DEN ENEWS

It’s been two weeks since the Feast of Epiphany. Let us forget for just a moment the disheartening events south of our border and the unprecedented January wildfires. Have your New Year resolutions gained strength or have they frozen like the thermometer outside? Take heart. It’s a cold month built for hibernation after the excesses of the holiday. The Enews offers you here a warming read about the little bits we can do and the impact when we do them together. Copied from Katharine Hayhoe and her Dec 31.2024 blog:

“…..the most impactful climate action you can take has nothing to do with your personal carbon footprint! Here is a list of the most effective ways individuals can catalyze change:

1. Start a conversation about why climate change matters and what people can do about it

2. Join a climate action group to amplify your voice and others

3. Consider where you keep and how you spend your money (including your bank, credit card, retirement, and purchases)

4. Spark ideas for change at work, school, church, or any other organization you are part of

5. Hold politicians at every level accountable by voting and by telling them why climate change matters and what you want them to do about it (this includes showing up at town hall meetings!)

6. Reduce your personal footprint and make your actions contagious by talking about them with people you know and encouraging them to do the same

As environmentalist and Third Act founder Bill McKibben often says, “the most important thing an individual can do is not be such an individual. Join together with others to make change!"

www.talkingclimate.ca/p/2024-progress-challenges-and-what

And if you are not into noisy protests but are crafty, the Knitting Nannas in Australia may be the inspiration to commit to advocacy in a quiet and engaging way. See how many people you can excite with this idea!

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Join us this Thursday!

Join us this Thursday for a fun time on Zoom with Amour Love who reads the poetry of artists from our Hope & Inspiration Art Gallery. Amour Love is an ardent environmentalist who will bring his passion to our get together. It’s going to be great fun and we really hope you can join us.

 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87492590502pwd=JbJrFiFHaDpVowXvgzjk0mXuzoeA8A.1

Please feel free to share within your networks

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Now that you have committed to a new resolution towards helping our fragile earth, here is one area that needs your voice:

We need the Coastal Protection Act to be proclaimed

In a letter to the editor of Lighthouse NOW, Marilyn Congdon writes about her dismay of the Houston government failing to proclaim the Coastal Protection Act. She cites a study that supported the protection of Kingsburg Beach. This beach passes through wetlands to the shores of Kingsburg Pond and was designated by DNR as protected under the Beaches Act in 1993. Recently DNR and the Dept. of the Environment approved a building permit within this protected area. The author writes: “having protected status should mean that these spaces remain protected in perpetuity.”

The California wildfires are another stark reminder of corporate greed fueling climate change that hurts communities. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes or been forced to evacuate. Fossil fuel companies who created this crisis are counting record profits, with ExxonMobil and Chevron making $57 billion in profits in 2023. These companies spent decades burying climate science and funding disinformation campaigns. New York recently passed a groundbreaking climate superfund that requires major polluters to contribute $75 billion toward climate damages. This petition is asking the world to support similar legislation in California. February 21st is the deadline for new bills to be introduced, so add your name to help push fossil fuel companies into paying their fair share for climate destruction.

Canada's oil and gas sector is making record profits while working people across the country continue to struggle with the rising cost of living. Meanwhile, the climate crisis these companies created is devastating whole communities with supercharged extreme weather. We need to hold those responsible to account and make them pay their fair share to fix the problem they created. It’s time to tax Big Oil’s excess profits to fund real solutions to the climate crisis that protect communities over corporate profit

The Canada lynx is a threatened species that depends on undisturbed forests. They are made for wild places with deep snow as their wide paws keep them agile on the snow’s surface. Protecting their habitat is crucial in protecting them as a species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently issued a revised proposal outlining new critical habitat protections for Canada lynx. The proposal does increase protections in some areas, but it also removes protection from more than 6 million acres of lynx habitat in the northern Rocky Mountains, mostly in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. This proposal also neglects a key component of preserving connectivity between lynx populations. Lend your voice to the lynx by telling the wildlife service to not undermine these great cats' survival and recovery by slashing their critical habitat.

Every day, toxic waste from the United States crosses into Mexico, bringing illness, suffering, and death to families who live near processing plants. In Monterrey, families are living in the shadow of a factory that emits a horrifying "toxic cocktail" of pollution - a cocktail that includes lead, arsenic, cadmium, and other contaminants. Sign the petition to demand an end to this dangerous exportation of pollution! This devastating contamination comes from U.S. steel manufacturers. These manufacturers export a byproduct, hazardous steel dust, to Mexico to avoid paying for safer disposal. Please sign the petition to demand an end to this dangerous exportation of pollution!

Marineland, an aquarium in Niagara Falls, is a story of animal neglect and tragic fatalities. In the last year alone, five belugas in Marineland's care died. Kiska, "the world's loneliest orca" and the park's last remaining orca, tragically passed away in 2023. With more than 20 whale and dolphin deaths since 2019, it is time for urgent action. It's time for Marineland to cease its operation as an exhibitor of captive wildlife and to work with credible sanctuaries to rehome all its animals. This transition will ensure that these animals live out their lives in environments that respect their complex needs rather than exploiting them for entertainment.

Wind Fences to Wind Power

It was two years ago that Grandma first noticed how wind erosion had stolen inches off her raised gardens. The winds were high that summer. When the windows were opened everything in the house had a fine layer of dust, daily.

It was just an inconvenience for me. I added seaweed to the gardens in the fall or put down tarps. Closed windows solved the extra dust issue.  

I recently learned that erosion is proportional to wind speed cubed. Mathematics and I have a love/hate relationship but that would mean the windspeed at the time multiplied by the windspeed again and then times the windspeed a third time. So pretend 5km an hour would be 5 x 5 x 5 or 125 km/hr. Erosion would be taking place at 125km an hour. Please, tell me I am wrong!

Then think about gravel pits. Think of all the rough rock. Boulders aren’t going to come flying at us, but sand might. How many times were you pinged with gravel when in a storm?

Wind flows and ebbs around obstacles. If you put up a wall the wind will hit the wall and then move around it and crash or rip tide the winds on the corners of that obstacle. Remember being outside in a snowstorm as a kid? You run around the side of a building to get out of the wind. Getting around the corner was the hard part, as there was extra wind there.

Wind fences enter the scene. Wind fences allow the wind to flow through them, which prevents those rip-tide corners. They also reduce erosion and can keep dust particles from flying outside a work area.

In addition to privacy fencing, it can prevent wind damage to buildings. Wind fences would solve many issues.

A company called Airiva saw another advantage. They made a wind fence that was also a wind turbine. Reaching the end of its research stage, orders will start being filled in 2025.

These vertical wind turbines welcome winds. They keep dust and pollutants out while generating electricity to run a business.

To top it off, Airiva turbines are made with 80% recycled materials. Grandma looks forward to learning more about wind fences/turbines in the future.

https://www.weathersolve.com/our-resources/wind-fence-types-and-effects/

https://acostafence.com/can-fences-help-in-reducing-dust-and-wind-from-entering-the-property/

https://interestingengineering.com/energy/vertical-turbine-airiva

https://www.forbes.com/sites/afdhelaziz/2024/11/26/how-airiva-is-unleashing-wind-power-through-beautiful-design/

Seed Share Update

The project is off to a good start now. This week, I received an unbelievable email from McKenzie Seeds in Manitoba.

During my research for this project, I sent many emails to seed companies to ask if they would offer a discount on seed.

One email to McKenzie Seed in Manitoba asked me to send my request again to their wholesale department. A bit disheartened, I drafted one more email and sent it off. The next morning there was an email advising that they were donating seed to us. It will arrive in a week or two but there should be more than enough to do what we planned for this year.

Yes, Grandma was doing her happy dance. The one thing I am learning is to NEVER say NO to doing something because it seems too big. DEN is sending out 2000 seed packets this spring. (2000, Ahhhh!!!!) That is just the beginning. Next year we will push further.

Storm idea

Here is a good storm idea. I would have put the muffin tin on my wooden cutting board but besides that, this is a great idea. Muffin tin, wax tea lights clustered in fours and then put a soup of chilli in your lightest pots. It may take an hour or more but with lids on, you will have a hot meal. If nothing else put on a pot of water so you can keep drinking hot liquids that help you keep warm

Craft

Nana and I had a morning playing with crafts. First, I made paper doll chains and then a paper chain bunny and paper chain flowers. From there it can be paper chain “anything”. Let your imagination flow.

Food

Grandma had an extra banana that was getting older. Nana had found a new recipe to try. Here is an eggless, flourless, sugarless sweet that is so easy to make.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

1 banana

1/3 cup Peanut Butter

1 tbsp maple sugar

1/3 cup chocolate or butterscotch or whatever chips

1 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup nuts

Mix and divide into 6 balls that you flatter for cookies. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350C

Fast, sugar-free, flour-free, yummy cookies

Till next week. Grandma always likes email if you have an idea to share or a question to ask. [email protected]

 Prayer for Justice

Grant us, Lord God, a vision of your world as your love would have it:
a world where the weak are protected, and none go hungry or poor;
a world where the riches of creation are shared, and everyone can enjoy them;
a world where different races and cultures live in harmony and mutual respect;
a world where peace is built with justice, and justice is guided by love.
Give us the inspiration and courage to build it, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 https://www.xavier.edu/jesuitresource/online-resources/prayer-index/justice-prayers