I’ve written before about the little red knot (What’s not to like about the Red Knot?) – those incredible birds that migrate from pole to pole each year and are currently in danger of extinction within the next 10 years. Elly Pepper, of the NRDC, had the chance this summer to work on a red knot conservation project, so I thought I’d provide you with her latest update. Want to learn more about the red knot? Be sure to check out the PBS video, Crash: A Tale of Two Species.
Monday, September 9, 2013
Red Knot Update
Friday, September 6, 2013
Putting the “B” back into “BLT”
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So you’ve gone meat-free on Fridays (or more), but you’re longing for the savory, crunchy joy that is a BLT. Not to worry greenmomsters! You can have a guilt-free BLT! At our house, we make BLTs the usual way using lettuce, tomato, and mayo on toasted bread, but we make a simple substitution for the
bacon. Try microwaving Morning Star Farms veggie bacon strips until crispy (at our house, that would be 10 strips for 5 minutes on 1/2 high power, flip, and 3 minutes on high), and add them to your BLT instead of regular bacon. I’ve tried many different kinds of veggie bacon strips, and have found that this brand works best on a BLT. Now you can smile and so does the pig AND the environment!
Nope, they didn’t pay me a dime for this endorsement!
So you’ve gone meat-free on Fridays (or more), but you’re longing for the savory, crunchy joy that is a BLT. Not to worry greenmomsters! You can have a guilt-free BLT! At our house, we make BLTs the usual way using lettuce, tomato, and mayo on toasted bread, but we make a simple substitution for the
bacon. Try microwaving Morning Star Farms veggie bacon strips until crispy (at our house, that would be 10 strips for 5 minutes on 1/2 high power, flip, and 3 minutes on high), and add them to your BLT instead of regular bacon. I’ve tried many different kinds of veggie bacon strips, and have found that this brand works best on a BLT. Now you can smile and so does the pig AND the environment!Nope, they didn’t pay me a dime for this endorsement!
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Turtles Rock!
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As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, one of the high points of my summer each year is visiting the beaches of South Carolina and watching the baby loggerhead turtles head for life in the ocean. This year was no different! It’s been a great year for loggerheads in SC; both Bull Island and the Edisto Beach State Park reported their second highest number of nests (last year was number 1). One of the naturalists speculated that since the turtle protection project is in its 30th year, and it takes roughly 30 years for loggerhead turtles to reach sexual maturity, the program is just now beginning to show the product of all the hard work. Turtle project managers hope that this is just the beginning of many more successful nesting years for these endangered turtles.
Loggerhead turtles are truly impressive creatures. They start off small, but grow to a whopping 200-300 lbs!
Following a harrowing run to the ocean, avoiding hungry seagulls, the baby turtles hitch a ride on an ocean current and make their way to the Sargasso Sea. There they float in the sargassum until they grow large enough to continue their 30 year journey north through the Atlantic Ocean and then down to the Caribbean. Only about 1 in 1000 eggs laid reaches sexual maturity!
Here’s a myth-buster! Have you heard that sea turtles always return to the same beach to nest? Well, recent DNA research is showing that this isn’t always the case. One female turtle this year laid eggs in three states!
So what is this turtle protection program I keep mentioning? Many naturalists, turtle researchers, and volunteers deserve credit for this successful program. Tiny turtles hatch from the soft eggs
, which the females lay in deep holes above the high tide line in the middle of the night. Early each morning, researchers and volunteers head to the beach to mark the location of new nests and protect the nests with flags and fencing. If staff believe that the nests are below the high tide line, they may decide to move the nest further toward the dunes to avoid flooding of the nest. After the expected date of nest hatching, staff again spring into action. This volunteer is digging up a nest which has already hatched, to see if there are any hatchlings alive but trapped in the nest (they didn’t make it out with the rest of the baby turtles). 
After digging up the hatched nests, volunteers and program staff log the number of eggs hatched and the number of unhatched eggs: 
. The nest in the previous picture had many unhatched eggs; staff hypothesized that the nest was laid below the high tide line. After the volunteers find any turtles still trapped in the nest, they set the tiny creatures free to begin their ocean adventure. 
Sea turtles have been on Earth for millions of years and are currently threatened by human activities including entrapment in fishing gear, boat strikes, and pollution which turtles can mistake for food. You can help these incredible creatures and the programs designed to protect them:
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, one of the high points of my summer each year is visiting the beaches of South Carolina and watching the baby loggerhead turtles head for life in the ocean. This year was no different! It’s been a great year for loggerheads in SC; both Bull Island and the Edisto Beach State Park reported their second highest number of nests (last year was number 1). One of the naturalists speculated that since the turtle protection project is in its 30th year, and it takes roughly 30 years for loggerhead turtles to reach sexual maturity, the program is just now beginning to show the product of all the hard work. Turtle project managers hope that this is just the beginning of many more successful nesting years for these endangered turtles.
Loggerhead turtles are truly impressive creatures. They start off small, but grow to a whopping 200-300 lbs!
Following a harrowing run to the ocean, avoiding hungry seagulls, the baby turtles hitch a ride on an ocean current and make their way to the Sargasso Sea. There they float in the sargassum until they grow large enough to continue their 30 year journey north through the Atlantic Ocean and then down to the Caribbean. Only about 1 in 1000 eggs laid reaches sexual maturity!Here’s a myth-buster! Have you heard that sea turtles always return to the same beach to nest? Well, recent DNA research is showing that this isn’t always the case. One female turtle this year laid eggs in three states!
So what is this turtle protection program I keep mentioning? Many naturalists, turtle researchers, and volunteers deserve credit for this successful program. Tiny turtles hatch from the soft eggs
, which the females lay in deep holes above the high tide line in the middle of the night. Early each morning, researchers and volunteers head to the beach to mark the location of new nests and protect the nests with flags and fencing. If staff believe that the nests are below the high tide line, they may decide to move the nest further toward the dunes to avoid flooding of the nest. After the expected date of nest hatching, staff again spring into action. This volunteer is digging up a nest which has already hatched, to see if there are any hatchlings alive but trapped in the nest (they didn’t make it out with the rest of the baby turtles). 
After digging up the hatched nests, volunteers and program staff log the number of eggs hatched and the number of unhatched eggs: 
. The nest in the previous picture had many unhatched eggs; staff hypothesized that the nest was laid below the high tide line. After the volunteers find any turtles still trapped in the nest, they set the tiny creatures free to begin their ocean adventure. Sea turtles have been on Earth for millions of years and are currently threatened by human activities including entrapment in fishing gear, boat strikes, and pollution which turtles can mistake for food. You can help these incredible creatures and the programs designed to protect them:
- Never litter on the beach. Pick up any litter you see (cups, plastic bags, bottles) to protect turtles from accidental ingestion
- Only buy shrimp from fleets that use Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) on their fishing gear (it’s a law for U.S. fleets)
- You can adopt a turtle or adopt a nest – what a great way to help protect these magnificent creatures!
Friday, August 30, 2013
Burgers and ‘slaw
Want to get your weekly meat-free recipe? Be sure to "Like" greenmomster on Facebook!Feel like an easy, casual dinner tonight? When it’s burger night at our house, we go super-simple – Morningstar Farms black bean burgers are our burger of choice! What to serve on the side? How about some appleslaw! I adapted this recipe from one I found at the Kraft foods website.
Ingredients
3 or 4 apples, cut into thin slices (no need to peel)
2 green onions, chopped
2 celery stalks, sliced
1 1/2 cups green cabbage
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 cup mayo
Instructions
1) In a bowl, combine apples, onions, celery, and cabbage.
2) In another bowl, combine mayo, almonds, and curry powder. Toss with the apple combination.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Where are the climate change marchers?
Be sure to get updates on all the greenest news -- "Like" greenmomster on Facebook!This week our nation celebrates the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, a revolutionary event in American history that helped to encourage racial equality in this country -- truly a great event to celebrate. But as I looked at the front page of the newspaper today, I couldn’t help but think, “Where are the climate change marchers? Where are the hundreds of thousands of citizens, willing to march today to change policies that affect not just every American, but every person on the planet?”
On this page, I’ve written about my family’s experiences, marching against the current lack of fracking regulations and for the need for alternatives to fossil fuels. When the crowds got to 30,000, we were thrilled! But as millions of people are threatened with permanent loss of their homes due to sea level rise or due to ever-increasing natural disasters caused by climate fluctuations, shouldn’t the climate change crowds be bigger? As oceans become more acidic, due to man-made input of CO2, shouldn’t our congressional representatives’ phones be ringing off the hook? As species go extinct because they can’t move quickly enough to adjust to climate change, shouldn’t the outcry be deafening?
I usually try to stay upbeat and positive about environmental issues and challenges, but today’s news for some reason affected me differently. After over 20 years of scientists warning us of the dire affects of climate change, I just have to ask, “where are our marchers?”
Friday, August 23, 2013
Crispy Cauliflower Cakes
Be sure to get your weekly recipes -- "Like" greenmomster on Facebook!This week’s recipe is so good, the family ate the cakes before I could get my own picture of them! (this photo is from Cooking Light magazine). The recipe is from the August 2013 issue of Cooking Light. I’m just providing a link, because I only made one change – I served fig salad, instead of the recommended arugula salad. Enjoy!
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Go West Greenmomsters–part 4!
For the final leg of our trip, we hit the north rim of the Grand Canyon! I don’t think there’s a National Park with a more fitting name – this place is GRAND! My one piece of advice would be: bring your hiking boots and take a short hike. The viewpoints were very popular with visitors, but just a short hike can get you to spectacular views that you can enjoy without any crowds. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. 
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