Year of Gratitude - Day 119 - Rain

This might seem stupid, but when I hear about the disastrous drought out west, I am grateful to be surrounded by the Great Lakes and am grateful for rainy days. We had friends come in from out of town. They were both from Michigan, but hadn't been back for a few years. They are from an area that is quiet dry. When they returned, one of them said "It's so lush here." Indeed, Michigan in the summertime is lush, and that's because we get rain. Lot's of wonderful, nourishing rain.

Year of Gratitude - Day 23 - Lack of Natural Disasters in Michigan

People's biggest beef with Michigan is winter. While I'm certainly no fan, I have seen far crazier weather and cataclysmic disasters hit other places and I'm grateful the ol' Mitten is free from the worst of it. Just over 10 years ago, the Boxing Day tsunami killed around 228,000 people in many countries during the holiday season. I remember thinking, wow, for as enormous the casualties were that day, it wasn't really making the news rounds in the U.S.

Coal plants firing mess all over the world, from all over the world.

During some of my past research, I learned how bad coal-firing plants are to the environment. Their emissions contain all types of horrible particulates that embed themselves in acid rain, soil and contributes to more ozone by increasing cloud cover. Thing is, I thought that this was well known and industry was trying to find other sources. Wrong! Turns out, due to it's abundance and low cost (monetarily speaking), it's the preferred fuel all over the world.

And China's booming economy is also a booming polluted mess. Shortly, they will take our place as the world's foremost polluter. Check out these bits of article.

TAIYUAN — It takes five to 10 days for the pollution from China's coal-fired plants to make its way to the United States, like a slow-moving storm.

It shows up as mercury in the bass and trout caught in Oregon's Willamette River. It increases cloud cover and raises ozone levels. And along the way, it contributes to acid rain in Japan and South Korea and health problems everywhere from Taiyuan to the United States.

Read the rest of the article HERE.

Texas goes green - literally

After the wettest June on record, Texas isn't battling it's typical wildfires, but instead it's watching plentiful vegatation grow. Check out this photo from National Geographic