One of the stranger things I’ve read today has been that human and animal hair and fur is being used to soak up the oil washing up from the BP spill in the Gulf. An organization called Matter of Trust is accepting donations of hair, fleece, and feathers to make into mats and booms to aid in the BP Gulf oil spill clean-up.
Go to this site for more information. Just think about how shipping hair over long distances is going to use oil though. This is probably a better local venture.
The horror of BP’s oil spill just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Now we’re hearing that it might not be until the end of August before they can drill holes to stop the oil gushing out into the Gulf. The estimates BP gave of 200,000 gallons of oil gushing were absolutely wrong. It’s almost 800,000 gallons gushing a day. They have sprayed questionable chemicals to make the oil sink, they have lied about the scope of the spill. It seems as though their priority has been to cover their asses instead of trying to fix this mess.
What amazes and disgusts me is how BP is keeping their name out of the headlines. I keep seeing it called the Gulf Spill. And then somewhere in the article they mention BP. I fear that the media is desperately trying to hang on to any and all of its advertising dollars and don’t want to alienate a big company like BP.
While writing this, I’ve been looking at various articles and noticed if they have anything to do with trying to plug, cap or stop the spill they have BP’s name in the headline. If it has to do with the actual disaster and how it’s affecting 3 Gulf states, BP’s name isn’t in the headline. Now they are working on a commercial to try and salvage their name. Is anyone besides me totally sickened by this??
My sister made a post about the spill which echos my own thoughts. There are photos of a pelican struggling in the oil sludge. Louisiana’s state bird is the brown pelican, which was extirpated there. A number of years ago it started to make a comeback in LA. It’s hard to have a state bird that is wiped out in your state. But now, the BP spill is working on decimating the brown pelican in Louisiana once again. Good job guys.
I am so disgusted and disheartened, and feel almost completely helpless to do anything. As a long-term solution we have to reduce our need for oil. Simple as that. They are just going to drill and drill in the wildest, most remote spots as long as there’s a need for the stuff. I’m part of the problem as much as anyone else. This is an awful time. My only hope is that some better regulation will come out of it. But that’s not going to help all the wildlife fighting to survive in the Gulf. Here’s a link to people working in the Gulf. I’m sure they could use donations. You can also donate to the National Wildlife Federation here.
Over the years, the bluebird population has greatly decreased. Bluebirds, as many other animals, have suffered loss of habitat. They are cavity-nesters, that seek out hollows in decaying trees. Besides the fact that there are fewer trees left to decay, there are also 2 non-native birds (european starling and the house swallow) that are much more aggressive than the timid bluebird. They snatch the available nest sites, and even take over a nest that the bluebird has claimed (by cracking their eggs and killing the nestlings and/or the parents).
A number of years ago I noticed little wooden bird houses popping up in farmer’s fields in upstate New York. This was a part of a bluebird recovery effort. I was curious about this because I had never seen a bluebird and like to hear positive stories of human/animal interactions.
Last year when I visited the Berkshires, the neighbors next to my in-laws had several bluebird houses up in their backyard. They had several bluebird families living in them and I finally saw my first bluebird. If you have never seen one, you will be blown away at the beautiful shade of dark blue on their back feathers.
This year, my in-law’s neighbor gave them a nest box and now they too have bluebirds in their yard. In fact, I saw more bluebirds than any other bird while I was there this past weekend. I tried to photograph them, but didn’t get very close. My best attempt is below, but here’s a site with a lot of information and photos.
I hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day weekend. We went up to the Berkshires to visit Neil’s parents. They live in a very pretty, rural area near Great Barrington, MA. Behind their house is a beaver pond/wetland area. They always have more than their share of mosquitoes, but have always had loads of bats living in their open wood shed. Last year the bats did not come back. That, of course, means that there are zillions of mosquitoes. It seems as though the barn swallows have increased in number a bit. Neil’s parents wanted to be able to enjoy their yard, so they found a small tent as a possible solution. Lindsay loved it because of the playhouse aspect. She also found a little green caterpillar, which is a rarity in our lives in Brooklyn.
Example of a green roof design
I’m very excited because I’ve been asked to join the committee to help plan and build a green roof on my daughter’s elementary school. Not only will I learn all about the technology of green roofs, but I will also try my hand at researching and writing grants. The price tag is estimated at about 2 million dollars, so wish me luck!
There will be native plants, veggies for the cafeteria, a covered classroom area, a bathroom and I heard something about a climbing wall. It sounds amazing and I can’t wait to dive into the project.
I am not usually one to shrink from learning about difficult topics. I’ve read or seen films about global warming, the horrors of industrial farming, native habitat destruction, etc. But my brain is just shutting down when it comes to the oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico. I can’t handle the thought of the zillions of innocent animals that will die (immediately, or long-term) from another human mess. I feel like I’m in a horror movie and even though I have my hands over my eyes, and my fingers in my ears I keep hearing impossible horrors: 200,000 gallons spilling out a day, BP expending more effort to hide the impact instead of stopping the leak, endangered sea turtles dying, the oil reaching up the Eastern seaboard.
Why did this happen? Greed seems to be the answer to most of our environmental problems. What I don’t understand is the people who push for more drilling, even when they’ve been warned that the equipment can’t handle it. Do they have some Plan B to live in a colony in space when they’ve completely mucked up the Earth? What am I missing? Don’t they breathe the same air as I do? Isn’t the sight of a verdant, green forest soothing on their eyes also? Don’t they want their children to be able to go camping and find wildflowers and mushrooms and salamanders?
The honeybees are dying, the bats are dying, the frogs and toads are dying. Birds migrate back to their homes only to find a new clear-cut (gotta send out more catalogs!) Why are the birds and bats and frogs dying? Most likely because they just hit a tipping point where their little bodies can’t handle all the pesticides and crap we’ve thrown at them.
So I’m being a coward and shutting down. I take periodic peeks between my fingers, but I really am unable to deal with the magnitude of this spill and what we’ve done to muck up our world.
For Mother’s Day, Neil and Lindsay got me a ravioli attachment for my kitchenaid mixer. I have had fun making pasta and even made ravioli once. I’ve been eyeing the ravioli maker because it makes such beautiful, perfect little ravioli. I also thought it might take some time off the process.
So that evening we made wild mushroom ravioli. Neil bought a package of mixed wild mushrooms and some organic ricotta. I made the dough. The recipe is based on the recipe in The Complete Book of Pasta and Noodles.
In a medium pan, sauté garlic until golden. Add mushrooms and cook until wilted (appx. 4 minutes). Add in the porcini, parsley and seasonings. Cook until the liquid has evaporated. Place mixture in a bowl and let cool slightly. Stir in remaining ingredients. This can be done the night before.
The pasta is a basic egg pasta, which is made with 2 cups of flour and 3 large (beaten) eggs. You mix the ingredients together. I used my stand mixer, but you can do it in a food processor. Add tiny amounts of water (1 T) until the dough forms a rough ball. Let the dough rest about 30 minutes. Roll the dough out and fill with the mushroom mixture. Cook the ravioli for 4-5 minutes, or until al dente.
I made a sauce out of sautéd garlic w/ olive oil and then a can of crushed tomatoes. Grate a nice parmesan cheese over the top and you are done. We had fun figuring out the ravioli maker. Lindsay liked playing with and eating the raw dough strips that formed between the ravioli squares.
I just signed up for a fermentation workshop with Sandor Katz. The June 8th workshop is being put together by Just Food here in NYC. Sandor Katz will talk about the health benefits of live-culture ferments and will also show how to make sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, etc. I tried making pickled green tomatoes last year, so I look forward to learning about more options. I’m also a big fan of kimchi, so it will be nice to be able to make it myself.
I’m meeting my friend Victoria there and hope to see some other familiar faces. The admission is $30 or pay $45 and they’ll throw in a copy of Sandor’s book Wild Fermentation. Here’s a link for more information. You can buy tickets online.
This morning we had nothing in the house to eat for breakfast, so we picked up bagels and went to our local playground. This playground/park hosts a farmer’s market every Sunday, so we popped by to see what they had to offer.
One of the vendors was Grazin’ Angus Acres, which raises animals for meat and eggs. They had a certification of Animal Welfare Approved. I was wondering what that was compared to Certified Humane. I found this description on the WSPA (World Society For the Protection of Animals) website:
Are all humane food certification programs the same in terms of animal welfare requirements?
No. While the Certified Humane and American Humane Certified programs are similar, significant differences exist between these and the Animal Welfare Approved program operated by the Animal Welfare Institute. The concept of certifying animal foods as being humanely raised is relatively new and not all animal welfare scientists agree on what standards are appropriate. In addition, the administrators of humane food programs differ on the question of whether the programs should allow participation by producers that raise animals under both humane and factory-farming systems (referred to as “dual operations”). Certified Humane and American Humane Certified allow dual operations, while Animal Welfare Approved only certifies products from family farms.
Many products sold as humane are produced by companies that confine a majority of their animals under factory conditions. These companies can typically offer their humane products for less than they could otherwise because the products are subsidized by the intensive portion of their operation. Eventually small family farmers who run 100% humane operations could be driven out of business.
Okay, so Animal Welfare Approved sounds a bit better than Certified Humane. Live and learn.
Since watching Fowl Play, I haven’t eaten any meat. I just haven’t had the stomach for it. I even ordered carryout from a vegan restaurant last night. Which was delicious. 🙂 Tonight we are going in the other direction and eating hamburgers from Grazin’ Angus Acres. It is grass fed and finished, local, no hormones or antibiotics and has the Animal Welfare seal of approval. It’s been a gorgeous day and a dinner outdoors will be a nice way to end the weekend.
A few days have now passed since the panel discussion I participated in and I have learned a few things.
The first thing I learned was that I was naive. I didn’t do my research on my co-panelists. Even if I had, I never would have seen the fact that two of them were vegan as something that should cause alarm. I still believe the film was done by dedicated animal lovers and is a very valuable tool to help in stopping animal cruelty. It turns out that the organizer, Isa, was in the same boat as me.
The second thing I learned was that Isa was as surprised as I was when the panel got mean and accusatory. She and I have been exchanging emails since the event trying to figure out what happened. I questioned whether she purposely set me up, and she didn’t. So I am close to being as guilty as my co-panelists in terms of vilifying before understanding. Isa is one of the good guys who is organizing an impressive range of films, which I recommend attending if you are in NYC.
So I’m going to stop licking my wounds and move on to talk about all the great things people are doing to raise awareness.
Green Screens is the Lincoln Center film series organized by Isa. There are two upcoming events that look to be interesting. On July 22nd they will screen Climate Refugees by Michael Nash and on August 10th they will screen Vanishing of the Bees by George Langworthy and Maryam Henein. I had trouble finding information on the Lincoln Center website, but maybe you will fare better.
On the information table at the film screening I saw materials from The Meatrix. They are a group that is working to raise awareness about the inhumane conditions on factory farms. Take a peek at their website and here’s one of their videos below. They suggest reducing the amount of meat you consume (Meatless Monday), which is very reasonable. Westerners consume way more meat than is good for them (or the animals).
Certified Humane. I found a description of the Certified Humane program on the ASPCA’s website, so I am confident that it isn’t some bogus marketing ploy. They say, “The Certified Humane Certificate Program is an inspection, certification and labeling program designed to ensure that animals raised for food are treated humanely throughout the entire production process. Producers who display the Certified Humane Raised and Handled label on their products have treated their animals humanely at every stage of the food production process.” You can read more about it on their own website. You can even find sources of certified humane products near you on their website.
