Despite our best efforts Mosquitoes resist our efforts to do them in. They return every year to bug us and also to transmit serious disease. This will undoubtedly worsen as Global Warming heats up.

Bug Zappers, especially the “eco-friendly” solar powered ones, might seem like a good way to protect your back yard from these pests, the satisfying pop and crackle while meeting their doom seems worth the price alone. But studies have shown they are rarely effective against mosquitoes, of bugs killed maybe 4% tend to be mosquitoes. Mostly, it kills beneficial moths, beetles and other bugs who may actually eat other harmful insects. These bug zappers not only kill off good insects but may contribute to ruining an important food source for songbirds. So, in other words, they are a total rip-off.

So what is the best Green solution to mosquitoes? Mainstream repellents containing DEET diethyl-meta-toluamide tends to be the standard of effective repellent but many people are understandably wary of putting this chemical stew on their skin. One site, Journey to Forever.org,
gives a great recipe for Handmade Organic Mosquito Repellent (HOMeR), that they claim is a very effective means to naturally repel mosquitoes using lemon grass. Another natural repellent that you can buy is oil of lemon-eucalyptus, sold as Repel. Here is a great site, Mosquito.org which has a wealth of info on all things mosquito. Finally, Ecogreentips.com has some good info on some helpful solutions to the mosquito problems for you and your back yard.

Now you can have clean air all of the time and wherever you happen to be with the Air Tamer. This is a personal ionic air purifier that makes it easy for people with allergies, viruses and breathing problems to have personalized clean air. This filtering gadget is about the size of an MP3 player and can be taken anywhere, even on an airplane where we all know the air quality is less than perfect. This little device operates on one small battery that is included in the device and will keep it going for over three weeks straight! Now you can fresh air around you all of the time with the Air Tamer - the best thing for clean, personal air.

$60.00 at Gaiam

Cool and free new desktop Widget for Mac and PC from Environmental News Network

Gives you easy access to the latest environmental news from ENN, interesting factoids, and a very cool-green search engine that checks your location (via zip code) for the nearest local green grocers and more. Easy install but you will need the free and easy Yahoo widget engine installed to get it to work (apple version not yet available)

I don’t get carbon offsetting. It’s like pouring oil down the sewer grate after an oil-change and then donating 20 bucks to Greenpeace so you don’t feel guilty about your toxic oil heading for the harbor. I don’t see how that’s much different than the idea of paying someone to plant a treefarm so you won’t feel bad about that cross-country airline ticket.

My suspicious nature wonders about how verifiable some of these carbon credit outfits are. Like the plant-a-tree-today.org or Dell Computer’s plant a tree for me campaign. I worry it’s a half-measure at best, giving people an excuse to postpone the difficult politics needed for significant changes to halt global warming. It will do more to create a lucrative market of pollution trading then it will to help us change from a fossil fuel based economy to renewable sustainable one. It also helps to paint a happy face on the corporations that are often some of the biggest polluters.

That said, planting a tree can still be a good thing. Trees can help remove significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. But a healthy forest with a thriving total ecosystem is better for people and other living things not just a monoculture of thousands of perfect rows of pine trees in a sterile tree farm. I’m sure many of the carbon trading organizations earnestly attempt to solve our global warming problems but, for me, I would rather directly give money to people fighting for healthy forests. Or even get a shovel and go out in my backyard plant my own tree. If you feel particually daring there is a group of guerrilla gardeners who plant who use direct planting to help make the world a better place. Guerrilla Gardeners is a group worth checking out.

As individuals there is only so much we can do. Planting a tree won’t absolve you of your need to get involved in the bigger political arena or better find earth friendly solutions in your life but it’s nice to do something constructive however small. If you don’t have the space or the green thumb to plant your own then consider donating to Save America’s Forests nationwide campaign to end clearcutting and protect and restore our nation’s wild and natural forests. They also work to help protect the rain-forest in Ecuador. Of course there are other groups doing similar work and equally deserving of your attention.

Check out the powerful and masterful imagery by the world renowned photographer, Yann Arthus-Bertrand. This famous French photographer’s work often speaks to environmental issues in a artful manner. His official website has an extensive selection of his works, especially interesting is his Earth from the Air Series. Good Planet.org is another site that features his work and ecological activist goals, check out the Alive Exhibition featured on the site as well. There is also a shopping area where you can buy posters and the like.
I would post an image of his work but I hesitate to post any art images without permission.

Where are the Green Early Warning Systems?

I was a kid in the 50’s when air raid drills and “duck and cover” were the norm. There was something about air raid sirens that continues to invade my nightmares. This isn’t just a test of the early warning system, we need ear piercing air raid sirens to blast suburbia awake over the coming global warming disasters.

Victor Mobilae

There are a few artists and designers who put out their global warming early warning devices, like this one by Designer Rene van Corven from the Netherlands. Called the “Victor Mobilae” which is a mobile garden that moves 65 inches north each day, apparently representing the speed to which global warming might cause vegetation to adapt northwards as the climate shifts. No doubt this art piece is well intentioned but it seems a bit benign, almost celebrating the happy gardens the frozen north will soon be blessed with. Those chilly Eskimos will be soon able to add some peas and carrots with their walrus blubber.
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Seventh Generation Brown Paper Towels 30 rolls $54.95 at amazon.com

I was in a BJ’s (giant box store) yesterday and stopped to consider their display of paper products. They have an enormous display of various brands of huge packs of 30 or so rolls of paper towels for ridiculously cheap prices. Needless to say it’s a popular item as busy people are lured by the convenience of using paper towels. Almost every cleaning task imaginable is now commonly used with paper products; from drying your hands, wiping the counter, floor, windows and pretty much anything else. As they are so cheap, many people mindlessly use them for everything and then just toss it.

It wasn’t that long ago you that people didn’t use paper towels, they used linens in the kitchen. They used a cloth for washing the dishes and yet another for wiping up counters. A hand towel in the kitchen for drying your freshly washed hands. Old rags could be used in a mop head. Cloth napkins. Newspapers for washing windows. All of them washed and reused time after time. It worked just fine for centuries.
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The reality of global warming is increasingly obvious for many people who are now looking for ways to help to put the brakes on climate change. But as an individual it can feel overwhelming and many people tend to give up; thinking the big solutions to global warming can only rest with the government or big business. However, as individuals one means we can take is perhaps the most significant way of all to slow climate change. By carefully planning their family size and considering only having one or two children. Also by putting pressure on politicians to address this concern by promoting family planning as one of the best green things to do to limit climate change.

Every year more than 70 million people join more than 6.5-billion people already using in some form or another million of tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Yet most calls to action on global warming fail to address population growth. Most politicians in the US avoid this sort of hot button issue, considering it political suicide. The Bush administration has opposed global family planning efforts by the UN. And increasing women are finding difficulty with getting birth control in some areas. But if we really want to be serious about global warming it matters tremendously whether the world’s population in 2050 is 10.8 billion people or 7.8 billion people — the high and low estimates made in 2006 by the United Nations. Fossil fuel pollution could be significantly reduced in a world with 3 billion fewer people.
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Solar Mosquito Guard $10.00 from Gaiam.com

Global warming will probably mean lots more nasty pests on the go. Smearing your body with chemicals isn’t my idea of much fun. We know solar power can slow down climate change but now it can also help with keeping mosquitoes away.

If what Gaiam says is accurate, that this mosquito guard actually works, then 10 bucks seems like a very good deal. According to their website this pocket-sized device emit a barely audible, high-frequency wave that repels some mosquito species. Includes keychain and belt clip. Battery fully recharges in three hours of sunlight. Hopefully you won’t live in the one area that has a bountiful representation of the one species of mosquito that actually loves the sound!

They also say that 10% of proceeds helps send inner-city kids to Earth Day for Kids 2007 at the nonprofit Solar Living Institute.

Are Cell Phones Really Killing the Bees?

Over the past several months there has been a rapid decline of significant percentages of world wide bee colonies. Colony Collapse Disorder is the new name for what has been destroying bee hives. The alarm was first sounded last autumn, but has now hit half of all American states. The West Coast is reported to have lost 60 percent of its commercial bee population, with 70 percent gone on the East Coast. Scientists are don’t know the exact cause, but researchers at Landau University suggest that radiation from mobile phones may be at least partially to blame. Some suggest that the proliferation of cell towers in rural areas may play a role.

Don’t be too quick to believe that cell phones will cause our doom. Spiegel Online looks critically at the research on cellphones and bees death in detail. This article also looks at the many other, more convincing reasons for the Colony Collapse Disorder such as GM crops or global warming.

Bill Maher asked on his HBO show last week if people would give up using the cellphone in order to save the bees - and help prevent the massive ecological collapse and wide spread hunger. He repeated the now famous but quote by Albert Einstein “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years left to live.’ But is it accurate? Snopes.com suggests its very doubtful Einstein ever said that.
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