Back again with a Greener path

Being green can also equal being crafty!!! I will show you how, but first some apologize and explaining to do.

As I have stated in the past the the hiatus would be temporary it has not. This I am sorry to my readers… Even if they are only my family and friends!  I will be making an honest effort to blog more and to keep in touch, not just so you can see all the crazy hair brain ideas I get.  But this will be my journal… my family and friends have said that I should get back in to my blogging and writing because I am more level when I do so… Here are my goals (new goals):

1. Blog MORE!! I pledge to try and post every day or atleast a few times a week.  The reason why – well I have been hushing myself and I have to much knowledge and interesting finds to share with you all… (who ever you are – Please leave comments so I can engage you too)

2.  Get my personal finances in order.  Well I have already started to try to do this – JUNE: Month to notate all the I am spending so I can analyze it and save.

3. Lose some weight – Well more engage in a more healthy lifestyle.  I am doing this not to be more “beautiful” because I love me the way I am.  But I am doing this to ensure that I am healthy and today we see so many with Diabetes and or Heart issues and I do not want to push my luck.  There are sub goals in this one:

• Eat more healthy foods – I have decided Healthy also means Local so I am enrolling in the 100 mile challenge.  I pledge to eat more, and more, and more local food.  *I will do this as long as I am not going to become broke by it*
• Exercise – In accordance with my saving and personal finance revamp I am going to exercise at home and outside (posts on this to come)
• Drink more water and fluids other than POP (aka Pepsi or Coke *my weakness*)

4.  Help to support local merchants… So buying local food and items.  Plus I will support the Handmade merchants so I think I am going to investigate items on Etsy!

5. Make the world greener! and my family too… I am going to make some nice green changes to my life… so that means cracking out the sewing machine and making some nifty items.  I will make sure I will let you all know what works and what doesn’t

6. Continue with my passion of cooking and food!  There will be food posts of all kinds! Food is technically a craft (kinda) too… its an Art!!

7.  Too Be Happy!  This will come over time and hopefully will show in my posts.

8.  Take more pictures – and share them

9.  Travel: explore my local area !  This is important to many of my above goals!  By exploring I will find new local merchants, friends and areas that I can green!  Plus I would really like to see more of Ontario! and my local area!

10.  To Keep crafting – to learn some new Crafts

11.  More to come…

I, Little Miss, pledge to honour my goals and post along the way!  I hope you all will help me along this journey!

Patterns will help those in need!

I have noticed that alot of people come to my blog looking for patterns for a Cause. I recently got this book Knitting for Peace: Make the World a Better Place One Stitch at a Time which is an entire book dedacted to pattern for many causes. There are baby blankets for the Linus Project, there are Chemo Caps for cancer patients, and many more. I would suggest purchasing this book or borrowing it from the local library. I will make life a bit easier for you when you are helping to mend the world! I will add links to this post as I find them for those who prefer the free online patterns.

• Site: Patterns for Chemo Caps
• Site: Project Linus Patterns

UPDATE (March 5th, 2008)

• Site: Covering our Hair
• Group of Knitters: Knit For a Cure (Georgetown)
• List of Organizations (US): Knitting for Charity 

If any of you know of sites please post a comment and I will update my post!

Who is to blame for the warming trend, Mother Earth or Us?

This is an article I just finished for one of my classes. I thought it was good so I have put some of it up so all can see my perspective.

Warming temperatures and rising levels of Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) have been a naturally occurring event since the dawn of time. Over the past 1000 years scientists have seen an increase in global temperature across the globe (IPCC, 2007). Since the Industrial Revolution there was a mean global temperature increase of 0.3*C, which was followed by a period of cooling (Fellman et al., 2003). The warming and cooling trends continued although it was a little warmer during the warming period and less cool during the cooling periods (Felmann et al. 2003). The jury is still out on the appropriate term for this trend, some say it is Global Warming and other deem it Climate Change, for the purpose of this it is a Global Warming. Although the big question is: Who is to blame for the warming trend, Mother Earth or Us? Also who is responsible if any to clean up this climate mess?

Humans have had a large impact in the alteration of the land over the last decades. Since the early 1900s lands have been clear cut for timber and agriculture, which has lead to soil erosion and desertification (Felmann et al. 2003). Clear cutting is a human alteration, in order for more food to be produced for the ever multiplying population, and that leads to many other needs which aid in the warming of our planet. The increased populations need somewhere to live so much alteration to the land is for urban expansion, and the rise in the use of concrete and ash fault. Due to the increase of paving on the surface it leads to more absorption of UV rays since ash fault is black with a low albedo, close to a blackbody (Hyndman, 2006). Overall, there is indisputable evidence showing that humans are to blame for the increased warming, not Ms. Mother Earth.

In the developed world, the masses have a profound desire to indulge and over consume fossil fuel. In the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) release in 2007 the report highlighted ”there is at least a 90 percent chance that human activities, mainly burning fossil fuels, are to blame for most of the warming in the last 50 years” (Dorsey, 2007). In the 2001 IPCC report it was said that there was only a 66% chance that humans were to blame (Dorsey, 2007). That is over a 24% increase in a 6 year span to confirm that humans are slowly killing the earth and themselves.  Based on the sheer alteration of land use buy paving the world, lead to a warming, also the SUVs that drive on the paved world pump-out tonnes of CO₂ everyday. All of this leads to a Global Warming induced by humans.

Now who should be responsible to clean up the huge mess we have created globally? Since humans have greatly increased the percentages of CO2 atmosphere, it is mankind’s duty to clean up so that the future generations will be around to see all the beauty and life in the world. The development of the Kyoto Protocol was to create a legally binding contract, with the aspect to hold countries responsible to reduce their carbon footprint. From the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Protocol’s major attribute is that it has mandatory targets on greenhouse-gas emissions for the world’s leading economies will have to reach (UNFCC, 2007). These targets are an admiration of the world’s leader making an attempt to change. Although in ones opinion it is truly a reason to allow some to pollute more than others. Globally the leaders of today must come together to reduce GHG emissions and we as consumers have to crack our addiction to fossil fuels. It will not be until we all come on board will any goal or target be achieved.

*Note above article is COPYRIGHT protected – Any recreation of above will result in a lawsuit, unless premission from Author.

How can you help to reduce your carbon footprint?

I do by using my crocheted mesh market bags or the reusable bags you can get from most stores these days – I have a few from A&P, The Barn, and No Frills. Also when I can (am not lazy) I take the bus. Also I have outfitted our apartment with Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs.

I calculated my Carbon Footprint – see the picture… What is yours? How do you compare to mine?

http://www.bp.com/extendedsectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9015627&contentId=7029058 >> this is the calculator I used, they all are different so its good to use the same one.