September 2009

  • Family Planning Battles Climate Change

    By ecoscott on 9/27/09 5:45pm
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    Bright Ideas For Battling Climate ChangeBright Ideas For Battling Climate ChangeClimate change is a pressing and overwhelming issue for the modern world to deal with. The upcoming Copenhagen summit is marred months before it happens in arguments and standoffs about how to preserve the earth without destroying the economy and the way we make our living. All the while, the population of the world grows larger and larger. One of the biggest reasons that climate change is such an issue is, quite simply, that there are a lot of people.

    More people require more resources, and more resources requires more energy. That’s where we’re at. 6 Billion + and growing rapidly.

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  • Pears!

    By erika on 9/24/09 4:29pm
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    Pears are now in season, or so my seckel pear tree informs me.  Every year at about this time it suddenly bursts forth with - you would think - more pears than one human being could eat before they go bad.  Every year I vow to preserve a portion of them somehow (pear butter, pear chutney, whatever) and every year I end up eating them out of hand.

    Admittedly a big part of this problem is that my preferred pear ripening spot happens to be within arm's reach of my desk. You can just guess how THAT works out.


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  • “PETA-Like Discussion” – Where’s The Line?

    By erika on 9/24/09 3:13pm
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    Recently a forum thread I was participating in (not here) was deleted by the forum moderators. Not locked - deleted - and I trust you can see the severity of the difference. Outright deletion of threads is generally reserved for the "worst of the worst" offenders.  

    The crime?  "PETA-like discussion."  

    This is a forum with a  predominately rural demographic, a forum where several members have anti-vegetarian slurs and "jokes" permanently displayed in their forum signatures.  I have learned to tread carefully.  I habitually avoid passing judgment, and stick to simply stating facts.  I didn't say anything you wouldn't find inside the pages of Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" or Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma."


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  • September: Month of the Banana Trees

    By lafeeverte on 9/16/09 12:18pm
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    Go bananas in September!Go bananas in September!

    That's right! Almost slipped past you, didn't it? Not to forget! September is the month in which we all plant banana trees. September and banana trees are practically synonymous, and considering the banana's many subtle varieties, let us deliberate wisley on which banana(s) to plant this month.

    I found a wonderful resource today, in the Maas Nursery newsletter. I have decided on the Ice Cream (Blue Java) tree because its leaves are an enchanted silvery green, with delicate blue fruit that tastes like fresh Mexican flan.

    If you live on the east coast, midwest, north, northeast, or northwest part of the country, remember, all it takes is growing your banana tree in a grow bag/burlap sack so that you can alternate between indoor and outdoor growing on a seasonal rotation! Inside fall and winter and outside in the summer!!

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