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><strong>JNF</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Register to receive updates here: </span><a href="http://www.jnf.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.jnf.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">In addition, I try to keep up with new news in magazines and books and on podcasts, but I’m sticking with the mail this week!</span></span><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1f0_JuPJ_GV-Kj5UcgWqtu2R-tqE3jL_AXBkpDFKZR8F34-mnkmQawAreFTuRQSnvjRmnifTiCPc_pF0bfSvlQIaY6oodVTd3fZTZoCMfWcY8IIWFSAJRSWT0MXaZDL7V71Y7KK2JOY/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1f0_JuPJ_GV-Kj5UcgWqtu2R-tqE3jL_AXBkpDFKZR8F34-mnkmQawAreFTuRQSnvjRmnifTiCPc_pF0bfSvlQIaY6oodVTd3fZTZoCMfWcY8IIWFSAJRSWT0MXaZDL7V71Y7KK2JOY/s200/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" width="143" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><em><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.</span></em></span></span></div></div>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-61153313057558098282011-02-20T10:24:00.000-08:002011-02-20T10:24:43.674-08:00This week I Will Buy Seeds<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ4qeeAh14_rDurhUIUulj3tuK8XZffLjXggUr6jeu8o4R7bHkl-Y_tXgORZ0HhW4EFbIiCDbZFHcRRsEAxSZkqAX2fcVMXEbpipCajNxLNcRMyKdP6W5vZpQ0CkZ2X3KFOt7e9aoH_Io/s1600/seeds.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ4qeeAh14_rDurhUIUulj3tuK8XZffLjXggUr6jeu8o4R7bHkl-Y_tXgORZ0HhW4EFbIiCDbZFHcRRsEAxSZkqAX2fcVMXEbpipCajNxLNcRMyKdP6W5vZpQ0CkZ2X3KFOt7e9aoH_Io/s320/seeds.gif" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">It’s freezing this week. Even here in northern <state w:st="on"><place w:st="on">California</place></state> I can see snow in the hills and there’s a wet, raw chill everywhere I go. I haven’t been warm for days. So, it feels crazy to be planning my vegetable garden and ordering seeds already. But order I must. I didn’t have tomatoes until almost August last year, because I planted too late. Last year I bought plants from the nursery and put them in the ground late in the spring. This year I’m going to start my plants from seed, so I really need to get a jump on things. This would be the case even if I had a shorter growing season or lived someplace colder – I’d have to be ready as soon as the frost danger passed. Anyway, here it is February and I already feel like I’m behind the curve.</span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">I decided to plant from seed this year for a few reasons, mostly environmental and partly nostalgic. It also should be a lot cheaper – I’ll see how that goes. As I’ve expounded upon before, growing your own food has far, far less environmental impact than getting store-bought produce (and it tastes so much better!). Even so, commercial seedlings are still an agricultural crop that must be grown and transported, usually come in plastic throw-away pots, and the deliveries I’ve seen at nurseries come on flats secured with dozens of feet of plastic wrap. Alternatively, I can have seeds mailed to me directly from a seed company. I’ve started cleaning and saving plastic containers from milk, yogurt etc. to grow my seeds in, which I’ll still be able to recycle when I’m done. The other part is that I enjoy growing plants, or at least I did when I was a kid. My parents divvied up most of our side yard and gave each of us kids a piece. We were allowed to plant whatever we wanted. I don’t even know if seedlings were available, we just always started with seeds.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">I could buy seeds at a local nursery, but since I always ordered from Burpee in the past and that was my plan now. Unfortunately, Burpee’s prices have soared and they’re charging almost a dollar per packet for shipping. In a way this was a good thing as it forced me to research other companies. I found such an interesting diversity of choices; from companies that specialize in varieties for a particular region to university seed banks to seeds just for growing sprouts. I ended up choosing a seed company that supplies small, less expensive packets of both standard and unusual varieties. This is a great way for me to try some new things like soy and spaghetti squash and heirlooms I’ve never grown before. And since I have a fairly small space for planting and have chosen over a dozen vegetables, I won’t need more than a small number of each plant. The seed company is Pinetree Garden Seeds which I’ve listed below, though as I mentioned, this is the first time I’m ordering from them.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://www.superseeds.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">https://www.superseeds.com/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.burpee.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.burpee.com/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.territorialseed.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.territorialseed.com/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://sustainableseedco.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://sustainableseedco.com/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Above photo from </span><a href="http://www.pacificseed.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.pacificseed.com/</span></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Notes:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Check for planting times in your area and buy plants or seeds accordingly.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Don’t forget marigolds. They help keep pests away, so use them as a pretty border around veggies or to mark rows.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">If you don’t have much space, think about square foot gardening. Plan to use small unused spaces and pots if you don’t have a real garden area. I will probably need to extend into my front yard (in fact, this is already where I keep my herbs.)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.squarefootgardening.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.squarefootgardening.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Awesome resource for figuring out what to plant, when, for any <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">US</place></country-region> region:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/What-To-Plant-Now.aspx"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/What-To-Plant-Now.aspx</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">This big book from Burpee is the most clear and complete organic gardening guide I’ve read. It has extensive information on how to pick the right seeds and plants for your garden and everything you need to know to grow them.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em><span style="color: #274e13;">The Complete Vegetable & Herb Gardener - A Guide to Growing Your Garden Organically</span></em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1f0_JuPJ_GV-Kj5UcgWqtu2R-tqE3jL_AXBkpDFKZR8F34-mnkmQawAreFTuRQSnvjRmnifTiCPc_pF0bfSvlQIaY6oodVTd3fZTZoCMfWcY8IIWFSAJRSWT0MXaZDL7V71Y7KK2JOY/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1f0_JuPJ_GV-Kj5UcgWqtu2R-tqE3jL_AXBkpDFKZR8F34-mnkmQawAreFTuRQSnvjRmnifTiCPc_pF0bfSvlQIaY6oodVTd3fZTZoCMfWcY8IIWFSAJRSWT0MXaZDL7V71Y7KK2JOY/s200/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" width="143" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.</span></span></em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div></div>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-62538836048730940132011-02-11T10:31:00.000-08:002011-02-11T10:31:43.051-08:00This Week I Will Eat Only Local Meats (and a bit of Valentine info)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div style="text-align: right;"></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfsM9t_dQEN0Hn3wtL7GyoHjI78do0e1GYsIchxpUUsndoUBOkKUgjc7t8ce5LeM0GQR6ynts_EO6XJx4D9G1XGnJWlyvkTgvARJkJJmSSf_L5x89fq35QxcMUU1b-GX4ZJJp8FIW9Qsw/s1600/RosesRChaseDesign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfsM9t_dQEN0Hn3wtL7GyoHjI78do0e1GYsIchxpUUsndoUBOkKUgjc7t8ce5LeM0GQR6ynts_EO6XJx4D9G1XGnJWlyvkTgvARJkJJmSSf_L5x89fq35QxcMUU1b-GX4ZJJp8FIW9Qsw/s320/RosesRChaseDesign.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">So, this blog won’t work if I’m not honest about my weekly experiments. That being said, being a locavore was way harder than I thought it would be. At the beginning my daughter said being a locavore will be great – she could eat anything she wanted from our frig. I groaned and said that’s not the point, but was later surprised to realize how close to the mark she was. The week was super-busy with a combination of extra work and school meetings, sick kids and family drama. I had no time to shop, so we just ate what was around the house and I felt smug about how easy this locavore thing was. Until Wednesday. On Wednesdays I get my son a special treat on the way to his music lesson. It was to be my first food purchase of the week and I was stumped. I guess we could have gone to the supermarket and found a local apple or something, but that wasn’t going to cut it. I ended up getting him a burger and vanilla cone. I’m pretty certain none of it was local. Oh yeah, and I got a diet Pepsi. Probably not local either. Not only did I fail at being a locavore, but we had a fair amount of paper packaging as well. We continued to eat out of our frig for most of the rest of the week and I missed the farmer’s market because of work. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I thought I would redeem myself on Monday, since I would be passing by a Whole Foods on the way to a doctor appointment. For sure, Whole Foods would save me! Well, their food was certainly from the whole planet. Signs proudly proclaimed “water chestnuts from <country-region w:st="on">Thailand</country-region>” and “blueberries from <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Chile</place></country-region>”. So much of the produce was flown in from exotic places that in that cornucopia of healthy food, I wound up with two organic <state w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Washington</place></state> apples and a bunch of bananas. I know there was local produce there somewhere, but it wasn’t like there was a banner flying. I do have to admit that when I got to the aisles there were local foods prominently displayed and marked by big shelf tags. The problem was there were very few and what there was, was very expensive. A jar of local honey was $9.99. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">So what does all this mean other than my whining? It means I have to take smaller steps. That’s the whole point of this blog anyway, right? Break the big problems and hard solutions into small manageable pieces. So rather than become a locavore just yet, I will break food choices into groups and try making local choices for that group. Since I’m still really busy and feeling like an environmental failure, I’m going to go with the easiest group (for me) first. I don’t eat much meat to begin with and I know I’ve seen organic and local at a couple of nearby stores, so I’m going to take a much smaller step. This week I will eat local meats. Ah, much better.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em><strong><span style="color: #990000;">On a completely different note, I’ve been receiving lots of information about sustainable Valentine’s. Here are some ideas:</span></strong></em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Sustainable flowers, wreaths and chocolates</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.organicbouquet.com/c_155/Valentines-Day-Flowers.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.organicbouquet.com/c_155//Valentines-Day-Flowers.html</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #990000;">Adopt a beautiful place:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://shop.nature.org/categories/12341-nature-donations"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://shop.nature.org/categories/12341-nature-donations</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #990000;">Green gift guide from Treehugger:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.treehugger.com/giftguide/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.treehugger.com/giftguide/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #990000;">Organic chocolate companies:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.greenpromise.com/resources/organic-chocolate-suppliers.php"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.greenpromise.com/resources/organic-chocolate-suppliers.php</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #990000;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">No Impact Man</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by Colin Beavan – book or DVD</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #990000;">This is a love story if there ever was one!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #990000;">In the interest of shameless self-promotion, you can also check out my jewelry website:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.chasedesign.etsy.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">www.chasedesign.etsy.com</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1f0_JuPJ_GV-Kj5UcgWqtu2R-tqE3jL_AXBkpDFKZR8F34-mnkmQawAreFTuRQSnvjRmnifTiCPc_pF0bfSvlQIaY6oodVTd3fZTZoCMfWcY8IIWFSAJRSWT0MXaZDL7V71Y7KK2JOY/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1f0_JuPJ_GV-Kj5UcgWqtu2R-tqE3jL_AXBkpDFKZR8F34-mnkmQawAreFTuRQSnvjRmnifTiCPc_pF0bfSvlQIaY6oodVTd3fZTZoCMfWcY8IIWFSAJRSWT0MXaZDL7V71Y7KK2JOY/s200/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" width="143" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em><span style="color: #cc0000;">“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.</span></em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-5443309622527527752011-01-30T19:14:00.000-08:002011-01-30T19:14:06.534-08:00This Week I Will Be a Locavore<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEzDfiIcjSeVEVBCgS2un7k-cY019X76Qiyji9ZAu3z6ioagGdE_3hPNaDrPRTizgk9zF8SBr3bkcHiLKwo5aj8LsZOJr3Ikez8ZqXJaaV4hXqi_KnASPofHjNRGayrj6MNDq-mMDXCEo/s1600/farmersmarket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="240" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEzDfiIcjSeVEVBCgS2un7k-cY019X76Qiyji9ZAu3z6ioagGdE_3hPNaDrPRTizgk9zF8SBr3bkcHiLKwo5aj8LsZOJr3Ikez8ZqXJaaV4hXqi_KnASPofHjNRGayrj6MNDq-mMDXCEo/s320/farmersmarket.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Locavore.</strong> Great new word coined in 2005. <i><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Oxford American Dictionary </span></i><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">word of the year for 2007. </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">It means a person who eats locally grown and produced food. This food can come from home or community gardens or from local commercial farmers. Since the point of eating locally is to encourage sustainable food practices and enjoy healthier, tastier food, locavores generally care about how food is grown and prepared. Most want to buy from growers who use no or minimal pesticides and chemical fertilizers. While there are many really good reasons to be a locavore, the one that got me willing to try it, is the tremendous cost to the environment of moving food around. </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Food transportation has become one of the biggest and fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. The average food item on an American plate has traveled almost 1500 miles. Even foods grown close by are often shipped hundreds of miles to be processed and distributed and then returned to where they started. Oh, and I also like that local food doesn’t need to be packed to travel, so forget those big plastic clamshells. The exact definition of locavore is open to some interpretation. Most locavores try to keep their food sources to a 100 mile radius. Though, while this might be fine in <place w:st="on"><state w:st="on">California</state></place>, locavores in regions without much agriculture expand their areas. Also, some people pick a just few items to eat locally, at least to start. My plan for this week is to eat as locally as I can as much as possible. I’ll try for the 100 mile radius and to stay conscious of where my food comes from.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">How will I eat locally?</span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">I am fortunate enough to live in northern <place w:st="on"><state w:st="on">California</state></place>, where some of the best produce in the world is grown. So I figure, why do I need cherries from <place w:st="on"><country-region w:st="on">Chile</country-region></place> in January? When I was growing up I had no expectations of getting watermelon in the dead of winter. I got food in season. Fruits, vegetables, fish even some meats had a season. We waited for peaches, zucchini, apples and snapper. We ate canned and dried fruits in the winter. This wasn’t all that long ago, but I’ve grown accustomed to making my favorite soup whenever I want with ingredients from all over the globe. I usually don’t think about cooking with what’s available this time of year. I decide what I want and then buy the ingredients. So, change number one will have to be to let what’s in season drive what I make for dinner. I will also try some of these are some suggestions from</span> </span><i>Jennifer Maiser’s </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">10 Ways to Become a Locavore:</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Go to a farmers market.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Ask the supermarket manager where their meat, produce and dairy are coming from.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></div><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Choose 5 foods in your house that you can buy locally.</span> Rather than trying to source everything locally all at once, try swapping out just 5 local foods. Fruits and vegetables that can be grown throughout the continental <place w:st="on"><country-region w:st="on">U.S.</country-region></place> include apples, root vegetables, lettuce, herbs and greens. In most areas, it's also possible to find meat, poultry, eggs, milk, and cheese—all grown, harvested and produced close to your home.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.localharvest.org/csa/" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Find a local CSA</span></span></a><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> and sign-up!</span></span><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Through a CSA—Community Supported Agriculture—program you invest in a local farm in exchange for a weekly box of assorted vegetables and other farm products.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Find out what restaurants in your area support local farmers.</span> You can do this by asking the restaurants about their ingredients directly, or by asking your favorite farmers what restaurant accounts they have. Frequent the businesses that support your farmers</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Visit a farm. (I’ll probably save this for the spring and take the kids)</span></span></span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkFdwdlwiZrvpKAbwMh92xUM6I_C59yUPnSemAilQ5DZyRIaLnGdocvvLxBt4ysgKZSwk4zJISHr1jOsbcRDhUCV5gw79Wb2VNUDZrkWnH0ySAg42bypPYfiWXfZBrA2uDP078mViMo8s/s1600/Bread-794664.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="150" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkFdwdlwiZrvpKAbwMh92xUM6I_C59yUPnSemAilQ5DZyRIaLnGdocvvLxBt4ysgKZSwk4zJISHr1jOsbcRDhUCV5gw79Wb2VNUDZrkWnH0ySAg42bypPYfiWXfZBrA2uDP078mViMo8s/s200/Bread-794664.jpg" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Why should I be a locavore?</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">To start with, local food tastes better. Fruits and veggies can be picked ripe and are often picked only hours before you buy them. Also, tastier varieties are grown when a farmer isn’t trying to maximize for travel durability. Eating local foods also may actually force more variety into my family’s diet. If I can’t get that <place w:st="on"><country-region w:st="on">New Zealand</country-region></place> apple, I might try a local purple cauliflower. And I know there are local, healthy choices for bread, honey and cheeses, which I bet are pretty tasty too. I just have to find out what they are. And, as I mentioned above, less travel means lower CO2 emissions and less packaging. A study in <place w:st="on"><state w:st="on">Iowa</state></place> found that a regional diet consumed 17 times less oil and gas than a typical diet based on food shipped across the country.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Originally, I was afraid of this week. But after doing a little research, I’m actually looking forward to it. There were more resources to help me be a locavore than I thought. I went from feeling overwhelmed to feeling excited to try new things. I’ll have some fun with food while doing good for the environment. That sounds like a good week.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><span style="color: #4c1130;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Locavores.com</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.locavores.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.locavores.com/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Find a 100 mile radius:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://100milediet.org/get-started/map"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://100milediet.org/get-started/map</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">USDA’s farmers market guide:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://apps.ams.usda.gov/FarmersMarkets/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://apps.ams.usda.gov/FarmersMarkets/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Community Supported Agriculture</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.localharvest.org/csa/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.localharvest.org/csa/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><span style="color: #4c1130;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">There’s an app for that:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/locavore/id306140158?mt=8"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/locavore/id306140158?mt=8</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">The reviews are mixed, but for $2.99 I’d try it – if I had an iPhone</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">The Worldwatch Institute</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4132"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4132</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="200" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s200/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" width="143" /></span></a><em><span style="color: #7f6000;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.</span></span></em></div><em><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></em></span></div>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-55577212711221061172011-01-21T16:30:00.000-08:002011-01-21T16:30:33.740-08:00This Week I Will Plant a Tree<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOaBUMxQUtO89lkZA0BygiunnfnKJH2HOYRPEL8RtWJjzmzfk3-SEN8tgMRu8gmFAshcrlmW3Ac-9UYRdInX3OX6y2-M30QSsxCNiudmmU0_0A4zMYro5SkfGEvD14wrVULo9q1t9EzVM/s1600/treesFall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="240" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOaBUMxQUtO89lkZA0BygiunnfnKJH2HOYRPEL8RtWJjzmzfk3-SEN8tgMRu8gmFAshcrlmW3Ac-9UYRdInX3OX6y2-M30QSsxCNiudmmU0_0A4zMYro5SkfGEvD14wrVULo9q1t9EzVM/s320/treesFall.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Yesterday was Tu B'Shevat, the Jewish new year just for trees. How cool is that? On Tu B’Shevat we celebrate trees. We are thankful for what they give us and appreciative of how important they are to our survival. We acknowledge their slow growth and long lives. We wait patiently for young trees to bear fruit. We affirm our commitment to protect existing trees and plant new ones. We eat lots of fruit. I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood, in a Jewish household, but somehow Tu B’Shevat didn’t make it onto my radar until my kids came home from Sunday school with flyers about planting trees. Now, I celebrate Tu B’Shevat in various ways. This year I will write about the importance of our forested lands and this week I will plant a tree. Oh, and this bit about being good to trees, it comes from the Old Testament.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7t4HVMKP_wxqwCGNj2vvTOITnCz-E-1G-qaWp6nou0sMmgbXpZjFdgo8McKE_bWXDFLtJF8T5Yaoge8icpvLdaqieQeqKlRnrx3IlscAco3OsCmiCJIb6d8qsPCbXTHcWZQZIUYtB1OE/s1600/TreeTwoPomegranates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="200" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7t4HVMKP_wxqwCGNj2vvTOITnCz-E-1G-qaWp6nou0sMmgbXpZjFdgo8McKE_bWXDFLtJF8T5Yaoge8icpvLdaqieQeqKlRnrx3IlscAco3OsCmiCJIb6d8qsPCbXTHcWZQZIUYtB1OE/s200/TreeTwoPomegranates.jpg" width="196" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Why do we need trees?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Sounds like a silly question, but when I started gathering facts, some of the answers were astounding. For example, according to the U.S. Forest Service, <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">U.S.</place></country-region> forests sequester 827 tons, or nearly 10% of our CO<sub>2</sub> emissions each year. Also, trees are so important that deforestation is the second biggest contributing factor to global climate change. That’s huge. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEny4iatZqqkeBiALsZucjWke6Aubsev4SYNPlJxU-Ze60LtIpHxSIpXzrLDRSllD7y4OQEWT6mv3nVS4d1BF55_puqAU1OG5VnreYpH5V6783Bi9IP59pwYl7T_6LcVUesyQSQec9LMQ/s1600/treesFlorida.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="150" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEny4iatZqqkeBiALsZucjWke6Aubsev4SYNPlJxU-Ze60LtIpHxSIpXzrLDRSllD7y4OQEWT6mv3nVS4d1BF55_puqAU1OG5VnreYpH5V6783Bi9IP59pwYl7T_6LcVUesyQSQec9LMQ/s200/treesFlorida.jpg" width="200" /></span></a><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Here are a few more points adapted from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Twenty-nine Reasons for Planting</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Trees</i> compiled by Glenn Roloff, <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">USDA Forest Service (</span></span></span><a href="http://www.treelink.org/docs/29_reasons.phtml"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.treelink.org/docs/29_reasons.phtml</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">):</span></span><br />
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</div><ul style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">1 acre of new forest will sequester about 2.5 tons of carbon annually.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Trees can absorb CO<sub>2</sub> at the rate of 13 pounds/tree/year. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Trees reach their most productive stage of carbon storage at about 10 years.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Planting 100 million trees could reduce the amount of carbon by an estimated 18 million tons per year and at the same time, save American consumers $4 billion each year on utility bills.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Trees prevent or reduce soil erosion and water pollution.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Shade from trees can reduce utility bills for air conditioning by 15-50%. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Windbreaks around homes shield against wind and snow and reduce heating costs by as much as 30%.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">One of every four pharmaceutical products used in the <place w:st="on"><country-region w:st="on">U.S.</country-region></place> comes from a plant found in a tropical forest.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Trees provide habitat for wildlife.</span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Where will I plant a tree?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I don’t know yet. There’s nowhere to plant on my property right now, so I will look into the organizations that will plant a tree for me. In the past I have done this through the Nature Conservancy and through the JNF. Many organizations will plant trees in honor or memory of a loved one and will send you a certificate to keep or give as a gift. And planting a tree won’t break the bank; you can spend as little as a dollar a tree. Here are a few organizations that will plant a tree for you or help you plant your own: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Friends of the Urban Forest</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.fuf.net/treePlanting/index.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.fuf.net/treePlanting/index.html</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">The Nature Conservancy</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://adopt.nature.org/plantabillion/brazil/gift.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://adopt.nature.org/plantabillion/brazil/gift.html</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Jewish National Fund<span style="display: none; mso-hide: all;"></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.jnf.org/support/tree-planting-center/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.jnf.org/support/tree-planting-center/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">United Nations Billion Tree Campaign</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="320" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s320/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" width="228" /></span></a><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Arbor Day Foundation</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://www.arborday.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.arborday.org/</span></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>Happy planting!</em></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.</span></div></div><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></div>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-31034896201246580872011-01-20T11:34:00.000-08:002011-01-20T11:34:15.982-08:00How Not Using Plastic Bags is Going<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">So, the very first day I had a bag dilemma. I bought a flat of strawberries at the farmers market and the only way to keep them from getting squished by the other vegetables in my canvas bag was to keep them together in a plastic bag. The grower, bag in hand, thought I was nuts as I stood there unable to decide what to do with my strawberries. Then I got home and in the mail was a catalog I actually wanted to get. Neatly sealed in a plastic bag. I’m okay with a messy catalog. I’m not leaving it out on the coffee table for guests. But I don’t get any say in the matter except to cancel it, which I’m loath to do since I need this pristine supply catalog for my business. Then I got to work, which led to another bag debacle. I was designing and making earrings when I started to accumulate a tiny plastic mountain of itty-bitty Ziplocs. All of my jewelry components are shipped to me in very, very small plastic bags. And once I use up the supplies the bags get tossed. Over the following days I’ve been presented with one bag crisis after another. It seems like my whole life is wrapped in plastic. I’ve been good about taking my own bags with me for all my shopping, and I’ve stayed away from all but the most necessary plastic wrapped food staples, but it’s been impossible to avoid plastics bags like I’d hoped.</div></div>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-9601817518869091792011-01-14T17:28:00.000-08:002011-01-14T17:28:32.874-08:00This Week I Will Not Use Plastic Bags<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I’ve been trying to figure out how to address the whole scary issue of plastics and break the issues down into manageable bits when a friend sent me a video on plastic bags. What a great place to start. Being environmentally conscious, I already keep an assortment of plastic, paper and cloth bags in my car for when I shop. But I don’t always remember to take them into the store. And I’m usually too lazy to go back to the car. Or, I go into the supermarket for a couple of things and remember to bring a bag, one bag - for what turns into a full cart. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4hOqL-9j3aGqvUmsNbhMOxztaADbCwyN4TDE2RDgXxvk9JsId3wGD31ZGLv6o-FiwlFQ-OGrsnhhyphenhyphenHifC4T2oPmpI8kXuNk4sDKqOZfPJKUd3cpV5hf4Nf5TIsdb6i1DPK4cwdt-mQfk/s1600/plastic-bags.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="217" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4hOqL-9j3aGqvUmsNbhMOxztaADbCwyN4TDE2RDgXxvk9JsId3wGD31ZGLv6o-FiwlFQ-OGrsnhhyphenhyphenHifC4T2oPmpI8kXuNk4sDKqOZfPJKUd3cpV5hf4Nf5TIsdb6i1DPK4cwdt-mQfk/s320/plastic-bags.jpg" width="320" /></span></a> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I already know this is going to be a challenge because I’ve started to scope out the food possibilities for things that don’t come in plastic bags. Sounds simple? Try buying bread the kids will eat. Even so, my original plan was to buy no plastics at all for a week. No bags is way more manageable.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">So, this week I will not accept or buy anything in a plastic bag. Also, I will not put anything in a baggie or Ziploc. This will reduce my plastic consumption and eliminate my contribution to the plastic bag refuse. (I want to disclose one exception I have to make. I have a very large dog to clean up after. I bought biodegradable bags with the hope that these are more environmentally friendly than Safeway bags.) I also won’t just opt for paper, since it’s no environmental bargain either (but that’s for another week). I’ll carry my veggies loose and bring previously used or reusable bags. I’ll even go back to the car when I forget! </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Why Bother?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Most of us are pretty savvy about the problems with plastics sitting in our landfills. Many of us reject bags offered to us at stores. Even so, when I started looking into this issue I was surprised at how huge and detrimental the problem really is. The good news is that it’s within our power to fix it.</span></div><ul><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Plastic bags aren’t biodegradable. They go through a process called photodegradation—breaking down into smaller toxic particles that contaminate soil and water, and enter the food chain when animals ingest them. </span></div></li>
<li><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Over 380 billion plastic bags are used in the United States every year. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">According to various estimates, Taiwan consumes 20 billion plastic bags (900 per person), Japan consumes 300 billion bags (300 per person), and Australia consumes 6.9 billion plastic bags (326 per person) each year. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">A single plastic bag can take up to 1,000 years to degrade. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Hundreds of thousands of whales, dolphins, sea turtles and other marine mammals die every year after eating discarded plastic bags they mistake for food. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Plastic bags are almost everywhere from Spitsbergen 78° North [latitude] to Falklands 51° South [latitude]</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Plastic bags litter has even become commonplace in Antarctica and other remote areas. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Ireland, Taiwan, South Africa, Australia, and Bangladesh have heavily taxed plastic bags or banned their use outright.</span></li>
</ul><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">A</span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">w</span>esome Plastic Rap Video</span><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koETnR0NgLY&feature=player_embedded"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koETnR0NgLY&feature=player_embedded</span></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Good Video</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhxX1g9A2OM"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhxX1g9A2OM</span></a><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Good Article</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/0902_030902_plasticbags.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/0902_030902_plasticbags.html</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Good Website</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.reuseit.com/learn-more/top-facts/plastic-bag-facts"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.reuseit.com/learn-more/top-facts/plastic-bag-facts</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
<div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s320/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" width="230" /></span></a><em><span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet</span></em></div>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-65397580958421252132010-12-31T11:07:00.000-08:002010-12-31T11:07:49.646-08:00This Week I Will Make a Resolution<span style="color: #4c1130;"><em><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">My plan for starting this blog was to be more environmentally aware, break issues down into small manageable bites and, hopefully, to lead by example. So far, the process has definitely made me change my behavior for the better. Before I get to resolutions, I’ll use this New Year’s post to tell you how I fared with some of the previous weeks’ commitments.</span></em> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="200" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s200/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" width="142" /></span></a><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">This Week I Will Start a Blog</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Done, whew!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">This Week I Will Read One Book on Sustainable Living</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp2ynH7egohJCTe26fc4oLxn-ZnAZK_ki55PxaQyZp7wI23Bg6SEfd49DA7N2MCclEBfA09ulujlk0K6KVcVkyPaeRguUk9C7EXD0wbxo_19G9L5CQTk7XTndHCNAus1Jj0wG3PVfiDtE/s1600/cradle_to_cradle%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp2ynH7egohJCTe26fc4oLxn-ZnAZK_ki55PxaQyZp7wI23Bg6SEfd49DA7N2MCclEBfA09ulujlk0K6KVcVkyPaeRguUk9C7EXD0wbxo_19G9L5CQTk7XTndHCNAus1Jj0wG3PVfiDtE/s200/cradle_to_cradle%255B1%255D.jpg" width="123" /></a><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Still reading. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cradle to Cradle</i> is really interesting, but way dense for bedtime reading. The two authors have some incredible ideas on how to save the world without giving up the stuff we love. I both wish everyone would read this book to help change our mindsets about manufacturing, building and energy and wish it was just a little bit lighter. I do find myself talking to people about the ideas in the book and that’s probably the most important thing. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">This Week I Will Eat No Meat</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBLuRPV7Nwd5rVQgD_QYJTF429DY7iajkmAFXR365n-qgL0H279vifyYFWSQdvklynY2X1d_4v7VV7ABBbdzozzA1BlDgvIefz1yYQB4U4HV9mguiEXme5ByCRGS2X0xQraxKXst28HJQ/s1600/ag_beef2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="91" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBLuRPV7Nwd5rVQgD_QYJTF429DY7iajkmAFXR365n-qgL0H279vifyYFWSQdvklynY2X1d_4v7VV7ABBbdzozzA1BlDgvIefz1yYQB4U4HV9mguiEXme5ByCRGS2X0xQraxKXst28HJQ/s200/ag_beef2.jpg" width="200" /></span></a><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">This was a really easy week until we went out for Indian food. Yes, there are wonderful vegetarian Indian dishes, but I have a terrible weakness for tandori chicken. Anyway, I ate almost no meat and the kids were fine with lots of pasta. I wound up cooking more than usual and they were good with that, too. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzVh-pAAdv5OLu3YN9bQ8izrq_hhtvOtO-nDvRJR0B3K_ZLolgr9U3MIRS6NeI-EpfgX80chIeuyaLd5CzxmjFOhGSElrGp0S7QqdOXm81g-IBdmrYEOuz3QF-DGHahVSN99T7luJYH0/s1600/freecycle_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="54" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzVh-pAAdv5OLu3YN9bQ8izrq_hhtvOtO-nDvRJR0B3K_ZLolgr9U3MIRS6NeI-EpfgX80chIeuyaLd5CzxmjFOhGSElrGp0S7QqdOXm81g-IBdmrYEOuz3QF-DGHahVSN99T7luJYH0/s200/freecycle_logo.jpg" width="200" /></span></a><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">This Week I Will Use Freecycle</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">This was probably my favorite change so far. I love Freecycle. It’s very friendly, easy to get rid of things I don’t need and easy to ask for things I do need. My kids have started asking me to “Freecycle” things for them. I have a big issue with tossing useful stuff in the landfill and buying new things that use up resources, so it’s really a perfect solution for me.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">This Week I Will Make a Donation</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Done. I sent $50 to the Union of Concerned Scientists. (I sent my donation by December 31<sup>st</sup>, so it would be matched and doubled.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">This Week I Will Stop My Junk Mail</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I think it’s getting better, but it’s really hard to tell yet. I continue to stop new junk mail by calling companies as the junk comes in. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">*******************************************</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Hmm, I guess I’m trying to avoid making a resolution. I’m</span> thinking of two things; either reading more scientific literature on environmental issues (living with a physicist should make getting materials pretty straightforward) or getting more readers for my blog. Though, marketing for readers feels overwhelming to me. Can’t it just spontaneously go viral? Anyway, after sleeping on it, I decided go for the reading. So, my environmental New Year’s resolution is to read more scientific articles and papers on environmental issues. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>Happy New Year!</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><em><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Rhonda</span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.</em></span></div><span style="color: #4c1130;"></span>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-45448005442409567072010-12-25T16:57:00.000-08:002010-12-25T16:57:43.417-08:00This Week I Will Make a Donation<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrac2TREV4eQsl1gO5sP2fRKzVcr7rcJ8SXiWWPgrc56NDEp3rm5sXgaLDo-vaBB95w3YC_ReOlU09o0TGxa8M2G4l8UJY9tMdzByZB1LBkkWR6ucOeP4TWKwzsQPYe3XWbv7nYRO3aBQ/s1600/Green-gift.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrac2TREV4eQsl1gO5sP2fRKzVcr7rcJ8SXiWWPgrc56NDEp3rm5sXgaLDo-vaBB95w3YC_ReOlU09o0TGxa8M2G4l8UJY9tMdzByZB1LBkkWR6ucOeP4TWKwzsQPYe3XWbv7nYRO3aBQ/s320/Green-gift.jpg" width="274" /></span></a><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">For the last week and a half, I haven’t left the house without an armload of gifts. Family, teachers, friends, parties: gifts for everyone. So, while I’m doling out the presents, how about a little something for our planet? I could give the earth some nice compost or a homemade “Please Recycle!” poster. I could promise to be a better steward this year and get my family and friends to improve with me. But I’d like to shop for something that can be used right away, so I will check out environmental organizations on the internet and make a donation. In the past I’ve made contributions through the kid’s schools and activities. I’ve purchased rainforest acres through The Nature Conservancy (I love this program) and trees to be planted in <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Israel</place></country-region> through the JNF. I’ve contributed to other programs as well over the years, but always when a cause comes to me, or in some cases, is forced on me. I’ve never sat back and thought about giving a gift to the earth and where it should go. I will think about it some more, but I will probably end up buying a membership to the Union of Concerned Scientists. I’ve been getting updates from a number of environmental organizations since starting this blog and I really like what I’ve been seeing come in from the UCS. Their emails include concrete things you can do to improve environmental legislation and realistic advice on changing your own habits. They send information on what you can do along with templates for letters, stickers to print out and addresses to send things. And their information comes mostly from the scientific community. I’m a sucker for good research data.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">If you decide to spend a little money on the earth this year, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">here are a few good gift ideas:</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Environmental Defense Fund</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" closure_uid_eudjpv="101" height="320" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s320/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" style="cursor: move;" unselectable="on" width="230" /></span></a><a href="http://www.edf.org/home.cfm"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.edf.org/home.cfm</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.41pounds.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.41pounds.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.audubon.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.audubon.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Jewish National Fund</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.jnf.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.jnf.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">National Wildlife Federation</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.nwf.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.nwf.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Natural Resources Defense Council</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.nrdc.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.nrdc.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">The Nature Conservancy</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.nature.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.nature.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><place w:st="on"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Union</span></place><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> of Concerned Scientists</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.ucsusa.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">These websites are worth checking out regardless of whether or not you want to donate. As I was getting the site addresses it took lots of restraint not to get lost in all the interesting information and projects. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>Happy Holidays!!</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Rhonda</em></span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.</em></span></div><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" closure_uid_eudjpv="141" height="96" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s320/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" style="filter: alpha(opacity=30); left: 558px; mozopacity: 0.3; opacity: 0.3; position: absolute; top: 595px; visibility: hidden;" width="69" /></span></a></div>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-1980196179654630222010-12-17T09:47:00.000-08:002010-12-17T09:49:20.566-08:00This Week I Will Write an Environmental Christmas Song<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><span style="color: #741b47; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Even though I don’t celebrate Christmas, I love the holiday spirit that fills every shop, classroom and home I go to. So, I figured what better in this season of giving than to make sure we give to each other without taking from the planet. Here, wishing you a very Happy <place w:st="on">Holiday</place>, with no cost to the environment, Adam sings:</em></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">The Twelve Days of </span><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Environmentally </span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Conscious Christmas</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzecThPm7jKBTomYEXzQs1E62WSy998w7g-iwXR9LkxT6jRVLXxK8IWdG3cWUv-Nx1RC26-CHldwkJt2AXETw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-size: large;">The Twelve Days of Environmentally Conscious Christmas</span><span style="color: #741b47;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me <br />
a Christmas tree that still has its roots</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me 2 popcorn garlands</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me 3 e-subscriptions</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 4 bicycles</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 5 Chevy Volts</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 6 low flow faucets</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me 7 cleaning lemons</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 8 veggie dinners</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 9 gifts wrapped in comics</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 10 canvas bags</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me 11 LED lights</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 12 rainforest acres</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Day 1</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #741b47;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #2c4126;"><span style="color: #741b47;">You can buy a Christmas tree with roots which can be replanted into the ground so that you can reuse the tree next year. Friends of the Urban Forest of San</span> </span>Francisco<span style="color: #2c4126;"> (<a href="http://www.fuf.net/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Fuf.net</span></a>) <span style="color: #741b47;">rents nontraditional trees, such as Southern Magnolia and Strawberry, for $150, and replants them on city streets once Christmas is over.</span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #2c4126;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Day 2</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #2c4126;"><span style="color: #741b47;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Try some old-fashioned, environmentally friendly garland like popcorn, cranberries and paper chains made from old magazines or junk mail.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Day 7</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Lemons are one of the best natural cleaners around. They clean, disinfect, look pretty and smell fabulous. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Day 9</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Try wrapping gifts in unusual choices like comics or magazine pages. Or scarves and dish cloths that become part of the gift.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Day 10</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Take your own bags to do your shopping so you don’t wind up throwing away a pile of plastic.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #2c4126;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Day 11 </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #2c4126;"><span style="color: #741b47;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">LED lights use 80-90% less energy compared to old light bulbs.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #2c4126;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Day 12</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #2c4126;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Adopt an acre or more of rainforest through the Nature Conservancy. You can choose what region. </span><a href="http://adopt.nature.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://adopt.nature.org/</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="200" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s200/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" width="143" /></span></a><span style="color: #783f04;"><em><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Tikkun olam means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.<span style="color: #2c4126;"></span></span></em></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></div><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-91682259765658411482010-12-12T23:26:00.000-08:002010-12-12T23:26:47.406-08:00This Week I Will Turn My Garden Over<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Every year that I plan on planting I need to add nutrients back into the soil. One of the oldest and best ways to do this is to turn over the soil and let the remains of last year’s crop decompose to nourish next season’s vegetables. This is free, fairly easy when the soil is moist, smells really good and is great exercise.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiASjlGXd1mTBxQmT94aBhaizXoR1kdv42vvUSdmAyb3EZTiqy8GX_Ei6eYUh_x9cN20OXVE5QdoMP3Wn1Mlo_BeQhWeTQhE-KB61I76LXU9-OXKZ1yCv-hoDObrGX8-jWsWyiwQbg2RQ0/s1600/backyardvegetable.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="212" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiASjlGXd1mTBxQmT94aBhaizXoR1kdv42vvUSdmAyb3EZTiqy8GX_Ei6eYUh_x9cN20OXVE5QdoMP3Wn1Mlo_BeQhWeTQhE-KB61I76LXU9-OXKZ1yCv-hoDObrGX8-jWsWyiwQbg2RQ0/s320/backyardvegetable.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Well, this was my plan for this week, but, Dang! The gardener apparently didn’t know my plans to be more eco efficient and threw away all my rotting vegetation while I was out. Now I’ll have to call the city (again!) to see if the compost program is running yet. They’ve been collecting green waste for years now, and we’re supposed to be able to get the compost to use at home. That was the original plan, anyway. I called the first two years of the program to find out about obtaining some of that great garden compost, but they weren’t distributing it yet. That was quite a while ago, so I guess it’s time to check in on the program again. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-PS6lntWHYUX15xN6p0BIY1zVPdcz1Z0A9I58Iap4hgkcsiejwUit8lwVUnHcz4_oqMVZRh4UNgYjded0mMzpvFyv6-SAoFjVOi-pQrXDpkwbaLq_AxaMdrW_rhb6JGserPCoFdBEtbk/s1600/veggarden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="150" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-PS6lntWHYUX15xN6p0BIY1zVPdcz1Z0A9I58Iap4hgkcsiejwUit8lwVUnHcz4_oqMVZRh4UNgYjded0mMzpvFyv6-SAoFjVOi-pQrXDpkwbaLq_AxaMdrW_rhb6JGserPCoFdBEtbk/s200/veggarden.jpg" width="200" /></span></a><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Planting some of your own food is good on so many counts. There’s nothing like fresh picked vegetables for both taste and nutrition. And you can decide how many chemicals you want, or don’t want, to use. I’m constantly surprised at how beautifully everything grows with barely anything more than water. Flowering gardens of all kinds encourage visits from bees and provide them with food. As far as global warming goes, eating what I grow at home means I didn’t drive to get it, I didn’t put it in a plastic bag (or my favorite, the bag within a bag), no one else flew it, trucked it or shipped it anywhere. And plants suck up CO<sub>2</sub> we want to get rid of. I’ve had a veggie garden since I was a kid and I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, growing food is all good.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPHt1VMLw003rHoA_ig3UBqWsV0TPhkqqc3FD2d97zHtjWGRzcY7RxK8ITn6vlidkzMpTdbaSvFqvPjtA6oenxSbUPQq9msZoV6uelclkVfBr-_QbKkdAkaJMPvTI3RdsRzAVutR1yOvQ/s1600/garden+dirt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="118" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPHt1VMLw003rHoA_ig3UBqWsV0TPhkqqc3FD2d97zHtjWGRzcY7RxK8ITn6vlidkzMpTdbaSvFqvPjtA6oenxSbUPQq9msZoV6uelclkVfBr-_QbKkdAkaJMPvTI3RdsRzAVutR1yOvQ/s200/garden+dirt.jpg" width="200" /></span></a><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I’m not going to plan what to grow this year quite yet. I’m just assuring that when the spring comes, I’ll be ready and so will my soil. I also have some composting/soil questions I’ll look into this week. Like, why can’t I just toss my green waste straight into the garden area – or can I? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Here are some articles that give more detail about gardens and the environment:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.ezgarden.com/Articles/Benefits-of-Vegetable-Gardening/Protect-Environment-with-Vegetable-Garden.aspx"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.ezgarden.com/Articles/Benefits-of-Vegetable-Gardening/Protect-Environment-with-Vegetable-Garden.aspx</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwln-lede-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=4"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwln-lede-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=4</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">The <place w:st="on"><placename w:st="on">President's</placename> <placetype w:st="on">garden</placetype></place>:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://environment.about.com/od/greenlivingdesign/a/obama_garden.htm"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://environment.about.com/od/greenlivingdesign/a/obama_garden.htm</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"></span></div><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s200/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" width="143" /></a>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-72499487565742565952010-12-05T14:25:00.000-08:002010-12-05T14:25:18.397-08:00This Week I Will Not Eat Meat<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBLuRPV7Nwd5rVQgD_QYJTF429DY7iajkmAFXR365n-qgL0H279vifyYFWSQdvklynY2X1d_4v7VV7ABBbdzozzA1BlDgvIefz1yYQB4U4HV9mguiEXme5ByCRGS2X0xQraxKXst28HJQ/s1600/ag_beef2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="91" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBLuRPV7Nwd5rVQgD_QYJTF429DY7iajkmAFXR365n-qgL0H279vifyYFWSQdvklynY2X1d_4v7VV7ABBbdzozzA1BlDgvIefz1yYQB4U4HV9mguiEXme5ByCRGS2X0xQraxKXst28HJQ/s200/ag_beef2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span style="color: #4c1130;">Back in the day when people ate their own chickens and cattle ranchers drove cattle hundreds of miles on foot to where they could be sold, meat was an accompaniment to a meal. It wasn’t exactly a luxury, but it was harder to get – more work, more money. People ate livestock more sparingly, filling their plates mostly with seasonal vegetables and cooked grains. Of course we now know that this is not only the most economical way to eat, it’s the healthiest.</span> <div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">But something happened in between. Meat became a symbol for prosperity. Providing for your family meant “putting meat on the table”. By the time I was growing up, a dinner plate had a large portion of beef, poultry or pork, a starch and a sad little pile of watery cooked frozen vegetables.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-size: large;">What does this have to do with the environment?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">A lot. As the demand for meat grows the livestock industry is wreaking havoc on our environment, being a major contributor to land degradation, climate change, water shortage/pollution and loss of biodiversity. The following points are based on excerpts from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Livestock’s Long Shadow – Environmental Issues and Options</i>, a 416 page report from The Livestock, Environment and Development (LEAD) Initiative. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTDyzu-FSip8gVYyxNzD0jhKhEFYsR5xJWC_8xwGt-vXsqOEWQfImwgDoW4cJzrZozL4cYvG-FsrLcnMOWyPeFfpgp8k2-KjOriprKozNe56sJUUIBvS8yQI1EAsl7IEUuoqg6aG-gUdI/s1600/Cattle+farm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTDyzu-FSip8gVYyxNzD0jhKhEFYsR5xJWC_8xwGt-vXsqOEWQfImwgDoW4cJzrZozL4cYvG-FsrLcnMOWyPeFfpgp8k2-KjOriprKozNe56sJUUIBvS8yQI1EAsl7IEUuoqg6aG-gUdI/s200/Cattle+farm.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="color: #4c1130;">Livestock grazing and feedcrop production accounts for 70 percent of all agricultural land use and 30 percent of the land surface of the planet.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Due to enteric fermentation, manure and deforestation for pastures, the livestock sector is responsible for 18 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. This is more than transport. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">The livestock sector emits 37 percent of the world’s anthropogenic methane, which has 23 times more global warming potential than CO<sub>2</sub>.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Livestock are responsible for 64 percent anthropogenic ammonia emissions, which contribute significantly to acid rain and ecosystem acidification.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">The livestock sector is responsible for 8 percent of global human water use.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Pollution from animal wastes, antibiotics and hormones, feedcrop chemical pesticides and fertilizers, and pasture sediments are a major ecological problem.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Livestock production is expected to double by 2050.</span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">I should point out that the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Livestock’s Long Shadow</i> report isn’t all doom and gloom. It details ways in which livestock producers can manage their operations to mitigate the impact and damage of meat production. It also recommends sensible regulations to achieve this. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-size: large;">So, that’s the industry’s problem, right?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">In large part, yes. But we’re the ones stuck breathing cow farts. Which brings me to the wisdom of reducing the demand for meat. The less meat we eat, the fewer livestock animals are needed to support us. So, this week I will not buy or eat meat. I will have nice vegetarian meals with my family and see how it goes. (I have to admit upfront, that I’m not a big meat eater to start with and I’m expecting it to be pretty easy, except for listening to my kids whine.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">I planned to include more sources, but nearly everything I read was based on the same extensive report, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Livestock’s Long Shadow – Environmental Issues and Options. </i>You can download all 19 megabytes or just the executive summary. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Here are both links:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><em>Livestock’s Long Shadow – Environmental Issues and Options</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Full text:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a0701e/a0701e.pdf"><span style="color: blue;">ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a0701e/a0701e.pdf</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Summary:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a0701e/a0701e00.pdf"><span style="color: blue;">ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a0701e/a0701e00.pdf</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #783f04;">“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="height: 273px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 185px;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s320/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" width="230" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"></span></div>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-37329374643917811362010-12-03T09:44:00.000-08:002010-12-03T09:44:16.722-08:00Freecycle Update<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Earlier this week I signed up for my local Freecycle group, through Yahoo Groups. I was happy to find there is one in <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Pleasanton</place></city> with over 3000 members, so no worries about extra driving. The interface was very straight forward and listing was easy. I listed my display easels and waited. I waited to write my update until I got any responses, but nothing showed up. Then, just before writing, I checked my new Yahoo mail and realized I wasn’t forwarding to my main account. I had 186 messages in my inbox, 10 of them requesting the easels! And no spam. Pretty cool.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzVh-pAAdv5OLu3YN9bQ8izrq_hhtvOtO-nDvRJR0B3K_ZLolgr9U3MIRS6NeI-EpfgX80chIeuyaLd5CzxmjFOhGSElrGp0S7QqdOXm81g-IBdmrYEOuz3QF-DGHahVSN99T7luJYH0/s1600/freecycle_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="87" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzVh-pAAdv5OLu3YN9bQ8izrq_hhtvOtO-nDvRJR0B3K_ZLolgr9U3MIRS6NeI-EpfgX80chIeuyaLd5CzxmjFOhGSElrGp0S7QqdOXm81g-IBdmrYEOuz3QF-DGHahVSN99T7luJYH0/s320/freecycle_logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">I also requested a kiln, but so far no offers.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">I listed with Exchango as well, which has a slightly different format, but there was nothing local and there weren’t many listings. Exchango seems like it will be good when it catches on. Or maybe it’s better on the East coast, that’s where most of the listings were.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Anyway, big thumbs up on Freecycle. At least for my little sampling of it. It’s a great way to send your stuff off to neighbors who want it. There were even a couple of people I knew in my inbox, which felt really nice.</span></div>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-72067240896864647772010-11-27T15:00:00.000-08:002010-11-27T15:00:24.550-08:00This Week I Will Use Freecycle<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzVh-pAAdv5OLu3YN9bQ8izrq_hhtvOtO-nDvRJR0B3K_ZLolgr9U3MIRS6NeI-EpfgX80chIeuyaLd5CzxmjFOhGSElrGp0S7QqdOXm81g-IBdmrYEOuz3QF-DGHahVSN99T7luJYH0/s1600/freecycle_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="87" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzVh-pAAdv5OLu3YN9bQ8izrq_hhtvOtO-nDvRJR0B3K_ZLolgr9U3MIRS6NeI-EpfgX80chIeuyaLd5CzxmjFOhGSElrGp0S7QqdOXm81g-IBdmrYEOuz3QF-DGHahVSN99T7luJYH0/s320/freecycle_logo.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-size: large;">I’m still reading</span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cradle to Cradle </i></span><span style="color: #4c1130;">which is about rethinking how we manufacture, accumulate and toss away stuff. I’m on the problems and looking forward to the solutions, but so far it’s very interesting. And this reading has encouraged me to make learning about and using Freecycle my next endeavor. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s200/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" width="143" /></a><span style="color: #4c1130;">Not only does Freecycle have a cool name, it sounds like a great idea. It’s basically a swapping-stuff-for-free network. You sign up online and trade stuff in person. Like Craig’s List, but without money. I’ve briefly checked out the website and put some things aside that I will give away. (I have display easels leftover from the Bat Mitzvah) My plan is to figure out how to sign up, list my items and see what happens next. I will also look for something I need, to avoid buying it new. Maybe books, maybe a small kiln. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">There should be a Freecycle in your area. I’m going to try to trade as close as possible to where I live. It seems counterproductive to drive much to save a book from the landfill.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-size: large;"><em>Why Bother?</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong><span style="color: #274e13;">Why not just buy new and throw the old stuff out? </span></strong></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><em>because</em> there is an environmental cost of manufacturing any new item, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><em>because</em> there is a monetary and social advantage to trading with neighbors, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><em>because</em> holding on to things longer encourages the manufacture of lasting products </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><em>and because</em> whatever we reuse doesn’t go to landfills.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Here’s the Freecycle Link:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.freecycle.org/"><span style="color: #073763;">http://www.freecycle.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.</em></span></div><span style="color: #4c1130;"></span>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-42755248164880015962010-11-19T15:08:00.000-08:002010-11-19T15:08:09.109-08:00This Week I Will Pick Out One Book to Read on Sustainable Living<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp2ynH7egohJCTe26fc4oLxn-ZnAZK_ki55PxaQyZp7wI23Bg6SEfd49DA7N2MCclEBfA09ulujlk0K6KVcVkyPaeRguUk9C7EXD0wbxo_19G9L5CQTk7XTndHCNAus1Jj0wG3PVfiDtE/s1600/cradle_to_cradle%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp2ynH7egohJCTe26fc4oLxn-ZnAZK_ki55PxaQyZp7wI23Bg6SEfd49DA7N2MCclEBfA09ulujlk0K6KVcVkyPaeRguUk9C7EXD0wbxo_19G9L5CQTk7XTndHCNAus1Jj0wG3PVfiDtE/s200/cradle_to_cradle%255B1%255D.jpg" width="123" /></a><span style="color: #4c1130;">Many of us will be traveling or entertaining this week, so it’s probably a bad time to try changing major habits. However, with most everyone off for Thanksgiving, it’s a great time to read a book. I’m going to use this opportunity to get some more in depth information on environmental issues, seek out a new viewpoint and get some fresh inspiration. For this week, I’ve chosen to read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cradle to Cradle – Remaking the Way We Make Things</i> by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. I picked this book because it keeps coming up in other contexts focusing on sustainability. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cradle to Cradle</i> seems like it will offer a new, practical mindset that runs contrary to the current “throw it away” one. Written by an architect and a chemist, I’m looking forward to reading about their alternatives to built in obsolescence and toxic manufacturing processes. Interestingly, even the physical book itself is made of a new material that is “waterproof, extremely durable…(and) can be broken down and circulated infinitely in industrial cycles<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">–</i>made or remade as ‘paper’ or other products.”</span> <div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">A couple of months ago, I read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">No Impact Man</i> by Colin Beavan which was informative, extremely entertaining and well written. It’s the autobiographical account of how Colin, his wife and toddler lived with almost no environmental impact for a year. In <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Manhattan</city></place>. I definitely recommend this for light reading on serious subjects. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOiq7m0ehyphenhyphenEEsic5cyybITD9hfnzJRCN5m9MuIR4_booH_Ylm9botfSx0gHb8nDbmmBVkV0JcHyaTLYoKL2RXX2TQvqI6JKcsI7IzqXnquAtvj_DQ0cViGcCUBFV2yvqBkPbrMJ8e-C-w/s1600/image_cradle_vision%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOiq7m0ehyphenhyphenEEsic5cyybITD9hfnzJRCN5m9MuIR4_booH_Ylm9botfSx0gHb8nDbmmBVkV0JcHyaTLYoKL2RXX2TQvqI6JKcsI7IzqXnquAtvj_DQ0cViGcCUBFV2yvqBkPbrMJ8e-C-w/s1600/image_cradle_vision%255B1%255D.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">If you’re not up to reading this week, just pick something out that seems interesting to you. Order it, download it or purchase it and save it for a better time.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">If you’re not up to reading at all, try a video. There are some really great environmental documentaries on all kinds of subjects. There is a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">No Impact Man </i>video that compliments the book, and it’s also very entertaining. I’m going to try to make time for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">An Inconvenient Truth</i>. Yup, it’s supposed to be boring, but it’s supposed to be really good, too.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">And if a documentary feels like too much, try one of The Story of Stuff Project’s You Tube videos. Or all of them. They’re cartoon-style shorts, loaded with information. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.storyofstuff.org/"><span style="color: #0b5394;">http://www.storyofstuff.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqZMTY4V7Ts"><span style="color: #0b5394;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqZMTY4V7Ts</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM"><span style="color: #0b5394;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">My goal for the week is to broaden my knowledge of environmental issues and/or deepen my understanding of specific issues. This week I’m going to read a book. If you join me, please let me know what you’ve chosen.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Have a very happy Thanksgiving!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">~Rhonda</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Sources for Environmental Books and <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Reading</place></city> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_environmental_books"><span style="color: #0b5394;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_environmental_books</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.pitt.edu/~super1/Science/googlebooksenvironmentissues.htm"><span style="color: #0b5394;">http://www.pitt.edu/~super1/Science/googlebooksenvironmentissues.htm</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.grinningplanet.com/6001/environmental-books.htm"><span style="color: #0b5394;">http://www.grinningplanet.com/6001/environmental-books.htm</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.enviroliteracy.org/"><span style="color: #0b5394;">http://www.enviroliteracy.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.sierraclub.org/education/websites.asp"><span style="color: #0b5394;">http://www.sierraclub.org/education/websites.asp</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><em><span style="color: #783f04;">“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.</span></em></div>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-3622687655024604042010-11-18T20:22:00.000-08:002010-11-18T20:22:14.129-08:00No Junk Mail Update<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">This is a lot easier than I expected. I was able to do most of what I needed online. Websites like </span><a href="http://www.stopjunkmail.org/"><span style="color: #4c1130;">http://www.stopjunkmail.org/</span></a><span style="color: #4c1130;"> have forms to print out and send. I have a small pile of outgoing mail waiting to be sent and I’ll continue to contact businesses to stop catalogs individually. Then I just have to wait 3-6 months and see if my junk mail goes away. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Also, I’m still driving less. My son and my dog are so excited about biking I actually drove way less this week. </span></div>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-48375631393721683852010-11-14T19:11:00.000-08:002010-11-14T19:11:44.794-08:00This Week I Will Stop My Junk Mail<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxclzcDjhBXS3_K8q_L8mT-GEotgy-YajKJzd3KQKCE7PxxokydnQRGXrEXJqAiSC6Dg0_1z3ffRh8qHZgXyMPlU7Pcwkks4XavyL85hl0U_rcWGbWd7hvKdwbFT1nalSfxcklh9aLS5I/s1600/Junk+Mail+B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxclzcDjhBXS3_K8q_L8mT-GEotgy-YajKJzd3KQKCE7PxxokydnQRGXrEXJqAiSC6Dg0_1z3ffRh8qHZgXyMPlU7Pcwkks4XavyL85hl0U_rcWGbWd7hvKdwbFT1nalSfxcklh9aLS5I/s320/Junk+Mail+B.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Last week's junk mail.</em></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">I’ve stopped my junk mail once or twice before, but it always seems to creep back. Lately it’s been shocking how much there is. I feel like every time I order something online, that company sends me a snail mail catalog. Whenever I sign the kids up for a class or get an estimate for a house repair I’m soon inundated with related junk mail. In any one week (see photo) I get huge catalogs I never ordered, dozens of applications and subscription notices and a small mountain of flyers, ads and coupons. We do most of our bills online. Almost no one writes anymore. So most of our full mailbox goes straight into the blue waste bin. Except that first we have to sort through the pile to make sure there’s nothing important and shred all those credit card applications. Junk mail is a waste of resources – and a big waste of time.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">This week I will follow the links below and take steps to reduce my junk mail. I’ll let you know how it goes and I’ll update future blogs when I can tell how well the steps have worked. The junk mail photo shown is my actual junk for a week. I hope it gets better!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="color: #073763; font-size: large;">Why Bother?</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><span style="color: #274e13;">Junk Mail Hurts the Environment </span></strong></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span>It takes more than 100 million trees to produce the total volume of <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">America</place></country-region>’s yearly junk mail. </span></div><ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Creating and shipping junk mail produces more greenhouse gas emissions than 9 million cars. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">About 28 billion gallons of water are wasted to produce and recycle junk mail each year.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">The pulp and paper industry is the third-largest industrial greenhouse gas emitter (after the chemical and steel industries).</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Junk mail inks have high concentrations of heavy metals.</span></li>
</ul><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><shapetype coordsize="21600,21600" filled="f" id="_x0000_t75" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" stroked="f"><stroke joinstyle="miter"></stroke><formulas><f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"></f><f eqn="sum @0 1 0"></f><f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"></f><f eqn="prod @2 1 2"></f><f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"></f><f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"></f><f eqn="sum @0 0 1"></f><f eqn="prod @6 1 2"></f><f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"></f><f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"></f><f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"></f><f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"></f></formulas><path gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect" o:extrusionok="f"></path><lock aspectratio="t" v:ext="edit"></lock></shapetype><shape alt="" id="_x0000_s1027" o:allowoverlap="f" style="height: 75pt; margin-left: -90pt; margin-top: -248.2pt; mso-position-horizontal-relative: text; mso-position-horizontal: absolute; mso-position-vertical-relative: line; mso-position-vertical: absolute; mso-wrap-distance-bottom: 1.5pt; mso-wrap-distance-left: 1.5pt; mso-wrap-distance-right: 1.5pt; mso-wrap-distance-top: 1.5pt; position: absolute; width: 131.25pt; z-index: 2;" type="#_x0000_t75"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><imagedata o:title="insufficientstamp" src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\Rhonda\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.jpg"></imagedata><wrap type="square"></wrap></span></shape><span style="color: #274e13;"><strong>Junk Mail Really Is a Waste</strong> </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span>Every year American households receive a total of 104.7 billion pieces of junk mail, which requires 6.5 million tons of paper.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span>Junk mail in the <place w:st="on"><country-region w:st="on">U.S.</country-region></place> accounts for about 30% of all the mail delivered in the world.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span>Approximately 44% of junk mail goes to landfills unopened. </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; line-height: 16.8pt; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjRJF9JiB3fZZcb5fLLuGccotU-nPOBfavbwAjfqt9HLxBDG2viZGyN_PUL8UDc7tRLIAmRMDEP5KEPXPn3tHPQ_rNbIS2MOYbYqsd2aSmO9MYge9KwmBR40sXJnhtjXZ89BEOtSfuUu4/s1600/Junk+Mail+A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="123" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjRJF9JiB3fZZcb5fLLuGccotU-nPOBfavbwAjfqt9HLxBDG2viZGyN_PUL8UDc7tRLIAmRMDEP5KEPXPn3tHPQ_rNbIS2MOYbYqsd2aSmO9MYge9KwmBR40sXJnhtjXZ89BEOtSfuUu4/s200/Junk+Mail+A.jpg" width="200" /></a><shape alt="" id="_x0000_s1026" o:allowoverlap="f" style="height: 75pt; margin-left: -90pt; margin-top: -248.2pt; mso-position-horizontal-relative: text; mso-position-horizontal: absolute; mso-position-vertical-relative: line; mso-position-vertical: absolute; mso-wrap-distance-bottom: 1.5pt; mso-wrap-distance-left: 1.5pt; mso-wrap-distance-right: 1.5pt; mso-wrap-distance-top: 1.5pt; position: absolute; width: 131.25pt; z-index: 1;" type="#_x0000_t75"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><imagedata o:title="insufficientstamp" src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\Rhonda\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.jpg"></imagedata><wrap type="square"></wrap></span></shape><span style="color: #4c1130;"><strong><span style="color: #274e13;">Junk Mail Costs Us Money</span></strong> </span></div><ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">$320 million of local taxes are used to dispose of junk mail each year. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Transporting junk mail costs $550 million a year. </span></li>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>Helpful Links</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s1600/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="320" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkShI-GQktdWIKsxtqja60IqGX0xwe_rNINiErvKx05HxlAkxy1yeeU_hFdY5CdCUPlaETVo7aVvx4tkDrCBKxr9yRyHJxLIqpeQvDVMw9mXoMta46duxdvejQMOO1aTZ0C3mZcnp-JQ/s320/Tikkun+OlamSMALLGifTAN.gif" width="230" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
<a href="http://www.donotmail.org/section.php?id=3"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.donotmail.org/section.php?id=3</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">More information on the problems with junk mail</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.stopjunkmail.org/"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.stopjunkmail.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Download a PDF with instructions for stopping junk mail</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.ecocycle.org/junkmail/index.cfm"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.ecocycle.org/junkmail/index.cfm</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Instructions for stopping junk mail</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/18530707/ns/today-money"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/18530707/ns/today-money</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">More information on stopping junk mail and identity theft</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.41pounds.org/"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.41pounds.org</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Service that does it for you</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://www.optoutprescreen.com/"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">https://www.optoutprescreen.com</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Opt out of credit card offers</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><a href="http://www.fightidentitytheft.com/junkmail_labels.html"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">http://www.fightidentitytheft.com/junkmail_labels.html</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Helpful mailing labels</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><em><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Tikkun olam means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.</span></em></div><span style="color: #4c1130;"></span></div>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-71022945774159842082010-11-10T09:53:00.000-08:002010-11-10T09:54:20.882-08:00This Week I Will Drive Less -- Wednesday Update<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 120%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><em>Day 5</em></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 120%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Okay, I’m finally on track. I got my sneakers on and my bike out yesterday and moved under my own power until 2:45. Then I had to take Adam to class in <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Livermore</place></city> and rather than do the round trip twice, I stayed close by and did a tight loop of errands. Much better.</span>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925419567444385411.post-85720262231821537782010-11-08T19:51:00.000-08:002010-11-08T21:18:51.328-08:00This Week I Will Drive Less -- Monday Update<span style="color: #4c1130;"><em>Day 3</em></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;">Well, this really is harder than I thought. Saturday I planned to get up nice and early and walk to Peet’s with whoever was up. But no one wanted to walk with me. And Scott was taking the car anyway, because he had errands to run after coffee. Okay, well that’s sort of carpooling, right? At least I would take my reusable coffee cup and not make trash. At Peet’s they passed my cute insulated cup along for my latte and made my latte in a paper cup. Then they offered to pour it in my cup for me. Hmmm. Okay, there were still things I could do. I would go home and get my bike ready for next week. I keep it in pretty good shape, so I just needed to dig it out, find my basket for carrying stuff and pump the tires. I finally got to my bike this morning, couldn’t find the basket and my pump wasn’t working. I put the bike back in the garage and got to work.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;">What I did do was walk to school today, which I usually do, and passed on all errands until I was going out for school pick up. Not much, but<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>boy am I aware of every mile I drive! I’ll try again tomorrow and aim to get out on my bike. </span>Tikkun Olamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16270688615113577442noreply@blogger.com0