Great Blue Heron

I took this photo on my way to work:

Time to Compost

Well, it's that time of year when we get out and work on our lawns and gardens.  I am always amazed by those who comment on, and even sometimes seem to covet, our compost, yet do not create their own. 

Composting is easy.  You do not have to be very elaborate with your set up, nor very adherent to the "rules" of composting.  Your results will vary, but really only the speed of the decomposition will vary.  Eventually all of the organic matter will "compost".

As you may know, even apartment dwellers can compost in a container.  This composting relies on worms and requires a bit more discipline regarding the rules, but is effective.

The two big benefits of composting are the fertile "black gold" you get to spread on your garden or use in your planting pots, and the environmental savings generated by the decrease in your solid waste disposal.

There are plenty of websites on composting you can explore.  Here's one to start with:

http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/rrr/composting/index.htm

Check out the options, and start composting.

Wash your hands in cold water

In this blog I will occasionally note a small thing that you can do to make a change in your life that will, when combined with millions of others doing the same thing, make a significant difference in how humanity impacts the world.

The small thing I would like to suggest here is: wash your hands in cold water. I know it is counter to what most people would consider proper, but it is a good, easy to take, step on the path of decreasing your personal footprint. Hot water cools in the pipes between the hot water heater and the faucet. Even with well insulated pipes, the water cools significantly in a short period of time when just sitting in the pipes. In order to wash your hands in hot water, you turn on the hot water and wait, as the water flows, for the hot water to arrive. During that time, there is a waste of both water and the energy expended to heat some or that water in the first place that was then lost as the previous session's water sat in the pipes. Hand washing does not take a large amount of water (you should have the water flowing just enough to wet and rinse your hands) so the water and energy wasted waiting for the hot water is a substantial percentage of total used for the whole procedure. Now if you multiply this by the number of times a day you wash your hands, it adds up. Now multiply that by our entire population and you really have a significant impact on water and energy consumption.

I started washing my hands in cold water a while ago. At first it was a bit unpleasant, since I was accustomed to hot water washing, but now it seems normal. By using cold water, I begin washing immediately, saving water, and use no energy heating the water, saving all of that energy. There are of course conditions that would benefit from a hot water wash, and at those times do it and with no regrets. But for those times when you simply need to wash your hands, a cold water wash with non-anti-bacterial soap is more than sufficient for routine hand hygiene.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_Hygiene#Water_temperature

Help save the planet. Wash your hands in cold water.

Red Eyed Vireo

Continuing what seems to be a wildlife theme lately, this red eyed vireo dropped down from the canopy into the lower branches in our yard long enough for me to get some photos.

Louisiana Waterthrush

Got this photo of a Louisiana Waterthrush on a Hillsborough brook.

Kingfisher

An evening bike ride to a local swamp was highlighted by getting this decent shot of a belted kingfisher with his dinner.

Sophie's Choice or Buridan's Ass?

As our election cycle has us now with our two presumptive candidates, we are now faced with our two choices.

This is not a simple choice between Obama and Romney. It is a choice between the unknowable future of their; 2013-2017 administrations, innumerable policies and programs (and their ability to be enacted, and the results that would ensue if they were enacted or were unable to be enacted), choices of personnel for appointments (probably most importantly, any Supreme Court nominee), reaction to world events, ability to understand current crises in a future historical context and to act accordingly, and many other unknowables.

In this situation the choice remains for the undecided. Those who are for Romney (whether specifically so, or by default based on the primary results and their right wing allegiance) are for Romney. Those who are for Obama (whether because of, or in spite of, any perceived successes or failures of his first term) are for Obama. Thus the undecided are those who must make a choice.

So, there they are. The undecideds. Standing midway between the choices of Obama and Romney.

As in Buridan's Ass, they see the promise of positive programs and entitlements on one side and the promise of low taxes and smaller government on the other side. And, if they so choose, they try to see through the promises to what those future unknowables might be and how they might affect them.

As undecideds, these citizens have choices. The most basic choices are who to vote for, and whether to vote or not.

If they are unable to decide, and choose not to vote, they take the position of Buridan's Ass, stuck hungry and thirsty midway between water and hay, to the point of death of hunger and thirst unable to choose their salvation.

They may, alternatively, see themselves in the position of having to make a Sophie's Choice between what they see as two alternatives that provide them with mutually exclusive positive attributes.

Do they sacrifice programs and entitlements for low taxes and small government? Or do they sacrifice high taxes for spending on programs, entitlements, and infrastucture investment. Do they sacrifice regulation in the hopes of accelerating the economy at the risk of abuse or environmental degradation? Or do they sacrifice the economy's short term vitality for controls on corporations in the name of fairness and environmental protection.

These are some of the choices that we all must make. The real goal that we need to pursue from now until the election is that of influencing the undecideds to make an educated Sophie's choice rather than to be a Buridan's Ass.