Happy Ground Hog Day!

Useless and Fun Ground Hog Day Facts you wish you knew!  Hey, we're all about sharing fun!  Our friends at the Huffington Post did all the work for us, so why not share the HogLove?

To put more of an eco-spin on it, Ground Hogs are just another reason to keep our waterways clean and our forests standing.  Humans are not the only living creatures on the planet and didn't our Mommas teach us how to share?!


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/groundhog-day-2012-facts_n_1245259.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003#s649298&title=Woodchucks_Dont_Chuck

A Green Dream for 2012

This is an awesome wish for 2012:

A Wish List for Congress in 2012

Why does Congress make everything so darn complicated?  I guess when you have a battle between morality and greed, it gets a bit dicey.  This is why I maintain my stance and aim on making it one of my goals this year:  stay educated and always let your representative know what's on your mind!

http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/blogs/republican/top-10-congress-wish-list?src=nl&mag=tdg&list=nl_dgr_got_non_010212_congress-wish-list&kw=ist

What the Frick is Fracking?

Fracking.  Ever heard of it?  It's the hot-button issue in the natural resource world.  We believe that however your opinions end up, before you exert your opinion, your purchasing decision or heaven forbid, your vote, then you should know a little about the issues at hand.
The issue with fracking, which apparently is a form of, a part of, or the actual process of, drilling for natural gas, is that it may be contaminating ground water.  This is an issue because we drink water from ground sources (in case you didn't put that together).
The oil and gas industry will tell you it a highly regulated industry and process that is as safe as anything else ( like the BP oil disaster?  Sorry; couldn't resist).  Environmentalists will say it is a process that is detrimental to our health, contaminating water and air.
We could write on and on, citing different points of view, but our real goal is to educate and allow the reader to decide for themselves what they believe to be the truth - which often lies somewhere in the middle.

Check these links for additional information and remember, true power lies in the power of knowledge.
http://ow.ly/6pj3E 
http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/whats-fracking
http://ow.ly/6pj7w

The Green Thing—what a crock.

This was sent to me by a couple of friends...how true it is!  We should all stop & think about our day-to-day activities; interesting:

The Green Thing

 In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today.  Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over.  So they really were recycled.
But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind.  We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes.  Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.  
In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.  
When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.  

Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power.  
We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.
We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.
We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances.  And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

What it means to be Green

Being Green.  What does that really mean?  That phrase has really become quite the piece of marketing bait, catch-all phrase.  But what does it really mean?
Simply, being green means that you consider the impact on the environment before you act/spend/do.  
Now, there are several shades of green, to be sure.  Our light-hearted take: Light green: maybe all you do right now is recycle.  That's fine - every step forward is a step in the right direction.  Kelly green: You recycle, buy organic, you've switched out all your light bulbs and you're thinking about composting.  Tree-hugger: you do all of the above, buy shade grown- coffee, do Meatless Mondays, use a reel lawnmower, shop local, landscape for the local wildlife and on and on and on.

Is one any better than the other?  Depends on your point of view, but is the winner of a marathon any healthier or better than the 2nd or 3rd place runner?  She may be a little faster, but they all ran the race well.  We are of the very firm belief that every person can make a difference and that small steps made by each one of us can lead to big changes.  We all may be at a different point in the race, but we will all finish winners.