I have been reading some books from the time period of World War II and I have realized something; entertainment and advertising have become ridiculously sex oriented. In the time before World War II, people would have never seen a woman in very skimpy clothing used to advertise something as unrelated as cigarettes or even jeans.

Some people don’t mind these changes but it continues to make women second class citizens. Sex had been used to sell products before our now but it was just not as overly visual even though the aspect was still there. Before we know it the advertisements will get worse.

In my opinion, this change is not something to be proud of. However, it is not something worth getting overly upset over either. It is just the way it is and since there is no pressure on companies to make the changes they will continue to use sex oriented methods to sell their products. They do it because it works and there is not much that we can do about that.

Buying bottled water has got to be one of the most wasteful things that human beings have ever done. The whole concept of bottled water is that it is easier to go to the store and buy it and bring it home than it is to just use the sink at your home. Some people say they prefer bottled water because is cleaner. However, there is little and no proof that they “purify” the water. We just take their word for it.

People who say that they get bottled water because it is more convenient are simply not thinking because they have to spend extra money to by the bottled water when they already spend money in the form of taxes to make sure the water in their sink is clean. They say that it is easier to transport but a water bottle that can be reused over again makes more sense because you don’t have to pay every single time you fill it up.

Finally there is the matter of the pollution. A huge amount of people in the world drink bottled water and sadly most of those people do not recycle. That means that millions and millions of plastic bottles go straight to the landfill. That is maybe the biggest waste of all.

Who needs to worry about an asteroid hitting the earth when all it takes is a single tiny sperm hitting their marks and making a new baby to kill this lovely planet we call home. “The world is overpopulated but people keep on f*#@ing, f*#@ing is how babies are made.” That is a memorable quote from the now deceased Kurt Vonnegut Jr. from his book Breakfast of Champions. Always made a mark on me and I still went ahead and made 3 new babies to add to global overpopulation.

And not even mentioning the stress on the planet to feed these billions of peeps, consider the mindless over-consumption with little or no regard for the waste in creating it or the waste refuse tossed in a trash landfill. Over-population is a real problem and a real bummer. This is a problem that can only be solved with birth control because people love to have sex and that’s not going to stop. If you look at it realistically, one solution is homosexual sex. Maybe it really is more natural than we would like to believe and a way nature is taking care of the problem of overpopulation. If we would stop and think how nature works, then we wouldn’t be so hung up with homosexuality and encourage it as a life choice.

I recently returned from a trip to Australia and was amazed at how the people lived there. For the most part in the cities it is the same as it is here in America, but in some of the more rural places, people have it tough and have to fight to survive.

These people had to work in very hot, very dry environments to survive and it is no walk in the part. They don’t get paid very much and if they’re not careful wild animals wait in the shadows and can attack them at any time. The people in these regions have really adapted well to the harsher environment that they have to deal with on a daily basis. There is a feeling of pride for these people as they feel they can survive anywhere. Many believe that is where the true strength of the human spirit comes from. Not the urge to do harm to one another or the calling for violence but the desire to survive and survive happily in the environment in which we have been placed. It makes me want to do better were I am and hopefully, will inspire you to do the same.

At our house we recently completed a survey sent to us from the power company to access the energy usage and potential savings we can have with some small and some large changes. I was very surprised at what they asked as it was more in-depth than I thought it would be. I had to go look at the frig and hot water heater to find out what the ratings were and how old they were. Unfortunately, there were a couple of things I was not able to do because of the weather but I felt I came close to getting it right.

It took about a month to get the results back and we have found them both informative as well as mostly doable. It broke the changes down into cost and let you know how many months it would take to recoup your investment, which helps you access what you should or could do. If you get the opportunity to do something like this I would highly recommend it because you learn what you have done right and what you can improve and; you save money!

Nobody who eats bacon really wants to know that we are much more like pigs than we might want to think. If you have ever listened to scientists you would notice how many tests are done on pig’s right before human testing. The reason is because our systems are a lot like there’s. If you have to get a valve replacement or bladder one of your choices are pig’s valves and bladders as they can be assimilated with our systems pretty easily.

If it makes you a little bit uneasy that one of your favorite foods comes from an animal that may also save your life one day, it’s totally understandable. Pigs are more than a food source, but they are a food source and as long as they are treated with grace and dignity it’s okay that they are food. However, we also need to realize that pigs are also really very smart and are self-aware just like monkeys, dolphins and elephants. Maybe if they painted pictures and were in zoos they would get a little bit more respect. Until that time comes, just remember the next time you order a pork chop to honor the pig that gave its life for you.

I have recently started looking into research on honey bees for a design project at school. Before doing even the slightest bit of research, I knew the decline in bee populations would have an effect on our food supply, I just didn’t know by how much. I was amazed to find out that over eighty percent of cherries rely on bee pollination. It takes about 100 grains of pollen per cherry blossom to produce fruit. Bees carry about 100,000 grains of pollen per load. I also learned that almonds rely completely on bees for pollination. In fact, due to the decline of the hives, many bee keepers are taking their colonies to central California to assist with the almond trees. These are just two examples. There is no doubt countless others.

There are several theories about what is happening to the bees – cell phone tower signals interfering with the bees internal GPS systems, mites, viruses, etc.  This is much more an important issue than I had originally given it credit. Can you imagine what will happen if the decline continues? Food prices would go up tremendously due to simple supply and demand…but what happens when there is no more supply? The bees are a crucial party in the human food chain supply. Even foods that are processed many times start out as something coming from nature. God save the Queens!

Don’t be afraid to seek landscaping help when and if you need it. Many times it will be less expensive to have a professional crew come in and do certain things like build a deck, pour a patio or install a water feature hen it is for you to spend the time and money trying to get it all done. They have the manpower and the experience and can get it done, in many cases, quicker, cheaper and better.

What I have found to be a life saver is the time I save by hiring out professionals. In what I do, time is money so any time I save means I am usually either making more money or spending it with my family. The other huge plus for me is what I call “the frustration factor”. This is the frustration that I go through trying to figure out the best way to go about a job I am not familiar with by doing internet research or reading through magazines and books. This alone has taken up more time than some of the projects I have done! The bottom line is to get the help that you need before you create a disaster!

I recently spent a week with my aunt who is a real conservationist. By that I mean this is a woman who stands on her convictions to leave the planet a better place than when she got here. She and her husband live on a small homestead outside of Austin, TX and, if you have been listening to any weather this year, they have been going through terrible drought conditions. They have even had to ratio their water for bathing and washing dishes and clothes because of a wealthy neighbor who has drilled a water well about 500 feet more than others in the area and he has drained their water source to water his lawn.

Though my aunt could raise Cain with her neighbor she believes this is a good drill for hard times. She washes clothes and dishes by hand, keeps water outside for livestock and other wild creatures in the area, keeps their house a balmy 85 degrees and has a great outlook on life in general. They use the windmill on the property and she laughs about the “new” wind energy since windmills have been used for years to pump water. The last thing she said to me was the younger generation might learn a thing or two if they would just ask some old coots what worked in their day; after all, before modern technology, they still lived well.

In this day and age when the economy is getting hit hard and we are getting hit harder with bills, it just pays to start thinking green. I recently got a notice in the mail that the water department was going to start charging extra if we went over the allotted water limit per household. I guess at that moment, my beautiful green luscious yard was a curse although I had never seen it that way previously. How was I going to stay under my limit when my veggies and grass need its daily watering?

Thank goodness for the internet and searching for ‘green gardening’ because I found a couple things that have worked wonders for me. First I ordered a collapsible rain barrel that could easily be set up to catch runoff from the gutter and be hooked up to the lawn hose – a simple way to recycle water! And why stop with just recycling water when there is so much that I was throwing out from the fridge that could be used in a compost bin. I’m glad to say my yard has been able to stay ‘luscious’ even in these hard times thanks to these products.