Earth The Place We Live

Today I feel stuck. I am not really inspired by anything and have no idea what to write about. I think I am just in a funky mood. I hate it when I don’t already have an idea of what I want to write. I guess maybe I’ll do a search online and put in ecology or green or I don’t know what…I’ll be back.

OK, I think I figured out what my problem is. I spend a lot of time writing blog entries on what we as humans are doing wrong and what we can and need to do to make the world a better place. I write everyday about it and I just need to lighten it up a bit now and again. I mean even the game this last Sunday was depressing. Today I am just going to go over some interesting and nerdy facts about this amazing planet we live on. I hope you enjoy.

Ten Earth Facts

• The Earth is about 4.54 Billion years old.
• Earth’s location in the Solar System is on the outer edge of the Milky Way, about 28,000 light years from the galactic center (Source: European Space Agency). It takes the solar system 225 million years to make one full trip around the Milky Way.

• Earth’s Sun is a medium sized, yellow star. Scientists call it a G2 star. It is the largest object in the solar system and contains 99.8 percent of the solar system’s mass. It is located in the center of the solar system (and it is super hot!).

• It takes Earth 365.2422 days to orbit the sun. This is the basis for the year.
• Rotational Speed is about 1,070 miles per hour at the equator (That is super fast!).
• It takes the Earth 23 hours, 56 minutes and four (4) seconds to make one complete 360° rotation (so what happens to those 3 minutes and 56 seconds everyday? How old am I really?).
• Earth’s Weight (Mass) is 5.972 sextillion (1,000 trillion) metric tons. That’s 5,972,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons! Actually, scientists prefer to refer to this measurement as the Earth’s mass instead of weight since weight is the result of Earth’s gravitational pull on another object. And the Earth cannot pull on itself! As the Earth orbits the Sun, it is weightless. If the Earth were placed on the Sun, it would weigh more than if it were placed on Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system but much smaller than the sun. Yet, Earth (or any other object for that matter) would have the same mass regardless of where it is located. (Earth is a fatty.) :]
• 70.8% of Earth is covered by water, and 29.2 % is covered by land. (The ocean really is Earth’s final frontier. There is miles of unexplored world underwater, including miles of caves and the like.)

• The highest point on Earth is 29,028 feet above sea level, Mount Everest, formed 60 million years ago, located on the border of Tibet and Nepal in the Central Himalayas in southeast Asia.
• The lowest point (on Land) 1,320 feet below sea level, the Dead Sea, located on the border between Israel and the West Bank to the west and Jordan to the east. It is so salty — the saltiest on Earth — that it is unable to support any type of life.

I feel better now. It is information that even if you already know it, maybe you haven’t thought about it lately and how amazing this super fresh planet really is, so let’s take care of her.

Earth is awesome.

-Cara

(Source:ecology.com)

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Reason 94 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:

To a great extent, it’s the highenergy starch of corn feed that makes beef cattle grow to slaughter weight so quickly—14 to 16 months today, versus the traditional 4 to 5 years on grass (see #46). In terms of energy concentration, today’s feed has been compared to Snickers bars. As a consequence, feedlot manure is too nitrogen rich to be used as fertilizer. And it is so laced with hormones and other pharmaceuticals that fish downstream downstream can be found with strange sexual characteristics.

A Spring Scarf

What is a better time then the dawn of Spring to buy a new scarf? I don’t think there is a better time really. It is sale time in scarfland. We are not at the point quite yet for the super scarf sales, but close enough to start thinking of the perfect one.

Here are some super, fresh choices I found. Three of the scarves were discovered on BranchHome.com, and the last two I found were on OriginalGood.com. I can not review, nor endorse their quality and/or usefulness as I have yet to try any of them, but I like the look, how they were made, and from what. :)

Navy Modular Scarf

design:
Galya Rosenfeld

manufacture:
Handmade by Galya Rosenfeld, San Francisco, CA

materials:
Reclaimed ultrasuede (scraps from the upholstery industry)

dimensions:
59″ long x 3.75″ wide

about:
Galya Rosenfeld’s work sits on the lines between fashion, design, craft, and art. Ruled by mathematic formulas as much as creativity, her designs emerge from the place where whimsy meets pragmatic thought. Her pieces are individually crafted, often without the use of thread, patterns or other tools found in traditional tailoring.

Galya’s pieces have been accepted into the permanent collection of The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

price:
$224.00

“Flow” Scarf

design:

Hiroko Kurihara

manufacture:

Handmade by Hiroko Kurihara Designs, Oakland and Berkeley, CA

materials:

100% virgin wool from Italy. Material is EU ecologically certified.

dimensions:

62″ long x 8″ – 10″ wide

about:

With each scarf that Hiroko Kurihara Designs sells, they donate a scarf made of recycled polar fleece to a local organization that serves those who are homeless or in transition. This act of giving requires no additional purchase: it’s simply responsible, ethical consumerism.
Hiroko Kurihara Designs’ creations are high quality, uniquely designed and handcrafted in their Oakland and Berkeley California studios from the finest European virgin wool that is EU ecologically certified. They guarantee their crafts(wo)manship and believe in local non-sweatshop manufacturing.
Enjoy the warmth and the style of this scarf and know you are tangibly giving much needed comfort to someone else.

price:

$128.00

Warm and Fuzzy Scarf

design:
Tibetan refugee artisans

manufacture:
Original Good Store

materials:
Recycled Silk and Wool

dimensions:
55 x 6 (in.)

about:

Helping Tibetan refugee artisans by providing new markets for their crafts, these wonderfully happy hand-knotted wool creations are sure to keep you warm. Not only are they handcrafted in Nepal, but they are Fair Trade certified. They are also dry clean only. :)

price:
$29.95

Stay warm!

-Cara

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Reason 21 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:

In the mid-1970s, chicken processors argued that in order to keep up with skyrocketing demand they should be allowed to merely rinse off fecal matter from bird carcasses rather than cut away affected parts. The government gave in to the processors’ request, and the rule stands to this day. A number of studies have since proved that rinsing carcasses, even up to 40 times, is ineffective at dislodging the filth. It’s something to know since the violent motion of factory de-feathering rubber fingers not only works to squirt feces out from the carcasses, it can push filth deep into the crevices of the birds’ skin.