Image: NASA

Beatrice bolted upright in bed with a start! She hated thunderstorms on the lake. Her cottage was only a few yards from the water, on a big lake but it was only a mile across to rocky cliffs on the other side. Storms on the lake were terrifying events. The thunder was the loudest she had ever heard and would echo for what seemed forever. She waited for the next strike…. FLASH! “one thousand , one thousand two…” she counted, BOOM! BaBOOOMMM! Boom! The cottage shook! Beatrice heard dishes rattle in the cupbord. The storm was less than a half-mile away!

She knew that she was lying on an old “spring bed” with a horse hair mattress, probably over a hundred years old. The metal bed frame had an interlocking metal net holding the mattress. She knew that lying on a bed of metal in a thunderstorm was dangerous in a thunderstorm. The skies opened up, and it poured! She could hear the rain drops drumming and spattering the roof, the ground and the window sill. The window was open. Then it happened.

CRACKLE! CRASH! light turned the room fluorescent as lightning struck the bed she was lying on! Beatrice’s entire world lit up. For a moment she felt weightless, in shock, frozen in time! Was she dead? Her body ached and tingled at the same time. She was too scared to scream or move. The thunder tumbled down into echoes reverberating off the mountains. Then another close one: BOOM BOOMBAM BOOM! with instantaneous light, electrifiying the trees outside. Beatrice realized whe was still alive, holding her breath- frozen in silence!

This is a true story of a woman who was staying in a summer cottage by Lake Champlain in the 1940′s. She lived to tell about it as thousands of others have, and her cottage did not burn, unlike many house and barn fires that start every year from lightning strikes. In fact, Beatrice was unharmed, unlike almost 50 people who are killed by lightning each year in the US. And unlike my college buddy, who was knocked down on a golf course by lightning. Later surgeons at the hospital came within seconds of amputating his gangrene leg, which had lost circulation because of the strike.

Where does lightning come from ? “Lightning is a major electrostatic discharge (the same kind of electricity that can shock you when you touch a doorknob) between the cloud and the ground, or other clouds.”  How is it  formed? We generally know what conditions are needed but there is still debate about the details. The exact way a cloud builds up the electrical charges that lead to lightning is not completely understood. We do know that lightning causes thunder, which is the sound caused by rapidly expanding gases along a channel of lightning discharge. Energy from lightning heats the air to around 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit which is five times hotter than the surface of the Sun! This causes a rapid expansion of the air, creating a sound wave heard as thunder. An initial tearing sound is usually caused by the stepped leader, and the sharp click or crack heard at a very close range, just before the main crash of thunder, is caused by the ground streamer. (NASA)

How does lightening work? “A channel of negative charge, called a step leader, will zigzag downward in roughly 50-yard segments in a forked pattern. This step leader is invisible to the human eye, and shoots to the ground in less time than it takes to blink. As it nears the ground, the negatively charged step leader is attracted to a channel of positive charge reaching up, a streamer, normally through something tall, such as a tree, house, or telephone pole. When the oppositely-charged leader and streamer connect, a powerful electrical current begins flowing. A return stroke of bright luminosity travels about 60,000 miles per second back towards the cloud. A flash consists of one or perhaps as many as 20 return strokes. We see lightning flicker when the process rapidly repeats itself several times along the same path. The actual diameter of a lightning channel is one-to two inches.” For more detail, see NASA.

Image: NASA

According to NASA (and they really know their lightening): “A typical cloud-to-ground flash is a negative stepped leader that travels downward through the cloud, followed by an upward traveling return stroke. The net effect of this flash is to lower negative charge from the cloud to the ground. Less common, a downward traveling positive leader followed by an upward return stroke will lower positive charge to earth. These positive ground flashes now appear to be linked to certain severe storms and are the focus of intense research by scientists.”

Image: NASA

Isn’t nature amazing? If you are like we are, you always love to hear about how awesome nature is and the way things work. And we would love to hear your thunderstorm stories.

Remember to check out our Earth-friendly products here at LoveEarthAlways.com whether you are buying for gifts, for outdoor adventures, to save energy, or as a wholesaler. And let us know how we can help you meet your needs.

This is not a gloat but I had trouble coming up with only ten green reasons- really. I could have mentioned Vermont Is “The Healthiest State” According to a collaboration of the United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association, and the Partnership for Prevention, but that isn’t necessarily directly correlated with green living (or is it?). I could have mentioned the incredible music scene all over the state, from VSO string quartets to the Mozart Festival to Grace Potter and the Nocturnals to Phish but people wouldn’t see them as part of the green lifestyle either. Then there are antiques and architectural salvage stores who are the ultimate recyclers, and the Northeast Organic Farmers’ Association. Oh well….  So here are ten great green reasons to love and live in Vermont. Feel free to add your own in comments!

1. Green Up Day The first Saturday in May is the annual Green Up Day when volunteers all over the state clean up litter and trash.

2. Town Meeting Day On the first Tuesday in March, Vermonters come together in their communities to discuss the business of their towns.  For over 200 years Town Meeting Day has been an important political event as Vermonters elect local officers and vote on budgets, discuss community, state, and nation with their neighbors.

3. Champ The Lake Champlain Monster is alive and well after all.

4. Green Colleges Middlebury College , Champlain College and the University of Vermont have all been honored as green institutions.

5. Lake Champlain With nearly 600 miles of shoreline in two states and Canada, the lake is over 400 feet deep, full of maritime history and a wonderful freshwater resource.

6. Vermont Recycling and Reuse is everywhere. Places like Chittenden Solid Waste District are my heroes!

7. Farmer’s Markets and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA’s) that keep the land open, growing small-scale local food… how green can you get???

8. The Green Mountains bring Vermonters and visitors to the slopes year-round to play including hiking, biking, skiing and boarding to name a few activities.

9. Electric utilities like Green Mountain Power voluntarily pay customers for solar electrical energy they generate at par or better than the rate they charge customers for power (net metering).

10. Ben & Jerry’s as everyone knows, support local farms and peace and has the best ice cream in the world!.

Image: Ben and Jerrys’s

Once upon a time someone told me a story about a man who invented anti-theft coat hangers and sold them to every hotel in the country. Can you imagine how many motel-hotel rooms there are in the US? Hundreds of thousands? Millions? If we apply that scale of numbers to the towels, light bulbs or trash generated each day, it would  be mind-boggling!

When you go away for a couple of days do you ever think about the sustainability of the hotel or the industry? We have been staying at a place called The Meadowmere Resort and Spa in Ogunquit, Maine for many years. With young kids it was great because they had an indoor pool (which kids love), free movies in a theater room, a Roman spa, an outdoor pool, an attached lounge with complimentary breakfast on weekends, a game room, an outstanding fitness center and spa and reasonable rates. In short, a big-value-added place to stay.

Perhaps the best reason is it’s an easy walk to lovely Perkins Cove, the breath-taking Marginal Way along the rocky coastline or the white sands of Ogunquit Beach. But value-added accommodations aren’t the only reason we give Meadowmere five stars.

During the last few years we have been noticing subtle changes in the rooms. Signs bring attention to the fact that washing towels is water-intensive and if towels can be reused, then they should be hung up on towel racks. Leave them on the floor and they will be washed. Simply by raising guests’ awareness about water conservation, the Meadowmere saves tens of thousands of gallons of water each year. We also noticed a conversion of light bulbs to compact fluorescents (CFLs). How cool is that? Obviously, when you have thousands of light bulbs and vacationing guests might leave them on when they are not needed, energy savings add up with efficient lighting. Using safer cleaners, recycling and educating customers go a long way to making your hotel stay much greener. These are only a few examples of an eco-friendly culture that thrives at Meadowmere.

The Meadowmere Resort makes a commitment to the resources so important to Maine by taking part in the Green Lodging Certification Program. Administered by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), The Meadowmere Resort has been certified as a Maine DEP Environmental Leader in 2006 and is Ogunquit’s First and only Certified Maine Environmental Leader Hotel.

So when we stayed at Meadowmere a couple of weeks ago I just had to meet the owner. As good fortune would have it, the man behind Meadowmere, Mr. Cavaretta happened to be hanging out behind the main desk when I happened by. It was a pleasure to meet, share some good will (and a LoveEarthAlways tote bag) with him. He was quite knowledgeable, even about tote bags, and is genuinely committed to shrinking their footprint on their beautiful place by the sea.

Since those early days when we first stayed at Meadowmere, many changes have occurred but it is still a family business.   In a world where greenwashing is an easy answer to marketing and accommodations can be anything but accommodating, it’s nice to know that this place still has a family flavor, is leading the way in green standards, and is still affordable. Want to see more? Check out their blog here.

When you go on vacation how green are your digs? What makes a difference to you? Do you have any honorable mentions?

In Honor of Virginia Powers Fay, 1927-2007

The Earth Tones Color Palette From Ogunquit, Maine

One of my house-designer friends talked to me many years ago about “Earth tone” colors for my house. These, he said would help my house blend with the landscape and become one and at balance with nature. When I was snapping these photos I couldn’t help but think of how the hues of sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean and reflections off rocks and life exemplified nature’s color palette. From Sargassum to magma intrusions in rock, to beach roses coming to life to sand tinted with purple manganese, they reflect the spectrum of Earth. There is no better place to see incredible light of Earth tones in their natural glory than the Marginal Way beside the rocks in Ogunquit, Maine. Translated from native american language, Ogunquit is “beautiful place by the sea”.

If you would like to learn more about the Marginal Way Preservation Fund, check out their website here. To buy our Vermont scenery note cards click here.

notecard collection

Spotted: (no pun intended!)Eastern Newts In Vermont!

Strolling down a logging road on an early morning I came upon the cutest creatures. An orange four-legged monster scampered for a few steps then stopped. She came to rest standing on a mighty pine needle. I watched her for awhile and she seemed very docile and unperturbed. I took several photos of her while she posed motionless on the packed gravel. Her name is Norna the newt. To some she is known as a salamander and to others she is  the Eastern Newt. To scientists she is known as Notophthalmus viridescens.

Norna means ‘goddess of fate’, and she truly is a goddess of fate. You see, the owner of the Saxon Hill Forest in Essex, Vermont, wants to change the zoning on the land to permit chopping up Norna’s habitat into building lots for more more suburban development. In the future, Norna and her friends may have a shorter life expectancy if they continue to play on this logging road. Her hundreds of Vermonter human friends, who enjoy walking and mountain biking on these trails might also be locked out of this land if the developer has his way.

Before long I noticed she had several companions nearby. They were all doing the same thing, simply “being” in the late morning air. She let me pick her up and hold her for a portrait. She was quiet and relaxed and after a few seconds I carefully placed her back into his ‘hood.

Come to find out, Eastern Newts have three life stages and they begin as tadpoles. They can live with fish and survive because their skin secretes a poison when they threatened or injured. The juveniles, like this one are known as Red Efts and sometimes hang out under logs, in water and  relish larvae, snails and worms. After several years will be grown up and responsible and ready to start a family.

As an adult she will eventually turn olive green with a yellow belly scattered with black spots. If Norna avoids natural predators and the oncoming perils of suburban sprawl she will grow to be five inches long and return to her nearby beaver pond or another water home. There she will breed, and will lay eggs and they will live in peace and harmony with other Eastern newts happily ever after!

If you live in Essex and enjoy having some open land left for humans and newts, plan to attend the Planning Commission meeting this Thursday 5/27 at 6:30PM in the Founders Memorial School (33 Founders Road, off Sand Hill Road in Essex) and respectfully urge the PC to reverse the changes that have been introduced to sections 11.12.2 and 11.13.1 of the Town Plan (see below). Please also explain to the PC why the Forest is important to you and our town and to the Goddess Of Fate, Norna.

Photo: E. Talmage from Middlebuy College Data

The Public Face of Twitter Addiction

The pathology of twaddiction is being documented with twisease twesearch, and is defined by certain behaviors such as twobsession, twompulsion, twipendence, twittiholism, twambling, often with is or her twollowers, excessive over-tweating, twopelessness, and twepression.

Other twanifestations such as twantasy, twetishes, twornography, twanking, and even twibersex are ameliorated by twictims and twollowers learning to “mosey along now.” One of the most pernicious forms of twaddiction is the dreaded Autoreply Solicitation Syndrome known as twitterass.

Eminent tweseacher Dr. Twitt has studied the neurological basis for twaddiction and he found that twictims build up a twolerance two twopiates, a physiologically and psychologically addictive substance produced by twittering. This chemical produces a common twepidemiology among sufferers of the malady, and over twime it can lead to twepilipsy. Twitt’s research also shows Twitter is a gateway to Facebook, Myspace and other outside links and the progression to them is known as ‘twinking’.

Although there is no cure, Dr. Twitt points to several tweatments for twecovery showing promise for the twictims and twamilies of twaddiction. These include tweprivation and twelibacy but even with these tweatments, twictims suffer twitdrawal. Prognosis for twecovery usually improves with twintensive twedication and twerapy.

Do you see a reflection of yourself in these symptoms? Want to get help?  Have ideas on how to break the twitter habit and become more productive? We welcome your comments below or submissions to the blog via email.

–LoveEarthAlways Solargroupies Press

Photo by Glenn Fay

There are flowers and there are flowers. Not all flowers are equal in a photography sense. Some can look like they are easy to photograph, and in reality can be a pain in the neck to try and get all the detail. Others are fantastic, they look fantastic, they are easy to photograph and the picture comes out how you want! And then there are the ones that surprise you. They look average and uninteresting but get in close and you are staring at the surface of another world. All the curves, lines, color comes out when you take the picture.

Some flowers look better very close up because of their size and detail. Perhaps with a smaller flower, it may look uninteresting from an arms length away but get it up close and it may look magnificent (Small yellow daisies, Rock Rose.)

Other flowers such as the rose really look good from any distance, mainly because they are beautiful and because we know what flower they are. But just because we already know what it is doesn’t mean we need to cut corners with our photographic artistic skills.

Flowers are a matter of personal taste. So which one do we start with? Your favorite one is the best place to start. A beautiful as a big garden rose in bloom with the fragrance that should be bottled and sold, for example, will not only inspire you but you’ll want to spend time getting a great photo of it.

Each flower, depending on size and color, will need to be photographed differently. I would photograph a Rose differently than I would a Jasmine flower, or an Impatience. (more…)

How many states actually have a major effort to clean up litter every spring to make way for the greens of spring and summer? Did you ever notice how clean and green Vermont is?

Green Up Day number 40 was yesterday May 1st and volunteers were spotted today, still picking up  litter by roadsides, fields and streams. According to Green Up Vermont, the nonprofit organization that helps coordinate the state wide activities, 240 town coordinators participated this year, and nearly 15,000 people participated around the sate. In addition to the hard work of cleaning up so Vermont can green up thousands gathered  on the State House lawn in Montpelier to hear Banjo Dan and the Mid-nite Plowboys and Bill Shontz. Food vendors, including the Ben and Jerry’s Scoop Truck. Burlington and other cities had similar celebrations. What could be better than that? Living in a place that was green before it became cool to be green!

Kerin Rose Hand Bracelets

The Joneses, a dark film comedy starring Demi Moore and David Duchovny opens this week. It’s a statement on American consumerist culture. The motion picture features jewelry by Kerin Rose, an artisan currently crafting’ modern talismans’ jewelry made of recycled precious metals in her studio in the verdant Green Mountains of Vermont.

The Joneses a newly released film starring Demi Moore and David Duchovny features Kerin Rose jewelry. The movie is a dark comedy centered around American materialism and our need for ‘things’…an exploration as to what lengths we are willing to go to have them. The Joneses are a ‘perfect’ family in every way. They have all the trappings of a successful suburban life, at least on the outside. Darker truths lurk beneath the surface, and we soon learn that so much of what appears to be true is not at all, once one explores more deeply. The Joneses have all the latest things, and their ‘perfection’ leaves the neighbors scrambling to do anything to achieve their own similar status.

There is irony here in that included in the parade of perfect cars and clothing, and toys are select pieces from jewelry artisan Kerin Rose, who runs a green jewelry business in a state known for its lack of material emphasis…Vermont, with its liberal values, organic culture, and laid back come-as-you- are vibe, is the perfect backdrop for an artist who makes jewels by carving small ‘sculptures’  (as she likes to call the models) out of beeswax, which has come from the bees her sister keeps. The golden models are cast into recycled precious metals. Spiritual symbols, textures from nature, and a reverence for all things mysterious are themes that show themselves repeatedly in Kerin’s jewelry. These classical themes are interpreted in a way that makes a statement and are meant to, as Kerin herself says, “embellish the soul”. Kerin’s work and this film are a pairing that works beautifully.

“I don’t know if the costume designer was trying to show that some folks will try to ‘buy’ spirituality by using my jewelry, or if she (Renee Kalfus) wanted the characters in the film to be saying, something to the tune of being chic and cool can be eco friendly too, but either way, I am thrilled to have my work in this film”, says Kerin. “My studio purchases carbon offsets for the small amounts of electricity used, have swapped out traditional toxic acids for natural citric acid and vinegar. We use only recycled sterling silver and gold, and recently have moved away from using much in the way of stones at all, due to my feelings about mining in general. I use beeswax for carving, as a way to bring more attention to issues of disappearing bee colonies…using everything I do as a platform to help create awareness, using my art as way to spread the message”. (more…)