Beetlejuice

In Colorado and the West, the pine beetle epidemic continues to devastate forests. See above.

USDA Forest Service just released what they think might be a surprising antidote to beetle infestation - herbal tea!

"Because the insects secrete the substance naturally to avoid overcrowding, aerial application of the [tea] flakes on a wide scale might help halt what has become the largest beetle outbreak in North American history, the researchers said. It would also present an environmentally safe alternative to insecticides."

I hope this works. Entire story here.

St. Patrick's Day Parade/Dog Show

Each March I enjoy a good St. Patrick's Day celebration and hearing about how St. Pat rid the snakes from Ireland with the power of the clover or green beer or however the story goes.

Well, it seems like Alexandria had too many Lucky Charms, because they also seem to believe that St. Pat rid the *dogs* from Ireland, brought them to Virginia, and gave them a glorious, elaborate parade.

I'm new, so I don't know exactly how it goes...but I did witness Alexandria's tradition of its Dog Show/St. Patrick's Day Parade. Quite fun, really.

This photo is from the "person who looks most like their dog," part of the competition.


And yes, the overachievers in Alexandria celebrate St. Patrick's Day 10 days in advance.

I have a "Children's Treasury of St. Pat's Dog Photos" if you want to see more. I won't keep them exclusively for my niece.




This is what they usually do in Alexandria:


But for Saturday's parade they added things like this:

Honest Tea at my house

The adorable new fun fact at my house is that since my housemate has become White House counsel, she now drinks Honest Tea - the President's favorite drink. It made me smile to open my fridge to the above stockpile. Maybe every lawyer should drink this?



For those of you who haven't had the chance to visit me in Virginia and hear mundane gossip about organic drinks, here's a photo of my townhouse during yesterday's snowfall.

Water Footprint and iPhorest

Just when I thought I'd been doing a pretty good job with my "Green Footprint" (I walk to work, I use a mug instead of the paper cups for coffee :))... now I've learned that I should also be conscious about my "Water Footprint."

Did you know that it takes 75 litres of water for one glass of beer? (a glass is about 250 ml of beer). I've never really thought about the amount of water it takes to make all the products I use, but this "Water Footprint" site has the stats. I guess that coffee I put in the mug has a water footprint of 140 litres.

I have no imminent plans to decrease my water footprint - mainly, just trying to be a trendspotter (though I'm probably behind the curve).

...Speaking of trends, my favorite new iPhone app (though I do not own an iPhone, yet) is iPhorest.


You can plant a tree from your phone. I do not understand what Facebook's "Lil' Green Patch" messages do, but I do know that iPhorest is the real deal. It will PLANT a tree for you, in a forest managed by The Conservation Fund. A REAL TREE, not just a virtual tree. Demi Moore even Twittered about iPhorest last month, ...so it will be amazing.