Saturday, August 28, 2010

Mama gnome takes a hike

Mama gnome donned her pointy hat, tightened her grip on her walking stick and walked up this path.



(c) Friendly Gnome's Blog


She breathed in fresh air and looked up the side of the hill and saw this:


(c) Friendly Gnome's Blog


She marveled at the beauty of these wildflowers:

(c) Friendly Gnome's Blog


She saw a peculiar hole carved into the side of the mountain. She glanced around and hurried away from this site.


(c) Friendly Gnome's Blog


She nodded her head and made notes of the contrasting colors of dark brown branches and bright yellow green leaves.

(c) Friendly Gnome's Blog



She wondered what happened to this shrubbery with its burnt and withered branches and leaves.

(c) Friendly Gnome's Blog


She spoke with this gentle giant.

(c) Friendly Gnome's Blog



Mama gnome gazed at the beautiful landscape and whispered, "Thank you."



Mama gnome took a hike. She urges you to do the same and go green.

(c) 2010 Jenaelha, Friendly Gnome's Blog
(c) all pictures by Mama gnome

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Mama Gnome Takes on Plastic Bag Monster 2010

Mama gnome shook her head. Her pointy hat came loose, revealing her gray wiry hair.

The old gnome drew herself as tall as she could, all three feet and something inches of gnome stature.

She shouted, "No! No! No, Plastic Bag Monster! Away you vile beast!"

The putrefied, liquefied, partially melted, but never biodegraded unearthly creature approached Mama gnome.

Remnants of plastic cups, styrofoam takeaway containers, unrecognizable pieces of plastic were left in the beast's wake.

Mama gnome turned her face away in horror.

The monster reached over and gripped her arms with its filthy plastic ties and shook her.

"Mama gnome! Mama gnome!"

Huh? Mama gnome thought, Plastic Bag Monster's voice sounded a lot like Daddy gnome's voice.

"Mama gnome, wake up!"

Mama gnome opened her eyes and saw Daddy gnome's face. His eyes dark with worry.

"Daddy gnome! I was dreaming. I was dreaming of 'IT'."

Daddy gnome nodded. No other words needed to be said.

He knew IT could only mean one thing, the bane of Mama gnome's existence, Plastic Bag Monster.

It was almost one year ago, when Mama gnome fought against her nemesis in the epic battle of Mama gnome versus Plastic Bag Monster 2009.

But Plastic Bag Monster lived and survived because humans continue to use flimsy plastic bags, take out styrofoam containers, disposable plastic forks, spoons, cups. All minions and allies of Plastic Bag Monster.

Together they coalesce and hide out in their secret evil lair, The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

On September 25, 2010 Mama gnome and the gnome family will battle against Plastic Bag Monster and his minions on the 25th International Coastal Cleanup Day.

According to Ocean Conservancy:
During the 2009 Cleanup, volunteers found 18,000 derelict fishing nets in the United Kingdom alone, and 70,000 plastic bottles in Nicaragua. In 2009, 60 percent of all debris items found on just one day were "disposable."




video from: oceanconservancy



video from: National Geographic


To find out how you can participate please visit Ocean Conservancy's site where you can look for locations all over the world participating in this cause.

If there isn't one close to you, you can sign up your own clean up cause and location for that day.

You can also visit Heal the Bay or California Coastal Commission.

Here's a chance to make a difference and help defeat Plastic Bag Monster and his minions.

Be heroic and fight Plastic Bag Monster and his minions everyday, not just once a year, and Go Green!

(c) 2010 Jenaelha, Friendly Gnome's Blog

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Plastic Bag Monster Reckoning 2012

Mama gnome waits with bated breath to see what will happen to Assembly Bill 1998 this Friday the 13th, August 13.

Friday the 13th could either be a lucky or unlucky day for the environment.

AB 1998, written by Julia Brownley, Democrat-Santa Monica, would make California the first state to ban single use plastic bags for grocers starting in 2012.

And this Friday, the bill must be approved or it will die and Plastic Bag Monster triumphs.

If the bill is approved and is signed by the governor, supermarkets and other large retailers are prohibited from using single use plastic bags starting in 2012.

In 2013, that ban would extend to smaller grocers and convenience stores using plastic bag minions as well.

Plastic Bag Monster is the bane of Mama gnome's existence. She has battled against this monster time and time again.

Perhaps one of the most memorable was the battle of 2009 when Mama gnome succored by her gnome family battled against the Plastic Bag Monster on a sandy beach.

The gnome family was overwhelmed by cigarette butt monster and other plastic bag minions including styrofoam cups and little pieces of unrecognizable plastic scrap minions.

Just how big is the Plastic Bag Monster?

A million bags?

No.

A hundred million bags?

No.

Okay, I'll try one billion.

Nope again.

Try NINETEEN BILLION.

Californians use 19 Billion plastic bags A YEAR!

And if we were thinking they were getting recycled, Plastic Bag Monster has pulled the plastic over our eyes, because only a small fraction of that 19 billion gets recycled.

Only 5 percent of those bags get recycled.

So 95 percent of 19 billion bags end up where?

In our waterways, in landfills, in our deserts, our rivers, our forests, inside marine animals, in our oceans, disintegrating...NOT BIODEGRADING. They've taken up to creating their own evil lairs. One of the more notorious one is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Plastic bag monster and his minions become tiny plastic pieces mistaken for food by birds and marine animals.

And guess who eats the marine animals? Humans.

Mama gnome's blog has a running counter of how many plastic bags are used every second in the world.

It's a scary counter. Think of how much plastic the fish eat. Think of how much plastic we eat.

Here's a video of a Plastic Bag Monster trying to weasel his way out of the ban.


video from: danegolden

2012 is Plastic Bag Monster's Reckoning.

But don't wait two more years for it. Start today and Go Greeen!

(c) 2010, Jenaelha, Friendly Gnome's Blog

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Earth Warming Machine 2010

Earth Warming Machine 2009 is so...last year.

Thanks to continuing CO2 emissions, coal and power plants, unmitigated use of oil, continued slashing and burning of forests because of human demands and consumerism,

Earth Warming Machine 2010 is even more powerful.

Earth Warming Machine 2010 created these mind boggling climate change products:

"2010 is on track to become the warmest year on record" "the past four months, including June, have each individually been the hottest on record as well."

Trees dropping leaves and the leaves baking to terrible brown color

And now for the latest climate change product created by the Earth Warming Machine 2010...this:


photo by: Andreas Muenchow
http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2011/aug/greenland080610.html

According to this post from treehugger.com:

"Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland has lost an iceberg of 87 square kilometers in size. For scale, the ice sheet is said to be 4 times the size of Manhattan.
A University of Delaware researcher has been tracking the Petermann Glacier, and in a news release he says that the ice chunk is the largest since 1962."

Mama gnome did not list all climate change products currently wreaking havoc, killing humans, animals, destroying homes and habitat.

Mama gnome doesn't have enough room to list all in this post.

What is fueling Earth Warming Machine to become stronger and bigger every year?

Humans of course.

We are at the cross roads of cross roads.

Mama gnome cannot believe humans continue to fail to come together.

Humans continue to disagree about the Earth Warming Machine.

What further proof do humans need?

Earth Warming Machine 2011?

Mama gnome is afraid. Aren't you?

Please be strong, be brave, help fight against the evil Earth Warming Machine and Go Green!

(c) 2010 Jenaelha, Friendly Gnome's Blog

Thursday, August 5, 2010

It's So Hot You Can Cook a Tree on the Sidewalk

Mama gnome shakes her head every time she reads about climate change deniers.

These people live in their own sad encapsulated-refuse-to-accept-reality-world.

Well, how about these realities?

It's so hot out there "2010 is on track to become the warmest year on record"

It's so hot out there the last decade ending on 2009 was the hottest decade on record.

It's so hot out there "the past four months, including June, have each individually been the hottest on record as well."

It's so hot out there you can cook a tree on the sidewalk.

Trees are dropping leaves and the leaves are baking to terrible brown color.

Please do your part. Help stop earth warming and go green.

(c) 2010 Jenaelha, Friendly Gnome's Blog

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

It's All Cigarette Smoke and Mirrors

Mama gnome's face contorted to a painful misshapen look of disbelief when she read this post about recycling cigarettes as a possible "green way."

Cigarettes are not biodegradable. The cigarette butt may disintegrate over time and look smaller and smaller, but the plastic remains and becomes part of the water ways, the oceans, the soil, leaking toxic chemicals into the environment or tragically they are mistaken for food and consumed by birds or marine animals killing them in a slow painful way.

Just like it kills humans in slow or fast painful way.

Mama gnome has written about the evils cast by Cigarette Monster here.

And if you think cigarettes are biodegradable it's like saying uranium is biodegradable.

Sure it gets smaller and hey look, now you're now glowing green and growing two heads!

It's not acceptable.

Mama gnome has taken on the Plastic Bag Monster a few times.

One was during Coastal Cleanup Day. In one and a half hours, Mama and daddy gnome collected almost one hundred and thirty cigarette butts on a small patch of sandy beach.

And this beach wasn't a main beach visited by throngs of humans.

So it's mind boggling how many cigarette butts are left out there by smokers.

But is recycling cigarette butts the solution to getting rid of this environmental monster?

How about we recycle nuclear waste and we can make them to tiny little nuclear arms.

How's that?

Mama gnome is fuming. And it's cigarette smoke being puffed into everyone's eyes.

It's smoke and mirrors dear humans.

Mama gnome is reposting this from a previous blog entry, an article that lists all the terrible after affects of people lighting up a cigarette.
They report:
"According to the American Burn Association, about 900 people in the United States die each year in fires started by cigarettes, and about 2,500 are injured. About 100 of the fire deaths each year are children and nonsmokers. Nationally, annual human and property costs of fires caused by careless smoking total about $6 billion. In 1997, there were more than 130,000 cigarette related fires."


This video is short and sweet


video from: Ambassador321




Open your eyes, stop smoking and go green.

(c) 2010, Jenaelha, Friendly Gnome's Blog