St. Patrick's Day Science & Crafts

Irish or not, it's fun to get into the spirit of things this time of year, and remind ourselves that even with the sludgy, dirty remnants of snow lingering around, spring really is just around the corner.

This St. Patrick's Day, combining science and art to make our own rainbows, using those pennies we're hoarding away to do a little alchemy, and planting our own sources of "green" are just a few of the fun things we have planned.

Making Rainbows: 

1. Chromatography: use large round coffee filters and some markers or coloured candy to make your own rainbows. If you wish,, add a clothespeg and some pipe cleaners (sorry--"chenille stems") & eyes to turn it into a butterfly too. http://llemonade.com/spring.html#butterfly

2. Easy tie-dye: make your own rainbow that you can wear, or go for an all-green tie-dye shirt for the day. http://llemonade.com/adultsci.html#dye

3. Make some red/purple cabbage water indicator and create your own chemical rainbows with various household ingredients. http://llemonade.com/adultsci.html#cabbage

Alchemy: Turn Nails into (Leprechaun) Gold:

Oddly enough, it looks like I haven't yet put this copper plating activity on my site, so here it is for you.

What you will need:

pennies with a reasonably high copper content (Canadian, or if you use US, use ones from the 1980's or older)

vinegar

nails, washers etc. to be plated

Soak the pennies in the vinegar for an hour or more, then remove and wash well. Add the hardware to the vinegar solution and let sit for a few minutes, pulling them out ever few minutes to check on their progress. After a while, the dissolved copper will form a coating that looks like gold on the hardware.

This coating will not be as hard or durable as that made through electroplating, but it is still quite impressive and involves much less fuss.

Growing Green:

Did you know that clover, particularly white clover, is healthy for your lawn? It has a natural ability to fix nitrogen which helps enrich the soil. It is also very hardy and requires less mowing than most grasses. Add a little to your lawn as you celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

Now is a great time to plan your vegetable garden too, take a closer look at seeds, and plant some sprouts for your salad.

How to plant your own play fort http://llemonade.com/plants#fort

Make a sprouting egg-head http://llemonade.com/spring#sprout

Using a cardboard egg carton to start seeds: http://llemonade.com/plant#egg

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Drops in the Bucket

So often we hear about the futility of various efforts to curtail greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. We hear how little effect changing our habits in various ways will have. We hear how solar energy isn't the answer--not enough storage capacity. Wind energy is expensive to build and maintain. Geothermal energy isn't practical everywhere. Tidal power is expensive to maintain. People won't change their habits without strong legislation. There is no political will. And so on.

We hear how little things--like conservation measure including recycling, composting, turning off lights when not in use, line-drying clothing, etc. are all futile and have such a tiny effect as to be insignificant. We hear people refer to the environment in terms that work well for an economic or business model, but have no bearing in the reality of nature.

We hear how we can't just shift gears over night (despite knowing about climate change for several decades now). We hear from people who fear the shifts that must be made, for various reasons.


We are caught in a "you go first" childhood game, except the stakes are much higher. And some countries are bravely starting, such as Scotland with new clean energy investments. Unfortunately, North American countries are much more cowardly, preferring to let others take the lead.


Yes, the world is full of cynicism, which infects all areas of society. It is so very easy to lose heart and become overwhelmed by the enormity of it all. It is certainly easier to give up than to try!

But for a moment, let's put aside all the "glaring realities" and other cynical comments and consider the more positive possibilities. What if we all worked together on this? What if, instead of pitting ideas against each other and searching for one single Holy Grail of the energy issue, we made use of what we have, with the vision of investing in further research and development as we go?

When we put together all of our current technology, we have the capacity to exceed current energy demands. If we invest in research rather than sinking our money into a losing cause (aka oilsands and further oil subsidies), we can continue to expand our options in the renewable sector. We can invest in high-speed rail and better public transit options, with the joyful side-effect of job creation. We can give tax breaks to employers who encourage telecommuting. We can pass legislation requiring better vehicle fuel efficiency. We can enforce anti-idling laws. We can reshape our international trading practices to require less movement of materials.
We can vote, or rather, those of us old enough can. We can write letters, make phone calls and send emails.

No one solution is the magic bullet, but each piece is vital. We cannot afford to shun an action, however small it may seem, because it won't do it all. It is vital to remember that there are a lot of us. Within a 100 km radius of where I live, the human population is numbered in the millions. If just in this small area each person were to reduce their energy use by even just 5%, this would have an impact. Imagine if this idea spread!

But we are conditioned to a state of learned futility, not only in terms of the environment and politics, but in virtually every aspect of society, so we shrug off these facts because we feel insignificant. Many of us don't even vote anymore because we have lost faith in the system, because we feel overwhelmed by the sheer numbers, because we feel powerless to change things.

Whether your are the "99%" or the ""1%", whether you even know which or could care less, if you do nothing and give up without trying, you become the "0%"--you have no effect at all. This is a defeatist way in which to approach life. We can do better.

And this is exactly why we need even more to keep up our own efforts. We keep hearing about the economic recession, and many are affected deeply by it. But the biggest recession we face as a society is the lack of faith in ourselves. We have to do better, and we have to do so now.

Thoughts on Nuclear Power

Due to concern about the reactors in Japan, there has been much talk about the fate of nuclear power in recent days. Is there a future for nuclear power?

I must admit that I am torn on the question. Nuclear power is not safe, at least not the way it is built, used and run by corporate and government entities around the world. But is there a way we could make it safe? In theory, it looks pretty good, but the reality is a little more complicated.

Nuclear power is cheap, until you take a closer look. First, there is the mining of uranium and other related minerals to consider. Then there is the building and maintaining of reactors, and most of us are aware of the shortcuts that have been taken in both of these, particularly in maintenance. I find it unbelievable to hear how the Mox fuels are being used, and how storage of spent fuel is designed close to the reactors. IMO, this is carelessness in the name of profit. This isn't only about Japan. By all accounts, the Japanese are dealing at least as well with this as any other country possibly could at this time.

If we were to incorporate every available safety precaution into the design of reactors, including the storage of spent fuel; and if we were to run the plants on a strict safety policy in which business models of "cost/benefit analysis" and "insurance risks" based purely on probabilities tallied against financial and political motivations were replaced with the calculation of risk to life and health as the only consideration, then perhaps there might be a place for nuclear power. However, the current realities show us that this simply isn't the case, and isn't likely to happen anytime in the near future. Nuclear power is cheap until there are accidents. And the cheapness of this source fails to take in some very real costs--even before disaster strikes. Government subsidies hide some of the costs. Uranium mining is costly in social, economic and especially environmental terms. The actual running of reactors, including maintenance, can become costly, particularly if public and employee safety is prioritized (as it should be). The lifespan of reactors is relatively short, although in many cases has been pushed beyond original design limits, again, due to economic and political concerns.
I have read conflicting reports about cancers and other radiation related illnesses in people living close to nuclear power plants; since I am no expert, I will leave that argument out for the time being. However, there is no doubt that there are safety concerns for the people who live near nuclear disaster zones, and also for the storage of spent fuel.

Spent fuel is often buried deep, however, geological disturbances happen, and are more likely to happen when the "safe" time frame reaches into the realm of tens of thousands of years or more. Moreover, this is costly disposal, and it is only a matter of time before those in charge start taking shortcuts (assuming of course, that that hasn't already happened).

One thing that generally does not enter into the discussion is the idea of  cost/benefit analysis in terms of time. In a best-case scenario, with no further nuclear accidents, leaks, etc., there is still the issue of spent fuel. The half-life of spent fuel, and the resulting large time lag between its use and the time in which it can be safely handled by unprotected people means the problems associated with its radioactivity will exist far into the future and affect many generations. Its useful production time and power is relatively minuscule in comparison.

Several years back some researchers mistakenly thought they had found the modern holy grail: cold fusion. Unfortunately, they were mistaken. Perhaps it is time for a new "X Prize" in energy research. Until then, we would be wise to eliminate our subsidies to dirty energy including fossil fuels and invest instead in renewable energy technology and conservation research and incentives. We can't afford to complacently continue on our current path.

Disconnect Disease

Today the US government approved the use of GMO alfalfa. In North America, there is an alarming number of people who believe that climate change is either a hoax, a natural phenomenon, or a problem of the future. Many children today are hard pressed to name even 10 different species of life native to their area.

It is a sad sign of our times that people have completely lost touch with their connection to nature. We view all non-human life forms (and even some humans too, if they live far away and look or sound different) as resources to be consumed. Our society has forgotten the interconnected nature of life on our little planet. We are not aliens imported into a warehouse of resources; we too are living people and are part of the web of life.

We used to talk about "food chains" in science class when I was a kid. The imagery is clear: a straight line where the smallest species is eaten by the next smallest and so forth. My younger brothers learned about the "food web" in which more complexity is introduced. The reality is that ALL of life is interconnected. Nature is a vital part of who we are.

When the bees aren't around in their usual numbers, it affects not only bee-eaters, but many plants that depend on bees for pollination. In turn, other animals are affected as the food normally produced by those plants is no longer available. This spreads not only up and down a food "chain", but also to other chains. Animals who miss their usual food will need to adapt by eating something else, or die out. Should they begin eating other plants, this now affects another "chain", and so on. The repercussions may extend for years or decades, and as such, are little understood by a science still in its infancy.

We have lost many of our songbirds to tropical forest destruction. We are losing our coral reefs to climate change and ocean acidification. Every loss affects us in ways we may not yet comprehend.

And yet, despite the extreme consequences that can arise from the disruption of even a single species, we continue to tamper with the web of life with little thought about the consequences. From material waste, climate change, genetic modification, pharmaceutical and industrial pollution, nano technology, and overpopulation, we are causing a huge decline in biodiversity on our planet. It is a huge experiment in which we play both Dr. Frankenstein and his monster, except in this case, it affects all of life as we know it.

Perhaps part of our problem stems from the terminology we use when we refer to species survival. I suspect that if Charles Darwin were here today, he'd want to rethink the words he used in his description of the process of evolution. In stressing the competitive nature of survival, we've missed the point that nature is a closed system with its own mechanisms for maintaining balance. A "successful" species, meaning one that increases its overall population, can only remain as successful as its food resources allow. Humans are a very successful species, but if we continue to grow our population will crash as more and more species are crowded out and our food resources diminish. Growth cannot continue indefinitely. In one way or another, balance must and will be reached. The difference in humans is the terrifying tendency we have to destroy life for reasons other than food.

So while we all sit here staring at our screens (yes, I am guilty), our children learn about technology, politics, consumerism, perhaps some human rights lessons, and are rushed from program to activity. They learn to view nature as something that happens "out there" independent of them. We are robbing ourselves and our children of our natural heritage and future. Life on earth is a closed system, and we are on a path that both stretches it to its limits, and destroys much of what makes life worth living. And in our rush for more, faster, better, most of us have forgotten how to live.

This is all very bleak, but it is also an opportunity. I challenge myself and you to make the time to spend outdoors in a natural place at least one day a week. Take as much time as you can possibly spare, and share it with a younger person. Learn to observe. Learn to relax. Learn to listen, and learn to just be. And eventually, we will learn once again how to live.

Oil: So Now What?

A month after yet another major oil mishap, politicians and the general public still seem to want to put the economy before life. There is little political or corporate will to change things for the better.

Are we really content to go on, business as usual, with our carbon consumptive, earth-destructive ways? Do people really believe that nature exists separately from us? Last time I checked, we are all living beings (well, I suspect some politicians might actually be androids, but that's a whole other post!), which makes us part of nature, nature being life on this planet.

Perhaps it is that mindset (of being something separate from nature) that has allowed us to become so consumptive/destructive.

I, for one, am not willing to continue this way. So what do I do? What might any of us do?

To start, try here: 6 quick ways to make a difference

I'm always looking for new ways to live a greener life. 

Some steps our family has taken (and yes, they are baby steps, I'll admit it) are:

- reducing driving and dependency on the car (but I still drive a hybrid, so I'm not in the clear there yet!)
- planting fruits and vegetables on my property, and supplementing with locally grown organic food
- buying only items made on this continent from sources from this continent whenever possible (it can be difficult to even find out where the raw materials came from and where they have travelled)
- installing photovoltaics on the house (grid-feed system) and supplementing with Bullfrog power (renewable electricity)
- planting native trees and shrubs to maximize home energy efficiency
- always carrying reusable bags and bins when shopping and refusing plastic bags
- always using a reusable water bottle
- using a rainbarrel for gardening water, and also reclaiming grey water (dish water and shower/bath water) for gardening
- washing clothing in an Energy Star front loader machine with cold water and line-drying
- replacing all incandescent lights with compact flourescents and increasingly LED lights
- continuing our vegetarian lifestyle and trying to reduce our dairy intake as well
- refusing to buy over packaged items, especially snack foods and electronics
- donating used items instead of throwing them out
- buying used items whenever practical, esp. children's clothing, CD's, DVD's, books and sports equipment
- using green cleaning products (mainly baking soda and vinegar)
- avoid habitually eating in restaurants--saving that as a very occasional treat
- avoid fast food and especially anywhere that has a drive-thru window
- research investments and put my money where I believe it will do the most towards improving the world
- ensuring that our family retains a connection with nature and wilderness
- take the time to cook rather than rely on processed convenience foods
- teach the kids to ride and appreciate public transit, teaching them to safely ride their bikes
- telecommute and teleconference whenever possible
- buying less, putting off purchases until absolutely necessary (no fashion slavery here!)
- avoiding the use of cosmetics and other unnecessary (and unhealthy!) items
- using only recycled paper products, and using whiteboards for much of the "school work" (such as math) that isn't likely to become a keepsake
- using both sides of the paper, always
- air drying our hair after washing
- hand washing dishes, and when we do resort to using the dishwasher, turning off the drying option
- using libraries and rentals for things we will only be using occasionally (some toys, books, tools, etc.)
- using VOC-free paint when redecorating
- continuing to let politicians know that the environment is important to us with emails, letters, phone calls, petitions and letters to the editor of  various newspapers


These are some ways we're starting to try and become greener. Some of them aren't practical for everyone. Going vegetarian if you live in the northern arctic would be more damaging than helpful as more of your food would need to be flown in. If you live in an apartment, you probably won't be putting solar panels on your roof anytime soon (although you might be able to convince your property owner to do so).

I'm sure there are many other excellent ideas out there. I invite you to share those here in the comments, or email them to me and I'll post them when I receive them. It is important to do all we can, and to share our ideas!

What would it take for me to give up the car?

Apparently, Canadians are reluctant to give up driving. This does not come as a surprise. But for someone who considers herself an environmentalist, I have to say that I drive, and much more that I'd like to admit.

So what would it take for me to give it up?

First, I have to figure out when, where and why I drive. Most of my driving is as a mom's taxi service, or spent running errands.
My oldest son is now independent enough to take transit to get to his programs, so this helps reduce driving, but the younger one is still too young to do this on his own, so I need to drive him, or have all of us pile onto transit.
Why don't I do this? Occasionally I do, but usually I opt to drive. It is faster. It is cheaper than transit tickets for 2 or 3 of us (we have a Honda Insight which does 4.6 litres/100km). And it is more flexible--while the kids are in programs, I use it to run errands, usually grocery shopping and library runs.

Once ever two weeks we travel out of town for music lessons with a fantastic teacher. We have decided to stop this next year and try harder to find a compatible local teacher.

There are also inter-city trips for tournaments and meets, at times when inter-city transit doesn't work. Carpooling sometimes works, but there is no one close to us to share the daily trips.

Grocery shopping is a whole other source of inefficiency. In order to shop for local organic produce, we often make 2-3 trips a week to various stores. The travel is still less than getting produce from Mexico, Argentina, South Africa or New Zealand, but it still isn't ideal. The most reliable source is a farm that is far from local transit lines. We grow some of our own, but we have a small lot, so we still depend on others for most of our food.

We also like to do wilderness trips. True, we could rent a vehicle for those trips, and in the past when we have been car-less, we have done just that. But since we have a car, we use it for these trips.
So many people drive up to cottage country each weekend, surely we can find a way to make this more efficient. The traffic on the 400/11 should alone be incentive.

My DH cycles to work most days, and takes transit or the car on the others. We own one car, and belong to a car share which we don't tend to use very often. Since our city isn't large, transit can take an hour or more to travel 10 km. It's great for catching up on reading, but not so much if you are running late for a meeting.

My mom never drove when I was a kid, and we relied on transit for all but emergencies, in which case we took taxis. I remember having lots of free time as a kid too, so it couldn't have been as much of a time drain as it would seem on the surface. Of course, then there were strip plazas and smaller neighbourhood stores and amenities, instead of the box-store and mega-centre culture that has recently taken over. Perhaps part of the solution is to create self-sufficient neighbourhoods once again.

So, cheaper and more reliable transit, better inter-city service, better neighbourhood planning, and a calmer, less rushed mindset are what it would take for me to completely abandon the car. It's really, not much considering the environmental costs.

How about you? Could you, would you give up your car?

The Powers That Be--Is This Really the Best We Can Do?

There is just so much more political will when it comes to oil drilling than renewable energy.
The massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Viewed as nothing compared with the "noise problems" of wind farms.
I remember being shocked beyond belief to find that several years after the Exxon Validiz oil spill, Exxon was still allowed to do business. Others laugh at my naivity. Money does rule, esp. the money of a select few elite; the Powers That Be.
We'd be livid to learn of a mass murderer simply slapped on the wrist and given a tiny fine. Isn't this much worse? The situation is unbelievable to me, but sadly true.

And we still let our RRSPs support this destruction. As long as they continue to grow, we're happy. Well, some of us are happy. I, for one, am not. But my voice is weak and easily drowned out amidst all the greed, and bad habits die hard.

And will BP be held responsible in any way? Likely not. Certainly not if past spills are any indication. Perhaps there will even be a government bailout to help BP recoup their associated losses. That's the way our society works.

We are slaves to "our economy", which IMO is an excuse that has been overused far too often by the POWERS THAT BE. Never mind that viable alternatives to an oil based economy exist. Never mind that regardless of your position, there will be a time when it has to come to an end in one way or other. We're just too cozy with out clothes dryers and gas-guzzling cars, our air conditioning (turned low enough that we need a jacket for comfort), our air travel when a video conference would have done as well, our reliance on cheap labour and subsidized oil to buy items that travel thousands of miles that we use once then throw away, our glossy flyers and ads printed on pulp from ancient forests, our gas-powered lawn mowers, our seemingly unlimited ability to create new ways to trash the planet.

The planet's systems are showing signs of failure, and we're celebrating it by throwing a party.

Have I mentioned that our solar panels are being held up by red tape? They are now in stock, sitting in a warehouse, while we wait for a sign-off.

Earth Hour

No doubt you know that tonight at 8:30 until 9:30 it is Earth Hour, in which people around the world are encouraged to turn off their electricity (as much as is possible) in order to show that they care about the planet. It is one way in which we can promote awareness of our dependence on electricity, and perhaps find a way to take it less for granted.

Cynics may say that it is too small a gesture to make any difference, and may even claim it is dangerous for people to light candles in their homes. Sadly, they miss the point.

Earth Hour is an opportunity to unglue ourselves from screen activity, see the stars clearer than usual, and reunite with out families. Aside from a small amount of energy savings, there are things to be gained here. We are increasingly becoming isolated by our use of gadgets and our departure from face-to-face communications. We are easily distracted by the shiny, loud and flashy aspects of our environment at the expense of meaningful listening, which is the most important part of communication.

So this year, instead of shrugging it off, it is my hope that people, including myself, will take the opportunity to reconnect with families and nature. Enjoy the quiet that comes with throwing the circuit breaker. If you are concerned about power surges, then wait a little longer to turn your power back on, and do it an item at a time. Remember, if the utilities could cope with the surges that came surrounding the Olympic hockey game, they will cope with this too.

We intend to go for a walk and hopefully do some stargazing. In Toronto, the Ontario Science Centre is bringing out telescopes for public use tonight.

Centre for Child Honouring

Remember Raffi Cavoukian? Let me give you a hint:

Baby beluga in the deep blue sea,
You swim so wild and you swim so free,
Heaven above and the sea below
and a little white whale on the go!

Well, as much as we enjoyed his music through my son's early childhood, the man is now even more of a hero to me.

He has started the Centre for Child Honouring with which he intends to reshape society's view of children in the hopes of improving their environment.

Dream big? This guy is all over it.

If you read my earlier entry about empowerment for children, you'll understand that this is something I feel is long overdue. The work involved to create such changes is nearly unimaginable, but as the saying goes, the journey of 1 000 miles begins with a single step.

Mr. Cavoukian, hats off to you for this incredibly important and monumental undertaking. You have made my week and renewed my faith in humanity.