Earth Day and the Dismantling of the Environmental Protection Agency

Yesterday was the 48th anniversary of Earth Day.  I remember small groups of people celebrating the first Earth Day in 1970.  I was in 8th grade, and my educational world was being shaken by the Federal Desegregation Act.  From going to junior high school on a full-time daily basis, I was suddenly going to school only in the afternoon at another school's buildings; and I was way ahead of the other students in everything except American history.  I remember groups of "hippies" celebrating and protesting on and around the University of Florida campus; but not much else, honestly.
   However, there was a growing movement afoot.  Dad had taken Kathy and me to the Devil's Millhopper and hiking out into the woods almost every weekend - and we always carried a brown paper grocery bag apiece, to pick up any trash we saw.  So I guess I was environmentally aware of certain problems, even though I didn't really think about them.  But suddenly, it seemed, litter was a big social issue.  Then, in 1971, the Public Service Announcement ad with Chief Iron Eyes Cody, with a tear running down his cheek, was released.  A Native American was crying over the trashing of his country; it stamped itself on the nation's memory.
   In part, thanks to Earth Day, President Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency with an executive order from the White House. Suddenly, it seemed, Congress jumped onto the bandwagon, and the following Acts were passed:
The Clean Air Act  in 1970
The Environmental Quality Improvement Act  in 1970
The Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act  in 1971
The Clean Water Act  in 1971
The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act  in 1972
The Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act  in 1972
The Marine Mammal Protection Act  in 1972
The Endangered Species Act  in1973
The Safe Drinking Water Act  in 1974
The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards  in 1975
The Hazardous Materials Transportation Act  in 1975
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act  in 1976
The Toxic Substances Control Act  in 1976
The National Forest Management Act  in 1976

  Yesterday, there were a lot of celebrations of Earth Day in and around Boulder, Colorado, my current place of residence.  Here, we have a lot of conserved and protected Open Space, trails, and green ways.  We are backed up against the Roosevelt National Forest, and have lots of parks and recreational facilities.  Boulder is striving to achieve a 85% trash recycling and composting rate.  This area wants to be "green."
   But, as we know, we are racing backwards fast, under the so-called leadership of a head of the EPA who sees his mission as (a) leaving as many citizens as possible exposed to environment degradation, and (b) picking our pockets clean in a breath-taking manner.  Just Google "EPA environmental regulations" and you'll quickly see all the damage that Scott Pruitt and the 45th President are trying to accomplish.
   If  the Democrats can regain the lead in Congress in 2018, and if we can re-capture the White House in 2020, we can swing our environmental incursions back in the other direction quickly.  We can rejoin the Paris Climate Accords, re-enforce CAFE standards, and a whole lot more...    And that same 2020 that will bring us the next presidential election will also bring us the 50th anniversary of Earth Day
   Here's hoping for a much better future for Mother Earth here in the United States, and for a much better, and re-invented, re-energized Environmental Protection Agency, as well!

March For Science Today - It's Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day.  Celebrate our planet.  Cherish our planet.  Reduce your green footprint.  Recycle all possible items. Reuse and reimplement.  Remember there is only one Earth - there is no Plan(et) B...
  Believe in Science.  Facts are facts.  Theories are possibilities, sometimes proven, sometimes not. Alternate truths are lies.  Spread truth, not lies!

Bits and Pieces

I was in a pretty glum mood yesterday after finding Maggie's remains.  I had to go back to the neighborhood and walk the dogs who live next door in the afternoon, and managed to get a word with Maggie's owner.  She was cremated by the Humane Society last night.  The folks who own the dogs were flying back in from California last night, and I was half-way to the airport when I realized that I didn't have my cell phone with me.  The flight was due to land at 7:15, so at 7:35 I started making drives through the arrival gates - and I saw them on the third trip around.
   I slept in this morning, and when I arose and checked my e-mail I found that a full grown deer had been killed and almost entirely eaten in the yard next to where I found Maggie's remains.  The owners had called the Wildlife Department, who removed what was left, but told the owners that it looked as if a pack of coyotes had attacked and consumed the deer, since there was so little left.  So I immediately sent out a notification to all the neighbors in the area to be alert - especially if they have smaller pets, small children, or grandchildren visiting.  Especially since Maggie was grabbed in the middle of the afternoon...
   It's cloudy out and rain is forecast for tonight and tomorrow.  We've had temperatures in the 70s, and I've been wearing shorts instead of jeans.  I need to wrestle the honeysuckle and it's huge pot back inside, and off the balcony.  Saturday is Earth Day and the March for Science in Denver - and the high is forecast as 53 degrees.  That will be quite a change!
   Sad news from Chincoteague Island, Virginia.  Yesterday morning, Delbert "Cigar" Daisey, passed away at the age of 89 years.  Cigar was a renowned decoy carver, and one of his ducks was highlighted by the National Geographic magazine in 1980.  Cigar was one of the few old-time Teaguers left on the island - as a young man he made his living as a fisherman, hunter, and guide.  He known widely for his sense of humor, and he was mentioned in Marguerite Henry's book Misty of Chincoteague which made the island famous.  He will be greatly missed by all.
   I'm amazed that the circus peanut is still in the Oval Office.  The men in Congress need to put on their big-boy trousers and act against the Cheeto-colored cretin.  He breaks US laws daily, he lies constantly,  and he is causing the United States to lose credibility around the world.  The tiny-handed tyrant needs to go!  I have to admit that I really laughed outright, when it was announced earlier this week, that when 45 was posturing and saying that that there was a huge Navy armada steaming on it's way to Korea - the armada (which doesn't run on steam) was headed in the opposite direction toward Australia...  That person is the biggest joke and blowhard to ever appear in Washington.  Sheeesh!!!

Earth Day - # 45

Today is the 45th annual anniversary of Earth Day.  With today's celebration, people of the world are hoping to spread the word that what is now known as a "small carbon footprint" is extremely important.  I have to admit that the first Earth Day did not make a great impression on me - that was in April 1970, and enforced desegregation had become the law in Florida in January.  My new school was meeting in the afternoon at Howard Bishop Junior High, with Bishop students attending school in the morning.  There had been rioting at the other new school, but our school was quiet.  I don't even remember who was my Science teacher for that half-year.
  My sister Kathy was deeply involved in both the Peace movement and the Environmental movement at that time, so I'm sure we must have discussed it frequently.  I just don't remember it.  I know that my Science teachers at Eastside, once we were in our own building, addressed the state of our environment heavily.  They encouraged all of us to be less wasteful and more in tune with nature.  Spending a lot of time in the swamps and woods in the state of Florida, and having Dad teach me about conservation of resources, I think I was pretty aware of the current issues.
  I became much more aware of the issues when I was a contractor for the United States Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D. C.  There, I worked in the research library - and my main task was reading, evaluating, assigning, and answering any and all comments or questions that were arriving on the EPA's website.  When I arrived, we were receiving 400 to 600 e-mails per month.  When I left, we were receiving 6,000 to 8,000 e-mails per month.   I was amazed by the lack of the publics' knowledge of what the Environmental Protection Agency did, and by their assumption that a US regulatory body could "fix" something as mundane as the time of local trash pick-up.  It was certainly an eye-opening job.
  I did become acquainted with a lot of amazing statistics regarding chemical incidents and how long it takes for certain items to biodegrade.  It's frightening to realize how long the trash we have produced will last.  I became a huge fan of compostability and recycling in my first six months of work there.  If you smoke, and you smoke a filtered cigarette, do you realize that the filter of your cigarette is a man-made synthetic?  That, even if you strip the paper off and shred the filter, it will take more than 270 years for the synthetic material to breakdown into re-usable components?  And that the chemicals that are removed within the filter stay around for 500 years before breaking down?  I recycle.  I compost.  I have my own tiny garden.  I grow catnip for my cats.  I conserve water.  I try not to use a lot of plastic items - and I make sure that the plastic items can be recycled.  I don't own a vehicle.  I get around by mass transit, by foot, and by bicycle.  I'm trying to reduce my carbon footprint - how about you?

Zenyatta, Chincoteague Happenings, and Boulder

When the sun first arrived today, there were no clouds - now there is light, heavy clouds, and no sight of that great yellow-white orb we circle around....  I've got "Golden Oldie Rock" from the 1960s  playing, both Lovey and Nedi are napping, and I'm starting to want to eat lunch.  I've been to Safeway for some soft toilet tissue and Diet Coke; I've been to the bank and deposited a check; and I've been to the WalMart Neighborhood Market to purchase a nice ham steak, nuts for the squirrels and kitty food.  I was excited when the WalMart store opened here in Boulder - that meant I did not have to travel to Longmont or Lafayette to buy Campbell's Pork & Beans.  Can you believe that WalMart is the  only store in the state of Colorado that sells Campbell's Pork & Beans?  I stopped there Thursday a week ago, and found they had no baked beans whatsoever - I was told a 501c3 group had come in and purchased all the canned beans in the store.  So I stopped there Monday, and again today, knowing they get shipments in on Wednesday and Saturday.  Still no C's P&Bs.....  But I saved a lot and got everything else I needed, so I'm pretty happy.
  Fans of the racing mare Zenyatta are waiting for the arrival of her third foal, this one by the sire War Front.  Cozmic One, her first colt by Bernardini, is now in training and under saddle at the Mayberry training farm near Ocala, Florida.  Her second colt (by Tapit) was just named Ziconic, and is still enjoying his childhood at Lane's End Farm, where the Queen is awaiting her latest delivery.  They are certainly a handsome family - and you have a chance to vote on which stallion you'd like to see Zenyatta bred back to on her website at:  http://www.zenyatta.com/discussions#/discussion/1123/voting-for-z039s-next-boyfriend    I'd like to see her bred to Giant's Causeway, myself....
   The Spring Round-Up of the Chincoteague ponies on Assateague Island went very well last weekend.  There are some nice foals already on the ground, and it looks like the stallions have been doing their jobs well.  As you know, the Chincoteague Fire Department is made up of Volunteers; and we can always use money for equipment and training.  Please visit the CVFD  web store at  http://www.cvfc3.com/store  and see if there isn't something there that you just need to have.  .....   Today is the second, and last day of the 2014 Easter Decoy Festival on Chincoteague.  .....Next Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the Chincoteague Island Theatre Company presents  "Murder at the Banquet" by Robert LaVohn, with the co-producer being the Kiwanis Club of Chincoteague.  This is a "Whodunit? Murder Mystery" after a meal catered by, and held at, Mr Paul's Restaurant at 5030 Chicken City Road.  Meal includes soup, entree, and dessert.  Tickets are $25 apiece.     ....    The Chincoteague Seafood Festival will be held on Saturday, 3 May.  I don't know if any tickets are available, or not.  It's usually a sold-out event well before the day.  ....  And 10 May will see the 20th Annual International Migratory Bird Celebration at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on Assateague Island.  On Chincoteague Island, there will be the Chincoteague Earth Day Celebration and the Second Saturday Art Stroll - a chance to see finished art and visit with the artists.

 

Happy Earth Day!

"There's no place like home." It's an age-old platitude, but is very true - whether referring to your den, residence, neighborhood, town, area, country, or world. I was always amazed at the amount of questions that the Environmental Protection Agency received each year about Earth Day - when was it and what was the EPA sponsoring. Earth Day began as a grass-roots movement, and other than sponsoring a few localized events in DC, the EPA has absolutely nothing to do with Earth Day... other than the fact that they support its premise and goals. Of course, I learned a lot about what the EPA does and doesn't do during my 5 year stint there - and found that most Americans have no true idea what "powers" the EPA has and doesn't have. Check out their web site at www.epa.gov - it'll be an eye-opener!

I'm back at home with my kits, as of 10 p.m. last night. Lovey immediately claimed her space on my body, while it took Banichi until 4 this morning to bring me his dream-catcher and his shoe-strings. Nichi-ji has been very quiet and rather limp after his ordeal - but seems to be returning to his usual self. I walked the Irish kids around the elementary and middle schools yesterday, and then had a short visit with Suki and Boo. Silver Lake Ditch was flowing over the weekend and Monday, but was dry yesterday - while Four Mile Creek is going great guns; enough to foam when it travels over a few rocks. The "ugly" pine trees I described are still sitting out in the backyard - I went over and read their tags, so I can report that they are "Vanderwulf Limber Pyramid Pines."

I have "recovered " almost all of my files on this PC - all I have left to do is program the thing for downloads from my camera, otherwise, everything else seems to be OK. I took photos yesterday of the fox den, all four dogs, the Creek, and one of the nesting holes in the crab apple tree. I hope to download them and share them soon. It's going to be in the mid-70s today and above 80 tomorrow; it's currently 50 outside. I have the window wide open, and the patio door is half open. Banichi is prowling the fence line, sniffing each patch of grass, but not trying to eat any of it. Lovey is enjoying the sun and keeps talking to me, trying to get me to come outside and sit in the sun on the patio with her. Other than walking the Irish kids, there's a dearth of jobs out there - I'm next scheduled to house-sit around May 12th for the shuttle launch; and then the next engagement is June 12th and 13th.... The economy has definitely slowed in Boulder!!