Day 33 – Shoe Vines

Shoes Vines

I am not going repeat what I already wrote here. A quick synopsis, starting August 1st, 2010 I will publish a picture I take that day everyday for a year (well to be exact I will do this everyday until July 31st, 2011). This is the 33rd of those photographs. Also, there is a Flickr collection called “The Awesome Leftovers” where I put the daily shots (if any) that didn’t make the cut.

I don’t know the street name, but this place is on a small side street on the way to Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. I’ll look next time I walk by it.

Check out the rest, Day 33 – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Recycle, Reuse.

-Cara

The Butterfly Effect

Word is the beetle infestation plaguing the pine forests of the Western Slope is likely to get far worse in the next couple of years.

Reports indicate that the mountain pine beetle has, as expected, successfully crossed the Continental Divide and is now boring through trees in Fort Collins, Boulder, Greeley, Loveland, Berthoud and Windsor.

The Boulder-based National Center for Atmospheric Research released preliminary findings indicating that by wiping out acres of forest, the beetles may alter local weather patterns, like beetle induced drought conditions.

Pine beetles burrow beneath bark to lay eggs. Larvae fan out, feasting as they mature. The following summer, they take flight from trees rendered a dead orange to seek new victims. Beetles claimed 500,000 new acres of trees in 2007, according to the annual aerial survey of Colorado’s forests, making the total kill 1.5 million acres.

It seems the mountain pine beetle is flapping its wings and creating its own hurricane.

-Cara

Here’s A Challenge

I haven’t had that much inspiration lately, so I was really glad when I came up with today’s entry. It is a challenge I issue to myself and anyone else reading this. The challenge is to use cloth napkins instead of paper. According to Seventh Generation’s website “If every household in the U.S. replaced just one 250 count package of virgin fiber napkins with 100% recycled ones, we could save:

• 1 million trees
• 2.7 million cubic feet of landfill space equal to over 4,000 full garbage trucks
• 380 million gallons of water, a year’s supply for 2,900 families of four
• and avoid 64,000 pounds of pollution!”

What do you really need? Enough napkins for a week for two people (14) and additional ones for company and in case you may need two in one day (9), a total of twenty-three (23).

Here is a super simple way to make some napkins. You’ll need:

• fabric (people recommend quilting cottons) cut into squares around 12–18 inches wide
• a sewing machine
• scissors
• thread

Here are the steps to make these napkins:

• First, press in double 1/4-inch hems (fabric folded over 1/4-inch is a hem) on two opposite sides, and sew them with a straight stitch.
• Press in the remaining two sides 1/4-inch and sew.

That is it! Seems super easy. I will update this entry with pictures once I find some cute fabric.

Cool.

-Cara

Sticker Revolution August 13

Rainforest Action Network has 25,000 stickers, a database of household products containing the not-so-awesome palm oil (which they compiled with the help of people who love the rainforest) and a date: August 13.

Bring all three together by signing up for RAN’s August 13th Stick it to Palm Oil Day of Action.

Sign up online and you’ll get a Day of Action packet including “Warning: Product May Contain Rainforest Destruction” stickers and a step by step guide to taking part in the action. I hope the stickers are made from recycled stickers and not new paper, which comes from trees…I’m just saying.

Rainforest Action Network is also sending letters to every company that uses palm oil encouraging them to be responsible by joining forces with RAN to put pressure on agribusiness giants ADM, Bunge and Cargill to stop destroying rainforests for palm oil. They should send emails instead of letters, every piece of paper we can save is fresh…that’s right I said that too.

Help stop global warming, and support the rights of frontline communities across the world, by going here and doing what you can.

Stick it to ’em.

-Cara

My Official Site

Today on April 10th, 2008, I welcome the Official Web Site of Me, CaraReynolds.com into the world. Firstly, I would like to thank Marine Boudeau for all the work and time she put into creating this fantastical place and making it more than I ever expected. It has been a long journey, but we did it!

What is CaraReynolds.com all about you may be wondering? It is about me wanting to have a space for my photography that goes beyond Flickr, a place that not only showcases my photos, but my life as well. I think this site turned out amazing. It is as I say ALL the time, AWESOME!

So, sit back and enjoy the show… and remember, just like me, CaraReynolds.com will continually evolve, so come back sometime and see me again.

– Cara

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Reason 55 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:

Between 1980 and 2004, meat production in the developing world tripled, today amounting to well over half of the world’s output. Dense concentrations of corralled industrial livestock, which create vast quantities of manure, now skirt the edges of major cities in Asia and Latin America, causing severe environmental damages.