In Ithaca, NY there is a giant turtle named, “Gaia.” She hatched into the Ithaca Children’s Garden 5 years ago, along about the time I was “hatching Gaia Girls!” Tomorrow is her birthday, which of course for turtles must be called, “Hatch Day,” and I have the great pleasure of attending the Hatch Day Celebration!
I will be speaking and reading an exerpt from Gaia Girls Air Apparent at 2:45pm. Hope you can make it!
A little bit about Gaia from the Ithaca Children’s Garden website: “Located at the southern end of the Garden, you can’t miss Gaia and her wetland. Gaia is a 30′ by 60′ snapping turtle built in 2005 by Bo Atkinson. Feel free to play on Gaia but be careful of the construction to the plates on her back. We are in the process of replacing the soil and plant material so visitors can play more comfortably. Another feature on Gaia’s shell is the lunar calendar. Can you find the full moon on Gaia’s back?”
Julia Butterfly Hill is the bravest woman I know. She tells it like it is. I think it is interesting how listening to this level of truth-telling makes even a greenie like me squirm. One-by-one, we will need to move away from our disposablility consciousness. Can you pick ONE THING you currently throw “away,” and make a new choice? I dare you. Pick ONE thing in your life that you currently throw “away,” and choose differently.
After all, how can we tackle the BIG problems if we are not even willing to tackle a little thing like using a paper cup?
Today I discovered a young fan made a movie trailer for Gaia Girls Enter the Earth! WOW! Nicely done. Now if we could get a producer in Hollywood to check it out!
A few years ago I met author’s Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter; two amazing women with some serious kid-fiction writing chops! I was excited to see that this year they teamed up and created “Spilling Ink: A Young Writer’s Handbook.” I haven’t read it yet, but I LOVE their Creativity Blog and was thrilled when they asked me to be a guest blogger. Read my Summer Solstice blog post. If you post a comment on THEIR blog, you get a chance to win a FREE COPY of Spilling Ink!
In case you needed one more reason to save the whales: BBC reports that excrement of Southern Ocean Sperm Whales absorbs 400,000 of carbon a year! Because the whales are eating squid from deep in the ocean, and pooping closer to the surface, they are effectively bringing iron up from the bottom. The iron stimulates the growth of phytoplankton, which absorbs the carbon. What a great system!
“Do you ever complain
About hair in your drain
Clogging up the shower?
Solve it with green power!”
This tip of the day from Smart2beGreen.com is how to unclog your drain naturally. I’m going to try it this afternoon. I have a VERY slow bathroom sink and company coming tomorrow!
We got the chickens! My dog is scared of them. They are fun to watch, they also eat from your hand. We have 6 I’ve named them all; Runningwind, Waterfoot, Scratchclaw, Stripedbeak, (who are all reddish brown) and, Whiteclaw and Goldenfoot (who are white with a little brown). They are stories behind their names. They are all Rode Island Reds; they are hens.
The barn swallows have made a nest in our bird house. If you come within 5 feet of the bird house one of them flies out and circles around your head until you go into a building. They are so pretty to look at.
(Editor: StarWolf is sending pics/video of the chickens soon. Meanwhile, enjoy this YouTube video of barn swallow chicks!)
It is heartening to know that organizations like the National Wildlife Federation have been looking out for our wild places LONG before the BP oil tragedy. They have a very good webpage on ways to help. If any Gaia Girls Blog readers are doing something to help the wildlife in the gulf…let me know! I would like to help you write your own blog posts highlighting your actions!
I have long been a member of The Sierra Club. I am pleased to see that they are going straight to the heart of the matter and calling for a drilling moratorium (which means NO drilling) and is asking the Obama Administration to come up wiht a plan to get our country “off oil” in twenty years.
Extracting fuel from the ground, be it oil or coal or natural gas, always carries risks and hazards to the public commons (air, soil, water) Do you think we can find a way to fuel or lifestyles without oil? Do you think we can do it in 20 years? What can you do differently to use less oil?
ABC Science did an excellent three-part series about oil, its history and future.
In Ithaca, NY there is a giant turtle named, “Gaia.” She hatched into the Ithaca Children’s Garden 5 years ago, along about the time I was “hatching Gaia Girls!” Tomorrow is her birthday, which of course for turtles must be called, “Hatch Day,” and I have the great pleasure of attending the Hatch Day Celebration!