This post also may be seen on my sister blog onesweetearth.blog
It’s been a very cool spring – even by NW Oregon standards. April set a record for the wettest ever recorded so native plants planted in late February & Early March have been slow to emmerge. Still, it’s been thrilling to watch the ferns unfurl and various flowers to reveal themselves in my native plant garden. I’ve been adding some artistic touches with some old sculptures of mine scattered about the garden.
One great find at “Hortlandia” was a little table made of scrap wood for a top and legs of thick curly willow. I added two small benches cut from the stump of an old walnut tree that was taken out a few years ago. and sorely missed. Now I have benches to remember it by This area is my fairy tea spot.
On this, the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, consider this…
Here it comes – the biggest shopping day of the year in the USA – Black Friday. It’s the kick-off to the consumeristic feeding frenzy that Christmas has become, the holiday that fuels our economy. Humble Thanksgiving seems to have become almost an impediment to the shopping hounds. Some stores are even open on the day for bargain hunters to get a head start.
degradation. Think about it…every gift and its wrapping is made up of materials extracted from the Earth. This would include plastic (oil), paper (trees), and metal (minerals). Then there are all the fossil fuels used to transport the raw materials to the appropriate factories, to their retail outlets, and then to their final destinations. Air and water quality are also affected by their production. For a 20 minute educational (& entertaining) video on the topic, watch 
mindfulness in your holiday giving. Do people really need or even want all this stuff? Do we really need to upgrade to the latest device? Are their other ways to give without destroying the planet? Maybe a family discussion is due on the topic.
items or items purchased new or used for under $20.
Usually I don’t read the monthly National Resources Defense Council newsletter “The Voice.” You know..the too busy thing, don’t want to be depressed. This time I read it and was shocked by their feature-length article “From Trees to toilet Paper: Canada’s Great Boreal Forest is Being Wiped Out.” Pardon me, I never thought I’d be blogging about toilet paper but this information I felt should be shared.
their content from virgin timber in the from the N. Boreal forests of Canada, the “lungs of N. America” Essentially they are wiping out a major ecosystem and contributing to climate change rather than investing in recycled content or alternatives such as bamboo and wheat straw. About a million acres are logged a year for tissue and other disposable products. Proctor & Gamble, Kimberly –Clark & Georgia Pacific thus far use ZERO recycled content. Costco gets their tissue from the main suppliers.
By Alanna Pass 