CWF challenges #20-29 & Gardening Guide

Seasonal Gardening Guide:
Grow Wild — Summer 2012
http://www.cwf-fcf.org/en/resources/newsletters/wag-seasonal-guide/2012/summer.html

week 20:
Health Canada estimates that Canadians spend close to 90 per cent of their time indoors. And that’s certainly true when the temperature dips! Indoor air can be 10 times more polluted than outdoor air. Yuck! You’ve been breathing in stale, polluted air all winter! But don’t let it get you down. Just throw open the windows and let the fresh air waft its way through your home. Want to usher in even fresher air? Plant a tree in your yard - they are the best air purifiers around.  

Week 21: Lawn Watering

Water your lawn once a week that’s all it needs. Deep, infrequent watering promotes deep, strong roots and will make your lawn healthier. Watering too often may cause disease by starving the soil of oxygen. Apply 2.5 cm (one inch) of water once a week, only if watering is needed.

Week 22

Throw a birthday bash without the balloons! When they are released into the atmosphere (particularly near the coast), they pose a threat to marine animals like leatherback sea turtles that mistake balloons for prey.

Week 23: Celebrate Rivers to Oceans Week

Celebrate Rivers to Oceans Week with the Canadian Wildlife Federation from June 8 to 14 by visiting a body of water in your town. Whether it’s the ocean, a river, or a stream, know that they’re all connected. Did you know that 75% of all ocean pollution comes from land? It’s up to us to reduce our impact on Canada’s water.

Week 24: Go meatless on Mondays

The water that goes into maintaining livestock is staggering. For example, the average water footprint per calorie for beef is twenty times larger than for cereals and starchy roots. But don’t worry! You can still make yummy meals without the impact. Opt for soy, beans and protein rich veggies to get your protein fix for the day.

Week 25: Scout out cleaning products that are non-toxic

You can either buy environmentally safe products at the store or make your own! The fewer toxins that leach into our rivers and streams, the happier and healthier our waters and the wildlife that live there are. Learn about the impacts of agriculture and other industries on water quality by watching CWF’s water PSA’s Navigating Troubled Waters or take the Water Challenge.

Week 26

Water sports that involve a powerboat aren’t great for the environment. So make a difference by using motorboats responsibly over the season: keep the engine tuned, follow the recommended service schedule, properly match engine horsepower to vessel size, reduce idling, use the right size of propeller, reduce stops and starts and keep the hull clean and waxed to decrease drag and increase fuel efficiency. Better yet, play water games that don’t require a motor at all. Marco Polo anyone?

Week 27: Clean Up After Recycle Day

Have you ever noticed how much litter is in the streets after garbage day? As workers are tossing recycling into the truck, a can here and a container there inevitably escape and find their way onto the street. This litter washes into our waterways via storm drains. But plastic garbage doesn’t break down and can actually choke wildlife that mistakes it for food and can drown others that get tangled up in the debris. Take a couple of minutes and pick up the straggles left behind.

Week 28: Drain Your Hot Tub Onto Landscaped Areas

Chilling out in the hot tub is a great way to unwind after a long day, so when it comes to maintaining your tranquility tub, do it responsibly. Firstly, wait for the tub to cool down before you dump the chlorinated water out. When you drain it, ensure the water is pouring onto lawn, away from storm drains. There’s no need to add extra chemicals to storm drains.

Week 29: Dispose of Paint Properly

Pride yourself on your superb painting skills? Now you can pride yourself on painting with the environment in mind too. After you’ve finished a room, make sure you squeeze excess paint from your brushes and rollers on newspaper before you go ahead and rinse your tools. And if you’ve got paint left over, drop them off at your local household hazardous waste collection centre.

Don`t forget to make you donation via my personal page (I`m only 13% towards my goal...) - this could be my Xmas gift...:
http://donate.cwf-fcf.org/goto/tiggeric

You can read more about CWF, it's 50th anniversary and the challenges here:
http://www.cwf-fcf.org/en/about-cwf/50th-anniversary/the-anniversary-challenge.html