One thing I do is use recycled/found materials with my classes. Paper towel rolls, plastic bottles, twist tops from yogurt and applesauce containers, paper towel rolls, popsicle sticks, lonely only socks, and many more are used to make projects like wave bottles, sound shakers, telescopes, magic wands,and at the end of camp, a giant cooperatively created robot made from all sorts of materials, held together with duct tape. I rarely need to buy anything new as we repurpose and reimagine so many things that would just end up polluting or in land fills. I am influencing kids to learn how to save things and reuse them.
Another thing I do is use old broken jewelry, beads, and buttons from thrift stores or friends ( or friends of friends), and reuse old canvases which I pay pennies on the dollars for to create my mixed media pieces. The broken jewelry is an especially great way to recycle and add beauty. I sometimes reuse cardboard boxes on some of my mixed media pieces, to build upon for 3d effects.
Just about every piece of furniture from my home has been either trash picked off the curb, or bought at thrift stores. You can't tell though- it is all in good shape. Most recently got some used, like new air conditioners for cheap that work beautifully in my home and my boyfriend's home.
Regularly I go through my clothes and anything I haven't worn in six months I donate to a clothing bin down the street.
I also recycle all cans, bottles,and containers weekly.
I walk most places instead of driving.
I take out library books, or buy used books online using yearly gifts of money from my siblings.
I believe in recycling. This culture of needing new, new, new stuff and paying for a brand, I hope will go the way of the dinosaur. We need less stuff, and more love.
Just about every piece of furniture from my home has been either trash picked off the curb, or bought at thrift stores. You can't tell though- it is all in good shape. Most recently got some used, like new air conditioners for cheap that work beautifully in my home and my boyfriend's home.
Regularly I go through my clothes and anything I haven't worn in six months I donate to a clothing bin down the street.
I also recycle all cans, bottles,and containers weekly.
I walk most places instead of driving.
I take out library books, or buy used books online using yearly gifts of money from my siblings.
I believe in recycling. This culture of needing new, new, new stuff and paying for a brand, I hope will go the way of the dinosaur. We need less stuff, and more love.
That sounds a lot like the way I operate.
I don't buy new if I can find what i need used. I never understood why some people think there is in "ick factor' about used clothes-- just wash them!!
I even rescue interesting, servicable items from my neighbors' trash if the things are still out on the curb on trash day (meaning no one else wanted them). Then I donate the rescued items if they aren't something I can use myself.
@ghandigirl, thanks for posting your practices. Helps us all do it too. For book lovers, www.abebooks.com and amazon have virtually every book you could want in used form. For clothes, www.poshmark.com has gently used clothes. You can sell on these venues too.
Jeanne, you are going to want to read this article about aerosols and ocean temperatures.
A new Yale study suggests that aerosols in the atmosphere may be temporarily holding down ocean temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific.
https://phys.org/news/2021-07-aerosols-wrinkle-climate-tropical-pacific.html
Madrid is planting a forest ring with a 1/2 million trees around the city to help combat climate change.
(Boy are we in need of some good news right?)
More wonderful earth news. They have discovered a fungi (mushroom) that can eat plastic. Pestaloptiasis Microsopora is a name to remember. It contains a chemical that can break down polyurethane which is a key plastic ingredient, and turns it into organic matter. This was discovered a few years ago, so I guess it's not news but it was news to me.
Oh! This looks wonderful! Thank you. In my stack of books to read, I have Suzanne Simard's book as well as the Merlin Sheldrake book titled, "Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures." I have only started each book, but they are both very relevant to this movie. Can't wait to see it!
How amazing that we are always in tune. You just be intuitive :) I watched that a few weeks ago and have been absolutely fascinated and on a fungi kick ever since. I am actually growing my own wild mushrooms on (shiitake logs and other pouches of yellow and blue oyster and today bought a lions mane kit) and have been waiting and watering patiently to harvest. That mushroom sounds similar to the one mentioned that was able to breakdown the oil spill. I do feel they will play a crucial role in our climate, health, and future.
This won't stop warming, but did you know that oysters are being used to clean up ocean pollution? They do it with ease. From the Mediterranean to New York Harbor, Oysters clean up with ease.
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/oysters-clean-ocean-water-new-york-harbor/?
We visited reclamthebay.org this summer. The organization is dedicated to increasing the number of clams and oysters in the Barnegat Bay for the purpose of cleaning the bay. Also, they “grow” the clams and oysters on shells I believe are recycled from restaurants. The shell bags serve the dual purpose of bulking up barrier islands. I thought of this website when we visited. As an aside, the organizers did warn to be careful to check the origin of oysters before eating as they should be harvested from clean waters.
We've been on the same wavelength. I've been thinking about mycoremediation because I just read How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan. One of the personalities that features in the book is Paul Stamets, who first used fungi to break down oil in the Exxon Valdez cleanup. Stamets was also an early proponent of the mycelial "Wood Wide Web," which we now know exists.
Anyways, there are visions on this site that see all of our plastic pollution being cleaned up by the end of the century, and I think fungal agents will help us achieve that.
@jeanne-mayell Oysters and other creatures (e.g. corals) that build their skeletons and shells from calcium carbonate actually act as *sinks* for carbon dioxide. So they can help with climate change!
The carbonate part of the calcium carbonate is extracted from CO2 dissolved in seawater. The more CO2 they are able to extract, the more CO2 that can be dissolved into the water from the atmosphere.
You'd think, "Oh Yay, lets seed the oceans with tons of clams and oysters and corals and they will sequester all the excess CO2, but one hangup with the process is that calcium carbonate will dissolve BACK into the water if the pH gets too low. And the more atmospheric CO2 that dissoves into the oceans, the lower the pH gets. (And low pH = high acidity)
Some species of corals are having trouble maintaining their skeletons with the rising acidity level of the oceans. On the plus side, scientists have discovered some coral species that are naturally acid-resistant so there are have been proposals of encouraging their growth, and also possibly producing hybrid acid-resistant corals.
Reference example: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27789-heat-tolerant-genes-could-help-corals-adapt-to-climate-change/
Another weird-- and convenient- thing about calcium carbonate is that it actually becomes LESS soluble in warmer water than colder water. (This is why your hot water tap may get all crusted up with hard water deposits while your cold water tap stays clean. And why you might get a hard water ring around the inside of your tea kettle. ) More calcium carbonate precipitating from ocean water means more CO2 locked up in solid form. The climate system has so many, many moving parts and feedback loops, it's incredible .
HELLO FRIENDS,
I don't post very often, but this article in VOX today caught my eye regarding climate change. Very interesting article about the issues of methane with regard to global warming. It makes the point that if we don't deal with the methane issue, we will have a LOT of issues in the not too distant future.
ENJOY! https://www.vox.com/22613532/climate-change-methane-emissions
THIS IS GREAT NEWS!!!!
Something to cheer about!!!
U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason— an Obama appointee — wrote in her ruling that the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service incorrectly approved the project because they failed to adequately analyze its climate impact and other possible development plans, and didn’t specify how polar bears would be protected.
Here's a cool (literally) idea :
https://spectrum.ieee.org/climate-change
The authors of the article propose spraying seawater into the air to create tiny salt crystals, upon which water vapor would accumulate to create more clouds and more reflective clouds. (No foreign aerosol substances needed. )It would take a lot of ships cruising around spraying a lot of water, but sure is worth an experiment.
Human cleverness is as infinite as human stupidity it seems--- hopefully the former wins out.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58600723
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I think we all knew this would be the case, but it's just so disappointing to see our trajectory is still very much the same despite all the pledges made globally.
Despite all the promises to take action, the world is still on course to heat up to dangerous levels.
That's the latest blunt assessment of the United Nations.
Its experts have studied the climate plans of more than 100 countries and concluded that we're heading in the wrong direction.
Scientists recently confirmed that to avoid the worst impacts of hotter conditions, global carbon emissions needed to be cut by 45% by 2030.
But this new analysis shows that those emissions are set to rise by 16% during this period.
This link was referenced as an example of Doris's correct prediction. In 2005, I had the privilege of being in a small group where Klaus Lachner presented his first iteration of a carbon capture machine. I have wondered if he would succeed eventually because without such devices, I am not sure we will survive at least comfortably, as a species.
So, I was heartened to know he has made huge progress. By the way, he got the idea while shopping with his young daughter for a device that goes on small aquariums.
Hello,
I've been wondering if someone has seen anything about the microplastic? It was not so recently discovered in the bloodstreams and other organic tissues and I've been thinking if we'll be able to overcome it? I know the scientists are looking into getting rid of microplastic from the environment but what about people's and animal's health?