In taking this photo yesterday at Long Pond, it occurred to me how fragile our world is. Without the sunshine, the pond looks vulnerable and dark. Spring has not yet sprung here in Wellfleet. It’s April Fools Day, but there really have been too many fools around to celebrate ... At 4 am, a European fool calls our B&B, waking me up. On television, the Libyan rebels ride shotgun on pickups and shoot at anything that moves. Outside my window, I can see the last bit of radioactive snow on the ground, and more radioactive rain is falling. Fools keep handing out permits for oil wells like the Deepwater Horizon. Can they be the same fools who insist on injecting toxic chemicals into shale deposits to extract natural gas but contaminate groundwater at the same time? Alice Shabecoff, not a fool, warns us today about nanoparticles, never tested but added to more and more consumer products. We are, indeed, the canaries in the mines. Read this excellent parable by Carolyn Raffensburger, another non-fool, at Science and Environmental Health Network and join me in saying, “Enough already!”
Friday, April 01, 2011
Why We Are All Canaries ....
In taking this photo yesterday at Long Pond, it occurred to me how fragile our world is. Without the sunshine, the pond looks vulnerable and dark. Spring has not yet sprung here in Wellfleet. It’s April Fools Day, but there really have been too many fools around to celebrate ... At 4 am, a European fool calls our B&B, waking me up. On television, the Libyan rebels ride shotgun on pickups and shoot at anything that moves. Outside my window, I can see the last bit of radioactive snow on the ground, and more radioactive rain is falling. Fools keep handing out permits for oil wells like the Deepwater Horizon. Can they be the same fools who insist on injecting toxic chemicals into shale deposits to extract natural gas but contaminate groundwater at the same time? Alice Shabecoff, not a fool, warns us today about nanoparticles, never tested but added to more and more consumer products. We are, indeed, the canaries in the mines. Read this excellent parable by Carolyn Raffensburger, another non-fool, at Science and Environmental Health Network and join me in saying, “Enough already!”
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Living Large · 729 weeks ago
Champion of My Heart · 729 weeks ago
I like real grass as much as the next person, and yes ... we have a TINY patch off one of our patios, but we let the rest of our land (a few acres worth) be natural.
Surely, all these chemicals don't just flow downstream. I'm afraid to know what they do to our well water. And, since my dogs swim in and drink from these ponds, I worry about that too.
My recent post Dog Product Review- Kong Squeaker
Chris V · 729 weeks ago
“Clover used to be routinely added to grass seed mixes until the popular use of certain weed killers in the 1950s. Since these chemicals also killed clover, marketers began calling clover just another weed.(2) Clover stays green even in cold climates, is low growing and is drought tolerant. Clover is excellent to mix with other grasses because it stores nitrogen in its root systems. It is also resistant to many bugs especially white grubs.” http://www.ecolife.com/garden/natural-lawn/organi...
“On the other hand, agriculture has the potential to change from being one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters to a much smaller emitter and even a net carbon sink, while offering options for mitigation by reducing emissions and by sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the soil. The solutions call for a shift to more sustainable farming practices that build up carbon in the soil and use less chemical fertilizers and pesticides.” --- Organic Consumers Association http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_...
The first reference books Sophie brought me to read was:
Food Not Lawns http://www.foodnotlawns.net/2008/12/how-to-start-...
There are over 200 landscapers on Cape Cod. I do not know how many of them are using strictly organic lawn care practices. This is one simple step we can all advocate on Cape Cod to heal her soil: help her retain moisture and carbon, fix nitrogen as well as protecting other micro-organisms, wildlife and us!
Imagine the environmental impact and financial impact to the chemical industry if homeowners, towns and businesses “just said no” to purchasing and applying chemical fertilizers, weed killers and other “cides” to lawns that children, pets and adults are just tracking into our homes, schools, businesses and communities.
Jane Boursaw · 729 weeks ago
My recent post New Movie Friday- Hop! Insidious! Source Code!