More trees please!

The moral of this Estonian legend fits with my recent disagreement over my reference professor's educational tactics.

Earth Hour

Don't forget, today is the highly anticipated Earth Hour! Just one hour without any lights--people we can do this!!

Enviro-Nazi Strikes Again...

Excessive paper usage is a personal pet peeve. If there is no reason to put something on paper, don't do it. It's that simple. I blog now, instead of keeping a journal. My notebook is Microsoft, instead of Five Star. And yet, some people just want to print things to print them--even if it's grossly unnecessary. That's cool I guess if that's what you're into, but don't make me do it (and for the record, the italics mean it's totally not cool one iota). My reference professor is of the opinion that because our class isn't entirely paperless, it's quite all right to print out things for no reason. Let's see if you follow her logic:

• We are to look at two online or print biographical sources for next week and look up some individuals
• If we look at print versions, we must copy them and bring them to class (understandable as far as discussions are concerned)
• If we look at online sources, we are to print out the web page.
  
• Even if we use our laptops in class
• No, she's not collecting it

What the? I questioned her on these last two bullet points to confirm that yes, she really does want us to print things for no reason. Why is that? Because she couldn't give me a reason for printing them. But we have to do it. I mean, if it were one page, fine. But two sources worth of information, PLUS our notes?

So, in light of the painfully environmentally UNfriendly decision of my professor, I've decided to do a throwback review. This book (and perhaps Dawn from the Baby-Sitter's Club) might explain why I am such an Enviro-Nazi, considering how prevalently I read these books as a youngin'.

A little while back, I recounted the very first book in the Animorph book series. After remembering how awesome the Animorphs are, I decided to reread the entire series (since I'm a huge-mega dork). Anyway, the fourth title of the series, The Message, is intriguing. It's told from Cassie's perspective and begins with strange dreams she's been having. When she tells her friends about them, it turns out that Tobias, her red-tailed hawk buddy's been having them too! Gasp!

When a news report indicates that something washed up on the beach, something that looks an awful lot like a piece of an Andalite ship, the Animorph gang realizes they're gonna have to go to the ocean and find out. Deep at the bottom of the ocean is a stranded Andalite (who, incidentally, was sending messages to any Andalites that may be on Earth to save him, which explains those pesky dreams Tobias and Cassie were having) who tells the Animorphs the real reason the Yeerk-Jerks are enslaving the human race, and it ain't pretty. Not only are they after a race of intelligent beings to control, but they also want to eradicate superfluous lifeforms on Earth. Now the Animorphs realize that they aren't just fighting to save the human race, but all creatures and animals of Earth.

Scrapblog

I heart Scrapblog. Check it out. Starting... here.

I triple dog dare you...

...to read the following book reviews and NOT think about polar bears. Go on, do it. I did.

P.S. For those of you who wonder why I incessantly say that I'm not thinking about polar bears, I would like you to feast your eyes on this. Fortunately, the wonderful Internet Archive realized the worth of the site Dumblists.com before the owners had to sell their domain and captured it in all it's glory. As you can see on the above link, the second thing to do when bored is to not think about polar bears. Since I spent every weekend of the eighth grade patrolling that site and copying the lists down into my own rendition of Ameila's Notebook, it certainly had a rather large man-hand in determining the flavor of my weirdness.

Some other dumblists of note:

• Hotel Soap Story (that isn't actually a list, but quite enjoyable in 1999, and still enjoyable now)
• Fun things to do in an Elevator
• The Dangers of Bread
• All I Needed to Know About Life, I Learned on Melrose Place
• The Secret of Antigravity
  

Stop the Presses!

Thanks to Mugglenet's Deathly Hallows news section, I have been given yet another reason to love Jo Rowling (and to think I couldn't fit another ounce of love). While this news story is almost a month old, practically geriatric for Internet news, I am very glad to hear that a lady with as much power and influence as JKR cares so much about the planet enough to halt Finnish presses. So, I shall share this tidbit with you. Long story short, the Finnish translations of Deathly Hallows will not see the light of day if the publishers do not import paper from sustainable forests.

Bio-fuels, Schmio-fuels

I was just sent this NY times article that can pretty much be summed up with the ever-popular phrase "we're damned if we do and we're damned if we don't." To be brief, this tidbit of news suggests that, while the intention of bio-fuels are a great step in the right direction, it is falling short of it's aim in reducing green house gases by, in fact, creating more. Apparently, someone forgot to factor the type of land being cleared to grow these crops and the emissions lost while converting them into fuels in the whole greenhouse-gas-reduction theory. Sigh.

Not satisfied with my summary? Good, I wouldn't be either. Read it for yourself and see what you think!

Mean Green Learning Machines!

I am all about this winter's lead story on School Librarian's Workshop online*. It is centered around elementary school aged children researching current global environmental issues and what they can potentially do about it. Not only does it educate the children that there is a problem, but it helps their self-esteem and researching skills by making them active participants in the solution. What's not to love? If you are working with this age-group and are environmentally conscious, I definitely recommend you read this workshop and incorporate it into your lesson plans. Perhaps around Earth Day? Or maybe Earth Hour?



Video is taken from the main page of the Earth Hour site



*This is not a perma-link for this article. To find the article discussed in this blogpost, open your browser's "find" application (on PC's it is usually control and F). Paste the following: It's easy being green. Voila!