Summer's Last Hurrah at the Champlain Valley Fair

We have taken my son to the Champlain Valley Fair every year since he was born. This year is his fourth year going to the Fair, but this time it had a slightly different feel for a couple reasons. One reason is he is starting preschool on Friday, so this time the Fair really is marking the end of summer. Soon, and for the first time ever, we will start having school days and a total change in our stay-at-home routine.

The second reason was that, for the first time, my son had a clear opinion on what he wanted to do. We started out as usual in the building with the giant pumpkins, the sandcastle, the Bonsai trees and more. He rushed through it all, but did stop to play with the blocks with his sister for a couple minutes. I managed to convince him that we should stop by the photography exhibits to see his grandmother's photo on display too.

I slowed him down yet again by getting him to pose for a picture with his friend, and stopping by the bunny tent for his sister's benefit. She loves bunnies!

Then finally, after much whining and repetitive asking, we got where he really wanted to go: the cornbox. He recently saw pictures of himself playing in it from previous years, and that's all he wanted to do. He played happily with several other kids in the corn, and only took a break to milk the pretend cow (another thing he's done every year and saw himself doing in pictures).

I tempted him out of the corn with the promise of lunch. Then we headed for the rides....a Fair first for him. He and I rode the helicopter ride together, he was only a little nervous at takeoff, and quickly relaxed into it. Then he and his friend went on a ride totally by themselves. All. By. Themselves. How can this be? My little boy is growing up and this is just the beginning.

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Battling the Potato Bugs

One of my dreams is to become adept at homesteading. I would love to have a diverse and productive vegetable garden to enjoy in the summer, with enough left over to preserve and enjoy throughout the winter. It's an idealistic dream for a simpler time, and a wish for nutritious, organic food. Sometimes, I think it could be a good way to help support my family without having to go out and get a desk job.

My family has had a modest garden for three years now. We have grown lettuce, sweet peas, tomatoes, green beans, zucchinis, broccoli, radishes, onions, and potatoes. Each year we have had varying degrees of success depending on the vegetable. The first year our chickens jumped through the "chicken moat" fencing and ate our lettuce and hollowed out the tomatoes while they were still on the vine. They also pulled out the onions just for fun, but at least they ate the potato bugs without damaging the potato plants.

Last year we moved our garden out of the chickens' reach but it was too hot for lettuce and broccoli. The one crop that has grown reliably well every year is potatoes, so we have expanded our crop each year. Potatoes are also an attractive crop because they preserved easily in our basement last winter inside a wax coated cardboard box. We still had potatoes into the spring, though I bought plenty at the store too.

But with potatoes, come potato bugs. Fat and ugly little creatures that munch on the leaves. Recently I was out in the garden with a friend and our respective children when she noticed that the potato plants were covered in bugs. What to do? I do not like touching bugs.

Potato bugs on leaves, big and small

I grabbed a plastic bucket from the sandbox, rested it underneath each potato plant and shook the bugs into the bucket. Plunk, plunk, plunk. Thank goodness they can't fly. 

"Hey boys, who wants to come feed these bugs to the chickens with me?" I called to my son and his friend. They excitedly came to watch as I poured the bucket out in the chicken yard. Silly, spoiled birds that they are, they eyed the bugs warily and kept on scratching in the weeds no where near the creepy crawlies. So the boys and I stomped on the bugs, burying them in the dusty dirt. The boys enjoyed it so I went back to the garden and collected more potato bugs. This time I dumped them out on the concrete patio for the boys to stomp on--instant entertainment for three year old boys, and a chemical free way to battle the potato bugs that didn't involve me squishing them myself. I will have to step up my game if my homesteading garden dream is to become reality, but it's a start.

My son mid-stomp

Call to Action: Love Letters 4 Our Planet

One of the most common questions people ask when I talk to them about climate change is: but what can I do about it? Here is a great way to get involved in a simple, painless, yet profound way. It will only take a few minutes of you and your child's time, a piece of paper, an envelope, and a postage stamp. All the details are below, and there is also a video to watch at the bottom.

WHO: Love Letters 4 Our Planet

WHAT: Kids age 10-17 are sought to write letters to the incoming Western Washington University freshmen class urging them to be their voice in an upcoming local election for the Whatcom County Council. The Council has the power to issue or deny permits for a new coal export facility. This is a decision that will have national and international implications and determine the future of American coal (and CO2 emissions exported to other countries due to the coal). WWU has 15,000 incoming freshman that are eligible to register to vote in that election.

WHEN: The deadline for writing letters is September 20th, this will allow Love Letters 4 Our Planet time to hand deliver them to WWU freshmen before the voter registration deadline.

WHY: Just north of the city of Bellingham in Whatcom County, Washington there is a site for a proposed $600 million port, the Gateway Pacific Terminal, which, if constructed, would ship 48 million tons of coal annually from Wyoming and Montana to Asia—enough to power 15 to 20 new coal-fired power plants a year. Coal use is in steep decline in the United States as power plants switch over to natural gas. The coal industry is looking to export American coal to Asia as a way to keep the industry alive. This is bad news for carbon emissions and the climate.

The proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal must secure some permits from the Whatcom County Council, which is why the upcoming election is so important. For more on the subject click here and here.

HOW: Kids ages 10-17 can write a letter to a WWU freshman urging them to register to vote in the Whatcom County Council election. Please include these three points:

1. I care about stopping global warming because...
2. Whatcom County Council gets to decide on the coal export project, which is one of the most important ways we can stop global warming.
3. I'm not old enough to vote, but this matters to my future, so please be my voice and register to vote at www.sos.wa.gov by October 7 so you can help stop the Coal Terminal.

Mail your child's letter by September 20th to:

Love Letters 4 Our Planet

PO Box 1091

Bellingham, WA 98227

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If you are a registered Whatcom County voter and wondering about the candidates running for Whatcom County Council read the paragraphs below:

Although the candidates are constrained from saying how they would vote on the coal port, they can telegraph their views in many ways, and I think our voting choices are pretty clear, at least in terms of more or less likely to vote down the coal port. Let's do what we can as individuals in our community to make sure the names in bold below are elected.

Kathy Kershner vs. Barry Buchanan for Position 1A
Kershner is the conservative currently chairing the County Council Buchanan is the Democrat challenger, formerly having served on the Bellingham City Council. At the recent Whatcom Democrats Endorsement meeting, Barry said, "Climate change is killing people in Oklahoma and the Jersey Shore. I definitely oppose the export of coal.” (hopefully making this clear statement won't be trouble for him later on).

Ben Elenbaas vs. Ken Mann for Position 2A
"Farmer Ben" Elenbaas provides great grassfed organic meat - we buy from him. However, he's also a Tea Party member and is currently serving on the County Planning Commission where he's pushing a controversial zoning change regarding slaughterhouses. The more moderate, left leaning Ken Mann is the clear choice here. This could be a tight race.

Michelle Luke vs. Carl Weimer for Position 3A
Michelle Luke is an extreme Tea Party candidate, and Carl Weimer has been the best county councilman in decades, and a very clear choice. Weimer said "You want to make sure that the people sitting in those seats believe in global warming" as a way to signal his position.

Bill Knutzen vs. Rud Browne for the At-Large Position
Rud Browne, founder of the progressively run business Ryzex: "I’m an environmentalist because I’ve seen the impact of poor environmental behavior as I saw the damage that was done on the community I grew up in. I’m running for County Council because we don’t have a choice between jobs and the environment, we need to have both or we will have neither.

Learn more at Whatcom Wins! 2013

Millions of Peaches, Peaches for Free

In 2012 the USDA upgraded my area from Plant Hardiness Zone 4b to 5a. The zones are based on decades of climate data and tell you what plants will survive in your region. So, thanks to climate change, my little corner of the world has warmed enough to get a new designation on a gardening map. That's a little scary...but hey, look on the bright side, now I can grow peaches with confidence that they will survive the winter.

We planted two peach trees in 2011, but this is the first year that they really produced fruit. A bumper crop, I might add.

One of our two peach trees, summer 2013

They are, hands-down, the best peaches I have had in years. Store bought peaches are always hard, mealy, and flavorless. These are so sweet and juicy you have to slurp them up while you bite into them.

The only challenge is how to deal with this delicate, and short-lived crop. I have given many away to friends and family. That took care of maybe half of them. Luckily, I have a good friend who is teaching me how to can and preserve food. We spent a morning halving, peeling, and pitting the peaches, converting some into peach jam, and preserving the rest in a light syrup.

peach peels

peach jam

peaches in light syrup sealing in the canner

We sampled the peach jam, it was amazing. It will be such a treat to open these up in the middle of winter for a taste of summer. Back at home I added some fresh peach pieces into homemade vanilla ice cream. Yum! Next up will be harvesting and preserving our pear crop.

Vanilla/peach ice cream made by me. The peaches are a bit hard to see

, but they're in there!

The Homecoming After My First Kid-less Trip

Last month I left my kids for the first time since they were born. This was a big deal. Realistically speaking, I had every confidence that things would go fine in my absence. A few more tears at bedtime perhaps, but nothing my husband and/or mother-in-law couldn't handle.

I was scheduled to be gone for about 72 hours. The Climate Leadership Training kept me too busy to think about home that much. By the time I got back to my friend's house to sleep each night it was too late to call home and check in. The mornings were too busy, and the one hour time difference between Chicago and home didn't help either.

For my kids it was a treat to play with their grandmother all day (they adore her), then be with their father when he got home for dinner and bedtime. I got adorable pictures of them playing, and a video of my son saying "I love you, Mommy." and my daughter saying "Ma ma ma, Mama" in the same intonation. Melt my heart adorable! I sent back texts telling them I loved them and couldn't wait to see them.

On my last day in Chicago I called home and spoke to my son, telling him "I will be there when you wake up tomorrow." Shortly after that I received a robo-call from my airline that my flight was cancelled and my new flight would get me home TWO DAYS LATER!? I immediately thought of my son, who has the memory of an elephant. Suddenly, I had lied to him. Not intentionally of course, but I could not follow through on my promise. What sort of meltdown would this cause? Oh, Mommy guilt.

Thankfully I was able to get a flight the next day after all. I basked in comments from my husband expressing how he and the kids couldn't wait for me to get home. He left work to pick me up at the airport so he could see me himself before the kids "ate me up." I got home and both kids ran to me saying "Mama, Mama!" and gave me big hugs. Then, suddenly, my son broke into tears about a splinter in his foot. It was more than the splinter though, it was all the emotions he had experienced over the past four days, wondering where his mother was, bubbling to the surface. He talked about how he much he had missed me. I was glad I had bought him and his sister Chicago souvenirs to redirect some of his tearful energy. I assured him I had missed him and his sister greatly and wouldn't be going on another trip without them any time soon.

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Reducing My Family's Carbon Footprint

A big motivation for me to write this blog is my worries about climate change and what it will mean for my children's future. Climate change is already here and is already a force to be reckoned with in our daily lives. Vermont had record spring flooding and was struck by Hurricane Irene in 2011. In 2012 we faced a drought, though not as severe as in other parts of the nation. Now in 2013 we have once again had heavy rains and serious flooding. Climate change is a daunting challenge that will require unprecedented global cooperation to solve. But I choose to focus on positive actions that I can take.

One way I can feel a little better about the climate crisis is by actively working to reduce my own family's carbon (dioxide) footprint. I know that reducing my own carbon footprint doesn't really add up to anything in the grand, global scheme of CO2 emission reductions needed to avoid catastrophic climate change. Yet, I still feel that I have to try and do everything to wean myself off fossil fuels and live more lightly on the earth. I need to practice what I preach, and if I can't reduce my own carbon dioxide emissions how can I expect others to? There is great strength in collective action.

In addition to doing smaller things like trip-chaining, telecommuting when possible, or foregoing car trips all-together, recycling, composting, consuming fewer goods in general, supporting local farms, etc, there are three big actions my husband and I have done in the last 18 months to reduce our personal fossil fuel dependence:

1. Going solar *
In 2011 my husband and I debated getting a solar hot water heater like my in-laws have on their house. Building Energy from Williston, VT came to our house to assess our solar potential. They told us that solar hot water was not the most practical option for us given that our house is a two-story colonial with a walkout basement, aka three stories. The distance that the water would have to travel between the solar panels on the roof down to the basement where the boiler is was impractical. It was also impractical since all our hot water is currently provided on-demand by the boiler in our oil furnace. We determined that getting a photovoltaic (PV) system to power our electric needs made more sense. Our power company (VT Electric Cooperative) offers net metering, so buys back any excess power that our panels produce. This means that during the summer months when our panels produce more electricity than we use we earn credits on our electric bill. This credit gets eaten up during the winter months when electricity produced by our panels drops due to shorter days. Overall, our bill more-or-less zeroes out over the course of a year. The payoff time for the panels is about 15 years, but the life of the panels is more like 30 years making this a decent return on our investment. Our system was installed and activated on the last business day of December 2011, so we got all our state and federal tax incentives back almost immediately (instead of having to float 1/3 of the cost for a full year if it had been installed in January), which made it much more affordable.

This leads me to why I put an asterisk on this action. If we had gotten a solar hot water system we would have reduced our use of oil directly because all our hot water currently comes from the oil furnace. That would have been a big win. Getting a solar PV system isn't really a direct reduction in emissions in our corner of Vermont because VT Electric Cooperative buys the bulk of its power from hydroelectric sources like Hydro Quebec. Hydroelectric power (producing power from waterfalls and dams) is already a non-fossil source of energy. If I lived in an area that got its electricity primarily from coal sources this would be a huge win. I am happy that I know several other households in the islands who have gone solar too! The movement is spreading. If Vermont can go solar why not cities and towns in our nation's sunbelt?? But I digress.

Big Bro with our Solar Panels (ground mount)
 


2. Getting a Pellet Stove
Originally we explored getting geothermal heat because there is a guy up here in the Islands who specializes in geothermal installations. Geothermal can provide all your heating AND cooling needs by drawing energy from the ground or from a well. Once again the setup of our current house made geothermal impractical. It would be an expensive, retrofitting nightmare trying to install all the vents we would have needed. However, if we built a house from scratch it would be much more feasible from both a cost and installation perspective. So our best option was to install a pellet stove in our existing fireplace. The pellet stove is sort of like a lazy-woman's version of a wood stove--much easier to run and maintain, just pour in the pellets and flip the ON switch. Wood pellets are cheaper than oil, and a renewable resource. The brand of pellets we use are made right here in Vermont too. They are low ash producing. Our pellet stove doesn't heat the whole house, only the downstairs "zone." Each of the bedrooms on the top floor have their own heating zone operated by hot water baseboard heat, run of course, by that darn oil furnace. We do what we can in this 1970s Colonial. And the warmth and ambiance provided by the pellet stove....heaven on a cold, winter day.

Me toasting myself in front of the Pellet Stove



3.  Efficiency through Energy Audit and Insulation
We hired Building Energy back to do an energy audit on our house to find where all our precious heat was leaking out. We always kept our thermostat low (about 62-64 degrees) in winter because oil is expensive and we are not above putting on extra socks and sweaters, but still, the house is drafty. Poor Nini was freezing when she first moved in the apartment last fall. Building Energy came and did a blower test where they put a giant fan in your doorway, and then see where the air leaks are using infrared imaging. The audit recommended insulating our basement and eaves with spray foam and adding more cellulose insulation into the attic. The audit estimated that we will cut down on our heat energy use by a third, save us $1,200/year, and reduce our annual CO2 emissions by 7,000 pounds! The payoff on this investment is also about 10 years. It is not cheap up front, but it is worth it.

Green foam insulation in our unfinished basement

4. Replacing our 20 year old furnace (new)

This one became required in winter of 2014. We discovered that our boiler was corroding, which meant that at any time our basement could flood. Once again I would have loved to take this opportunity to completely ditch heating oil and convert to all renewable fuels, like geothermal. But for our wallet, we went with the most efficient heating oil furnace/boiler that we could. Not a very exciting investment, but a very important one. We replaced it at the end of March, so we won't see the heating oil savings until next winter. I am looking forward to reducing our heating oil bill even more than we already had by better insulating our house, and getting our pellet stove.

I just want to stress that renewable sources of energy and energy efficiency are an investment whether done on the individual or national scale. We heavily invested in fossil fuels back in the day, and now that we know better we need to seriously invest in energy efficiency and clean, renewable energy. The sooner we do it, the better, because the cost of inaction will continue to rise.

Lastly, if you've been following me and wondering--yes, our little city house was renovated to be very energy efficient. It had natural gas heat, which is its own can of worms because of fracking, water contamination, and methane leaks...but that's at topic for another day.

From City Mice to Country Mice

Having the background of an environmentalist, a city planner and a transportation planner who thoroughly supports the theory of New Urbanism, I knew I wanted to live in the city when we moved back to Vermont from Los Angeles. That meant moving to Burlington. The lovely little house we renovated was located in the Old North End of Burlington was it was perfect. It was in a mostly residential area right next to downtown. I spent many days when Big Bro was an infant just walking around the neighborhood, to the waterfront, and to downtown with him in the Baby Bjorn and our dog Pepper happily trotting along with us. We walked anywhere we wanted to go, laughed at traffic during rush hour, and at the traffic trying to leave after events like the July 4th fireworks. We ate out constantly, we met so many young, friendly people. It was a diverse neighborhood with people from all over the world who had settled in Burlington through the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program. It was all cute, historic, human-scale streets. We had more than one park within easy walking distance. We even had our own little grassy backyard that we mowed with a mechanical pushmower, barbequed, threw parties and played games. Our own slice of paradise.

Meanwhile, my husband's parents still lived in his childhood home in the Champlain Islands and the house next door to them had come up for sale. At first I resisted. Our little city house was perfect, and we had spent so much sweat equity making it so, and the LOCATION, how could we leave the location! But then again, this house in the Islands had almost 4 acres of land and an attached apartment.

One hot July day it all started to change. Our neighborhood that I loved so much was considered sketchy by many of our friends. To be fair, the Old North End does have a lot of poverty, plus issues with crime and drugs, but there are plenty of "good" people there that it was ok. That summer the apartment house across the street from us started having a lot of undesirable activity: people shouting obscenities in the streets and Police responses to the premises on more than one occassion, and a biker gang who liked to park out front and rev their engines. "What if we do just go look at that house?" I asked my husband. "Really??" was his response. "Yeah, but could my mom live in the apartment if she wanted to?" That was my stipulation and he agreed.

We went to see the house on another hot July day. The house was musty from being closed up for a long time. It was still full of lots of the seller's stuff, and nothing had been updated since the 1970s when it was built. There was orange shag carpet, turquoise shag carpet, and an old red carpet that was more like a blanket on the floor because all the glue had long ago dissolved. Nevertheless, it was large and had lake views. There was a fireplace, a big kitchen, and then what really drove it home was the big screened-in porch on the back. "Uh oh." I told my husband. "I really like it."

We made an offer, it was accepted. We put our cute, little city house on the market. We closed on the country house on October 1st. We closed on the sale of our city house on October 31st. While in negotiations to sell our city house there was a murder just a few houses down the street. It helped me feel like leaving our perfect little city house was the right move after all.

Now we have egg laying chickens, a garden, and goats. We tap our own trees to make maple syrup. Maybe my next career will be farming. Our dog loves roaming the almost 5 acres of "the compound" as my mother-in-law affectionately calls our living arrangement. She (Grandma) and Grandpa live next door and adore playing with their grandchildren. My mom, known as Nini to the grandkids, lives in the attached apartment and we love sharing meals with her. My kids have an amazing (and rare) experience to grow up knowing all of their living grandparents extremely well. Life is good.

Below: Pictures from the backyard of our city house






Below:  At our country house with the chicks and our first garden in the background.

 

Below: Putting taps in the maple trees

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Blueberry Picking

Originally written on July 24, 2013

Important lessons from childhood, in my mind, include being in a garden and eating food straight from the earth. That's why we have gone berry picking every summer since my son was one year old. We skipped his first summer because being a spring baby he was too young, or rather, I was too new to motherhood to attempt it.

The summer he was one, we went strawberry, blueberry and raspberry picking several times. We went to Sam Mazza's in Colchester, Pomykala Farm in Grand Isle, and Blue Thumb Farm in South Hero. I was amazed how readily he picked the berries with his pudgy little hands and knew just to eat the ripe ones. He also bonded with his grandfather picking strawberries from Grandpa's own little strawberry patch in the yard.

The following summer we went strawberry picking at Pomykala Farm and blueberry picking at Blue Thumb Farm more than once. Being two years old, he was in the "you do it" phase. Mostly he would spend his time trying to eat berries out of my bucket, much like the little bear in Robert McCloskey's book Blueberries for Sal.


Image from Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

This summer he is three and once again we have gone strawberry picking multiple times at Pomykala Farm, and we just did our first blueberry picking outing at Blue Thumb Farm this morning. Actually, since my son is a berry-picking-extraodinaire, today was really his second blueberry picking trip. He went to Blue Thumb Farm with his aunt and grandmother this past weekend too. Big Bro was so helpful filling up the buckets and liked to have contests about who could pick the most berries. He always said he won no matter what though, hmmm... The extra fun part is that today was his little sister's first time blueberry picking (or picking at all, she was asleep for the strawberry picking last month). Just like her brother, she was phenomenal at eating everything she picked and only picked the bluest of the blues.

Blueberry Picking 2011




Blueberry picking 2013






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Plastic Things I Cannot Wait for my Kids to Outgrow

Feeding your child as an infant is easy in that breastfeeding requires no bottles, mixing, warming, or clean up. Sooner or later your child wants more than breastmilk including liquids such as (but not limited to) water, juice, non-human milk, formula, and of course, solid foods. This means the introduction of all the food and drink related plastic baby/kid accessories: sippy cups, straw cups, net feeders, plastic bowls and plates, spoons and forks. All these items can be purchased at an ordinary grocery store.

As cute as they can be when brand new, all these products quickly become digusting and potentially hazardous when they are being used around the clock and every day of the week.

Sippy cups and straw cups are nice because they are generally spill-proof. The problem is they always have ridiculous, unreachable crevices which quickly become a haven for mold. Did your toddler leave a sippy cup of juice or milk into the corner of the room and you found it a day or two later? The cup has become a petri dish of mold and ick that often needs to be thrown out due to those uncleanable crevices. I think it's a conspiracy by the baby cup companies to make us buy more and more plastic cups. My son is (mostly) beyond sippy cups, thank goodness. My daughter loves real cups but is not good at using them yet. Hopefully she will outgrow sippy and straw cups sooner than her brother did. Three years of desperately searching my cabinets for a suitable spill-proof cup after having just thrown out a bunch of gross ones, is a long time.




Netfeeders are actually pretty great in a way. You can give your 6 month old some chunks of fruit or other soft-ish foods without fear of them choking, and your baby gets the satisfaction of sinking their gums (or perhaps teeth) into something with substance. The problem is the nets themselves because just like sippy cups they are hard to wash so get moldy and yucky pretty easily. Companies do sell net refills, but that still requires buying more product just to keep the product usable.




Plastic Bowls and Plates are handy because they don't break when your child knocks it off the table. Still, they are plastic so they start breaking down and looking cloudy after frequent washings. The plastic doesn't wash well in the dishwasher (at least not in my dishwasher), and if you ever cut your child's meat or other large food on the plastic plate with a real knife the knife cuts the plate as well as the food. This then leaves cracks that can collect stains and other residue. Once again, the solution is to simply buy replacement plates. Did I mention I don't like being required to always buy more plastic stuff?



Plastic Forks and Spoons are made to fit well into little mouths and are gentler than metal utensils. Once again the plastic breaks down and starts looking cloudy and in generally poor shape. They also have a knack for getting into my garbage disposal and then coming out a chewed up mess. Once again the solution is to simply buy more. Not to mention that plastic forks can be frustrating for kids once they start feeding themselves with utensils. Ever try stabbing a slippery noodle with a plastic baby fork?



There are plenty of aspects of life with babies and toddlers that I will miss once both my kids have grown out of this stage, but I cannot wait to be done with all the plastic feeding items. The highchair/booster seat is another one that I will be happy to get rid of. It requires constant cleaning between mealtimes and snacks and like child dishes, has plenty of places for food to get into and hide. At least it doesn't get moldy and hazardous. Pepper will miss the highchair though!

Pepper helps clean up

Basic Climate Change Science (Q&A)

Originally written on August 9, 2013  

Updated on August 18, 2013 and September 28, 2013
Here is an overview of some basic climate change science in a Q&A format.
The questions I came up with are:

1. What is the greenhouse effect, and isn't it natural?
2. How do warming temperatures effect the earth?
3. How does climate change relate to the hole in the ozone layer?
4. Aren't some areas getting colder?
5. Isn't climate change a hoax (created by scientists to get more grant money)?

Scroll through my answers and please let me know if there are other general questions I have missed that you want an answer to.

1.  What is the greenhouse effect, and isn't it natural?
Yes, the greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon in our atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere form a type of blanket at the top of our atmosphere. The sun's rays enter the atmosphere and warm up the earth. The natural CO2 in the atmosphere traps some of the heat in our atmosphere, and the excess heat is reflected back into space. This process keeps our atmosphere a comfortable temperature for life on earth.

Without the greenhouse effect life as we know it could not survive on earth. The problem is, humans have enhanced the natural greenhouse gas effect by adding extra CO2 into the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels--fuels like oil, coal, and gas that were locked underground for millenia. Humans burn fossil fuels for activities such as driving cars, heating and cooling homes and businesses, generating electricity, and other industrial processes.

The graphic below shows the natural greenhouse gas effect compared to the human enhanced greenhouse effect. This human enhanced greenhouse effect is responsible for global warming and it is leading to climate change.

source: US Natural Park Service

Here's another more fun and animated way of explaining the greenhouse effect:



The average annual temperature has been steadily increasing since the Industrial Revolution, along with CO2 levels. The temperature increase is shown in the NASA chart below (click on the link in the caption to see the interactive map). One degree Celsius may not seem like a lot, but it was only a 1-2 degree drop in temperature that created the Little Ice Age (source).

: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">The above is a screen shot of an interactive map produced by NASA.


2.  How do warming temperatures effect the earth?

A.  Sea Level Rise
So far our oceans have actually absorbed 90% of the excess heat trapped by anthropogenic CO2 (CO2 added into the atmosphere by human activities). This has delayed the warming of our atmosphere, but the air has warmed too. The warming of the oceans has caused sea level to rise (water expands when it is warm), making coastal areas at risk for flooding.

B.  Melting Polar Ice Caps
Warmer oceans and warmer air are melting of the polar ice caps (North Pole-Arctic, and the South Pole-Antarctica). The polar ice caps are great regulators of the global climate. Less ice at the poles means more heat is absorbed, instead of being reflected off the great white ice sheets back into space. When sheets of ice slide off land masses into the ocean this also contributes to sea level rise (like adding an ice cube to a cup of water makes the water rise)..

C.  Superstorms
Due to the warmer ocean and warmer masses of air there is more evaporation, and thus more water vapor in the atmosphere. Atmospheric humidity has increased by 4% in the last few decades. Storms, such as hurricanes, get their energy from warm ocean waters, which provide more power to storms. With more water vapor in the atmosphere these stronger storms are able to pick up more water vapor and then dump more precipitation on the area experiencing the storm. This is true of snow storms too, they pick up extra water vapor and then dump it as snow.

One analogy is: consider the atmosphere like a bathtub and the storm itself like the bathtub drain.  When you drain the bathtub you are draining water from the entire bathtub, not just the area directly over the drain. More water vapor in the atmosphere is like filling the tub even higher, so there is more water that can come out the drain.

D.  Floods
More large precipitation events mean we are more prone to see flooding during these events because they overwhelm rivers, streams and stormwater systems. Some areas of the world are seeing larger snowstorms, but the wamer atmosphere is causing temperatures to warm up more quickly in the spring. Therefore, the snow melts faster and we get more serious spring flooding events.

E.  Droughts and Fires
How can we get both wetter and drier? We are getting more large storms/rain/snow events, but fewer moderate or mild rain events. The increased heat in the atmosphere causes faster rates of evaporation. Water evaporates from soil even faster than it does from bodies of water so soils dry out extra fast. Without regular precipitation to replenish the soil things just get drier and drier. When forests and plains are drier they are more prone to wildfires that spread quickly throughout large areas.

F. Threats to plants, wildlife and agriculture
Our planet is like a "Goldilocks Planet" because of the unique composition of our atmosphere--not too hot, and not too cold. Plants and animals on earth adapted to this very specific environment over thousands of years. Predictable temperatures and weather allowed life to thrive. Changes in these systems make it harder for species to thrive due to changes in habitat, new distribution of diseases and pests, and loss of food sources. Plants and animals are unable to adapt to rapid changes in temperature and environment as quickly as it is happening now due to man-made climate change.

G. Ocean Acidification
CO2 reacts with ocean water and increases its acidity. This makes ocean water corrosive, which then makes it harder for corals to develop and grow, and makes it harder for other organisms with shells to produce shells, such as oysters. This has both food supply and economic impacts.



3.  How does climate change relate to the hole in the ozone layer?
The hole in the ozone layer is what allows more of the sun's harmful UV rays to enter the atmosphere. UV ray exposure causes skin cancer in humans, and other species. Climate change is caused by the buildup of CO2 and other greenhouse gases that trap heat that would have otherwise radiated back out into space.

The issue with the ozone layer is somewhat related to climate change. The hole in the ozone was caused by chloroflorocarbons (CFCs) being released into the atmosphere. CFCs were used as refrigerants until the 1989 Montreal Protocol began successfully phasing out these gases. CFCs were replaced by new chemicals that do not bind with the natural ozone in the upper atmosphere (thus depleting it and creating a hole for more dangerous UV rays to get through). The link between CFCs and climate change is that CFCs are also considered a greenhouse gas (heat trapping gas). CO2 is still a bigger concern than any other man-made greenhouse gases because it alone comprises more than half of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

Update: just today I saw an article that the hole in the ozone may in fact be warming air around Antarctica due to shifting winds (source).

4. Aren't some areas getting colder?
Global warming doesn't mean that there are no more cold days or no more big snow storms. Some scientists are finding that Europe could get colder (at least temporarily) due to the slowing of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic ocean. The Gulf Stream is driven by wind and carries warm ocean water from the equator to the British Isles, making Europe 5 to 10 degrees warmer than it would be without the Gulf Stream (source). Influxes of cold water from the melting Arctic can slow the Gulf Stream leading to colder temperatures in Europe. Also, some areas may get more snow in winter due to the superstorm effect described above.

Global warming has also led to the destabilization of the jet stream. A weak jet stream allows cold Arctic air to escape and bring cold air to areas that have not traditionally seen cold temperatures, (source). It's like leaving the refrigerator door open and the cold air escapes to other parts of the house, (source).

 As scientists have learned more about the effects of man-made greenhouse gases in the atmosphere they have shifted to using the term "climate change," because it better describes the many effects it has. "Global weirding" is another term used since as the earth warms our weather patterns are shifting greatly.

The earth is a very dynamic system and scientists are learning more every day on how it works. Overall, the average global temperature is on the rise, and has been since the 1880s, just after the Industrial Revolution. Record-breaking cold temperatures are occurring far less often than record breaking heat events (source).


 5. Isn't climate change a hoax created by scientists to get more research grant money?
If this is what you believe even after reading about climate science I don't think there's anything I can tell you to change your mind. I will leave you with this from (source):

"Scientists are 95% certain that humans are the "dominant cause" of global warming since the 1950s."

Also consider the story of Richard Muller, a physics professor at UC Berkeley, and former climate skeptic, who was funded by the Koch brothers (quintessential climate change deniers) to study climate change research. After completing his study he now states that climate change is real and "humans are almost entirely the cause of climate change." (source).


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Climate Leadership Training Day 3: Moms Weathering the Storm

Originally written on August 7, 2013  

The third and final day of Climate Reality's Climate Leadership Training the sessions focused on how to reach out to our communities about climate change. It is the most critical issue of our time. Without the predictable, hospitable climate that humanity has enjoyed for about 10,000 years, our society cannot exist. Climate change is also unique because it requires global cooperation. To some this is an overwhelming and frightening thought. Despite this, Al Gore, and other climate leaders see it as an opportunity. As a way to cooperate and shape a new, better future. My husband is watching Star Trek Deep Space 9 reruns on Netflix as I type this, and it occurred to me that if we can solve the climate crisis as a species, the world depicted in Star Trek doesn't seem quite so far off. Maybe we can finally work together as humanoids and catapult ourselves into a higher existence. But I digress.

Back to reaching out to our communities.... There were breakout sessions on the final day of the training. The session I attended was called Moms Weathering the Storm. Three panelists spoke about how they, as mothers have amplified their voices for a cause by reaching out to other mothers, and to other women.

One panelist was Harriet Shugarman who attended a Climate Leadership Training in 2007 and found her passion: climate change education, awareness and action. Like me, becoming a mother made her feel like she had to do something to make the world a better place. Her answer was starting the blog Climate Mama. Turns out she was not the only one, there is also a blog called Climate Mom, founded by Mary DeMocker, a mom who went "from worrier to warrior." Rather than being upset that these woman beat me to great blog names, I am so happy that there are other moms who are concerned about the same issue as me. Strength in numbers!

A second panelist was Emily McKhann, founder of The Motherhood, an online community of mothers wanting to make a difference. Emily shared her recent post called 9 Ways to Use Social Media to Support Your Causes and Charities. You can read her blog yourself, but it was inspiring to know that mothers can, and are already, using social media to amplify their voices for positive change.

A third panelist was Vanessa Lopes-Janik, a representative from the World Bank's Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP). The particular story she shared is of their work with AFREA that seeks to include women in energy projects. The program helped women in sub-Saharan African countries access and use efficient cooking stoves that reduced the amount of fuel required to cook a meal. It also taught women how to turn dead branches into charcoal, which burns more efficiently than wood. In turn, women saved time cooking, and saved money because they didn't have to buy as much fuel for their fires. That extra money is being reallocated to buy more food to feed their families, and medicine when their families get sick. Women were also included in energy businesses such as turning dead tree branches into coal that they could sell. Thus reducing deforestation, reducing energy use, and providing income to families. Triple win.

One final story that wasn't part of the breakout session, but is worth telling, is the story of Kim Wasserman.  She is sometimes called "the new Erin Brockovich" because as a young mother she fought for both the environment and social justice in Little Village-- a predominantly Latino neighborhood on Chicago's Southwest side in the shadow of two of the dirtiest coal-fired power plants. She went door to door asking people about their neighborhood and realized that they were suffering from asthma but didn't know why. After 15 years of listening, researching, and community organizing she and her organization Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) got the coal-fired power plants shut down--a victory for the residents of Little Village, not to mention a victory for the fight against climate change.

The overarching point of this post is to emphasize that mothers have a long history of rallying around important causes and getting things done. One of the most famous modern examples is probably Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and one of my personal favorites is Moms Clean Air Force, but there are countless others. We, as mothers, have a unique role in society: raising the next generation. We can connect to other mothers because we see the future in our children, and know we have to fight for a better future on their behalf. Mothers (and fathers and grandparents!) can rally around climate change too. We are just one subset of the population fighting for climate justice whether directly through climate education and action, or indirectly by shutting down power plants that blight the community, or bringing better fuel and fuel efficiency and economic opportunity to mothers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Climate change is an issue that touches every facet of life. There are many small, sometimes seemingly unconnected, actions happening everywhere that help get us closer to the goal. We need to reach out to each other, celebrate our wins, and keep on working. This blog is my humble way to try and start doing just that.

Read more about the conference using these links:
Day 1 of Climate Leadership Training
Day 2 of Climate Leadership Training
Day 3 of Climate Leadership Training

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Climate Leadership Training Day 2: All Al, All Day (on the science)

Originally written on August 5, 2013 

The first day of Climate Leadership Training focused on storytelling and sharing a personal connection to the threat of climate change.

The second day of Climate Leadership Training focused on climate science. Former Vice President Al Gore took the stage, and opened by giving the latest version of his slideshow made famous in the 2006 film An Inconvenient Truth. He is very clearly a man who has been studying climate change for decades. He spoke eloquently and with passion about the complex science, and explained the impacts of carbon (dioxide) pollution in the atmosphere--how it manifests as melting ice caps, increased floods, droughts, fires and superstorms. He was joined by two leading scientists Dr. Michael MacCracken, Chief Scientist for Climate Change Programs at the Climate Institute, and Dr. Henry Pollack, Emeritus Professor of Geophysics at the University of Michigan, and constantly asked them to weigh in on any statements he made and to elaborate when necessary. 

  Al Gore at the podium, July 31, 2013                                            


Al Gore with Drs. MacCracken and Pollack
 
 
It was interesting to me that climate science has stayed by and large the same since I first took a college course on it in 2000. It has only gotten richer, more in-depth, better understood, and some of the predictions made by complex computer models have actually come true already, such as the flooding of Manhattan. In 2012 superstorm Sandy caused widespread devastation in New York City and New Jersey.

As the day went on AG (as he known around The Climate Reality Project) broke down the slideshow into parts and spoke in more detail about the slides. He also took questions from the audience, and further discussed topics with input from Dr. Pollack and Dr. MacCracken. It was like taking a college course with a very lively and passionate professor--or really a panel of professors. He spoke from 8am-6pm, with just a few breaks.

I debated if I should go into the science in this blog post, but I feel it is more important to first focus on the fact that climate science is not up for debate.  97-98% of the 10,000 climate scientists around the world have concluded that climate change is real and is caused by human activity. Even the American Association of Petroleum Geologists does not dispute "the basic findings of human influence on recent climate change.” Therefore, "no remaining scientific body of national or international standing is known to reject [the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's consensus], (source).

 
97 out of 100 climate experts think humans are causing global climate change. 
Data from Doran et al, (2009) and Anderegg et al (2010). Graphic from Skeptical Science.

An apt analogy that was offered at CLT is this: Suppose you are having chest pains. You surround yourself with 100 of the best cardiologists and ask them what to do. After examining you, 97 or 98 of them say "I think you are having a heart attack. You need to take immediate action to protect your health including diet and lifestyle changes, medication perhaps, and possibly even surgery." However, 2 or 3 of them say "You're probably fine. Don't worry about it." What would you do? Who would you listen to?

Unfortunately, oil, gas and coal companies have waged an expensive, and successful, public misinformation campaign to discredit climate scientists and cast doubts on their findings. For example, in 1992 a coalition of coal and utility companies created the Information Council on the Environment (ICE) and began a campaign to "reposition global warming as theory rather than fact," (source). Exxon Mobil and the notorious Koch Brothers (source), and even Google whose motto is "Do no evil" have also funded climate climate deniers, (source). The media has also been an accomplice in this misinformation campaign by 1) under-reporting it in general, and 2) by referring to the issue as "so-called climate change" and portraying the opinion of the tiny percentage of deniers as equally valid to the overwhelming majority of scientists who conclude that humans are the drivers of modern climate change.

Climate change is real. It's man-made. I, and everyone else who acknowledges the science, wish we were wrong about this. We are already seeing its effects.The choice we have is to act quickly to limit just how bad it will get. It's not too late, but it will be difficult. I'm sorry. Let's get fired up and do something, fast. Silence is no longer an option

Read more about the conference using these links:
Day 1 of Climate Leadership Training
Day 2 of Climate Leadership Training
Day 3 of Climate Leadership Training

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