Book Review: Trees of Life

 

This large (8 x 11 in) coffee table book would be a wonderful library addition for those fascinated with trees or anthropology. The author chose 80 of what he considers to be the most useful trees from some 60,000 extant species of trees to highlight in this book. The photography and illustrations are beautiful, but I was struck primarily by the insights into how these trees have and do support the societies where they grow.

Some of these trees I had not heard of--after all, most are indigenous to other countries. However, the bits of history, art, medicine, and religion that surround them illustrate the important role these trees have played, and still play, in human history.

One example of an interesting tidbit concerns the pollination of the common fig:

"Looking for spring flowers on a fig is a waste of time: they grow, hidden from sight, inside the fruiting body as part of one of the most bizarre reproductive cycles anywhere in the natural world. As long ago as the fourth century BCE Aristotle knew that a certain wasp that emanated from a wild fig pollinated the flowers and we now know that every species of fig has its own bespoke wasp for a pollinating partner. The female fig wasp bores a tiny hole into the immature fruiting body, lays her eggs inside--pollinating the flowers as she does so--and dies there. Her maile progeny, as soon as they emerge inside the fruit, impregnate the still unborn females and then bore an exit hole, through which the egg-bearing females later emerge to seek their own new fruit." pg 118

This is just one of many interesting facts the author shares in this book. The book is available from Princeton Press for $29.95 and for $25.71 on Amazon.

Cancel Culture or Voting With Our Wallets?

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

 So, there has been a lot of debate recently about how "cancel culture" is bad for businesses and the economy and represents how politically correct snowflakes are unreasonably hurting companies that are just trying to create jobs (although I have seen cancel culture used by all parts of the political spectrum--I have just heard the term more in the conservative media).

First, what is "cancel culture"? If one uses the definition from the Urban Dictionary, then I would have to agree that cancel culture is a bad thing. According to this website, cancel culture is "A modern internet phenomenon where a person is ejected from influence or fame by questionable actions. It is caused by a critical mass of people who are quick to judge and slow to question. It is commonly caused by an accusation, whether that accusation has merit or not. It is a direct result of the ignorance of people caused communication technologies outpacing the growth in available knowledge of a person."

We see evidence of this every day if you're on social media. This is a more extreme and negative form of voting with your wallet that I often tell you to do. Voting with your wallet revolves around having facts and making decisions about the most appropriate place to spend your money based upon those facts and using your buying power to encourage companies to make their services and products more socially responsible.

If I find that a company's values do not match my own because they produce an unsafe product or do not treat their employees in a way that acknowledges their worth, then I feel the decision not to buy their product or services is justified. But I do some research first. 

I recently had a person tell me they don't worry about social responsibility when purchasing because every company has something wrong with it and they just don't have time to research everything they buy. I had a similar response in a graduate class I was teaching on ethics. (I do have to say many changed their minds to some degree about this by the end of the class, however.) 

I find people are more likely to say they buy from certain companies for a positive reason than they don't buy for a negative reason. Most of us probably do a mixture of both. 

To conclude, spreading unsubstantiated information or encouraging people not to buy a product or service without checking out whether the information has any validity isn't a good thing. But if you are acting on your convictions and feel you have the correct facts, put your money where your mouth is and vote with your wallet.

What's the Deal with Microplastics?

 

Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash

You all know I have been on a tear to reduce the amount of plastic in my house. I can't say hubby has been a huge help in that regard, but we persist.

Why? Well, first, look at the picture to the left. Do you really want to live in a town that looks like this? No, not all of the litter is plastic, but most of it is. I participate in a lot of little pickups in a year, and plastics are usually the largest part of what we pick up. Most of the trash people who drive by toss out their window around my house is also plastic.

Next, plastics can leech bad things into our food. I am not talking about that today, but it is the big reason I am trying to root it out of my kitchen.

But the third reason is microplastics. Most of the studies about microplastics have had to do with marine life, but the impacts undoubtedly apply to freshwater as well. Here's a little bit about microplastics. Microplastics are the tiny bits of plastic between 1 mm and 5 mm in size. Most are due to the break up of larger pieces of plastic. The number one component of microplastics is #1 water bottles. Nanoplastics are bits of less than 1mm in size. Many of these small bits of plastic can look a lot like the food that fish that other aquatic animals eat, and so they ingest quite a few. Needless to say, this is not very nutritious, although studies are underway to determine the extent of harm microplastics cause other organisms as well as us.

It is estimated we ingest between 8,000 - 11,000 bits of microplastic each year. Your table salt likely has microplastics in it. In tests, 36 of the 39 salt brands tested contained microplastics. In addition to the obvious plastics, many synthetic materials contain plastics as well, leaving microfibers in the environment.  (On a side note, I was surprised to find an issue with even microfibers from denim!) These microplastics are found in drinking water and in the form of microfibers in the air. I did look at our city Water Quality report for 2020 and microplastics are not mentioned, probably because it isn't something the city is required to report on. 

In 2015, the U.S. banned microbeads, which were often present in personal care products. This was primarily due to concerns with their presence in our water supply.

Microplastics seem as if they are a huge problem and one of those overwhelming issues that we might wonder, what possible impact could we as individuals have? You're right, but at the same time, you are not. Each of us contributes to the problem of plastic pollution, whether we're talking about the litter in our community or the microplastics in our waterways and water supply.

So what can individuals do?

 - Cut the plastic. It is hard to avoid plastics, I know. But seriously try to reduce the amount of plastic that enters your home. One thing you can absolutely do without is plastic drink bottles. Our drinking water is very safe. I know some people feel as if the water has a funny taste, but compared to a lot of places I have been, our water is good. However, if you really can't stand it, invest in a filter and use a refillable water bottle. 

- Use cloth shopping bags (and please keep them clean). In addition, invest in reusable produce bags.

- Get rid of the plastic utensils and straws. When in restaurants, ask them not to give you a straw. I wish the city would consider a ban on plastic shopping bags, but I can just hear the public outcry over that, can't you? But you would be surprised how many of these bags we fish out of our local lakes during a cleanup.

- Get something like "To-Go Ware" to carry out your leftovers from restaurants and encourage your favorite restaurants to get away from styrofoam containers for take-out. It's cheap for them but costly for our environment.

- If you do get plastic, can you reuse it? I do reuse bread bags for my own homemade bread and store bags for trash. I would still prefer not to have the plastic to start with, but if it is in the house, it gets at least one more use.

 - Again, if you get plastic, dispose of it properly. Recycling options are not good right now, so be sure any plastic you bring home is put in the trash bin, not thrown on the ground.

Product Review: Laundry Detergent

Somehow, I allowed the COVID-19 pandemic to waylay this blog. I kept up the Facebook page reasonably well, but in spite of the fact I had extra time on my hands due to a plunge in work, I just didn't take the time to work on this blog. But I have a lot of things to say that take more than a Facebook post to explain, so I decided to make time in 2021.

I have been intending for some time to look at laundry detergent. If you read earlier posts, you know that I am on a kick to try to reduce the amount of plastic that comes into my house and then goes to the landfill. Plastic laundry detergent containers are one of the items that bugged me. I was using Ecos.

The reason for that was that it was recommended to me for gray water systems. I was considering setting up such a system in case of another severe drought as we had in 2011. I haven't done that yet, however. We haven't really needed to water much since then. But you can see that there is a LOT of plastic in this product. It does work well.

Earlier this year, I started looking for something that was not in plastic. I have never really liked the powdered detergents as they never seemed to dissolve all the way, but admittedly, it has been many years since I used a powder. 

In my Facebook feed, I saw an advertisement for TruEarth.  These are very small sheets you tear off and put in the wash. I read all of the reviews online. Most people liked it, except for those with front-loading washers who indicated it didn't dissolve all the way. Top-loading washers didn't seem to have the same problem. Some of the reviewers mentioned they did not like that the sheets came in plastic packaging, but I noted this was no longer true. The packaging is cardboard, as  you can see in the picture. I thought they were a little pricey, but they do work well, they do dissolve all the way. When I first opened the package the scent was very strong, which I thought would be a problem, but the scent on the clothing after washing was very mild. Now that the package has been open for a while, most of the scent has dissipated.

Then I noted we had a new business in Wichita Falls, Sage Valley Herbs, which made products that were advertised as free of many of the harmful chemicals in many store products. I decided to give their laundry detergent a try. When I bought it the first time, I was unhappy the packaging was a plastic tub. I did tell the owner I would prefer a product without the plastic. When I bought the next batch, you can see the packaging is now paper. There is still some small amount of plastic, but it is minimal. The original product also had a very strong scent when I opened the container the first time. Again, most of it faded during the wash. I noticed this time, the current version seems to be a much lighter scent. This product also works well. You don't need much of the powder and it does dissolve well.

Ecos is less expensive than the other two products, but the other two have the advantage of little or no plastic, and the Sage Valley product is a local business, so little or no shipping. They have a shop in the Finishing Touch Plaza on Rhea Road--you'll probably find other products you like.

Both Ecos and TruEarth have relatively good ratings in trials (see this review of eco-friendly detergents from 2020). Obviously, a local product won't have the opportunity to be considered in such a test.

Product Review: Gorilla Silicone Storage Bags

You all know I have been on the reduce waste, especially plastic waste, kick for a while.

A while back I bought a set of glass storage containers, which had silicone seals. I thought to myself, is silicone really any better than "regular" plastic? The answer is "Yes." Plastic is made from oil; silicone is made of silicon (a naturally occurring element), oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen. However, it does take a lot of heat to extract silicon from quartz, so there is still some fossil fuel used there.

Silicone is less toxic than plastic, a great thing when storing food. And you can wash and reuse the silicone many times.

I have been debating for a while buying some silicone storage bags. They are pretty pricy. But I finally worked up the nerve to order a set of Gorilla Sandwich Storage Bags from Amazon to try out. As you can see, they are not cheap. With the coupon applied and Amazon Prime, they come to about $4 each, so they had better last a long time.

Aside from the cost, they are great. I have been using them for leftovers. A small bag holds 4 blueberry muffins, 4-5 oatmeal pancakes, or two large packages of blueberries, which I froze. The slide closures were a little stiff the first time I used them, but they slide on and off easily after that. The bags are heavy duty and the slides are also sturdy.

My only complaint? Each bag is wrapped in plastic and then all of them are put together and wrapped in plastic again. Getting rid of plastic is why I bought these in the first place. I plan to make a comment to the manufacturer and see if they can change that.

The bags came through the dishwasher fine and are ready to go again. I plan to buy some more at some point.

Book Review: How Plants Work

A few months ago, Princeton University Press was nice enough to send me a copy of How Plants Work: Form, Diversity, Survival, by Stephen Blackmore. I paged through the book quickly and was immediately drawn in by the beautiful pictures. I thought to myself, "I am going to enjoy reading this book."

Well......you know the saying about the best-laid plans, right? I received the book in the middle of the workday, so I set it aside. With one thing and another, I lost track of the book (which is not an easy thing, since the book is not small--a full 8.5 x 11 and 386 pages). My husband is redoing my office. He relocated everything from the supply closets and one half of the office to the other side, while he tore up the carpet to lay tile and got ready to paint. Get the picture? It's not pretty.

I have looked everywhere for this book. Multiple times. I "thought" I put it on one of my bookshelves with my other nature books, but didn't. I looked everywhere, or so I thought. Recently, I was once again in my office, trying to clear out the piles in my office so my husband can do the other half and lo and behold, there was the book. Buried under a pile of stuff my hubby moved. So I am not complete airhead; I was just not very fast about tackling the piles.

It didn't take long for this book to provide a welcome distraction from the office cleaning chore. I was a biology major in college but had only one class in botany. Although I found the subject interesting, I can't say it was my favorite class. The book was dry and the instructor almost as much so. I love to garden and I have houseplants, so I find plants interesting. Dr. Estes from Midwestern State University is a lecturer for our local Texas Master Naturalist training course and is always fascinating--why couldn't I have had an instructor like him many years ago? Anyway, back to the book.

This is not a botany text. The book provides just enough information on a subject to arouse your curiosity to explore the subject more. Even if you don't, you're bound to be even more awed by the plants that surround us.

When you first look at the book, you may be intimidated by the size and think the book is dense. It's not. You can easily thumb through and read the short topics in a few minutes here and there. The 400 color illustrations are beautiful and helpful to understanding.

A number of well known and less well known topics are addressed. I never thought about pollination of plants under water for example, but there is a discussion of that topic in the book. And who has heard of "accessory" fruits versus true fruits? (A strawberry and many other common fruits we love are accessory fruits--I'll let you look up the difference in the definitions.) The discussion of orchid seeds is fascinating.

For the gardeners among us, the discussion of the rhizosphere and root pests is not only interesting but important to nurturing our soil and garden. I could go on, but you get my point. This book is interesting and fun if you're a nature geek.

The book is not cheap at $35, but well worth the cost. The many beautiful illustrations and interesting information will have you returning to the book more than once and the hardcover means it will last. I did look it up on Amazon, and you can purchase it for $26.93 there.

New Year, New Blog

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I have not done well maintaining this blog. I have defaulted to the Facebook page, as it is easier to repost than to actually write something, and at present at least, it has more people who read it.

However, this year I've decided to get back on the blog as there are often things that need to be said that a Facebook post really doesn't do justice to. Also, believe it or not, there are a lot of people who are not on Facebook, so using that format excludes people interested in the topic. Therefore, I am going to make an effort to post here, at least for items worthy of more discussion and then share these posts to the Facebook page. We'll see how it goes.

I have a list of items I want to discuss--if you have an issue or idea for Wichita Falls, send it to me at green.wichitafalls@gmail.com and it might just show up. Or if you would like to write a guest post, get with me. I am open to it, but I do want well-written items with civil discourse. Not to say you can't have a strong opinion on something, but I don't see the value of being uncivil.

Right now, I am enjoying a quiet day, since most of the area is closed down due to weather. There are not enough days like this.

Did you make any New Year's resolutions relating to a more sustainable lifestyle this year? I have a couple of them. First is to revitalize and maintain this blog. The other concerns my garden and yard. I have been adding perennials and edible plants to my yard every year and have done some gardening, but I am going up the effort in these areas this year. I do well at making food from scratch instead of using processed foods, but this year, I am going to increase my efforts to further reduce the amount of waste I am generating--whether food or packaging. That should keep me busy enough, with the other things I have going on. And if we all did one thing, even a small thing, it could make a difference.

Feedback and comments welcome!