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shadesofmauve:

When I was 9, I came home from school and told my parents that I wanted to play the violin – and I needed one by Friday.

I had no idea what a problem that was to dump in my parents’ lap – I didn’t know how much violins cost (neither did they) and I didn’t know how broke they were (it was just normal for me).

My parents never considered not getting me an instrument. They talked – apparently at length – about money, went to the local violin store, almost walked out again because it looked so fancy, and then when the owner approached them shyly explained that they couldn’t afford to rent and they had two hundred dollars, and they’d understand if he couldn’t help them.

Carl, lovely man that he is, said he’d make something work, and sold them a half-size violin for $200. I came home from school Thursday, my parents sent me to the garage to get something, and there on the workbench was my new violin.

But that’s not the important part of the story.

The important part of the story is that he told them they had to bring me and the violin back, the next week.

And I went back, and he taught me about how to take care of my instrument, and he taught me why I had to take care of it:

“This violin is not yours. It’s yours to take care of, for all the little girls who might play it later. This violin might live longer than you.”

And that is still how I think about instruments, and – more relevant to the broader world – it’s also how I think about land.

I own (well, the bank and I) my house, and the .18 acre it sits on. I ‘own’ it, but it is not mine to do with as I please; it’s mine to take care of. For the humans next door and the humans later, but also for the birds and the bees and the plants and the land itself. It’s not mine. It’s my responsibility.

This.

alicetheowl:

montereybayaquarium:

It’s Plover Appreciation Day! Get ready to appreciate some plovers.

This is a snowy plover:

These fragile shorebirds once numbered in the thousands along the U.S. Pacific coast. After decades of losing their sandy beach habitat, only about 2,500 plovers are left breeding along that same coastline today. 

This is a snowy plover nest:

Snowy plovers make their nests in shallow dips in the sand, sometimes even human footprints.

If people or animals
approach, the adult plover will flee and may not return for hours,
leaving its eggs to be crushed, overheated in the sun or eaten by a sharp-eyed
predator.

Here’s how we’re helping:

Rescuers often bring distressed plovers and abandoned eggs to the Monterey Bay Aquarium—one of the main shorebird rehabilitation sites in northern California. We treat sick and injured birds and transfer eggs to an incubator. If all goes well, an egg will hatch about 35 days after it’s laid.

Once chicks hatch, we get to work preparing them for eventual release into the wild. In order to be released, chicks must:

• Know how to fly
• Know how to find food on their own
• Be appropriately wary of humans
• Weigh at least 30 grams

Since launching our snowy plover program in 2000, we’ve successfully released 134 plovers back into the wild, including 84 from rescued eggs.

Here’s how you can help:

Avoid inadvertently driving adult plovers from their nests. Keep your dog on a leash on beaches during snowy plover breeding season and stay out of areas that have been blocked off as bird nesting sites.

In addition to being adorable fluffballs, snowy plovers are an important part of the shoreline ecosystem. Thank you for helping us protect them!

Learn more about Plover Appreciation Day.

Over on the East Coast, it’s piping plovers, and they’re in a similar predicament. Beaches are regularly closed off during breeding season, much to the grumbling of locals. I don’t know if there’s a similar program on this side of the US.

thatlittlewallflower:

dalishpariah:

 america’s election isn’t until november 2016, but tumblr is already blowing up about it. i agree that it’s absolutely important, but no one seems to care that canada’s federal election is this october. tumblr is extremely united states-centric, but canadian politics affect americans too. 

• canada and the united states have the world’s largest trading relationship. our economies are linked.
• canada and the united states share a bilateral relationship. the partnership between our countries is forged by “shared geography, similar values, common interests, deep connections and powerful, multi-layered economic ties.” this means that our countries affect each other greatly in almost all spheres of life.
• the keystone XL pipeline is one of canada’s hot issues right now. it is a proposed 1,897 kilometer (1,179 miles) pipeline that would be used to transport crude oil (830,000 barrels per day) from western canadian tar/oil sands to refineries on the gulf coast.

• arguments for the keystone xl pipeline: would create 42,000 temporary jobs over the two year construction period. it is estimated that the pipeline would contribute $3.4 billion to the american economy. 
• arguments against the keystone xl pipeline:  keystone would generate the carbon emission equivalent of 40 million more cars or 50 coal-fired power plants every year. nasa climate scientist james hansen has called it the “fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the planet.”

issues not directly related to the united states, but still extremely important:

• our current prime minister, stephen harper (leader of the conservative party of canada) has been in power for 9 years. while in america, a president is limited to only run for two terms, a prime minister in canada can remain in power for as long as he/she continues to be elected. 

• when asked about launching a public inquiry into the issue of Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women, he is quoted saying “

  ‘Um it, it isn’t really high on our radar, to be honest … Our ministers will continue to dialogue with those who are concerned about this.’

• the united nations has also called for a public inquiry, which the harper government has rejected. the united nations has also said that canada has violated the rights of aboriginal women by failing to launch this inquiry.

canada has formally withdrawn from the kyoto protocol

• “Under the terms of the Kyoto Protocol, 38 industrialized countries, including Canada, individually undertook a legally-binding commitment to reduce their respective emissions of a basket of six GHGs (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons) during 2008-2012, with the goal of cutting their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% from the 1990 level. Canada’s target is an average of 6% below 1990 levels over the 2008-2012 period.”

the gender pay gap in canada is twice the global average

• alberta has the nation’s biggest wage gap. on average, a woman is paid 63% of a man’s income.  (this article does not even include the potential difference which also comes with race) 
• oecd data collected from 35 different countries shows canada stands seventh in place for largest wage gap.

please feel free to add relevant sourced topics.  

Please, Canadians, PLEASE VOTE HARPER OUT!!!!

The Harper government have destroyed Canada’s ability to learn as a state. They’ve removed the capacity to collect data on what is happening in the country and disposed of existing backs of statistical data so you can’t see or understand the long term effects of their policies. http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/vanishing-canada-why-were-all-losers-in-ottawas-war-on-data/