Can they? #1

Q: Can Pit Bulls really lock their  jaws?
A: No, they can't. The common belief that Pit Bulls can "lock" their jaws and continue to hold onto prey longer and harder than most dogs is a myth. Any dog will hold on and shake, whether in play or in aggression. There is no special bone structure that allows them to be more vicious, not to imply that they are.

Earth/Birth Day

Heyyy everybody! It's Earth Day! That means that by the end of today, we'll have Earth Day articles! Plant a tree(Please do)! Do fun, Earth-Friendly activities! Collect rainwater!

It also happens to be Silvia's Birthday! :)

(If I, Silvia, post this, will it seem vain? xD)

Valentine's Day is over, but the fight for the Earth is not!

Heyo, it's after Valentine's Day, and here are some quick tips on how you can help be more green!

1. You know those flowers you got that person you spent Valentine's Day with? Compost them when they die. If you haven't bought cut flowers, how about potted ones? An avid gardener will love a bulb that can be planted outside later, and regrown year after year!
Houseplants make the home cleaner, unlike fake plants, which collect dust.

2. Those envelopes that the cards come in. Recycle them. If you aren't the type to save cards, recycle those, too. Please don't just throw them away if they are recyclable.
Oh, and recycle the empty box of chocolates, too, please.

3. This one can be applied to any day. Do you need to get something at a nearby store? Go for a walk with your sweetheart, or bike. Don't drive if you can walk or bicycle.

4. Next year, buy recycled paper cards, or make your own cards out of homemade recycled paper!

5. Show your love for the Earth by planting a tree with someone you know. Remember, any day can be Earth Day!

Hope you liked the earth-friendly tips, Go Green as well as red this year!

Vegetable Oil Cars? By Shea Montgumery

How great is a car that runs on vegetable oil? Well it may seem like a good idea, you know a car that doesn't hurt the planet buy producing harmful exaust.  Think again.  While the car it self may not be harmful to the evironment, but it needs some way of getting the vegetable oil.  See the flaw in this brilliant plan yet? No? Let me enlighten you.  The big vehicles used to collect the ingredients for vegetable oil use a ton fuel! Because most people do not use vegetable oil cars more fuel is wasted by the large farming vehicles than is made up for by the earth friendly cars.

Global Warming

We don't know how fast Global warming will destroy our planet but we do know that its already changing our lives. Huge storms that were rare and uncommon are happening every few years now.  The ice caps are melting and who knows how long it will be before the sea level rises enough to destroy low level areas on the coasts.  Global warming is serious and its happening now.  Do anything you can to put an end to it.  Lives are in danger don't take it lightly.
       


For more information on this topic scroll down to the botom of the page and see our video bar.

                                        
                                                                                
photo by mirjoran

8 Animal Myths Compared To The Truth, by Silvia Phenora

Myth: Pigs are dirty.
Truth: Pigs are actually very clean. They roll in mud not only to cool off, but to get rid of bugs and such. In fact, pigs may be cleaner than we are, because they don't sweat! The term "sweating like a pig" is quite a misnomer.

Myth: The smaller the brain, the dumber.
Truth: This is quite a stupid(no pun intended) rumor. Plenty of animals with smaller brains are quite smart. Take a parrot for example. A parrot can learn to speak English, turn on the TV, escape their cage, and more.
You may be thinking, "Then why can't animals run a blender, or read a book?". Well, think of animals as toddlers. By both a toddler's and an animal's thinking, many things humans do are strange, and hard to understand. Through process of learning, both toddlers and animals can figure out how to do things. They aren't dumb. They just were never taught.

Myth: Animals can't talk unless they are taught.
Truth: Animals speak. Just not in English. They can communicate much better than us.

Myth: Bear Bells protect you from bears.
Truth: Bear Bells have been found in bear poop. No joke. They do NOT help at all.

Myth: Rattle Snakes always shake their rattle before striking.
Truth: They usually do, but not always. It is best to leave a rattler alone, whether it is shaking it's rattle or not.

Myth(or superstion really): Bats tangle themselves in people hair, and won't let go until it thunders.
Truth: Three things.
1. Bats do not deliberately tangle themselves in people's hair. It would be even worse for the bat than for you.
2. Why would thunder scare off a bat?
3. Where are you hearing these things?

Myth: Coyotes travel in packs.
Truth: That applies to WOLVES. Confusing them is more common than you may think. Bottom line: Coyotes are solitary creatures. Some Wolves are too, but Coyotes basically never travel in packs.

Myth: Bats are blind.
Truth: Bats do not see as well as some critters, but bats do have eyes, and they use them too.
To make up for their bad eyesight use Echolocation. In using Echolocation, bats emit sound waves from their mouth(like screaming in a special way). Using their ears(which are excellent), bets then listen to how the sound waves bounce back at them. In this way, the can pinpoint prey, obstacles, and other objects.
So bats aren't blind. They are just shortsighted.

Swap Smart. Swap To Save. By Silvia Phenora

Nearly all of us are guilty of it. We see a new thing-a-ma-bob and we buy it. This is commonly known as impulse buying.
Here is a way to cut down on your impulse buying, and therefore cut down on your negative impact on the planet.
Say you walk into the store. You see a thing in sale. You think "Oh, it's on sale. Maybe I will buy it.". You consider if you need it, and realize it is not something you need. Still, you're feeling that pull. You want that thing. It doesn't cost much. But before you plonk it in your basket, cart, or bag, think again. This is going to encourage suppliers to make more products, because you are buying them. Every time something is on the market, a score of how many people have bought the product is kept. If the score reaches a "reasonable" amount, it is decided that more of that product will be made. By buying something at the Supermarket, you are helping ensure that mass-producing will continue. One way to help is to buy from local businesses, which helps the Economy. But we have an additional idea.
Step 1. Check the price of the product you want, but don't need.
Step 2. Put the product back.
Step 3. Find a product you need, will donate to charity(like a blanket), or would benefit the environment(or multiples of the above), that is the same or almost the same price as the original item. An alternate Step 3 is to just keep your money.
Step 4. Buy the product you need, will donate, or will help the environment. Then do the appropriate action(such as donating it). If you used the alternate Step 3, donate the saved money to charity, or put the money in the bank to be spent on something you really need.
Tada! You just helped out the environment and maybe a charity!

Note 1. : To be even more Eco-Friendly, bring cloth bags instead of using plastic ones at checkout. Most grocery stores have such reusable bags for sale at checkout.

Note 2. : Shea's What We Waste tips mentioned the swap 'n' save. Quote, 'If you don't need it don't buy it( all those stupid plastic thingies add up)' End of quote.
Please read Shea's tips and our other articles for more info on being Earth-friendly!

What we waste, by Shea Montgumery

 

People are very wasteful creatures( you probably already knew that) so in order to heal this world we need to change that ( yep I'm still just stating the obvious).  Below are some steps you can take to make your daily life less wasteful:

1. Try not to use really hot water if you can avoid it because it takes a lot of oil and energy to heat the water.
2. If you have a fireplace block it up in the winter because a lot of  the heat leaves your house through the chimney ( that wastes energy and raises your heating bill).
3. Recycle.
4. If you don't need it don't buy it( all those stupid plastic thingies add up).
5. Don't throw away good clothes once you've outgrown them. Give them to your little sister or donate them.
6. Put a brick in your toilet tank, because the water will always fill to a certain point and if you put a brick inside it will raise the water level, making less water flow into the tank, wasting less water.( don't worry it won't break your toilet)
7. Buy energy efficient appliances(for obvious reasons).
8. Don't use what you don't need. Examples: when you wash dishes use as little dish soap as possible, useing less shampoo when you wash your hair or just being carful not to waist too much paper.
9. buy food with less packaging.  Try to avoide getting food at fast food restaurants, for one most of them are not good for you,  and there ends up being more plastic wrappings left over then the food itself. Example:if you got pancakes at a fast food place the food you would have would be: the pancakes, the butter, the surup, the potatoes, the ketchup and a drink. For waste you would have : the bag everything came in, the plastic box from the pancakes, the container from the butter, the container from the surup, the box from the potatoes, the packet from the ketchup, the cup and lid from the drink, the plastic silverware and the bag they came in, the straw and its wrapper and the napkins that you used.