A Deeper Green

Haha, I know you were all doubting that I was ever going to be successful on the apartment gardening front, but I am here to prove you wrong!

Behold! Healthy looking wildflower sprouts:

And, just in case that isn’t enough wonderment for you, here are the herbs I planted! Don’t they look nice?

I will probably post a progress update as well. This may be all the apartment gardening i get done this year, as we are moving in July to a new place and that will take up a lot of my time spent on the apartment for the rest of the summer. If this works out, next year I will do some more daring things though.

At least this way I have some plants that will love getting some worm compost in a few weeks!

After some prompting from a friend, I applied and was accepted at examiner.com to write about water news and events in the Chicago-land area. I am pretty excited about the prospect as I am really interested in getting more water news out there. I can get pretty geeked out about it!

So basically, this post is just to invite my readers to visit my examiner page. You can find it here: Chicago Water Examiner

Don’t worry, I will still be posting here as well. As you may have noticed, I love doing water stuff, but I also have a pretty big tent I like to write under

Now go visit my site. I get a penny if you do!

Dear Brekke,

I know that the best thing to do would be to not shave my legs, but seriously?!? That’s just not gonna happen. I wear skirts to work! What is an ecofriendly shaver to do?

You’re Awesome!

~ Crazy shaver

Dear Crazy,

As members of a society where hairy legs (and armpits and even sometimes faces) can get you a weird look or two walking down the street, it’s strange how difficult it can be to find ecofriendly shaving options. Those with easy to shave bits (read mostly smooth lined faces) have it easy as they can break our a straight razor and look great doing it. Those of us with more delicate areas (like knees!) to shave may have a more difficult time though.

My best advice to you would be to invest in shaving soap as opposed to spray on shaving foam and to use a recyclable razor. Additionally a razor sharpener is probably a good investment.

But wait?!? You are uncertain where you can find the above wonders? Well lucky for you Ask a Brekke has all the links you need.

~ For shaving soap try Simmons Aloe Vera. It comes in citrus! That’s way better than the random berry smell we usually get.

~ For a better razor look into Preserve. They make the handles of their razors and toothbrushes from recycled plastic and they come with a pouch to send them back for more recycling. You might be able to find them at a local store, but if not… www.drugstore.com

~ Want to sharpen those blades and extend their life? Try the Razor Saver. I’ve read some mixed reviews about it on the internet, but the consesus seems to be that it works well if you insert a two-blade razor and run it back and forth across the sharpening surface a few times.

And there you go!

Hope this helps, and I wish you happy shaving for the whole summer.

(This was not an actual written-in question. A friend mentioned wanting to know about eco-friendly shaving and I just got silly. Whatever, you know you were amused at least a little.)

So this weekend I was able to participate in Bioblitz 2009.

For those of you who don’t know, a Bioblitz is typically a species inventory in an area. Bioblitz 2009 was a joint project of National Geographic and the National Park Service, and is in its third year or touring national parks to inventory all the species that can be found.

This year the study took place at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. As far as I know the end count of species cataloged was 1095. Which is pretty good in my mind, considering that there was rain and torrential downpour for almost all of Friday!

For a little bit of background on the Dunes. The Dunes are the third most biodiverse national park in the United States, and interestingly enough also one of the smallest! The Indiana Dunes National Park was created in 1966 due to the tireless work of many individuals. One of the most influential was Indiana State Senator Paul H. Douglas. This man went to bat for the dunes time and time again. And in the end his effort made it so that the only way to build additional industry on the south shore of Lake Michigan would come in conjunction with the creation of a national park as well. The original park was about  8,300 acres, but with some additions is now 15,000 acres of pure paradise.

Basically, I just wanted to share this great experience with everyone. I am hoping to get my hands on some of the great pictures I took (with a friends camera) and post them at a later date. Until then, I encourage everyone who lives here to make the Dunes a regular destination. And for those of you who aren’t lucky enough to live so close, you should consider adding it to your next trip to or through the Midwest. Give me a call, I’ll take you myself

So, why did the Chicago Tribune write this “Roundup” of water sources for the south and southwest suburbs last week? Because it came to light last month that the Village of Crestwood in south suburban Chicago had been pumping as much as 20% of its residents water from a contaminated well for two decades until 2007 when the well was finally closed.

I have been putting off writing an entry about it because my thoughts are so incoherant and angry, they still are, so I do apologize for this entry.

The EPA discovered the well was contaminated with dry cleaning toxins including vinyl chloride and informed the village. The village then proceeded to begin telling residents in water quality reports (these are required by the clean water act) that all of the residential water in Crestwood came from Lake Michigan via the nearby town of Alsip.

Now, I have worked at a water treatment plant, and I know that keeping water quality consistent can be difficult, and I know that there are times when water quality can suffer because of demand or many other problems, but not telling people that you are having those problems is where the criminality of this seems to come into play. 

If the Village of Crestwood had continued to use that water for emergencies only as the EPA had instructed, and then only when notifying the people using that water I would have very little problem with this. The problem would lie almost solely with the pollutors. But the lack of effor to inform the public of what was going on is appalling. And even worse outright lies were reported to the citizens of Crestwood about the quality of their water.

What is even worse, is that it seems that at least state officials were aware on some level that this was happening as well, and yet they let it go on for 22 years!

Rargh. I guess I don’t really have a good point, but I just wanted to talk about this a little bit and let people know that even if you are being told that your water is safe, you may want to trust any instincts that you have, because it seems that in some cases the ball is being dropped. 

More links on this:

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/04/crestwood-well-water-contamination-chemical-mayor-robert-stranczek-governor-pat-quinn-illinois-envir.html

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/05/bad-water-on-minds-not-agenda-in-crestwood.html

Today, www.ecogeek.com has up an interesting article on a wind farm in Texas that is using radar technology to shut off turbines if there is a danger of birds being hit. As the article points out, wind farms that are over land are often far below where birds are flying to begin with, and wind farms are certainly not the only man made hazard that birds encounter as they migrate. This means that annually about 7,000 birds are killed by contact with wind turbines. The number seems big, but is actually not that significant.

Wind turbines come with many problems, not just with birds, but with bats and a plethora of other issues. All energy sources seem to have their pros and cons. Personally, I favor solar energy (especially passive solar) simply because it seems that that’s what the sun is there for, to give this planet and its passengers energy. Plus once you make a solar panel it mostly stops being an environmental problem or really much of any problem.

I of course mean nothing against wind. I think wind power will be needed in higher and higher amounts as we progress toward a renewable energy world, and that is why I am happy to see programs like the one in Texas, where we are finding solutions to the most pressing problems with wind.

I personally still worry about bats though. This technology might be adapted for use with bats, and I know there are other solutions to that problem working out there, but after awhile it all starts to feel more like a technological band-aid rather than a solution to our problems.

On that less than happy note, I bid you adieu. Have a good day! And I promise, I still think wind turbines are pretty darn awesome.

So today I came across this article talking about research that’s been done on why certain types of exotic species cross over into harmful invasive territory.

The article doesn’t go into too much detail about what the actual study found, but is does touch on the topic of climate change. There are lots of theories as to how climate change may affect the spread of invasive species, but to me it seems clear that those species that reproduce quickly and have a large level of adaptability (like most invasives) will be supremely prepared to take on climate change as it comes.

Sadly, this may mean a lot of not good things for the ecosystems that we all know and love. These ecosystems are already stressed for many reasons. The continuing and likely accelerating threat of invasives will only worsen their plight. As I’ve mentioned time and time again, certain invasives (like the Asian Carp) already dominate the areas that they have made their home.

In light of all the boo to invasive species talk that I’ve been spouting the last couple days, I have decided to share some tips to help prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species.

~ Do not dump any bait or pets into waterways (this is how the rusty crayfish was established in the Great Lakes region)

~ Be sure to thoroughly wash all gear when moving from one body of water to another. This includes anything that touches the water, like boats, fishing lines and poles and other recreation equipment.

~ Spread native plants. When planning a rain garden are you doing your best to use native plants or plants that are considered be complimentary to natives? There are lots of great options out there.

So yesterday I came across this article in the Chicago Tribune. That, and the fact that I spent several hours last week working on fact sheets for invasive species really got me thinking. Is it good environmental practice to find a “use” for invasive species?

Of course, on the surface the idea of turning the nuisance Bighead and Silver Asian Carp into protien for animals and fish oil for supplement companies does seem like an ideal solution to many of our current problems. That plant will provide jobs for fishermen and likely hundreds of other workers. Also, it will take Asian Carp out of the environment. When we are talking about a fish that is 80% of the biomass in certain parts of the Illinois River, that seems like a whole lot of good.

But what about the remaining problem of the Asian carp as an invasive species? The carp will still be in the river, still reproducing, eating and making life very hard for any other species of fish and many of the plants. And, now, those fish are making us humans money. My fear is that this situation creates a need and a want to protect Asian carp populations. If we are harvesting them and making money doesn’t it then seem like we would have a vested interest in keeping them around?

I am kinda conflicted on this whole subject. Obviously, leaving them alone to continue to upset the balance of the river and endanger those who wish to use the river for recreation without making any steps to change the situation is likely not that answer. I’m just not sure that creating a market value for these fish is the answer either.

What do you think? Will commodifying Asian Carp be a good thing in the long run?