Caps win the Stanley Cup!

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We're painting the town red here in the DC area, where our Caps are the 2018 Stanley Cup Champions!  It's all hockey, all the time at my house, so we'll be watching the parade today!

But is hockey green or sustainable?  We all know that you really should have cold weather to play hockey, and a warming planet is not good news for hockey players and fans.  That's probably a big part of the reason that hockey players and managers are looking at sustainable options for stadiums, rinks, etc.  The solutions aren't perfect, but the league has been moving toward greater sustainability in its NHL Green effort. Greensportsblog has done a great job of reporting on sustainability progress at both the professional and college level with stories on topics such as reusing/recycling hockey sticks, citizen science using backyard hockey rinks, and energy savings at Boston University.  Hockey's definitely moving in the right direction.

Mammal Monday -- Uinta Ground Squirrel

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Let's take a look at the Uinta Ground Squirrel for this mammal Monday.  The research being done on this species demonstrates how climate change has definite winners and losers.  It looks like, thanks to a long hibernation period, these little rodents might benefit from warmer temps. 

Zucchini Quiche!

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Here’s an easy recipe for an ingredient that we’ll have TONS of later this summer – zucchini! I adapted this recipe from a Cooking Light recipe in their August 2012 issue.

Ingredients

• 1 frozen pie crust
• 1 tblsp olive oil
• 5 cups sliced zucchini
• 3 tblsp garlic
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup non-fat milk
• 1 1/2 tblsp all-purpose flour
• black pepper to taste
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Instructions
1) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Bake the pie crust, weighing down the crust using wax paper and dry rice, for about 5 minutes (until the crust just begins to brown). Lower oven heat to 375 degrees.
2) Heat the oil in a pan and saute the zucchini, garlic, and salt. Layer the zucchini in the bottom of the pie crust.
3) Combine milk, flour, eggs, and cheese and whisk together. Pour over zucchini mixture.
4) Bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes or until the liquid is set.

WE LOVE MEAT-FREE FRIDAY!!!

Are the children our future on climate change?

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The phrase, "the children are our future," always sounds like a little bit of a cop-out to me.  Whenever adults have a problem that they're unwilling or unable to solve, they toss it off to the next generation with this handy phrase.  Well, a new study, Do Millennials See Climate Change as More Than Just a Meme?, states that tossing climate change solutions off to the next generation is a pretty bad plan.    By repeating research conducted about 10 years ago, researchers demonstrate these four important findings about millennials' attitudes toward climate change:

• "Overall, Millennials demonstrate similar or less engagement on global warming than older generations. 
• Millennials are less likely to discuss global warming with their friends and family than the older generations (p. 4) 
• Belief in global warming (p. 8), its importance (p. 5), and perceived efficacy in addressing the problem (p. 12) are no greater among Millennials than any other generation
• Liberal Millennials are less likely than liberals of other generations to have thought a lot about global warming before taking the survey (p. 15) and less likely to believe that people in the U.S. are being harmed now by global warming (p. 17)"

(Kuppa, S. (2018). Do Millennials See Climate Change as More Than Just a Meme?. Washington, DC: Johns Hopkins University, Energy Policy and Climate Program)

Menhaden -- little fish with a big impact

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Menhaden are what scientists call a "keystone" species.  As a keystone in an arch holds the entire arch together, keystone species have a larger-than-expected impact on their ecosystems.  Remove the keystone and things start to fall apart.  In March, I wrote that the Virginia General Assembly had refused to implement the menhaden fishing limits required by the management plan published by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC).  ASMFC has now stated that Virginia may face fines for lack of implementation.  Remember, these limits only apply to the huge Omega Protein reduction company, not to bait fishermen who use the menhaden to catch other fish.  Check out this latest update on this important Chesapeake Bay keystone species. 

If you take fish oil supplements, the fish oil probably came from menhaden.  How can you help?  Try a vegetarian/vegan supplement that still provides Omega 3.  Here's the one I like:

Mammal Monday -- Asian Black Bears

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As I read through my newspaper this morning, I came across an article about Asian black bears.  The bile from these bears is used in some traditional medical practices, which is bad news for the bears.  What is bile?  Bile is a substance that is produced (in mammals -- humans too) by the liver, stored in the gall bladder, and then released into the small intestine to help to emulsify fats.  This process allows the digestive system to better break down fats into smaller, more easily absorbed molecules. 

Unfortunately, for the Asian black bear, this bile is also desired by humans to treat various medical issues.  This is a big business in China, where (according to the Washington Post article linked above) over 10,000 bears are kept on nearly 70 farms. Overharvesting by humans is one of the five top causes of species extinction and endangerment (habitat loss, pollution, non-native invasive species, and climate change are the other four).  But there's good news!  VietNam and South Korea are both moving to eliminate the harvest of bear bile.  Hopefully, the Chinese government will follow their lead.

"Sausage" and peppers!

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Time for my annual post about one of my favorite summertime dishes -- italian sausage and pepper sandwiches. How can a vegetarian greenmomster have all the tastiness and none of the meat? Here’s the vegetarian version; we call it “Italian soul food” at our house!

Ingredients:

• 1 package Smart Sausages Italian Style
• 1 green pepper
• 1 red pepper
• 1 onion
• 8 tblsp olive oil
• hot dog buns or nice hoagie rolls

Instructions:

1) Slice peppers and onions into long, thin strips.
2) Put 4 tblsp olive oil into each of two frying pans and heat. Fry italian sausage in one pan and peppers and onion in the other (until the pepper and onion are very soft)
3) Place sausage into hot dog bun and top with peppers and onions. Enjoy!