Daily Archives: April 27, 2018

Extra Credit Senator Sandy Senn

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Hello! If you read my last blog entry then you know that I recently went to an event hosted by Cultivate SC. While I was there I met a woman named Carolee Williams who works as a Lowcountry Field Director for the group Conservation Voters South Carolina. While at Cultivate, Carolee and I discussed the topic of the “ban on bans” bill currently in the South Carolina Senate. We both agreed that this bill was outrageous and, if passed, would mean only bad things for our local environment and South Carolina’s waterways. Carolee told me that the best way to oppose things like this was to contact your local representatives. To which I responded with the usual string of excuses about politicians only listening to money, and Republicans only voting Republican, seeing the rejection letters first hand, and being only one person. I told her my doubts and how I thought it wouldn’t make a difference. Well, it turns out that Carolee Williams had with her some local Charleston postcards with beautiful beaches and grand oak trees on them. She told me, “Just write a short message. Say you support local government and not the ban on bans. You don’t even have to address it! Just write your home address and ill address it to your representative.” It was so easy that I couldn’t say no and this was something that I felt strongly about…so I filled out 2 postcards, one with my address and Carolee’s recommendation for wordage and the second with my parents South Carolina address and a similar message. I dropped the postcards with Carolee and went about my arts and crafts.

About a week or two later, my husband and I get a letter in the mail from the SC Senate. Man, were we sweating! What could they want? What did we do? Turns out it was our State Senator Sandy Senn writing with a response to my postcard. Here we go, I was ready for rejection when I read the following message….

 

 

For those of you who cant read the letter, ill retype the key lines.

“Thank you so much for reaching out to me. I agree with you and will oppose this bill. I believe in local governments and their ability to regulate themselves and will advocate for that position.”

WHAT?! Let me retype that one more time for the people in the back. She said, “I Agree With You and Will Oppose This Bill.” I don’t think a letter has ever made me happier. Okay, well it was up there in the surprise and happiness category. My senator not only took the time to respond to a postcard but she agrees with me and will fight for this outcome! Yes! It was an amazing realization that there are good guys and girls out there fighting for you and your voice and the environment and our planet. They are going against the popular vote and saying no to lobbyists with big checks and agendas. They are doing their job so now we need to do ours. They need more from us. More support. More good jobs. More critiques. More communication. More opinions. They need us to step up and speak up. So next time you’re out, grab a postcard or sit down and write a short email. Talk to your friends and neighbors. Make it easy on them. If it weren’t for a stranger in a bar handing me a postcard and offering to do the heavy lifting I would never have known that I am represented by a woman who cares about the same things that I do and I would never have realized how much my opinion matters.

So write a letter to your representative and if you ever find yourself in a bar with Carolee Williams, take the time to talk to her because she might just push you to find your voice.

Grey Water – (blog #7)

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Sustainability is a key method on which the future is going to rely on. The Earth only has a finite amount of resources, and with the rise in ocean levels, more fresh water sources could become scarcer. Because water is such a precious resource, society needs to find a way to conserve water conservation. The Israelis invented drip irrigation, allowing us to utilize a small amount of water in a big way, but there is a next step towards water conservation

Grey water is a new method of recycling, that is growing in popularity. Grey water is water from the bathrooms and washrooms of peoples’ homes. Grey water comes from the sink, the tub, or the washing machine, but never the toilet because of feces. Grey water is a revolutionary product because can be used to water our lawns.

Why is grey water so cool?

Using grey water to water lawns and feed plants mean people can save on their water bills, which can be very costly. Another important thing about grey water is that during drought seasons, the plants that depend on rain or sprinkler systems do not die. California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada are all very dry states, and with the installation of a greywater system, a shower can clean a person and feed a plant.

If you are going to have a grey water system though, it is important to use eco-friendly products because grey water could feed your fruits and vegetables, which feed you. No one wants to knowingly eat a fruit that may have been grown using water and tide pods. We have already discovered how bad it is to eat tide pods.

Guidelines for Grey Water

  • It is best not to store the grey water for very long because of the properties of the water breaking down.
  • Grey water should be put directly into the Earth, not into people.
  • A simple, gravity pulled drip irrigation system is cheap, effective, and more accurate than using a pump or filtration device because it is easier to control how much grey water each plant/system needs.

Eco-friendly and Biodegradable soaps and products

The grey water system is a great concept that is being put to use in many peoples’ homes, but to make greywater even safer for use, it is best to use biodegradable eco-friendly products. There is an eco-friendly laundry detergent called Zum Clean Aromatherapy Laundry Soap in Eucalyptus-Citrus, Emma Laundry Soap by Eco-Me, and more. Seventh Generation and Method are widely known eco-friendly products, and there are also products that people can use on themselves that are all natural.

People can make their own shampoos by using ingredients like egg whites, coconut oil, castile soap, and baking soda. Making eco-friendly soaps are easy and cheap, and they are not harmful to use in a grey water system. Castile soap, olive oil, oats, and essential oils are common natural ingredients to make soap! I made my own deodorant out of Baking soda, corn starch, coconut oil, and tea tree essential oil!

 

Works Cited

https://greywateraction.org/greywater-reuse/

http://fabyoubliss.com/2013/08/01/how-to-make-pretty-eco-friendly-soaps-for-favors-shower-gifts-or-just-because/

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/organic-authoritycom/best-natural-laundry-detergents_b_2067526.html

Cultivate South Carolina

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Perhaps you saw the post on Oaks or maybe it escaped your notice.

It was short. Only a few sentences long, and contained an attached flyer for a local happy hour + science + art class called Cultivate SC.

 

So, if you missed it, or read it but thought maybe next time, I’m here to tell you that you are missing out!

 

I had never heard of Cultivate SC before I saw the flyer on our class page. Immediately the words happy hour, science, and art stood out. Those subjects are all a good time individually and if you put them together…well I definitely needed to see what this was all about. After my last class on Tuesday, I rushed over to Bowties Speakeasy on Maybank Hwy. The timing was perfect as my last class got out at 5:30pm and Cultivate SC began that night at 6:00 pm. I was alone, didn’t know a single person there, though I kept scanning the crowd for one of your familiar faces. I was nervous, so I did what all sober people at an art/science/happy hour do and I got a drink. I took that drink and bellied up to a bar front of a projector and a basket of trash. That’s right, a basket of trash. While everyone chatted and got to know each other I made friends with the trash. I selected a few pieces that I thought were really special and set them aside to look at until the presentation began. Before too long everyone else was sorting through their trash and a brilliant woman named Marielena Martinez began speaking to us about the Hopi Indians and their Kachina dolls.  The story goes that young Indian boys would carve the little figures from the roots of the cottonwood tree and use the figures to teach younger children about the sprits. The Hopi people believed that these figures each represented a spirit god and that each god had a responsibility (of the harvest, the hunt, the weather, the sun, etc.) They believed that the dolls could communicate the wishes of the people to the sprits whom they resembled. Each doll was then painted and decorated with small trinkets and found objects. After we learned about the Hopi’s Kachina dolls we were each armed with a small wooden base, scissors, hot glue and our baskets of trash to create our own Kachina dolls! This is when things got serious and I went to work drink in hand. I was determined to make an amazing doll that would bring me good grades and peaceful naps. While scavenging for the perfect piece of trash (all the trash had been collected from beaches and neighborhoods by the women hosting the event) I met a woman who introduced herself to me as Carolee Williams. She was super nice, and we got to talking about school and interests. Turns out, she is a low country field director for Conservation Voters of South Carolina. Hello Networking! Carolee and I each finished our Kachina dolls just as our speaker for the night took to the stage. Her name was Kea Payton and as it turns out, she was one of Dr. Beckingham’s Graduate students! Small world. Kea talked to us for about 15 minutes on micro plastics and their dangerous roll in our environment. She reemphasized some of what we had learned in class but she also told us some things that I had not heard before. Did you know that fish like to feed in brackish waters where the salty ocean water meats the fresh river water? They choose these spots because there is an abundance of microscopic food in this mixture of water. It is also here that much of our plastics and micro plastics travel resulting in fish ingestion. Did you also know that the Charleston harbor is the perfect place for this tragic combination of fish and plastic? Charleston’s harbor is protected and filled with brackish water meaning that the issue of microplastics could have a big effect right here at home. Thankfully we now know the impacts plastics can have in our waterways and after this class we know some ways we can work to better protect the environment.

In 2 hours I had made a new friend, learned about the Hopi Indians, learned about micro plastics and had a sculpture to keep that I made from recycled materials.

It was a good night!

If you thought this story was interesting or if you have decided to check out Cultivate SC for yourself you can learn more by clicking on the link below. The next and final class will take place on May 8th at 6pm. Hope to see you there!

http://www.cultivate-sc.org/spring-2018

PS here is a picture of the Kachina doll I made!