Happy Green Roof Day! // All About Green Roofs

I’m still getting used to this whole summer thing. I mean, theoretically, it’s amazing because I can like get stuff done and stuff, but um having nothing to do makes it hard for me to feel like doing ANYTHING, and so… welp. Problems.

Heya people! ‘Tis Naomi, and today we’re talking ’bout green roofs (as I promised we would in Friday’s post – look at me, keeping my promises!). I was actually really surprised that I had never written a post on green roofs before, so I did a search on it multiple times… but apparently I’ve never really talked about it before. So, uh, here you go!

Green roofs are basically gardens planted on top of flat-roofed buildings. There’s a lot of layers under and each of them does SOMETHING to keep the plants alive, keep roots manageable, keep water in the right places, or all of the above.

Well, green roofs provide a whole bunch of benefits, but this is a climate change blog, so I’ll focus on the three things they do to help fight climate change. And what are those three things? Well.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

The first thing is that a green roof, being a green roof, has plants, and those plants, being plants, go through photosynthesis. And if you weren’t aware, when plants go through photosynthesis (so they can, like, make food and stuff), they take carbon in and turn it into oxygen. And, boom, you help climate change. MAYYYBE you don’t make the biggest difference in the whole world, but you make a difference. Woo-hoo!

The second thing is that a green roof makes it so less energy is needed to heat/cool a building. It both provides insulation (wich keeps said building warm), and makes it cooler (because those black roofs are hot and make the building hot and.. that’s not good). And less energy means less greenhouse gases being created to create that energy, so yay!

Photo by Alireza Kaviani on Pexels.com

And the final thing is that a green roof helps the roof last longer. The national park service says that a green roof can last up to twice as long as a normal one. And the less repairs are needed, the less materials and machines are needed. And materials and machines aren’t good for our earth either. So ta-da!

“Green Roofs.” Www.gsa.gov, http://www.gsa.gov/governmentwide-initiatives/federal-highperformance-green-buildings/resource-library/integrative-strategies/green-roofs.

National Park Service. “Green Roof Benefits—Technical Preservation Services, National Park Service.” Nps.gov, 2019, http://www.nps.gov/tps/sustainability/new-technology/green-roofs/benefits.htm.

—. “What Is a Green Roof—Technical Preservation Services, National Park Service.” Nps.gov, 2019, http://www.nps.gov/tps/sustainability/new-technology/green-roofs/define.htm.

And that’s that! I hope you learned a good bit about green roofs from this post and happy green roof, eyewear, yo-yo, Russian language, drive-in movie, and gardening exercise day!

Yes, I decided on a wim to make a new sign-off. Thoughts?

Is Net-Zero The Right Goal? // Why I Think It’s Not

Fun fact: There’s this creepy carwash that we pass by on our walk home from school, and I just had to WALK THROUGH THE PARKING LOT FOR IT. It was so scaryyyy. But uh, anyway. Net zero.

Heya! ‘Tis Naomi. Alright, first off, no, I’m not dead (although if you thought that it was kinda an extreme reaction to me not posting for literally one day…), I just… uh… missed a day. Sorry. But anywho, I’m back now, and so… welcome to the post!

A quick disclaimer: This post is a bit more opinionated than some of my other posts have been. While I have been careful to get reliable and true facts to base my opinion on, please do realize that my opinion is 100% NOT fact.

Alrighty, so, let’s stop intro-ing and begin… informing?

I’ve actually talked a good bit about net-zero in previous posts, but I’ll do a quick explainer here if you don’t know what it is. Net-zero basically means that the amount of greenhouse gases we put INto the atmosphere is canceled out by the amount of greenhouse gases we take OUT. Pretty simple, right?

Photo by Sora Shimazaki on Pexels.com

Yes. Net-zero is absolutely possible. It’s not easy to get to, but it’s possible. As long as everyone has concrete plans to reach this goal, we CAN reach it. We can convert from gas to electric cars, we can change our energy from natural gas to renewables, and if we still have a little bit of emissions, we can suck them up with things like trees and carbon capture technology.

The first problem is greenwashing (when a company basically pretends they’re doing good things for the environment when they aren’t). Problem is, while net-zero is a great goal, it’s also something that companies can kinda… blow off. If net-zero was done right, the main part of getting there would be REDUCING emissions and the carbon sequestration (taking carbon OUT of the atmosphere by planting trees or using carbon capture technology) would come next.

But… guess what a lot of companies, especially ones that create oil and other fossil fuels, DON’T want to do? You (maybe) guessed it! Switching out their cheap greenhouse gas-intensive ways of doing things with more expensive carbon-neutral ways of doing things.

Photo by Vitaly Vlasov on Pexels.com

So what does “net-zero by 2050” mean when you want to keep emitting the same amount of carbon? It means not changing your ways and just using unrealistic ways to store carbon (I mean, seriously: at the moment, we literally don’t have room to plant enough trees to store all this carbon and we aaalso don’t have awesome carbon sequestration technology). Which doesn’t work.

Aaand the OTHER point is that, well, even if we DO reach net-zero, it would kinda be important to reach net-negative. There’s already a substantial amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and just stopping releasing them / reaching net zero will mean that the temperatures will sorta stop going up but stay too high, which is still a problem. To really get this whole climate chang thing under control, we have to take out more carbon than we put in, at least in my opinion

NASA. “Is It Too Late to Prevent Climate Change? – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet.” Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet, NASA, 2019, climate.nasa.gov/faq/16/is-it-too-late-to-prevent-climate-change/.

Our Changing Climate. “Why “Net Zero” Emissions Targets Are a Scam.” Www.youtube.com, 3 Dec. 2021, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62TubVzpiOw. Accessed 15 Dec. 2021.

TED. “What Is Net-Zero? | Kristen Bell + Giant Ant.” Www.youtube.com, 13 Oct. 2020, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPmUAfuqM08.

United Nations. “The Race to Zero Emissions, and Why the World Depends on It.” UN News, 30 Nov. 2020, news.un.org/en/story/2020/12/1078612.

Phewf, that was a looong post. Thanks for sticking with it ’til the end!

See ya next time!

Question of the Day: Do you think net-zero is the answer?
Action of the Day: Reuse something today!

Fancy Climate Change Words / Phrases (And What They Mean) // Pt. 1

Having your name start with one of the last letters of the alphabet is terrible. Oh, I’m talking about my last name. No, N is not at the end of the alphabet. And you probably don’t really understand this since you don’t know my last name… forget it. *ahem*

Heya! ‘Tis Naomi, and today I decided that I’d go over some of the climate change words that are kinda not common. I’m sure some of you know at least MOST of these words, but sometimes I use them and realize that I’m not exactly using easy-to-understand words. I’ve done so much research for my posts that I’m very familiar with this terminology, but uh… not everyone is. So yeah. You probably didn’t need that explained, but I explained it. You could have skimmed it. You’re reading this voluntarily… right?

Ooh also, before we get to the actual post: I’m open to word suggestions! I’d actually really appreciate them, since I’m not sure what words you know and don’t. And maybe you’ll come up with a word that I don’t know either! And then we’ll BOTH learn something new. Oh gosh, I’m doing a long intro, aren’t I? Let’s get to the post.

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

Net zero is basically the goal right now. But what is it, exactly? In a net zero world, we’re taking as much carbon out of the atmosphere as we’re putting it. This doesn’t necessarily mean that we AREN’T putting carbon into the atmosphere, just that it’s canceled out by the other things we’re doing, like planting trees.

Is net zero the answer? The answer to that question is a long one (post coming soon: Net-Zero // Is It the Solution?), but basically, it’s complicated. While net zero is a good goal, we’re going to need to go… net negative (hehe, just made up that word) to actually keep our world… semi-unchanged. But anyway, long explanation, but hopefully now you get the term!

I’m grouping these together because they’re like… the same but opposite. Ok, ok, that sounded weird. I’m explaining, gosh!

Adaptation is when we basically cope with or adapt to a climate change changed world. There’s an amount of change that’s unstoppable now, and that’s what we need to adapt to. Things like creating climate-change-resistant crops count as climate change adaptations.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Pexels.com

But we can still stop the worst of climate change, and that’s where mitigation comes in. Mitigation is when we do things that reduce climate change, like converting to electric vehicles or more environmental food.

Carbon sinks are the things that store carbon and keep it out of the atmosphere. The most famous of these are trees, but oceans and peatlands are some of the best carbon sinks that we have!

BBC Learning English. “Essential English Vocabulary: Climate Change and COP26.” Www.youtube.com, 5 Nov. 2021, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4t-pXH4FBo.

“Climate Change Glossary.” BBC News, 13 Apr. 2014, http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-11833685.

Selin, Noelle Eckley. “Carbon Sequestration | Definition, Methods, & Climate Change | Britannica.” Www.britannica.com, 16 Jan. 2019, http://www.britannica.com/technology/carbon-sequestration#ref1115867. Accessed 6 May 2022.

And that’s that! Until Monday…

Question of the day: What climate change-y words would you like to learn?
Action of the day: Learn about one carbon sink and do something to protect it!

Happy Belated Earth Day! // My Second Trip to DC ft. a Climate Protest, City Bikes (Again), Learning About New Energy, and a Lot of Water

I really need a book therapist (which HAS to be a thing… right?). I finished Salt to the Sea and (sorta spoiler alert) EVERYONE IS DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAD (well not everyone, but still) AND I REALLY THINK… I should write the post. Heh. Heh. Heh.

Heya! ‘Tis Naomi, and I’m here today to tell you about what I did for Earth Day Weekend. I’m not going to go into aaaall the details because, well, it’s not a lifestyle blog, but I thought it would be fun to share some of the climate change-ey things I did!

Here goes…

The whole reason that I went down to DC was a climate protest, and that was the initial idea of this post – to tell you about my experience! I went to the Fight for our Future protest – there weren’t a whole lot of people there and it was super hot, but the speakers were really good! We saw people from The White House and Fridays for Future as well as The Sunrise Movement.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

There were also QR codes to scan and actions to take – I couldn’t find the link to send emails/post tweets, but I was smart and sent myself the petition we signed to impose stricter laws on heavy-duty vehicle pollution, so you can sign it here!

Photo credit: Canva

I really hate biking on these things near water. And around crowds of people. Which was basically my entire experience. So like, I kept almost crashing into people and almost falling in the water and my dad kept seeming like he was going one way and then going a DIFFERENT way and so… welp, that was terrifying. But it was really fun! And useful.

Cause like, we were running late to pretty much everything, it was faster than walking, safer than public transportation (COVID-wise), and more eco-friendly than riding our own car. It was also way easier than bringing our own bikes and cheaper than renting them like normal. Perfect!

*I did an entire post on city bikes last time I visited DC that you can find here.*

Since it was super hot out and I needed to fill up my water bottle (more on that later), we stopped in the first museum we could find – which was the American History Museum.

We went to the gallery Places of Invention, where we saw an exhibit about Fort Collins, Colorado, where they’re making new, clean energy! I’m not going to talk too much about it because I’m planning on doing a full post on it later, but the whole town is basically going green! It’s super cool.

It was really hot. And I only had one water bottle. Which meant the whole trip I was looking for as much water as I could possibly find, and the thing I actually want to talk about is the boxed water that I drank – they were giving out boxed water at the climate protest, and I was SOOO THIRSTY, so I obviously got some.

Photo by Julia Sakelli on Pexels.com

So anyway, bottled water is plastic, right? And plastic is bad not only for the seas, but for the air too. Plastic production creates a bunch of carbon and chemicals (coming soon: Plastic Pollution // A Full Post), which is horrible for our environment. So… boxed water is better (hey, that’s the slogan of the company that creates this water!).

I’d still advocate for reusable water bottles, but boxed water is way better than plastic water bottles! Go check their website out right here.

And that’s it! I’m really bad at lifestyle posts, but like whatever. They’re fun to write once in a while… Anywho, see ya Friday!

Question of the Day: Have you been to any climate protests before? Do you want to go?
Action of the Day: Sign the petition I mentioned (it’s here if you don’t want to scroll up).

This Magical Thing Called Compost // I Might Have Found Another Obsession…

Did you know that it’s March 21? YES, I SAID MARCH. 21. Like, wha-huh-wha?? I’m giving a presentation to a bunch of scary adults in 9 days and I thought I had more tiiiiiime *dies* Ok, ok, I know what you’re going to say. This has nothing to do with compost (although I mean I’m talking about compost because of said presentation but like whatever).

Greetings friends! ‘Tis Naomi here and today we’ll obviously be talking about compost – I’m doing a slide in my presentation about compost and thought, well, why not share some information with you?

So, here ya go. Enjoy!

(Ok, I admit I’m not good at transitions. But uh. Oh well.)

Food waste accounts for 6% of greenhouse gas emissions – this is because landfills emit methane, a greenhouse gas that is over 25 times more potent than carbon and accounts for about 20% of our greenhouse gas emissions. Said methane is emitted because trash that is dumped in the landfill is decomposed anaerobically (without oxygen).

So can you guess how the food you (correctly) compost is decomposed? You guessed it, aerobically (with oxygen)! This means that the food you compost does NOT emit methane.

Photo by Emmet on Pexels.com

Alrighty, ready for the second point? We’ll just assume you are (told you I can’t do transitions).

Compost means good soil. And good soil means more carbon captured. How? Well, plants capture carbon (a well-known-ish fact) and they store said carbon in the ground. Soil that is richer can store more carbon, and compost is much richer than normal soil.

Compost can be done outside or inside, with food scraps or grass clippings (or, well, both), with worms or without worms.

If you’d like to do indoor composting, you just have to find a container to put your compost in and you’re pretty much ready to begin! I recommend this post for a little bit more information on indoor composting.

If you’d like to do outdoor composting, the process might be a little bit more complicated. Find a good spot – usually shady and near water – to compost, and then I recommend building some sort of fence to keep the compost from just being a… pile in your backyard.

Photo by Sippakorn Yamkasikorn on Pexels.com

No matter what TYPE of compost you’re doing, you’ll want to regulate the amount of greens and browns you use. What are greens and browns? Well, they’re the two different types of materials you compost.

Greens are vegetable scraps, grass clippings, coffee grounds, etc. while browns are leaves and paper.

But, well, knowing what greens and browns are isn’t really helpful unless you know how much of each thing you need in your compost pile, and the answer to that is… well… not clear.

Literally every single website I’ve looked at has given me a different number, so I’ve learned that it’s not going to be a universal thing. My advice? Experiment. If your compost pile is getting smelly, add some brown. If it’s not hot, add green. Sound good? Great.

Final rule: have fun with it and stick to it! It’s going to take some time, but you’ll get there eventually (probably).

Bruggers, James, et al. “Your Trash Is Emitting Methane in the Landfill. Here’s Why It Matters for the Climate.” NPR.org, 13 July 2021, http://www.npr.org/2021/07/13/1012218119/epa-struggles-to-track-methane-from-landfills-heres-why-it-matters-for-the-clima.

How to Save a Planet. “Waste, Worms and Windrows: Domingo Morales’ Quest to Make Compost Cool.” Open.spotify.com, 17 Mar. 2022, open.spotify.com/episode/36qB5r3TJmyYkZwp9wfmVx?si=fc75ed901fc3499e&mc_cid=04470d4792&mc_eid=38fefa196b&nd=1#login. Accessed 21 Mar. 2022.

US EPA. “Basic Information about Landfill Gas | US EPA.” US EPA, 9 Apr. 2019, http://www.epa.gov/lmop/basic-information-about-landfill-gas.

—. “Importance of Methane | US EPA.” US EPA, 8 Oct. 2018, http://www.epa.gov/gmi/importance-methane.

US EPA, OLEM. “Composting at Home | US EPA.” US EPA, 9 Sept. 2019, http://www.epa.gov/recycle/composting-home#benefits.

And that’s that! I’m doing super well with the schedule, agreed? 2 days strong!

QOTD: Do you compost? Do you want to?

AOTD (action of the day): Start a compost pile!

See ya Friday!

Eco-Friendly Foods // Insects + Seaweed

HI HI HIIIII! ‘Tis Naomi, and I’m coming to you not-so-live from my bedroom.

(did that make it sound like I was… dead? Maybe it did. EEEEEEEEERM, well, I’m not dead. At least I don’t think I am. I just meant like… you’re probably reading this while I’m doing something completely different. So I’m not live.)

The title today is pretty self-explanatory, soo go ahead and read it if you haven’t already to find out what this post is about!

Here we gooo!

Meat. Now hear me out.

Making meat is bad for the environment (at least, normally. If you’re hunting, it can be better, and small farms are WAY better than the bigger ones. However, there IS a reason I’m vegetarian)…

Animals… well, they poop. And this poop can emit greenhouse gasses. And insects do as well, but they poop less – plus, their poop emits fewer greenhouse gasses! Win-win.

Also, most animal farming does take up quite a lot of land. Some farms do not use land the way others do, but some use harmful methods of clearing ground like slash and burn farming, which causes deforestation. Bugs? Well, they don’t take up that kind of land.

Plus, they get you way more calories and are definitely healthier!

Have any of you eaten insects? Little American Naomi feels like it’s something way out of her ordinary (well, eating animals in general is, but she’s used to others doing it….), but she does know that others eat insects quite a bit! Tell me in the comments… have you eaten insects? Do you want to try?

Seaweed.

Reading about seaweed reminds me of reading about peatlands- about how, for SOME reason, trees have taken the spotlight when really there are so many cool things out there. Like, well, seaweed.

It sequesters carbon, but doesn’t take up space on land, and doesn’t need fresh water OR a whole bunch of time. Plus, I mean. there’s food. Seaweed and microalgae can feed the world without using all of our land, and while being not JUST climate neutral – but climate negative.

Seaweed sequesters carbon, plus it’s delicious!

Cool, hm?

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

Almost forgot about this – important to include, don’t ya think?

Carrizosa, Paula. “Insects, Fungi and Algae — Climate-Friendly Foods That Could Be Headed to Your Dinner Plate.” Ideas.ted.com, TED, 22 July 2021, ideas.ted.com/climate-resilient-farming-and-future-food-systems/?utm_campaign=countdown&utm_source=countdownweekly&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20210724-1. Accessed 6 Nov. 2021.

Dicke, Marcel. “Why Not Eat Insects?” Www.ted.com, 2010, http://www.ted.com/talks/marcel_dicke_why_not_eat_insects. Accessed 14 June 2021.

Godin, Melissa. “The Ocean Farmers Trying to Save the World with Seaweed.” Time, 4 Sept. 2020, time.com/5848994/seaweed-climate-change-solution/.

Woody, Todd. “Forests of Seaweed Can Help Climate Change—without Risk of Fire.” Environment, 29 Aug. 2019, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/forests-of-seaweed-can-help-climate-change-without-fire.

Interesting, hm? This post was super fun to write –

Oh! I’ve gotta get some things done… well, let’s hurry along with this outro! 😉

QOTD: Have you ever eaten any of these foods? Do you want to try?

Byeee!

A Soil Solution // Dirt And Climate Change

Hyesle! Naomi is sitting (well, laying, but laying sounds like she’s SLEEPING so…. sitting) here typing out a post that she’s super excited to share with you!

She recently learned that soil could be a climate solution, and was like “OH! I should share about it!”, and so…. here she is!

(And no, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever that she’s talking about herself in third person, but she is, so she’s going to stick with it…)

So…. she would be delighted if you scrolled along with her as she explores whether the solution to climate change is right under our feet!

(gosh this third person thing is so weird, I’ll stop now)

So, a long long time ago (Does anyone know what song’s stuck in my head now? A long, long time ago… I can still remember…. {that way you can get it stuck in your head too – and oh I’m getting off topic ANYWHO}), I did a whole thing on PEATLANDS, which you can look at here if you really want (BEWARE, I wrote a bit weird back then). Well, turns out most dirt can do something like peatlands do – you see, plants bring in carbon, and then the dirt stores it. The dirt that HAS carbon in it is even healthier then uncarbonated soil! So, ya know, win-win!

Planting PERENNIALS with long roots helps to put more of that carbon from the atmosphere into the ground, where it’ll be stored for about…. 1,000 years. Doing things like planting more trees and planting more environmentally friendly crops can always help!

In addition, just UNDERSTANDING that this dirt and soil is precious can make a change. Spreading this information and learning more about the climate solution right under our feet is super important!

But you see, dirt doesn’t JUST store carbon. There’s also the fact that when these plants decompose, they RELEASE carbon. That’s just the natural way of things. Except, well. When it’s not.

Due to climate change, permafrost thaws, and things that haven’t been decomposing…. decompose. Sooo more carbon is released into the atmosphere and eeekeee that’s never good (I mean, maybe sometimes. But right now? Nope, no, nuh-uh, not good)…

So! Here’s yet ANOTHER one of those vicious cycles in which climate change causes things that cause climate change and…. well, that’s not good. This isn’t something we can directly fix, but it is something we can… indirectly help – by helping in the fight against climate change!

Our Changing Climate. “Why Soil Matters.” YouTube, 3 Nov. 2017, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kZXulLobA8.

TED. “A Climate Change Solution That’s Right under Our Feet | Asmeret Asefaw Berhe”: YouTube, 26 Sept. 2019, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A7_xCrgX1U. Accessed 2 Feb. 2020.

Aaand that’s that! Hopefully you enjoyed this post, and that you got lots of good information from it!

QOTD: What’s your favorite thing about dirt/soil?

Meet you in the next post (or the comments)!

Hmmm does meet you sound too weird? Is it any BETTER than see you? Is.. EEEEK gosh this is so hard.

If only there was something that could change all our carbon into oxygen and if we used it wisely greatly reduce climate change…

OH WAIT

There IS.

GUESS

WHAT

IT

IS

(Guess)

(Do you know?)

(You probably do)

(It’s…)

(*drumroll*)

OK, you probably knew that. But it was fun to make you have suspense. ANYWAYS, trees are AMAZING. They fight climate change, and provide homes for ALL SORTS of animals.

They are:

• Shade giving
• BREATH giving (like we probably couldn’t survive without them)
• Amazing for climbing
• Homes
• CLIMATE CHANGE FIGHTERS

But…

We keep CUTTING THEM DOWN. We cut them down to make wood, beds, fires, chairs, tables, paper, and SO MUCH MORE. And cutting them down is DEFINATELY not helping climate change.

How do they fight climate change?

Well, as you probably know, there is a lot of climate change caused by CO2, or Carbon Dioxide, which IS needed, but there is WAY TOO MUCH of. Like WAY TOO MUCH.

Now guess what trees do: they TAKE CARBON OUT OF THE AIR and turn it to oxygen. Yay trees!

We think that if we plant 1/2 of a trillion trees will remove 205 BILLION metric tons of CO2 from the air! Woah! So planting trees is an AMAZING way to stop climate change.

How can you help with this?

Well, for one thing, buy tree-free paper, toilet paper, and try not to buy things made with trees.

For another, you can plant trees pretty easily! For my 11th birthday, I got 20 baby trees to plant. I also got something like 80 trees planted in my honor for my 12th birthday and this Christmas!

You can also donate to one of the tree-planting organizations that are listed in the HELPFUL LINKS LIBRARY. 🙂

Thank you!

SOURCE: Buis, Alan. “Examining the Viability of Planting Trees to Help Mitigate Climate Change.” NASA, 11 November 2019, https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2927/examining-the-viability-of-planting-trees-to-help-mitigate-climate-change/