Ten YEARS, One HOUR, this Saturday ... Earth Hour

...for One Hour, each year, hundreds of millions of people switch off their electricity to show and share their commitment to fighting global climate change.

this is...
         Earth Hour

Earth Hour:
         Earth Hour - 10th Anniversary
         Saturday, March 25
         8:30 PM local time (to you)

To participate "live" in the 10th annual Earth Hour and find out how to take action (if you're looking for ideas), go to the Earth Hour website or facebook page.
...and stay tuned here! :)

So... what is this equinox thing?

Earth at Equinox

Twice a year the earth experiences equinoxes, that point in the earth's rotation around the sun when the axis of the earth (see the "poles" marking Earth's axis in the diagram to the left) is tilted neither *toward* nor *away from* the sun. The axial tilt of the earth is what causes the seasonal changes.

 This occurs in March (~ March 20) and September (~ Sept. 22) each year.





The March equinox is the beginning of the spring season in the northern hemisphere as the tilt of Earth is angled toward the sun (longer days in North America, Europe, and Asia) and the fall season in the southern hemisphere as Earth's tilt angles the southern hemisphere away from the sun (shorter days in most of South America, the southern half of Africa, and Australia); the September equinox is when the sun's rays, due to Earth's axial tilt, will start to fall more strongly on the southern than the northern hemisphere, spring in the southern hemisphere starts and fall in the northern hemisphere.


Due to the effect of light refraction (basically the bending of light around *edges*) and the way that sunrise and sunset are calculated (the visible edge of the sun on the horizon rather than the center of the sun crossing the horizon), day and night lengths are close to, but not to, equal on the equinoxes in the northern  and southern hemispheres. 


Here's what both of the equinoxes (left) and both of the solstices (right) look like from space:

...the next post should be much easier, on *both* of us (writer AND reader, lol)... writing when sick is ridiculous! ;)

World Wildlife Day!

... a day to celebrate what the wild brings to our lives...


This year's theme is "Listen to the Young Voices". Almost a quarter of the earth's population is between 10 and 24 years old. They will be the inheritors of our decisions, and the decision makers in the not-so-distant- future.
How do you want that to play out?

One thing.
If you have no time for anything more, today do ONE thing to help preserve, protect, and/or conserve wildlife and our wild lands.

What can YOU do today?

*talk with a young person about what they want for earth's wildlife and wild lands (encourage/ help them to take action),
*purchase a pass to a wild area,
*contact your government officials, expressing why it is important to protect wild life and wild lands (what benefits we get from protecting wildlife and wild lands) and what, specifically, you would like them to do (please vote yes/no on a particular bill, please fund "X" department, etc.),
*share/like/love! posts like this! ,
*donate to organizations that protect wild life and wild lands,
and, if you have *more* time ...
*start today, plan an event for next year!
*create your own posts/ blogs/ videos!
*participate in a clean-up (beach, park, roadside, trail, etc!)


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Mason Bees emerging! (includes video)

Finally! The mason bees are emerging from their house!

This morning dawned cloudless and cold (heavy frost last night), but the sun immediately started warming the mason bee house and the bees started emerging.

The video (bottom) shows 3 bees emerging from one cell.

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