Let me take just a few minutes of your time to touch on some subjects that have been preying on my mind, like Drinking Water in Plastic Bottles and Eating Fish for Health, just to mention a couple, because that's basically what the majority of the population does.
On the Environmental Defense Fund (.org) website you can really learn something regarding drinking water. The article states that:
"It's ironic! In many parts of the world, there is no clean drinking water. Here in the U.S., pure, drinkable water flows out of every tap, and yet Americans buy a staggering amount of bottled water. We pay big bucks for it, too - over $15 billion a year. Worse of all, the bottles are overflowing our landfills, and contribute to global warming..."
When I walk around Lake Irma, I can see all the litter in the water comprised of styrofoam cups, aluminum cans and plastic drinking water bottles. I wonder if all that plastic offsets the supposed health benefits of drinking bottled water? (and we all should know by now how dangerous plastics are.) Feel free to read more below:
Bottles, Bottles, Everywhere...
In his article, R. Hoskins writes, PLASTIC: The most important thing to understand is that there is no such thing as "away" when it comes to plastics.
When people say "Oh, just throw it away", where precisely is "away"?
Just because it's no longer in our home, in our work place or in our car does not mean its "away." It just means we no longer have to look at it on a daily basis and it's somewhere else on this planet.
Out of sight out of mind, and not our problem!
Well, remember we've only had plastic since the 1950's and it is anticipated that it lasts for at least 400 years, a lot of scientists now estimate that age at more like 1000.
Meaning it's all still here, and this amount is growing at an alarming rate.
Fifteen billion pounds (7 billion kilograms) of plastic are produced annually in the U.S., but only 1 billion pounds (.5 billion kilograms) are recycled, according to Adventure Ecology.
A lot of the bottles that aren't re-purposed end up floating out to sea. The Great Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch, where ocean currents shepherd much of this debris, is twice the size of Texas.
It is difficult to estimate how many sea animals die annually from plastics, but it is estimated that approximately 30,000 marine animals lose their lives from plastics annually. The Albatross seems especially hard hit, as is evidenced in a video on this website:
Plastic Facts Page
I was unable to embed the actual video here, so I'm giving you this link to an eight minute jaw dropping, eye popping talk explaining how our mass consumption and "Throwaway Living" impacts our world. You will be amazed:
Capt. Charles Moore on the seas of plastic (click here)
I know how many people love to eat fish, but as of late, I have drastically reduced my consumption of fish for obvious reasons: Mercury and PCBs.
For your perusal, here's a Seafood Selector to find some ECO-best fish to eat:
Find a Fish
This is probably the most I have written on my blog thus far, but I feel very strongly about working together to help save our planet and it's inhabitants, and that includes us.
All we have to do is make small changes on a daily basis, be a little more aware, maybe use a little less, don't litter in nature and find ways to recycle or upcycle to keep stuff out of the landfills a little longer...you know, baby steps!
...and if Dr. Seuss were still alive today, he'd say the four words we all dread to hear: "I told you so!" and point to the words in his book called The Lorax, where he wrote:
“UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
(Excerpts from The Lorax by Dr. Seuss)
"Unique among all God's creatures, only the honey bee improves the environment and preys not on any other species." ~ Royden Brown DID YOU KNOW? (you can see this blog better if you use your zoom feature on your computer on the lower right hand side? - I didn't!) * The honey bee has been around for about 30 million years**see NOTE: **NOTE: (Apis mellifera L.) preceded humans on earth by 10 to 20 million years. Honey bees are one of the oldest forms of animal life still in existence from the Neolithic Age. Primeval humans gathered and ate the honey and honeycombs of wild bees, the only available sweet, as far back as 7000 B.C. * It is the only insect that produces food eaten by man. * Honey bees have 6 legs, 4 wings and 5 eyes (see bee anatomy drawing) * Only worker bees sting, and only if they feel threatened and they die once they sting. All worker bees are sterile females. The male bees are called drones. They have no stinger and their only function is to mate with the queen. They die after mating. Queen bees have stingers, but do not go outside to defend the hive; only the queen lays eggs. * It is estimated that 1100 honey bee stings are required to be fatal. * Honey bees clock over 55,000 frequent flyer miles and drop in on about 2 million plants in order to produce one pound of honey - all that time and effort to make 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey per bee, per bee lifetime. * Honey bees communicate with one another by "dancing" (see video below) * Bees fly an average of 13-15 mph. * Worker honey bees live for about 4 weeks in the spring or summer, but up to 6 weeks during the winter. * The queen bee lives for about 2-3 years and is the only bee that lays eggs. * Fermented honey, known as Mead, is the most ancient fermented beverage. The term "honey moon" originated with the Norse practise of consuming large quantities of Mead during the first month of a marriage. A THOUGHT TO PONDER: "If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live" ~ Albert Einstein Here is a partial list of tried-and-true bee attractors: ANNUALS Buttercups, Clematis, Cosomos, Dahlias, Enchinacea, English Ivy, Foxglove, Geranium, Hollyhocks, Hyacinth, Roses PERENNIALS Aster, Clover, Crocus, Marigolds, Poppies, Snowdrops, Sunflowers, Zinnias GARDEN PLANTS Blackberries, Cantaloupe, Cucumbers, Gourds, Peppers, Pumpkins, Raspberries, Squash, Strawberries, Watermelons, Wild Garlic HERBS Bee Balm, Borage, Catnip, Coriander/Cilantro, Fennel, Lavender, Mints, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme BUSHES Blueberry, Butterfly Bush, Button Bush, Honeysuckle, Indigo, Privet TREES Alder, American Holly, Basswood, Black Gum, Black Locust, Buckeyes, Catalpa, Eastern Redbud, Fruit Trees (especially Crabapples, Golden Rain Tree, Hawthorns, Hazels, Linden, Magnolia, Maples, Mountain Ash, Sycamore, Tulip, Tupelo, Poplar, Willows Although Utah enjoys the title "The Beehive State," the top honey-producing states include California, Florida, and South Dakota. In 1998, the United States made over 89,000 metric tons of honey. China, the world's top honey-producer, created more than 140,000 metric tons of honey in 1997. For your amusement, I am adding an entertaining little movie clip called "Green Porno" where Isabella Rossellini portrays a honeybee and explains how they live. You can watch her impersonate other insects here: The Sundance Channel You can find more bee related information here: American Beekeeping Federation
Let me take just a few minutes of your time to touch on some subjects that have been preying on my mind, like Drinking Water in Plastic Bottles and Eating Fish for Health, just to mention a couple, because that's basically what the majority of the population does.
On the Environmental Defense Fund (.org) website you can really learn something regarding drinking water. The article states that:
"It's ironic! In many parts of the world, there is no clean drinking water. Here in the U.S., pure, drinkable water flows out of every tap, and yet Americans buy a staggering amount of bottled water. We pay big bucks for it, too - over $15 billion a year. Worse of all, the bottles are overflowing our landfills, and contribute to global warming..."
When I walk around Lake Irma, I can see all the litter in the water comprised of styrofoam cups, aluminum cans and plastic drinking water bottles. I wonder if all that plastic offsets the supposed health benefits of drinking bottled water? (and we all should know by now how dangerous plastics are.) Feel free to read more below:
Bottles, Bottles, Everywhere...
In his article, R. Hoskins writes, PLASTIC: The most important thing to understand is that there is no such thing as "away" when it comes to plastics.
When people say "Oh, just throw it away", where precisely is "away"?
Just because it's no longer in our home, in our work place or in our car does not mean its "away." It just means we no longer have to look at it on a daily basis and it's somewhere else on this planet.
Out of sight out of mind, and not our problem!
Well, remember we've only had plastic since the 1950's and it is anticipated that it lasts for at least 400 years, a lot of scientists now estimate that age at more like 1000.
Meaning it's all still here, and this amount is growing at an alarming rate.
Fifteen billion pounds (7 billion kilograms) of plastic are produced annually in the U.S., but only 1 billion pounds (.5 billion kilograms) are recycled, according to Adventure Ecology.
A lot of the bottles that aren't re-purposed end up floating out to sea. The Great Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch, where ocean currents shepherd much of this debris, is twice the size of Texas.
It is difficult to estimate how many sea animals die annually from plastics, but it is estimated that approximately 30,000 marine animals lose their lives from plastics annually. The Albatross seems especially hard hit, as is evidenced in a video on this website:
Plastic Facts Page
I was unable to embed the actual video here, so I'm giving you this link to an eight minute jaw dropping, eye popping talk explaining how our mass consumption and "Throwaway Living" impacts our world. You will be amazed:
Capt. Charles Moore on the seas of plastic (click here)
I know how many people love to eat fish, but as of late, I have drastically reduced my consumption of fish for obvious reasons: Mercury and PCBs.
For your perusal, here's a Seafood Selector to find some ECO-best fish to eat:
Find a Fish
This is probably the most I have written on my blog thus far, but I feel very strongly about working together to help save our planet and it's inhabitants, and that includes us.
All we have to do is make small changes on a daily basis, be a little more aware, maybe use a little less, don't litter in nature and find ways to recycle or upcycle to keep stuff out of the landfills a little longer...you know, baby steps!
...and if Dr. Seuss were still alive today, he'd say the four words we all dread to hear: "I told you so!" and point to the words in his book called The Lorax, where he wrote:
“UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
(Excerpts from The Lorax by Dr. Seuss)
