Canada Geese (Spoken Word)

The geese at night.

This is my version of tradition.

It has been a hard year like many others, but as I lie in bed and hear the familiar cacauohany of flocks of Canada geese on the lake I feel my heartbeat slow.

This sound is what I call home.

Even if someday I cannot live in this place, I will feel I belong beside the sounds of all the voices of dozens of geese all talking at the same time on their journey to fly away to a more hospitable place.

Canada geese will take my heart with them, where it is safe.

So no matter how harsh the winter, or how much our lake will freeze

They will tow this heavy heart made lighter by warmer currents in the breeze

And by their teamwork;

By the flock leader creating a lift through their wings,

Lifting hearts and let them sing.

They take the colder part of my heart somewhere warmer for the winter without fee.

Beloved Canada geese, with all your loyalty do have a wonderful journey

As you follow the earlier sunshine.

Wildflowers Because Why Not

Sunset Progression

Archived under October 10, 2017
Actually posted 2019-10-07

Lunar-ticks for the solar eclipse and a hack

Microsoft Paint, you will be missed </3

Plot twist: as much as lunar eclipses are loved, this post is actually photos from the recent solar eclipse that happened on August 21, 2017. Sorry, Lunar-tick.

Hopefully you had the chance to enjoy it last Monday, though if you were not able to watch it's not too late to experience thorugh the beautiful, non-eye-burning lens of NASA.

Seeing as we didn't have any solar-eclipse-viewing glasses, on Monday we started by making our own viewboxes for the eclipse. The longer the box, the larger the projection of the. I used a cereal box.

Here is a very not-to-scale diagram:

Image made using Fireworks. Sorry Paint, we still love you.

It took me a moment to find the little bright smudge of the sun's image on the wall of the box and orient it so that it was in line, but soon enough lo and behold there was a little dot with a tiny bite out of it. Optics was never my strong suit, but as I peered in through the peekhole and tried to understand how this worked, it finally occurred to me that if we just poked more holes in the aluminum foil, there would be more projections in the box.

In addition to just adding a fun and potentially creative element, it also made it easier to "find" the eclipse, or aim the projected image of the sun when it was in distinct clusters.

Before, simple version (right) >

Below, decorated versions:

What happened when 3, fairly distant holes were poked in the aluminum foil.

It was much easier to aim the projection with a distinct cluster 

It pays to think outside the box ;) (Pun intended)

Updated 2019-04-15

Managing Ticks

One potential risk that is good to keep in mind throughout the summer is ticks. After doing a bit of research mainly for when one is camping or gallivanting in the woods, several other points came up that are more preventative and proactive than "remove it as quickly as possible".

Please keep in mind this is not a medical article or intended to replace medical care or advice. If seriously searching "Do I have Lyme disease" brought you here or you believe a tick may have transmitted an illness to you, please promptly seek medical attention.

The main source for most of the research below was the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), though there were also a few others that had good tips (see Sources at the bottom of the post). Here is a summary of some of the practical measures that came up for the daily outdoors person or (person who is exposed to outdoors against their will):

Managing them at home:
- minimize cluttered bunches such as piles of fallen leaves, tall grass, garbage and other places where they may hide
- arrange your property so it is less attractive/accessible to wild animals that might be carrying ticks
- keep outdoor furniture away from trees, shrubs, and other tall plants
- use pesticide

Preventing tick bites when gallivanting, adventuring, or otherwise exploring outdoors:
- Cover and seal with clothing. Wear long sleeves and tuck your pant legs into your socks to prevent them from crawing into your clothes.
- Talk in the middle of the trail to avoid touching piles of leaf litter or thickets of plants where there may be ticks
- The CDC specifically recommends using using insect repellent with at least 20% DEET, picaridin*, or IR535 on exposed skin. Other sources mentioned that mosquito repellent is included in that list.
>> 30% DEET can give 4-6 hours of protection.
>> *The toxicity of DEET is yet to be determined, but studies suggest that picaridin is equally effective to DEET and has fewer negative effects.

- Bathe within 2 hours of getting home, check your clothes for hitchhikers, and all over your skin for any rashes. The sooner ticks are found and removed the better, and removing them within 24 hours can make a big difference in preventing disease transmission.

Check your pupper: Your dog or cat is also vulnerable to ticks, so to prevent ticks try to keep them away from dense thickets like fallen leaf piles and regularly check their fur and skin for ticks too, especially after they have been outside.

Signs you may have been bit:
- A rash, which would redden and swell very slowly long after exposure (up to months)
- Cold or flulike symptoms

You may not feel it if you are bit because ticks secrete a painkiller in their saliva to help them remain attached and feeding without being noticed, so perform a careful check.

What to do if you are bit by a tick:
If you are bit, remember these things:
1. Remove it asap
2. Seek medical attention if you believe you are experiencing symptoms of Lyme disease or feeling ill
3. Either dispose of the tick after submerging it in rubbing alcohol/putting it in a sealed bag/flushing it down the toilet, or consider sending it as sample to a lab that tests them. This way they will identify whether or not you have been exposed to an infected tick, and it also helps them map the spread of tick-related diseases.

Removing a tick:
You may choose to remove it with a pair of pointed tweezers, pulling upwards with steady, even force (don't try to rip it out, it can leave the teeth still inside you). Thoroughly clean/disinfect the area and your hands.

A tick will still be attached to you, but even if it seems to be under your skin its body will not be completely embedded inside you. Don't panic if the head is still inside after you remove the body; proceed to disinfect the area with rubbing alcohol.

MYTHS: Cover it with paint, nail polish, Vaseline or touch it with a hot match. Do not do any of these, instead use tweezers to remove it; swift removal is key to preventing transmission of disease, not waiting for it to fall out.

Prepped with these points in mind, happy gallivanting!

Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/avoid/in_the_yard.html
https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/avoid/on_people.html
https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/removing_a_tick.html
https://www.outsideonline.com/1915061/9-tips-avoiding-and-treating-tick-bites
http://healthcenter.indiana.edu/answers/insect-precautions.shtml
http://www.tickencounter.org/faq/tick_bites

Note: This was published August 31, 2017. It was listed as August 30th for ideal sequence relating to the post also published August 31, "Lunar-ticks for the Eclipse".

What's Up With Palm Oil? Part 2: The Problem With Palm

Click here for Part 1: History

After going over the history of palm oil it's easy to see how useful it can be. Today it is widely used in the production of many foods, cosmetics, personal hygiene products, and even biofuel.

So what's the problem? Same answer as usual: social and environmental problems.
However, there are two sides to this coin. But of all the stressors humans put on the environment, why are we picking on palm oil?

Hint: Look at the list in the first post in the series. Cup ramen, margarine... I know those are products I use.

Palm oil something we can pick on in our day-to-day lives, a small thing with an impact that is amplified in the big picture once it goes down the line, and if al ot of people can make even a small change, it all adds up. Despite Earth's notorious abilities for self-restoration, as a resource not only is palm oil particularly high-maintenance when it comes to being produced and sold conscientiously, but we use a lot. According the the WWF, by the year 2000 it was the most widely traded vegetable oil, at 65% in 2006 and it was expected to rise. (And that's why people like you and I are here reading webpages like these, so we can make informed decisions about what we buy, contributing to larger trends in the bigger scheme of things).

So what problems do you help prevent when you out the palm oil?

Deforestation and Significant Interruption of Natural Cycles (The Global Picture)
85% of palm oil sold throughout the world is exported from Indonesia and Malaysia. The issue of climate change easy comes to mind, and although the hype seems to have gone down in pop culture, it is a long-term problem that communities the world over continue to struggle to adapt to.

We look at the emphasis on recycling to minimize our tree consumption and it's clear how important it is; sustainable farming for other tree-related resources works the same way and you are in a sense helping everyone each time you minimize your use.

Habitat Loss (Big picture of Biodiversity)
The zones where the palm trees are farmed are areas that many members of vulnerable species call home. 85% of palm oil sold throughout the world is exported from Indonesia and Malaysia. At the moment, one third of all species of mammals in Indonesia are listed as critically endangered and loss of habitat is a big player.

The Rights of Animals (Value of Life)
In the process of deforestation, animals are both displaced and killed. The sad truth is that during the fall of their home animals might be crushed, buried alive, or even intentionally slaughtered in machete attacks. Hot topics such as veganism and animal testing often spark much controversy, but the loss of life here serves no purpose.

Impacting People (Human Rights)
Depending on the location, the destruction of habitats for animals may also be the destruction of ecosystems that people living in those areas depend on for their livelihood. Unfortunately, what may on one side say 'job opportunity' may also translate to unsafe work environments where violations of human rights can easily unnoticed, and workers are often not given the returns they hoped for and really need..

For most people familiar with environmental issues these areas of impact are easy to grasp. But now time for the million dollar question: If it's so bad....

Why do people farm palm oil?

In a word, poverty. For a little under two years I have worked with Plan International Canada and learned so much (how to be verbal and expressive on important subjects, how stupidly lucky I am to be born where I was...) but one thing is it really educated me on what the cycle of poverty really is; a lack of opportunities perpetrates lack of opportunities. Often the ultimate motivation behind environmental issues is greed for what we do not need, but in the case of palm oil, as it with illegal hunting, the people harvesting the product need the money. They need it to buy their own food, to send their children to school, to prevent having to resort to child marriage. In fact, according to Girls Not Brides, Indonesia (one of the biggest exporters of palm oil next to Malasia) is in the top ten countries with the highest absolute numbers of child brides.

Once we imagine being in that situation, a job opportunity from a wealthy prospector looks like it could be a way out, but unfortunately as discussed in the preceding section, it would be easy for the people who need it most to be exploited.

Let's take a breather for a sec. Remembering the big issue can be overwhelming, but it can be a good reminder to not lose sight of the true essence of what it means to be socially-conscious. When people care and act in that principle, even though the issue is bigger than ourselves as least we will be oriented in the right direction and that is the first step in helping. Even if what we do does not change the whole world, it might change somebody's world, and that's why a balanced approach to helping with both environmental and social issues is still worth it.

So what can we do about this high-maintenance diva of an oil?
That will be discussed in final part of "What's Up With Palm Oil".

Sources:
http://www.saynotopalmoil.com/Whats_the_issue.php

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/agriculture/palm_oil/

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/agriculture/palm_oil/environmental_impacts/forest_conversion/

http://stories.plancanada.ca/3-girls-who-refused-child-marriage/

http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/child-marriage/indonesia/

[Note: Date and time for this post has been set to be consistent to when the sources were used)

Hello Again

Hi all, it feels like it has been eons. (It has been a very long time...) I'm sorry for not posting on NN in so long; in the past several months I have been struggling to juggle several changes and moreover being sick more often than not. LN has been much easier to feed with content, but hopefully hopefully finally being settled into 2017 posts means nature-related posts will be more frequent again.

Image from http://www.oddee.com/item_99923.aspx

Coming soon is the long-awaited completion of  a series on palm oil, and more photos (yay!) since I got a phone that can upload pictures.

Other posts have touched on it before, but I'd like to emphasize that this blog is continuing to lead to a more stereotypically right-brained approach (right/left-brain theory is pseudoscience btw, but this increasingly right-brained narrative is using it as poetic language). It will still discuss environment from a citizen scientist perspective, but maybe some new stuff too....

Thank you so very much to everyone who has stuck by this blog despite its dying content, and a double thank-you for all actions taken in your personal life as eco-conscious citizens. Please feel free to use the contact form at the bottom of the page if you would like to request any environmental/nature-related content.

Happy 2017!