Miscellany of a Cheshire Cat

Join Carbonrally with Monster Cat!
That’s right, Monster Cat has a Carbonrally team and you can join!

Carbonrally.com is a nifty little site that raises awareness for just how easy it is to reduce your environmental impact. You sign up, join a team (optional but Monster Cat would love to have you), take on challenges and watch your CO2 savings grow! It’s a fun toy! Several of the challenges take very little effort and they are taking suggestions for new challenges. I’m not sure their math is perfect (in terms of CO2 impact), but it’s the thought that counts and the challenges do make a difference.

Kick the Catalogs
My favorite recent challenge is the Kick the Catalogs Challenge. I signed up for Catalog Choice and started going through the pile of catalogs that came in while I was in Chicago. I do like catalogs - they’re great for getting ideas and finding interesting little things - but we get so many at the house it’s not even funny. I think our postman does weight training to prep for the holiday season. Catalog Choice will, hopefully, get me off the mailing lists for all the catalogs I don’t really read or want or ended up getting duplicates of. Oh, and the recycling bin will be a little less over-stuffed in the future!

So join up if you’re interested! Monster Cat is here to lead us to a greener planet!

tags: , carbonrally, catalog choice, environmentalism, green, kick the catalogs, monster cat, save the planet, save the world, tennyson

It may be an arbitrary celebration of a simple calendar date, but it’s fun to say, “Happy New Year!”

Oh and it makes for reflective little posts about the old year and hopeful dreams for the new year.

This is not one of those posts.

Instead I’m going to talk about politics from my head-strong idealist perspective.

The Iowa caucuses are almost upon us and I’ve almost figured out what I want from my candidate, whomever that may be. (This is not to imply I’m caucusing in Iowa, just that with all the news coverage I’ve been thinking about what I want from a President.)

I want honesty.

Get real dudes and dudette - you can’t please all the people all the time so stop telling us what you think we (where “we” equals whatever demographic you’re speaking to at the moment) want to hear. Most of you are lawyers anyway so we’re already doubting anything you say that doesn’t sound absolutely genuine.

This will cut into your elect-ability but will certainly up your credibility: Pledge to protect all our freedoms and rights, even the ones not everyone agrees with. Promise me that you will reverse some of the erosion of our civil liberties. Acknowledge that the right of the individual states to make specific laws and regulations is key to the success of the Union. Embrace that we have different values in different parts of the nation and those differences (and tolerance for those differences) make us stronger as a country.

Now I admit that I’m not the average voter… but I would consider voting for a candidate who blatantly disagreed with me on an issue I feel strongly about if he stated he’d be representing the law and Constitution not his personal beliefs in office. Why? Because that’s what participating in government should be about: making the right decisions based on the law of the land and what will be best for the people rather than personal biases and limiting freedoms. Oh and don’t break the laws yourselves… it makes the whole government look bad.

Politics has become a career for too many… but really government should be a calling, a responsibility, a duty, a passion.

Another thing that annoys me of late:
California is somewhere between the 7th or 10th largest economy in the world. If California wants to put into effect stricter environmental standards for automobiles, let them lead the charge! Either the auto industry will yield to their demands and comply or California will end up with no new cars for a while. I bought my Subaru in Massachusetts but it’s a “California emissions” vehicle. I’m happy about that. What in the world is the EPA thinking with that lame “oh, no you can’t do that. We’re working on something, really”? Oh wait, they’ve been hobbled and corrupted by the current administration just like the rest of the government. Never mind.

And completely randomly, over on Facebook I got the following alert:
[The Fop] approved your relationship request.
Thank you, darling, for approving. (I figured out that you can indicate a specific person as the target of your relationship status in your profile, you see…)

tags: california, epa, facebook, freedom, government, honesty, iowa caucuses, new year, old year, politics, primaries, random, silly

In a recent interview, a company told me they look for Type A personalities to join their team. This struck me as odd as I’ve often considered Type A traits to be rather detrimental to team building, especially if you have too many individuals of that persuasion in the group. However, I will admit that I do have some of those traits and that, by being nice about it, they make me pretty effective.

Which brings us to grocery shopping. I have a love-hate relationship going on there. I would love to get a delivery grocery service going but I can’t stand the thought of someone else picking out my bananas. Unfortunately, I also can’t stand the way baggers bag my order either. I’m actually gleeful when I get to bag my own groceries because I know I will do it right. (At least this part of my Type A personality has 3 years of part-time grocery store experience… I like how I bag.)

Confession time: For a long time I requested double plastic bags because the extra layer would save my groceries from ripping through the bag before it got to my kitchen. In short, I chose to consume more to make up for the incompetencies of the poor baggers at my grocery store. (In their defense, I don’t think they get any real training.)

I finally came to the realization that I will never reuse all the plastic bags I have shoved under my kitchen sink. There’s no point in adding more to the stash - they won’t fit anyway. Not to mention I’ve found myself increasingly disgusted by the sight of a plastic bag littering the street or a yard.

I ransacked (isn’t that a fabulous word?) the house for canvas bags. I found a couple of really nice canvas Food Co-op bags as well as a couple of random “Save the ___” bags from environmental charities. They now live in the Closet of Doom awaiting each grocery shopping trip with great glee. And you know what? They’re the greatest.

Why Canvas Bags Rock:

1. Canvas works. They are sturdier than the flimsy plastic ones, hold more stuff, rip less, and make carrying things in from the car safer and faster!
2. Canvas works - so well it bears repeating. Canvas bags sits better in the back of the car, spill less stuff and are easier to carry than those horrible plastic things.
3. They are reusable! Over and over! The Co-op bags I mentioned above cost me $12 each and I’ve had them for over a decade.
4. Canvas bags are useful! You can use them for more than just shopping! I’ve used them for moving, travel, carrying heavy, awkward stuff, laundry bags, and gift wrap!
5. If they get wet, they still hold everything (unlike paper).
6. Canvas is a natural, non-petroleum based product. Renewable resources for the win!
7. Canvas bags have a sense of style - you can get them in bright colors, cool designs and with various sayings.
8. They are relatively inexpensive ranging from free (with donations to various charities) to $3 on up. While the plastic bags are free from the store you’re shopping at, then you have to deal with disposing of them.
9. They can save you money. Some grocery stores will give you a kickback for using them - usually 5-10¢. IKEA has recently started charging for plastic bags in an effort to raise awareness of just how cool it is to reuse bags.

And finally…

10. Canvas bags help save the planet! And the planet needs all the help it can get!

This is a relatively recent commitment. Like most habits I’ve tried to form, I’ve tried canvas bags several times in the past and it never stuck. I’ve decided that this time it will stick. I hope to drag the canvas lots of places with me and on all my shopping trips.

And, because Jon asked for it: Here’s a close up of the praying mantis’ head.

tags: blog action day, canvas bags, environmentalism, green, grocery bags, plastic bags, save the planet, shopping, shopping bags, type a personality

This little lady was sunning herself on our walkway yesterday afternoon. The weather has cooled off enough that hanging out on the sun-warmed stone is a feature. They are fascinating little creatures and terribly photogenic!

Did you know that the praying mantis (Mantis religiosa) is not native to North America? It was introduced from Europe at the end of the 1800s and has spread across the eastern half of the continent and as far northwest as Ontario. Both Connecticut and Florida have mantids as their state insects. There are about 20 species of mantids that are native to North America. Apprently those species don’t eat enough because the Praying Mantis and Chinese Mantis were introduced specifically as pest control.

The USDA lists them as a “beneficial insect” - so at least time introducing a non-native species worked out!

tags: bugs, insects, mantis religiosa, non-native species, photographs, photography, praying mantis

First… go see how many planets it would take to support the human population if everyone on the planet lived like you do: http://www.myfootprint.org/

According to witnesses, I dealt professionally with a bad situation in a meeting today. I’m not even as worked up about the whole thing as I could be, perhaps because I expected worse from the source of the problem. Most of my emotional reaction waited until after the meeting to kick in anyway. It’ll all be gone by morning - no possible direct resolution to the problem - so apparently I’m learning not only not to overreact to this kind of BS but also not to hang onto it. I do think I have the beginnings of an idea to improve the overall situation thought…

Last night I had bizarre dreams… almost like I was dreaming in someone else’s dreamworld. It was odd - the light, the universe, the physics, the characters: all of them were wrong for my usual dreamworld. Nothing horrifying, just oddly disturbing and displacing. I’ll blame the hotel.

I rediscovered most of another short story in my notebook today too. Well, I stopped ignoring it. It’s a different world, different genre and different hook than the other story I’m working on. Of course, this means it will be an excellent procrastination tool for me. Oh darn.

Time for bed again… The weather was gorgeous today. Flying home tomorrow evening. Lots to do tomorrow.

tags: dreams, dreamworlds, green, meetings, work

I am waiting for packages. I had forgotten how exciting that could be - there are things in the mail that I am excited to have arrive so I can play with them! Yes, this is positively silly, but I’m happy about it so here I wait, changing my mind every couple hours about which box I want to have arrive first!

Some random links from my open tabs:

• Jon posted about “The truth about auto fuel-saving devices”. The truth is, of course, that none of them work and the EPA did the testing to prove it. A better way to save fuel? Clean out the trunk and/or backseat - the excess weight reduces your car’s fuel economy.
• Speaking of Eco - ecogeek has the top 10 list of environmentally happy sky scrapers. A couple are actually in the US! (Note how many are in or planned to be built in the oil-rich Middle East too…) #10, the Urban Cactus in the Netherlands, really appeals to me though… If I were to move to Rotterdam, I’d totally want to live in the Urban Cactus. It’s a fun list (with pictures!) that shows just how innovative architects are getting when it comes to alternative energy sources and green design.
• Apple’s iPhone is set to launch at 6 p.m. on June 29th, giving eager fanatics all day to line up to get the first of the iPhones. Also, Safari is in Beta for Windows - you can now run Apple’s browser on your PC! Of course, I’m a FireFox girl myself… but that’s still pretty awesome!
• The Pennsic University site has the schedule of classes posted for this Pennsic. Now I can start planning which classes I want to go to even though I will inevitably miss most of them!

tags: apple, environmentalism, iphone, packages, random, random links, safari

“Colony Collapse Disorder” (CCD) is the name provided for mass die-offs by honeybees (apis mellifera, specifically the European honeybee) across the country. Canada is starting to see similar die-offs too. Beekeepers investigate their hives only to find dead bee bodies inside, unless the remaining fraction of worker bees have started to carry them out. In some cases, the hives seem completely deserted by adult bees. The dead bees show no sign of disease or other affliction. Scientists are stumped. Beekeepers are fretful. Farmers should worry.

Beekeeping is not exactly a high-profit business to begin with and CCD will take its toll. Some beekeepers are stay-at-home beekeepers who use their bees to produce honey and don’t travel much with their hives. Other beekeepers run traveling pollination businesses - migratory beekeeping - hiring their hives out to farmers who need acres and acres of crops pollinated. Beekeepers expect approximately a 20% loss in population normal for the season but CCD is more likely to hit them with anywhere from a 30% to 80% population drop during the active season. If a keeper loses a large portion of his colony, his bees can’t cover the big farm jobs as well and the keeper faces less work and less income for the year. Even if a beekeeper does everything right, CCD can strike and take 60% of his bees at random. When a colony is weakened, it’s susceptible to takeovers by rival bees and other insects making it even harder for the hive to recover.

Scientists are still trying to figure this out. There’s no obvious cause for CCD so it’s most likely to be a combination of factors contributing to the die-off. On top of CCD, scientists and beekeepers are still wrangling with issues with parasitic mites as well. These Varroa mites can kill off entire colonies within a couple years. Other causes under suspicion include: genetically modified crops, antibiotics and miticides, pesticides, malnutrition (attributed to high fructose corn syrup), heavy travel with bees and electromagnetic radiation. In short, everyone thinks they might have a bit of a clue but no one can point to a real cause for CCD yet.

Why does this matter to us? Because the big picture is not pretty for neither planet nor pocketbook. Because those hard-working honeybees are the ones who pollinate everything from fruit trees to vegetable crops. One statistic suggests that 1 in 3 bites of food requires honeybees. A depletion in the honeybee population will result in fewer traveling hives. Fewer traveling hives may result in lower yield crops. Lower yield crops cause lower incomes for farmers and higher prices for us. Lower yield crops will also result in more importing of fruits and vegetables from farther away in the US and other countries, consuming more energy in the process of getting those fruits from tree to table.

The 1,500 species of native bees (including my favorite, the bumblebee) found in the US are not at risk at this time. However, they’ve already got jobs of their own and won’t be able to pick up much slack. The honeybee is the super-bee of pollination and the industry that has built up around it is what keeps our farmers producing successful crops which in turn keep the farmers in business. The little bee pictured here is (I’m fairly certain) one of the native bees. I actually tried to shoo it off my rose so I could take photos but it was not to be moved. Good little bee, keep up the good work!

(Sources: NPR, Wikipedia, CTV.ca)

tags: agriculture, beekeeping, bees, colony collapse disorder, environmentalism, honeybees

I figured it was time for some gratuitous cuteness. Tennyson was about 2 months old when this photo was taken. This is proof that he was indeed small (less than 2 pounds!) once upon a time! He’s about 5 years old now and hovering around 16-17 pounds. I should take another picture with that same bonsai tree for fun.

While last Monday I posted pictures of snow from the nor’easter, today I’ll be taking photos of tulips and cherry blossoms out on my walk. It’s been very warm (low 80s) the past couple days, unseasonably so for April. It’s supposed to cool down starting tomorrow. It’s breezy today, as evidenced by my door slamming and opening every 5 minutes, so that bodes well for a change in the weather. Anyone still thinking global warming is a myth should look at the precipitation and temperature trends of the past few years.

Speaking of environmentalism and since Earth Day just breezed through… Here are some of the sites I feed the cute little (rabid) environmentalist in the back of my head:

• Grist: a great environmental news and information site. It’s not quite a blog, more like a news site with an opinionated slant. Oh wait, I just described half the “real” news sites. I’ll digress on the decline of media later…
• treehugger: a very green group blog. This blog collects all sorts of interesting news stories and information about going green, being green, eating green, and just green. Alternative energy, conservation, recycling and being a good environmental citizen are all topics touched on here.
• Living Plastic Free in 2007: The blog of EnviroWoman, a Vancouver 20-something who has decided to give up plastic completely for 2007 (anything leftover from 2006 is fine). She’s working hard to bring no new plastic into her life, especially the throw-away plastic you get everywhere. This blog is entertaining on many levels - EnviroWoman is witty and smart - but it also has made me think about how much useless plastic comes into (and is thrown out in) my life.
• Wise Bread: Not really an environmental blog as much as a sensible, money-saving blog, which often results in practices that don’t harm the planet quite so much. They recently ran an interesting series on Bottled Water Hype: Water, which is sort of ubiquitous, now arrives in plastic bottles, bottles that are polluting to create and polluting to get rid of.

And speaking of green, this week is Administrative Professionals Week and tomorrow is the big day (formerly known as Secretary’s Day). This means it’s time for my annual dredging up of a fabulous team project! Once upon a time, in a company far, far away, a beloved department admin mentioned she liked flowers. The result was Project Secretary’s Day: How to Build a Summer’s Day. If you’re really looking for a way to say thank you to the admin in your world, there’s no better “Thank you for doing a great job!” messenger than a fully landscaped cube. Seriously. I promise. A vase of flowers is pretty and all, but sod communicates true appreciation. Follow the link above for the full experience including “making of” pages to help you landscape your own (or your neighbor’s) cube.

tags: administrative professionals week, cats, cube landscaping, environmentalism, green, how to build a summer’s day, kittens, project secretary’s day, random links, secretarys day, silly, tennyson, weather