What the Hummingbird Said

Your Daily Hummer: New Eco Blog

2012-02-28T22:49:00.000-08:00

"Is it possible for humans to live in harmony with the environment in the 21st century? There are many choices that people can make to reduce their impact on the environment. "Where there's a will, there's a way." But where's our collective will? What keeps us from confronting the ongoing destruction of the web of life of which we are a part? ....

Sandy Olliges author of Eco Blog @ Psychology Today

My Ecological Footprint (blog)

Keep Close....

2012-02-25T11:33:00.000-08:00

"Keep close to Nature's heart...

and break clear away,

once in awhile, and climb a mountain

or spend a week in the woods.

Wash your spirit clean."

-John Muir

Coastal Harbor Photo by Victoria Marina-Tompkins

Stop the Pipeline!

2012-02-24T08:24:00.000-08:00

"The latest attempt to push through the Keystone XL pipeline

is meeting some spirited opposition." Yes Magazine

How the Pipeline Died article

Heal the Earth

2012-02-23T17:56:00.002-08:00

Morocco and Climate Change

2012-02-22T08:05:00.000-08:00

“People know there is something happening that is not normal. They notice changes but do not always relate these to climate change,” Khattabi said. “During the floods last October there were people of 80 or 90 years old who had never seen that quantity of water.” Dr. Abdellatif Khattabi ENFI Morocco

Morocco and Climate Change article

Please Help!

2012-02-21T08:05:00.000-08:00

As Predators Disappear

2012-02-20T09:36:00.000-08:00

Bill Ripple, professor at Oregon State University, talks about the impact wolf populations have on ecosystems particularly around streams and other bodies of water

As Predators Disappear (Video)

Love is a Practice

2012-02-19T09:29:00.000-08:00

"Love is a practice. Love is truly a practice."

Thich Nhat Hahn

John Muir Says.....

2012-02-18T07:26:00.000-08:00

"God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought,

disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods.

But he cannot save them from fools."

John Muir

photo by Victoria Marina-Tompkins "Alaska"

What Do You Love Most About the Earth?

2012-02-16T17:00:00.000-08:00

What Do You Love Most About the Earth? video

Your Carbon Footprint

2012-02-15T08:00:00.000-08:00

Would you like to make a difference? Use this online calculator to see what your Carbon Footprint is and how you can reduce it.

YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT

FREECYCLE!

2012-02-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

"The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 5,020 groups with 8,856,823 members around the world. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by local volunteers (them's good people). Membership is free."

FREECYCLE

What the Hummingbird Said highly recommends Freecycle..... Check it out!

Green Phone Technology

2012-02-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

Apple iPhone 4S
Apple designed the ever-popular iPhone with an eye toward minimizing any environmental impact. Its green features include being PVC-free, having no mercury in its LED-backlit display and no arsenic in its display glass, and mostly bio-based packaging. And the unit’s power adapter is said to outperform the “strictest global energy-efficiency standards.” Apple also accepts old units for recycling at its stores and by mail so as not to burden landfills.

NASA Finds 2011 Ninth-Warmest Year on Record

2012-02-12T09:47:00.000-08:00

"The global average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since 1880, according to NASA scientists. The finding continues a trend in which nine of the 10 warmest years in the

modern meteorological record have occurred since the year 2000."

Steve Cole and Leslie McCarthy Center for Biological Diversity Online

Article: Warmest Year on Record

After Durban: A New Strategy

2012-02-11T08:43:00.000-08:00

"Nobody believes it will be easy to wrench the climate policymaking process

away from corporate influence- but activists believe the climate talks

will go almost nowhere if they don't"

After Durban: A New Strategy

Article from Yes Magazine.org by Madeline Ostrander

All Is a Miracle

2012-02-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

Make Love and Save the Earth!

2012-02-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

"Make Love, Not Waste – In simple terms, the number of people times the quantity they consume is equal to the amount of environmental degradation. Fortunately, happiness is about quality of relationships, not quantity of possessions. It comes from fulfilling personal relationships, not the accumulation of stuff. Think of consuming less as making more space in your life for the truly important things."

From The Top Ten Things You Can Do to Save the Earth by Rick Theis

Your Daily Hummer

2012-02-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

"Silence is sometimes the best answer" The Dalai Lama

The Green Economy

2012-02-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

"The Green Economy is people deciding to walk rather than drive to work, to buy local food and a more fuel-efficient car. It is business owners choosing to fill their inventories from sustainable sources and manufacturers choosing to dispose of their waste products responsibly. It is politicians making the hard choices that favor the long term interests of future generations over the immediate wishes of lobbyists. It is people purchasing renewable energy and voting to allow wind turbines on neighboring ridge tops, even if they don’t like the way they look.

It is all of us realizing that while our imaginations are limitless, so too can be our appetites. The planet that sustains us, abundant as it is, has limited resources that we will deplete if we continue to consume them faster than they can regenerate. We need to take that awareness as our guiding principle, as we move gracefully towards an emergent goal of quality, rather than quantity, of prosperity redefined as an abundance of connection rather than accumulation, in the direction of the limitlessness of our imaginations rather than our appetites. The Green Economy can be rich and full and delicious and fun, as long as we keep in mind the fact that we are, all of us, traveling on a great big Spaceship Earth that is subject to laws of nature that must be respected and obeyed.

What makes this a truly extraordinary and historic moment in time, is that if we do this, it will be the first time in history that the entire human population aligned itself to a single purpose."

from The Green Economy: Does It Include You? (RP Siegel)

The New Urbanism

2012-02-06T08:00:00.000-08:00

The New Urbanism: Making Your Green Choices Easier (excerpt from blog by Evan Miller c. 2010)

New Urbanism Defined The Congress for the New Urbanism describes new urbanism as a campaign among city and regional planners to design neighborhoods and open spaces that reduce urban sprawl, minimize traffic congestion and increase affordable public housing. The goal is sustainable communities with walkable, mixed-use neighborhood development and healthier, happier living conditions. Additionally, new urbanism promotes green building technologies, the redevelopment of brownfield land (abandoned, polluted sites), historic preservation, safe neighborhoods and public spaces.

Sustainable Living Attributes

Sound great? Think you might want to move to such a place? When choosing a new city or region in which to live, look for infrastructure and planning that promote the above positive outcomes. Areas designed with sustainable living in mind usually share the following attributes:

Compact and walkable neighborhoods that promote social interaction among all classes and types of people.

Housing designed in such a way that transit stops are numerous and within walking distance to encourage people to use public transportation.

Parks, conservation lands and green spaces scattered throughout different types of neighborhoods and districts, encouraging citizens to involve themselves in their communities and care for such spaces.

Schools located within walking or cycling distance of kids.

Stores, shops, government buildings, etc. distributed throughout the community, not isolated in a single part of the city.

Architecture and landscaping influenced by the unique history and ecology of the particular area.

Fresh, locally produced foods readily available (i.e., fruit and vegetable stands and farmers markets), not displaced by stores and chains offering food that has been shipped long distances. Photo Rockland Marylan

Your Daily Hummer

2012-02-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

"Devotion to your fur children need not create a substantial eco-footprint. Holistic, organic, local and more sustainable pet foods, as well as pet care products, are finding their way into major retailers and pet specialty stores, according to Pets and the Planet: A Practical Guide to Sustainable Pet Care by Carol Frischmann. We can now make intelligent decisions when purchasing environmentally friendly pet food, toys, equipment, beds and shampoos and even for disposal of pet waste." From Eco Pets by Heidi Aumen Ph.D

And the Children.....

2012-02-04T08:08:00.000-08:00

"The children and nature movement is fueled by this fundamental idea: the child in nature is an endangered species, and the health of children and the health of the Earth are inseparable." -

Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods and recipient of the 2008 Audubon Medal

Scientists on Climate Change

2012-02-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

"Research shows that more than 97% of scientists actively publishing in the field agree that climate change is real and human caused. It would be an act of recklessness for any political leader to disregard the weight of evidence and ignore the enormous risks that climate change clearly poses. In addition, there is very clear evidence that investing in the transition to a low-carbon economy will not only allow the world to avoid the worst risks of climate change, but could also drive decades of economic growth.
Just what the doctor ordered."

Kevin Trenberth, Sc.D.Climate Analysis Section National Center for Atmospheric Research

Listening to the Experts (Wall Street Journal Article)

History May Repeat but Climate Change is Forever

2012-02-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

"As we enter a New Year, the news is replete with talk of recession, joblessness, falling home prices, diplomatic tensions and war. All of this is familiar territory to those who know their history. Surely the current administration has been making every effort to ensure that history does not repeat itself and we plunge into another Great Depression or war. The problem, however, is that recessions and hostilities pass, but climate change is forever.

The front-page headlines continually scream about our economic difficulties, but where is the news about the collapse of the very environment that holds it all together? We are pushing atmospheric carbon levels at 380 parts per million when we need to be at 350. If we don’t get down to that level by 2015, we will have reached a point of no return. This means that decisions made today will affect the planet for hundreds of years to come.

Unlike the end of wars from which new societies rise, and unlike recessions that birth new markets, we cannot avoid the far-reaching consequences of climate change. The future cannot redeem the mistakes of history without affecting generations to come. Careening toward carbon levels at 400 ppm is akin to watching a slew of nuclear warheads chug around the earth at a decade per hour. The only difference is that when we look up, we notice that somewhere in the future the fate of the earth is sealed. Unfortunately today, given the enormity of the problem we’re not addressing, most people are simply adding to the arsenal.

Perhaps it’s the very severity of the problem that keeps us from putting climate change at the top of all political agendas. After all, to get emissions on a downward path in the next five years requires that over 200 nations must agree to build a carbon-neutral energy system. Such political action needs to happen today… not tomorrow, not next week, but right now. This will require the greatest cooperative endeavor in history. Each and every one of us must be involved.

The problem of climate change will not be solved with a New Deal. It’s bigger than a negotiated settlement on nuclear-arms reduction, and bigger than the effort to stop the Nazi takeover of Europe in WWII. This problem is so big that it reduces the Cuban Missile Crisis to small fries, and makes the war on terrorism appear momentary.

We have the technology and the resources, but we now need the political and cultural will to act. A greening of the economy is a baby step forward, but ultimately every human on this earth needs to take a giant leap into a new paradigm, to ensure a future both breathable and fair for future generations.

The stakes are extreme. There are no lessons from the past to which we can turn on this one, so take your partner’s hand, hold your nose and jump; it’s the one and only chance to come together as a species and save what we’ve just spent a few hundred years devastating."

Fiona Sinclair, PhD Commentary

HARMONY FOR PEACE

2012-02-01T08:37:00.000-08:00

We believe in the power of Arts - the language of music and expression of imagery

It touches people. With artistry of music and images, we aim to strengthen an awareness for nuclear free world among peoples in different cultures and to unite our voices for the world peace.

MISSION STATEMENT: The Harmony for Peace Foundation seeks to promote cross-cultural understanding through the arts, in particular music, serving as a bridge among nations to promote mutual respect, and a common path to world peace.

Through performances, exhibitions, events, and advocacy we stand for a united voice of reason against nuclear proliferation across the globe.

We aim to inspire harmony among faiths, and groups divided by creeds and political leanings.

We aim to work toward a world free of nuclear weapons, and to help ensure peace for our children and their children.

We aim to achieve a common goal to create a world where nuclear weapons are not needed nor used.

HARMONY FOR PEACE (WEBSITE)

QUOTES FROM THE HARMONY FOR PEACE WEBSITE

Tip for the Day

2012-01-31T07:49:00.000-08:00

"The first step to eco-friendly laundering is very simple: Wash your clothes in cold water or at the coolest temperature possible. A quick comparison of cold- versus hot-water washes is telling. The kilowatt usage and cost per load for a hot-water wash are, respectively, 4.5 kWh and 68 cents, while a cold-water wash uses just 0.3 kWh and costs just 4 cents per load. This small modification could save you nearly $250 per year, while significantly decreasing unnecessary carbon emissions." Chelsea Wyles from Tips for Cleaner, Greener Laundry (article)

Changing Our Ways

2012-01-30T08:54:00.000-08:00

"What can we do as individuals is change our way of living: Low consumption, the use of more green production (green technology such as renewable energies) in the economic sectors, saving resources, mainly energy and other resources which need energy consumption for their production etc. But this is not easy to implement as people might not agree easily to change the way of consumption from the top down as we can easily change from less consumption to more consumption but the inverse is not so easy".
Dr. Abdellatif Khattabi, Professor ENFI, Morocco

Something Needs to Change: The Navy Testing

2012-01-29T08:43:00.000-08:00

The problem is that the high-powered underwater sound blasts can harass, injure or kill whales, dolphins and porpoises, which are already extremely sensitive to sound. These animals send and receive sound waves to “see” and communicate underwater. Their ability to pick up sound is so good that some whales can hear each other under water hundreds of miles apart. The Navy currently has a permit from the National Marine Fisheries Service, allowing it to train from Northern California to the Canadian border. In its training, the Navy uses all kinds of weapon and surveillance tools, including mid-frequency sonar. This is super high-powered sonar blasts used to “see” underwater. The sound waves bounce off objects like the seafloor or enemy subs and the echo is picked up and read by the Navy ships. Excerpted from The Earth Justice Blog

Earth Justice Blog on Sonar and Testing (full article)

The Fibonacci Suite

2012-01-28T09:03:00.000-08:00

Take a moment to enjoy the perfection and beauty of nature. You may be

surprised to see how it relates to mathematics!

The Fibonacci Suite (short movie)

Your Daily Hummer

2012-01-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

Slow Food

2012-01-26T09:04:00.000-08:00

"Slow Food is an international movement founded by Carlo Petrini in 1986. Promoted as an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and encourages farming of plants, seeds and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem. It was the first established part of the broader Slow movement. The movement has since expanded globally to over 100,000 members in 150 countries. ^[1] Its goals of sustainable foods and promotion of local small businesses are paralleled by a political agenda directed against globalization of agricultural products." (From Wikipedia)

Slow Food

Image trademark of Slow Food

What Really Makes Us Happy?

2012-01-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

"When was the last time you felt real happiness? Was it when you were together with people you like, when you were doing useful work that you’re good at? Was it when you were enjoying music, dancing, arts or sports? Or was it when you bought another product advertised to bring you happiness?...Everyone deserves the basic necessities of life. Yet what brings us true happiness can’t necessarily be bought. For many, the keys to contentment are spending time with friends and family, meaningful and rewarding work, and appreciating what we have. Click on the photos below and find out the secrets to happiness for these people!" From Friends of the Earth International

What Really Makes Us Happy Photo Gallery

A Positive Vision for the Future

2012-01-24T09:00:00.000-08:00

EcoHearth asks: "What is your positive vision for the Earth's future?

See what people have to say:

EcoHearth Positive Vision (video)

Protect Bryce Canyon

2012-01-23T08:45:00.000-08:00

"Up until recently, all coal extraction in Utah had been underground,
longwall-type mining. That now changes with the surface mine proposed near Bryce by Alton Coal Company. Coal companies are now yearning for more land -- public and private –- despite the fact that land surveying experts have noted Utah's declining coal reserves."

Read more about this very important issue:

Bryce Canyon and Utah Coal

Leatherback Sanctuary Along the West Coast

2012-01-22T08:05:00.000-08:00

SF Gate January 21, 2012

Federal regulators designated nearly 42,000 square miles of ocean along
the West Coast as critical habitat for the Pacific leatherback turtle
Friday, far less than originally proposed but still the largest protected
area ever established in American waters.

The protected area is the first permanent safe haven in the waters of the
continental United States for endangered leatherbacks, which swim 6,000
miles every year to eat jellyfish outside the Golden Gate. The designation, by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, was a bittersweet victory for environmentalists, who have been fighting to protect the marine reptiles from extinction.

The 41,914 square miles that the NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service
protected along the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington did not
include the migration routes the turtles take to get to the feeding
grounds. That means 28,686 square miles of habitat originally proposed for
the designation was left unprotected.

"It's a big step in the right direction, but we want protections for
migratory pathways," said Ben Enticknap, the Pacific project manager for
Oceana, an international nonprofit dedicated to protecting the world's
oceans. "I guess we've got a lot more work to do to get there."

How Protection Works

The regulations will restrict projects that harm the turtles or the
gelatinous delicacies they devour. The government will be required to
review and, if necessary, regulate agricultural waste, pollution, oil
spills, power plants, oil drilling, storm-water runoff and liquid natural
gas projects along the California coast between Santa Barbara and
Mendocino counties and off the Oregon and Washington coasts.
Aquaculture, tidal, wave turbine, desalination projects and nuclear power
plants will have to consider impacts on jellyfish and sea turtles. For
instance, the repermitting of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, in
San Luis Obispo, will probably come under scrutiny.

The regulations are a response to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court
in San Francisco in 2009 by the nonprofit environmental groups Turtle
Island Restoration Network, the Center for Biological Diversity and
Oceana. The groups had been trying since 2007 to establish critical
habitat for leatherbacks under the Endangered Species Act. They accused
the government of failing to protect the reptiles from gill-net and
longline fishing, oil drilling and a variety of other activities,
including wave-energy projects. California habitat

The new ruling covers 16,910 square miles along California's coast from
Point Arena (Mendocino County) to Point Arguello (Santa Barbara County) to
a depth of 9,000 feet. The remaining turtle habitat stretches from Cape
Flattery, Wash., to Cape Blanco, Ore. seaward to a depth of a little more
than 6,500 feet. The only other critical habitat established for leatherbacks in U.S.
waters is in a small area along the western end of St. Croix, in the
Virgin Islands. There is also some critical habitat in Puerto Rico for
green sea turtles and hawksbill sea turtles, but nothing as large as the
new designation.

Turtle advocates are worried that the decision to leave out migratory
routes will leave the giant sea creatures vulnerable to long lines and
drift nets dragged by oceangoing vessels, which often mistakenly hook and
entangle marine mammals and turtles. Both longline and gill-net fishing are banned along the West Coast during leatherback migration, but Teri Shore, the program
director for the Turtle Island Restoration Network, said the fisheries service
is considering plans to expand gill-net fishing for swordfish.

More Threats

"Threats to these turtles are increasing, not diminishing," said Shore,
whose organization also goes by its Web name, SeaTurtles.org. "We don't
want to see the leatherback turtles go the way of the grizzly bear and
disappear."

Leatherbacks, known scientifically as Dermochelys coriacea, are the
largest sea turtles in the world, sometimes measuring 9 feet long and
weighing as much as three refrigerators, or more than 1,200 pounds. Their
life span is not fully known, but biologists believe they live at least 40
years and possibly as long as 100 years. The worldwide population has declined by 95 percent since the 1980s because of commercial fishing, egg poaching,
destruction of nesting habitat, degradation of foraging habitat and changing
ocean conditions. Listed as endangered since 1970 under the Endangered Species Act,
there are believed to be only 2,000 to 5,700 nesting females left in the world.

Pacific leatherbacks leave their nesting grounds in Indonesia, the Solomon
Islands, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea and swim across the Pacific Ocean to
forage along the West Coast in the summer and fall. It is the longest
known migration of any marine reptile. Golden Gate jellyfish They are often seen feeding on jellyfish in the shipping lanes outside theGolden Gate, in Monterey Bay and Bodega Bay. Assemblyman Paul Fong, D-Cupertino, said Friday that he will introduce legislation designating the leatherback as California's official marine reptile in an attempt to
call attention to its plight.

The newly protected zones will extend 200 miles out to sea, but they won't
protect the slow-moving creatures from floating plastic bags, which look
like jellyfish. A recent study found plastic in the intestinal tracts of 37 percent of 370 leatherbacks that had been found dead.

Photo by David Wimpfheimer seaturtles.org

The Sense of Wonder

2012-01-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship

of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him

the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.”

Rachel Carlson from The Sense of Wonder

Progress in Germany!

2012-01-19T08:00:00.000-08:00

Wonder what other countries are doing to promote changes in the use of renewable energy? Take a look!

Germany and Renewable Energy

Enjoy Beauty!

2012-01-18T09:00:00.000-08:00

"Fifteen-year-old photographer Marlin Shank was fortunate enough to capture
several images of a rare albino ruby-throated hummingbird while in a park in
Staunton , Va"

Climate Change is Forever

2012-01-17T08:43:00.000-08:00

"We have the technology and the resources, but we now need the political and cultural will to act. A greening of the economy is a baby step forward, but ultimately every human on this earth needs to take a giant leap into a new paradigm, to ensure a future both breathable and fair for future generations."
Fiona Sinclair from History May Repeat but Climate Change is Forever

Your Daily Hummer

2012-01-16T08:46:00.000-08:00

A Neighborhood Naturalist makes a surprising discovery!

Hummingbird in Chicago? video

What To Do with Your Old Computers

2012-01-15T08:28:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder what you can do with your old computers besides put them in the closet or garage? Here is an informative article with some great suggestions!

Your Old Computers (article)

Thoughts on the Tiger

2012-01-14T09:19:00.000-08:00

"Large cats are not just a part of the environment. They are woven into the fabric of thousands of years of human culture. They are an inspiration for artists and for tellers of folk tales. They are displayed on the seals of cities and nations. They figure in the rituals of native peoples. And tigers are a vital fixture in the environ- mental balance of biological communities. Disruption of this balance poses an immediate danger to humans.

That is why scientists and thoughtful citizens of the world, understanding that the impoverishment of the plant and animal world has reached such a critical stage, are doing everything possible to avoid overstep- ping the boundary leading to the loss of the Amur tiger in the wild. During war and devastation people spare nothing to save historical treasures and works of art. People die of starvation as they guard irreplaceable canvases by the great painters of the world. They don’t trade them for a piece of bread and the good life!

Is the tiger not also a natural treasure? Are the legends no longer alive in peoples’ minds? Surely the Amur tiger is seen as an indicator of wild areas and is greatly valued by other cultures and nations. The disappearance of a great artist’s canvas is a tragedy. But there is always hope that some time in the future an even greater artist will appear to compensate for the loss. Nature, however, spent millions of years creating its works of art. Including humans. And we are all equal in this world of living things. Nature gave us the ability to think, and this gift is supposed to provide us with the capacity to evaluate what is going on around us and to find genuine solutions to the problems we face. But if humans don’t have enough sense to read the message, then they are doomed. They are creating a dismal future for themselves. They will live in stone boxes on a naked, artificial planet surrounded by ravens, rats and cockroaches." Excerpted from The Amur Tiger by Yury Dunishenko and Alexander Kulikov © Yury Dunishenko, Alexander Kulikov, 1999; © The Wildlife Foundation, 1999 Photo Siberian Tiger National Wildlife

What is Sustainability?

2012-01-13T08:25:00.000-08:00

"Some features of global consciousness are already in place and run counter to dominant norms. Just by letting go of power and moving out of fear, we can change a lot about the way we relate not only to ourselves, but with the natural environment. We’re talking about a necessary paradigm shift in order to address the long-term future of human survival.

This requires respect for differences of opinion as long as the environment is protected and everybody’s equal access to the benefits of that environment are met. It involves collective decision-making and most importantly, responsibility for the decisions that immediately impact our local communities and neighborhoods. It also involves sharing, and an acknowledgement of differing viewpoints. Just like the ever-changing permanence of ecology, our human consciousness is a powerful tool to explore infinite possibilities. Too much to ask? With hope, we will be forced to do just that."

Fiona Sinclair from What is Sustainability www.ecohearth.com

Plant A Million Trees!

2012-01-12T08:23:00.000-08:00

"Every day is a good day to plant a tree"

Laura Webber founder of 4H Million Trees

Plant a Million Trees Project video

photo by Mario Vaden

A Very Tiny Place in the Heavens

2012-01-11T15:12:00.000-08:00

100 Billion Galaxies

video

Photo Andromeda Galaxy

Your Daily Hummer

2012-01-10T08:49:00.000-08:00

The first peace, which is the most important,

is that which comes within the souls of people

when they realize their relationship,

their oneness with the universe...

Black Elk

Green Tip for the Day: Buy Nothing

2012-01-09T07:54:00.000-08:00

"We don't just need better products, we need less of them. "Reduce" is first in the maxim “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” for a reason. Why do we immediately skip to the second or third item in the list? If we don't purchase it, we won't have to consider what to do with it after we are done. While there is a lot of thought about what happens to our possessions after consumption (those not reused or recycled end up in landfills), if we want to make real change, we need to consider everything that happens before we consume as well. The manufacture and transport of new items, even 100% recycled items, is a far greater environmental threat than the items we don’t reuse or recycle.

There is only one thing better than being a green consumer and that is being a non-consumer. As a non-consumer, I can still purchase things, barter for things and gift things. I just take myself out of the manufacture/consumption cycle by purchasing exclusively reused and making sure my unwanteds get remade, gifted or resold."

Tonya Kay from EcoHearth Blog c.2011

The Pertinent Penguin: More Effects of Global Warming

2012-01-08T08:18:00.000-08:00

"We are looking at losing potentially 70% of our Adelie penguin colonies

north of 70° south, and that's basically a 75% loss of the entire population

of Adelie penguins in Antarctica."

Dr Phil Lyver Landcare Research, New Zealand

Trouble in Antarctica (article)

Photo courtesy of Landcare Research

Silicon Valley Buzz- Alternative Energy Sources pt 1

2012-01-07T11:44:00.000-08:00

Alternative Energy Sources

"A Glimpse of how promising the future of green tech could be- without the scientific jargon- from Stanford's Global Climate and Energy Project."

Education for Peace

2012-01-06T08:22:00.000-08:00

"Education in and through the arts stimulates cognitive and creative development and has the capability of making how and what learners learn more relevant to the needs of individuals and of the modern societies in which they live. Such factors are necessary in this increasingly complex and troubled century for creating good citizens, for promoting a culture of peace and for ensuring a sustainable future." (UNESCO 2006, 4)

On Behalf of Tsankui Theda Our Lady of the Falls (Canada)

2012-01-05T16:15:00.000-08:00

Preserving Our Sacred Earth

Land of Our Ancestors
(Video link)

A letter from Dr. Phil Lyver Ecologist Landcare Research, New Zealand

"Dear Sir/Madam, It is with much concern that I learn the proposal to develop a transmission line route in the vicinity of the Desnethche (the Lockhart River) and Tsankui Theda (The Old Lady of the Falls; Parry Falls) as part of the Talston Hydroelectric Expansion Project expansion remains under consideration by the Deze Energy Corporation Ltd and the Environmental Review Board. Please accept this letter as my opposition to this proposed development.

I lived and worked with the community of Lutsel K’e as a researcher between 1999‐2001 and was privileged to attend the Desnethche Spiritual Gathering at Fort Reliance during those years. Core to the teachings of the Lutsel K’e elders was the cultural significance and spiritual relevance of Desnethche and Tsankui Theda in the lives of the people. Tsankui Theda is consider an ancestor and therefore a source of the community’s identity. For Denesoline, Tsankui Theda especially holds a life force or essence from which the people seek guidance, wisdom and healing and therefore draw much of their strength as a community.

The relevance of the guiding role that Tsankui Theda played in the lives of the Lustel K’e people was highlighted in narrative by the late Mr Jonas Catholique in 2000:

“I was raised up in the barrenlands and sometimes the caribou would not migrate around Artillery Lake. In those times we would look to The Lady of the Falls to see if the smoke [spray] was rising from the falls. If someone could see the smoke rising from the falls they would pray and ask the Old Lady for the direction of the caribou. The way the smoke would blow or tilt would be the direction the people would go hunting. We always got caribou when we followed the direction of the spray. That is the way it used to happen.”

To permit development in the form of transmission lines and accompanying infrastructure would be an extreme violation of the region’s sacredness and naturalness. To permit the proposed development would result in disempowerment of the Denesoline people at many different levels. I recognise that spiritual components of indigenous peoples’ worldview are more often than not treated as ‘cultural constructions’, which imply that they are symbolic, rather than real. For the people of Lutsel K’e the life force of Desnethche and Tsankui Theda and the social spiritual, health, environmental and even economic benefits they bring to Denesoline and the wider northern community are very real and should therefore given utmost protection. In closing, I ask that in your consideration of this proposal that you direct Deze Energy Corporation Ltd to consult further with the people of Lutsel K’e and affected communities to find an alternate route for the proposed transmission lines."

Yours sincerely

Dr Phil Lyver

Ecologist

New Zealand

Our Vanishing Wildlife: The Amur Tiger

2012-01-04T08:11:00.000-08:00

"If we save the tigers, we save ourselves"

Yuri Dunishenko

The Amur Tiger

Photo by Dave Pape

A Message from Morocco

2012-01-03T09:54:00.000-08:00

The Challenges of Climate Change Education and Communication

Excerpted from the Article "Towards an Approach to Educate and Communicate about Climate Change and Adaptation in Morocco" by Abdellatif Khattabi (ENFI, Maroc) et Diane Pruneau (Université de Moncton, Canada)

"The study of climate change is now a productive science that is in full expansion. Researchers in this field study local and international realities, create scenarios, forecast impacts, invent concepts to designate their discoveries (vulnerability, risk management, carbon sequestration, and so on), and think about solutions. Many researchers recognize the importance of communicating their results to citizens to help them become aware of the urgency to act, and to enable them to carry out mitigation and adaptation actions.

However, this is one of the trickiest or most sensitive educational projects the fields of education and communication have ever faced. The population that must be educated includes people of all ages, with varying levels of scientific literacy, and interacting in multiple social, economic, and political spheres. The educational objectives are equally as ambitious: help citizens understand complex environmental and meteorological concepts, change their daily lifestyles, and adapt to a phenomenon that harbors several yet unpredictable impacts.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, several researchers have interviewed citizens in order to identify their ideas or concepts regarding climate change. Citizens are generally aware of the presence of changes in the climate. They know that this problem could eventually worsen and they are interested in it in a non alarmist fashion. This problem is not part of their everyday priorities, to the contrary of personal difficulties and problems linked to the economy, health, abortion, etc. Since the last decade, people have built conceptions that allow them to understand and to talk about climate change in their own way. However, several conceptions that are widespread throughout the population distance themselves from scientific explanations and are not very efficient in promoting taking charge of the global problem. People’s difficulty to perceive small or gradual environmental changes, the fact that consuming behaviors bring people pleasure and recognition from others, people’s weak connection to nature, rapid and emotional decisions made on the subject, complexity of the meteorological concepts, people’s ideas that climate change impacts will be observed only after their death are other factors that hinder people’s motivation to look for and implement mitigation and adaptation actions."

Welcome to Our New Blog!

2012-01-02T19:52:00.001-08:00

Our planet is in a time of environmental crisis due to over population and the impact of consuming our precious earth resources has led us to a non negotiable crossroads. Climate change is real and without change, future generations will face catastrophes of large proportion including food shortages, rising coastal waters, the decrease of clean air and a rise in disease, just to mention a few. The future is sobering.

There are experts in the field who are committed to educating the public in making different choices. You can make a difference as the individual is connected to the sum of the whole. This blog is the creation of a small group of individuals who believe that we can make different choices and create a more positive outcome for our fragile Earth.

The Hummingbird is the symbol of the fragility, beauty, and joy of our earth and the message is coming loud and clear: Pay Attention.

We hope you will follow our blog and stop by often to read the informative articles, interviews, youtube videos, and other media that will serve to educate about these very important issues.

With All Best Wishes,
The Hummingbird News