"Green" Your Holiday Season

Want a “greener” holiday season? Save money while still giving thoughtful and personalized gifts? USEE’s Intern Amanda has come up with some tips to reduce your environmental impact and help make your money go further this holiday season.

10 tips to save money, get creative and stay green during your holiday season:

1. Send Christmas cards online. Save the paper and postage this year by using free sites like All Things Christmas, Punchbowl and 123Greetings. With e-cards you can still attach a personal message and pictures of the kids, dogs, or whole family. It’s a great way to show a loved one you are thinking of them this holiday season.
2. Deck your halls with LED lights. When it comes to string lights, LED are the way to go. They use much less energy than the alternatives. Most new trees already come with LED lights.
3. Plan before you shop. Know who you are shopping for and an get an idea of what they would like. If possible, plan to go to one centralized location to minimize driving.
4. Think outside the gift box. We all have newspaper scraps, old bits of fabric, baskets, jars, magazine pages, boxes, coffee cans, and more. Get creative and use what you have around the house to wrap a present; your family and friends will love the creativity and you will love the savings. Also consider using boxes or bags that can be re-used, like these “baxes” from Family Fun.
5. Decorations. Whether it’s your first Christmas or your 20^th, you can still get creative with your decorations. Use clay from the craft store, they usually have kits for this, or buttons, ribbon, colored paper, colored popcorn balls (to be eaten Christmas day), go scavenger outside for acorns, berries and more. A simple can of glittery spray paint and you have festive ornaments or centerpieces. For more DIY creative ideas.
6. Make your own gifts. Recently married, had a child or bought a new home? Make a simple scrapbook of some memorable pictures for parents and grandparents. Have an aunt who loves to cook? Give her a basket of the ingredients for her signature dish. Do you love canning? Make a basket of homemade jam and muffins or bread. Do your grandparents need help around the house? Make a coupon book for mowing the lawn, fixing a broken door, etc. A small and simple gift will be cherished for years to come.
7. Buy local. Cooking up a feast for Christmas dinner? Look for what is in season, like root vegetables and citrus. If it is no longer growing season where you live and you can’t buy strictly local, try buying more local by choosing produce grown in California versus Chile, etc.
8. Reuse your wrappings. The easiest way to go green on Christmas, get a box and fold and put away all wrapping, tissue and ribbon. Save it for next year, use it for another project or to wrap birthday presents for the coming year. If you don’t have the storage capacity to keep wrappings and ribbons, be sure to recycle what you can.
9. Have fun. Enjoy Christmas, it’s a festive time to be spent with family. Take the train downtown to see the lights, or stay in and watch Christmas movies.

Keep your Christmas traditions alive while incorporating new ones to create a memorable and green Christmas.

Happy Holidays

Intern Amanda

Do you, your kids, or your students enjoy playing in the dirt? Planting bulbs and watching them grow? Want a new way to interact with and teach your students in an outdoor setting?

The Bulb Project is a great way for educators to get their students outside and learning about science, art, history, and more while growing our environment. This is a great project for schools, after-school programs, home schooling, community programs and more.

The Bulb Project has awarded grants worth $250 to supply bulbs to projects around the country, creating a variety of exciting, original and active activities for students of all ages. Educators collaborate with local retail partners using flower bulbs to:

• Establish creative plantings, including a living flower bed quilt, a labyrinth, and rainbows of blooms.
• Conduct scientific research, including testing the effect of growth regulators on flower bulbs, tracking the arrival of spring, and experimenting with bulbs for low-water-use, green landscaping.
• Create special gardens to foster teamwork, inter-generational relationships, conflict resolution and peacemaking.
• Integrate flower bulb activities with all aspects of the curriculum -- from language and art to science and math.

The students at The McGillis School recently received a grant and participated in The Bulb Project. The Stars of David, the theme for The McGillis School Bulb Project, integrates science and art for students in grades 1 through 8. The students studied, designed, and planted Persian Buttercups and Ranunculus asiaticus in the xeriscaped school garden of the new LEED-certified middle-school addition. The students will study the cells of the root system, which form interlocking Stars of David, and learn how the plants cope with drought and heat. The planting will reflect the school’s Jewish values of Tikun Olam, repair the world, and will be used as a teaching tool for green building and landscaping.

The students are excited to see their flowers bloom, and will be documenting the journey of the bulbs. Be sure to check back for updates on the flower, and see how The Star of David comes to life.

Spooky Plants: Elephant's Trunks, Pitcher Plants, and Corpse Flowers

This week’s Halloween theme is Ugly Plant Life. We’ve all seen something out in nature that just isn’t aesthetically pleasing, and quite possibly a little frightening. Here are 3 of the creepiest, ugliest and down right odd plants that we could find.

Elephant’s Trunk (Pachypodium namaquanum)

This plant can be found on the Northern Cape of Namibia. It has a thick trunk which is tightly covered in spikes. During the winter months there is a “crown” of leaves, and surprisingly, this pokey plant has velvet-like flowers that appear August to October.

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Albany Pitcher Plant (Cephalotus follicularis)

This plant is found in the swamps of southwestern Australia. The “body” of the plant is shaped like a pitcher and filled with liquid, with a red or purple “mouth” and tiny teeth on the pitcher lid. The lid opens and closes, trapping insects inside. Little Shop of Horrors, anyone?

(photo credit)

(photo credit)

Corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanium)

This is one flower you don’t want to stop and smell. The corpse flower can live for 40 years, blooming only once every four to six years. Known as the world’s tallest plant at 5ft high and 4ft wide, this flower is anything but pretty. The corpse flower’s three-day bloom smells of rotting flesh and attracts beetles for pollination.

(photo credit)

Blog Action Day: Breaking the Bottle Habit

Enjoy the following post by Amanda Nelson, one of USEE's talented interns!

(Photo Credit)

I recently came across Blog Action Day, an annual event where blogs across the globe join together to blog about an important world issue. This year’s theme is WATER.

I really wanted to write this blog today because I’ve only recently opened my eyes to the world outside my own. I went to the Brad Paisley concert in September and his tour was all about water, fittingly called the H2O Tour. There was a video playing about people who need water all over the world and you could help by texting and donating money. I was amazed at the facts and sent a text in right away. A few weeks later I started looking more into the water shortage around the world, and stumbled across Blog Action Day.

When deciding on what to write about, I came across a topic that impacted me personally more than the others, a topic that most can relate to.

Water bottles. How many of these do you go through in a week? How about a month? Even a year? You’d be surprised that the average person drinks 200 bottles per year as reported by TriplePundit. At first I brushed this statistic off, but then I really started thinking about it and I’m sure it’s possible. I buy a 20 pack of bottled water about 3 times a year, then random stops at the gas station, not to mention when trying to choose a healthier option when eating out. Now, what happens to these bottles when I’m finished? I throw them away, and not usually in a recycle bin.

Annie Leonard has put together a new short film, “The Story of Bottled Water”, that exposes the bottled water industry and their lure of having us consume bottles of water from snow-capped mountains or exotic lands. These bottles take 17 million barrels of oil to produce as reported by Food and Water Watch and 86 percent are NOT recycled.

Watch this informative video and go buy a reusable water bottle. It’s a small step but it will have big impact.

Get involved in Blog Action Day.

More facts about Water.

Annie Leonard’s “The Story of Stuff”

Bone-Chilling and Mysterious Weather

As promised, this week we bring you “bone-chilling, thrilling weather disasters!!”

The Bermuda Triangle.
Has anyone ever come out?

We’ve all heard about this mystic and mysterious corner in the North Atlantic Ocean, but is there a scientific explanation for the unusual events that occur in the Bermuda Triangle?

Christopher Columbus recorded the first unusual event to occur in the Bermuda Triangle area when he wrote about his compass acting bizarre. In fact, the Bermuda Triangle is one of two places on earth where magnetic compasses do not point north. This could be one reason that so many ships and airplanes get disoriented and "disappear" in this area of the Atlantic.

Some say that in the twentieth century the Bermuda Triangle claimed more than 1,000 lives. Countless ships and airplanes have disappeared in or above this area never to be seen or heard from again. This phenomena has only added to the Bermuda Triangle myths of monsters, giant-squid, aliens, time warps, and even portals to the lost continent of Atlantis.

There could be an explanation for the disappearance of these boats and planes. Unpredictable weather can create short-lived but sever storms, and swift ocean currents and deep marine trenches effectively hide all evidence or debris of these storms.

While there is some scientific evidence to explain this phenomena, many still believe there is something unexplainable and unknown in the Bermuda Triangle. Regardless of whether or not you believe that this corner of the ocean contains aliens or time warps, is pretty amazing and mysterious.

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Tornadoes
Can a tornado really send you to the Land of Oz?

Often called “nature’s most violent storm” a tornado begins with a thunderstorm and advances into a circular, fast moving column of air extending from the clouds to the ground. These air filled funnels can move with tremendous speed of 250 mph or more! That’s faster than a NASCAR driver, but probably not enough to take you to the yellow brick road.

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Ice Storms
Here is the bone-chilling part.

Ice storms are created when ground temperature is below freezing (32 F), above ground is close to freezing, and when frozen rain/hail covers the region. Ice storms occur in areas with no snow, though it can occur in areas with snow.

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Tune in next week!

5 “Scary” Insects and Animals (Part 2)

Believe it or not lions, tigers and bears (oh my!) are not the “scariest” animals on earth. Here are 3 more animals that give lions, tigers and bears something to fear.

Vampire Bats (Desmodus rotundus)

Late at night these bats emerge from abandoned buildings, dark caves, hollowed trees and mines found in Central and South America. These bats received their name because they do need blood to survive; but don’t worry, these bats won’t be eying your neck for their next meal. Vampire bats make a small cut with their teeth into cows, pigs, horses and birds and lap at the free flowing blood. In other words, they only snack on other animals.

Another reason these bats are unique: they can walk, run and jump. And they are surprisingly friendly to humans.

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Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis)

These fuzzy, gremlin-looking creatures are from Madagascar and are classified as primates. These primates have bony, witch-like fingers that they use to pick insects and food from tree trunks and branches.

Madagascar superstition believes that if an Aye-aye points their middle finger at you it’s a death sentence, so you’d best not cut one off in rush hour traffic.

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Blobfish (Psychrolutes marcidus)

Remember the movie Monsters vs. Aliens? How about the blue blob Bob? Turns out there really is an animal that is a blob, well a blobfish. Blobfish live deep in the waters of Australia and Tasmania. These fish are primarily a gelatinous mass that is barley denser then water.

Blobfish will eat any edible matter as it floats by. Do you think they can smile?

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Stay tuned for next week’s “spooky” weather phenomenon!

Scary Insects and Animals (Part 1)

October is here and you know what that means: Halloween, candy, scary costumes, haunted houses, creepy-crawlers and more. For the month of October we thought it would be fun to explore a different scary insect/animal, plant, weather, and environment/green living for each week. We’re excited to learn and share something scary and new each week.

Are you ready? Here we go.

The Army/Soldier Ant (Eciton burchelli)

From South America the army ant is a small but deadly predator. With colonies ranging from 300,000 to 700,000 these ants can grow to reach a half-inch in length. They have massive, strong and knife-like jaws half their own length! Holy cow! For food instead of hunting using scouts or searching individually, these ants travel in gigantic armies. My favorite feature about these ants, they are BLIND!

(Photo Credit)

(Photo Credit)

The Horned Baboon Spider (Ceratogyrus)

These spiders are in the tarantula family and live primarily in South Africa (thank goodness). Horned and fuzzy, these eight-legged creatures grow to an astonishingly legspan of 5 inches! That’s bigger then a cell phone. These spiders get their name from the horn or plug projecting from their carapace (torso). 6 mm fangs that have an orange and black coloration, 8 eyes in a cluster on the top of their carapace make these horned baboon spiders creepy and crawly.

(photo credit)

(photo credit)

Check back for 3 more scary animals. And be sure to stay tuned ALL month long for more spooky posts!

Welcome Amanda! USEE's newest intern.

Amanda is a senior at the University of Utah working on her Communications degree. She isn’t your typical USEE staff member; a fast-paced city girl at heart, she is eager to learn more about all things “earthy”. Amanda hopes to gain more knowledge about outdoor recreation and activities, eating healthy, and everything that USEE has to offer. As a staff here at USEE we hope to gain insight from her perspective as someone not from the EE world. Amanda is spear-heading USEE's social media efforts; actively working on growing our Facebook page, as well as creating and maintaining a Twitter account (@UtahEnviroEd) and has already made great progress. Amanda has been working as a social media freelancer for a local political candidate as well as her employer. Between work, school and internships Amanda spends her free time reading or with friends and family.