DEN Enews

Join the Climate Classroom and Prepare for COP29. Thanks to Claudia Zinck for alerting us to this. Claudia has taken close to a dozen courses from the UN Institute of Learning on Climate Change issues. Click on the course title for the link or explore others by clicking on The Climate Classroom in the box below.

_{For the Love of Creation invites groups across Canada to host candlelight vigils in their own communities on the weekend of November 15-17, 2024. This will be a time to reflect and share our love for our planet, our concern for ourselves, humanity and all our non-human relations at risk from climate change. It is also a time to share hopes for truly transformative action to happen at COP and through each other.}

_{We need your help to protect Nova Scotia's forests: Burning trees for biomass degrades our forests and releases even more greenhouse gases than burning coal. And yet, the government considers it "green," making biomass a dangerous distraction from real climate action. The science is clear: the best way for trees to help us meet our climate goals is to leave them standing.} 

_{Tell the government that we need to be honest about the impacts of burning biomass and count the emissions that it produces:
https://ecologyaction.ca/our-forests-are-not-fuel}

_{Oil and gas corporations are Canada's biggest pollution emitting sectors. They are responsible for a massive 27% of our national emissions. These wealthy corporations are fighting to remain our biggest polluters by delaying and weakening the emissions cap. An historic policy could be announced soon that would hold polluters to the same standards as the rest of us and to standards they promised to meet. Help by sending a message to our government calling for the cap to be improved and implemented before more Canadian communities are devastated by wildfires, floods, and increasing climate change. Together we can hold polluters accountable by putting the emissions cap in place.}

_{If Highway 413 goes ahead, it will rip through some of southern Ontario’s last remaining countryside, cutting down forests and threatening precious farmland and species at risk. It will destroy wetlands and pave 8.8 million square metres of ground. And it will divert billions of dollars from transit solutions, like electric buses and light rail, that could address the climate emergency. But Highway 413 can still be stopped, if the federal government says No! Please tell Canada’s new environment minister you oppose Highway 413 — while there’s still time. The David Suzuki Foundation have prepared this petition.}

_{The Amazonia for Life calls for a global pact to protect 80% of the Amazon by 2025 as an urgent measure to prevent the tipping point. Colombia has adopted the goal as an official position and the initiative is supported by over 1,200 organizations and leaders across the world.  One can sign as an individual or organization.}

_{The R’s}

_{Any article based on the R’s of the Environment Glossary gives more insight into how we can help this world.}

_{My new favourite R is Rethink. There are thousands of ways to Rethink any aspect of life. Recently Grandma read how every store sale, every hand-me-down, every time someone says “I have extra, could you use …” is income. Instead of feeling lucky we didn’t have to pay so many dollars, consider that money “income” just for a week or a month. Total what came in. For example, Grandma just bought a quart of paint to spruce up the garden boxes. The paint she usually buys is now $35. Then the hardware store had a clearance table this week and there was an interior/exterior floor paint for $7.99. My rethink is that I just earned $27. A neighbour gave me extra eggplant. Think what it would have cost to buy it and add that to an income tally sheet. How else can I be richer? My neighbours are the best barterers. I never liked to barter. Tell me the price and I will pay it or walk away. A mutual neighbour has 57 bags of black mulch sitting in her yard for 3 years. She also has the messiest basement and no time to clean the basement or use the mulch. I offered to clean her basement at the price of a (giant) bag of mulch per hour. In my mind, I just was given $20 for an hour’s work. If you add up all the sales, all the free items given or bartered and consider them income, then you are rich. These days, that is a rare feeling.}

_{From Rethink, consider Rent. Why do I need to buy an expensive tool to accomplish a job and then never use it again for years? If I could rent it for a few dollars now and then again in 2 years when I need it again, I would be helping the environment. It isn’t just the price of that tool. It’s not even causing less tools to be made. Consider storing that item, every so often moving and cleaning it. The less we own, the more time to pursue other things. One great way to accomplish this is through the Tool Library. Check out https://halifaxtoollibrary.ca/donate/tool-wish-list/}

_{Reduce to me means declutter. That is a constant job. The hardest part is paper clutter. Grandma is from the “use both sides of a piece of paper” mentality. So many incorrect print-offs turn into notepads but there is still only so much that can be repurposed. When Grandma helped out by starting wood fires at the spa across the road, paper clutter became less of a worry. Receipts, odd copy paper, flyers, etc. became fire starters. We may not be able to have campfires but I could burn away inside a firebox. A few neighbours have bought old little wood stoves and set them up for a campfire on their lawns. With a contained firebox you can burn at any hour of the day.}

_{Repair is another one. My grandbabies laughed at my favourite pair of long shorts that had a patch on the side. I snagged them the other year and Refused (another R) to let them go. They are so comfy to wear in the garden.}

_{The R list goes on. All Grandma asks is that you find one R, any R, and react at least once to that message. Saving the planet is not a massive action. It is all about massive numbers of people doing small R things.}

_Garden

_{I think this may be our last garden segment for a few months. I wanted to leave you with pictures of what a non-flower gardener grew this year. The fact that they keep blossoming at the end of October also speaks of climate change.}

_{My Cosmos and Petunias, photo taken October 23^rd, 2024}

_Craft

_{Here is an easy Halloween craft. This could be used for any Holiday just using a different theme}

_{You will need}

_{A milk jug (any size)}

_{A Black Permanent marker}

_{A set of battery lights (that can be Reused for many projects.)}

_{Now if you are like Grandma and can’t draw look for stencils or templates on the internet. https://www.realsimple.com/holidays-entertaining/holidays/halloween/pumpkin-carving-stencils}

_{https://www.designbolts.com/2017/10/18/220-free-printable-pumpkin-carving-stencils-patterns-designs-faces-ideas/}

_{Take off the label and wash the milk jug well. Cut a hole in what will be the back of the jug. Draw a picture on the front of the jug. Stick in your set of lights and turn them on at night. It makes for a Repurposed, Reused, and Environment-friendly Halloween decoration. Later you can save the lights and put the milk jug in your blue bag. Love it!}

 _{Something to eat}

_{Here is an easy recipe to put away for entertaining or as a holiday treat. So easy, so fast and so yummy. Grandma makes this backwards as you need to boil the frosting top layer and let it sit for 15 minutes. Mine cools while I make the bottom and then ladled right in the top.}

_{Cherry Coconut Slices}

_Bottom

_{3 cups graham cracker crumbs}

_{1 ½ cup miniature marshmallows}

_{1 cup coconut}

_{½ cup maraschino cherries}

_{1 can sweetened condensed milk}

_{1 tsp maple syrup}

_Frosting

_{1 cup packed brown sugar}

_{½ cup butter}

_{¼ cup milk}

_{1 cup icing sugar}

_{Originally on the “Taste of Home” website, it says to mix the bottom ingredients and press into an 8x8 pan.}

_{Then take the frosting ingredients and boil them together for 3 minutes constantly stirring. Let sit for 15 minutes and spread on top of the bottom. Put the pan in the fridge for an hour before cutting into bars.}

_{These I keep in the fridge in one of my Reusable former margarine containers. You may have to hide them as they are so good.}

 _{Old Growth Forest Prayer}

_{Creating God,}

_{We know that when we breathe in, we inhale the same Spirit that brought the world into being and animated all of its creatures.}

_{Yet we also know that we could not breathe without the forest, the lungs of the earth.}

_{We thank you for the many gifts that they provide: food, shelter, awe, wonder and adventure.}

_{We praise you for the reminders they give of your steadfastness snd faithfullness.}

_{We thank you for the ways that trees teach us to communicate, to support one another and share what they have with one another.}

_{But so often we have failed to heed this message. Instead of listening to the wisdom of the forest, we cut them to the ground to build more than we need, to make space for the superfluous, and to indulge in the excessive.}

_{We’ve treated our mighty ancestors as just another resource to be consumed and discarded.}

_{Lord have Mercy!}

_{Forgive us for the abuse of our wooded elders. Forgive us for harming the lungs of the earth and by extension polluting our own breath. Forgive us for seeing commodity where you have created beauty and markets where you have created wonder.}

_{Give us the strength to stand firmly on the side of our ancient siblings against the forces of greed and consumption.}

_{Teach us to listen to our elders’ teachings and reignite our love for the majesty and mystery that forests provide.}

_{May the same Spirit that enlivened the world give us courage to protect the forests that stand as a testimony to your faithfulness.}

_Amen

_{https://www.creationjustice.org/oldgrowth.html#:~:text=Old%2DGrowth%20Forest%20Prayer&text=We%20thank%20you%20for%20the,of%20your%20steadfastness%20and%20faithfulness.\}