The Wonder of Earth and Sky

Nature. Wilderness. The wild. The great outdoors. No matter what you call it, it's beautiful. And it's outside.
We often underestimate the beauty, power, and amazingness of Nature. It's awesome. And natural beauty can be found in your backyard, found in a bird flying through the city, anywhere. We often close our minds and hearts to this.
Beauty is everywhere, if we would just look for it. National Parks are good examples. They show that people and nature can be in the same place, together, and not be entirely competing. Just step outside sometime and enjoy it.
I admit that I'm guilty of staying on the computer instead of playing outside. But I never stop appreciating nature.
By polluting we mar that beauty. And that we definitely should not. People often ask, what's in it for us if we stop polluting, wating electricity, and wasting water? The truth is, Earth sustains us. If we continue to pollute, waste, and destroy, we will ALL suffer the concequences. Dirty air makes us sick. Lack of water is bad for obvious reasons. Electricity is not endless. This destruction is caused by us.
But we do more than that. We ruin amazing veiws.
You may be thinking now; I thought this was an article on Nature's beauty. Why am I reading about pollution?
The truth is: It all comes down to the same thing. We cause the ruin of so much. Please protect our Earth mother, and all those veiws that make you say "Wow.".

Note: We do NOT own the pictures in this article.

Shelter Animals And How To Help Them, by Silvia Phenora

You've probably been to an Animal Shelter sometime in your life. Passed by all those longing faces, begging you to let them out, let them lick your hands, or maybe purr and cuddle.
Maybe you asked the staff to let one out with you, just for a short time. But chances are, you put them back.
There are many animals at shelters. Not just dogs and cats. I volunteer at the Humane Society of Southern Arizona(HSSA). I mainly work with the cats, and our family fosters kittens(more on fostering later).
A while ago HSSA had a three-day event called the Furbaby Fiesta. All mixed-breeds were free(no adoption fee), and all purebreds were half-off.
My mother and I worked with the cats, telling people about them and handing them adoption applications if nessesary. Nearby, in a separate room, the "pocket pets" were kept. And that brings me to my point.
Shelters aren't just about cats and dogs. They save any kind of pet, reptiles, rodents, birds, cats, dogs, etc.
Below: Rufus, a rat that was at HSSA.

I even got to witness the adoption of Snowball and Fiver, two Ferrets. (See below pic)

Below: Snowball and Fiver

So anyway, about fostering... It really touches animals lives. Yes, it can be hard to let them go at the end of the foster period. But without being in a foster home, these animals wouldn't have lived. Many of the animals that end up in foster homes are too scared to be adoptable, are too young to survive in the shelter(some kittens we had for three days came to a veterinarian just minutes old, with the umbilicle cord still attached), or have to recover from wounds. If you can't adopt, consider fostering.

About rescuing an animal: At kill shelters, sometimes an animal will be listed as a "rescue". This means that animal, for whatever reason, has less "time" left at the shelter than other animals.

If you can adopt a rescue animal, all the better. But it helps all the animals in the shelter if you adopt any. By doing do, you make more room in the shelter for others.

My uncle and aunt foster dogs, and rescue them too. They often have two rescued dogs at a time, three if fostering.

About volunteering: Volunteering is a great thing to do. You can help out by walking dogs, handling cats,  

cleaning kennels, advocating for animals during events, and more. By volunteering, you can help immensely. You don't have to stay all day cleaning the shelter or anything. All it takes to touch a life is just sit down for a while with a lazy rat in your lap, throw a ball for that high-energy dog that hates being cooped up, stuff like that.

Shea volunteers at Homeward Bound(previously known as Addison County Humane Society).

Note: Each shelter has an age limit on certain things. For example, if you want to directly handle animals at HSSA, you have to be 15. Please respect such rules.

About donations: With most shelters, all funds come from donations and the money from adoption fees. That is why it can be expensive to adopt. The shelter depends on that money.

Some shelters lower the adoption fee on certain animals(such as those with a cold), to increase their chances of getting adopted. Other shelters(such as HSSA) do events where animals have lowered adoption fees.

If you can't foster, adopt, or volunteer, at least donate. Every penny counts.

And now, here is a picture of a wonderful pet that got adopted, Fred.

Below: Fred the Cockatoo

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.

Bee's big problem by Shea Montgomery

Most people are afraid of bees ( this may not apply to you).  What people don't realize ( again this may not apply to you) is that honey bees are more or less harmless. Yes, they have a stinger and all that but they most likely aren't going to use it on you unless you've as good as killed them( stepping on them sitting on them etc) or threaten their hive.  Why is that? Because there is only one sting per bee. Once the bee has stung it dies.  So no bee is going to sting you for no reason( however hornets are a different story). Got it? Good.
Without honey bees we wouldn`t have 1/3 of the foods we like to eat ( apples, almonds, broccoli, cucumbers, pumkins etc).  Unfortunatly the bees are disapearing at an alarming rate. Over 1/3 of the colonies have already died. Scientists are not quite sure what is causing the bees to disapear. It could be parasites, pesticides, the possibilities are vast.  But losing food isn't the only problem we have here. Bees are living things too and we can't just let them die. Please help the situation by either donating to an organization trying to figure out what's happining to them, or help raise awareness among your friends and family. The bees need you!

Beauty products and their ugly secrets by Shea Montgomery

Every year thousands of animals are killed due to absolutely evil tests done by beauty product companies, to make sure their makeup is safe for humans to use. Most of the tests are deadly and others cripple the animals for life, tests such as rubbing mascara or eyeshadow in the animals eyes are common acts of abuse committed by these companies. They would perform a test causing the animal to be in great pain, record there injuries and fianlly kill them The thing is there are plenty of alternative ways to find out if their makeup is safe for humans that don't include abusing innocent animals, such as testing on skin cells or not using toxic ingredients altogether. If you're shopping for beauty products please make sure it's a company that does not use unnecessary acts of cruelty to make its products.  The is nothing to gain by testing on animals so why do it?  To all those make up companies out there that test on animals I bet you could get a lot more people to buy your products if you could say that you don`t abuse animals.  Makeup in my opinion is one of those optional things so just remember that inner beauty comes first.

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!

Rescue Dog Duke Saves Baby Harper's Life

When infant baby Harper stopped breathing, her parents were unaware, and would have gone to sleep if not for their dog, Duke, whom they had rescued years ago.
Duke started shaking violently on the bed. Realizing that this was not normal behavior, Harper's parents investigated, and found the non-breathing Harper. Her father called 911, and the ambulance arrived. Harper is now doing well, and her survival is thanks to Duke.
Harper's mother Jenna Brousseau said "He's the perfect dog, he was meant, meant to be ours, he was meant to be hers."

The moral? Even in ways you may not have expected, if you rescue an animal, they will return the favor.