‘Dew’ by Kay Ryan

^{Image source: Library of Congress}

As neatly as peas in their green canoe,
as discreetly as beads strung in a row,
sit drops of dew along a blade of grass.

But unattached and subject to their weight,
they slip if they accumulate.

Down the green tongue out of the morning sun
into the general damp,
they’re gone.

– Kay Ryan (1945)

This is my second time sharing a NYC subway poem and by the looks of it, won’t be my last. Just like the first, ‘A Name’ by Ada Limón, this poem captivated me. It’s easy to get lost in the subway system’s congestion & chaos but this quick read does something rejuvenating to the soul. You can find more subway poetry (past & present) by clicking here for MTA’s Arts & Design poetry page.

NYC Compost Project

I had the wonderful pleasure of sitting in for a presentation by a member of Queens Botanical Garden‘s Compost Project. I learned that this project is funded by the NYC’s Department of Sanitation, which is a wonderful effort on their part to create awareness & make rounds for organic matter collection.

A complimentary bag of organic compost from Queen’s Botanical Garden’s Compost Project.

Here’s what I learned. Organic compost is made from food scraps, coffee grounds, soiled paper, and also leaf & yard waste. The process generally takes about 6 months, requiring a sheltered & enclosed space away from rodents (inevitable New York natives) and the elements but allowing for air to pass through. You can check to see if your compost is ready by taking a handful and putting it in air-tight bag. Smell the contents the next day and if it smells like ammonia, your compost is not ready. A good compost is thoroughly decomposed.

The reason for these efforts? Collecting organic compost recycles it completely and creates a mutualistic relationship between our trash & our sustainability needs as of lately. It also prevents it from entering landfills as trash. When organic matter finds itself there, it can produce methane as it decomposes which is more toxic to our atmosphere than CO₂; adding to our greenhouse gas issue. You know, climate change.

^{Click to enlarge.}

Homeowners and landlords can enroll their properties in organics collection with the Department of Sanitation by clicking here for the application.

Tenants of buildings can apply too but are encouraged to get applications from other residents living on the premises. If that’s not possible, there are also food scrap drop-off sites and you can click here for locations to those.

Fun fact: Organic compost can also be used for house plants.

I hope this encourage readers to think about their trash a bit more consciously. If you’re considering composting but just want to learn more, consider reaching out to the NYC Project Compost sites by clicking here. There are a few different ways to get involved no matter who you are… try it out!

Happy composting!

People’s Climate Movement NY

I had a wonderful opportunity to attend a People’s Climate Movement of New York event today. The evening kicked off with PCM‘s very own Leslie Cagan speaking and opening the floor for what the rest of the event would be like. We heard from more speakers from various organizations that shared information about the following campaigns and their efforts:  Climate Works for All, DivestNY, Fossil Fuel Infrastructure, National Legislation, NY Renews, and last, but not least, Puerto Rico Recovery.

The purpose of the event was to bring like minded individuals into a space where they can collaborate their efforts into where it’s needed most. Among some of the causes that were discussed today include:

• Fracking and how it affects nearby communities.
• Climate changes direct link to increased natural disasters.
• The humanitarian and environmental crisis that Puerto Rico is currently experiencing.

^{Elizabeth Yeampierre, of UPROSE, elaborating on the crisis in Puerto Rico.}

^{NYC Public Advocate Letitia James thanking the group and toasting to the collective good work as well as the work ahead.}

I had such a good time connecting with people who share the same passions as myself. I was initially afraid of going because I’ve never sat down and discussed these kind of things just because. But more than ever it’s becoming an important conversation to have. Right now the conversation is among those organizing positive change but soon enough it will be a regular thing for everyone — because the environment is our counterpart.

I’m glad that I took a chance and encourage everyone to. If there is an effort listed here that you would like more information on, please let me know. I will be more than happy to guide my readers in the right direction of something that draws their interest.

Think green!

Some Triumph for African Lions

^{Image source: ABC News (2015)}

Most of us aren’t aware of how African lion hunting actually takes place. So although this article regards some triumph for African lions — I equally want to disclose that it’s not a full ban on trophy hunting of these marvelous felines.

A private U.S. pro-hunting group Safari Club International has stated that “it will no longer allow the promotion or auctioning of hunts involving African lions bred and shot in captivity.” (Humane Society International) It’s a big deal for this group to denounce the trade because it means less legal trade will happen internationally. With majority of the African lion body part trade being sent to the U.S. — you can see why it’s significant for this group to stop promoting the killing of captive lions. Though, it is only somewhat of a win. The trophy-hunting behind the deaths of many African lions still goes on as captive-bred hunting is still not illegal while canned hunting is.

What is the difference between captive-bred hunting & canned hunting? There is no difference! Captive-bred hunting literally breeds animals in demand for the purpose of keeping them in captivity then allows them to be hunted. Whereas, canned hunting puts animals (like the African lion) in large captive spaces for the sole purpose of hunting. Trophy hunters from around the world make their payment to those who the land belongs to and go “hunting.” This captive-bred/canned hunting makes the chance at killing more likely and since they bear no difference in purpose, it’s highly controversial and should be banned.

I would never promote trophy hunting but the use of captive-bred/canned hunting completely takes away from the sport of hunting. There is no skill required in killing an animal that’s got limited space to flee/roam. I can only hope that more change comes for these exotic big cats and that this directly decreases the illegal trade we see in the United States.

^{Sources:
Humane Society International. Animal protection groups welcome denouncement of captive-bred or “canned” lion hunts from one of the largest U.S. trophy hunting clubs. 9 Feb 2018.
Humane Society International. Trophy Hunting: Animals Under Fire. 2018.}

10 Necessary Factors for a Sustainable Environment

1. Combating poverty is a central goal because poverty reduces access to healthcare, education, and other essential components of development.

2. Reducing resource consumption is a global consideration, but wealthy regions are responsible for most of the world’s consumption. For example, the United States and Europe have less than 15 percent of the world’s population, but these regions consume about half of the world’s metals, food, energy, and other resources.

3. Population growth leads to ever-greater resources demands, because all people need some resources. Better family planning, ensuring that all children are wanted, is a matter of justice, resource supply, and economic and social stability for states as well as for families.

4. Healthcare, especially for children and mothers, is essential for a productive life. Underdeveloped areas can lead to disease, accidents, respiratory and digestive impairments, and other conditions. Without health, economic security is a risk, and poverty can persist through generations.

5. Sustainable cities are key because over half of humanity now lives in cities. Sustainable development involves ensuring that cities are healthy places to live and that they cause minimal environmental impact.

6. Environmental policy needs to guide decision making in local and national governments, to ensure that environmental quality is protected before it gets damaged, and to set agreed-upon rules for resource use.

7. Protection of the atmosphere is essential for minimizing the rate of climate change and for reducing impacts of air pollution on people, plants, and infrastructure.

8. Combating deforestation and protection biodiversity go together because much of the world’s biodiversity is in forests. We also depend on forests for water resources, climate regulation, and resources including food, wood, medicines, and building materials. Other key zones of biodiversity include coral reefs, wetlands, and coastal areas.

9. Combating desertification and drought through better management of water resources can save farms, ecosystems, and lives. Often removal of vegetation and soil loss make drought worse, and a few bad rainfall years can convert a landscape to desertlike conditions.

10. Agriculture and rural development affect the lives of the nearly half of humanity who don’t live in cities. Improving conditions for billions of rural people, including more sustainable farming systems, soil stewardship to help stabilize yields, and access to lands, can help reduce populations in urban slums.

– Principles of Environmental Science: Inquiry & Application
Cunningham/Cunningham, 8th Edition

^{Click here for featured image credit.}

Reader Appreciation

For all of January 2018, I was extremely delighted to see an increase in international readers. I try my best to tailor StayBlooming.com’s content for anyone to find relatable, interesting, or educational — so this is a little accomplishment I want to celebrate. Oftentimes I feel limited because I live in New York City and I don’t think I can establish a connection with people further than my own city and state. But that could not be any less true and you guys have made that clear. In just a few days, on February 6th, StayBlooming.com will be celebrating its 1st birthday and I want to use this time to celebrate the diversity of my readers.

Thank you to my readers from all over the world!!!

Argentina	Australia	Bangladesh
Belgium	Brazil	Cameroon
Canada	Chile	China
Costa Rica	Ethiopia	European Union
France	Germany	Greece
India	Indonesia	Ireland
Israel	Japan	Malaysia
Mexico	Myanmar (Burma)	Netherlands
New Zealand	Pakistan	Philippines
Portugal	Russia	Senegal
South Africa	Ukraine	United Kingdom

Stop Wasting Paper!

Climate change is real. Environmental issues affect us all. Whether we feel affected by it personally or not doesn’t change the affect it has on other people and parts of the world. The problems we have within the environment are so large-scale that no one person can do anything to fix it, no one organization, no one country, no one continent… it is an effort that’s needed by the entire world and every conscious being in it.

So with that being said… today I received a piece of mail basically recommending me to switch energy providers. To my fellow city dwellers… you know exactly what I’m talking about! I found this empty envelope inside:

I thought to write a note to send saying, “Stop wasting paper!” but I realized that would be wasting paper too. So I just lifted the flap and wrote it on there — so they’d be forced to pay the postage and receive my message.

I’m committing myself to do this each time I get junk mail that includes a “no postage necessary” envelope because it’s a waste of paper and the only way corporations learn is: (a) when you make them lose money or (b) when you make them spend unnecessarily. One person can’t make a dent but a lot of people can, and dents give in eventually, so protect what you believe in bloomers!

Think green.

In Tough Times

When the pawn hits the conflict he thinks like a king
What he knows throws the blows when he goes to the fight
And he’ll win the whole thing ‘fore he enters the ring
There’s nobody to batter when your mind is your might
So when you go solo you hold your own hand
And remember that depth is the greatest of heights
If you know where to stand then you know where to land
And if you fall it won’t matter ‘cuz you’ll know that you’re right

– Fiona Apple (1999)

What looks like a poem at first sight, actually isn’t. This is the title of Fiona Apple’s second album that most people just know as “When the Pawn…” I was and am a really big fan of her songwriting & music… and have even named every Apple iPhone I’ve owned Fiona. I find that all of her music is highly relatable in one way or another, if not many ways all at once. Her word choice is absolutely phenomenal and lucid.

Apart from that is this unique album title. Over the years I have considered it a poem, a mantra, an escape, but never just merely a title. I have found myself saying it out loud, under my breath, during great anxiety, or even writing it over & over when I felt the urge to write for whatever reason. It has broken me out of spells of thinking I am incapable, it has given me confidence when I felt my lowest, and it has motivated me to work against the odds I thought were against me.

All in all. I’m sharing this because everyone deserves to have this kind of outlet. A saying that they know by heart that can ease their brain, take it away from challenge, and rejuvenate your tolerance.

Find one, use this, share what with us what works at alyssablooms@gmail.com for a feature on StayBlooming.com.

Namaskar.

5-Minute City Clean-up Challenge

Last summer, I featured the 5-Minute Beach Clean-up Challenge to push the environmental agenda while we had free time on the beach. Respectively, there’s now an Instagram to get the same volunteer effort into our cities. An effort that is StayBlooming.com worthy and I want to challenge you guys to get in on it. The 5-Minute City Clean-up Instagram is a project with the very same goal of being green: to encourage social media users to volunteer 5 minutes of their time to clean up their city. Users then post the image and tag @5minutecitycleanup on Instagram for a chance at being featured on their page.

The incentive to be featured is a great way to get people interested. Five minutes goes by quickly too, so it’s easy to devote that time to cleaning up. But the goal is what this challenge (as a whole) can accomplish for the environment.

Share your images with us at alyssablooms@gmail.com if you decide to get involved and we’ll give them a definite feature.

Here are some images that they have inspired from around the world:

View this post on Instagram

🌞 Schools 🌞 . Where everything was born. Places where we gather together to learn for the better. A second home, if not the first one for so many. Schools were key, are key and mostly within the future should be as key as possible 🙏 . 🌎 Dallas • Texas • The United States • 2017 🔵 @oakclifflove ⚫️#00058 🔴#everymomentcounts 🔴#5minutecitycleanup ⚪️#ipickeditup ⚪️#bettertogether ⚪️#zerowaste ⚪️#solutionsnotpollution . #Repost @oakclifflove (@get_repost) ・・・ ♻️4️⃣♻️ #oakclifflove #keepoakcliffbeautiful #keepoakcliffclean #keepdallasclean #keepdallasbeautiful #5minutecitycleanup #take3forthesea #grabbits #justgrabbits #litterless #litterati #5pieces_a_day #1peaceaday #pickup1million

A post shared by 5minutecitycleanup (@5minutecitycleanup) on Dec 3, 2017 at 10:21am PST

View this post on Instagram

By talking with Linda Pierce, she said "oh my son is in Chile so as you". She invited me to his new coffee shop @capsulasantiago inauguration on Saturday and sent tons of love (hey Niles!) 🙌The account from Baltimore says "broad" and I couldn"t help but notice the rhyme with abroad 🌎 . Being abroad means to raise awareness about what belongs to you, what belongs to me and what belongs to us. In order to respect the locals, you merge youself with them. You are respectful and approach the place with kindness. 🎉 . Then you travel somewhere else and you go on and on, keep going. Then you realize you belong to everywhere. And everyplace deserves maximum respect, both socially and absolutely environmentaly 🌍 . Let's get greener guys but greener greener! 🌏 . Baltimore • Maryland • United States • 2017 🔵@baltimore_broad ⚫️#00036 🔴#everymomentcounts 🔴#5minutecitycleanup ⚪️#ipickeditup ⚪️#bettertogether ⚪️#zerowaste ⚪️#SolutionsNotPollution . #Repost @baltimore_broad (@get_repost) ・・・ #5minutecitycleanup #trash #trashwalk #nightlyendeavor #keepyourneighborhoodclean #itsyourbaltimoredonttrashit Been cleaning this neighborhood for many years. Decided to join this instagram share.

A post shared by 5minutecitycleanup (@5minutecitycleanup) on Nov 10, 2017 at 5:10am PST

View this post on Instagram

Plastkill. . Kills. Easy as that. It kills. . 🌎 The Netherlands• 2018 🔵 @zwerfinator ⚫️#00104 🔴#everymomentcounts 🔴#5minutecitycleanup ⚪️#ipickeditup ⚪️#zerowaste ⚪️#solutionsnotpollution . . . #Repost @zwerfinator with @get_repost ・・・ Tie wraps. Or tie rips. Whatever. Keep finding them everywhere. And there are better alternatives. . . . . #zwerfie #litterati #plasticsoup #justoneperday #grabbits #pickitup #aquickpick #LeaveItCleanerThanYouFoundIt #LeaveNoTrace #1pieceofrubbish #sidewalksweep #binit #pickabag #exposingtrash #plasticpollutes #alitterwalk #packyourtrash #TrashFreeEarth #BeTheChange #MakeItFun #PowerOfFun #trashhunting #yeswetrash

A post shared by 5minutecitycleanup (@5minutecitycleanup) on Jan 22, 2018 at 5:43am PST

View this post on Instagram

🔵 Because teachers 🔵 . Sia and 8 pupils from the Atthe School Playground are constantly into the same goal 👏🏼 Kids you rock! . Education and Environment are fundamentals for the kind of world we are in need of. Learning by doing, getting involved within the process turns to be key point. Most of us had the chance to learn by repetition, equation that we must break up in order to take care of our planet 🎓 . Unlearn to learn for the better 🎩 . 🌎 Mecklenburg • Germany • 2017 🔵 @sia.frieda ⚫️#00049 🔴#everymomentcounts 🔴#5minutecitycleanup ⚪️#ipickeditup ⚪️#bettertogether ⚪️#zerowaste ⚪️#solutionsnotpollution .

A post shared by 5minutecitycleanup (@5minutecitycleanup) on Nov 24, 2017 at 6:21am PST

Ivory Victory in China

^{Image source: National Geographic (2016)}

It’s with much contentment to announce that China has finally banned ivory. Chinese authorities announced this decision one year ago, promising that by the end of 2017 they would close all ivory business and implement a ban. Now it is officially so!

Elephant populations declined at an alarming rate from 1980 to 1990. What was an estimated population of 1.3 million plummeted to less than half at 600,000. At this time in 1990, international banning of ivory was being established but this did not stop poaching. In fact, poaching continued and new ivory was passed off as “old” when being traded. In 2017, there was an estimated 415,000 African elephants and an estimated 45,000 Asian elephants left in their population.

Poaching and trading decreases when countries take responsibility within their territories regarding how they may contribute to the issues. China has had a large influence with a large industry in ivory dealing. So with that being said, I think this decision will encourage neighboring countries to take the same step towards conservation.

^{Sources:
Steyn, Paul. African Elephant Numbers Plummet 30 Percent. National Geographic, 31 Aug 2016.
World Wide Fund for Nature. African elephants. 2017.
World Wide Fund for Nature. Asian elephants. 2017.}