The Dallas Green Zine

Spring and early summer is a time of turtle nesting and babies. You can see turtles walking on the road or turtle hatchlings around local ponds and creeks. However cute they look and no matter how much your child wants to pick them up and take them home it’s not a good idea.

Turtles—sea, freshwater, or terrestrial—are the favorite animals of many people. These attractive creatures continue to beat incredible odds to survive in today’s world of increasing pet and food trade, pollution and shrinking habitat.

Here are some suggestions on how you can help those beautiful and important little creatures, which have been part of our ecosystem for a long, long time:

1. Protect Turtle habitat. Support your local turtle conservation programs. Report any abuse, poaching (of sea turtles, her eggs or hatchlings for example), or any other of your concerns to a local legal agency like Texas Parks & Wildlife department.

These activities are violations of U.S. state and federal laws.

2. Give Turtles a Brake. First, be safe and don’t have an accident; then if possible avoid hitting the turtle. If you can safely stop and you want to do so, move the turtle off the road in the direction in which it was going. If the turtle is a large one, or a snapping turtle, use a stick to nudge him gently across the road without getting too close.

Do not pick up a turtle by its tail, as it can cause dislocation of the turtle’s spine.

3. Don’t take turtles out of the wild. A game warden will fine you if you get caught. Turtles take up to 10 years before reaching sexual maturity to reproduce. Taking a turtle out of the wild will cause great harm to the future population of turtles.

When the population is thinned beyond a certain point, adults are unlikely to find each other for mating. Many turtle species lays relatively few eggs and the hatchlings are very vulnerable during their first years to predation.This means not enough turtles can be produced for the population to survive and the population becomes reproductively dead.

4. Enjoy Turtles in the Wild. Never keep wild turtles as pets or buy them from a pet store. The trade in reptiles as pets is responsible for tremendous animal suffering and serious damage to turtle populations.


Learn to enjoy turtles by observing them in their natural habitat, where they belong. If turtles live in your yard, why not keep them happy by building a pond and by landscaping with plants that provide protection and food? Edible plants for turtles include tropical hibiscus, dandelion, geraniums, and Chinese lantern. (Make sure that your plants are free of pesticide and herbicide residue.) Piles of leaves, vines, and downed trees make perfect turtle hiding places.

5. Don’t release turtles back in wild. Turtles kept in captivity for a while often lose the need for hunting since they have been fed and they will not be able to survive in the wild.

An even bigger problem can develop, that is releasing the turtle, even in its potentially native habitat, will affect biodiversity of the pond or lake you release it in. Introduction of parasites and illnesses can wipe out entire fish or other local fauna population.

For help, contact local your Turtle Club, Herpetological Society, Wildlife rehabilitator or your local animal shelter.

6. Get Turtles out of U.S. Live Animal Markets. Turtles are among the most popular offerings at live animal markets in the United States.

They suffer terrible abuse in filthy, neglectful conditions, and are slaughtered by being cut apart while conscious. The vast majority of market turtles are taken from the wild, contributing to declining U.S. turtle populations. Tell state wildlife agencies that you’re concerned about the increasing collection of wild turtles to supply animal markets in the United States and abroad.

7. Say NO to turtle racing. Turtle racing is an event that is often held for the entertainment of young children at fairs, picnics, rodeos and socials across the U.S. usually without knowing what harm they are doing to the local turtle population as well as to the individual turtles.
 

Turtles are found and collected in the wild and the overwhelming majority is picked up off of the roads. These “collectors” often exceed their legal limit of turtles. Turtles are piled up in five gallon buckets or cardboard boxes for a time ranging from several days to several weeks without food or water. As a result the turtles are under enormous amount of stress and sometimes covered with urine and feces which could spread disease among the turtles.

8. Don’t Mess with Texas. Pollution makes its way into bodies of water and wild areas, poisoning turtles and destroying their habitats.

Always properly dispose of any hazardous materials such as paint or oil. Garbage, such as plastic bags, kills many pond turtles and sea turtles that either ingest it or become entangled in it. Reduce the amount of garbage you produce, recycle, and dispose of it properly.

9. Spread the Word. Educate others about the importance of protecting turtles from commercial exploitation and abuse in your community and throughout the world. Be a voice for turtles.

References:

1. Box Turtle Partnership of Texas [BTPT] articles by Michael Smith
2. World Chelonian Trust – www.chelonia.org
2. Humane Society of the United States
3. Turtle Racing in U.S.A. by Alex Heeb
 

Barbara Dillard is founder of DFW Turtle & Tortoise Club, Member of DFW Herpetological Society, Member of World Chelonian Trust, and partner of BTPT.

You can also visit the DFW Turtle and Tortoise Club.

Would you like to meet with others to discuss and learn about topics in ecology, sustainability, voluntary simplicity, and more?

The Dallas Sierra Club is offering a series of book discussion courses created by the the Northwest Earth Institute (http://www.nwei.org/).

NWEI group at The String Bean discusses Sustainable Living

Each book discussion group meets once a week over a series of weeks. Book discussions include:

Global Warming (4 sessions)
Sustainable Living
Voluntary Simplicity (9 sessions)
Exploring Deep Ecology (9 sessions)
Healthy Children - Healthy Planet
Globalization and its Critics
 

How It Works

You can contact Chris Unruh (trulyunruhly@earthlink.net) to sign up for a course, indicating which book discussion group you are interested in.

Books are distributed at a meeting right before the first session. Each book is $18. However, if you are attending with a partner/spouse, you can buy one book and share it.
 

Facilitating a Book Discussion Group

If there isn’t a group in your area or on your topic, and you are willing to facilitate a group, the Sierra Club will help you find people in your area who are interested. All you have to do is communicate with the others who have signed up and set the time/location.

Facilitating is just like participating, except that you’re given a list of questions to help get the group going at the beginning of each session, and you should try to make sure everyone gets a chance to participate.

You do not need to know about the topic to facilitate.
 

Book Discussion Group Recommendations

Although it’s best to try for 10-12 people, you can have a book discussion group with as little as 6. This is a great activity for churches or temples, businesses, etc. You can meet in someone’s home or at a local cafe or restaurant.

Most facilitators have found that the most optimal time to meet is either 7pm or 7:30 pm on a weeknight. This gives people time to get home from work, and it’s after rush hour.

This is a great opportunity to meet and share, and learn what others are doing for to improve our planet. Some discussion groups have even regrouped later to do green projects together. 

I didn’t know that Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFLs) can not be tossed into the trash when they burn out.  Here is a link to information about choosing and disposing Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs):

http://eartheasy.com/live_energyeff_lighting.htm

Fluorescent bulbs contain mercury, a carcinogen that might dissipate into the air after being crushed on its bumpy ride in a garbage truck from your house to the landfill.  San Francisco’s disposal company treats fluorescent bulbs so gingerly that one employee spends half his workday boxing up any tubes or bulbs they receive without breaking them for transport to a recycling center.

Other everyday household products now banned from the landfill-bound trash bin include batteries, thermostats and thermometers, microwaves, electronics, full aerosol spray cans and many other products containing toxic metals. The objective is to prevent leaks from these toxins once they reach the landfill that could end up contaminating the water table.

If you happen to drop a fluorescent bulb in your home, manufacturers recommend that you don’t vacuum it up, as that might spread mercury particles.  Instead, they advise sweeping it up with a dustpan and storing the contents for proper disposal.

Home Depot will take back burned-out lights, and Lowes Home Improvement stores have bins for spent batteries.  However, while stores that sell fluorescent bulbs are not required to take them back at the end of their life cycle, many do — just don’t look for any prominent signs advertising the fact.  You may have to ask a clerk, and if they’ve got room for more hazardous waste, they’ll take yours.

What do I do with a CFL when it burns out? What is the proper disposal of a CFL bulb?

• Like paint, batteries, thermostats, and other hazardous household items, CFLs should be disposed of properly.

Do not throw CFLs away in your household garbage if better disposal options exist. To find out what to do first check http://www.earth911.org/ (where you can find disposal options by using your zip code) or call 1-877-EARTH911 for local disposal options.

• Another option is to check directly with your local waste management agency for recycling options and disposal guidelines in your community.

Additional information is available at http://www.lamprecycle.org/.

• Finally, IKEA stores take back used CFLs, and other retailers are currently exploring take back programs.

If your local waste management agency offers no other disposal options except your household garbage, place the CFL in a plastic bag and seal it before putting it in the trash.  If your waste agency incinerates its garbage, you should search a wider geographic area for proper disposal options.  Never send a CFL or other mercury containing product to an incinerator.

• ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs have a two-year warranty.  If the bulb fails within the warranty period, return it to your retailer.

What if a CFL breaks? 

Because there is such a small amount of mercury in CFLs, your greatest risk if a bulb breaks is getting cut from glass shards. Research indicates that there is no immediate health risk to you or your family should a bulb break and it’s cleaned up properly. You can minimize any risks by following these proper clean-up and disposal guidelines:

• Sweep up — don’t vacuum — all of the glass fragments and fine particles.
• Place broken pieces in a sealed plastic bag and wipe the area with a damp paper towel to pick up any stray shards of glass or fine particles.
• Put the used towel in the plastic bag as well.  If weather permits, open windows to allow the room to ventilate.

Ceiling fans can help you save energy and money when you use them in one of two ways:

• run them in place of the air conditioning (AC)
• run them with the AC and raise the thermostat by 4-6 degrees

A ceiling fan typically uses 40-100 watts per hour. This is much less than your average AC system. However, ceiling fans work only when someone is in the room. If a room is unoccupied and no one is there to feel the air being cooled by the fan, turn the fan off.

Also, a 52″ fan will affect air within only 225 sq ft. If you’re not occupying that space, the fan isn’t having any effect.

When you run a fan with your AC system, a temperature of 78° to 80° will feel like 72°; this enables you to turn up the thermostat higher (usually by 4-6 degrees) and require less AC use.

You can also use a fan in the winter if it’s one that has a reversible operation. You can identify whether you have one of these fans by looking for a small switch near the base of the base of the fan. Most manufacturers set these fans up so that you can toggle between running the blades clockwise in the summer or counter-clockwise in the winter.

• Clockwise (summer) - the blades blow ‘down’ the air, creating a cooling efect
• Counter-clockwise (winter) - the blades push the air upwards–recirculating the warm air that has risen to the ceiling. The winter option is especially helpful in rooms with high ceilings that trap warm during the ‘home heating’ season.

Some other considerations for optimizing your ceiling fan usage:

• When buying window fans, look for the ENERGY STAR label.
• A ceiling fan should not be closer than 7 feet from the floor and it’s best to mount them in the center of the room. They should be at least 10 inches from the ceiling for optimal use.
• A high quality efficient motor will move the most air with the least energy. A fan that uses less than 1 amp of electricity is a good start.

Cob building is a form of earthen architecture and uses hands and feet to form lumps of clay mixed with sand and straw, a sensory and aesthetic experience similar to sculpting with clay.

Earth is universally and easily available and has been used as a building material throughout history and in most cultures around the world into the present day.

The word ‘cob’ comes from an old English root meaning a lump or rounded mass. Cob earthen walls are beautiful and extremely durable, lasting for centuries. Thousands of comfortable and picturesque cob homes in England have been continuously occupied for many centuries. This ancient technology doesn’t contribute to deforestation, pollution or mining nor depend on manufactured materials or power tools. Earthen structures are non-toxic and completely recyclable.

Straw bale construction uses baled straw from wheat, oats, barley, rye, rice, etc., in walls covered by stucco. This technique for constructing walls was practiced in the plains states in the latter 1800’s and early 1900’s and has been recently revived as a low cost alternative for building highly insulating walls. Straw bale walls have R values that range from R-30 to R-45.  Many of the early structures are still standing and in use. Because the bale walls are coated with plaster, bale construction is very durable and is both fire and insect resistant.

With recent rises in the price of lumber, increasing interest in natural and environmentally safe building practices, and with the concern of carbon emissions that contribute to global warming, natural building techniques such as cob and strawbale are enjoying a renaissance.

To find out about Cob & Straw Bale Homebuilder Workshop from May 5-19, 2007, visit the Sustainable Green Country website at
http://www.SustainableGreenCountry.org/main/?p=29

A 100-car plus coal train rumbling through town caught our children’s attention last summer in a different way.  This is a typical train that runs through town a couple of times per day, at least that we know of.  The parent-children volley was a tag team between my 7 year old twins, 9 year old and myself.  It went like this:

‘What’s that stuff in the train cars?’ 
‘Coal.’ 
‘Why is coal on the trains?’ 
‘Electricity’. 
‘Coal makes electricity’? 
‘Eventually.  By burning coal, power plants boil water, which produces steam, which turns large turbines, which generate electricity’.  (Long pause.) 
‘Burning things pollutes the environment’.
‘Yes, it is absolutely not the best solution.  Let’s do some math… (calculations) That’s quite a few tons of coal day after day’.  
‘Where else can we get electricity’?  Ding!

We got home, looked around online, found http://www.powertochoose.org/ and made the switch to Green Mountain energy.  At least we made the attempt, more on that later…  The kids were ‘proud’ of their parents for making the right choice about using wind generated electricity.  I was more excited about their making a difference.  Easy to get so caught up in life or believing my own space on the planet can’t make a difference.  Easy to lose consciousness that it starts here, and then with the next generation, etc.  Basic stuff, right?

This is where ‘dork dad’, as my wife says, engaged.  We went around and looked at all of the electricity that we used, that we could see.  We then began calculating watt hours (the number of watts something consumes in an hour) of light bulbs and various appliances. 

We had over 50 incandescent lights in the house (excluding the small chandelier bulbs, whatever they’re called) that averaged between 60 and 100 watts each (If all were on concurrently, those alone would use around 4000 watts of electricity per hour, or 4 kilowatts). 

Kids run out the door to catch the bus or play, and invariably leave their light fixtures on.  240 watts each.  Ceiling fans.  Nightlights.  Closet lights.  TV’s.  Bathroom lights.  Radios.  All consuming.  $450-$500 electric bill?  Duh.

Light bulbs were the ‘low hanging fruit’.  With a trip to Costco, we purchased CFC’s which consume 13-15 watts each but illuminate just as well, including recessed lighting (only some work with dimmers, research first).  Then nightlights.  These things typically burn 4 watts each, but are pretty much on 7X24. 

We found, again at Costco, ½ watt LED nightlights that last a long, long time.  The type we found also have color selection, my wife was able to set the color, by pushing a button, to the individual room.  I got a passing grade on that one.  She’s still getting used to the CFCs; they’re not ‘instant on’ but gradual. They do take a short while to warm up.  Fifty CFC light bulbs later, a package of ½ watt LED nightlights, and we can save (if all lights are on at once), around 3300 watts per hour. 

We spent around $60 on this project, which was recovered in the first month.  I firmly believe by being more conscious, as well as making the switch made this payoff occur so quickly.  Our electricity bill has averaged 25% lower month over month vs. last year same months, since September ‘06.

The fridge, washer and dryer were next.  Front load GE washers and dryers replaced the Maytag top load washer and older dryer.  We have lowered water consumption by over 1000 gallons per month.  In terms of 1 gallon milk jugs, that’s a fair amount.  Electric consumption went down again due to better spin cycle on front load, and more efficient dryer with moisture sensors that shut off automatically, not when the dial makes it around to the ‘off’ position.  With the fridge, the kids must know what they want before they open the door.  The coils are vacuumed every few months as pointed out in other articles on this site. 

Found and repaired drafty areas in the home; door jams with additional weather stripping, areas in attic with uneven insulation cover (if you place your hand on the ceiling during high temperature differentiation days; colder or warmer outside than in), you can feel areas that have less insulation cover in the attic.  Thanks kids for the eye opener.

Solar is next if the HOA allows it. A bill was recently passed that may eliminate the need to gain approval for adding solar, which is encouraging.  We’ll see how that pans out. 

Closing off on Green Mountain Energy… I live in a ‘Regulated’ area and cannot switch; Tri-County Co-Op is the monopoly of choice for now.  Make the switch for us until we’re able to do the right thing here. 

With the TXU announcement yesterday of ‘no unilateral action’ shutting down plants, Disregarding $2.5Bn profits last year, we should all think about what is really going on, and what we really need to do.  Smells like energy providers out west some years ago.  What was the name of the energy outfit that was involved?  Where is California now with being more conscientious?  Most of the time ‘conservation’ runs against the grain in casual conversation.  We need to each do the right thing to make an impact.  Thanks to the editor for bringing awareness and a forum to facilitate a positive change. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is cutting and redeploying staff in the National Wildlife Refuge System across the Southwest and Pacific regions of the country, and this includes Texas.

This will result in:  the elimination of environmental education programs for children cuts in endangered species recovery programs reductions in habitat management and law enforcement

According to an Environment News Service article: “Texas will lose 11 percent of the workforce on its 21 national wildlife refuges, which host some one million annual visitors. Under the new plan, wildlife and visitors at seven Texas refuges will have reduced staff or no staff and minimal services.”

The new plan will mean that Southwest refuges will be classified into one of three tiers based on each refuge’s habitat management needs, visitation, and law enforcement requirements.

Tier 1 is composed of focus refuges, which tend to have the largest landholdings, diverse habitats, rare fish and wildlife species and offer extensive visitor services programs. They will be expected to have a full range of staff in a variety of disciplines and will support Tier 2 and Tier 3 stations. Focus Refuges include Laguna Atascosa, Lower Rio Grande Valley, Santa Ana, Aransas, Matagorda Island, Brazoria, San Bernard, Big Boggy, Anahuac, McFaddin, Texas Point, Moody, Attwater Prairie Chicken, and Balcones Canyonlands.

Widow Skimmer Dragonfly - Balcones Canyonlands

Tier 2 are the refuges targeted for staff reductions although some staff will remain to conduct basic refuge management and maintenance. Some visitor services will be offered such as wildlife viewing and interpretation and special events. Tier 2 includes Trinity River, Hagerman, Muleshoe, Caddo Lake and Buffalo Lake.

Image from USFWS Trinity River website.

Tier 3 are the unstaffed refuges and tend to be of a size that does not require extensive habitat manipulation to achieve wildlife objectives. While the refuges may be opened for visitors for special events or for self-directed tours, there will not be staff on-site. Staff from a neighboring Tier 1 or 2 refuge will manage these refuges. Tier 3 includes Little Sandy and Neches River.

For more about what is happening in wildlife refuges around the country, visit here: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2007/2007-03-12-06.asp