Please Sign this Petition to Urge Ben and Jerry's to go Organic!

All Creatures, Great and Small

There is a great debate in this country in the environmentalist community. In one court are the wildlife protectors, and in  the other are the climate change battlers. One would think that they would be on the same side, but one issue is the great divider, and that is Wind Energy.

There is a lot of data pointing to the fact that wind turbines are killing birds and bats, but those on the front lines of the climate battle argue that birds and bats are simply collateral damage on the road to a more sustainable future. BUT:

Environmentalists of all creeds agree that the best approach to planning for the future of this planet is to incorporate the ecosystem into those plans, unlike what our recent predecessors have done. So shouldn't we think about the eco-system in the next iteration of the energy plan for this society? Not doing that is what got us into the mess we are in with coal, oil, fracking, etc. There is room for every living thing on this planet, all creatures, great and small, and taking them into account won't take as much "energy," as you might think.

For more information, read the following article by Ted Williams of the Audubon Society:  

http://www.audubonmagazine.org/articles/climate/green-energy-can-we-save-planet-and-save-birds?page=show

Consider the Cool Roof

This is a little something I wrote up for my internship at the Center for Climate Change Communication/Climate Communication Consortium of Maryland, for a fact sheet that goes out with some media materials each month for the consortium members. This month the focus was extreme heat, and this fact sheet is about cool roofs! (The installation of which is one way to reduce extreme heat). It has had to be edited down quite a bit for publication through CCCoM, but I wanted to publish it in its complete form on here, and I doubt they will mind since the final copy will be so different than this one once I finish editing it (but I like this version better!). Enjoy!

 

Consider the Cool Roof

Want to reduce your energy costs and cool your home, all while helping the environment and even cooling your neighborhood? Think about installing a cool roof!

Traditional dark roofs made of asphalt shingles or other dark substances like tar, cause roofs to absorb the sun’s energy and heat, which in turn conducts heat to your house or apartment. This hot roof can even increase the temperature in the surrounding neighborhood, creating a “heat island effect,” which is a term used to describe how urban areas are generally hotter than rural areas due to the increased amount of dark surfaces that absorb heat like roads, parking lots, and roofs. This heat difference means that cities can be around 5 degrees hotter than rural areas during the day, and up to 22 degrees hotter at night (EPA). One way to counter this effect is with cool roofs.

What Is a Cool Roof?

A cool roof is a roof that is coated with a special white paint and lining, a roof with a special UV-reflecting coating, or simply a roof with tiles that are a cooler color than the traditional black. All of these types of roofs reflect more of the sun’s rays, keeping your home and neighborhood cooler.

Benefits of a Cool Roof:

• ·        A cool roof is generally 50-60 degrees cooler than a traditional dark-colored roof (EPA). This means that if you have a cool roof, less heat is being conducted into your home, so your home will be naturally cooler on those hot summer days.

• ·        A cool roof saves you money: A cool roof can significantly reduce air conditioning costs, by an average of  20% (EPA). Also, if you live in Montgomery County, you can apply for and receive an energy efficiency tax credit from the Dept. of the Treasury for up to $250 for installing a cool roof (Michael Parent of the Division of the Treasury-Montgomery County)--that’s money directly in your pocket for helping the environment!

• ·        Increase the life-span and durability of your roof: some cool roofs will seal and prevent leaks, and many are easily maintained with a one-layer recoat after 10-15 years.

• ·        Help save the environment: A cool roof reduces pollution by reducing the amount of energy required to cool your home, meaning you are reducing the amount of fossil fuels you use.

Can I Install a Cool Roof on Any Roof?

The slope of your roof determines what kind of cool roof you are eligible for.

• ·        A flat roof, for example the roof of a townhouse, condo, or apartment building, can be converted by spraying a thick cool-colored or white coating over your current roof. Additives in this coating improve their adhesion, durability, suppression of algae and fungal growth, and ability to self-wash, or shed dirt under normal rainfall, meaning your nice white roof won’t turn dingy over time. If you have a flat roof and you want to convert it, simply search for white or cool roofs to look for an installer in your area. In California, installers are common, but they are also available nationwide. In Maryland specifically, you can have a cool roof installed by calling Maryland Civic Works at 410-366-8533.

• ·        For a traditional home, or a neighborhood with an HOA, try cool-colored tiles for a cool roof. These tiles look no different than traditional dark roofs, but they contain pigments that reflect solar energy in the infrared spectrum. You can get these tiles in traditional colors of brown, green, and terracotta, and there are even asphalt tiles that reflect almost as much solar energy (up to 65%). Energy Star has a rating system for these types of tiles, listed on their website.

“Cool Roofing translates into considerable energy savings, reduced air pollution and emissions, and increased durability” –US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

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Environmental Justice Advocacy Digital Story for Anacostia, DC

The following is an advocacy video that myself (Ashley Strobridge), Roger LeBlanc Jr, Whitney Morcom, Fayven Gitahi, and Sean Kelley created for our GMU Environmental Justice course (NCLC 334), about the environmental justice issues facing the Anacostia region and Ward 8 in DC, and the advocacy groups in the region trying to help out that you
can get involved in. I shot the video, took the food desert pictures (liquor stores and convenience stores), and recorded the first portion of audio. Thanks for watching!

Are You Eating Fake Honey?

Tests recently conducted for Food Safety News found that approximately 75% of honey sold in the U.S. has no pollen content, and therefore is not REAL honey, this according to FindLaw.com. 
Honey can have many medicinal properties, but ONLY if there is pollen content. These medicinal properties include antioxidants as well as anti-allergenic aspects, esp if you get honey produced in the region in which you live. However, with these new findings it appears that honey without this nurturing pollen is simply a sweetener, nothing more. Honey without pollen can even be harmful to you, as the pollen in honey is a major tool for identifying the geographic location of production. Recently, according to this article in FindLaw.com, India and China dumped contaminated honey into the North American and European markets, but because there was no pollen in the honey, it was impossible to identify the exact geographical location from whence the honey came until it was too late. 
So where do you find honey with pollen in order to ensure you and your family's safety as well as health? Well most natural food stores will carry honey with pollen content, including places like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, but also your local farmer's market will have LOCAL honey which is best for you anyway, and you will also be supporting you local small businesses if you buy at a farmer's market.  
Here is another great article about this issue that I found on Care2: http://www.care2.com/causes/what-passes-for-honey-on-u-s-shelves.html?page=1

A Simple Vegetarian Thanksgiving (Tofurky Day?)

Some of us Americans don't eat Turkey on Thanksgiving, I mean us vegetarian Americans. :) It's even a little frustrating when people call Thanksgiving Turkey Day, because how are we supposed to celebrate such a holiday, by freeing turkeys? Well some do, but that's illegal, so I won't be doing that this year. Instead I am celebrating my Thanksgiving by being grateful for friends and loved ones, and by eating a Field Roast Hazelnut Cranberry Roast en Croute, along with all the typical holiday trimmings with my mother and step father who will be eating a regular turkey (free range though!). A Field Roast is like a Tofurky (which, yes is indeed, a tofu turkey: 100% vegetarian). But the last time I had a Tofurkey I didn't like it very much, so this year I got a Field Roast Hazelnut Cranberry Roast en Croute, as well as a Celebration Roast!! They should be rather magnificent if they're anything like Field Roast's non meat sausage links, which come in Mexican Chipolte, Italian, and my favorite: Smoked Apple Sage! These sausages have apple and lots of savory spices in them, and they are made from grains, fruits and veggies (and herbs and spices); they are totally vegan. So yes, I actually got two Field Roasts I am so confident in their culinary arts. The first is made with apples and butternut squash among other things, that's the Celebration Roast. And the Hazelnut Cranberry Roast en Croute, is made with the regular stuff, as well as a hazelnut, ginger, cranberry and apple stuffing, as well as stuffed with their veggie sausage, and the whole thing is surrounded with a savory pastry. I'm only cooking the latter for Thanksgiving, the Celebration Roast will be for my Birthday which is coming up in December. The roasts are smaller than a Thanksgiving turkey. So if you like what you hear, but would like to feed a number of vegetarians, or maybe just some adventurous omnivores, I would suggest picking up more than one of these roasts, maybe one of each! Or perhaps you want to throw in a Tofurky for good measure. Heck, I was only 17 the last time I tasted a Tofurky, and my 28 year old tongue certainly does like the Tofurky brand deli slices, so maybe it's better than I remember after all. :) If you are looking for any of these items, they can all be found at Whole Foods, at least at all the ones in the Northern VA area.  I bought my two Field Roasts today for $12.50 for the Celebration Roast, and $20 for the Hazelnut Cranberry Roast en Croute. So if you are looking for a vegetarian main dish for the holidays, and want something with less cholesterol the the quiche recipe I listed earlier in this blog, here are three items worth giving a shot. And hey, if you are generally a make from scratch kinda chef, but tend to over do it during the holidays like myself, here are three main dishes that give you an option to take one thing off the list of dishes you have to make from scratch.

Here is a link to the Field Roast website, where you can find descriptions, and nutritional value of their holiday roasts, as well as the same plus recipes for their other scrumptious items:

http://www.fieldroast.com/products/retail/hazelnut-cranberry-roast-en-croute

 Here is a link for where to buy Field Roast items:

http://www.fieldroast.com/where-to-buy 

Here is a link to the Tofurky website that lists all their holiday products and their nutritional value: 

http://www.tofurky.com/tofurkyproducts/holiday_products.html 

You can also navigate around their page to find a list of stores in your state that carry Tofurky products, as well as find interesting facts about veganism and vegetarianism.

You can even send a Tofurky Day e-card through the Tofurky website....aaaaaaannnnnddd, if you do that, the Tofurky Company will donate $5 to Farm Sanctuary. Farm Sanctuary is a farm animal sanctuary that I actually did a report on in 10th grade. :) They save abused farm animals from horrible conditions, and let them live out their days in peace on a beautiful no-kill, non-animal-exploitative farm. Here is the web address for the cute e-card:

http://www.tofurky.com/ecard/createcard1.asp?PostCardID=448

Trip to the Koshland Science Museum in DC

I've always been one for science museums, with all their interactive computer screens and vast amounts of information, I've found them intriguing since I was a little girl. Though when I was little and would go to museums there weren't touch screens, but rather demonstrations on centrifugal force using pennies and a funnel. :) While both are exciting in their own way, I like the advancements technology has made to the experience of going to science museums. Well last Wednesday, the 16th of November, my Environmental Concerns class took a field trip to the Koshland Science Museum in Washington DC, and the museum certainly did not disappoint! 

We acted as guinea pigs for their new exhibit on global warming, and it was very enlightening. First we learned about the carbon exchanging that happens between land and aquatic animals, plants, sediments and rocks, the atmosphere, and water. I got to play water in the fun little skit that we played out which demonstrated the exchanging of carbon, and where most of that carbon ends up (I won't ruin the ending for you in case you want to go and experience the game for yourself, but lets just say that it demonstrated how important it is to protect our air and water ;). 

Next we went on a treasure hunt of sorts to find information on global warming, including its causes and solutions to the problems it puts forth. Personally, I finally got to see what a coral core looks like, and found out that we have information on temperature fluctuations dating back 1,000,000 years! And according to that info, the earth has never been as warm as it is today. Take THAT disbelievers of global warming!!

There were many fun and educational activities that I engaged in while at the Koshland Museum. Because of my love for maps and globes my favorite was the Lights at Night exhibit, which was an interactive computer-generated globe that allowed you to see satellite images of the nighttime lights around the world from space. There were many variables from which you could choose to view different aspects of the lights at night, including different years, maps with and without roads and borders. It was, in a word, awesome! 

Another aspect of the global warming exhibit which was pretty cool, once I figured out how to use it, (yes, there are technical activities that even Gen Y'ers can't figure out without a little help! Esp this one!), was the Climate Change Mitigation Decision Game, which showed you how to reduce human impact to the environment by choosing different elements of environmental planning to develop. These included reducing dependency on oil, using more environmentally friendly building practices, increasing transportation efficiency, and many more. It was very enlightening, and demonstrated the positive impact these changes could have on our currently desperate situation with a diagram at the end, which showed how your personal plan will impact the world if put into use, which I thought was a very unique and fun touch. 

All in all, the trip was quite fabulous. I learned quite a few things, and came away with a stronger basis for my arguments against those folks who still don't believe in the severity of the problem of global warming, or rather, climate change. It's a great museum, and I highly recommend it. 

Here is their contact info:

 Museum Location
525 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001

 For General Inquiries
Phone: 202-334-1201
Toll-free 888-KOSHLAND (888-567-4526)

http://www.koshland-science-museum.org/index.jsp