“We make magic clothes. Only clever people can see them,” said Slimas and Slick.
                                     .   .   .  
    “Open the royal gares,” ordered the Emperor. “Let the royal procession begin!”
                                    .    .   .
    “…Ooh,” said the boy. “The Emperor’s got no clothes on!”
                                    .    .   .
    “I can’t stop now… I am the Emperor.” So he held his head high and walked on.
                           from The Emperor’s New Clothes
                          written by Hans Christian Anderson
                                              various illustrators
                               accessed on YouTube 10/28/24
                                               Mrs. Owl’s Stories

    Mom was not big on Halloween. Neither am I. When the kids were small, I dressed each of them in a white pillowcase. I measured and cut out the eye holes and saved the little “ghosts” from year to year. 
    A few years ago, I found an old pillowcase in the stack of pillowcases that tend to accumulate in the linen closet. Scratching my head a little, I opened it up to find two little eye holes. After a wistful chuckle, I cut it up into rags. Yes, I’m still using them.
    When my younger daughter was in high school, one of her friends told her about “The Village Store.” She asked me to take her there. We browsed past a stack of dusty record albums, some toys in various conditions, and racks and racks of clothes, sorted by color then by size.
    I nudged my daughter aside so no one would be embarrassed by what I wanted to tell her.
    “I think these clothes have been worn before,” I said as close to under-my-breath as I could.
    To my utter surprise, she laughed. “That’s the kind of store this is,” she explained.
    “Oh,” was all I could muster. In those “olden” days, I was the one who didn’t understand. About being practical. About how to purchase quality merch. About why all of it was and still is important. It was the 1990s, and everyone should have known more about what happens when we throw things away. That our “away” is someone else’s “here.”
    Whether I learned something from my daughter that day or whether I took my own time figuring things out, I’ve never been much of a consumer. I buy as little as I can. My clothes are old and so are most things in my house. When I need a new outfit or pair of jeans or a jacket, I check first at my local consignment shop. I also go to second-hand stores. I buy the best quality I can so it will last. 
    Big box stores and even department stores are full of clothes from far-away countries like China, India, and Bangladesh made by people who are usually not compensated fairly or treated well. 
    It’s an entire industry with a name: Fast Fashion. Like fast food, fast fashion is all about making money for the factory owners as fast as they can. The workers, the store managers, the customers, and even GoodWill and Salvation Army outlet stores all have a stake in the products. And so do the oceans, but more about that in a minute.
    According to an article in Vogue's online newsletter, April 24, 2024, fast fashion is not so much a “thing” as a way of manufacturing, marketing, and selling clothing. 
    When the Industrial Revolution was in full swing, from the 1700s to about 1840, new technology like the spinning jenny (1764), the power loom (1784), and the cotton gin (1793) made the textile industry more efficient. Fewer workers were needed to create more product faster. As clothing became less expensive, more people could afford to buy more and more, creating more demand. Because the items were not made as well, and because they used inferior materials, they had a shorter life. 
    And to ensure this loop, the industry created fashion fads. Think bell-bottoms and blouses with shoulder holes and ripped-on-purpose jeans. Fads usually appeal to a particular demographic and the sense of shared identity wearing the “in thing” reinforces its hold. It’s the perpetual tension between being part of a group while still maintaining our individual style. 
    Then the fad evaporates and we need the next new thing. Of course, the old stuff is tossed or donated to show up again, a little shoddier and a little less expensive. Then it’s landfilled or ends up disintegrating to its micro-plastic self in the ocean and eventually our food supply.
    An article in Forbs.com notes that “[o]n average Americans buy a new piece of clothing every five days” and “90% of our clothing is thrown away before it needs to be.”
    But what if the solution turns out to be easy? What if some of those new pieces of clothing we buy every five days are sustainable, long-wearing, and classic? Enter Slow Fashion. Just like fast fashion, it’s a thing, too. 
    The Pretty Planeteer lists companies that sell slow fashion and provides links to their websites.
    Check out Conscious Life & Style’s website. It is easy to browse and includes lots of information and choices. The categories in their catalog include everything sustainable, from furniture and storage containers, beauty products and perfume, to dishwasher detergent and, of course, slow fashion items.
    I won’t be designing any Halloween costumes this year, but I’ll spend some time on Conscious Life and Style. I saw a package of dishwasher pods I’d like to try.

I haven’t finished Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller (William Morrow, 2024), but I’m enjoying it so far! 
             Be curious! (and live as sustainably as you can)

From all over the pond, they came swimming by dozens.
Whole families of turtles, with uncles and cousins.
                                           from Yertle the Turtle
                    written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss, pseud.
              Random House Books for Young Readers, 1958

    Remember the spotted lanternflies from a few weeks ago? (Seeing Spots 9/24/24) They are still a problem, but with cooler and downright cold weather coming, we’ll get a reprieve while they overwinter in their egg cases. 
    But other invasive species are in our midst. High on the list are those cute little red-eared sliders. The very same turtles we used to buy at Woolworth’s for a quarter or 50 cents. The plastic pool with its ramp up to its plastic palm tree was an investment. It cost more than the turtle did but could be used again and again.
    My brother and sister and I had several baby red-eared sliders. Usually keeping only one at a time, ours didn’t live very long. We buried them in the backyard, one by one. They were all named Oscar. I don’t know why.
    But for those who actually know how to take good care of them, a red-eared slider that starts out the size of a silver dollar could grow up to be the size of a dinner plate in five or six years. 
    And that’s where the problem begins. A turtle that size requires a large tank. Fifty gallons at minimum, but 75-100 is ideal. The turtles like to swim and bask, too, so a water feature needs to have a dry, rocky complement. A heat lamp to substitute for the real sun, a filtering system to keep the water clean, and a variety of fresh and canned (jarred?) food (we provided our Oscars with strawberries, raw hamburger, peeled grapes, and turtle sticks) makes for an expensive “habitat.”
    My younger daughter was in middle school when her dad and family decided to get a Dalmatian. Since no one was playing with their turtle anymore, she asked to bring him home when she returned from her visit. We kept Eric, a red-eared slider, for a couple of years and watched him grow to the size of a bread-and-butter plate. He only had a 20-gallon tank, and we had to clean it almost every day to keep the smell under control. He liked the running water in the bathroom sink and wiggled his feet when I brushed his tummy with an old toothbrush.
    Lots of people keep their turtles until they can’t or won’t take care of them any longer. I suppose the logical place to take them is a local body of water. A pond in a nearby park, a slow-moving stream, or a little, fresh-water lake sounds humane. And that’s what most people do. 
    But red-eared sliders, like most invasive species, out-proliferate the area’s natives. Food becomes more scarce or more plentiful throughout the food chain. Insects, plants, even small fish become red-eared-slider food, while algae are allowed to proliferate unchecked.
    The day came when we knew we had to say goodbye to Eric. I didn’t want to just send him off to fend for himself. Would he know how to find food? New friends? A calm spot in the pond? 
    We took Eric to the same pet shop that had, several years before, sold us the 20-gallon tank and a bunch of fish to swim in it. He slipped into the turtle tank easily and never looked back. I’m sure he moved to a new forever home and made lots of friends. 
    So, I suppose I’ve always been an accidental environmentalist.
    According to Keith Gisser from Herps Alive Foundation, the only way to control the red-eared slider population is to euthanize them or take them to an animal sanctuary. He runs one in South Euclid, Ohio, where I grew up, but more are needed.
    Red-eared sliders are only one of a growing number of invasive species. The Burmese python (native to Myanmar, India, and lower China) got into Florida’s Everglades in a similar fashion as red-eared sliders and, “since 1997, have eaten most of the raccoons, opossums, and bobcats [in the Everglades].” Also, according to the same article, USGS (United States Geological Survey), “Marsh rabbits, cottontail rabbits and foxes effectively disappeared.”     
    IUCN (the International Union for Conservation of Nature) uses a science-led approach to inform policy to support conservation action all over the world. You can see the scope of their work on their website. 
    In 2017, they conducted a study of invasive species and found that “during the past 200 years, the number of new invasive species increased worldwide…” This is cause for concern because, just like the red-eared slider, other species can become dominant in their new location. Invasive species proliferation is the major cause of biodiversity loss and “the most common threat responsible for extinctions of amphibians, reptiles, and mammals.”
    Plants can become invasive species, too. Kudzu is native to Japan and southeast China. It was brought here on purpose to show at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. Thought to be a beautiful ornamental, it has sturdy vines and its blooms smell sweet. It was planted abundantly throughout the South to control erosion. Once established, it can grow a foot a day. 
    Lots of species arrive accidentally in the soil of transplants, among pallets of produce, toys and other imports, or even on our clothes or shoes. 
    According to the USDA NISIC (National Invasive Species Information Center), some ways to control these pests include 
    mechanical: mow, chop, build barriers             
    biological: introduce native predators
    chemical: spray pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides
    cultural: encourage native plantings and domestic pets
    manual: pick off those Japanese beetles and stomp on spotted lanternflies
NISIC, though, tells us the safest way to manage invasive species is by prevention. 
    Of course it does.

My book club decided on Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller (William Morrow, 2024). I haven’t started it yet, but from the flap copy, it’s a “… wildly entertaining satire about a smaller Southern town, a pitched battle over banned books, and a little lending library that changes everything.” I can’t wait to get started.
                                   -—Be curious! (and live local)

We can explore the farthest reaches 
of space. And looking back, we can 
see how we are changing our planet. 
It is a beautiful, fragile place--
worthy of protection.
                                     from We Are Better Together
                                              written by Bill McKibben
                                            illustrated by Stevie Lewis
                     GoodwinBooks/Henry Holt and Company, 2022
    
    Before my grandparents left Eastern Europe’s pogroms, my grandfather was a farmer. Baba (we called my dad’s mom) was a gardener. 
    They left terror and chaos behind for the chance to find peace in a new land. 
    Grampy worked hard to start his own business. Baba worked hard to sew her garden. 
    “You could make a broom handle grow!” Mom would tell her with a mixture of awe and admiration.
    When Grampy finished work one long, hard day, he was flabbergasted to find the portulacas. Baba had planted them in the grassy strip between the gravel tire paths in their driveway. He had thought the yard was already full.
    But no. Now every square inch of her yard was a garden. Flowers in the front yard. Vegetables and two fruit trees in the back. 
    I’m sure Baba did not think she was performing Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) when she tended her bountiful gardens.    
    No one person can solve the complexities caused by decades of human greed, ignorance, and 400.3 million metric tons of plastic. 
Repairing the world is a monumental task.
    But the peace Baba found in her gardens radiated out to all she touched. Including me.
    Most of the time, I feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of repairing even a small piece of our Earth. 
    Where can one person begin? My solar panels and hybrid car, my compost bin, and the gallon of shower-water I save every day for my plants, my recycling efforts, especially those, I do to soothe myself. 
    People working alone cannot get the job done. Even working with Gd, and by that I mean trying my best to make good decisions and following through with action, still seems like too little, too late. Most of the time.
    Then last week, I read a quote by Angela Davis in What if We Get it Right?: Visions of Climate Futures. (Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. One World/Random House, 2024.)  “You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.” 
    I’m learning about organizations that already exist to push back on the forces that exacerbate our Climate Catastrophe. Citizens Climate Lobby is non-partisan, but as it states on its website, “[CCL]..works to create the political will for a livable world…” I joined our Ohio chapter a couple of years ago.
    President Biden and VP Kamala Harris launched the American Climate Corps in September 2023. As of April 2024, thirteen states have created their own state-level Corps.  Here's the list.
    From its webpage, “[t]he American Climate Corps will mobilize a new, diverse generation of more than 20,000 Americans…[and create] pathways to high-quality, good-paying clean energy and climate resilience jobs in the public and private sectors after they complete their paid training program." Similar to FDR’s projects in his “New Deal” and JFK’s Peace Corps, the American Climate Corps mobilizes a new generation. 
    New generation? Definitely not me. Then, when I was looking for a book to provide a quote to open this post, I found Bill McKibben’s book. We Are Better Together. It’s addressed to kids, but when I looked just a tiny bit deeper, I discovered that Bill McKibben started Th!rd Act, an organized group of people who have grown up, finished working in their chosen career, and are now in their own third act. Here's what Th!rd Act has to say: “Our seasoned generation holds unparalleled power to enact real change. Using our life experiences, skills, and resources, we unite to tackle the unfinished work of our lifetimes and ensure a safe and stable planet for generations to come.”
    In 2008, Bill McKibben, along with a group of university friends, founded 360.org. It has since grown to include working groups in almost every country in the world. From their website, “[our] work leverages people-power to dismantle the influence and infrastructure of the fossil fuel industry, and to develop people-centric solutions to the climate crisis.” 
    I did not inherit Earth-wisdom from my grandparents, only the love of working with nature and enjoying its beauty and looking for peace. 
    Political activist Simon Rosenberg, reminds us, “do more, worry less.” But Earth does not play politics. She depends on us to help her survive.

    I have not come to the end of The Goldfinch (Donna Tartt, Little, Brown and Company, 2013), but I’m close enough to give you a summary. When Theo Decker’s mother is killed by a bomb set off in an art museum in New York, he’s left to fend for himself. Circumstances take him to Las Vegas and back on a cross-country trip that mires him in the underground art world. Recommended. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2014.
    In case you are wondering, Theo’s mother’s favorite painting, “The Goldfinch” is a real painting. Art historians believe it survived its own explosion in 1654, which killed its artist, Dutch painter Carel Fabritius.    
                             -—Be curious! (and do a little good)

    Then Ricky’s Robot carefully closed the rocket ship. With one mighty toss, the Robot sent the ship sailing safely back to Jupiter.
                           from Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot vs.
                           the Jurassic Jackrabbits from Jupiter
                                                written by Dav Pilkey
                                             illustrated by Dan Santat
                                                  Scholastic, Inc., 2014
                                             (read on Libby 10/5/24)

    In the real world, mighty robots like Ricky Ricotta’s do not fly rockets to Jupiter (or anywhere else), although since 1958, NASA has “overseen more than 1,000 uncrewed missions into Earth’s orbit or beyond.”
    This Thursday’s lift off of NASA’s Europa Clipper has been postponed due to the expected landfall and massive cleanup Hurricane Milton will leave in his wake. Milton is expected to reach the Tampa area Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
    When the Europa Clipper launches for Jupiter in a couple of weeks, it will join the ranks of uncrewed NASA missions. Its task is to investigate whether Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, is capable of supporting life. Scientists have discovered strong evidence of an ocean of liquid water under Europa’s icy surface. Here’s a link to the mission’s preview page. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij1wOLJE_g8 
    Europa itself is about the size of our own moon. It was discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. The Europa Clipper is not NASA’s first trip to Jupiter. From 1995 to 2003, NASA’s spacecraft, Galileo, discovered strange pits and domes on Europa. Some of them have since formed into ridges over 300 feet high. Scientists point to this as evidence that Europa’s ice layer, up to 15 miles thick, may be slowly churning. The denser, colder ice sinks and the lighter, less dense ice rises as it warms from heat generated by Europa’s core.
    Even though Europa has a scant amount of oxygen in its atmosphere, scientists using data from the Hubble Space Telescope found evidence that Europa might be “actively venting water into space.”
    In November 2019, an international team headed by NASA researchers announced that water vapor had been detected above Europa’s surface. The Europa Clipper will fly through the plumes and analyze their contents. 
    The Clipper will travel for five years to reach Europa, 1.8 billion miles from Earth. Several more years will be spent doing over 50 flybys, getting within 16 miles of the icy surface. As stated on space.com, the Europa Clipper will gather critical information “to investigate whether the conditions on Europa can support life.”     
    It is widely thought in the scientific community that for life to exist, water, chemicals, and energy are necessary.
    Though the probability of water on Europa is extremely high, the Europa Clipper will verify that. Certain chemicals such as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur, must also be available. Astrobiologists, scientists who study the origin and future of life, believe the right chemicals are present on Europa, too. Europa Clipper will try to verify that, too.
    Every form of life, from single cells to cetaceans, requires energy to survive. On Earth, we use energy from the sun. But if there is life on Europa, it would live in its ocean where the liquid water is, but where the sun’s energy won’t reach. Scientists propose that chemical reactions will support any life that might exist. 
    That’s a fascinating thought.
    One important human trait is our ability to think. As soon as kids can form the word, they ask “Why?” 
    About everything. 
    We wonder what the Big Bang sounded like and why life slithered out of the muck.
    We wonder how water flows like magic from our kitchen taps and how music taps into our emotions.
    Poetry is memorable not only because of the words a poet uses. We remember a poet’s words because of how we feel when we read them.
    Since we humans are always trying to attach meaning to events, Ada Limon, America’s Poet Laureate, was asked to compose a poem for the Europa Clipper. NASA gave her three parameters:

• the poem needed to relate to the Europa Clipper mission
• it must be understandable to readers as young as nine years old
• she could use no more than 200 words

    Ms. Limon reminds us of the mysteries in nature, the beauty, perplexity, joy, grief, and purity of wonder, with the words in her poem “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa.”             
​    The poem is engraved on the side of the Europa Clipper. It is a tribute to Ada Limon, to poetry, and to the quest for knowledge that helps humans find the drops of water that unite us all. 
    You can hear her read her poem on NASA’s YouTube’s page. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgWbeDNPD6o

I’m still reading The Goldfinch. Next up for me is Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller (William Morrow/HarperCollins, 2024). The Goldfinch is long, so … I’ll get to Lula Dean when I get there.    

I’m taking a week to continue processing my take on the world.
Here’s what’s rumbling around in my brain:
    Hurricane Helene 
        and the devastation to property and land
        and the lives lost
        and the clean-up
        and the various responses I’ve heard
    The beginning of post-season MLB 
        and why did the Athletics’ move from Oakland to Las Vegas
    Free speech 
        and why it is legal to lie in political ads
        how do political polls reflect (or not) reality
        should we pay attention to them
    President Carter’s 100th birthday
    Why doesn’t the mainstream media call Hamas and Hezbollah                        
                illegitimate terrorists?    
I’ll get my priorities in order by next week (I hope)!

I’m reading (re-reading) Pulitzer Prize-winner The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (Little, Brown and Company, 2013). It’s the story of a young man who tragically and unexpectedly finds himself an orphan after an explosion in an art museum. He’s thrust from poverty into luxury when wealthy friends take him in and from a childhood of petty theft with a “friend” into the midst of a dangerous underworld when he discovers the little painting he kept as a memento of his mother is regarded as a stolen masterpiece in the art world. Recommended

           -—Be curious! (and try not to become overwhelmed by world        
                            events)