Summer is a Bag of Frozen Peas

That's right. You heard it here first, in case you were living in a large cave without your iPod. Summer sucks this year. There is no sun. There is no heat. The bugs live off of people! In fact, one flew away with my wallet last Wednesday afternoon.

Meet the bugs of Northwestern Ontario:

Perhaps they are not exactly life size, as I've seen the Pine Sawyer Beetle as large as my foot one year. And they bite! Anything. Anyone. Because they are blind, if they land on you and if they believe that you might resemble a pine tree, they'll chomp.

And then I found this: The Tree of Life Web Project. I clicked on the Angiosperms (that is flowering plants, *Steve*), but you can click on whatever you like. The collaborative project has been contributed to by biologists and nature enthusiasts to gather information on the history of evolutionary existence of life forms on our planet: Phylogeny. In other words, we have all come from the same tree of life. The single celled life forms of this planet are your ancestors, mine too, and let's not forget the ancestors of the damn mosquito as well.

signed, the nerd botanist willow

In this sick and twisted world

This is not a story about a sick and twisted tree. It's a story about how our world is sick and twisted. We've found ways to excuse our own personal short comings, our debt, our cravings for plastic crap and synthetic foods. We find ourselves less and less like humans and more and more like robots. We elect leaders that destroy other countries over greed for a substance that curdles like blood beneath the surface of our earth. Our world is rich with resources and yet poor at the same time. Our waters are clear and clean, in fact, quite commercial. On the opposite side of our earth the waters are muddy, murky, filled with festering germs and inadequacies.

In 1996, what were you doing? Were you graduating from high school? University? Starting your family? Sending your children off to University? Whatever it may have been, it probably revolved around school in some aspect. That same year a 15 year old young man, named Craig Keilburger, visited a group of children in India that did not attend school. These children worked. They sorted out the plastic parts of needles that were used by hospitals and drug addicts. A little girl sits on a dirty ground, dressed in rags and she is touching these needles with her bare hands. Surely, she has been pricked more than once. Can you imagine this? No way on earth would I EVER let my little girl sit on the bare ground in rags, let alone touch used hypodermic needles!!!! She is sifting through them and pulling them apart for the plastic. Her only defence from the viruses that will attack her is that she will be able to wash her hands. In that same muddy water that turns our stomachs, no doubt. Craig founded Free The Children, a group of children helping children around our world by removing child labour from our geography.

This is where Me To We comes in. Go and investigate. Do your part.

Right now I hear a couple of Bratz dolls, in the room next to me, arguing over who is wearing which shoes and if they can interchange their feet!! Another reason to stop the commercialism of the world. In the real world, do starving children imagine over-primped and over botoxed dolls that can change feet with their friends? I don't think so.

And don't forget: "Be the Change you want to see in the world." I'm going to start my change down the hall, now.

signed, the willow

The Skeptical Environmentalist

What do you think? Bjorn sure makes you sigh a sigh of relief.

The Skeptic Environmentalist: Bjorn Lomborg

signed, the willow

Environmental Working Group

I triple dog dare you to go down to your local KFC and order a veggie burger. I tried to tonight since PETA sent me some coupons to receive a free veggie burger with the purchase of one of these fine meatless specimens and the answer to my question was this: "HUH? We don't even sell burgers." Okay hillbillies. I understand that the concept of working in the food industry strips out all of your ethical bones but bear with me. I think you are missing the point and obviously she missed the PETA protest that day too. So I went home burger-less and happily ate my kidney bean, rice, guacamole and salsa wrap that contained way less fat, more protein and did not involve sitting beside the smelly family that jumped out of the back of that camper and hadn't showered for a week.

So, where was I? Oh yeah right HERE. This is the Environmental Working Group. They are the most excellent resource of information and news regarding the anthropocentric impact of chemicals in the environment. Sorry, we are only here for ourselves aren't we? Use their Tuna Calculator, find safe cosmetics that aren't tested on animals, and opt for the kiwis instead of the peaches due to their pesticide in our produce report. The world is a scary place and we have to just start admitting it and doing something about it. Today is gone. We have fewer and fewer tomorrows for our children. If you don't have children, go get some or stare at this picture for a really long time and think about who is harmed.....and yes she is floating like that. She's my Indigo Child.

Heck, if she doesn't make you want to change your ways (because you have heard her scream over a bandaid) then maybe my friend from Sioux Lookout (click on Sioux Lookout to see why my hometown is now so famous - thanks Wikipedia) that now lives at Mountsberg might threaten you the same way his habitat has been threatened and is now living his last years in a cage.

signed, the willow

A Different Spin

If I told you that 50 years from now the human race would be obsolete, would you believe me? If I told you that we may just be 1 billion less than we are today with heartache and no hope for our future, would you believe me?

Maybe you should.

A reader of mine directed me to this free e-book about parenting, called 'Endangered'. It's not a how-to book and it's not just for parents to read. It's about our future and the generation we are rearing in our ugly monster world. Most importantly it's about the indifference that parents are taking towards their children. We drop them off at day-cares and expect perfect strangers to raise them the same way we would. Although this stranger is barely making minimum wage and can only give so much care dividing her attention among many. We plunk them in front of TV or the internet or games and we expect them to act quietly as small adults and we don't tolerate the violence that they learn from said media. What are we doing to our future? Don't even get me started on the urge to drop pills into their tiny mouths and calm them down. Calm them down to the point of numbness.

In visiting our local Provincial Park this week, we noticed 2 groups of children. These were large groups. In fact, so large that they were separated into sub-groups of 4. They were there for an outing to learn about nature. Something I don't have to teach my offspring as it's second nature to her and she's been through the nature centre so many times that she can now read the species names of the animals inLatin, backwards. One child was alone in the reptile room with us and she was about *Mila's* age. She wanted us to see the wiggling snake. I could barely understand her. But *Mila* and I smiled at her and listened patiently. *Mila* was a bit upset with who she belonged to. Where was her mother? Her mind was racing. Who is looking after this girl? In a flash of a white shirt, a large arm grabbed the girl "OLIVIA!" and whisked her off to the next room with a multitude of other drones to see the honeybees. *Mila* looked at me puzzled. What could I say? "They're here with their daycare." "DAYCARE?", she questioned me. The woman didn't even make eye contact with her, me or *Mila*. She just grabbed her like a dog that got loose from the yard. Yes and so we decided to observe rather than judge that day.

I watched these kids jump like chimpanzees through the play barn. *Mila* approached each familiar obstacle with grace, intelligence and a sense of caution. Sure she's a kid and she can act like a kid too. But in a room full of monkeys, you tend to let the monkeys take over. Next we watched these children toss their wrappers around the park as if it were the doorsteps of Somalia. What is going on? Are we really letting our children do this to our planet? I overheard another mother there with her two small children: "I want you to hold on to your garbage until we get home where you can put it in our blue box." Why don't all parents and caregivers say this? We generally don't announce it, but we practice it. And more often than not, I find myself picking up at least 3 beverage containers and 2 chip bags where ever we roam. Can't we all just pick up a little? It's not hard. I realize that sometimes it is gross and requires us to wear gloves, have a gas mask and toxic waste barrels. It's not hard to pick up a pop can and dispose of it - CARRY IT TO A GARBAGE CAN - if you can't hold it all the way to a blue bin.

It has become a generation that is now surprised if parents stay together, as their own never did. When a Father is a father and is a part of the lives of his children, it's an anamoly. When a parent quits their job to stay home and raise their family, they are shunned and regaled as a martyr. How dare they give up work? A career is far more important than the life of a child???? Is it? I beg to differ. A career will always be there. A child is only child for so long.

signed, the willow

Blink

If you close your eyes and blink on one side of the bridge, you might think it was a beautiful sunny day. Then you get off the bridge on the other side of the lake and here is how beauty becomes the beast.

sighed, the willow

Pssst! Pass it on!

Um, I am not whispering to you when I say "Psst! Pass it on!" In fact, hear what I say LOUDLY in full colour!

Meet 350.org. They are taking the initiative for us, the citizens of this, our very own planet, to spread the word. 350 ppm is the acceptable level of CO2 within the atmosphere. Currently, we are at 385 and we're only getting worse. I urge you to spread the word and do something. I'm putting on my thinking cap to find a creative way to spread the word in the GTA and I urge you to do the same in your area. We need to make a difference for our great grandchildren, our grandchildren, our children and even our own selfish egos. For we are living it and breathing it right now, this very second. It's our atmosphere, I dare you to do something.

signed, the willow

The View From Here

On Thursday morning, Lady of the Lake woke up to this at 6 a.m.

On that same Thursday morning, Willow Of The Wood woke up (at 6 a.m.) to this (at 7 a.m.).

Let's go back to that lake again.....

Then this came along and perturbed the Lady of the Lake with it's noise and the ripples that would cause the waves to kiss her toes at the shoreline.

And Willow Of the Wood?

Yes, she gets a "Johnny-on-the-spot" within earshot behind her house. Yep. And it faces her when she washes dishes, wakes up and looks out her bedroom window, runs on the treadmill, sits on her new deck, picks up dog poo in the backyard, eats her dinner and teaches *Mila* how to read. Oh and she looooves how there is no hand washing going on in there, but there is newspaper reading! Only men would think that it would be perfectly acceptable to take a newspaper into the porta-potty with them. Thank you "Mighty Machine Men". Lady of the Lake, your lake is calling the Willow's name and she's coming over!!!!

signed, the willow

Since it is Father's Day...

...this weekend.

Dear Dad,

I love you dearly. Very dearly. You put me through University when your career took a change. You educated me in the world of finance and hey, I had a successful career with the same company. We shared a pretty special bond during those days. We may have had our differences of opinions at times, but we've always learnt something from one another. I can share my Cliff Claven's encyclopedia of knowledge with Southern Ontario thanks to you. And I can aspire to one day be the daughter of a Canadian that will win multiple episodes of Jeopardy, whilst asking Alex Trebek what part of Sudbury he hails from. But, Dad. It's time you knew this...I am not NoImpactMAN! I don't know where this rumour started, but if you really think I am on the internet portraying a very eco-conscious man living in NYC, rest assured that it is not my alias.

Thanks for being my Dad, Dad. I love you.

Oh, for Eco-Saturday, this little video that is close to home for me. And this one too. Thank you Sarah Harmer for standing up for your/our backyard. Please visit Stop the Quarry.ca for more information.

signed, the willow

Frankie Baby, you too!

I was not the one awake at 4 a.m., but Lady of the Lake was and she shared this bit of information with me concerning a show she watched at 4 a.m. about Lake Tahoe.

A bit of background here: When a lake becomes eutrophic, it means in layman's terms that the water is robbed of it's oxygen. First off, generally a pollutant or toxin would cause the lake to become void of it's natural life - this is called cultural or anthropogenic eutrophication (thank you very much University of Manitoba). Then the nasty algae would take over, and I do mean take over. Ultimately, it is the nutrients plants in excess that cause the damage. Isn't it Ironic, don't ya think? The sewage, the agricultural run-off, fertilizers, chemicals, the phosphorus, the nitrogen. We do the damage. The algal blooms begin to suffocate the lake. Fish die. Other plants and aquatic life dies. It's really a nasty situation. Take for example Lake Erie circa 1960s...nasty! Another good example of the wickedness of Cleveland!!!! And I don't mean Drew Carey's sitcom.

Now, back to Lake Tahoe.

It would seem as though the golf courses, resorts and the mansions placed on the shores of the once beautiful Lake Tahoe to celebrate it's pristine-ness and beauty are the source of all evil. Why yes, even the greed of Frank Sinatra caused this mess. So, what can be done about it? Huh? Frank is long gone. It is depressing and real. It's everywhere and it is the fault of mankind. Instead of ignoring what is going on, or rather not going on, it's time to stand up and take responsibility into our own hands today in whatever ways we can. A letter to a politician, a blog, a piece of garbage picked up, a day without chemicals, a day with little electricity. You are the key holder to this. Myself, I won't listen to any Sinatra for the year and I sure as hell won't be visiting Lake Tahoe anytime soon! I think I'll enjoy my own country and province and appreciate the fact that there is a piece of heaven here in Ontario.

signed, the willow

Chances are if you have to tell people it is funny....

Chances are if you have to tell people it is funny, it probably isn't funny.

We are knee deep in outdoor projects this weekend, so my eco-Saturday is not too green this weekend. See, we rented a concrete saw that was powered by the most ancient of fossil fuels. And when *Steve* flooded it, he had to drive across to Rona again to find out how to start it. Then he proceeded to cut the driveway with it. Don't ask me why. I don't ask dumb questions anymore. I just put up with it. Welcome to Suburbia.

Oh, and let's not forget that when we had our wood delivered, for our lower level deck, to the wrong house. So, that would mean the driver was now driving around aimlessly looking for our lost wood. Then picking up the lost wood and re-delivering it to our house, the correct house.

So, yes. Our outdoor project has been hard on the ecosystem. I'm sorry environment. We walked 10 km on Thursday to run our errands. I promise I'll make it up to you. As *Steve* is now gasping for air.

signed, the willow

The Best Way to Show Your Kids Nature in an Urban Jungle

When I take my daughter, *Mila*, out places to explore I expect her to get valuable lessons from each adventure. Yesterday we visited Bronte Park. It's such a nice Provincial Park and there is a lot for kids to do there. *Mila* has been begging me to take her to the Play Barn there for weeks. With the weather this Spring not cooperating, we dared it yesterday and took our chances. It was perfect in the end, other than putting our sweatshirts on and off.

It amazes me how the same 2 blonde haired, blue eyed kids with their thick European accents show up there every time we are there and manage to find the exact same spot as us for our duration at the park. They manage to oust all the other kids out of the treehouse at the playground and then proceed to throw rocks at them, while their caregiver (?or mother?) looks up at the sky thinking about her father the war criminal and how she wishes she could have a war for her son to fight in. Um, Lady....I think he's started one already! Anyhow, I digress.

What I wanted to say was this. We met up with 2 lovely couples in their senior years of life. They talked to *Mila* with wonderment and appreciated the values and lessons she was learning there at the park while we stood over top of 6 pigs with large turds hanging from their rears. We started to play "I saw a bigger animal than you" with them. We told them about the baby pigs across the park. They of course had seen them. Then we said we petted the bunnies. They didn't see those, but they saw some cows. Then they wanted to know if we had seen the peacocks. Yes, we saw the peacocks. THEN, the one gentleman told us that they had seen a deer earlier in the woods. He corrected himself, "Well, by Parking Lot A". Parking Lot A? Is this now known as the woods? I thank my parents for allowing me to see nature in nature's natural environment. The other day *Mila* asked us what the "environment" was. A very valid question and she got two different answers from her parents. To *Steve* it meant the woods and to me it meant the planet. Which one is it for you? Is it green and lush? Is it your personal Eden or Utopia? Or is it where you actually live, work and play? Make your choice and make your bed - now lie in it!

signed, the willow

Why my dog is better than George W. (and Rush Limbaugh)

Reasons why my dog, Suma, is better than George W.:

1. Suma is Canadian. George W. is not.
2. Suma has never caused a war. George W. has.
3. Suma licks her family. George W. does not.
4. Suma has never hunted and killed. George W.? Can he say the same?
5. Suma licks her ass. George W.? We're not sure about that and I don't want to speculate.
6. Suma's administration doesn't drown polar bears, she cuddles them. Does George W's administration take any accountability for stopping the drilling in the Arctic?

It's time for us to stand up and say "My dog is smarter than George W. and his administration" and it's time for us to do something. Scientists are now predicting that Arctic ice will shrink and disappear by 2100. I won't be here, my daughter might be here, and her children will definitely be here. To think that my grandchildren will never see a real polar bear unless it has grown in captivity behind bars in a dug out concrete environment disgusts me and I'm going to take action. Unlike Rush Limbaugh who deserves to be placed on an iceberg to struggle for his survival and starve to death. He's the biggest moron to walk the face of this earth and the fact that humans are even considering or listening to his opinion makes us the stupidest species on the planet.

Dear Mr. Garbage-Dumping Coward

This is an on-going sore spot for me, garbage. In particular, it is usually the garbage close to where you live that bothers you the most. We decided that with it being "Green Saturday" for my blog and the sun was shining, it would make for a good family adventure to pick up that garbage that eats away at my soul. If you need a primer, click here and see what I mean. Now this is our adventure and I'd like to dedicate/address it to Mr. Garbage Dumping Coward.

Dear Mr. Garbage-Dumping Coward,

Yes, you with the red/burgundy minivan. You were last seen dumping your garbage (of the non-organic variety including large sheets of plastic) by Borer's Creek in Waterdown on Friday, May 9th, 2008 at approximately 4:30 pm. We were the ones running down the trail towards you waving our arms. Why did you drive away so fast? Was it something we said? Were you not supposed to dump your garbage there? Huh? Are you not supposed to dump your garbage in public places, especially so close to a creek? We were just wanting to talk to you for a minute and make friends. See, we've been admiring your garbage for quite some time. That was a nice toilet you dropped off and I love the laminate flooring scraps. They will make a nice home for the squirrels once they pick up their power tools at Rona!

You did make a major faux pas. You see, you happened to also ditch a nice paint tray with a very brightly coloured canary orange yellow remaining in it. A colour not found in nature, nor any living room I've ever seen. A colour that one would paint lines on concrete with and yes, I think I see some freshly painted yellow lines at your fine establishment on Dundas Street in Waterdown!I suspect you might also have a cat as we picked up all your recyclables today. Right now, I bet you are settled back in your poorly decorated living room (as all criminals have to live in badly decorated homes so they don't blow their cover) and drinking your canned beer while you toss your can into the trash pile that you have piled in front of your 57" of cheap plasma pleasure. You'd laugh at us to know that we picked up your garbage and loaded in the back of our car, PAID for it's disposal at the transfer station and sorted your recyclables for you. It really wasn't that hard. And while we were the ones who had to endure the complaints of the 4-year-old that we brought with us, we smiled when we knew that we did something good and our little girl will some day too. I hope it's your kids that she manages to throw into a jail cell when she is a well respected lawyer and your turd piles are still selling drugs to teenagers at the skate park. Uh huh. So laugh all you want. We all know who the true loser is around here. Call me Mrs. Social Justice if you want, and when you least expect it (which will be in broad daylight, no less), someone will pop out of the bushes and start taking photos of your licence plate to email to the police, with videos too of your crimes!

One more thing. You see, I love my husband, *Steve* dearly and you clearly pissed him off. See below.Along with the gas, that is running at $1.25 per litre, that we splurged on to get us to the Transfer Station and subsequently waited in line starting and stopping our engine or idling unnecessarily; the $8 it cost us to dispose of just some of YOUR junk (there is so much more to pick up); and now the cost of these beautiful cupcakes I had to make my family after for doing a good deed for our neighbourhood, country, and planet; you clearly owe me a lot. Do me a favour Mr. Garbage-Dumping Coward, stay home. Take your cheap beer cans, your kitty food containers for your very hungry cat, your broken toilet, your canary yellow paint, your assorted scraps of laminate flooring, your sod, your construction materials, your hazardous waste, your crap and dump it in the garbage your-damn-self. It won't stop me from picking up garbage or the countless other people who do the same thing. See, you'll never win.

And you'll never eat these cupcakes!
signed, Mrs. Social Justice


signed the willow

100W lightbulbs are hard to find

I succumbed to the Easy Bake Oven request this week and then we had to hunt for a 100W light bulb. By the way, we have only 7W CFL light bulbs in the house now and so we ran to Canadian Tire for one. When we arrived at the store and found the light bulb section, there was a dusty old pack of 100W light bulbs. Four light bulbs for 99 cents. At first I thought about how I didn't want the other 3 light bulbs and I would simply be doing wasteful buying. Then I realized that they were 25 cents a piece and I probably won't be finding any during the life span of the Easy Bake Oven, so we best stock up now.

Oh and this is *Steve's* contribution to saving the planet during the "Hockey Play-offs": Less shaving. Please someone save me from the "van dyke" as he calls it. I prefer to call it the "Dick van Dyke gets swept up in a tornado and gets covered in a bunch of prickly thorns".

*Mila's* contribution to saving the planet this week: Ride your plasma car.

signed, the willow

Green Life

Yesterday, we did what we set out to do. Which was, go to the Green Living Show in Toronto. It was very informative, very interesting, but lacked what all seek out to find at a green show: cotton candy. That was *Mila's* review. They organized the show well and it was obviously well thought out and planned by the pros. With a section on:

• what we put in our bodies
• to what we put on our bodies
• to how we clean our bodies and homes
• to where we live
• to what to do inside/outside where we live
• to how we get to and fro.

I actually bought a few things. Something for Mother's Day for my mom and something for me to match my rubber boots:

We shared a nice day together as a family and while *Mila* was bored being dragged around here and there, she did manage to squeeze in a presentation from the Wye Marsh on reptiles. She received a crank-it-up flashlight from the Ontario Government and marvelled in a poster of birds, where she knew at least 10 out of 12 species. I'm so proud of her that she can appreciate these things and knows right from wrong. Selfishly, I have to say that my husband and I are responsible for that from both nature and nurture. She's a good kid and she'll make a great adult.

signed, the willow

10 Million Schnooks in this city and only one windmill

Agreed. Not everyone is a Schnook. What is a Schnook anyhow? Something that my niece made up many moons ago. And at that time there was only one Schnook and 2 million people in the world.




With so many people congregating around Toronto, couldn't they please have another windmill? This one looks so lonely. There is some serenity that surrounds those windmills and I used to think that *Steve* was crazy wanting one for our energy production/consumption. But if we had the right yard, I could incorporate it into our landscape design. They are rather geometric and contemporary in their design. Cute. I want one. Make it three. Isn't that the rule of three? Buy things in three?

I'm not sure, but this truck says to me that it might be hauling that garbage out of this country. Sigh. Alas, we are not perfect in Canada are we?

One more note: Thank you to Geek Squad for suggesting that we re-install the drivers. All is functional again in our household....computer wise anyhow.

signed, the willow

And the nature trail wept toilet bowls...

...and the birch tree wept pink tears - my mom


In my case, it was not the birch tree, but rather the "nature" trail that has been reconstructed behind my house that leads to and from the "eco-retail". Unfortunately, new garbage laws have come into effect in our area and have resulted in the inevitable - the random dumping of garbage. Bags of it. Discarded laminate flooring. Trim. Broken toilet bowls.

To the people who decided it would be okay to ditch their garbage by the creek: If you can afford to do a renovation on your house, then you can AFFORD to pay to dispose of your garbage responsibly. Believe me, if I find you ditching it, not only will I track you down and have some demons haunt you in the middle of the night, but I will dump the garbage back on your professionally landscaped yard! Not so far away, in a land called Northwestern Ontario, where the lakes are almost pure enough to dip your cup in and drink from, where there is land aplenty, they pay per bag of garbage! Yeah. Every bloody week. So pick up your mess, loser!

signed, the willow

Saturday Posts

I am changing the subject for my Saturday posts. I try hard to think of good reasons to write about kids on Saturdays, but by Friday night I am exhausted from the week with *Mila* and I want to work on my own adventures. Therefore, I hereby change KIDS SATURDAYs into ECO-SATURDAYs! Here I can tell you all about my latest rants, raves and do-gooding.

We watched a program about this mysterious murderer that was taking the lives of hundreds of grey seals on the shores of Sable Island. The surgical like incisions and spiral pattern of flesh removed would indicate only one thing to the Marine Biologists: a Greenland shark. The attacks were occurring mostly during the colder winter months which ruled out the great white shark. The heads of the seals were also inside of the mouth of a shark, which ruled out the blue sharks, who were too small. The theory was that the Greenland sharks with their incredulous teeth would tear the flesh off the seal around the throat region in a neatly surgical like cut. They were also large enough to have the head of the seal in their mouth. The spiral pattern was created by the seal itself as seals tend to spin in excitement or anxiety. It was phenomenal. Mostly, because of the ordeal that these scientists were going through to deduce what or who was doing this to the seals. The clincher is when they show the harbour seal pups…poster children for Greenpeace.

signed, the willow

p.s. I wrote this on a Saturday