Holiday Lights

Green Holiday Action #5

Throughout the Los Angeles area and around the country, the viewing of holiday lights is a seasonal treat.

Typically, cars slowly cruise "Candy Cane Lane's" and other community spectacles. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) Holiday Light Festival is just such a mile long route decorated with festive displays. This year however the DWP is promoting greener viewing. Dec. 4, 2009 through the 17th, the route will be "vehicle free."

We went last night to walk the route with other pedestrians. No car aghaust or long waiting lines, just bodies dressed warmly for a brisk California winter evening. Other evenings will provide access for bicyclers. For more info about the DWP Holiday Light Festival visit their website.

The lights depict a kind of history of the Los Angeles area. Where else would holiday lights include surfers?

Make it a new holiday tradition to walk your neighborhood or other holiday displays. You'll have more opportunity to see the decorations, save gas and reduce the creation of greenhouse gases.

And if you go and admire one large light display, you don't have to create a rival one at home. You can cut back a bit on your electricity use.

Give Experiences

Green Holiday Action #4

One of the easiest places to Green your Holiday Season is through the choices you make in gifts.

Most of us do not need more things. Give the gift of time together and shared experiences. Tickets to a cultural event–a play, museum, concert or movie, reservations for a special dining experience or high tea, or just set aside a date for an activity. All of these options can be Green Gifts.

For my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary a few weeks ago, we all took a ride on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. It was an experience enjoyed by all–from my three-year-old niece to my seventy-year-old parents–and shared as a family.

A toy or piece of clothing has a limited lifespan, a memory lasts a lifetime.

As an additional bonus, these gifts financially support your local community. So stretch your gift giving imagination, and color it green.

Trim Your Gift Shopping List

Green Holiday Action #3

This year our family decided that instead of buying gifts for everyone in extended family, individuals that wanted to participate, would put their names into a hat and then draw a name for the ONE person they would give a gift.

From grandma and grandpa to the teenagers, everyone wanted to participate. The price limit was set by those on the most fixed budget.

Suddenly, I'm not running around spending time, resources and money to find gifts for a list of people. We've also reduced our use of wrapping paper and all the other resources that go with gift-giving. The best part might be that the sense of giving has a greater personal focus. I can concentrate on a great gift for one family member rather than just something for everyone to open.

I have a couple of Green Gift ideas, but more on that later.

What are you doing to make this a Green Holiday Season? Leave a comment or send me an e-mail at 4animalbytes@gmail.com.

E Holiday Letters

Green Holiday Action #2

I gave up holiday cards for letters years ago. What's the point of being in contact with someone only to offer an impersonal greeting written by someone else and only a signature to prove you are still living?

Electronic holiday letters save trees and postage. I can create a full color letter with numerous photos and then export it in a pdf format. Simply attach that pdf file to an e-mail and my holiday letters are sent.

Yes, there are still a few people that require printing the letter and applying postage, but I've dropped my mailing from 70 to 10.

The fun part is that the pdf format allows for hyperlinks, so my family only has to click on a hyperlink to go right to my blog or other websites mentioned in the letter. They can see photos of the places and events I'm writing about and even video.

So use the Internet to make your Holiday Greetings a little bit Greener.

Green Holiday Season

Sustainability is the number one politically correct word on everyone's lips, but what does it mean?

Sustainability by definition means living with the resources (food, water and shelter) that are available at your location in a manner that allows those resources to be replenishable so that their use is sustainable over time.

When I look out my office window across the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, there is one thing that obviously comes to mind–this population requires more drinking water than is sustainable for this location. Disregard landscaping, bathing, pools, industry or any other water use, there just isn't enough drinking water here for all these people. It can make you want to throw-up your hands and say, "Forget it. Sustainability isn't possible."

But I just listened in on the White House's Council on Environmental Quality's meeting with representatives from all of the Government agencies covered by President Obama's mandate for GreenGovernment (GreenGov) that was initiated in October 2009. I was pleasantly surprised and heartened. Government employees across all of these agencies were asked what changes they thought would help make their work places more environmentally sustainable. Suggestions were then voted on by the employees themselves. Some of their suggestions are already being implemented to save our tax dollars and reduce the wasting of natural resources. I encourage you to take advantage of this new administration's openness and watch or listen to the meeting yourself on the Council's blog page: Council on Environmental Quality Meeting (http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/blog)

It inspired me to put forth this challenge to all of you.

What can you do to make this a Green Holiday Season?

Post your ideas in the comments or send me an e-mail at 4animalbytes@gmail.com. I'm challenging myself to post a green idea a day.

As the representative from the Department of Health & Human Services said at the Council meeting, "Success comes from the bottom-up."

So here's my first Green Holiday Action:
I saved time, greenhouse gases and money by using the Internet to find a specific product I was looking for as a gift. After locating the product, I was able to find the best price and purchase the item all on-line. Secondly, I realized this one item was the perfect gift for a number of people on my list. Gifts for 7 people will all be arriving in one small box through the mail.

Sustainability is a difficult goal, but think of it this way:

Your house is never perfectly clean. Cleaning up the kitchen periodically, vacuuming weekly, practicing daily actions that maintain your home environment are all beneficial. If you do nothing your home will soon become unlivable. The Earth is our only home, daily practices, even if small, can make a huge difference.

What will you do today to make a positive difference?

Signs of Autumn

The signs of autumn are different here in California. While snow is falling in some parts of the country, our insects like the preying mantis are still finishing up their life cycles. This female laid her egg mass on a grape vine. She camouflaged it perfectly to give her offspring the best chance at success, because while they over winter, she will not survive the cooling nights.

But autumn is the time of rebirth for our native plants. The hot dry summer is to hard to survive. Native plants take the summer off, going dormant. This is what many people expect for winter, but as the days shorten and the temperatures cool, native plants begin to grow again.

The ribes or wild currant was covered with dried brown leaves, but autumn growth is bursting out in bright green and pushing aside the old leaves.

Toyon berries are beginning to swell.

Even introduced plants have adjusted to California’s seasons. The bell-shaped blooms on the strawberry tree are popping open.

And the camilla is forming flower buds that will bloom in the middle of our mild California winter.

Migrating birds are traveling through and the Cooper’s hawk, a fast flying aerial predator is hanging around bird feeders. I had a Cooper’s hawk catch a mourning dove in my yard this week. My friend Douglas Welch caught the following video in his yard. It is a great opportunity to compare this fast hawk to your birding books. It is an immature individual which can be tricky to identify.



Check out what is happening in Douglas’ backyard at A Gardner's Notebook

A True Ghost Story

It's nearly Halloween and time for tales of the unexplained and mysterious. The following is a true tale that demonstrates the senses of our animal friends.

You can hear the original story below and other ghostly tales, poems and music on "Ghosts of the Internet, 3" at eclipse-1.com

Hear the story, CLICK HERE

Boot Hill
by Keri Dearborn

You say you don’t believe in ghosts? Well neither do I, not in white sheets billowing in the wind or magnetic force fields measured by TV ghost chasers gripping their electronic gadgets. Let me tell you a true ghost story.

You see, I believe in the tangible, a poke in the arm, a spectral man seen by a group of strangers and the reaction of an innocent.

People can conjure up things. Our emotions and fears get the better of us and paint the world we want to see or are afraid might be true. But a dog, well a dog has no preconceptions. A dog hasn’t read Poe. A dog doesn’t pursue frightening experiences for the thrill of it. Animals know that the world is dangerous. Real threats abound. To have a cozy and comfortable life beside the hearth is a blessing, not a bore.

Dodger was a mix of golden labrador and laughter. He was broad chested, surefooted and after a good romp sat with his tongue lolling to one side of a wide smile. He would chase a stick for as long as you could throw it. He was well-traveled and well-behaved, but he insisted on walking in front. Oh, he never strayed off, he just liked the freedom of being the leader.

One summer driving through Canada, we stopped in Barkerville in British Columbia. Barkerville was a gold rush town in the 1860s. Today it is a Provincial Park and the wooden buildings of main street are open to visitors during the day. Some of it is restored, but some of it stands weathered and aching with the past.

It was a rainy evening. The campground was empty. We ate dinner in the car and decided to walk through the closed-up town before crawling into our tent for the night. Gray mist shrouded the quiet street of hand-hewn plank buildings. Dodger couldn’t be happier. He was always ready for a walk. The wet street offered a new place to be explored combined with the aroma of horses and mud puddles. It was a canine heaven.

I’ve always loved deserted towns. I like to look in windows and image what scenes have played out inside. Here each glass pane was a portal to a time when your income came out of the ground, when men left their families to search for El Dorado, when one night of gambling could cost a man a year’s hard work. Much of the street has been resurrected to its former glory, a saloon, a dry goods store, and of course a Chinese herbalist. On this quiet evening, tin cups still rested on tables. The splashing stream continued to drive a huge water wheel. And through the shifting ground fog, two horses chased after each other in a field. There was a feeling as if the miners had all run to the next canyon because someone had struck it rich and, any moment, they would all be back.

As we wandered the town, Dodger trotted ahead. He’d catch a good scent and get lost in the discovery, then race to catch up again. When we came to the end of the town’s main street, we followed a road that went back around the outskirts of the buildings. The gravel was easy walking and Dodger dashed ahead. His ears and tongue flopped with each bound and I’ve never seen a truer expression of bliss.

As we came around a bend, the road followed an old wooden fence. The timbers were gray and twisted. The white flowers of Queen Anne’s lace rose up behind the fence, its foliage lush a wall of green. As the road curved, there was a break in fence. Dodger trotted right up to opening. Then he stopped. His ears perked and his head tilted to the side.

“Good boy,” we said. “You wait for us.”

A narrow path made its way through the vegetation. It seemed to turn back toward the town, so we started to follow it. But no canine friend raced ahead. Dodger stood at the fence line. His ears still up, the smile gone.

“Come on, boy. Let’s go this way.”

He didn’t budge.

“Dodger, come on.” Michael called.

Then I noticed a drab gray board half hidden in the damp grass. A wooden cross. A low iron grating in the shape of a rectangle. Another cross and another. “I think we’re in the town cemetery.”

“Cool,” Michael said. “Dodger, come on.”

But the dog wouldn’t come. We couldn’t coax him, we couldn’t order him.

What could an old cemetery mean to a dog? He couldn’t know a tombstone from a fence board. Could he? Nothing had been buried here for a very long time. But Dodger wasn’t thinking of the past or the meaning of the place. He perceived just what it was in that real-time moment.

We looked at each other and realized that if Dodger wasn’t willing to walk through the cemetery, maybe we shouldn’t either. We went back to the road. Once we were both at his side, the dog turned with a bounce and skipped toward camp.

What did he sense in that ghost town cemetery? We’ll never know. But no one told him to be afraid. He didn’t read it in a book or see it in a movie. There was something real that night, something real and tangible that a dog could sense, even if we couldn’t.