April 30, 2007
· Filed under Make a difference
Did you know that there is the same amount of water on the earth as when the earth was formed? What we have is all that we will ever have, just in different forms. Water moves in cycles; evaporation, condensation, precipitation, run off, and infiltration. Also, did you know that 98% of the earth’s water is saline? The 2% that remains must provide us with the water to nourish ourselves, our crops, our animals and even our electricity as in the case of hydro electric plants; all this and many more. Of the 2%, only 1% can be used for drinking. So who is taking care of our water? Read the rest of this entry »
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April 30, 2007
· Filed under General Ramblings
My last post was before Easter. The time since then has been filled with family visits and a brief do nothing period. Easter like other holidays is best celebrated with family. For the past five years we have spent the day at our daughter Trisha’s. She along with Rod put on a great brunch for family and friends that lasts late into the day. Rod’s mother who makes her annual trek from Connecticut for some Southwest sunshine for a few weeks, winds up her trip with the brunch. This year, our son Phil and his mate Deb were here for the event. They inturn brought friends. Friends and family are who define us in many ways. It is because of them that we extend ourselves to do things. It is the care and love that we give to them that comes back to us in many ways.
The great thing about having people visit is that we usually take them to see the local sites. The week following Easter, Phil and Deb, my husband and I took a short trip. We went exploring in Monument Valley in Northeast Arizona. The famous land monuments in this valley have been carved by nature; wind and water, and all have names that identify them. There are the Three Sisters, Mexican Hat , The Mittens and many more. It seems strange that in this dry dusty land, water could have played such a large part in its past and that lack of it will play a big part in its future.
Lack of water to support our growing population is a looming concern in Arizona and throughout the west. About 15 years ago, my son recommended I read a book titled Cadillac Desert
by Marc Reisner who wrote about the American West and its disappearing water. Read the rest of this entry »
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April 7, 2007
· Filed under Carbon Neutral
Growing up in Kansas and now, living in Arizona, I have lived with wind. Wind like fire and water is an element to be dealt with. We are still learning how to harnes the wind as we have fire and water and it is proving to serve us well. Wind is solar energy and as such is clean, affordable, domestic and inexhaustible; it just isn’t always dependable. Aided by government incentives, the current trend of windmill farms is growing. This harnesed power then needs to be converted to electricity to be used. How this takes place is explained in depth on the most informative site that I found; the US Dept of Energy site at www.eere.energy.gov/wind/ I do think that we could perhaps come up with means to capture the wind other than the large monstrosities but, for now they may have to do and do well. There are a number of Companies who have pledged to use only wind power to sustain their business, among them is Silksoy milk. My daughter who is lactose intolerent, brought this to my attention. This company has pledged to go carbon neutral and do so using wind power. If you want to know how you too can go carbon neutral by buying wind credits, you will find links to this information and much more. Check them out at http://www.silksoymilk.com/Abo……Award.aspx
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