"Perhaps the real enemy of wilderness is an invalid American dream. Perhaps too late we are learning that a diet of metal and oil will kill us. Perhaps too late we will discover that valid new frontiers exist in the spirit, and in technology and that no matter where the new frontiers will be, humans cannot do without wilderness."
Mardy Murie, from her book "Journeys to the Far North" Published in 1973.
"Mardy Murie, born in 1902 and tirelessly championed the environment for more than seven decades. Her work led to the founding of The Wilderness Society and the establishment of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She is known as, "the mother of the conservation movement." At age 96, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her life spanned nearly one hundred years. One third of her life was growing up in the wilds of Alaska. A third of her life she discovered the environmental visions that she shared with her husband Olaus Murie, a famous biologist and co founder/director of The Wilderness Society. And a third of her life she gave back to the wild land and the enchanted places that shaped her extraordinary spirit." Her story is called "Arctic Dance." Check it out,she is truly an inspiration to me and I hope to you..
What kind of value do you hold for the wilderness??
"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little." Edmund Burke
There is growing concern in our country about the health and saftey of our food sources. What are we to do? One way you can address the concerns is by supporting local agriculture through purchases at farmers markets. In 1994, 1,755 farmers markets were in operation throughout the United States, today there are more than 5,274 active markets. Farmers' markets allow communities and local farmers to connect and purchase locally produced food that will taste better, give you the opportunity to know what you are eating, offer opportunities to meet your neighbors, allow you to get in touch with the seasonal foods, give support to small farms and local economies and more importantly, you will be healthier and happier! Other related benefits: less travel - saves fossil fuel and carbon omissions, you can eat food at its peak of flavor and nutritional value, it keeps the farmers farming! and helps keep our landscapes beautiful and diverse. Last year I joined a local group of concerned Ouray citizens and formed the Ouray Farmers Market. It was a small operation, but we all felt it was a success and great value to our rural community. Recently, I attended the Colorado Farmers' Market Associations Annual meeting in Salida, CO. It was exciting and inspirational to learn about what other markets are doing around the state and I felt proud to be apart of this growing organization. I am looking forward to supporting local agriculture and working with other community members to make the Ouray Farmers Market more successful each year. I would encourage you to do the same in your community.
Food for thought - Think Global - Eat Local
Sustainability is through localization of resources.
Find a farmers' market near you, the benefits are beyond health and the safety of your food. In Southwest Colorado: Ouray, Rigway,Telluride, Montrose and Durango
Great web site- http://www.organicconsumers.org/
Recommended reading: The Ominvore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
High on the list of my pet-peeves would be the amount of packaging that is involved in the products we purchase and the amount of waste that ends up in our landfills and oceans (please watch the video suggested at the end of the blog). During the past month I have been conducting an experiment to see how much trash I could reduce, reuse and recycle for a class assignment. For starters, I started a compost for my kitchen vegan waste. Then I began looking at the containers food comes in, realizing they are usually reusable and many even have ziploc type closures, so instead of throwing out those bags and using a new ziploc bag for food storage, I am reusing bags I would of normally discarded. Two small changes that over a period of time will make a large difference.
A few years back my daughter Ashleigh went on a research campaign to learn about the hazards of plastic, she is now known as, the plastic police among her family and friends and our personal consultant for product buying and container recycling.
Here are some of the FAT Facts on plastic that she learned that I would like to share with you
* A plastic milk jug takes 1 million years to decompose.
* A plastic cup can take 50 - 80 years to decompose.
* Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles every HOUR.
* Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1 million sea creatures every year.
* Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator.
* Today, Americans generate 10.5 million tons of plastic waste a year but recycle only 1 or 2 % of it.
* An estimated 14 billion pounds of trash, much of it plastic is dumped in the world's oceans every year.
* The worldwide fishing industry dumps an estimated 150,000 tons of plastic into the ocean each year, including packaging, plastic nets, lines, and buoys.
* About 1,200 plastic soft drink and salad dressing containers could carpet the average living room.
* Every year we make enough plastic film to shrink-wrap the state of Texas.
* In 2008, Americans alone created 250 million tons of trash and recycled and/or composted 83 million tons of it – the equivalent of a 33.2% recycling rate.
* Most disturbing Nearly every piece of plastic EVER made still exists today.
This is the Skinny on what YOU can do!
* Buy your milk and juice in plastic containers, they can be recycled, cardboard ones cannot be.
* Be careful when opening plastic bag type food containers, the resealing ones work great to use over and over instead of buying Ziploc’s.
* Wash and save your plastic containers from foods like yogurt, butter, cottage cheese, use for storage containers.
* Recycle the inner tubes of your paper towel and toilet paper rolls – they are cardboard!
* Aluminum foil can be added to your recycle with can
* Don't buy bottled water! What do you think happens to the 2 million beverage bottles Americans use every 5 minutes?
I would urge you to watch this history channel video titled, Sailing the Great Pacific Garage Patch, produced by Charles Moore, founder of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. It is so worth seeing, just click below.
In closing... I leave you with this reminder
Treat the earth well.
It was not given to you by your parents,
it was loaned to you by your children.
We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors,
we borrow it from our Children.
Ancient Indian Proverb
