Weekly Blog Round-Up

Talking about sex from the conservative christian point of view. Not mine, but I share a lot of her goals! Found on BlogHer.

It WOULD have to be a Welshman who is an agricultural saboteur! Sheesh! from bldgblog

Art-o-matic via TreeHugger

Apparently, it's not just me. "Even The Rich are Taking Home-Made Sandwiches for Office Lunches." On TreeHugger

Cool! From Pruned - an anonymous hugging wall!

Mexico Cooks wooden boxes photo.

From Idle Speculations the Presentation in the Temple is a feast day that also happens on/near February 2nd. Terry has some examples of religious art depicting the presentation. See, I love these ancient churches in Turkey.

World Wetlands Day on Pruned. Here are their top 8? reasons to support wetlands:

1) Wetlands are "the kidneys of the landscape," able to filter out pollutants from, for instance, agricultural runoffs and urban effluents.

2) Because of their bioremediating properties, wetlands can be a cheap alternative to municipal waste water treatment.

3) During particularly heavy storm events, they act as temporary water storage tanks. They then release the excess water slowly rather than in a deluge, lowering flood heights and minimizing the damage of valuable property downstream.

4) Wetlands also store carbon within their live and preserved (peat) plant biomass instead of releasing it to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Therefore, wetlands world-wide help to moderate global climate change.

5) Along the coast, they are good at mitigating the effects of hurricane storm surges, tsunamis, and the less energetic but no less destructive normal ebb and flow of ocean waves.

6) Wetlands help to replenish aquifers that so many people depend on.

7) They are "biological supermarkets," producing annual commercial harvests of fish and shellfish that sometimes amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. Indeed, many people rely on wetlands for their livelihood.

8) As eco-attractions, they inject a sizable amount of tourist income to the local economy.

Wetlands, in other words, provide so many beneficial services for people that they are very much deserving of a sacrificial virgin. Or two.

Marisa Tomei on Fug - but in the "well played" column. I think she looks fantastic. Are those Bjorn Weckstrom pieces she's wearing? I totally love the Fug Report, which is where I found this photo.

It would be nice if Republicans got it, and would stop being the "party of No" but they won't. via NYT.

Google Oceans. Sounds pretty cool! Via BBC

From a friend on Facebook, this discussion of school lunches just reflects my own views so closely. This was written by President Obama's new chef, on his blog: Hull House Kitchen.

Interesting point - that we humans are not really thinking about our "place" within the world-wide ecosystem. And we may end up paying a dear price for that ignorance. Trust TreeHugger to shine a light on this issue. Upshot: it will take a multi-disciplinary course of action.

From BlogHer, here's a v. interesting look at Saints' lives from the viewpoint of someone who was raised Catholic and remembers the "Saints Days" and how exotic the names and stories sounded. She asks us:

"Saints were exotic, mysterious, and did magical things.

It got me thinking -- if I could name five women to Sainthood (spiritual sainthood) what measuring stick would I use and who would be my first five saints?

I guess I would choose woman who lived exemplary lives, role models, grounded and inspiring women. I would choose women who helped me move along spiritually in some way, even if we had never met.

Here is my list -- at least the one I have in my soul tonight. They are in no particular order. Now who is on your list? And why?"

They aren't all women, but nonetheless, my votes for saints.:

Ladybird, a dear friend who has taught me so much about life and its peaks and valleys.
Hiphopopotamus and Rhymenocerous, another dear friend, who has taught me about spirituality and light. She has the sunniest disposition I know.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Paul Farmer, founder of Partners in Health
Lawrence Marshall, The Northwestern Law prof. who researched convictions and led to IL Gov. Ryan putting a moratorium on all death row convictions.

There are more, but they aren't coming to mind just yet. Pass it on....