climate change - find your truth

Climate change is a big deal. It's happening right before our eyes, and there is a LOT we can do to slow and possibly stop it. If we don‘t take decisive action to address climate change soon, 20-30% of the world‘s plant and animal species will be at increased risk of extinction by 2050. Don't believe me, that's ok. Do some research and find the facts for yourself.

This spring, I took an amazing biology class. My instructor, Pamela Thinesen, has been kind enough to share with me the common myths and the facts that debunk them. Without further adieu;

Myth: There are many scientists who disagree with the scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other scientists who believe global warming is real and is largely being caused by humans.

Reality:

NUMBER OF PEER REVIEWED ARTICLES DEALING WITH CLIMATE CHANGE PUBLISHED IN SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS DURING THE PREVIOUS TEN YEARS(approx 1990-2000): 928

PERCENTAGE OF ARTICLES IN DOUBT AS TO THE CAUSE OF GLOBAL WARMING: 0%

Myth: Scientists disagree about whether humans are causing the Earth‘s climate to change.

Reality: There is strong scientific consensus that human activities are changing the Earth‘s climate. Scientists overwhelmingly agree that the Earth is getting warmer, that this trend is caused by people, and that if we continue to pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the warming will be increasingly harmful.

Myth: Lots of things can impact climate – so there‘s no reason we should single out CO2 to worry about.

Reality: Indeed, climate is sensitive to many things besides CO2, including sunspots and water vapor. But this just proves how much we should worry about CO2 and other human-influenced greenhouse gases. The fact that the climate system has been shown to be sensitive to many sorts of natural changes throughout history should serve as a red flag.

Myth: Climate naturally varies over time, so any change we‘re seeing now is just part of a natural cycle.

Reality: Climate does naturally change. By studying tree rings, lake sediments, ice cores, and other natural features that provide a record of past climates, scientists know that changes in climate, including abrupt changes, have occurred throughout history. But these changes all took place with natural variations in CO2 levels that were smaller than the ones we are now seeing. Cores taken from deep in the ice of Antarctica show that CO2 levels are higher now than they have been at any time in the last 650,000 years. And the increase has occurred over just the last 100-150 years!

Myth: There is nothing we can do about climate change. It‘s already too late.

Reality: This may be the worst misconception of all. There are lots of things we can do, but we need to start now. We need to reduce our use of fossil fuels through a combination of government initiatives, industry innovation, and individual action.

Myth: Antarctica‘s ice sheets are growing, so it must not be true that global warming is causing glaciers and sea ice to melt.

Reality: Some ice on Antarctica may be growing – though other areas of the continent are clearly melting, and studies show that overall the Antarctic ice is shrinking. Even if some of the ice were growing, this doesn‘t change the fact that global warming is causing glaciers and sea ice to melt around the world. Globally, more than 85% of glaciers are shrinking. The loss of ice in Greenland doubled from 1996 to 2005.

Myth: Global warming is a good thing, because it will rid us of frigid winters and make plants grow more quickly.

Reality: Because some local impacts will vary, it‘s true that some specific places may experience more pleasant winter weather. But the negative impact of climate change vastly outweighs any local benefits. Take the oceans, for example. Changes to the oceans caused by global warming are already causing massive die-offs of coral reefs, which are crucial sources of food and shelter for creatures at every stage of the ocean food chain, all the way up to us.

Myth: The warming that scientists are recording is just the effect of cities trapping heat, rather than anything to do with greenhouse gases.

Reality: Temperature measurements are generally taken in parks, which are actually cooler areas within the urban heat islands. And long-term temperature records showing just rural areas are nearly identical to long-term records that include both rural areas and cities. Most scientific research shows that ―urban heat islands‖ have a negligible effect on the overall warming of the planet.

Myth: Global warming is the result of a meteor that

crashed in Siberia in the early 20th century.

Reality: This may sound absurd to some, but it‘s a real hypothesis suggested by a Russian scientist. The impact of a meteor, much like a volcanic eruption, might have immediate effects on climate if it were large enough. But there is no record of warming or cooling during the period after this meteor hit. The effects that would have been produced by the meteor would have involved water vapor, which only stays in the upper atmosphere for a few years at most. Any effects would have been short-term and could not be felt this far in the future.

Myth: Temperatures in some areas aren‘t increasing, so global warming is a myth.

Reality: It is true that temperature is not rising at every point on the planet and is actually decreasing slightly in some areas. However, global warming refers to the rise in the average temperature of the entire Earth’s surface due to increased levels of greenhouse gases.

The time to act is now. You CAN make a difference.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

As a "born again hippie" I have been looking for ways to go green around the house. I hate all the chemicals that we dump down the drains and pollute the earth and our bodies with, and sometimes it seems like there's no avoiding it. Well, you can, you just have to be creative!

I have been researching homemade laundry soap for a couple months now. I'm really into the DIY Suzy-homemaker kind of stuff, but for some reason I kept putting this one thing off. I thought it was going to be a huge PITA, but I found out I was wrong.

There are two different types of laundry soaps you can make, liquid or powder. I originally was going to go with a liquid, but I didn't want to go buy a huge 5 gallon bucket to store it in, and you have to shake or mix it every time you do a load of laundry because it gels and separates. I buy the liquid detergent - born and raised on Tide - so I was out of my laundry comfort zone thinking about using a powder.

So here's what you need;

1 box Borax 20 Mule Team laundry aide

1 box Arm and Hammer laundry soda

1-3 laundry soap bars (I used Fels-Naptha because that's all my WalMart had) depending on how much you want to make.

1 large bowl for mixing and grating into

1 large wooden spoon to mix it

a container with an air-tight lid to store it in

a shredder (cheese shredder is just fine)

Directions;

grate your laundry bar, mix with:

1 cup Borax

1 cup laundy soda

(for one batch, it's 1 bar, 1 cup, 1 cup.. if that was unclear before)

Mix well. Mix very well.

You will get better results if you grate the bar rather than shredding it- the ingredients will mix together better that way.

Use 1-2 tbsp per load of laundry, depending on how soiled your clothing is. This isn't going to suds much, but it works!! I don't have one, but I have read this is also safe for HE machines because of the low suds.

Another perk? This mix will last you 6mo-1 year! Also... on average, Tide will cost approximately $0.25 per load, and this homemade mix will cost you about $0.05 per load! If you have sensitive skinned dirt magnets living at your house like I do, then this detergent is for you!!

White Horse

My husband and I watched a documentary last night on demand called White Horse. I'm not a documentary kind of gal, but I can get into them from time to time. I wanted to watch this particular one because it deals with the Chernobyl Disaster from 1986.

The film follows a man, Maxim Surkov, back to his childhood home in Chernobyl for the first time in 21 years. It is a powerful film, not only to see the emotion in Maxim, but to see the ghost town Chernobyl and what terror a nuclear disaster can wreak.

I recommend taking the time to watch it. I felt like it was a good eye opener of what kind of dangers there are behind man-made energy. Yes, there is natural nuclear energy- but I'm talking about nuclear reactors inside nuclear power plants. After the earthquake and impending nuclear meltdowns in Japan I have sparked an interest in the subject.

I'm not going to go on a save-the-planet rant here, I'll save it for another day. But check out the documentary. It's only 20 minutes or so. It will give you a sense of the magnitude of what could happen in Japan.

Our Gold's Gym Experience

I thought it would be a good idea to share this in a more public light than my private Facebook notes.

My husband and I joined Gold’s Gym only about 2 weeks ago. They were having a special, so we cancelled our membership at the YMCA to join Gold’s. We had always heard great things about it from friends about it, and decided to give it a try.

At first we were put off by the rudeness and arrogance of the staff members and also turned a blind eye to the high pressure sales tactics of the recruitment staff. (We are signing up at a gym, not buying a car, right?) Well, we liked it well enough and decided we would add childcare to our membership at $14.99/month. I have a 4 year old daughter and a 2 year old son who were excited to see the ‘play area’ at our new gym.

What we found was extremely different than what we had expected. First off, there is only a sign in sheet for when you drop your kids off. There is no checking of identification or private PIN number or any sort of way to identify WHO drops off which child, or even more disturbing, WHO is able to pick them up! I spoke with a staff member about this, and she plainly told me “yeah, it’s not very secure, but once you come a few times then we get to know you and we won’t let anyone else take your kids”. Wow, very reassuring. Now, that right there should have been a red flag to just up and leave, but the kids were excited about it and were ready to play. When we came an hour and a half later to pick them up, my 2 year old son let himself OUT! There wasn’t a staff member standing by their door to ensure kids are not just leaving on their own free will. He just walked right out- luckily I was THERE. I mentioned it to the same staff person that checked us in and she replied “well, you were right there”. My husband and I left shaking our heads.

I talked that night with my girlfriend who referred us to the gym and told her about our situation. She stood by what she said and insisted that we give it another try.

Our other try was February 23, 2011. We dropped our kids off in the same manner as we had before. There were probably 20 kids running around and 2 staff people mostly “observing”. I say “observing” because there was absolutely no interaction or greeting when my children arrived. They went in to play until we returned an hour later. When we got back, my 2 year old son was wandering around in the area OUTSIDE of the ‘secure play area’, where people take off their shoes/coats. He was coming out to mom and dad, but I was absolutely flabbergasted. Nobody even noticed him leave, nobody batted an eye! A couple minutes later, my 4 year old daughter noticed us and she let herself out of the play area!!! There was NO staff member paying attention what-so-ever to this situation. There was a father and his kids also leaving at this time who exchanged glances with us. Staff didn’t intervene until yet another child let himself out of the “secure” facility. That’s when she noticed my son had escaped, but never said a word to my husband or myself.

My husband promptly went back in to talk to a manager about this situation. He was given a phone number to call and the desk manager told my husband he couldn’t talk because he was getting off work at that time and desperately needed to go. This we later found out was not true, as the same manager was hanging around the desk talking to someone else as we drove away several minutes later.

Today we have been in contact with the general manager, Chad, as well as the Kids Club manager, Minerva. Both of whom were rude and insisted NONE of this ever happened. They have given us the run-around and gone above and beyond with their general lack of caring and rude demeanor. The Kids Club manager told us that they have a lot of kids to watch and can’t keep an eye on everybody. She said “it gets crazy with all those kids”. It sounds to me like they’re critically understaffed and undertrained.

I am not typically the type to call and complain or write strongly worded email to businesses. However, I am a mother. My children are my number one priority in life. If their safety has been jeopardized and someone is at fault, I WILL let them know, and I WILL make sure others know. This can’t be happening. What if my son had wandered OUTSIDE? What if someone else’s kid wanders out and nobody notices, or someone else takes him home? Someone needs to intervene, and apparently our phone calls and concerns have not sufficed nor have they been taken seriously. Other parents in the cities need to be alerted to this situation, and either avoid Gold’s Gym, or insist that they take another look at their facility! As for us, we’re going back to the YMCA and washing our hands of this whole mess.

Two.

The boy is two years old. He is amazing. Everyday he makes me smile, raise an eyebrow, laugh, or just stare at him in awe. His name is Owen Daniel.

This boy of mine is spectacular. Every mother will tell you her boy is spectacular, but let me tell you about my Owen. He came into this world on New Year's Eve 2008. He was a darling baby who I knew had a little spark to him. Now he's two years old and that spark is still more than evident.

I thought the terrible twos were a myth. I thought this because my first born, Addison (who is now 4), was an absolute perfect baby. But not only was she the perfect baby. She was the perfect two year old. Sweet as sugar and cute as a button. This girl really is the poster child for childrearing. She is magic.

Now about that myth.

The terrible twos have hit this family like something fierce. They even came a little early, around 18 months or so, because I'm sure they were feeling bad about all that missed time with Addison. That 2 year old chimpanzee/Tasmanian devil mix sure can stir up some trouble.

I heard screaming in the early hours of the morning when no sane person is awake (really, it was only 6:15, but I had another half hour til my alarm went off, and we all know that last 1/2 hour is made of pure gold). It jolted me out of bed in a panic only mothers have had the joy of experiencing. I literally flew up the stairs. And there Owen was in his Thomas jammies, stuck in the sink, toothbrush in hand, with the HOT water running and the drain plugged!

Time out for a second... yes, the water was hot, but dude was fine. It wasn't to it's full potential in the heat department (and yes, water heater is set at 120).

So there we are. Owen absolutely soaked to the bone. Me, in my Wooddale Recreation T-shirt, hair a mess, kind of still sleeping, toweling off this wiggly toddler. And now he's upset because he wants his THOMAS PANTS ON NOW! Oh Owen. You're SO lucky you're cute.