Giving newspapers a second life.

This is a paper-mache trash bin made of Japanese newspapers. I kind of want it.

I found a 5 Ways to Reuse Newspaper blog on the DIY Diva section of the National Geographic website.

1. Clean your windows. I haven't tried this. But the person wrote that instead of using paper towels, crumpled newspapers are just as good and they will make glass and mirrors shine. Maybe I'll try that later.

2. Substitute shredded or crumpled paper for Styrofoam. Put newspapers through paper shredders as substitute for Styrofoam peanuts.

3. Store fragile dishware. Fold squares of newspapers and use it to put between plates and bowls to protect them.

4. Start a barbecue. Instead of putting chemical lighter fluid, light crumpled pieces of newspapers and the briquettes will light themselves.

5. Make "tablecloths." I’ve been using newspapers as tablecloths religiously. If it’s just me and my family eating, we put newspapers on the table and it protects the table from scratches when setting up food. Little spills will land on the newspaper, and if we eat fish, the newspaper is there to put the bones on. After we’re done, we throw it away and the table looks really good as new.

NOW FOR MY TIPS!!

1. Place them on the stove when frying. Of course, don’t let the paper touch the actual stove that would be dangerous. At my house, we take the newspapers, fold them up and put it around the stove. That way when we fry fish, chicken, egg rolls, whatever, the oil goes onto the sheets. When done, roll it up and throw it away. Cleaning up oil can be messy business. Newspapers will help keep the mess less.

2. Keep them in the car. My favorite thing to use newspapers for is when it rains. The floor of my car gets pretty dirty. Even though I already have car liners, I still like keeping it extra clean. So when it rains, I put a few newspapers on top of my liners. Second is going to the beach. I love sand on my feet but not in my car.

3. Keeping fragile Christmas decorations safe. It could be any fragile home decoration. Wrapping little townspeople and houses in newspapers is good to keep it from breaking. Wrap ornaments in newspapers then shove in crumpled newspapers for cushion. Place in box. Done.

The Beauty of Ugly

First here’s the preview of the episode on the Nature program with some pretty interesting animals I had never seen before along with the “ugly” animals you already know and love.

I am so sorry I did not know about this special. I watched the preview for it and wish I could have watched it when it came on TV on Nov.15 of last year. Oh well.

Of all the animals they showed, the one animal that shocked me the most was this…

Looking at this picture makes me want to cry.

I have never seen it in my entire life, and I honestly never want to see it. I think I will run away faster than if I saw a horseshoe crab. (see that blog below)

This animal is called the star-nosed mole. This nearly blind animal has 22 tentacles. This mole can found in the wetlands and marshes of eastern America.

Here’s the segment with this odd, odd, odd, (Yes, extra ‘odd’) creature on the program.

If I were its’ prey, I’d probably die of a heart attack first before it gobbled me up within a few seconds. It takes the mole a quarter of a second to eat a snack. Yikes.

Ice Shelf

A big iceberg is about to break off from Antarctica.

It measures 25 miles by 1.5 miles.

The iceberg is located on the southern portion of the peninsula of Wilkins Ice Shelf, one of the biggest ice shelves in Antarctica that has been recently threatened.

A glaciologist who was watching the satellites images of Wilkins ice shelf saw a piece of the shelf about 25 miles by 1.5 miles was breaking off. This poses a danger because now the rest of Wilkins ice shelf is at the risk of collapsing. Wilkins Ice shelf is about the size of Northern Ireland!

The problem with icebergs breaking off is sea level rises. If all land ice melted, sea level would rise up to 230 feet.

According to this article from 2005, a study found that 84 percent of Antarctica’s glaciers were retreating in the last 50 years because of a warmer climate. In that past 50 years, Antarctica had warmed up over 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit.

Here are facts taken from MSN:
-Glaciers is where about 75 percent of the world’s fresh water is stored.
-Antarctica ice is more than 2.4 miles thick in some areas.
-Almost 10 percent of Earth’s land is covered with glaciers.
-During the Last ice Age, 32 percent of Earth’s land was covered with glaciers.

To read the entire article click here.

Spring is here!

…ALREADY!?!?

Yes. Spring has come. Today, March 20, is the first day of Spring.

It’s hard to tell today is the first day of Spring, unless you notice the blooming flowers.

Since this past winter was actually wetter, this year could be a good year for desert wildflowers.

There are two places this article mentions to go flower watching. For a California road trip, go to Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, about 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles. The area received over nine inches of rain, more than it gets in a span of a year. To kill two birds with one stone, go to Vegas where you can gamble and flower watch. Half an hours drive away from Las Vegas is the Mojave desert.

The early Spring arrival brings lots of pretty flowers but for biologists it brings worry.

According to seattlepi.com, the early spring is affecting plants and animals.

"The alarm clock that all the plants and animals are listening to is running too fast," Stanford University biologist Terry Root said.

According to National Geographic, Spring has been coming earlier and earlier each year due to global warming. The early season is a sign of what humans are doing to the earth.

Global warming has been speeding up phenology or the biological timing.

First it affects plants phenology. Because of the warming temperatures, flowers are blooming a lot earlier then it is suppose to. In Washington D.C., cherry blossoms are expected to bloom by the end of this month. However just 30 years ago, the trees waited to blossom around April 5th.

Animal’s biological timing is being sped up too. The National Geographic article from earlier says that in central California, butterflies have been emerging around March 12th. The butterflies usually emerge sometime between mid-april to mid-may. That was 25 years ago.

The seattlepi.com article says that scientists have been able to tell the season comes earlier from looking at the “green-up” or when lands are turning green from outer space. Since 1982, Spring has been arriving an eight hours earlier every year.

The pretty flowers coming early are fine by me, but since global warming is really the cause, I’d rather wait until a later date for plants and flowers to emerge like Mother Nature intended.

Oh, and if you have allergies, more flowers means more pollen, so good luck with that.

Recycle!!!

Today my Dad recycled. It's nothing new. He’s been doing it for as long as I can remember.

He never did it as a concern for the environment. It was more for some extra cash on the side. It’s a little bit of money, but when we were tight with the budget when I was younger, a little cash went a long way.

Even until now we have the habit of recycling everything from cans to cardboard. We have a separate bin for cans. There is a big trash bag for the white glass bottles and another for the green bottles. In the garage there is a mini mountain of cardboard.

All of it adds up to a decent amount. Apparently, some people do know the value. Last year someone even stole the cans from my yard! Nearly 40 dollars worth of cans! That scared us though because we kept our gate closed and locked. No one saw who stole it either.

When I think about it, even though we recycle for money, it’s nice to know that we are helping the environment out as well. Many more people should do it. I don’t know why more people don’t do it, but it’s pretty simple. All you have to do is keep things separated then bring it to the recycling center.

Unfortunately today I think my Dad got ripped off for all the hard work of recycling he did. I saw his truck earlier filled with bags of the recyclables.

This is the breakdown of the receipt:
Aluminum cans - 6.5 lbs for $1.75 = $11.38
Glass bottles – 75.5 lbs for $0.105 ( That’s it for GLASS!?) = $7.93
Plastic- 8 lbs. for $0.90 = $7.20
Total: $26.51

My advice: If you do recycle, don’t bring it to Garcia Recycling Center & Metal, Inc. you won’t get your efforts worth.


Here is a commercial for recycling by a cute Japanese girl group I like, Perfume, with their song Polyrhythm.



Here is a link on Creative Ways to Recycle on The Latest Magazine.com