What I learned about Pandas

Hi Everyone! I hope you all had/are having a wonderful Easter! And a shout out to Meag, who at least commented on my blog, even if she didn't know why wetlands filter water. That's okay Meag, you were still the only person awesome enough to write anything (threatening gestures to the rest of you slackers...)

Anywho, about wetlands. They filter water because they are amazing. Just kidding. Really, they're like giant land sponges. The soils drain very poorly and they're usually pretty sandy/loamy. That means when water runs through it, most of the larger impurities are either filtered out by the soil, or taken up by the wetland plants as fertilizer (see: Tomatoes). Basically, they're Nature's answer to a Brita pitcher...but with more plants (hopefully. Believe me people, clean your Brita filters...don't make the same mistake I did). Essentially, Wetlands = My favorite partially inundated landscape. Also, if its a wetland in the US, and is located somewhere to the south of Pennsylvania and to the north of Florida, it probably contains wild rice, which is delicious.

So....Learning tale time! I know, I know, you've been waiting all week, right?

So this week, I want to tell you about Panda's

Pandas: The Trick Nature Played

That's right, when it comes to the panda nature is basically messing with our heads. It looks like a bear...it walks like a bear...it makes those weird grunt noises like a bear, so its a bear, right? Wrong! A panda is not a bear. So what the h@#& is it? Well...that's not the easiest question to answer. It is in the bear family (Ursidae) But it's not really a bear. In fact, it belongs to the genus Ailuropoda. Before you ask, I have no idea what the genus Ailuropoda is, because the Panda is the only living creature that belongs to it. That's right, the Panda is all alone, it's the very last member of its genus. I feel bad for the panda, but it probably gives it an edge over all the other critters of the earth. You know, kinda like those college students who get together and complain
"Yeah, well, I was up till two last night"
"Oh, two? Well, must be nice, I got in bed at four."
"Yeah, well, I don't sleep!"
You know those students? Well with pandas its probably better, kinda like this...
"Well you think your day's bad? I'M THE LAST MEMBER OF MY GENUS!"

Score one for the pandas.

But they get even cooler. Really, I swear! Turns out the panda only recently went vegetarian. True story! They're digestive tract are evolved to eat meat, and yet they eat bamboo. Those crazy critters, they can only digest about 17% of what they take in. So they have to eat all the time! Seriously guys...go eat a squirrel or something. My theory is, the panda realized that it was the last of its kind and decided it needed to go on one of those heart healthy diets to increase its longevity. Or maybe bamboo just tastes good. Who knows? Only people crazy enough to go gnaw on some bamboo stalks.

So that's my learning tale for the week. Pandas are definitely some of my favorite animals now. They rock hardcore.

Hope you all have a wonderful week. I will leave you with this question (its a little foreshadowing for my next learning tale. It's awesome, I swear)

Environmental Question: How long does a male emperor penguin go without eating?

People of the Phillipines!

I have returned! Rally to me!

~MacArthur (don't even get me started on him)

Let me apologize, from the very depths of my being, for not blogging in so long. Tragically, I cannot even say that I was doing something cool, like sitting in a tree (although part of my time away probably has been spent in one tree or another).

So. It's been awhile my friends. So I'll make up for it by putting up a Get Green Tip AND and an environmental learning tale. You just won the lottery! Except you don't get any money.

Okay: Get Green Tip time!

This is both a tip AND a commercial for one of my favorite soap products. At home, we have tons and tons of trouble with ants. So we thought about getting rid of them by spraying some noxious chemicals all over the kitchen where we eat and prepare our meals. But then we decided we didn't feel like dying of cancer, or suddenly growing third arms from our stomachs. Although I did contend that the third arm would help with cleaning. Enter Dr. Bronner's liquid peppermint soap! (Note: Soap must be peppermint)

*Heroic Music*

While I have not yet implemented this at home, I have on good authority that it works. All you do it take a little soap and put it on a sponge (so far so good? If you can't put soap on a sponge please go to www.gobacktokindergarten.com) Then take the sponge and wipe all the window sills in your house, also get a mop and run it around the perimeter of all the ground floor rooms. And...presto! No more ants! I guess ants hate the smell of peppermint. Silly ants...they can never have Junior Mints.

So that's my tip. What that will do, besides getting rid of your ant problem, will enable you not to use chemical sprays. Those things deposit some spooky stuff in our water supply. Trust me people, I've tested local streams. Yeesh. I want all of you to promise me you wont swim in the Chester River. (If you don't live locally or in Philadelphia, I can't tell you what your water is like. Use your own judgment. Except for Brenna and Meag. You two...no swimming in the Chicago River. I have a bad feeling about that green dye...).

So there you go!

And here's my Environmental Learning Tale. It's just my favorite story ever and it goes nicely with my previous discussion of water supplies.

Endangered Tomatoes?

Here you go. Once upon a time there was a Waste Water Treatment Facility that was just tired of being like all of the other waste water treatment facilities. It wanted to be different, it wanted to rebel. This should be reminded everyone of college. Anyway, it decided to become more environmentally conscious. So it contacted some local environmentalists (who were so happy they constructed a to scale model of the facility out of cake and delivered it one sunny afternoon. They later came out of the cake when everyone was asleep and replaced all of the light bulbs in the building with Energy Star, but that's another story).

So the Environmentalists considered The Waste Water Treatment Facility's problem, and here is what they told told them to do:

"Taketh all of thy minions and construct thyseslf a wetland. This wetland shalt be thy pride and joy, and through it thou shalt filter all thy waste water, which the wet land shall maketh clean. Then thou shalt useth fewer chemicals."

The Waste Water Treatment Facility was happy. They built their wetland and filtered the water through it, and sure enough it came out much cleaner. As a result they had to use fewer chemicals to kill what bacteria remained. And all were happy.

Things went this way for about a year, but then, come summer, the Waste Water Treatment Facility began to notice something strange. In the constructed wetland, as far as they eye could see, beautiful tomato plants began to grow. There were some who said that the tomato plants were a sign that the gods were smiling down upon the treatment facility. Others, however, said that the tomatoes had become sentient and were plotting to overthrow the government. No one knew for sure.

So they went back to the Environmentalists, who told them where the tomatoes had come from. Here's what happened.

As people ate the tomatoes grown in the surrounding counties, the seeds passed through them undigested. The seeds then went on a magical journey which I will not describe. Then, when the water was filtered through the wetland, the seeds were planted! And then they grew!

Needless to say, the plants were beautiful, but no one would eat them. They grow there still, the first and only unofficial tomato preserve in America.

Well everyone, I hope that makes up for my long absence. Here is your question for the week

Environmental Question: Why do wetlands filter water?

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Where'd all these eggshells come from?

Happy Sunday everyone! And wish me luck (I have a cumulative final on Wednesday, a Philosophy exam on Thursday and then another cumulative final on Thursday night. Some how The "Tao Te Ching", Archeology of the Chesapeake and a History of the Earth have to congeal in my head before then. The results have been interesting)

But I wanted to put up my environmental learning tale for the week. First though I have to give a shout out to Diana who correctly answered that a symbiotic relationship is an interaction between two species whereby both benefit. My favorite example is that of the ants in the acacia trees. The ants get to live in a convenient little home that comes equipped with thorns to reply ant eating animals, and the acacia gets the little ants to repel all acacia eating creatures of the buggy variety. Go Mother Nature!

And now...for my Environmental Learning Tale entitled...

Where'd All These Eggshells Come From?

Okay, recently the environmental community has gotten pretty riled up about the whole "Global Warming/Global Climate Change" thing. And thanks to Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" (say what you will, we eco-geeks were having a field day. One of our own! On TV!) the general public has basically been apprised of the situation.

I believe that Global Warming is an issue.

No one panic, I am not about the brow beat you into accepting this idea (hence the idea of walking on eggshells conveyed by the title). I think one of the problems with this issue is that no one is giving any one the facts. The scientist have them, the media doesn't want to talk about them, and the general public doesn't really know them.

In the interest of raising public awareness (this is a revolution after all, facts are not just for scientists people!) I am going to give you one example of why I feel that Global Warming could become a problem. I am not going to touch human involvement in the development of this issue in this post (but be on the lookout! I'll happen when you least expect it!)

Here's what I will tell you. When the earth was formed during the Hadean era, about 4.5 billion years ago (oh man, maybe I won't fail my physics final) the atmosphere was mostly carbon dioxide. As a result of this, life took a darn long time to evolve, but eventually, during the Archean, some wee little protozoa popped up. They became cyanobacteria. These cyanobacteria set up shop and grew like crazy. However, things were about to change...

These cyanobacteria breathed in carbon dioxide and breathed out oxygen (think of them as little tiny trees) This went okay for a while, but eventually there were so many cyanobacteria that most of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere wound up inside them. Consequently the air on earth became what it is today. Which was just great actually. Temperatures dropped (say what you will, Carbon Dioxide is a green house gas) and lots of little critters evolved, and now here we are. As a note, there is still carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and THAT IS A GOOD THING. In fact, its a great thing, because without it the earth would be too cold for any life at all to have evolved. So things are pretty good.

Basically to recap: Earth formed - CO2 atmosphere - cyanobacteria - O2 atmosphere - people

If I drew that outline on my test my teacher would go into cardiac arrest, but it serves my purpose. What I just told you actually happened, it is accepted as fact with in the scientific community. I even wrote a poem about it for my poetry class. Its all good.

That is my learning tale, and here is the question that goes along with it. Its a tough one, but I have faith in you all.

When did Homo sapiens sapiens evolve?

Have a wonderful week everyone. If you attend WaC, good luck on finals!

Let There Be Light!

Hi Everyone! Hope you are all having a wonderful Monday.

My environmental tip for the day is a short one. But it is also an incredibly easy one to do! It involves the sun. No one panic, you're not going to get cancer. Probably.

A really great way to keep warm on these very cold winter days is to make use of our friend the sun. The Cherokee called the sun, "Nu-gah" which translates roughly to mean "The Giver of Life" and believe me the sun earned this title. Here are some things you can do to keep your house warm and bright for the winter.

1. Use natural light when ever possible. If it is a sunny day, pull up the shades and turn off the over head lights. The sunlight really is enough, and its better for you and the earth!

2. If your windows face south, try to keep the blinds up as much as possible, southern light is strong and will keep the room warm.

3. The outside world looks pretty, so look out the window as often as possible, and you won't feel quite as bad about the way finals are ruling your life right now (okay, maybe I'm projecting a little...)

Have a great week everyone!

Further Proof Concerning My Favorite Animal

Hello everyone! I am very sorry for my lack of posts lately. Its been a VERY busy week (finals are quickly approaching. Eek)

First, my shout outs. Good work Brenna, Gillian and Alexis for knowing that the scientific name of the Grey Wolf is Canis lupis. Yay everyone!!!!!!!! You are all my heroes.

But, I can't let another week go by without an Environmental Learning Tale, and this weeks is actually a legitimate tale as it was told for generations by the Inuit people of Alaska. It was also one of my favorite bed time stories as a child (which just goes to show you what kind of a kid I was...)

And so without further delay...

The Educational Story of Wolf and Caribou (as told by Me, the descendant of Irish-Italian immigrants)

A very long time ago there lived in Alaska a Woman and a Man and the Woman's five sons (note the obvious indication of matrilineal descent here...). Now, the world was a very different place in those days, in that over all the earth, the only living beings were Woman, her husband, and her children. They dwelt in houses made of sod and ate only lichen (which is actually a symbiotic relationship between two living organisms, but we'll let it go). They lived very happily for a long time.

But one year a winter came that was much worse than all the ones before it. The wind was very cold (it is Alaska after all) and the whole world seemed frozen solid. Woman had to cut her way out of her house everyday and melt foot after foot of snow to reach the buried lichen. And on the cold winter nights they often wished they had something more substantial to eat.

In fact, with only lichen to eat, Woman's sons fell very ill. One after the other they could no longer get out of bed and Woman feared very much that they would die. She waited anxiously for summer, but when summer came her children still did not get well. She decided to see Great Raven (kind of a super creator God) and ask him what to do.

Well, she traveled for many days to see Great Raven, and when she reached him and told him of her trouble he agreed to help. They went together down to a field of ice and cut a hole through to where the ocean moved underneath. Then Woman dangled a long line in the water while Raven sat upon her shoulder in his bird form. She waited for many days, but at last there came a tugging on the line and Woman pulled up the first animal in the world. This animal was snowshoe hare. She dangled the line in again and pulled out yet another animal, and again and again until many of the animals we see in the world were set free over the Tundra. The last animal she pulled out was Caribou.

"This animal is a great gift," Said Great Raven. "For its fur shall be your house, it's bones your weapons, and its meat your food."

And so it was. Woman went home to her family and the next day woke to the sound of Caribou hooves moving across the tundra. For many years they ate happily of the Caribou and Woman's sons grew stronger then ever they had been before.

But that is not the end of the story.

For after many years of this, Woman noticed that the Caribou herds began to grow ill. Her husband had to travel farther and father each day to get a healthy caribou, and the time finally came when there were none left and Woman and her family were forced to eat the sick. This was very bad, as their skin and bones were weak and their flesh poor too eat. In fact, as soon as they began to eat of it Woman's sons grew very ill once more and Woman feared that they would die.

In great terror she went to see Great Raven again and explained to him what had happened. he nodded to himself and rose to his feet.

"When we went to the ice," he said. "I believe there was an animal we forgot to pull out."

So Woman and Great Raven returned to the ice field and cut another hole and dangled the fishing line in. Right away there came a tugging on the line, as if there was something below the ice that had been waiting a very long time. Woman pulled up the line and out came the last animal. It was the wolf.

"This animal is as great a gift as the caribou." Said Great Raven.

But Woman did not believe him. She went home with a heavy heart. But over the next few months she noticed something very strange. The healthy caribou were beginning to come back. Soon her husband did not have to travel to find caribou to bring home to his family. Woman wondered very much why this way, but did not know until she watched the wolves hunting one day.

She saw that the wolves were not fast enough to catch the healthy caribou, and so hunted only the sick ones. She was very pleased with what she found and returned to tell her children. From then on the people understood that, although it is the caribou that feeds the wolf, it is the wolf that keeps the caribou alive.

Well, that's my learning tale for the week. It has a great deal in common with my last learning tale (as you all probably noticed). But like I said, wolves really are my favorite animal. So that leaves only the Environmental Question of the week.

And here it is...

What is the definition of a "symbiotic relationship"?

Have a wonderful week everyone!!!!!

Kitchen Appliances Deserve Breaks Too...

Environmental Reform Tip time! See, I'd never miss two weeks, I promise. Here's a great tip I can give you all. Works like a charm...

When you are going to put food in the refrigerator, check to see if the food is warm. If it is (and this won't result in you getting food poisoning) leave the food on the counter until it cools down. If you put it in to the fridge hot, it takes much more energy to keep the refrigerator at a cold temperature because the food is warmining it up. Think of how hard your poor refrigerator must have to work!

You'd be surprised how much energy (and money!) this saves! Have a great week everyone, and a wonderful Turkey-day! Eat lots of good food, I know I will.

When Deer Attack...

I apologize sincerely for my lack of Environmental Reform Tip this past Monday! It is the week before Thanksgiving Break and I have been frantically working to get as far ahead as possible so that I don't have to work too much during visit home. (My theory is, I haven't seen my family since October, I deserve to spend some homework free time with them!)

But...I can't let a Sunday pass without my Environmental Learning Tale! I have a good one too, for this week. But first I must answer two questions from my last post.

1st. of all: a HUGE shout out to Brenna's brilliant sister Meag, for correctly replying that last week's post title was in fact from the Disney Movie "Pocahontas" (what a ridiculously inaccurate movie, by the way...) You rock Meag!

However, no one tried to answer the environmental question, tsk tsk. That's okay though, its a pretty cool answer. Planting a cover crop like beans actually prevents soil erosion. If you plant cover crops while you're not using the plot of land, much less soil will wash away. Preventing erosion is good for so many reasons, not the least of which being preventing sediment deposition in waterways. Yay cover crops!

Okay, here is my Environmental Learning Tale for the week...

"Hey! Get That Deer Out Of My Living Room!"

If you are from Pennsylvania (or Maryland...or Delaware...or New Jersey...etc) you are familiar with road signs encouraging you to watch out for the deer that might commit hara-kiri by throwing themselves in front of your car late at night.* Not very nice for the deer, or the car owner. The fun doesn't end there though, some deer have even been known to take a bite or two out of houses. What's up with that? But as there come to be more and more deer (and less and less deer food) our houses start to look like a five star meal.

But where the heck did all those deer come from?

Well, there are lots of ways you could take that question. But here's the environmental answer. A long time ago in the lower 48 states there used to be large packs of roving dogs known as wolves. For all of you who just recoiled in terror, wolves are no where near as bad as the media makes them out to be. They are actually pack animals who care for their pups, and even watch out for the sick and injured members of their pack. Yes, they kill and eat large animals, and yes, they are really good at what they do. But they are not the vicious, blood thirsty beasts that popular culture has made them out to be.

In case you can't tell, they are my favorite animal...

Back to the deer though. So there were lots of wolves running around North America, and they were eating the deer that also were running around North America. For that matter, the people running around North America were also eating the deer, but the point is, everything was in balance.

But then, man decided that wolves were going to eat their children (MYTH!!!! NOT REAL!!!!) and so they killed them all and were really proud of themselves.

Many years passed.

And now man is putting up signs on the side of the road and insuring their cars because deer keep jumping in front of them. The connection? With out the wolves to eat the deer, the deer began to over populate the forest. In some places they actually strip the land of vegetation. What's a farmer to do?

Clearly, they need to hire hunters to snipe out the deer.

Sounds like a good plan, right? Well, in theory, but not really in practice. The hunters are actually not helping the deer (or the people) very much at all. You see, wolves are pretty cool critters, they are good at running, and at jumping, but the one thing they can't do is run down and take out a healthy adult deer. They have to go after the sick ones instead, because those are the only ones they can bring down. Kinda puts a crimp in the idea of wolves as vicious killing machines doesn't it? I mean, deer aren't that big...

People don't have that problem though, and if it has four legs, antlers, and is deer-like, the hunters working to control the population will shoot it. Unfortunately, more often than not, the dead deer was actually a perfectly healthy adult. And if there are no healthy adults, guess who gets to repopulate the herd?

In short, because we killed off the deer's natural predator, the wolf, we now have diseased deer leaping in front of our cars late at night, and eating our houses.

I think the deer got the short end of the stick when the wolf went out, and I think we did to. In fact, I begin to wonder if there was ever any long end to the stick at all...maybe the deer ate it.

So that's that. I hope you enjoyed that tale as much as I enjoyed writing it. To go along with it, here's the environmental question for the week.

Environmental Question: What is the scientific name for the Gray Wolf?

* Deer do not actually commit hara-kiri because they aren't committing ritualistic Japanese suicide using a Katana. They're just trying to cross the road.