Happy Anniversary, Jane. Thank you for your passion.

This year is the 50th year anniversary of one of my hero's life long passions that changed science forever. What was really amazing, Jane Goodall was not a scientist, just a young woman with a passion. Fifty years ago Jane, her mother and a couple of guides set off in Africa to study chimpanzees. Unless you live on another panet, you surely have heard of Jane Goodall. She has devoted her life to study of this fabulous creature.

But her story is more than the knowledge we have learned about this primate and but also about our disillusions of mankind. We now know so much more, thanks to Jane.

But, I think the story is the more about the power of passion. She wanted to learn; she had no concerte ideas as to what she might discover. She only wanted to learn.

Awesome!!!!

She changed the scientific world with passion alone.

Read about her journey at http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/10/jane-goodall/quammen-text/1. Do yourself a favor and read her story.

Maybe you will find your "passion". And, maybe, just maybe, you will also learn one person can change the world.

It's "Earth Day" Don't throw away your "butts"

Another Earth Day is almost over. What it means to me is more awareness besides action. I noticed today two separate incidents of people throwing their cigarettes out their car windows. Ouch!

First, let me tell you, I'm not being self-righteous. I smoked for years; tried to quit also for years. How I finally kicked the habit (I had become a closet smoker); no, it was not will power or ability. It was bacteria pneumonia and a two day stay in the hospital coughing up blood by the cupful that pervaded me. As I told my daugther "It had never been explained so well before".

 I never smoked again.

But when I did smoke, I never litered. (There's a little good in all of us.)

So, on to my next point. If you must smoke (I understand) don't litter with your butts. It's bad, bad, bad for the environment.

Fact:

"[Cigarette butts] also present a threat to wildlife. Cigarette filters have been found in the stomachs of fish, birds, whales and other marine creatures who mistake them for food ... Composed of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic, cigarette butts can persist in the environment as long as other forms of plastic."

--Clean Virginia Waterways

Do us all a favor. Don't throw it out the window.

Thank you.

Every little thing we do.

"Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things; I am tempted to think there are no little things."

Bruce Barton (American Congressman, 1886-1967)

Another quote comes to mind:

"A picture is worth a thousand words."

BPA (Revisited)

I wrote the following blog last September 11, 2009:

Are baby bottles safe?



We’ve all seen civil and criminal trials on TV, whether fictional or real. Each opposing team will call their expert witnesses. These witnesses are no “men/women off the street”. They are highly qualified individuals with a zillion letters after their names. Yet, given the same data, they arrive at totally different conclusions. Who are we suppose to believe?

So, in our daily lives, who do we believe what is safe or harmful?

I decided to do a little research of my own on the safety of Bisphenol A, otherwise known as BPA. I’ve been reading reports all week. BPA is either totally, totally safe or one drop will turn your child into a mutant. Clear on that? OK, let’s get in a little deeper.

BPA is an endocrine-disrupting chemical produced in large quantities in our society. It’s used in the production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. The polycarbonate plastics are used in food packaging, water and infant bottles and medical devices among other products. Containers will usually have the symbol “7” or “PC” on it. The epoxy resins are used to coat metal products like food cans. It’s the use in baby bottles that has created the most controversy.

In my quest for answers, I first researched where and who any report was generated. Once this is known, it’s fairly simple to guess what conclusions will be reached.

The report I found to have the least bias was issued by the National Toxicology Program, a division of the National Institute of Health. The website for this and other reports is http://www.niehs.nih.gov/news/media/questions/sya-bpa.cfm.


In short, they found Some Concern for effects on the brain, behavior and prostate gland in fetuses, infant and children at current human exposures to BPA. On a scale on 1 to 5, Some Concern is a 3.

So, read the report and make you own decisions. My thoughts. When it comes to our children, some concern is enough. It’s also enough for some manufacturers. We are starting to see labels stating “BPA-Free”.

This is what I love about living in this society of ours. We always have the right to question.
 
So now, an update.
According to the Washington Post, CBS News and other news agencies, the Food and Drug Administration is reversing itself. Instead of stating BPA is not harmful, there is "some concern". It has based its earlier statements totally on studies made by the chemical industry. It will be conducting their own tests.
 
Hey. Shouldn't they be doing that all along? Oh, well; let's look ahead. This means more serious studies will be made. It has already been documented that 90% of the population has BPA in their urine. BPA is a synthetic estrogen; just what we need to supply growing babies and children.
 
Grass roots movements do work. You see more and more baby bottles being advertised as "BPA Free". There's always a better way; and we will find it.

Seahorses

At http://www.rubij.com/, the current special is the Animal Tails girls long-sleeved organic tee with the Seahorse original design.

Here's what the hang tag that comes with the t-shirt says:
"People ask 'what is love?' Well seahorses have the answer: we are ultra romantic. Every morning we start the day with a dance. We change into different colours to keep the romance alive. The dance lasts ten minutes, then we separate for the rest of the day so as not to risk getting on each others nerves. We remain partners for life.

What's great about being a female seahorse is we don't have the babies, ha ha yes the men have them not one or two, but about 1000 a year. That may sound a lot but we are now endangered. We like to hang out in the same place, so when fishermen find us we are an easy catch. We are too pretty for our own good as we look fabulous in aquariums. We are also caught in large numbers for use in herbal medicines for fertility treatment"

I don't know about you, but the male seahorse seems like my kind of man. Monogamous, mate for life, takes you dancing every day, doesn't get under foot for the rest of your time and has your babies for you. What more could a woman want?

On a more serious note, several species of these magical creatures are endangered. How sad.

(Photograph by George Grall)

The Polar Bear

The week at http://www.rubij.com/ the Special of the Day is the Polar Bear long sleeve organic cotton t-shirt from our "Animal Tails" collection. It's currently 40% off retail.

Let's talk about the polar bear. Everyone recognizes this wonder of the northern ice. I wonder how many kids have had a stuffed polar bear to sleep with at night. And for sure, the polar bear has become the symbol of global warning. Here's what the hang tag says on each of the tees and rompers about the Polar Bear:

"Now a few facts, I'm a brilliant swinner, 60 miles non-stop is OK for me. In fact I love water so much I will spend as much time in the water as on the ice, perhaps that's why I have the Latin name Ursus Maritimus, meaning Sea Bear. I also have partially webbed paws which help me along. As well as that, my paws are an impressive 30 cms across. With paws that big you would expect me to be pretty big too, well I am - actually I'm the largest land carnivore in the world. But despite my impressive statistics, I'm in serious trouble. Climate change and pollution is ruining my food supplies.
What can you do to help? Going organic is a great start to slowing down the pollution problem - you can't do better than an Animal Tails T-shirt with my picture on it! Another great idea is to get your parents to turn down the heating and start wearing a thermal vest - discover the the joys of wearing your own insulation just like me!!
Thank you."

If the Polar Bear is in trouble, so are many other of the smaller carnivores of the Artic. They scavenge the remains of the polar bear's kill for their survival. I know it's fairly unlikely any of us will ever see a polar bear in the wild, but I like to think of them always running free up north.

Spotlight on elephants

Who doesn't love elephants? They've always been one of my favorites. I love watching them on Discovery or Animal Planet. I've even envision riding on one. I know that will never happen. I love horses, too, but I'm scaried silly every time I'm actually riding on one.

The Asian Elephant is on one of our endangered species t-shirts. The hang tag which comes with each shirt states:

"The difference between me and the African elephant is I have smaller ears, a rounder back, 19 ribs instead of 21, but most of all I am much more friendly. If you ever see an elephant at the circus, it will without doubt be an Asian elephant as we're easily domesticated, and form loving bonds with humans.

The matriarch elephant in a herd is responsible for remembering who is a friend and the traditional migration routes, hence the expression 'an elephant never forgets'. This is one of the reasons for our decline in the wild, if humans have built houses on our migration route we'll trample through their house, rather than go round, which tends to annoy then, so they kill us. We are also heavily hunted for our tusks and now there are only about 32,000 of us left."

Pretty sad, isn't it. Go to the Wildlife Conservation Society at http://www.wcg.org/ to learn more about these amazing animals and the projects ongoing to help support conservation of the Asian elephant.

As you can see kids of all ages and gender love elephants.

We currently have the Asian Elephant as our "Special of the Day".  Take a look at http://www.rubij.com/ for savings of 40% off.

Another "Animal Tail"

I've been reading about dermochelys coriacea. That's right, dermochelys coriacea. I'm talking about the Leatherback Sea Turtle, and, of course, I didn't know it either. I can't even pronounce it.

I've been on a personal mission to learn more about the endangered species on our "Animal Tails" t-shirts. It has been equally enlivening and heartbreaking.

According to the National Geographic, the leatherbacks are the only remaining representatives of turtles that traces back more than 100 million years. So how can it be possible, after all this time, they are now designated as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act? Here's their story from the hang tag attached to each tee:

"I am the largest reptile in the world. I'm about 2m (7ft) long and weigh almost 2000lbs. I have huge flippers which propel me around the world. My favourite place though is the Caribbean, that's where I nest. I always return to the same beach to bury my eggs in the sand. The problem is each time I go back there are more and more humans. The amount of times my eggs have got squashed by some kid playing volley ball or parking their deck chair on top of them! But my family have nested there for centuries so I don't see why I should move.

My favourite food is jellyfish, but I mistake plastic bags in the sea for them and that is the main reason for us being endangered. If I eat one it will know kill  me. Please ensure that none of your plastic ends up floating in the sea, it will be the death of me."

So, we are the problem. There is an organization dedicated to saving the leatherback turtle. Larry McKenna's book Almost Gone details their plight. To learn more, go to http://www.saveourleatherbacks.org/.

We can become part of the solution.

That's my grandneice,Julianna, at the zoo.

Are baby bottles safe?

We’ve all seen civil and criminal trials on TV, whether fictional or real. Each opposing team will call their expert witnesses. These witnesses are no “men/women off the street”. They are highly qualified individuals with a zillion letters after their names. Yet, given the same data, they arrive at totally different conclusions. Who are we suppose to believe?

So, in our daily lives, who do we believe what is safe or harmful?

I decided to do a little research of my own on the safety of Bisphenol A, otherwise known as BPA. I’ve been reading reports all week. BPA is either totally, totally safe or one drop will turn your child into a mutant. Clear on that? OK, let’s get in a little deeper.

BPA is an endocrine-disrupting chemical produced in large quantities in our society. It’s used in the production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. The polycarbonate plastics are used in food packaging, water and infant bottles and medical devices among other products. Containers will usually have the symbol “7” or “PC” on it. The epoxy resins are used to coat metal products like food cans. It’s the use in baby bottles that has created the most controversy.

In my quest for answers, I first researched where and who any report was generated. Once this is known, it’s fairly simple to guess what conclusions will be reached.

The report I found to have the least bias was issued by the National Toxicology Program, a division of the National Institute of Health. The website for this and other reports is http://www.niehs.nih.gov/news/media/questions/sya-bpa.cfm.
In short, they found Some Concern for effects on the brain, behavior and prostate gland in fetuses, infant and children at current human exposures to BPA. On a scale on 1 to 5, Some Concern is a 3.

So, read the report and make you own decisions. My thoughts. When it comes to our children, some concern is enough. It’s also enough for some manufacturers. We are starting to see labels stating “BPA-Free”.

This is what I love about living in this society of ours. We always have the right to question.