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Friday, July 19, 2024

Our beloved Iowa Farm Companion columnist Joe Villines (who took this photo of birds foraging in his fields, from his column “Resilience and Reliability”) recently responded to a Daily Dot newsletter, in which Dot urged us to talk to the climate doomers in our lives (even if those doomers are us). Joe urged us all to ask ourselves, “what can I, Joe Citizen do?” And then he answered: “You can grow a garden at home, or likely nearby in a community garden. Don't have a community garden? Start one! Look for vacant lots and make an arrangement with the owner. If you own a home with even a small amount of land, catch rainwater and grow beautiful things. Use free wood chips from your local tree service to protect your precious earth and contribute to soil microbes and fungi while snuffing out weeds. Hell, replace your whole lawn with a food forest. Let’s talk about climate change, but let’s set the example. Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Thanks Joe, for both being the change and encouraging it in others. Want to read more about what Joe’s doing? Check out his delightful, honest columns about life on his Iowa farm. 

I pledge to bring my skills, respect, and compassion to work every day, supporting environmental justice in all our communities.

I will honor nature’s beauty and abundance, on which we all depend, and commit to its protection from the climate crisis.

I will build a more resilient future, where every person can thrive.

I will take my place in history, working with shared purpose in the American Climate Corps on behalf of our nation and planet, its people, and all its species, for the better future we hold within our sight.

 – Barbara Kingsolver, author of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Demon Copperhead (among many others, all available on Amazon)

It’s no surprise that well-known novelist and writer Barbara Kingsolver was invited to create the pledge for the American Climate Corps, Biden’s signature climate career program. “All I have is my words,” she responded and then produced this lovely pledge. Whether or not you are one of the 9,000 who’ve already taken the pledge, we can all work with shared purpose “for the better future we hold within our sight.” 

• Saving Mighty Massachusetts Hemlocks 

• Chasing the Great White Sharks: A Marine Biologist Shares His Story

• Cheering On Paris’s Olympic Climate Promises

• Cool Soups: Red Gazpacho and White Gazpacho

• Summer Garden Tools: Irrigate, Pollinate, Harvest

• Build a DIY Self-Watering Plant System (With Old Bottles)

• Dear Dot Tackles Non-Toxic De-Ant Methods

• What Makes Heat Pumps So Climate- (and Wallet-) Friendly?

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BIG IDEAS AND LOCAL CHANGEMAKERS

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Turn bottles into a DIY plant watering system. And want to propagate your house plants and swap with friends? Bluedot’s gardening columnist tells you how.
For more Bluedot Climate Quick Tips, click here.

 The Bluedot Kitchen

With temperatures soaring (again) across the continent, we couldn’t resist sharing these cold soups from Bluedot Living contributor Vanessa Seder. Her book Eat Cool, published by Rizzoli, and available on Amazon, is full of cool treats. Find more here, and for now, enjoy this pair of gazpachos, one white, one red. Bluedot editor Leslie Garrett says she warms her gazpachos up for some reason, but we’re reveling in the chill this week.

Good Libations: Gray Whale Gin (and Tonic?)

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– Illustration by Elissa Turnbull

Dear Dot,

Did you run an article about ants? I am unable to stop the swarm in my kitchen. Have tried Terro which has always worked for me in the past, but my bottle might be out of date. Tried cinnamon, clove, borax with sugar dry, borax with sugar wet. Tonight I am trying something made by Raid. 

Any help would be appreciated!

– Harriet

Dear Harriet,

It seems that if you want to live in a place where ants can’t annoy you, you will need to move to Antarctica, Greenland, or Iceland — though it’s likely just a matter of time (and climate change) before ants find their way there, too. 

There are an estimated ten to 100 quadrillion of them on the planet (quite a range but I think we can forgive whomever was tasked with counting them for being a few quadrillion off) so I suppose it’s not surprising that a bunch of them have decided, to your chagrin, to take up residence Chez Harriet. 

But clearly they have overstayed their unwelcome; and while I understand that you are at your wit’s end and are, thus, pulling out the Raid, let’s consider alternatives so that you can avoid a solution that, yes, will kill the ants, but that will also pose health risks to people and pets, especially babies. Dr. Death, an eco-friendly pest control company serving Las Vegas (with the industry’s greatest name), tells us that “The two specific ingredients [in Raid] that are not safe are cypermethrin and imiprothrin. … Essentially, what makes them so deadly to bugs can also make them poisonous to [us].”

So let’s consider methods that are less toxic (to humans and animals, not so much for ants).

And thank-you for keeping me abreast of your attempts, Harriet: Readers, Harriet has been offering Dot a play-by-play of the ant drama in four acts playing out at her home. To wit:

Dear Dot, [see original question, above]

Dear Dot, These ants have been on my kitchen counter for the better part of a month. 

Dear Dot, They are small like sweet ants but seem to resist sweet traps of any kind. Cinnamon keeps them away, but I read that just makes them start another colony. I need to get poison back into their nest to kill the Queen. Uggh!

And finally, a video from Harriet and this: Dear Dot, These ants responded to peanut butter! I put Borax in with some. 

Indeed, Borax is toxic to ants. It kills them slowly, which gives them time to take this ant poison back to their colony, where they Jim Jones all their buddies. But bad news about Borax, Harriet: while it’s often touted as a “green” product,  Borax is also toxic to humans and pets and needs to be handled carefully. 

So what’s an ant-averse eco-minded homeowner to do? 

Dot has ant-sers … errr … answers. Read on. 

BUY LESS/BUY BETTER: Garden Greats

Bluedot Living's newsletter may contain affiliate links, including from Amazon, and may receive a commission when you buy a product from our links.

🎾🏠 From Wimbledon balls becoming cozy homes for harvest mice to New York City taking a stand against single-use toiletry bottles in hotels, and Amazon's shift from plastic air pillows to recycled paper packaging, this week is all about innovative steps toward a greener planet! 🌍♻️

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The Keep-This-Handbook

Heat pumps are currently keeping a few Bluedotters cool this summer. How? Let our tech expert, Alec Ross, tell you what makes heat pumps so climate- and wallet-friendly!

The Story Behind Bluedot

“There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world,” astronomer Carl Sagan wrote in 1994’s Pale Blue Dot. “To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.” Sagan’s humbling words inspire us to deliver stories to you that reflect his and so many others’ work to cherish this blue dot. Please consider forwarding this newsletter to your friends and family to share and inspire real-world eco-actions we can take at home and in our communities.

Enjoy the weekend, and we’ll see you in two weeks.

– Jamie Kageleiry and Leslie Garrett

Editors

Write us at editor@bluedotliving.com

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