Earth Day 2013

Two people, 2.5 hours, can make a difference!

 What did you do to celebrate Earth Day this year? I had a pretty decent day, overall. First I went out for the Red River Sierra Club trash cleanup for our Adopt-a-Highway segment on Sisk Rd. This time, only Joy Parsons and I showed up. However, we picked up a lot of trash in 2.5 hours as you can see in the photo of Joy next to our trash to the left.

Chris Ross with his hydroponics unit

After I cleaned up a little, I headed to River Bend Nature Center for the annual Earth Day event. Although going to RBNC is always a treat, I must say I was a little disappointed with the event. However, I was able to catch up with several people I know and needed to talk to, the event still worked for me. There were probably several people there who had never been to RBNC and had a chance to visit the conservatory and walk the trails, so that's all good. One display that was especially interesting to me was a gentleman who had a hydroponics display. The lower tank has fish in it and the upper containers, vegetables. No chemical fertilizers. The person with the display is Chris Ross. He said a larger unit could have tilapia in the lower tank (this one had gold fish.) He is willing to help others put a unit together for free if they buy the supplies. He indicated a unit like his would cost $250 - $300 if you bought everything new. I have his phone number. Contact me by email at green.wichitafalls@gmail.com for a phone number.

Infographic on Plastics

I've ranted about plastics before. With the recent introduction of single-stream recycling by Progressive Waste, there is an easy way to recycle most plastics in Wichita Falls. They don't take the plastic bags, but pretty much all other recyclable plastic is fair game.

I personally favor using as little plastic as possible to start with and then recycle the rest. It isn't difficult to substantially reduce the amount of plastic in your home. I thought this infographic from OnlineEducation.net was informative.

Compost Giveaway Saturday

From the Press Release from the City:

Gardeners and yard enthusiasts who participate in the City of Wichita Falls Curbside Composting Program can receive a FREE load of compost at the Wichita Falls Organics Facility during the Sanitation Department’s Fall Compost Giveaway. 

The giveaway is Saturday, October 6th from 9:00am to 3:00pm at the Wichita Falls Landfill on Wiley Road. The compost will be loaded for participants with a limit of one pickup truck or 4x8 trailer load per person. Participants must provide a City of Wichita Falls water bill showing the $3.00 recycling program charge. All loads must be covered. This is a state law. Sanitation employees are required to see the participants cover material before loading the compost. No dump trucks, commercial vehicles or over-sized trailers will be loaded. For commercial operation compost purchases please contact the Wichita Falls Sanitation Department at 761-7977.

Directions to the landfill are: take Seymour Highway Southwest toward Seymour to Highway 258, located at the Kamay “Y,” proceed West on Highway 258 toward Kamay approximately one mile to Wiley Road and turn right (North) travel two miles and you will see the entrance to the landfill.

Uses for compost 
Compost contains nutrients, but is not a substitute for fertilizers.  Compost holds nutrients in the soil where all plants can use them, loosens and aerates clay soils, and retains water in sandy soils.   
As a soil amendment 
Mix two to five inches of compost into vegetable and flower gardens each year before planting. 
As a potting mixture 
Add one part compost to two parts commercial potting soil, or make your own mixture by using equal parts of compost and sand or perlite. 
As a mulch 
Spread an inch or two of compost around annual flowers and vegetables, and up to six inches around trees and shrubs. 
As a top dressing 
Mix finely, sifted compost with sand and sprinkle evenly over lawns.

William Bryant Logan to Speak at MSU

William Bryant Logan speaks on "There's No Such Place as Away," on Thursday, October 4 at Midwestern State University, 7 PM at Akin Auditorium. Logan is an arborist and President of the Urban Arborists, Inc. tree company. There is no charge for this event, but if this speaker is like others in this series, get there early if you want a seat.

For Rolling Plains Texas Master Naturalists, this presentation may be counted for advanced training.

Karma

There's a common saying, "What goes around, comes around" that often springs to my mind. We tend to think of the things we do as discrete activities, unconnected to anything else. However, all things are connected, so the things we do invariably impact something else.

We aren't taught to think of the world as a system, which allows poor decisions.

Everything is connected.

This fact was again brought to mind this past week when I was in a group of about 30 people and at the end of the meeting, several people asked for prayers for members of their families and friends. What sticks with me were the children: a 15-year-old with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a 15-day-old with kidney failure, and a 2-year-old with leukemia. These were just in this one group of 30 people. Although it is possible all of these could take place statistically in such a small circle of friends, it seems statistically significant to me.

Is it possible that the choices we have made to poison those things that don't fit our idea of perfection (weeds) or that cause us discomfort (bugs) are coming back to haunt us? A person I know on Facebook posted that she was upset she lost several koi in her pond after she dosed it with algacide. We do these things all the time, without thinking that the poisons we use have to go somewhere. They don't always just break down into harmless substances, and if they do, it isn't always right away. We overdose ourselves with antibiotics. Chemicals that affect our hormones are everywhere.

Can I prove these chemicals have anything to do with the health problems of these children? No, I can't. But someone should be looking into it.

By the way, Living Green in Wichita Falls is now on Facebook, so if you are a Facebooker, consider joining the conversation at https://www.facebook.com/livegreenwf.

Book Review: EcoMind

Okay, so it isn't new, new, but it's new to me. I just finished Frances Moore Lappe's book, EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think to Create the World We Want, and I am on a campaign to get as many of my friends to read it as possible. Most of us are familiar with her first book, Diet for a Small Planet, but Ms. Lappe is a prolific writer and has many works published, many of which I have read.

I have always felt that we create the world we see in our minds and the theme of this book is right in line with that thought. In it, Ms. Lappe focuses on the framing by the environmental movement and how it discourages the kind of thinking needed to solve our environmental problems, especially climate change. She focuses on seven thought traps:

• No Growth is the Answer
• "Consumer Society" is the Problem
• We've Hit the Limits of a Finite Earth
• We Must Overcome Human Nature to Save the Planet
• To Save Our Planet, We Have to Override Humanity's Natural Resistance to Rules
• Humans Have Lost the Connection to Nature
• It's Too Late!

What I found especially intriguing in the book are the examples from local people all over the world that are truly having an impact. Since all politics are local, this is where each of us can make a difference. The book is thoroughly documented for those of us who like to go back to the source for more information and to verify conclusions.

Read this book. You can get it on Amazon (of course) or from Ms. Lappe's organization, Small Planet Institute.

If you are not a reader, you can watch the YouTube video . Personally, I think Ms. Lappe is a better writer than speaker, but you can certainly get a notion of the information in an hour watching the video.

Sikes Lake Cleanup

I have been really lax about blogging of late--it is just too easy to put up a really short announcement on Facebook or Twitter. But I am going to try to do better as some things really need more focus than that.

Anyway, if you're looking for a way to contribute to the community, come out to the annual Sikes Lake Cleanup on September 8. Last year we had over 200 volunteers. No need to RSVP, just come. I will be leading a bird walk at Lake Arrowhead State Park that morning, but will be at Sikes Lake as soon as possible (probably by 9:30) to take part.

We are generally done by 11:00 and then pass out hot dogs, chips and drinks to the volunteers.

By the way, if you would like to get involved in a more interactive format, "Like" us on Facebook at Living Green in Wichita Falls or follow us on Twitter @LiveGreenWF.