Connecticut Green Living

Have you noticed anything unusual in the news lately? Or more accurately, noticed anything missing? Yes, it's been a long time since the last U.S. mass shooting. That was the February 26 Milwaukee brewery shooting, in which six people sadly lost their lives. To my European, Asian and African readers, this may sound like a dramatic bit of news that occurred not that long ago. Americans know a different story. In 2019 there were 417 mass shoootings, which include those where no one was killed or just a few people, according to Gunviolence.org; and while their records indicate that shootings are still occurring, the rate is clearly falling. According to Wikipedia records, there were 32 deaths from gun violence in mass shootings by this time last year; there have been 11 such deaths this year. Mass shootings in this sense means large enough to have made the mainstream news. While the landscape has shifted in terms of gun violence, undoubtedly domestic violence is surging with so many f...

Due to Covid-19, this Earth Day, the 50th, is sad and challenging but it is also a perfect time to reflect upon ways to protect and honor nature. And while every Earth Day means 102 press releases in my email inbox, on everything from clean make-up to rainforest protection, I was particularly attracted to the birds and the bees this year. Being sequestered in my home for weeks on end - what week is it? what day? - is only counterbalanced by the walks I take here in Branford. Blooming cherry blossoms interspersed with hydrangea, dogwoods and yellow loosestrife explode with color. Dizzy from the beauty, it is easy to forget that we're living in Plague times. Take a look around - from a safe distance. It's gorgeous. What all this floral beauty means is that the bees are in hog heaven. In normal years I'd be getting ready to pad down to the local farmers' markets for some homespun honey. It is delicious, but I didn't know too much about it until I decided to explore ...

A strange phenomenon has crept into our daily lives here in Connecticut - the resurgence of the plastic bag. I understand that we are in a health crisis. I understand that there is concern about cashiers touching reusable bags. But why the rush to revert to plastic bags? What happened to paper? Another scourge: the plastic glove. I went to People's bank here in Branford and tucked into the envelope cubby were two gloves - one blue, one yellow, wadded like chewing gum. Guess what: someone has to remove those. And then these plastic gloves end up in the same waterways as our plastic bags. Remember the campaign against plastic? Remember climate change? Let me connect the dots. Climate change was already threatening our lives when Covid-19 hit. However, because it's a slower killer there was no 'shelter-in-place' command for climate change . If we had a president who believed in science, perhaps there would have been. Now climate change is rearing its pissed off head in...

It still irks me when I recall that someone told me I could not afford home grocery delivery. This happens to be the truth, but it was almost like telling me, "You can't afford to survive. You can't afford the life raft." I just wrote an article about how SNAP, the nation's food stamps program, is starting to roll out at-home deliveries in states like New York. This is a blessing for underserved communities which include the elderly, the "poor" and people like me. People whose income has gone up and down and is now down so they are on food stamps. Everyone deserves to survive this pandemic. When I quit my position at a food market it was after spending a day cleaning shopping carts and checking out probably two hundred customers. I loved my customers (for the most part) there, but realized the next day that my life was at risk. One customer had even stopped to whisper, "Oh, you have to do the cleaning..." I smiled and said, "Yes, it's ...

A study published today, April 6, in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment examines a novel twist on an old idea: that beauty is more than skin deep. The authors have shown how one should take charisma into account when studying and managing invasive species. Such interlopers are the second largest cause of biodiversity loss. Transferred to new environments by human activity, they become competitors or predators of local species, which are often unable to withstand the incursion. An international research team, involving two French laboratories, have evidenced an aspect of these invasions: species charisma. The popularity of a species and its perception by society and the media, they concur, determines how it is introduced and what impact it has on its new surroundings. In Italy, for example, the arrival of the popular North American grey squirrel threatens the existence of the native red squirrel. "Charisma is used in the literature to refer to the “attractive...

"We can't take a step outside and see what we are doing, just like orangutans can't. -- Dr. Birutė Galdikas, world-renowned orangutan expert ..... "The Trimates - three women who went to live among our closest relatives" sets the tone, the narration harkening decades back to when bravery and curiosity were more commonly deemed male traits. The term was coined by anthropologist Louis Leakey for three of the most famous champions of studying primates in their natural environments, Drs. Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birutė Galdikas. In 2020, lauding female scientists is more popular but not necessarily de rigueur . That's only one reason why "She Walks with Apes" is important. Airing on Earth Day's 50th anniversary April 22, this compelling documentary narrated by Sandra Oh concerns three women who embarked on lifelong journeys to live amongst humankind's closest relative, the ape. The stories of Goodall, the late Fossey and Galdikas ...