I’m walking more. Yesterday I visited a bicycle shop. The only way to send a message to the oil companies is to vote with our pocketbooks.
This madness of suspending the gasoline tax for a few weeks has only strengthened my resolve to find another way to reach my destination. I am blessed, because I also have access to public transportation.
But the most empowering thing that has happened to me recently is the discovery that I can actually walk to my favorite hiking trail. The trail head is closer than the hikers’ parking lot.
I cringe when I think of how long I have been driving to a place within walking distance.
I might never have made that discovery if gasoline prices had not risen beyond my willingness to pay.
I heard a report that Texas is the largest producer of carbon emissions in the US. If Texas were a country, it would be 7th largest greenhouse gas producer in the world.
My respect for Texas-based nature writer Wendee Holtcamp reaches new depths. Wendee is a scientist who writes with passion, like Rachel Carson. Texas is about being larger than life, including driving the largest vehicles possible.
I’m truly impressed that Wendee thrives in an environment that is officially deaf to what naturalists hold dear. (more…)
Yesterday a chickadee flew off with a walnut half in his or her beak. The walnut half was bigger than the chickadee’s head.
This morning a chickadee and a tufted titmouse returned. I’m sure it’s the same chickadee. The chickadee flew off with a walnut half and the titmouse looked around for possible danger. She flew away, came back from a different direction, and flew off with a walnut half. (more…)
SPARC meetings are always informative and engaging.
Sandra Kissam is a true champion of Open Space. After catching glimpses of Al Gore’s testimony yesterday, I set off for SPARC’s latest meeting. Artist Shawn Dell Joyce is one of the people trained in January to present An Inconvenient Truth slide show to local groups. (more…)
A heavy sheet of snow fills the air, reducing visibility.
At daybreak I was actually considering a hike. One minute the air was cold and damp, but calm. The next, it was snowing heavily. A nor’easter is a dramatic reminder of nature’s power.
March snowstorms deliver dense, heavy snow. I don’t put my winter clothes and gear away until mid-April. But the paperweight scene outside my window actually has me hoping I might get to use my cross-country skis one last time. (more…)
I attended the Energizing Agriculture: Opportunities for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency on the Farm conference sponsored by the Town of Warwick hoping to meet a farmer raising grass-fed animals.
What I got was an eye-opening education at what the farmers in my own back yard are already doing to convert their farms to using sustainable agriculture techniques - many of them profitably and affordably. (more…)
This is the result of a study by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Can 2,500 scientists from several nations all be wrong?
I was returning a library book the other day. Outside the library, someone had left their SUV running. There was only one patron in the library when I entered. This was no book drop.
Did NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg really say, “We’re waiting for the gas to pass?”
If not, Keith Olbermann should moonlight as a stand-up comic. His delivery had me ROTFLMAO. I wouldn’t be surprised if that inspired a future Carl Hiaasen character.
Laughing, instead of crying, in the face of danger has been a coping strategy as long as people have been documenting their history. (more…)
A moving black form in the woods caught my eye. It took me a moment to realize that it was a wing. Wild Turkeys engage in cooperative courtship to attract mates in spring. But the weather on the east coast has been downright balmy for weeks. Even the plants are budding.