What are you doing for Mother Earth?

It's that time of year again, folks. Yep, a week from today is Earth Day. Do you have plans? Does this day even appear on your radar? Typically, Earth Day falls in the middle of Fiesta. What is Fiesta, you ask? http://www.fiesta-sa.org/ is the link to the Official Goings-On here for the next 2 weeks or so. There is more to do here than you can shake a stick at! Honestly, you can't do 1/4th of all there is fun to do. Loads of parades, contests, concerts, beads, etc. Think of it as a Mexican Mardi Gras that lasts a fortnight!

And in the middle of all the hullaballoo there is an Earth Day celebration at one of the small lakes in town. It is a really nice event. They usually give away small trees till they run out. There is a bunch of booths of people with information about the environment, lots of vegetarian food vendors, music, games and things for the kidlets, gardening (free seeds), water conservation, electricity, pretty much all the stuff you might imagine at an Earth Day event. It is a nice counter-point to all the other Fiesta party things.

Earth Day for me is a good time to take stock of what I am doing, what I could be doing and what things I need to strive to get to in my quest to have a lighter footprint and leave this planet a tid bit better than I found it. I have done a really good job at getting my paper and disposables down to a minimum. My big focus this year is water. There is a show on PBS I have caught a couple of times called State of Tomorrow that addresses all sorts of state-wide issues and one thing I paid particular attention to last week was this: In the coming years we are not going to be experiencing a big decrease in rainfall, HOWEVER we are definitely going to have an increase in temperatures. So the rain we get is going to evaporate more and at a faster pace. Essentially, that means less water overall going into our rivers, lakes, aquifers, yards, rain barrels, everything. Every drop has to count. If it can be saved and used again as gray water, it should be.

I called our local water company and asked about getting the water from my washing machine to my rain barrels instead of in the sewage pipes and they were no help at all. None. First I had to call 3 times to get an actual person. Then the person I got was not the right person. The right person I had left messages for and still to this day have never gotten a call back. I know that this can be done and probably easily, I just can't get from the planning stage to the execution stage. I need to go hang out at a hardware store in the plumbing dept. to find out the names of things so that I can draw up a plan of what I need. I have the Kenmore HE 3t washer and dryer set that are the most awesome machines on the planet. I love my washer and dryer so much!!! I know that I have sold 4 or 5 sets of these and Sears should love me and my efforts on their behalf. And the point of that is that I know my washer uses a paltry 15 gallons of water per wash load. This is opposed to the giant Maytag top loader types that use 45 - 50 gallons!!! Is that insane? I probably do 4 or 5 loads a week. Which in my head translates to 5 x 15 = 75 gallons a week that could be going on my flower beds, lawn, and garden. Did you know or am I the last person on the planet to know that you get billed by the water company for how many gallons come into your house AND for how many leave via sewer pipes? You are paying for water TWICE that you use ONCE. That is why I am trying to find ways to use it twice and not have it go into the sewer where I will get billed for it again. Makes sense to do this, right?

My other little contribution to this is to find some rubbermaid tubs the size of my kitchen sinks to run wash and rinse water in and then dump them on the lawn rather than down the drain. I haven't measured my water usage in the kitchen sink but I am sure it is astronomical. Especially since I am a "water runner". When I get the water to just the right temp I like to leave it on when I am using it because it is such a pain in the ass to get it just right again. This is a really bad habit that drives Rachel Pie up the walls and I am trying to find new ways, so hopefully this will be a thing of the past.

One of my friends told me she is getting married next week on Earth Day and I am now picturing her planting a tree on each of her anniversaries. Isn't that a great idea?

Have a wonderful Earth Day and find a new, small way or a big way to make a better impact on our Mother. I like the idea that we didn't inherit the Earth from our grandparents; we are borrowing it from our grandchildren. Let's keep it clean!

How are you helping the environment? Post some ideas in the comments and let's share new things we can all do.

Random Weekend Stuff

I was quite surprised to see that Paul Harvey of radio fame had died. He was 90 years old, so I am not sure why I would be surprised at his death. But he was an icon and I guess I never thought of him aging. I hope that there will be someone who puts his commentaries online or compiles them on cd or mp3 format for future generations. He will be greatly missed and his passing leaves a great hole that can't be filled.

Saturday Mr. Big Ed and I went to a symposium on environmental issues, energy saving, housing and business and such at the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center: http://www.esperanzacenter.org/
I attend many functions, speaker events, music, plays and things at the Esperanza and I think they are one of the most worthy non-profits in this city. The Peace Market they sponsor on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving is the only place I will go on Black Friday that is shopping related.
Anyhoo, this particular event opened up a lot of food for thought and hopefully that gets translated into action.

Sunday we drove up to Kerrville to see Sparky and spend the afternoon with him. It is so dry and everything is still dead and brown. No green tips of anything sprouting. This drought is serious. It has been close to 18 months or more with no rain to speak of and they are now saying that soon we will go to Stage 4 restrictions. I don't know what that means, but it does sound ominous doesn't it? It is now March and we should have had enough precipitation to see the beginnings of all the lovely Texas wildflowers, but no. If you believe in rain dances, please do one for us.

This means that I have to get busy with my gray water recycling. I have been picturing and trying to work this out in my head for a long time now, and now it is time to implement and take action. There has to be an easy way to get the water from my washing machine out to my rain barrel. I will be getting more information on how to do this. I also want to start pumping the shower and bath water out to the garden. That should be easier to do. I will be sure to post how these projects end up and I hope to remember to start photographing these things as they develop.