Earth Babies Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Eco tips’

What is the difference between “global warming” and “climate change?”
(Global Warming Kid’s Pages)
“Global warming” refers to the increase of the Earth’s average surface temperature, due to a build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. “Climate change” is a broader term that refers to long-term changes in climate, including average temperature and precipitation

The idea of climate change is not a foreign concept anymore – all of us have heard of it – there are ongoing arguments and studies as to whether global warming is due to our actions or the natural life cycle of the earth.
Whether we roll our eyes at the fuss or buy into the concern whole hog it is a concept our children will need to learn about.
Irrespective of what our take on it is, the approaches for helping are simple and logical from the stand point of teaching our children about our influence on our earth, the creatures on it and the resources we need for our daily living – it is our responsibility as parents to raise our children to be considerate, respectful and love this planet that allows us life.

The other day we took the kids to watch Earth (unfortunately I did not get to watch it all as it is a documentary so lost Kara’s attention as soon as the opening scenes of the polar bear babies moved on) but Rafe watched it all with his dad and enjoyed it.
Basically it is a documentary which demonstrates the effects of climate change by following three animal families and their amazing journeys across the planet. The imagery is beautiful, they share interesting facts about the animals and show effectively how climate change is affecting the animals, their source of food and in essence their very existence.
(2 other stunning kids movies, which though they don’t focus on climate change, take on the the subject of how our actions as humans are affecting the earth and animals are Happy feet and Wall-E)

Climate change can be a big concept to try and explain to children especially if like me you only grasp the basics, so I found some lovely sites specifically focused on children that can help you communicate it to them on their level.
There are many but I will only list a few (google is your friend Ü)

Cool kids for a Cool Climate – Projects, News, Stories

Twelve Really Important Things you can do to help stop global warming – nice explanations

Global Warming for kids which links to Hippo Works – Lovely little cartoon clips which address climate change and other environmental issues in short simple format easy for children (& those like me needing climate change for dummies) to understand.

For today Climate Change is the focus for Blog Action Day 2009 – more than 7000 bloggers have registered to participate. Go have a look and see what others have to say on this subject.

Nobody likes me, everybody hates me,
I think I’ll go eat worms!
Big fat juicy ones,
Eensie weensy squeensy ones,
See how they wiggle and squirm!
Down goes the first one, down goes the second one,
Oh how they wiggle and squirm!
Up comes the first one, up comes the second one,
Oh how they wiggle and squirm!
I bite off the heads, and suck out the juice,
And throw the skins away!
Nobody knows how fat I grow,
On worms three times a day!
Nobody likes me, everybody hates me,
I think I’ll go eat worms!
Big fat juicy ones,
Eensie weensy squeensy ones,
See how they wiggle and squirm! – www.bussongs.com

Wow that song is a lot more gross than I remember as a child! But when I started this blog the beginning few lines were going round in my head and so I have added it for fun Now while I do not advocate cruelty to worms and am not sure of their culinary value you really do need to get some Eisenia Fetida in your life! They will enrich it in ways you did not even know were possible.

Eisenia fetida as I learnt on Wikipedia , known under various common names, including redworms, brandling worms, tiger worms and red wiggler worms, are a species of earthworm adapted to decaying organic material. They thrive in rotting vegetation, compost, and manure; they are epigeal. They are rarely found in soil, instead like Lumbricus rubellus they prefer conditions where other worms cannot survive.

So I know after you read Eco Tips 1 that you have all rushed out and bought your lidded bin for the kitchen scraps and are merrily composting away – you have right? Don’t let me down, do it today, this is one of the easiest Eco tip to do, just wait until I get to the 5 minute showers later in the series! So now you need worms! Well you can do it without worms but these lovely little critters are going to help turn all that kitchen stuff into compost in double quick time. They have a thankless job of eating through rotting stuff – yuck.

Now see if I was a red wiggler I would also think that evolution was a smashing idea after all who wants to eat rotting stuff all day? But I guess since these wiggly worms are not capable of pondering their lot in life and are quite happy to be in a warm compost heap minding their own business with no worries in the world but munching and crunching all day – actually come to think of it that sounds quite nice. Maybe it is reincarnation I need to believe in and ask to come back as a red wriggler (do they come in pink?)

You can get a worm farm here fromMother Earthworms
All about vermicomposting (composting with worms) at Red Wriggler Haven
A composting blog – believe it or not
And the You Tube worms: G Word – Red Wigglers

Why Compost?

Composting is one way that you can do your little bit to cut down the waste that goes to the landfill. New research has found that almost half of the food waste in their rubbish bins could have been put in the compost bin. You might be wondering why it is necessary to compost when the waste will break down on the landfill anyway.

On a landfill the volumes of waste are so great that air can not get to the organic waste, so as it breaks down it produces a harmful greenhouse gas, methane, which damages the earth atmosphere. At home when the same waste is composted above the ground, oxygen helps to decompose anaerobically which means that no dangerous methane is produced. So you are not only helping the planet but after about 9 months you get wonderful free fertilizer for your garden.

Composting at home for just one year can save global warming gases equivalent to all the CO2 your kettle produces annually, or your washing machine produces in three months.

What can you put on your compost heap?

THE GREEN: This list are quick to rot and provide essential nitrogen and moisture:
- Tea Bags
- Uncooked fruit and vegetable peelings and scraps
- Old flowers
- Coffee grounds and filter paper
- Old bedding plants
- Grass cuttings
-Salad leaves

THE BROWN: This is the slower to decompose, they provide carbon and fiber and allow air pockets to form
- Cardboard
- Egg boxes
- Egg Shells
- Scrunched up paper
- Fallen leaves
- Sawdust
- Twig, branches and bark

AVOID
these things are best to keep out of your compost heap

- Meat
- cooked vegetables
- dairy products
- diseased plants
- dog poo or cat litter
- nappies
- perennial weeds, or weeds with seed heads.

You need a good mix of Green and Brown for a healthy compost heap. I am not going to go into exact amounts as I find when something is too technical and too prescribed then people don’t even start as it sounds like too much effort. Aim for a good mix of the two. If it is too wet add some more Brown, if it looks a bit dry add some more Green. The Green items will contain bacteria that will generate the initial heat that is required by the process. A healthy compost bin is a living ecosystem. By keeping a good mix of green and brown material you will provide the perfect conditions for a variety of mini-beasts and can let them do all the hard work.

What equipment do you need?

I bought a lidded bucket from the local supermarket and have it handy in the kitchen so that collecting all the veggie and fruit peels, tea bag egg shell etc is really easy. The lid makes sure that the flies are not attracted to it and I empty it every few days.

A compost bin is not absolutely necessary and as long as you have a designated area all compost material will eventually break down. A bin however is a very nice to have compost tool as it helps keep everything in one place and is dark and hot which helps the decomposing process, limits the smell and make produces the compost faster. You can get compost bins from most garden or hardware stores.

When is the compost ready?

It takes about 6-9 months depending on the climate for the compost to totally decompose. You can also get compost activator to speed up the process but it is not totally necessary.
Once your compost has turned into a crumbly, dark material, resembling thick, moist soil and gives off an earthy, fresh aroma, you know it’s ready to use. Lift the bottom of the bin slightly or open the hatch at the bottom depending on the kind of bin you have. Scoop out the fresh compose with a spade or fork. Don’t worry if there are small twig or bits of egg shell still visible this is normal. You can now use this compost in your garden beds, on the lawn, in containers and in your vegetable garden.

This is the easy approach if you want the more technical stuff there are some links
Wikipedia
Compost guide - everything you ever need to know about home composting

So for red wrigglers and more about worms read tomorrows blog…

So I was thinking about how we give out green and eco tips but somethings thing are not as obvious as they seem. So the next few weeks I have thought of looking at some of these topics in more detail and try inspire you to make changes that are easy practicle and can have a big collective impact on caring for our environment.

The topics I have thought of are
1) Home composting
2) Earth worm
3) Home recycling
4) Water saving tips
5) Energy saving tips
6) Planting with kids
7) Bees – should we be worried
Organic food, why, what and where to buy it

If anyone can think of other things they want covered let me know.

Have you got your soil and seeds ready? Only 7 days to go till Planting Season.
Join us in getting outside in the sun with your kids and have a little fun planting something they can nurture and eat - (we would love it if you would share some photos with us of them busy).

planting a vegetable box

I am not a keen gardener for 2 reasons a) somewhere along the line the green thumbs I should have inherited from 2 plant crazy parents got frostbite and turned black. and the bigger problem b) I hate sand and soil and mud on my hands and feet – I am gril’ing just at the idea of it.

I was not always like this there were many photos of me as a toddler covered in icky mud – especially in my mouth (yum – I was apparently a mud connoisseur). I also spent most of my childhood running around the hills and dust and forests barefoot – no more. BUT i will be sticking my hand in dirt and mud to plant some seeds in support of Planting Season on the 22nd.

I had hoped to actually get a vegetable garden going this spring (we have been working on making space for this) but I have put all on hold till I know where/what/how will be happening with our living arrangements in the next few months (staying, moving house, moving town … life is an adventure) Ü.

Sally guest-writes for the Jozi kids blog and did a Let’s get planting post for them last week – nice read.

I was asked to be Great Expectations Spring Day show last week. For those who don’t know the show it is a parenting show presented by Samantha Cowen. They wanted a mom who had walked the talk on all things natural, and while I am far from the perfect eco mom I agreed to go and talk about natural parenting and try to be green.

Surprisingly I was not even nearly as nervous on the day as I thought I would be. Once you get there it is off to make up. Wow I had more make up plastered on my face that day than I even had at my wedding. I was not even going to ask if the make up was natural or organic as I feared that I already knew the answer but I guess for one day it was not going to kill me. It felt so weird and when I watched myself of the show I can see in talking how conscious I was of the layer on my face. Once the hair was straightened and they declared us all pretty enough it was off to the set.

There are a few read through practices and we got to ask questions and figure out how it would all work. By the time it actually started it was all quite relaxed and we were having a good laugh.

Sam Cowen the GE presenter asked me how I landed up as a green parenting expert and I guess the answer is that it is a slow process. I started with researching natural birth and then came across other natural and more eco friendly idea. I started adding things as I went along. This is really the point I want to stress to people when it come to all things green. It is not that you have to change everything at once but rather that it is a process of adding things one at a time that you think you can manage and once you have one thing sorted and are used to the changes then you can look for more things to change.

I have been so encouraged by the positive response that natural and green parenting is getting here in South Africa. When I started Earth Babies 5 years ago people thought the idea of cloth nappies and natural parenting was quite mad, but at the last natural and organic show we did in June the response was over whelming. I was think we would really have to try drag people into the stall to hear about cloth nappies but in stead people were flock to us, they had heard about this new kind of nappy and wanted to know more. The change in attitude just to nappies was very very encouraging. And now being asked to be on a fairly mainstream parenting show has really left me with Great Expectation that an eco revolution is here!