EcoInsomniac

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Ben is a great guy I met through the blogosphere and he’s got a lot of stuff to say about going green and has a crazy story on why he changed his life the way he did.  He’ll be contributing sparatically for a little bit as he’s moving closer to his full time job, but after a while he should be helping pick up the pace with the content around here.  This will give me more time to find ways to improve EcoInsomniac and give you readers more great articles to read and pass around.  So, please join me in welcoming Ben to the team.

Every day more people become aware of the incoming effects of global warming. It has far reaching side effects, melting of the polar ice shelves, extinction of sensitive species; as well as, the destruction of whole ecosystems.Their are many side effects which are detrimental to many habitats. One of those is the oceans. Besides the billions of gallons of fresh water being added from the melting ice shelves which in turn raise sea level and ultimately cool the oceans. We also have to contend with the change in ocean currents which ultimately drive our weather. And as if that is not enough global warnings chief cause is carbon, which finds its way into our beloved oceans as well. [Read more →]

In my backyard here in South Texas we have a pond which at times means we have a ton of mosquitoes.  We’ve tried fish, but since we have cats who don’t care about water and raccoons live near by once they get bigger they don’t last very long.  So, I went searching the web and found that attracting bats by building a bat house can be a particularly good way to rid your yard of the pesky blood sucking mosquitoes.  I had no idea bats loved the things so much.  Did you know a single brown bat could eat up to 1,000 mosquitoes in an hour?

In my searching through google and stumbleupon I came across a site that offers free bat house plans and thought I’d share it with you all incase you have a mosquito problem like I do.  I always see old fence boards at the street around here as people replace their wooden fences and will probably stop by and pick up some nice sturdy boards to build a few bat houses. 

I’ve always been fascinated with getting rid of pests with out poisons by using natural enemies or natural deterrents.  I’m planning in the future to do a write up on other ways to deter or rid your yard of pests naturally. 

I’m sure I’ll be putting up pictures and a tutorial on how I build my bat houses. If you’re interested check back for that or subscribe to the rss feed at the top right of the page.  Do you use natural means to get rid pests in your yard?

The OLPC program or One Laptop Per Child program has been a great success in my eyes.  If you’ve never heard of OLPC please take a moment and visit the OLPC Wiki. This revolutionary program was started by Nicholas Negroponte at the MIT Media Lab has put laptops into the hands of children in countries all over the world.  The OLPC program is not one to spread the use of laptops, but to use technology to spread education.  I believe that the OLPC program helps to communicate and educate to places where it once wasn’t possible. [Read more →]

Today I took a short trip to the bi-weekly farmer’s market to check out what kind of fresh local produce I could find.  I’d never been to this particular market which sets up at Grady’s BBQ on Bandera Rd.  After talking a bit with the farmer who’s name is escaping me at the momentI decided to buy some black berries, tomatoes and a yummy seedless watermelon.

We’ll be having a couple of the tomatoes in our dinner tonight and I’ve already snacked on some of the black berries.  The total cost for this healthy haul was $9 and all of it went right into the farmers wooden cash drawer.  That was quite a good feeling to actually meet the farmer and put cash directly in his hand instead of a checker at Wal-mart or some other super store.   If you live in San Antonio on the northwest side around Marshall High School area I’d say when you get the chance.  It’s open from 9am - 2pm on Tuesday and Friday only.   If you don’t live in San Antonio visit this farmer’s market directory for locations all over the US.