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By Janet Evans
Monday, Oct 20 2008, 06:50 AM
This week is National Forest Products Week. We do have beautiful forest in our country. Definitely worth preserving and using wisely. I had to smile when reading the end of the Proclamation where it says to “observe the week with appropriate ceremonies and celebrations.” I can’t think of any celebrations off hand for forest products week. I mean, are we honoring the products or the forests? Should we do some toilet papering? Or should we plant a tree?
The greatest observation we can make is that we realize that we need to preserve our forests at all costs. After taking care of our own forests, we need to watch closely Brazil and other countries participating heavily in deforestation of the rain forests . What they are doing has extreme consequences on the entire world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 16, 2008
National Forest Products Week, 2008
A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America
During National Forest Products Week, we highlight our country's commitment to protect and wisely use America's forests for our Nation's prosperity and well-being.
Across our country, citizens rely on forest products to meet their daily needs. Our forests enable us to produce goods such as paper and furniture, provide raw materials such as lumber for homes and buildings, and offer job opportunities that bring economic security for many Americans.
My Administration is steadfast in its commitment to protect our forests from both manmade and natural harm. It is vital that we continue to make progress in conserving our natural resources and using them responsibly. Since 2002, we have worked to restore our forests and protected them against catastrophic fires as part of the Healthy Forests Initiative. Americans take great pride in our country's natural splendor, and by working together to be good stewards of the environment, we can leave our children and grandchildren a healthy and flourishing land.
Recognizing the importance of our forests in ensuring our Nation's well-being, the Congress, by Public Law 86-753 (36 U.S.C. 123), as amended, has designated the week beginning on the third Sunday in October of each year as "National Forest Products Week" and has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this week.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 19 through October 25, 2008, as National Forest Products Week. I call upon all Americans to observe this week with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.
GEORGE W. BUSH
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By Janet Evans
Saturday, Sep 13 2008, 11:15 AM
Guy Reynolds, MCT HURRICANE IKE
Bill Murphy, second from right, waits with three rescuers for a boat to pull them to safety after Murphy's
wife Barbara and two others were rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter in High Island, Texas, Friday,
September 12, 2008, as Hurricane Ike moves toward Texas.
With Hurricane Ike hitting hard today, and land and sea being pummeled once again storm, after storm…it’s interesting to note that this date, twenty years ago, another hurricane hit the area...in the Caribbean, and ended up in Texas. It devastated the Bahamas and Mexico and is considered one of the 12 deadliest hurricanes.
"Hurricane Gilbert had the lowest pressure ever recorded in the history of the Western Hemisphere today, making Gilbert the strongest recorded hurricane in that part of the globe until it was surpassed by Hurricane Wilma in 2005. "By almost any measure, Hurricane Gilbert is already the most intense hurricane on record, and it is still gaining force," explained The Post Standard on September 14, 1988. "Low barometric pressure at the center gives a hurricane its strength. Gilbert's pressure dropped to 26 13 late Tuesday the lowest ever recorded.”
You may view two newspaper articles from 1988 September 13th and 14th of 1988 telling of Hurricane Gilbert's impact on the Bahama's and Mexico:
Hurricane Gilbert pounds Jamaica, Moves Westward.pdf Daily Herald, Sept. 13. 1988
Hurricane Gilbert Targets Mexico.pdf Post-Standard, Sept. 14, 1988
also
Hurricane Gilbert...this Day In History
It’s believed that global warming is causing hurricanes to become more powerful. Does that theory hold water?
"The theory that global warming may be contributing to stronger hurricanes in the Atlantic over the past 30 years is bolstered by a new study led by a Florida State University researcher. The study will be published in the Sept. 4 edition of the journal Nature."
[...]
"As seas warm, the ocean has more energy that can be converted to tropical cyclone wind," Elsner said. "Our results do not prove the heat-engine theory. We just show that the data are quite consistent with it."
Read the article from Environmental news Network HERE
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By Janet Evans
Thursday, Jul 31 2008, 06:55 AM
I’ve mentioned before that I have family in Vermont. My dad, sister and her family, nephew and family and a sister-in-law (my brother passed away a few years ago) are all living in Vermont as transplants from Connecticut, Florida, and Michigan. Vermont natives are very down to earth people. Once you live there a few years it’s easy to follow suit and quickly become one of the crowd, as my family has done.
They all live pretty far from large shopping centers and big entertainment. They do gardening. My brother used to chop wood for a month to help with heating for the winter. It was unbelievable how much wood he would store up.
The people of Vermont are worried about winter and the state of Vermont has put out an "energy plan" for citizens. They sure ar fortunate the state is so helpful. I guess the officials are all real down to earth citizens, too. Why do I say that?
"MONTPELIER -- Vermonters will have access to more state trees, low-interest loans and energy advice to help them heat their homes this winter, with a little culinary advice thrown in to make their food budget go farther.
[...]
More than 50 state lots will be available for cut-your-own firewood, and harvested wood will be collected at sites for low-income Vermonters. Lunderville said this was unlikely to be of much help this winter because the wood would not be seasoned enough to burn, but should become more useful next year.
A committee is being formed with state officials, church leaders, utility representatives and others to reach out to those who have not previously qualified for state help but might be pushed over the edge by increased heating and food costs.
No- or low-interest loans will be available for low- and middle-income Vermonters looking to make energy-efficiency improvements to their homes. Homeowners might also be able to use home-equity loans to pay their fuel bills.
Fuel dealers, worried about how they will cover the higher upfront payments for fuel, might see help from banks guaranteeing their credit.
Canning workshops will be offered at five locations around the state to teach people how to can and freeze vegetables from the garden to ease food costs through the winter. The first workshop will be at 6 p.m. Monday at the Milton Grange."
from the Burlington Free Press
Officials Introduce Energy Plan - Vermont
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Access to lots to cut down firewood that isn't even usable this year?
Canning workshops?
I dream about living in Vermont almost everyday....
I'm glad it's just a dream.
Some energy plan!
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By Janet Evans
Thursday, Jul 17 2008, 07:02 AM
By Janet Evans
Saturday, Jun 14 2008, 02:40 PM
The Department of Water and Power workers in Los Angeles, as well as local officials and community activists
opened a white tub from where they poured 400,000 black colored balls into the water. image (c) Dakota Smith
In Los Angeles, these black, shimmering plastic balls are as good as black gold; for helping to eliminate bromate from a local reservoir. Bromate is a cancer-causing reaction to sunlight and chlorine.
So while we’re fighting the battle of plastic bottles that emit toxic chemicals....plastics will do just the opposite for drinking water in this case.
Chemicals…you can’t live with them; and you can’t live without them.
Read the story from the Houston Chronicle ç here
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By Janet Evans
Friday, Jun 13 2008, 11:10 AM
 Remnants from a Boy Scout uniform sit in the rubble left by a tornado t
hat struck at the Little Sioux Scout Ranch, seen Thursday, June 12, 2008,
near Little Sioux, Iowa. Four Boy Scouts were killed and 48 people were
injured when the tornado tore through their Mid-America Council camp
Wednesday night. (AP Photo/Matt Miller,POOL)
Lost Boys....
Maybe not forever, but that’s what they remind me of.
Just look at the picture of Zach Jessen, speaking to Iowa’s Gov. Chet Culver.
Look at his face to understand some of what I mean.
Zach Jessen a survivor of the tornado that killed 4 scouts Wednesday night
talks with Iowa Gov. Chet Culver Eight-year-old Cub Scout Baileigh Rohde
holds a candle and looks up at Boy Scout Josh Dohse, left, during a candlelight
vigil in Omaha, Neb., Thursday, June 12, 2008, for the four Boy Scouts killed
after a twister flattened their camp in Iowa Wednesday night. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
You sense it when the boys describe their ordeal of when that devastating tornado struck
Wednesday as they waited for a rain storm to pass by; with statements like this,
“When I got up,” Cody said, “there was a boy right in front of me, face down, in a pool of blood. I had never seen that before."
Look at the trees snapped like twigs....
Laura Inns/Omaha World-Herald, via Associated Press
An aerial view of the remnants of a building destroyed at the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in Iowa.
Lost boys….except this wasn’t Neverland. This was very real.
"I was going to the Lord's side, and I was going to go there flying," recalled Bowerman, who was wearing a splint on his wrist. "It felt like I was about to be lifted up. I just hugged the ground as much as I could."
Eight-year-old Cub Scout Baileigh Rohde
holds a candle and looks up at Boy Scout
Josh Dohse, left, during a candlelight vigil
in Omaha, Neb., Thursday, June 12, 2008,
for the four Boy Scouts killed after a twister
flattened their camp in Iowa Wednesday night.
(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
I suppose what I'm really saying is boyhood lost.
It just breaks my heart.
from the Seattle Times
Here Ê
Scouts' Training Helped On Night of Terror
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By Janet Evans
Sunday, Jun 8 2008, 04:18 PM
No, that’s not a spelling error…
I meant to write “idle.”
This story has nanny state written all over it.
“The Minneapolis City Council and Mayor R.T. Rybak approved changes Friday, to the city’s vehicle idling ordinance that aims to reduce air pollution. The ordinance limits most vehicle idling to three minutes, except in traffic.”
Cripes!
What’s really telling is that Minneapolis had a vehicle idling ordinance in the first place.
You know…you can put the useful information out in a newsletter… or get it to the public at registration renewal time.
Don’t idle! Idle bad!
But do you really need an ordinance?
Read the article from ABC News í here
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