By negligently discarding plastic items, especially plastic water bottles, fishing gear and plastic bags, people are unknowingly causing the deaths of millions of mammals, fish, birds and reptiles each and every year. We defile the face of the earth with plastic refuse creating waterway contamination.
Since the invention of plastic earlier this century, it has become a popular material used in a wide variety of unique and innovative applications. Plastic is used to make, or wrap around, many of the items we buy or use. The problem comes when we no longer want these items and how we dispose of them, particularly the throwaway plastic material used in wrapping or packaging. Plastic is handy, lightweight and easily discarded. Too easily discarded.
Continue Reading Plastic Pollution And The Plight Of The Planet
Raising rabbits is great fun, watching the little twitching noses and floppy ears and their funny little hops. But like any other pet, the diet you feed them is important for their health. A healthy diet will make for a healthy rabbit.
By Abbey Mitchell
As rabbits have increased in popularity so has the information about what is the best diet for a house/companion rabbit. But there is still much misinformation out there about what is the best way to feed your rabbit and there are even rumblings amongst experts now that the traditional diet of pellets may be causing the obesity we are seeing in pet rabbits today. This isn’t good and can be prevented whether you are a veterinarian or a pet owner who enjoys sitting them on their lap while poking around the Party Poker site at home. A small, but growing, number of bun owners are choosing to move away from pellets to a more natural way of feeding based on hay, vegetables and small amounts of fruit.
So, what do rabbits eat and should pellets be part of this diet?
To answer the question let’s start by looking at why a manufactured food like pellets came into existence.
Pellets were developed specifically for breeders with high levels of calories and nutrients so that their rabbits would grow quickly. This speed up their breeding programme and also gave extra nutrients to rabbits that were essentially living in a high stress environment. Rabbits that didn’t make the grade by a certain time (a few months) were ‘removed’ from the programme. So, bottom line is that pellets are designed to put weight on quickly for rabbits in a high stress environment. They weren’t originally designed for companion rabbits who live long lives in a low stress, low exercise situation. It’s little wonder that our bunny buddies are stacking on the weight!
Left to their own devices in the wild, rabbits eat a wide variety of plants. They munch on grasses, flowers, fruit and vegetables and keep their teeth trim chewing on twigs and branches. They graze constantly on high fibre plants that may have low nutrient value however they eat so many ‘bits and pieces’ here and there that over the whole day that they end up consuming the range of nutrients they need. Their diet is extremely high in fibre which is vital in helping their digestive system function correctly. In addition, eating is not just for fuel, it relieves boredom and the action of chewing may also be a stress reliever as it is with dogs.
So if you want to mimic this (as best we can) what should you be feeding?
The most important part of a bun’s diet should be hay. Around 70% of his diet should be made up of high quality Timothy hay (if you can find it). Hay is low in calories and high in fibre so perfect for all day munching. Hang it in her cage to keep it off the floor so she doesn’t walk or pee/poop on it.
The next 25% should be made up of a handful of greens (1 cup per 3 pounds weight) – this can include carrot tops, parsley, clover, dandelion, green peppers, dark lettuces, cilantro, dill, spinach, broccoli, kale and watercress etc. Aim for 3-4 types a day. As with the way humans eat, the key is variety.
The final 5% can be made up of treats. Small portions (teaspoons, or a tablespoon if a larger rabbit) of fruits like apples & pears (no pips), mango etc and carrots can be given. Carrots are high in sugar so they go on the treat list!
In the end the choice is up to you. If you are considering moving to a natural diet then consult your vet and do as much reading as you can on the subject to help you make a decision.
If you do decide to move to an all natural diet then do so very slowly. Introduce your bun to greens and fruits one at a time and check to see if it agrees with her before adding another. And, ALWAYS have water available no matter what diet you feed her.
Be patient and both you and your bunny will eventually reap the rewards of happiness and health!
About the Author
Abbey Mitchell is a long-time animal lover and rabbit enthusiast. To answer your question What Do Rabbits Eat? in more detail, visit her site http://www.RabbitsForPets.com. Abbey is dedicated to delivering the best information available on pet rabbits, delivered in her signature down to earth, fun style.
Swimming pools can be great fun in the summertime when it’s incredibly hot outside. They are also a wonderful way to get exercise. But have you ever thought about the effects your pool is having on the environment?
By Michael Bloch
By green, I don’t mean the color of the water in your swimming pool :). I’m referring to lessening the environmental impact.
I can’t say I’m a big fan of swimming pools. They seem like a lot of work, are expensive to install and maintain, take up a lot of space and the amount of water and chemicals needed to keep them topped up and clean is mind boggling.
But when I was in the outback a few weeks ago in 100 degree heat, accompanied by dust and flies you wouldn’t believe and staring at a farm dam that had been dry for two years; a pool did somehow seem like a more palatable idea. In fact, a small muddy puddle I came across from a leaking pipe at that time was pretty inviting too :).
If you’re a pool owner, here’s some issues to take into consideration and ideas to help lessen the impact your pool has on the environment – and the one major green step you can take is to use a pool cover.
Evaporation
It’s not just the amount of water that initially is put in a pool that’s a problem, an uncovered pool with dimensions of 18 feet x 36 feet can lose around 7,000 gallons of water a year just through evaporation depending on where you live. To put that into perspective, that’s enough drinking water to sustain a human for 29 years.
A pool cover/blanket can reduce evaporation by a massive 90 – 95% and they are quite inexpensive to buy. While most pool blankets are made from plastics; it’s a case of the lesser of the two evils.
Leaks
I’ve read that up to 1 in 5 inground swimming pools leak. A small leak in a pool cause the loss of 700 gallons of water per day. If your pool is losing over a quarter inch of water every 24 hours (or half an inch in particularly hot, dry regions), it’s a good indication you may have a leak.
By addressing leaks and evaporation, you’ll not only save precious potable water, you’ll likely save a ton of cash as well.
Chemicals
Chlorine can be nasty stuff and a recent study drew a possible link between chlorinated pools and asthma in children. Draining pools and discharging backwash can cause problems to waterways if it isn’t done correctly. If you do need to use chlorine in your pool and find the occasion to drain it; avoid adding chlorine for a full week before emptying the pool. Again, a pool cover/blanket can reduce chemical use by up to 50%. Evaporative pool chemicals contribute to the production of greenhouse gases; so you’ll be doing good there as well in chemical reduction.
Some alternatives to chlorine include copper ionization and oxygen systems, ultraviolet (UV) sanitization systems or possibly salt, although I believe with the latter, other chemicals also need to be added.
Energy/Heating
If you heat your pool you’re in for a nasty shock when it comes time to pay your utility bill; not to mention the impact the energy consumption has on the environment if your electricity comes from a coal-fired power station. Building on the pool blanket idea, you can buy bubble covers that are basically a solar energy collector, increasing your pool temperature substantially and helping to lock the heat in. Apparently clear blankets are the best option.
Not being a pool owner, that’s about all I can come up with at this point. If you have green tips for more environmentally friendly pools, I’d welcome your additions – please add your comments below!
Michael Bloch
Green Living Tips.com
Green Living Tips is an online resource powered by renewable energy offering a wide variety of earth friendly tips, green guides, advice and environment related news to help consumers and business reduce costs, consumption and environmental impact .
We have separate knives for bread and for tomatoes. If you love good cheese, do yourself a favor and get a cheese knife. No more slicing your fingers when cutting hard cheese or having a lopsided mess when cutting soft cheese.
By Nicole Martins
The holidays are upon us once again and it’s that time of the year to dust-off the fine china and polish the cutlery for this season’s festivities. If you are planning to do a lot of entertaining don’t wait till the last minute to take stock of the serving and cutting utensils. Appetizers often include a cheese plate and depending on what you’re serving there are specific cheese cutters designed to do very specific tasks. For example, you may be serving both Parmesan Regano – which is a very hard cheese; along with a soft cheese – like Camembert. In this case, you’ll want to set out different cheese knives: one designed to cut hard cheeses and the other designed to cut soft cheeses.
Holiday Parties are Not the Time to conduct your Own Cheese Cutting Trial
If you use your chef’s knife to cut a soft delicate cheese it will most likely stick, cling and make a mess of the cheese: Not a good party favor. In fact, this experiment was already conducted in a Cooks Illustrated trial to determine if the soft cheese knife, designed with 3 cut-out holes on the blade, really works. The answer was a resounding – yes. If you’re the really adventurous type, you could conduct your own trial with your guests. But there’s no need to bother because the soft cheese knife really works.
If you’re really aiming for perfection, you can go out of your way to have several cheese knives: hard cheese knife, soft cheese knife, cheese slicers and cheese spreaders. You can serve several types of cheeses displayed on a wooden cheese board. Soft cheeses, like Brie, look great when set upon a wooden board. Bamboo is also a nice choice.
If you are looking to do a cheese plate individually, for each guest, one suggestion is to include a slice of 3 to 4 different cheeses. Choose cheeses that represent a balance of differences in flavor, texture, and/or milk type.
About the Author
You can read more of our cheese knife review and other kitchen knife reviews by visiting: www.best-in-kitchen-knives.com
