Warrior4Serenity's Eco Blog

Banning the Words does not make the issue go away

2015-03-12T09:45:00.000-05:00

Subject: Governor Scott: Lift the Ban on Using The Phrases "Climate Change" and "Global Warming"

Hi,

I signed a petition to Governor Rick Scott which says:

"Governor Scott: Florida is uniquely vulnerable to sea level rise and increased inland flooding due to climate change. However, you have banned employees of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) from using the phrases "climate change" and "global warming." Florida cannot address these serious issues if its environmental protection agency is barred from even characterizing them. We urge you to lift this ban immediately so that the DEP can address this serious issue, which threatens the state.
Thank You,"

Will you sign this petition? Click here:

http://petitions.moveon.org/environmental-action/sign/governor-scott-lift-the?source=s.icn.em.cp&r_by=7470272

Thanks!

Angelita

Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) Snowball in the Senate (C-SPAN)

2015-03-12T09:12:00.001-05:00

Is this what we really want from our leaders? Making a mockery of our need to protect the environment for the benefit of mankind. Shame on you Senator.

Garden Maintenance

2014-05-20T20:42:00.001-05:00

Organic Landscaping & Garden Maintenance by Serenity Springs

*Sustainable Landscape Design

*Soil Amending

*Spring & Fall Clean-Ups

*Installation & Maintenance of Earth Friendly Landscapes

*Themed Gardens to attract you favorites and encourage natural habitat

*Composting

*Water Conservation

*Go Green Consulting

*Recycling

*Property Checks and Maintenance

Our landscape design and garden services integrate beauty and aesthetics while creating wildlife habitat, conserving water and energy, creating vibrant soils, and integrating edible species into the landscape.

Our goal is to inspire people to change the way they landscape and garden for the health of the planet.

Serenity Springs is committed to educating the public and our customers about sustainable approaches in landscapes and the environment. We strive to be a vital influence in promoting practices that will help protect our environment for future generations.

We offer many services including regular garden maintenance. Serving the Northern Michigan Area. Please contact us for free quotes and regular rates.

New Season

2014-05-20T20:32:00.002-05:00

Organic land care is the design, installation and maintenance of landscapes to promote and preserve environmental health both above and below ground. These practices arise from the understanding that all organisms in nature are interdependent, in order to enjoy healthy plants we must foster the health of the entire ecosystem. Organic land care practices go beyond integrated pest management, beyond the use of of so-called organic fertilizers and pesticides. They acknowledge the concept of intrinsic health and seek to create environments that cater to the well-being of all their inhabitants. Organic land care practitioners know that they but stewards of the land and can at best, hope to work with nature, never dominate it.

Statement of Accomplishment

2014-03-27T22:54:00.000-05:00

I have successfully completed my first class at Penn State. Energy, the Environment, and Our Future.
This undergraduate level course explored energy's role in a changing climate. It also explored the development of sustainable energy systems that provide a stronger economy, more jobs, and greater security that is more consistent with ethical principles.

file:///G:/Coursera%20energy%202014.pdf

2014-03-14T12:52:00.000-05:00

Let today be the first day you take a green action. What will you do to be the good?

Penn State. "Energy, the Environment and Our Future"

2014-01-06T22:09:00.000-06:00

Penn State. "Energy, the Environment and Our Future"

Just Aced my first quiz in my new class at Penn State. "Energy, the Environment and Our Future"

I am going so fully Green.

Thank you Dr. Alley and Dr. Johnson for all your guidance.
This is going to be an informative semester.

New Year New Beginnings Getting Greener with Green Education

2014-01-05T20:25:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow I begin my new quest to further my understanding on environmental matters. This is a free class that anyone can sign up for. Class begins tomorrow. I am still working towards my BA from Ashford with a full course load. Wish me luck with my new studies. 2014 here I come.

Global Sustainable Energy: Past, Present and Future

Students will explore energy consumption patterns including individuals, countries and the entire globe. These patterns will include all sectors of the global economy from fully developed countries to developing nations. New energy sources will be investigated and international solutions to future needs will be analyzed.

About the Course

This general education course will cover concepts of work and energy and their relationship with our modern society. Each aspect of this relationship with energy will be analyzed including consumptive patterns for the residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation sectors of our economy. Geological sources for fossil fuels will be examined as will the differences between reserves and production. Energy capacities and limitations for new sources of renewable energies will also be examined. All of these topics will be examined within a national and international context.

Energy, the Environment, and Our Future

Get Rich and Save the Earth…Or Else! Learn about the past, present, and possible futures of human energy use.

About the Course

Join internationally-acclaimed researcher and award-winning educator Richard Alley in an exploration of the role of energy in our environment and our future. Energy use has done great good for humans by giving those in the developed world the equivalent of 100 energy "serfs" to do our bidding, making up roughly 10% of the economy, and powering most of the economy. However, the unintended consequences of energy use are affecting people around the world and changing the climate in ways that will make life much harder. Numerous options exist for development of a sustainable energy system that provides a stronger economy, more jobs, and greater security that is more consistent with ethical principles. The course explores these issues.

“Energy, the Environment, and Our Future” will combine student-centered instructional materials and film clips from the PBS TV series Earth: The Operators' Manual, also hosted by Richard Alley, to tell the history, present, and possible futures of human energy use.

Right to Know

2014-01-02T11:09:00.001-06:00

Right to Know:

Most consumers assume that a product labeled “natural” doesn’t contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Unfortunately, many brands that claim to be “natural” also knowingly use GMO ingredients.

GMOs are defined as organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally.

The Food & Drug Administration should reserve “natural” claims for foods that are produced without the use of genetic engineering.

Will you use this link to tell the FDA that GMOs are not natural?

http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50865/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=11779

'via Blog this'

Curriculum - Green Education Foundation | GEF | Sustainability Education

2014-01-01T23:16:00.001-06:00

Curriculum - Green Education Foundation | GEF | Sustainability Education:

'via Blog this'

The Age of Sustainable Development

2014-01-01T21:06:00.001-06:00

Join me for this free class

The Age of Sustainable Development | Coursera:

'via Blog this'

Free Course in being Greener

2014-01-01T19:58:00.001-06:00

Energy, the Environment, and Our Future | Coursera:

'via Blog this'

The billboard that produces potable water out of air

2014-01-01T09:34:00.001-06:00

What to Do with Your Tree AFTER Christmas

2013-12-26T08:56:00.001-06:00

Warrior4Serenity's Eco Blog: What to Do with Your Tree AFTER Christmas

Eco Friendly Last Minute Gift Wrapping Ideas

2013-12-22T22:10:00.000-06:00

Save that last minute trip to the mall
and choose a green option this year get creative with your recyclables.

Living here in Northern Michigan we have many options to add from our environment. Like this fresh cedar with twine. Simple yet elegant. 100% compostable.

If we have any hope of finding ways for seven billion people to live well on planet with finite resources, we have to learn to use our resources efficiently. Plastic bags are neither efficient nor environmentally friendly.

We Are All One - An Inspiring Short Film To Watch - YouTube

2013-12-17T20:40:00.001-06:00

We Are All One - An Inspiring Short Film To Watch - YouTube:

'via Blog this'

Green Christmas

2013-12-14T09:48:00.001-06:00

What are you doing to ensure a greener Christmas for you and your family?

Progress in My Quest

2013-12-13T14:35:00.000-06:00

It is official. I have just completed my second semester at Ashford University with a 4.0 in my Environmental Science undergraduate program.

Eco-Friendly LED Lighting

2013-12-09T11:31:00.000-06:00

If your strands of lights are older than 10 years it will be more efficient to replace them with newer, LED bulbs. They can also save you up to 90% or more on power costs and will last longer than traditional bulbs.

Millions of lights are purchased each year and millions of dollars spent electrifying our yards. Statistics given by Dow Jones say lighting a six-foot Christmas tree 12 hours a day for 40 days can cost anywhere from $25 for the larger incandescent bulbs to under $1 for LED strands. Lighting your lawn can cost in the hundreds (or more), depending on your taste, budget and bulbs.

A typical house full-out decorated with tons of incandescent lights, motorized characters and lots of lit objects might use, say 2,500 watts, which costs 28 cents an hour. Over 40 days that would cost the homeowner with incandescent lights about $135.

But the equation changes with LED lights. Most incandescent bulbs last about 1,000 hours, while the majority of LEDs burn for 50,000 hours. And each bulb gives up to 10 times more energy. For example, the amount of electricity consumed by just one 7-watt incandescent bulb could power 140 LEDs — enough to light two 24-foot strings.

Furthermore, LEDS don’t break nearly as easily and many of them come with a three-year warranty. Oh, did I mention that LEDS stay cool, reducing the risk of fire.

So, what I really want to say to all of you – all of us – who resist the hues on the LEDs is: Get Over It! • Use LED lights for house and Christmas tree lighting

LED (Light Emitting Diode) holiday lights use up to 95% less energy than larger, traditional holiday bulbs and last up to 100,000 hours when used indoors. LED holiday lights use .04 watts per bulb, 10 times less than mini bulbs and 100 times less than traditional holiday bulbs. Over a 30-day period, lighting 500 traditional holiday lights will cost you about $18.00 while the same number of LED lights costs only $0.19. As an added bonus, if one of the LED lights burns out the rest of the strand will stay lit.

• Outdoor Mini-lights will also save energy

A 100-light string uses only 40 watts. If you're buying a new set of lights, compare based on equal 'lighted lengths'. Some higher priced brands have 100 mini-lights for only 8 1/2 feet of length, while some 100 mini-light strings cover up to 40 feet in length. For the most efficient outdoor holiday lighting, consider the new solar LED strings now available.

• Turn tree lights and outdoor house decorative lighting at bedtime

It's simply a waste of energy to leave the holiday lights on at night after everyone's gone to sleep.

Replace Burnt Out Bulbs:

Too many perfectly good lights are thrown away when a single bulb bursts. Spend the time to find and replace the culprit or invest in a bulb tester (that can be shared between multiple families).

Utilize Timers:

All your Christmas lights should be on timers, from the strands adorning your trees to the lights outside. Don't count on remembering to turn them off after a long day and plug the lights into a timer that remembers for you. Light timers can be found at any hardware store.

Hand Print Christmas Art

2013-12-07T11:16:00.001-06:00

Here is a great way to spend a chilly day with the kids.
Making hand print art for Christmas.
This would make a nice tradition.

You could include hand-print cut outs of all the kids to make this wreath.

Mom and Dad can also be part of the fun by adding their own hand prints

This canvas print is my favorite

Thumb prints in a bright color would make a nice addition as ornaments

This tree could be on a card or canvas

Santa Dough Ornament

2013-12-07T07:56:00.001-06:00

Here is another fun way to include the kids.

Recycle Shopping Bags into Bows for Gifts

2013-12-06T18:55:00.002-06:00

What you’ll need:

• paper shopping bags
• scissors
• ruler
• double-sided tape
• brown or white craft paper

How to do it:
Cut your shopping bag into nine long
strips, each ¾ inches wide. Next, measure and cut the length. You’ll need three that are 11 inches long, three that are 10 inches long, two that are 9 inches long and 1 that is 3 ½ inches long. Using one strip of paper at a time, twist each end toward the center until they meet in the middle and create a loop. Secure the ends in place with the double-sided tape. Repeat with the remaining eight strips, except for the 3 ½-inch strip; loop that one into a circle.Starting with the three longest strips of paper, begin stacking the loops in descending order of size. Stick each loop in place with tape. Finish with the circle loop in the center.

Attach your bow on top of a wrapped package.
For added eco-friendly pizazz, reuse the string bag handles in lieu of traditional ribbon.

Christmas is for the Birds

2013-12-06T15:28:00.001-06:00

A great way to include the kids while caring for wildlife.

Snowman/snow girl for the birds.

We used stale doughnuts and cranberry's for her buttons

Bagel smothered in chunky peanut-butter the rolled in seed.

Simple red ribbon and your ready to hang on a tree limb

Fruit garland is always a real treat for birds who need the extra food source to combat the extreme cold. And it looks stunning on a tree outside.

My personal favorite is using pine-cones rolled in peanut-butter and seeds.

The birds love this one.

The following is a post from Suzanne Hallabrin

She includes some easy recipes for making suet and bird treats.

Wintertime can be tough on everyone. I, for one, do not like the cold. But imagine being a bird stuck outside with nowhere to go to get warm. And to make matters worse, food is quite scarce during the winter months. Why not spread a little holiday cheer to our bird friends by creating a Christmas tree full of delicious treats made especially for our feathered friends.

This can be a fun family project that all can participate in, and everyone will get to see the fruits of their labor long after the holiday has passed. This can become a family tradition

When we think of a Christmas tree, we usually think of a pine tree, so if you have one, of course this works best, but if not, any old tree will do. We are going to make three different kinds of ornaments to hang on this bird Christmas tree, and we'll also string some garland to hang around the branches.

Materials that you will need:

Sliced sandwich bread
Egg Whites
Bird Seed
Twine or Raffia
Cookie Cutters
Ice pick or sharp stick

The first ornament we will make is from sliced sandwich bread. For this thin sliced works best, but regular bread will also do. If you have a day old bread store in your area this works great and is easy on the wallet.

Simply place each slice of bread on a flat surface and cut out your shape with a large cookie cutter. You will probably be able to get one ornament from each slice of bread.

To make the hole in the top of each ornament use an ice pick or a sharp stick such as one you use to make a kabob. Thru this you can string the twine or raffia to hang it from the tree branch.

Brush one side of the bread with egg white. This is the "glue" for keeping the bird seed on the bread ornament. Sprinkle the egg white covered bread with the bird see. I think the best bird seed to use is a seed mixture. This variance in shape and texture makes the ornaments more interesting. You will also attract a wider variety of birds with a mixture. Our little feathered friends each have their own preference when it comes to dining.

Pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees. Place the seed covered ornaments on a baking sheet, and bake for about 5 minutes. You need to bake only long enough to adhere the bird seed to the egg covered bread.

Take a piece of twine or raffia and string it through the hole that you made in the top of the ornament. Then tie a knot to create a loop to hang it from a branch by.

The second ornaments we will make are bird seed balls. These can be a little messy to make so if you cover your work area with newspaper, it will save you a lot of clean up time.

Materials:

Newspaper
2 Plastic bowls
Spoon
1 pound of Crisco
1 16 ounce jar of smooth peanut butter
5 cups of corn meal
6 cups of uncooked oats
3 cups of raisins
3 cups of unshelled sunflower seeds
5-6 straight pieces of floral wire heavy enough to hold ball. (You will need more if you make smaller balls)
Twine or raffia

Mix the Crisco, six cups of oats, one jar of peanut butter, one cup of sunflower seeds, one cup of raisins and five cups of corn meal together in a large plastic bowl. Use a spoon to stir the mixture. You can also use your hands if the spoon does not work well for you.

Pack the mixture into balls. These should be very firm and hard packed. Make the balls as small or as large as you would like. Mix the remaining sunflower seeds and raisins together in the second bowl. Roll each ball into the mixture until well coated. Run a piece of the floral wire through the cent of the ball from top to bottom and bring around the outside to form a loop at the top from which you can hang from the tree. You can use a piece of twine or raffia in the loop. Place in refrigerator for an hour to firm up, then hang from tree branches.

Our last ornament will be peanut butter and bird seed pine cones. For these you will need the following materials:

1 cup of lard or Crisco
1 1/2 cups of crunch peanut butter
1 cup of corn meal
1 cup of bird seed
Twine or raffia
Large pine cones

Melt one cup of lard or Crisco in the microwave in a plastic bowl. Add the 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter. Blend mixture together well, and let stand 5-10 minutes.

Add one cup of corn meal and one cup of bird seed to mixture, and stir until well mixed.

Tie a piece of raffia or twine to the top of each pine cone, making sure it is long enough to be tied to a tree branch. Take the mixture and press into the openings in the pine cone, making sure to cover the entire cone, in the peanut butter mixture. Hang on tree.

Last but not least in decorating our Christmas tree for the birds, we need to string some garland. The materials we need for this are:

2 bags of fresh cranberries
Several batches of popped pop corn
6 oranges sliced
6 apples sliced and cut in half
Raffia (as long as you want your garland to be)

String your garland alternating with the cranberries and popcorn, and then placing an orange or apple slice every so often. You can use any design of your own choosing. There is no wrong or right way when it comes to alternating your fruit and popcorn on the garland. Just string and place around the tree.

Now watch the birds enjoy this wonderful gift you have given them!

Suzanne Hallabrin is an avid crafter who enjoys passing tips and tricks on to other crafters.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Suzanne_Hallabrin

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5325032

Earth Friendly Christmas Ornaments

2013-12-04T19:11:00.002-06:00

Simple Green Ideas for your tree

Here is a great way to re-use last seasons greeting cards

Simple at its best

CD or DVD what a beautiful way to up-cycle

These are basic silver but with so many fun colors out there you can get really creative

Christmas Tree Alternatives

2013-12-03T13:09:00.000-06:00

There are many reasons why you might want to skip a traditional Christmas tree and look for alternatives. Maybe you've just moved into a smaller place and there's no room for a tree. Maybe you don't like the idea of cutting down a tree for a decoration; or perhaps you hate the plastic-smell of an artificial tree.

Whatever your reason for not having a Christmas tree, I am here to offer you alternatives--ideas outside the box that allow you to still display your ornaments, but in a new and fun way.

This Frame Tree is one of my favorites