Wander With Wild Things

I always wanted a treehouse. My very own little den nestled in the branches of a backyard sugar maple, where I could sequester myself next to wrens and squirrels and leaves and breezes. On the other hand, I have always been afraid of heights -- I would climb trees, but only the really easy ones with nice big stout branches and plenty of wide forks in which to sit. I was forever caught between my desire to reside in a cave of wood and air and light and my aversion to being suspended above the ground.

Well, I am caught no more!

A Wisconsin architect has been building stunningly beautiful houses out of whole trees. While he does still kill some trees, he uses smaller trees than are conventionally logged, opening up spaces in the forest for understory plants to flourish, and he also uses a lot of deadfall wood. The whole trees are stronger than cut lumber as well as cheaper to use (no sawmill required!). As a bonus, by not cutting into the tree, the carbon sequestered in the wood is kept in, instead of released by the lumbering process.

In the end, of course, you also get a home that is not only beautiful, but unique, strong, and full of character and natural grace, as well as the knowledge that you have used a process that is better for the forest, better for the atmosphere, and better for you. This kind of innovative thinking and creative engineering is what is going to change us for the better and it's what we need a lot more of!

Where can I send my order?

You stand on it, live in it, work in it, play on it, anchor things with it, and drive on it. It's concrete and it's ubiquitous and unavoidable. Its production also puts out more carbon dioxide (CO2) than the whole of the aviation industry. Ouch. That hurts even more than stubbing your toe on a block of it...

Why is it so gassy? Well, it's made from clay and limestone, both of which are usually strip mined. So you have emissions from heavy mining equipment, plus the abysmal destruction associated with strip and open pit mining, then transport to the concrete production facility. There, these materials are heated up to hellacious temperatures, producing even more CO2 during combustion.

Each ton of concrete CAUSES EMISSIONS OF 1.4 tons of CO2

That's not an equation we should accept. But getting rid of concrete...well, not such a realistic goal at the moment. Or any time in the foreseeable future.

Happily, some engineers in London jumped on the problem and came up with a new way to make concrete using some non-carbon-based materials. Not only that, but these can be processed much cooler and so require less energy to become the concrete itself.

New equation:
One ton of concrete SOAKS UP 1.1 tons of CO2

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.................that is my sigh of contentment -- are we producing this stuff worldwide yet?? Hurry up already!

Check it out at the creators' website.

After the most recent Friday Fun Fact, one reader asked how to set up a beehive in her own backyard. Given near total losses in my state and many others of honeybee populations, we are well-served to do all we can to help these important insects to thrive.

There are actually options available depending on the level of involvement you are seeking. First of course, you can build your own hive, order bees, and maintain it yourself. Not only can you produce up to 60 lbs of honey a year (tasty!!), but you will also see your garden flourish as well as bolstering the health of plants within your bees foraging range.

Resources:
An excellent page put together by the University of Georgia.
Step by step from eHow.
A "hive" of information from bees-on-the-net.com

Another way to get all the benefits with none of the work is to contact a local beekeeper. Often, they are willing to maintain a hive on your property and all you have to do is sit back and let the bees do their thing. The beekeeper may then just stop by once a month or so and take care of the hive.

You will have to do a bit of your own Google work to find this one. There is a list of beekeepers by state on bees-on-the-net (above). If you live in NC, the NC State Beekeepers Association website has all you need to know!

On a side note, if you want something even easier than honeybees, look into providing a home for orchard mason bees. You can build a simple house for them (right) as they do not live in hives. They are a very mild-mannered bee and also pollinate flowers, fruits and vegetables.

Think about it seriously, wanderers, as we depend on these animals for our food supply and, in relation, economic wellbeing. Plus, all your neighbours will be so jealous of your incredible gardens -- and really, who DOESN'T want to make their neigbours jealous of your mad skills???

I suppose I'm a cliche but I love spring because THINGS BLOOM. And I'm a bloom addict. It's like discovering treasure every time I see a new flower emerge from its tightly curled bud. I've also been working hard to put as many blooming NATIVE things in my yard as I can afford (and as will survive...). Sadly, especially in the big box stores like Lowe's and Home Depot, native plants can be hard to come by and they seem to have no qualms about STILL selling highly invasive plants like privet and English ivy, both of which are heavily documented taking over native forests and strangling plants that provide important habitat and food for wildlife. Why it is still even legal to sell them I have no idea. Especially when there are so many beautiful native options! Want a hedge? In my region, wax myrtles are cheap, insanely fast growing, hardy, and attractive. Like most native plants, they require less water and attention than exotics, which means you get to spend more time admiring your garden and less time cursing at weeds and maintaining it. I don't know about you, but I'm SO into the admiring and so NOT into the maintenance. It takes a little initial hunting, but google your local native plant society and you can find nurseries which sell native plants. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the riches there! Without further ado, I wanted to share some photos I've taken of what blooms in my yard to give you a taste of these gems.

Top: Foxglove on a rainy day.
Middle and Bottom: Native wisteria (different from the Asian kind you commonly see growing wild)



Butterfly daffodills


Top: Forsythia
Bottom: Purple phlox


Crocuses -- the first to bloom signaling winter's end


Top: My favourite -- lily of the valley
Bottom: Wild coreopsis


Verbena and the giant bumblebee moths that love them


Top: Fuschias (ok, I actually don't think this is native, but it was contained in a hanging basket and it is not invasive*)
Middle and Bottom: Another that I LOVE -- lantana



Day lilies


And my little mistake -- I thought this one was a native magnolia when I bought it. Sadly, it has turned out to be a Japanese magnolia, much to my chagrin. Like the fuschias though, they are not invasive* and it made a cool picture.


*Exotic = "ain't from around here"
Invasive = "ain't from around here and kills/crowds out the important stuff that IS from around here"

Have a great idea to help the environment that would work on a community level?

Want to win $20,000 for it?

Then enter the Green Effect contest from National Geographic and SunChips.

I actually think this is a pretty good idea to encourage creative thinking and make conservation fun and feasible. The emphasis is on idea which can be implemented on a local scale, "small steps [that] add up to meaningful progress and positive change."

And who DOESN'T want postiive change these days? I sure do, since the only change I see is the handfull of nickels leftover from my paycheck after I pay the bills. So get those mental wheels turning and who knows, you could end up with a grant to make real change happen!!

Traveling this weekend left me thinking about how we can make our trips more effecient and less wasteful without annoying the snot out of ourselves. So here are a few easy tips for getting to and getting around the places you want to be without screwing them up in the process.

*USE taxis, buses, trains, trams. Not only do you save money on fuel, but you reduce your impact AND the amount of time you spend lost in some random place. Even better, walk or ride a bike and get a perspective you would have missed zipping by in a vehicle.

*In hotels, don't have the maid service come in every day. Do you change your sheets and towels at home every day? Yeah right, don't lie, no you don't. This saves a TON of water and energy every time you hang that 'do not disturb' card. Plus, no one that you don't know is entering your hotel room and exposing your belongings to outsiders.

*Hiking? Always stay on trails and paths -- straying increases erosion and you may be unknowingly trampling plants and animals that cannot survive your clodhoppers.

*Reuse water bottles by refilling from a tap or one large central source instead of buying a new bottle of water every time. It's also a great place to stick travel stickers!!

*Turn off all the lights when you leave your hotel room -- the switch is right by the door and is easy to flip on as soon as you get back.

*When eating out, you really don't need to grab 42 napkins when you pick up your food. One or two will do and will cut down on waste.

*Choose your activites carefully. Hike through the forest instead of riding in a Jeep or ATV -- these vehicles do a LOT of damage every time they pass through a habitat and eat fuel as well as squishing plants and animals. Sports like golf hog resources and land, so if you must partake, choose a course that uses recycled water and preserves habitat for wildlife.

*Only grab those brochures or maps if you are really going to use them, and recycle it when you are done.

*If you see trash lying on the ground, pick up at least one piece and dispose of it properly, every little bit helps.

*Don't patronize hotels/resorts/activity providers who do not practice at least basic conservation measures to save water and energy. If a giant resort has been built smack in the middle of pristine forest habitat and is lit up like an alien landing strip and is covered by concrete, you can bet your money is going right towards habitat carnage. Try to choose businesses who support the local community and are pro-active about conservation.

*Don't buy souvenirs like shells, butterflies, meats, wood products or other items which may come from imperiled species or habitats. Take lots of photos (digital, of course, almost unlimited reuse and doesn't consume paper or chemicals) and try to buy directly from the person who makes the craft or item of your choice, should you choose to buy (and always buy local, of course).

*Don't underestimate the great time you can have closer to home -- a local state park or waterway undoubtedly holds adventures all its own and will be cheaper and much more effecient to get to.

Sounds impossible, eh? You know how it goes -- your cell phone dies mid-sentence, the camera conks right as you take that once-in-a-lifetime shot or your mp3 player quits in the middle of your favourite song (DAMMIT!!). Next step, plug it in, sucking power from the ever-present grid, which costs you money and burns up resources. Right?

Right?

Well, my dear wanderers, we are FREE AT LAST! Ok, at least in those particular situations. We now have charger options whose power source is free!! and impact-less (aside from production of the actual unit of course).

Want really cheap and basic? Go for hand-produced crank power for your cellphone with the Sidewinder.

Want a little (or a lot!) more power and control? Go for a portable
solar powered charger.

And my personal favourite, use your booty-shakin' powers to fire up your electronics with the Dance Charge. Brings a whole new meaning to the "electric slide." Yes, do try to control your hilarity at my sheer pun brilliance...

We hear a million times in a million places to "just do X to live greener!" But we can't afford to, don't have time to, don't have the know-how to do ALL those things and how on earth do we figure out which ones have a meaningful impact and which ones are window dressing???

Well, here are five suggestions, some even free, that WILL make a real difference and are completely doable for just about any homeowner.

(1) Stop "vampire" appliances! Any device with a "ready" light, standby mode (i.e. clocks on microwaves and radios), or screensavers, are sucking up power 24/7. This can account for up to 25% of your power bill!!! You can either pull the plug, or you can get a "smart" power strip that will shut things off for you when not in use (more here).



(2) Have an older toilet? These greedy buggers can suck down up to seven gallons with one flush. Now I am not a fan of new super low-flow toilets (some things you just NEED water to get rid of!!!) but more than two gallons is excessive -- just fill a two-liter bottle with water, put it in your toilet tank and you'll cut water use by 1/2 gallon with every flush.

(3) Programmable thermostats -- buy one and use one if you can! A nice one might set you back about $20 and can save you hundreds of dollars a year. By reducing energy demand when you are sleeping or not at home, you also pocket plenty of extra cash.

(4) Showerheads -- go low-flow. This doesn't have to mean low pressure, new models do a great job of using air to still give you a lovely water pressure during your bathing.

(5) Reuse greywater. Greywater is just any water that has already been used once -- most sink water can easily be reused, primarily for flushing toilets. SinkPositive is a great product I've just discovered if you are looking to replace a sink in your bathroom. Drain water goes straight into your toilet tank and is reused for flushing -- no one needs drinking quality water in their toilet, what a waste!! Another (easier and cheaper, but slightly illegal according to most building codes so keep it to yourself) way to do this is simply replumb your sink drain with a flexible pipe that connects to your toilet tank. Very easy to do if the two are located close to each other.

There's lots of "low-hanging fruit" out there, wanderers, so get creative with ways to reuse resources and know that it doesn't have to cost you a bunch of money -- just adjusting an old habit or two and often even saving you money, which is something we all need these days!

Compact florescent light bulbs (CFLs): great for saving energy and last much longer than conventional lightbulbs. By all means, buy them and use them in the place of the old incandescent bulbs. They even have great natural light now, no more harsh florescent glare.

But.



All CFLs contain mercury, which we all know is bad to release into the environment. It is toxic to humans and animals -- put in landfills, it leaches through the soil into groundwater and you drink it. Once it's in the water, it is also bioavailable to fish and, through the food web, is integrated into their tissues, so when you eat them, you get an extra dose of "quicksilver." Mmmm-mmmm, mercury! Well, crap, you say, what the heck am I supposed to do with the stupid things if they burn out or break then?!

Green Guardian is a great start for any questions on how to dispose of pretty much anything you can think of -- for CFLs, just click on "florescent bulbs" in the dropdown list. Your county will also have an answer for you.

And just in case you're feeling particularly lazy (hey, I don't like working too hard either, you never know when it might kill you!), I've got some ready options for you right here!

(1) Home Depot has a nationwide CFL recycling program, just drop 'em off
(2) Check your local Ace Hardware, availability may vary.
(3) My favourite because you don't even have to leave home: Waste Management's LampTracker program -- they send you cartons, you pack up your bulbs and just mail them back. Think of it as Netflix for CFL's!

So sorry, so sorry for my lapse in posting. Travels, work, they all get in the way of what SHOULD be the most important part of my life -- entertaining YOU!

So back on the 9th of February, I believe I promised you how we could solve a few of the ills of parking lots and their rather catastrophic levels of runoff. Well, look no further, wanderers, for the answer is a simple one: use smart design to let nature do all the work for you for free!

The concept is very simple, as shown by this diagram.



You dig a hole. Install a pipe that is an underdrain for excess. Dump in some gravel, some nice sandy/loamy stuff on top of that that drains well. Then plant some native plants that like living in soggy places. Voila! Lovely stormwater control that filters AND drains water far better and much more prettily than any conventional engineered solution!

We are all used to the stupid useless landscaped islands that are standard issue for parking lots -- some pine straw or mulch with a thirsty looking tree or some scruffy bushes sitting there. They are usually elevated above the lot surface and mounded so that little if any water is actually absorbed by plants and soil. Each one a collassal waste of time and money.

You can easily and cheaply install a raingarden in the place of each of these during initial construction or retrofit later. Key elements: (1) The elevation of the soil surface must be slightly lower than the lot itself. (2) Vegetation must be appropriate for wet environments so it doesn't drown. (3) Curbs must be notched to allow water entry into each patch of raingarden. To the right is a great example of parking lot application.

So why aren't these already all over the place if they are so easy?? Simple: developers and engineers seem to be rabidly afraid of change, even when it saves them money and looks better. The train of thought appears to be that the way things must be done is the way they have been done for the past 30 or 40 years. But you don't have to stand for this. Call or email your local government, city planner, county commissioner and ask that these raingardens be required in all new development. They are an effective and beautiful addition to residential lots too; you can easily add one to your own yard, let your creativity run wild and set an example for your community. Wouldn't you love to have this beautiful garden in your yard? I sure would!

It's hard to be insightful, educational, and entertaining when running on exhaustion and dark chocolate M&M's (Best. Invention. Ever). So I will totally cheat and just point you towards someone else's hard work! Check out Ideal Bite: this snappy little service not only gives you a website full of ideas, but will send you a daily email full of tips on how to live just a little more gently and a little less high on the eco-smashing-hog. I get their emails and they are short, sweet, to the point and even if they aren't always something I necessarily want to run out and do right away (I was all OVER the junk mail manager, didn't give a damn about organic makeup since I'm not in the habit of putting much crap on my face anyway...), they are always interesting and more than once have directed me towards something cool and new I would never have found on my own. My favourite part is that the topic varies wildly by the day and many suggestions are very doable, even for a despicably poor person such as myself. So wander over and poke around, you just might find something handy!

Eating fish guilt-free is about as easy as putting a six-legged cat in a bucket of water. And if you think that doesn't sound so hard, try it when the cat has been first rolled in crisco...

Why such a challenge? As of today, we have managed to pretty much fish out most of the world's oceans and fresh waters. Approximately 90% of edible sized fish in the ocean have already been caught and killed. The few that remain have the unlucky assignment of finding each other (puts a cruel twist on that old saying "there are other fish in the sea") and making lots and lots of young 'uns so we can eat them too. So each one that we consume has a risk of being a critical individual with the potential for breeding and keeping the species alive. Some species teeter far too close to the brink, such as orange roughy and Patagonian tootfish (the latter you may know as Chilean sea bass, euphemistically renamed by restaurateurs to increase sales).

If we should happen to go ahead and gulp down the rest of those very important mothers-to-be (can we help it if they taste like heaven when they are battered and fried??), not only will the local fire department fish fry be a bygone, but economy chunks worldwide that depend on commercial and recreational fishing (exports alone account for about US$71.5 BILLION in 2004 -- for comparison, the US exports about $3 billion and imports $12 billion) would collapse.

On top of the damage done by simply directly overfishing species by taking out too many animals or removing them before they have a chance to reproduce, we also endorse rapacious damage to worldwide habitats by the methods used to collect and/or grow seafood. Take shrimp for example: if you eat shrimp that come from Asia, it was grown on a shrimp farm that was constructed by destroying native mangrove forests, which was once nursery habitat to other aquatic life and feeding grounds for birds, mammals, and other fish. If, on the other hand, you chant "Go USA!" while downing shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico, you are eating animals collected with the extremely destructive process of bottom trawling, which tears up vital bottom habitat on which the health of the entire gulf depends (we'll save the benthic ecology lesson for another day).


Above is a satellite image of trails left on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico by trawling vessels....seen from space.

So, now you are quivering in the corner, afraid to even cast an ashamed glance at the fish counter in the supermarket despite your mother's insistence that you must eat seafood to fully develop your brain!! Not wanting to live as a mentally stunted adult, you desperately seek a solution -- but now, you may halt your quest for I have the grail you seek (but I want.........a shrubbery! *I couldn't stop myself*)!

Pick up your cell phone and send a text message to 30644. All you have to type is the word "fish" and then the species you want information about, say "eel." In a few moments, you will receive a message back telling you the conservation status of this species and the probability that you can sleep guilt-free after eating this particular animal (if whomever you have bought it from has it labeled correctly -- BUT another discussion for another day!). RED means don't buy, YELLOW means proceed with caution and probably best to give it a miss, GREEN means ok. Messages have NO additional charge on top of your cell phone plan.

For example, I can text "fish eel" before I order my favourite sushi. I promptly learn that eel has a "RED" status and is high on the list of heavily impacted species. Despite its tastiness, I should give it a miss so I do not assist in pushing this species closer to the brink of extinction.

Some species have different categories depending on where they are from. If you type in "fish shrimp" for example, you will receive three different ratings, one each for imported shrimp (RED), gulf of mexico shrimp (YELLOW), and northern/pink/farmed/Canadian shrimp (GREEN).

So, let your fingers wander -- no longer must you dine and shop uninformed! And as a result, Happy Shrimp is happy (this is actually the logo for a eco-friendly shrimp farming venture in the Netherlands)!