THE LORAX HAS BEEN HIJACKED!!!

For over forty years, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax has been a clarion call for conservation.  But now the book’s powerful message is in danger of being crushed by a real-life landslide of corporate greed.

On Friday, March 2, Universal Pictures’ The Lorax arrives in theaters—with dozens of corporate tie-ins.  While the story teaches children to conserve the earth’s finite resources, these partnerships use the Lorax to promote everything from Mazda’s CX-5 SUV, the only car with the “Truffula Seal of Approval,” to IHOP pancakes to Pottery Barn Kids furniture.

Will you join me in standing up to those who have hijacked the Lorax’s message and pledge to shun all of the movie’s corporate cross-promotions? Please visit http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/621/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=9676.

It is both cynical and hypocritical to use a beloved children’s story with a prescient environmental message to sell kids on consumption.  The Lorax in Dr. Seuss’ classic children’s book has more integrity than his incarnation as the darling of Madison Avenue. If the original, notoriously reclusive Lorax ever agreed to appear in a film, he would say a resounding “NO” to any commercial tie-ins.  

Please visit http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/621/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=9676and pledge to celebrate the Lorax’s timeless message by enjoying the classic story – and shunning all Lorax-themed merchandise and promotions.

Thanks!

Save the Earth a Little Everyday

Look in your garbage can. Go ahead do it... is it yucky and smelly? Would you want to stick your hand in it? What if your ring dropped in? 

While you are looking ,look at all the food that is in this pail. This 'garbage' is potentially gold for your garden and yard. With a small effort your garbage cans would be cleaner, and your gardens healthier. With a giant bonus of feeding the Earth.

Does this look familiar? What do you do with these at your house? Mine,shown here, are in a gallon ice cream tub that we keep near the kitchen sink. All plates are scraped and any old stuff from the frig. goes in the bucket. Unfortunately sometimes more than once. The waste  is  then covered by leaves or grass clippings. Threw those into the landfill too? Well, don't. You are going to need them. Some towns have laws now that you can't put yard waste in the landfill.

This is a compost pile that will give you back a healthy garden. It will feed the birds, worms and squirrels. In our neck of the woods, it even feeds the box turtles! This is a component to a healthy backyard habitat. Did you ever think about how the forest is not piled high with leaves? In  nature these things break down and feed the very plants that dropped them. Pretty wonderful scheme, now if we could just take a lesson from nature.

Earth knows no desolation.
She smells regeneration in the moist breath of decay.
-   George Meredith

Still not sure are you? OK, I know, what about the other animals...rats! This is a myth designed by those  too lazy to do a minimal care of the pile. First, do not put meat into your pile. This can be done but not when you are new to composting. Keep the food waste covered by leaves or grass clippings. The compost pile should be damp, not too wet nor too dry. Get the kids involved. This experience is a life changing exercise. They will see the cycle of life in it's entirety. 

Ahhh, getting it? For the kids, this is a year long study that can touch on all subjects. 

• Writing - poems about the compost or a journal on it's activity,bugs or wildlife
• Science - this can involve temperature if you get a long compost thermometer or go by feel, besides all the obvious topics
• Recycling
• Math - weigh your garbage can before you start this then weigh it after , week one two etc., note differences in weight, smell and extrapolate for your street and town

• Reading - there are many site and books on this topic, let the kids do the research.
• Why does the compost pile break down but the landfill not?
• Wildlife count- here too do a before and after. (we have more hawks now because of the increase of small wildlife!)

 

Some rights reserved by Liz Henry

 

 

 

 

Remember kids LOVE to get dirty and love to hold  worms! This will be a great project for the whole family that let's them get to do both in the name of education. What could be better? How about a great garden?

Take care, learn more and you will!

The main characteristic of Nature's farming can therefore be summed up in a few words.  Mother earth never attempts to farm without live stock;
she always raises mixed crops; great pains are taken to preserve the soil and to prevent erosion; the mixed vegetable and animal wastes are converted
into humus; there is no waste; the processes of growth and the processes of decay balance one another; ample provision is made to maintain large reserves of fertility; the greatest care is taken to store the rainfall;both
plants and animals are left to protect themselves against disease.

-  Sir Albert Howard, An Agricultural Testament, 1940

WOLF! Vinegar is Not What You Think

I consider myself GREEN. I try to use Earth friendly cleaners, recycle, all the stuff that makes my way to Heaven an open road. I am an urban gardener/farmer. I don't know all that I need to know so my books and bookmarked sites are many. Many times I search for organic methods and something as simple as where or how your water is treated can  affect your plants. 

One day as I was looking for pest management ideas I came across a page that said to use alcohol. Not rubbing alcohol it was noted as this was a petroleum product. Hmmm, I thought "Yeah, I guess so." I went on reading and found a method using apple cider vinegar. Again, a note said not white vinegar as this, too, is a petroleum product!

 

That's right, you heard me, a petroleum product!  Now let me be clear....white vinegar,not other vinegars, is a petroleum product. How could this be? So I searched it out not wanting to made a fool of, and it turns out it is true. So, here is the skinny.

White vinegar, go get your bottle, is distilled petroleum if it does not say on the label that it is from grains and /or apples. It should NOT be used on your food. Even though it is sold in the grocery next to the dressings do not use it on your food, in canning  or other ingested recipes. Apple cider vinegar is suspect as well. Look at the label. What does it say?  Apple cider vinegar should be made from what? That's right

 

 

 

                      

 

not vinegar and caramel coloring. 

So, now I feel horrible that we have been eating this crap for years but I also have been touting the Green Clean with it, as well. I use it with baking soda as a cleaner. So much for environmentally sound.Over the years we have probably dumped as much of this junk down the drain as Chevron has into the Gulf of Mexico. (Not really , my house is not that clean) But seriously, why have I never heard this before? On the many sites that think green why has this never come up? I am trying to rectify this misconception. 

I urge you all to search this out on your own. Is anyone a chemist that can tell us it is environmentally safe (that does not work for industry)?

 So in this case, NATURAL on the label really means a lot. Look for the real vinegars. They are worth the extra effort to find and heck, why not try making your own. Volcanoes must be made !

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Vinegar

http://www.versatilevinegar.org/faqs.html

http://www.heinzvinegar.com/vinegar-101.aspx

http://tinychoices.com/2008/05/07/is-vinegar-made-from-petroleum/