WHAT'S NEW?

5. Twist the knobs on your other big users of energy; hot water heater, washer and dryer, and dishwasher. Turn the hot water heater down to 120 degrees, or turn on the “energy conservation” setting. Insulate your hot water heater and pipes. Install a timer on your water heater to turn off at night and on in the morning. Wash a few dishes by hand. Don’t pre-rinse dishes. Wait until you have a full load to run the dishwasher. Wash clothes in warm water, not hot. Don’t over-dry your clothes.

6. Green plants with less water, more trees to provide shade. Choose hardier plants, plant things in groups that need more water and put in mulch to help keep moisture in. Mow your grass with sharp blades set at 4”. Water your lawn sparingly.

7. Buy Green Energy, and invest in green energy stocks.

8. Go organic. Chemicals that kill pests also kill microorganisms that keep carbon contained in the soil. When they are gone, carbon is released into the atmosphere as CO2 and the soil is no longer naturally fertile. Eat locally grown food. If the food doesn’t have to travel far, there’s less CO2 from the trucks that ship it. Eat fruits and vegetables in season. Plant your own vegetable garden. It’s not as hard as you might think.

9. Buy recycled. It takes less energy to manufacture a recycled product. Aluminum and tin cans, glass containers, and pulp cardboard have a fair amount of recycled content. The recycled logo is three arrows forming a triangle.

10. Be a minimalist. An easy way to conserve energy is to use and buy less. Every time you buy, energy has gone into making and moving. Buy in bulk. In short, bulk items use less packaging, which translates into less energy. Buy one of something, not 21 of something. Go through your closet and donate or recycle what you don’t need. Buy quality products that will last longer. Be creative in what you use for work, play and leisure. Re-use in creative ways.

SPRING 2009 BIRD WALKS

Walks for beginners and experienced birders alike.
Weather permitting, walks start at 9:30 a.m. except as noted, and end at noon.
All area codes are 516 unless noted.
Use the sitefinder for directions.

The NSAS board invites all NSAS members to join our Yahoo listserve. Go to this website- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsasbirding . Click on the link that says, “join this group.” Follow the directions. If you have any difficulty you can email me at pmaslows@gmail.com and I can send you an invitation to join which may be easier for some people. Jennifer Wilson-Pines and myself are both moderators of the listserve and we check to make sure all people who join are members and that all messages are appropriate. There have been many times when I wanted to get a message out to members that I thought would interest them and there wasn’t a quick way to do this. Last summer I wanted to alert members to the Jamaica National Wildlife Refuge Shorebird Festival but had no way to do it. As a result I was the only one from NSAS to attend this fantastic event. As president I receive correspondence on events and issues that I think many members would appreciate knowing about. Also the members often have information they could pass on to each other. It can be used for rare bird alerts or to even post birds seen at our usual walks. So please join the NSAS listserve right away.

Another group I want to encourage members to join is even more informal, become a shade-grown coffee drinker. I may have some difficulty joining this “club” myself because most distributors of shade-grown coffee do not sell decaf coffee. However, other members of my family do drink regular coffee, so I plan on buying it for them and also as presents for friends.

At the Audubon NY Chapter Council at the end of March, I saw Ken Kaufman present a Powerpoint slide show of a program with an unusual topic for a naturalist; why we should buy a certain product- shade grown coffee or Birds and Beans brand coffee. Some birders may recognize the name Ken Kaufman, since he has published popular nature guides, and his one on birds has been chosen by many experienced birders as their primary guide.

Birds and Beans Coffee can only be bought online at www.birdsandbeans.com . It costs much than regular store bought coffee, because this coffee is certified by Smithsonian auditors as shade grown and good for birds, has higher costs. Go to another website to read about the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and their criteria for certifying bird-friendly coffee- www.si.edu/smbc.

If you go to these websites you will find much more information than I can include here. Ken Kaufman argues that it is worth buying shade grown coffee for the habitat it provides migrating birds. He remarked, “The kind of coffee that you drink can have an impact on bird populations. Buying shade-grown for use at home and asking for it in restaurants may be a little inconvenient, but by increasing the demand for it, we can help maintain good bird habitat in the tropics.”

From a Smithsonian Institution handout given at Ken Kaufman’s presentation comes this quote, “In the time it takes you to drink your next cup of coffee, acres of tropical forest will be lost. Along with it will go the diversity of birds and other wildlife that depend on it. Wouldn’t it be gratifying to know that by choosing to buy shade-grown coffee, you’d be helping to conserve wildlife habitat? Shade-grown refers to the way coffee traditionally has been farmed. For generations, coffee shrubs have been planted in the shade provided by tall trees, making traditional coffee plantations excellent homes for birds and other forest-dwelling wildlife.”

I am planning on buying two pound bags of Birds and Beans coffee on the Internet for $19.25 each. Up to 25 bags can be bought and delivered for a total of only $8 shipping charges. Please email me if you are interested in buying Birds and Beans Coffee and I will order in bulk. $8 is the cost of shipping whether it’s two pounds or fifty pounds.

MONTHLY PROGRAM CALENDAR

These programs are held on Tuesdays at the the Manhasset Public Library,
30 Onderdonk Avenue, Manhasset, unless otherwise stated.