Tough Guys ~ Big Hearts

I stumbled upon a great animal rescue group today: Rescue Ink. They are a group of mostly tattooed, burly, motorcycle-riding guys... with hearts of gold. Their website says "Like many of the animals they save, the members of Rescue Ink know what it’s like to be given a second chance in life. And they’re using theirs to help the animals, no matter what it takes." I also like that the animals they rescue, and the crusaders themselves, remind you not to judge a book by its cover.

Check out their new show "Rescue Ink Unleashed" on the National Geographic Channel. It looks like "Dog the Bounty Hunter" meets "Animal Cops."

Wednesdays

Wednesdays are great. They are when I get the Earth911.com e-newsletter. This week through exploring the new articles on Earth911.com I learned that Bon Jovi has released several eco-friendly items in his new product line including the now ubiquitous stainless steel water bottle and a couple of 100% organic cotton t-shirts (but what about fair trade, Jon Bon!?). And while exploring their website I found out that they have a pet accessory line called Bone Jovi. Heelarious.

Anyways, back to the earth. I also learned some cool new things about recycled glass. Did you know new glass materials have to be made out of the same color glass? (although, personally, I would like a tie-dyed beer bottle once in a while, that’s fine with me) So, when different colored glass gets mixed in the recycling process, then it has to be used as an “additive” for other products. Well, a company called FilterPave has developed an ingenious product to use this mixed glass and the Morton Arboretum in Chicago is using it. It is a recycled glass paving material. Word is, it is made of 90% post consumer recycled glass, which means 70-90 recycled glass bottles go into each square foot of pavement. And the really cool thing, the paving material can absorb 15 ounces of oil or water per cubic foot, so it is really good for trapping car pollutants on say, your driveway or parking lot. A combo aimed at my true heart: recycling and stormwater solutions!

I Wear My Sunglasses At Night...

Check out "The Unlikely Calm: Life on the Southern Oregon Coast" at: http://mtadamscenterblog.com/wordpress/?p=631

With my last article about my Crater Lake adventure, I have now written 50 blog entries. Appropriately enough, I just had my first article published on another blog (see above). Of course, my editors over there seem to have found an embarrassingly goofy picture of me in Callie's green sunglasses from the last MAC training. But what the hey, being goofy is what life is all about, right? Just take it from these guys...

I took this picture through a teloscope at Shell Island a few weeks ago

...i wear my sunglasses at night... don't mess around with the girl in shades... oh no!...

Easier to Breathe

For the long weekend, a couple of my friends and I decided to take a road trip to see some different scenery, feel some different water, smell some different air. Seriously, it felt like a whole new world out there; one where breathing and smiling and laughing were easier.

We started by driving up into the Cascades north of Crater Lake and stopping at Diamond Lake; a diamond shaped lake between Mount Thielsen and Mount Bailey. We walked out on the docks at the historic Diamond Lake Resort and marveled at the lake’s beauty and size, not realizing the grandeur that lie just around the next bend.

We then drove into Crater Lake National Park from the north. After passing through the Pumice Desert we got our first glimpse of Crater Lake. You don’t know what a 6-mile diameter lake looks like (or makes you feel like) until you see it, especially in moonlight.

The next day we started by visiting the visitor centers, watching the historical video, and buying souvenirs (of course I went straight for the National Parks passport stamp station and the smashed penny machines). Then we hiked The Watchman; a mountain on the west side of the lake. It was a steep 400-foot climb to a beautiful fire lookout station with panoramic views of the lake, Mt. Scott to the east, the Willamette Valley to the west, and Wizard Island in the lake. Wizard Island formed after the ancient 12000-foot high Mount Mazama collapsed upon its own empty magma chamber 7700 years ago, from the subsequent eruption of a cinder cone.

We all attempted to photographically document the breathtaking cloud formations and the shadows that they created on the valleys and trees as a storm front moved quickly towards us. It rained on us as we descended the Watchman but felt that this was the way Crater Lake was meant to be seen.

After a stop for lunch and to chitchat with a lady who was walking the 33-mile rim drive, we found ourselves at the northern point of the lake, hiking the 1.1-mile trail down to Cleetwood Cove in bright sunshine. This is the only official access to the water. The boat tours had been cancelled that day because of the wind (there were 4-foot waves hitting the rocks earlier that morning), but we sat down on the swaying docks and dipped our hands into a body of water as blue as a sapphire. I do have a fear of deep water, so floating on a wood plank above 1,943 feet of water, was certainly a challenge, if not a thrill.

The hike back up was tough (the saying goes that the trail is 1 mile down, 10 miles back up), but we recovered as we continued clockwise around the lake. We then found ourselves at Sun Notch where after a short hike, you can take in breath taking views of Phantom Ship (the smaller of the two islands in Crater Lake). Phantom Ship looks like a tiny island, but it is actually home to 7 kinds of trees.

The next day we packed up our wet tents (it had rained on us pretty steadily that night) and drove west to Union Creek where we had breakfast in a historic restaurant and visited the Rogue Gorge. We continued southwest, stopping in Grants Pass for lunch at a little coffee shop where I got a really good vegan sandwich. Now heading south to Cave Junction, we stopped in a little “hippie town” called Emery at an awesome place affectionately called Burl World where a man single-handedly (as far as I can tell) has built 4 elaborate tree houses, dog houses, fences, swings, benches, and so much more (and that was just the things that were on the outside). He also had two large barns full of more polished burlesque masterpieces.

In Cave Junction we set up camp at the Country Hills resort with the perfect campsite right on Sucker Creek (I know, I know, funny name). That night we ate ice cream around the campfire then fell asleep to a genuine babbling brook.

Monday morning, we packed up and headed up the windy road to the Oregon Caves National Monument. After getting the safety spiel and buying postcards, we headed under the mountain, at first following the path of the first person known to enter the caves; a man chasing his dog “Bruno” who had chased a bear into the cave. I think this was the first marble cave that I had toured (I usually see limestone caves). So although I had seen bigger chambers and bigger formations (i.e. Carlsbad Caverns), Oregon Caves definitely had something special to offer. For example, 38,600 year-old jaguar bones and 55,000 year-old grizzly bear bones were found in the Oregon Caves. Finds like these help scientists determine when different openings in the cave closed or opened. After walking literally through the mountain, we decided to take the longer trail back to the visitor center, the trail that took you over the mountain.

From there, we looped down in to California where we visited the pretty Smith River and majestic redwood trees of Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park, and the lighthouse in Crescent City. From there, it was a straight shot up the Oregon Coast. Although, it was good to be home, we already missed the trees, lakes, rivers, and rocks.

CoosWA September Newsletter

Click the image to read the full newsletter or visit: http://www.cooswatershed.org/Publications/CoosWAnewsletter_September09.pdf

Go Blue and Green!

I just learned today through the wonderful Living Architecture Monitor that in May, Toronto became the first major urban center in North America to adopt a green roof bylaw. The bylaw will require green roofs on all new schools, nonprofit housing, multi-unit residential, commercial, and industrial buildings in 2010.

There are so many benefits of green roofs beyond stormwater retention: use of wasted roof space, social benefits (recreation, food production), habitat, extended life of the roof, aesthetics, improved efficiency of roof-mounted air conditioners, and in general helping to control the temperature of the building.

I think Michael Krause (chair of the Green Infrastructure Foundation (GIF) board) summed up my motto nicely in this issue: “restoring ecological function to urban infrastructure through more environmentally conscious design and construction.”

I was proud to see that Philadelphia ranked 5th in terms of green roof square footage installed in 2008 at a whopping 196,820 square feet.

I also found the Environmental and Energy Study Institute Climate Change newsletter fascinating this week.

For example, here is a great new tool showing projected changes in temperature and precipitation for the US: http://www.climatewizard.org/. You can even choose the IPCC emission scenario and the general circulation model. Other than that: more bad news for Central American coffee and polar bears.

But remember, YOU can do something: take canvas bags to the grocery store, plant a tree, take the stairs, take the bus, unplug your cell phone charger. Go blue and green!