Mother Earth - Karen's Perspective

Earth Days may have Shortened due to Chilean Quake

Earth

Can you imagine? According to Nasa, the Feb. 27 magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile may have shortened the length of each Earth day.

Not only that, but perhaps even more impressive is that the quake actually shifted the Earth’s axis and, relatively speaking, by quite a bit!

Why did this quake have such a global effect when most quakes don’t? A number of things worked together. First of all, it was a very large quake that lasted for a very long time. Next, this quake was located very near the center of the earth making it “easier” to shift the axis. And, finally, the quake was very deep.

Read more about this phenomenon at the Nasa news topics site.

03 / 02 / 2010
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Free Energy Audit for your home

Did you know you can get a free energy audit for your home? Have you had yours yet?

I had mine today. Fabulous experience and.. free gifts!

Duke Energy will come to your home and do a FREE energy audit. Just call Duke Energy to schedule your appointment. I had to wait almost 3 months for mine but it’s no big deal to wait, right?

My audit took less than an hour. The inspector started by sitting at his laptop where my account was already pulled up. He knew my energy usage history. Then he asked questions about our energy needs and habits such as how many people live in the home, what temperature we keep the thermostat in the winter (68*) and what temperature in the summer (74*), do we wash in cold, warm or hot water. (cold)

Then he made a tour of the property beginning in the attic crawl space where he looked at insulation and duct work. He checked the hot water heater for age and efficiency, checked windows, fireplace openings, heat ducts, vents and insulation in the attic as well as under the house. He checked the heating unit for age and efficiency.

What to do With Your Christmas Tree after the Holidays

Christmas Tree

1.) Make a feeder for birds and squirrels!

First, remove all ornaments and lights. Take the bare tree and move it out to your yard still in the stand. String it with popcorn and cranberries, sprinkle with birdseed or hang bird feeders from the boughs. Smear pine cones with peanut butter, hang apple rings or orange halves. Hang hollowed-out orange halves in the tree and fill them with nuts.

Enjoy the show as the birds feast on your gift to nature! Not only will the tree provide food for wildlife during the cold winter days, but it can also be a place for them to hide from cold winds.

2.) Mulch the tree for your garden. It can then be used in the landscape as a cover around trees, shrubs, and flowers. This helps insulate the soil, conserve soil moisture, and retard weed growth. It also helps return nutrients to the soil as it breaks down. Pine needles are great for ground covering and mulch.

Turning Wine to Water

I voted for Doc Hendley for CNN’s top hero. He is a local boy, graduating in 1997 from Ragsdale High School here in North Carolina, and he’s truly making a difference in the world.

Doc is working to bring clean drinking water to more than 26,000 people in countries like Cambodia and Sudan and Peru. He’s built wells in 6 countries already and started the non-profit group Wine to Water.

This group builds wells and trains people to build and fix wells and to install special bio-filters that can clean water.

The winner of the CNN contest receives $100,000 for his or her program. You can vote as many times as you like. The winner will be announced Thanksgiving night.

My passion is clean water for the world. What’s yours? What are you doing about it? Click on the link above and check out the extraordinary people CNN has found, everyday people like you and me, doing things that really matter. Vote for your favorite and do something today to make a difference in your world.