Tag Archive for Earth

KEA: A Great Idea!

Kaskazi Environmental Alliance (KEA) has an exciting, innovative idea: teach E. Africans about the importance of their environment and how that environment affects everyone on Earth; get them excited about and active in preserving their eco-system; and provide jobs that will help them pull themselves out of poverty.

KEA will offer marine science programs to the people who will be stewards of the Earth in the future–the youth. They will also build a world-class aquarium and marine research and conservation center.  Additionally, they plan to turn a dangerous eyesore of a dump into a recycling center  Through all of this, they will employ local people, giving them life-saving jobs and hope for a better future.

I think this U.S.-based not-for-profit has the right idea.  And the group creating and running it has the vision, energy, and dedication to make it work.

KEA is only a few years old. However, as it goes along, , I believe it will act just like its namesake, the African Kaskazi winds, calming the storms of poverty, environmental degradation, and inadequate education.

I’ll be watching them…and reporting on them here from time to time.  Meanwhile, learn more about KEA by going to their website, www.KEAinc.org.

 

For the “I Don’t Wanna Garden” Person

Want a garden but don’t have space? Or have space but don’t know how to garden? Consider sharing a garden.  Go to www.sharedearth.com to learn how

[For more easy, money-saving, Earth-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to www.Smashwords.com/books/view/7000 or your favorite e-book seller and download to your computer or e-book device. Totally free, with no strings attached.]

 

Earth: Movies vs. Real-Life

All those end-of-the-world movies have one thing in common: pictures of the Earth devastated by too much ice, smoke, heat, pollution…you name it.  Dumb, right?  Well,   take a look at this short video of what our home planet looks like today.

 

Produce Mesh

Those plastic mesh bags that produce comes in can be used for another purpose before they hit the trash can.  Take off any staples or labels, tie them into a tight knot (or series of         knots), and use them instead of pot scrubbers or steel wool pads.

Leaf 6

[For more easy, money-saving, Earth-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to www.Smashwords.com/books/view/7000 or your favorite e-book seller and download to your computer or e-book device. Totally free, with no strings attached.]

A Child, A Shirt, and Peace

We should all wear tee shirts like this…and mean it. 

The 99%, or Where’s the Money?

Did you hear about the report (“An Economy for the 99%”) from Oxfam about where all the world’s money is?  According to that international poverty-fighting group, it comes out this way: Add the wealth of all of the world’s 3.6 billion poorest people and it roughly equals the $436 billion held by eight (8!) men–not women or families but 8 individual men.  Then add together the wealth of the 180 poorest countries  and it does NOT equal the wealth of the ten largest countries.

And this inequality is increasing.  Which widens the divisions in society.

Just something to think about.

 

 

Let Children Unearth an Old Idea

Children of all ages love to discover things, even more so as they get older.  Tell your teenage son, for example, that it’s important to care for the earth and he’ll tell you how old and uncool you are; let him discover it for himself and he’ll think his generation invented the idea.  Here’s where books come in.  For young children, have environment-related picture and story books available for rest- and bed-times.  Later, when they’re ready for browsing the library, lead them to books emphasizing earth-friendly themes.  When it’s book-report time, suggest a paperback that’s interesting and easy to read, one that, incidentally, promotes caring for the earth.  The librarian at school or the public library can suggest titles.  Feel free to contact me for a starter-list of age-appropriate books. Maybe your children didn’t really invent the idea of caring for their planet, but they’ll become adults who will reinvent the world as a cleaner, healthier home for us all.

 

How Much of Life Changes

Imagine that you were on another planet for 44 years and then came back to earth.  How much would have changed?  How would you adapt?

This video, narrated by a man coming out of prison for 44 years, shows some of the changes you’d face as you tried to get on with your life.  You’ll be surprised at some of the things that just happen when we aren’t noticing.

 

 

 

 

Song of Earth: The Sounds of Space

I was surprised at how noise space is.  I thought that it was totally quiet.  Until I heard the collections of sounds NASA collected.

Interesting….check this out:

 

 

 

It Only Takes a Second

Plan today what to do with the extra time Science and Nature are giving you tomorrow.  On June 30, the atomic clocks we’ve used since 1967 will adjust to the slowing earth’s rotation, giving us 61 seconds in one of our hours.

Doesn’t sound like much time, but think what you could do with that second to improve someone’s life.  Smile at a stranger.  Hold that hug a little longer.  Say “I love you” to a family member or friend who seldom hears that.  Add one more zero to the check you’re writing to a charity.  Pick up your dirty socks so your spouse doesn’t have to.  Open a door for a person in a wheelchair. Throw away your cigarette butt or garbage instead of dropping it on the ground for someone else to pick up.  Say “thank you” to someone who has been of service to you (server, crossing guard, letter carrier, trash collector, etc.).  Give a friendly wave and “Hello” to a homeless person or the neighbor everyone ignores or dislikes.

It only takes a second to make another person’s life brighter.  And tomorrow you have an extra second to spare.