Back to recycling basics.

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Naima

As seen in the Katy Trail Weekly. Need help figuring out what is or is not recyclable in your city? … email me I’ll help ya! But everyone can use Terracycle no matter where you live worldwide! Read on to learn more.

I would say 60 percent of the questions I receive center around recyclables. Mainly the questions are about items you can and can not recycle. Here is your quick reminder about where, how and why you should turn your trash can into your recycle can.

First, let’s refresh ourselves on why it’s important to recycle. The EPA estimates each person generates over 4 pounds of waste everyday. The University of Colorado put it in other terms: “In a lifetime, the average American will throw away 600 times his or her adult weight in garbage.” We create a lot of waste. Although we use the saying “throw it away”, away has a place. Mostly, away is a landfill but in some parts of the country and the world it’s the ocean as well. In 2008, landfills were the second-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States.

The recycling basics are different all over the country. Every city handles recyclables their own way and what they collect is based on the companies in the area that take the raw material, render it down and make new materials. For example, the city of Dallas does not recycle styrofoam, not because it isn’t recyclable, but because there isn’t a local rendering plant for styrofoam.

Most cities, Dallas included, not only contract out the recycling sorters but also the recycling pick ups. Not all cities collect recyclables either so we should feel lucky we have curbside pickup as residents of Dallas. If you live in an apartment that doesn’t have on site recycling, there are a number of recycling drop off locations around town (dallascityhall.com/sanitation/dropoff_locations.html)

In the blue curbside bins provided by the city of Dallas, you can recycle mixed paper (magazines, newspapers), cardboard (cereal boxes and corrugated), metal cans, glass and plastics #1-5 and #7. Turn your plastic container over and look for a small recycle symbol. Inside the symbol, which is often hard to find, there is a number. Plastics are categorized based on that number, which essentially separates out different plastic structures. This means in the blue bins as long as the items are clean you can put your milk cartons and soda bottles. No dirty or soiled items. Anything else can not be recycled in the blue bins. That includes, no paper towels, no metal hangers, no shredded paper and no plastic bags.

Frustrated yet?

The bad news is that curbside collection here in Dallas doesn’t accept everything. The good news is there is a place that does! Recycle Revolution (RecycleRevolutionDallas.com) located at 7600 Sovereign Row in the Design District of Dallas is a collection center for otherwise non recyclable items. They accept items such as styrofoam, electronics, old shoes, wood and more. Due to mainly the transport, some items have a small fee associated with them. For about the cost of a coke you can rest easy knowing that big bag of styrofoam will be recycled and not contributing to the methane pollution caused by landfills.

“We are the one stop shop” said Maria Lott, Director of Growth and Development for Recycle Revolution. Patrons can stop by weekdays from 7-4pm with everything from their used oil to batteries. Do you have own a restaurant? Recycle Revolution also picks up food waste from local businesses destined to be composted back into usable material.

Want to take your recycling to the next level and aim for zero waste? Start collecting items such as highlighters, chip bags, juice packets, and more to be upcycled through Terracycle.com. Terracycle is an upcycling business centered in New Jersey that provides free waste collection programs for hard to recycle materials. It’s simple: collect items such as tape dispensers and candy wrappers, get free shipping and earn points that can be redeemed for a donation to a non-profit organization or school of your choice.

Think about your trash can at home, school and/or work. How many items could be recycled through the curbside collection, Recycle Revolution or through Terracycle? There is a better way than tossing that item “away”.

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Texas wind energy – a tough decision of environmentally good or bad.

Posted on October 24, 2014 by Naima

Hmm. Since this ran in the Katy Trail Weekly I’ve learned more about the Texas wind industry. Not good things. Shady things. I feel a follow up coming but first I’ll be doing a little investigating! For now, check out part one to get the basics:

When most people think of Texas energy they often think of oil rigs in an expansive west Texas field. But that’s leaving out a huge environmental energy resource in our state. Wind. Texas has more installed capacity wind turbines than any other state.

During a presentation in the DFW area, Andrew Swift, Associate Director of the National Wind Institute at Texas Tech University highlighted the impressive rank of Texas as number one for total megawatts of wind capacity installed at 12,755 megawatts (MW). To give you an idea, one megawatt can provide enough energy to power 300 homes in North Texas. The opportunity for wind to supply a lot of our energy is already in place.

As one energy executive put it, Texas is home to “the best wind resources in the world in Amarillo”. I lived in Amarillo for three years and can attest to the consistency of a one directional strong breeze. The limited trees that do withstand the panhandle weather are shaped by the constant breeze blowing their limbs in one direction. They look like half trees that belong in a Dr. Seuss book.

The Amarillo wind energy is now connected to the energy grid that serves the Dallas area. We are fortunate to have a sustainable energy source feeding our grid and at it’s peak in 2013 wind supplied the grid with over 30 percent of it’s needs on some days.

The large turbines are causing environmental problems but when compared to fossil fuels such as oil or coal, wind makes a far less impact on the environment. Many people breeze over the negatives of wind turbines instead of acknowledging their impact. Energy harvesting from any source is going to have negatives. It’s more about how can we have the least amount of damage to our environment and still turn the lights on at home.

Wind energy harvesting does not release carbon dioxide and does not contribute to air pollution. Burning coal or oil is a large contributor to global warming. Wind turbines have been shown to impact wildlife, especially birds and bats that are killed by collisions with the spinning turbine blades. Mountain top removal for coal mining has a direct effect on many species.

The wind turbines do take up space, space that was natural habitat for land animals as well. “A survey by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of large wind facilities in the United States found that they use between 30 and 141 acres per megawatt of power output capacity (a typical new utility-scale wind turbine is about 2 megawatts) (ucsusa.org).”

The one large restriction with wind power, we can only harvest the energy when the wind is blowing. If there isn’t wind, there isn’t energy. For an energy grid system that operates on providing the energy for the demand this creates a problem. If the demand is higher than the output, the energy has to come from another source. Scientists are currently working on battery systems to store the wind energy created at peak times to be used for later use.

Texas is gearing up to become the first state with offshore wind turbines in the Gulf of Mexico. The environmental impacts of turbines in our Gulf need to be monitored. The Texas coast is a huge stopover point for many species of migrating birds. This is also a billion dollar tourist industry from birdwatchers. Offshore installations are much larger than their land counterparts and therefore need more space. The offshore turbines will cause environmental concerns and will compete with ocean activities such as fishing and other recreational activities. But, I think I’d rather see a wind turbine than an oil rig while swimming in the gulf. The wind turbine is not going to cause an oil spill detrimental to our ocean ecosystems.

Wind is a free resource, owned by no one and an endless resource. It’s not going anywhere. Our wind patterns may change but we will always have areas of high wind. Oil and coal on the other hand are in limited supply. I’ll put my money in a sure thing like wind, instead the last of a limited supply of oil.

Sheringham_Shoal_Wind_Farm_2012This picture terrifies me. If a wind farm like this was placed in the Gulf it would surely harm the millions of birds migrating through the area. 

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The palm oil update just in time for Halloween.

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Naima

Every few months I check in on the palm oil industry. The optimist in me hopes there has been a change and things are getting better. I just checked in and did some research this week. What I found sparked me to write another article about it. Timing was perfect to tie-in the candy gorging of Halloween.

As seen in the Katy Trail Weekly this week:

Trick-or-treat has a different meaning for me. It’s not just about the costume, it’s about the candy you’re handing out. Is it an environmental trick or an environmental treat?

What kind of candy are you handing out for Halloween?

If you stop by my house, I’ll be handing out and eating all kinds of palm oil free candies. You can find the environmental treat palm oil free candy, it just takes some investigation in the stores.

The palm oil crisis is linked to all of us. We all ingest or put palm oil on our body in one form or another everyday. Palm oil is found in over 50 percent of grocery store products such as lotions, soaps, crackers, shampoo and of course candy. It’s an additive in foods to provide vitamin A, make soap bubbly, and make our chewy cookies soft. In the last 30 years, palm oil has gone from being unheard of, to being consumed in large quantities around the world. The quick palm oil rise in our markets, has caused major devastation of rainforest habitats.

Every time we buy a product with palm oil we are supporting the destructive palm oil industry. In 2011, 90 percent of the world’s supply of palm oil came from Indonesia and Malaysia. Palm oil grows in a rainforest climate, wet and warm. Rainforest-rescue.org, a nonprofit based out of Germany working to protect worldwide rain forests, estimates a rainforest area the equivalent of 300 soccer fields is being destroyed every hour. That’s right, huge tracts of rain forests being annihilated. Rainforests, full of remarkable species of plants and animals such as the charismatic tiger and a close relative of humans, orangutans. Some scientists speculate that orangutans will be extinct in the next 25 years, while tigers are on the same path with more tigers in captivity than in the wild. The main cause of population decline is habitat loss, largely due to palm oil plantations.

Companies big and small have slashed and burned rainforests in Indonesia to make room to plant palm oil plantations. The rainforest destruction continues on even with the push for sustainable palm oil. Recently Nestle and Dunkin Donuts, amongst many other companies, have pledged to transition over to utilizing only sustainable palm oil in their products. This would be great news and is definitely better than no limitations, however, the sustainable palm oil industry in practice has problems. Big companies are using their weight to get around sustainable certification standards by behavior such as challenging the the definition of deforestation and claiming it isn’t straightforward. In my opinion, if you destroy habitat, you destroy habitat so if you cut down a tree, you cut down a tree. Companies have now forced the classification of forest into high quality and low quality to determine what can be sacrificed.

As you gear up for trick-or-treaters at your door, take a second to check out the candy you’re handing out. The ingredient list doesn’t spell it out for you either. Palm oil can be found as over 30 different names on labels such as palmitate, sodium lauryl sulphate (often derived from palm oil) and palm kernel oil. There are plenty of candy varieties without palm oil it just takes some investigation.

Halloween is a great time of year to further explore the foods you’re eating and how they connect to our environment. Once you’ve figured out your palm oil free candy, take a peak at your milk. Organic skim milk even has palm oil.

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The environmental side of Zipcar’s expansion in Dallas.

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Naima

As seen in the Katy Trail Weekly:

I’m on the fence with Zipcar. If you haven’t heard, Zipcar, “Wheels when you want them” is expanding to downtown Dallas. As an alternative to car ownership, Zipcar provides vehicles to monthly paying members, billable by the hour or day.

The Zipcar buzz is out and everyone is excited for the Zipcar expansion. My reservations come in the environmentally friendly marketing of these car-sharing services, so I decided to investigate. Zipcar has a great webpage on the green benefits of their car sharing service touting their green facts. I reached out to the company to acquire the studies and reports cited for their findings. After reading through the reports, I’m still on the fence but probably with one leg on the environmentally friendly side.

I don’t think the answer is black and white, it’s more grey. Grey in that, Zipcar provides an alternate transportation method that has less impact on the environment than our usual number one choice in Texas: gas guzzling oversized personal trucks. The Transit Cooperative Research Program study states, “car-sharing has the potential to change people’s relationship to the car in dense, urban communities.”

When the service is available in an area, households are choosing to go carless. In the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) study, a significant gain was seen in the number of carless households, an increase of nearly 30%. And overall net annual emissions of households joining car-sharing are lower than they were before they joined car-sharing.

Car sharing gives us another option, it’s part of a network of transportation. We are more likely to live without a car if we know we can utilize public transportation to get everywhere we need, and in the event we need a car, there is a quick option from companies like Zipcar. It’s tough to imagine easing our impact on the environment by trading a car for another car, just not owned by you. But it’s more than that. We are creating a city that gives you the opportunity to live without your car. Car sharing along with trains, buses, bikes, and your own two feet build a network of transportation that relies less on owning our own vehicles.

Zipcar offers a variety of vehicle models to satisfy their member needs. In the mix are hybrids and small fuel-efficient vehicles. In Dallas, there are a total of 25 cars offered at four locations currently. Of the six vehicles downtown, two are very fuel efficient Prius’.  Zipcar is building from the inside out. As time goes on they will watch where their members are coming from and add locations based on their data. So if you want Zipcar in your neighborhood, jump on the bandwagon and get your neighbors to as well.

Zipcars vehicles are also operating at their environmental prime. Many of the vehicles are less than a year old, monitored for cleanliness and maintained appropriately. When the vehicle is less than optimal it goes back into Avis’ system (Zipcar’s parent company) and becomes a rental or sold.

Along with driving fuel-efficient cars to reduce your carbon footprint, utilizing car-sharing forces errand batching. One of the simplest ways often cited to reduce your carbon footprint is to drive less and batch your errands. Access to a personal vehicle allows you the freedom to make multiple trips to stores and back home, not exactly good for the environment. But if you pay for your car use by the hour, the best use of your money would be to plan and batch your errands together, forcing less driving and lessening your carbon footprint.

“Despite rapid growth, however, car-sharing is still a niche product, accounting for just 0.03% of the US urban population and licensed driver” from MTI. Yet, Zipcar is growing nationwide and in Texas. Zipcar launched in Houston with 12 locations in March of this year. Less than six months later they have doubled their locations, adding their 23rd location this week.

I remain on the fence only because Zipcar can be environmentally friendly if more people give up a vehicle and utilize more public transportation. The service needs to be utilized for it to work. The more options we have for alternate transportation beyond our personal oversized trucks, the better it will be for our environment.

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We all have a feral cat problem.

Posted on September 15, 2014 by Naima

As seen in the Katy Trail Weekly:

It’s clear, we have a kitty problem. There’s not a day that goes by I don’t see one of our city’s thousands of feral cats. Feral cats are house cats gone wild. Originating from domesticated cats, reproducing as strays in the outdoors, feral cats are not socialized and are not native to the US. They live around humans yet are not anyone’s pets.

It’s not just Dallas, that has a rise in feral cat populations. The ASPCA estimates the feral cat populations are in the tens of millions across the country. The problem is everywhere.

Feral cats wreak havoc on native wildlife. Outdoor cats (feral and pet outdoor cats combined) kill an estimated 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals per year, according to a 2013 published study by scientists from two of the world’s leading science and wildlife organizations – the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

Life on the streets isn’t easy for feral cats either. They live short hard lives due to spread of diseases such as feline herpes and feline leukemia, urinary tract infections, infections of wounds and my least favorite… parasites such as fleas. As if the flea population isn’t big enough in Texas, we have thousands of feral cats providing fabulous host duties for the quick reproducing fleas. In recent weeks, the flea problem in my neighborhood has become rampant.

I know the cats are cute and I know their kittens are irresistibly cute. Their furry faces bring out my emotions as well. But I have to think about the bigger picture. If we want to preserve local native wildlife, feral cats are not helping. Derek Broman, Urban Wildlife Biologist in DFW Metroplex forTexas Parks & Wildlife Department, made the comparison, “they (feral cats) are no different than feral hogs, causing just as much destruction to our wildlife.” Broman went on to explain, “Feral cats are a threat to the persistence of our wildlife.”

The best and easiest solution is to keep your cat indoors and don’t add to the feral cat population by doing what Bob Barker has been telling us for years… spay and neuter your pets.

But what about the thousands of cats already out there? Good question. One I emotionally struggle with answering. Here’s why:

The feral cat nonprofit organizations of DFW support the Trap Neuter Release (TNR) method. Cats are trapped, spayed or neutered and released back to where they were captured to live out their hard lived days. When cats are spayed or neutered they are given a rabies shot as well as get their left ear notched (a universal symbol letting everyone know that cat is sterilized).

There are several feral cat organizations spread across the Dallas/Fort Worth area and making one connection is often a connection to the entire network. They all work together acting as “bargain shoppers” they know who has traps closest to you, the cheapest clinic to spay/neuter the cats and if they are young kittens a place that could socialize them into being adoptable animals. The problem is it’s always changing. Clinics run specials, some foster groups fill up, a nonprofit gets a grant to trap an area, etc.

The bigger problem is, peer reviewed scientific studies do not support TNR. Yes, there are few scientific studies that support TNR under the study’s unique situation but there are more substantial amount of studies that demonstrate TNR fails to humanely stabilize and decrease cat populations. The Wildlife Society states, “While TNR promoters claim it will reduce cat populations, the science tells us that TNR puts wildlife in peril while failing to bring cat populations under control or address related health concerns.”

If you have feral cats in your area, it’s up to you to improve the situation. First, stop feeding the cats. The more food you put out, the more cats your area can sustain. Feeding cats is also not shown to reduce the amount of wildlife they kill. A new study in Georgia utilizing cameras on free roaming cats, they found that of the 2.4 average animals killed per week by each of the 55 cats, 23% were returned to the household, 49% were left at the site of capture, and only 28% were consumed. These were free roaming cats, which were also fed at a household. Cats are shown to kill for sport beyond their sustenance to survive.

Cats bring out emotions in all of us. You can see it from all directions involved, including me. The best place for your cat is inside spayed and neutered.

 

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The Dallas quail turns out to be…

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Naima

Today marks the first day of quail season here in Texas. Seems right that I found out the story and fate of my female Bobwhite quail in the heart of Dallas.

A few weeks ago I wrote about my rare sighting of a Bobwhite quail about four blocks away from the Katy Trail in the hustle and bustle of Dallas, Texas. (You can read that article here and see the picture I snapped). My hopes were that the species was adapting to urban life and making a comeback in this once prairie area they used to call home. Thanks to the community, the mystery has been solved. Well, almost.

After my first quail article ran in the Katy Trail Weekly, I had a lead that others have seen quail on the trail. I was excited that maybe the female I saw wasn’t just passing through but maybe took up residence in the area, had a nest and was ready to hatch out lots of young! Yes, I may be an optimist.

As I spoke to Bill Williams, Trail Manager for the Katy Trail, my enthusiasm built as he described his sighting. It was just another day along the trail on the golf cart, when he spotted two birds underneath a bush that at first glance looked like pigeons. A quick stop on the golf cart for more exploration and Willieams announced, “I can’t believe it, we’ve got quail on the trail!”

With the knowledge of William’s sighting around the same time I saw mine, I could hardly wait to get a hold of Patty Shires, whom Bill said, “You need to talk to Patty, she’s got them in her backyard!”

Shires was out of town but luckily made some time to tell me about the quail that were feasting at her neighbors “house for breakfast and then coming to her house for happy hour and sleep.” Shires and her neighborhood were home to six very friendly quail for the past few weeks. They showed up out of nowhere and weren’t afraid of people or their pets.

The community has rallied around these quail. After a run in with the pool, the team rushed one quail to the vet and then to Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Hutchins, Texas in an attempt to save the quail. It was Kathy Rogers of Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, who confirmed the quail’s wings had been clipped. The primary (flight) feathers are clipped or trimmed in captivity to keep the birds from being fully flighted. This confirmed that the birds were raised in captivity and released in urban Dallas. But who and why?

There really is no way to find out who and what they were doing with the quail in captivity or why they dumped them in Dallas along the Katy Trail. Quail are raised in captivity for many reasons including to train hunting dogs, to release them for hunting purposes, for food and sometimes for sale. A license is required to possess game birds, including bobwhite quail, in captivity for the purpose of propagation or sale. A permit is required to trap, transport, or transplant bobwhite quail in Texas.

Knowing these quail are captive raised, they really have a tough chance at surviving in the wild. As Shires speculated “Don’t know if you would want to release them into the wild. “ and Rogers illustrated, “They (captive raised quail) have no skills for living in the wild.”

Captive raised quail lack behavioral characteristics of quail in the wild. They lack the ability to avoid predators, nest and raise young successfully. Years ago many captive bred quail were released into the wild in several locations across the United States in an attempt restore declining population numbers. After spending lots of money these quail introduction programs were unsuccessful. The captive bred quail were not equipped to survive in the wild.

In our city of Dallas, the habitat is just not there to support wild quail. Dumping quail in the area can also have detrimental effects to other native wild birds. Captive raised animals are more likely to spread diseases and parasites to their wild counterparts.

It turned out, we may have quail on the trail, but not a viable wild population.

Today, September 1, 2014, is the first day of quail season in Texas as it is the 100th anniversary of the death of the last passenger pigeon, Martha. Skies filled with passenger pigeons from one horizon to another. I can’t imagine. I hope the fate of the Bobwhite is not the same of the passenger pigeon.

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I turned scraps into my upgraded office space!

Posted on August 21, 2014 by Naima

I upcycled my home office. Over the past few months I’ve wanted to add some much needed shelves to my desk space. I gathered the scrap wood and like many projects, the wood just sat there. Finally I upgraded my desk to be the creative space I’ve wanted.

Using scrap wood, I turned the drab into fab!

I live in a small space surrounded by huge spaces in Dallas, Texas. I transformed part of my dining room into a creative reuse office space. The desk and chair were headed for the landfill when I jumped in ecstatic to make them my own. The wood for shelves, mason jars and extra white filing sleeves were all things I had at my house.

Here is the before picture of what my desk space used to look like. With no storage shelves I ended up with lots of items in boxes under my feet. I longed for shelves.

before

My arms got a good workout this day. I only had my trusty hand saw to cut pieces to length. The plywood shelves were already the size I wanted for deep shelves.

saw

I consider myself creative. That also means, I cannot follow a perfectly laid out pattern. If there is a pattern involved in which I have to follow precise  measurements and directions, count me out. I’ll figure it out and make it work without a pattern. It’s kind of the same way I cook. I like to read a lot of recipes to find out major ingredients and processes, but when it comes down to it, I enjoy the freedom to just make things come together.

There was lots of trial and error. Finding studs, breaking drill bits, and figuring out how to stabilize the bottom of the shelves. I pushed through and made it all work.

shelves_

These mason jars took me forever. Making a hole in the metal to attach to the wood became a nightmare. For anyone thinking about doing this, my final strategy was to get a big thick nail and hammer it through, creating enough room for the screw to go through. I love how they turned out.

mason jars

The final outcome. I love the big blank empty desk space. When I work, I spread notes, pictures and articles all over to accomplish a task. Having an empty space to take over is awesome! Ah, the little things.

after

My small office mate somehow snuck into the picture too. Find that sneaky devil.

Next time you need something for your house, think about making it yourself. You end up with a product you could never buy and the pride in re-using materials to make a great space.

Now, to get to work in my upgraded space!

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A bobwhite quail in Dallas?!

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Naima

There I was last week, standing just a few blocks off the Katy Trail, staring eye to eye with a species that has been in a “sharp decline throughout the past half-century”. The Northern Bobwhite, startled at first by the two dogs on leashes, quickly seemed to ignore our presence. I knew no one would believe me, so I held the dogs strong, pulled out my iphone, and managed to snap a picture.

quail1

Why was I incessant on documenting this female bobwhite in urban Dallas? This quail species has been declining in Texas for many years. Their main cause of decline is habitat loss. As Derek Broman, DFW Urban Wildlife Biologist for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, stated, “With habitat comes everything for bobwhites – water, space, cover, food.” Northern bobwhites need a diverse habitat to survive with open areas and mixes of cover as well as water.

Dallas is within the bobwhite range but due to urban sprawl we don’t seen many in the area since the 1980s. Chris Jackson, of dfwurbanwildlife.com, remembers the days growing up in Lewisville in the 1980s, “you could pretty much count on seeing or hearing quail on a daily basis near my home.” The only recent records I found were a woman in the Lake Highlands area who reported a sighting of a bobwhite in 2013 and a sighting this year in Arlington. Jackson said “I have not received many reports of bobwhite in the metroplex.”

Bobwhites have a short life span but a high reproduction rate and can rebound quickly. A bobwhite pair (male and female) can produce 2-3 clutches (of 25 offspring or more) in a single breeding season. My one female sighting could mean more lurking nearby. Without two dogs at my side ready to pounce on the quail, I would have tried to find a nest.

In a big city such as Dallas, green space is important not only for happiness of humans, contributing value to real estate, but also to urban wildlife. There are many species of animals that used to live in this area that are adapting to a city lifestyle.

The more we are aware of what’s around us the more we will learn about it. Scientists have found a wealth of data in casual observations by the general public. With hard economic times for science research (especially wildlife) many organizations have become creative utilizing people’s eyes to gather data. You can be part of science too.

With the advances of camera phones and smart phone apps, making observations around your neighborhood has become easy. Find a plant or animal in your backyard, snap a picture, and upload it on the internet or an app. The best part is you don’t have to know what it is; people can help you identify it, so take a good picture.

Both Jackson and Broman have been utilizing iNaturalist, a free website and app where anyone can record what you see in nature. It’s easy to create an ID, post observations and join science projects. Broman’s DFW Carnivore Project on iNaturalist has yielded over 300 observations in the one year it’s been up online providing him very valuable data. While speaking to Broman, his enthusiasm for the public to get involved shines through and he looks forward to learning more about urban wildlife through the eyes of the people of our city.

My one bobwhite sighting may not tell us too much, but it does remind us to keep our eyes open. When I first saw the bobwhite, I thought maybe it was a captive raised animal. The quail could be, but the only way to solve the mystery is to be on the lookout. Get your camera phones ready, keep your eyes open, and contribute to iNaturalist so we can all keep up with what’s being found around town.

A version of this was published in the Katy Trail Weekly on August 7, 2014.

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A conference full of tips, insight and inspiration.

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Naima

Many months back I decided to invest in attending a conference. I use the word invest because it didn’t come cheap and I was going in blind, not knowing much about what it is or how successful it was.

From the website: “The Mayborn Literary Nonfiction  Conference is a forum for journalists, writers, readers, students, educators and the general public to listen to, be inspired by and practice their craft at the highest possible level.”

Located just a few miles away in Grapevine, Texas I knew I would be missing out if I didn’t go. I also knew I should use this opportunity to its fullest and submit a book manuscript to the conference competition. I pushed myself to get my manuscript done in time and was ecstatic to have the finish product submitted. It was great to have a timeline for myself. It forced me to get organized and figure it out. Turns out it was one of 20 accepted into the Friday workshop at the conference.

The Friday (9-4:30pm) workshop was two groups of ten people with a knowledgeable moderator to lead us. I ended up with a great mix of people in my group with a vast diversity of stories and writing talent. Prior to the conference we all read and critiqued the other nine manuscripts. We ended up with the winner of the contest in our group and we secretly all knew it. I even admitted to the author I had a bad attitude going into reading hers.  The winning piece was one of my last ones to read and just knowing it was about classical music I assumed I wasn’t going to be interested. After a few pages in, I was hooked and fell in love with it. I can’t wait for the book to come out!

The rest of the conference was full of talented inspirational, knowledgeable, down to earth, amazing speakers. I felt a sincere sense of community in the nonfiction writing world. Everyone wanted to tell their story and answer any questions to provide you with the inspiration to follow your passion and do it well.

The conference theme this year was Science, Technology, Medicine and Innovation. I was in awe of the not only the speakers but all of the conference attendees. You never knew who you would be sitting next to!

I wanted to go back through my notes and list out some of the tips, messages, books and tidbits that really hit home for me. This will be a great blog to go back to, to remind ourselves of the “why not you, you can make it happen.”

David Quammen – So he kind of became a hero to me at this conference. I knew he worked with Nick Nichols (a National Geographic photographer) and admired his work from afar. Hearing his story to success, writing processes and willingness to share great tips to anyone starting out made me excited to become part of this community. My favorite class in graduate school was Biogeography and felt ashamed I had never bought his book about it. So I bought it while there, stumbled through saying hello to him, and had him sign it. I’m 70 pages in so far and finding the same love in it as I did in the classroom.

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In his presentation he listed out 23 tips to be a good science writer. I won’t list them all out here but will pick three that I loved the most: 8. Research till you drop. 9. Structure. Make it organic, not orderly. Allow reader to experience surprise and your thought process.  22. Take a risk. Risk is art. Safety is craft.

But the best tidbit was an answer he had for a question from the audience. The question was something along the lines of how do you remain objective while writing? He said in my quickly writing down notes, “I’m not. I do the research, and have an unapologetic opinion with conviction. I don’t have to tell both sides of the story.” I loved that. Science isn’t about making people happy with saying what they want you to say, and science writing shouldn’t be either.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the weekend. These were spoken by speakers and conference attendees. Forgive me for the lack of identifying all of the who said what – wish I tape recorded the entire conference!

  • “Hunt through footnootes.” Sam Kean
  • “Make people see the world in a different way.” Sam Kean
  • “Forced discipline to write a book.” Bill Streever
  • “All writing is rewriting.”
  • “It’s going to work out better than you can imagine.”
  • “90% is showing up. Always go.”
  • “Keep trying!” Brian Sweany- Brian had some great inspirational lines and stories regarding building relationships. He said something that I loved yet didn’t write down. It was to the point of you will be a writer today, in six months, and in ten years, so make sure you build relationships as you go. Also to remember you will be a better writer as time goes on so keep trying.
  • “Don’t make it a tower of facts, it’s a quest!”
  • “I don’t care if a scientist thinks I’m dumb.” – in regards to ask scientists the questions over and over and make them explain it at a level you can understand and translate to the public.
  • “Writers block is a reflection of not having exactly what you need. It’s not in your notebook yet.” Sheri Fink
  • “Have a beginners mind, try to come in as fresh as you can, no assumptions.” Sheri Fink
  • “Counter-intuitive thinking. If you follow the data it will lead you to the story.” Carl Hart
  • “1. Work hard. Not for idiots or followers. Blaze your own path. It’s a lonely journey. 2. Learn how to be an outsider. 3. Always let the data dictate your position.” Carl Hart
  • “I want to spend time with you, what you do interests me.” Seth Mnookin
  • “Leads can take long time to develop, don’t force the answer to come to you.” Seth Mnookin
  • “Just because it’s interesting to you doesn’t mean it’s interesting to your audience. Just because it’s interesting to your audience doesn’t mean it’s relevant to the story.” Seth Mnookin
  • “Books are miracles, personal triumphs.” Bob Shacochis
  • “Be open for the story to change.” Sheri Fink

Next – on my “take full advantage of the conference” mode I had scheduled a meeting with a literary agent. Yikes. Fifteen minutes in a room to pitch your project to an agent. Knowing nothing of the writing world and what to expect out of the conference I was literally typing into google, “should I meet with a literary agent at a conference”. All the articles pointed to yes, you will always get something out of it. So I signed myself up, researched the four agents and prepared. It turned out, I had a great first agent meeting. Fifteen minutes went by incredibly fast. I asked questions, he asked questions, gave me tips and was gracious. After hearing some horror stories, mine was awesome. His best advice was to eliminate the idea that writing about your topic in articles or sharing it with people will “give it away”. If nothing else it will build your base, connect you with more people and create a strong platform for your book. I was excited to hear that after worrying a bit about that very problem. But just as my masters was my work and no one knew it better than me, my research and my story can only be told by me.

In my nervous frantic state I managed to snap a picture of the meeting room. Tell me that doesn’t look scary!

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The risk of attending this conference turned out to be a great decision. I came out the other side with a wealth of knowledge, loads of inspiration and having met some pretty fantastic people. I’m excited for the future and ready to take more risks and follow my passions.

Lastly let me leave you with my Must Read Books from Mayborn 2014:

  • The Violinist’s Thumb by Sam Kean
  • Spillover by David Quammen
  • Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink
  • The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright
  • The Fight to Save Juárez: Life In The Heart of Mexico’s Drug War by Ricardo Ainslie
  • High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society by Carl Hart
  • The Panic Virus: The True Story Behind the Vaccine-Autism Controversy by Seth Mnookin
  • Cold, Adventures in the World’s Frozen Places by Bill Streever
  • The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone

So much of writing is reading, so let’s get on it! Where do I file an extension for more hours in a day?

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When did dog poo become so complicated?

Posted on July 14, 2014 by Naima

I recently began writing weekly articles for a local paper and thought I would share some of them on my blog as well. When I post one of these articles you will see the “A version of this published in the Katy Trail Weekly” as I will probably add some pictures and change a bit of wording for this site. But many of the stories are ones I’d like to share on here as well. And the first one… dog poop!  Do you live in a big city and pick up your dog poop?

You finally wrangled your dog and got the annoying harness on, leash attached, hat on your head, phone in your hand, and ready to get outside. Both you and your dog have pep in your step as you head down the sidewalk enjoying the summer weather. And then it happens.

Your dog starts to look for that spot as you dig through your pockets scrambling to find a poop bag you may have left behind. You secretly hope your dog just stops. Then as you realize you don’t have a bag to pick it up you look around for any people, hoping no one is anywhere to be found, that every window is empty.

We’ve all been there.

The City of Dallas Pooper Scooper ordinance requires pet owners to remove waste from any public or private property not owned by them. But we’ve all broken that rule, some more than others. Here’s the deal though, don’t do it often.

If you’re one that forgets the bag often or refuses to pick up the dog poo here’s why you should think twice. From the EPA:

  • Pet waste carries bacteria, viruses, and parasites that can threaten the health of humans and wildlife.
  • Decaying pet waste consumes oxygen and sometimes releases ammonia. When pet waste washes into water bodies this can be detrimental to aquatic life.
  • Many pathogens found in animal waste can infect humans if ingested (salmonella, cryptosporidium, etc).
  • A day’s worth of poop from one large dog can contain 7,800,000,000 fecal coliform bacteria.

Some cities, and even Dallas, have thought about creating a database of dog DNA to track the dog poop back to you. An apartment complex in Dallas, Llume on Cedar Springs, actually had a database for their tenants. A quick call to them discovered when they adopted the policy in 2012 it didn’t take long for tenants to shape up and pick up the waste. They stopped the policy shortly after implementation but it’s back on the table. With new tenants they are considering tracking dog DNA once again.

But how should we get rid of the dog toxic waste? Use a grocery store plastic bag to pick it up – they take over 1000 years to decompose, are derived from oil, and are made in China. Use a decomposable bag – they are expensive but maybe the cleanest quick solution. The best solution is to not bag the poop at all and put it in the ground or flush it down the toilet. But no one is carrying dog waste from the trail to the toilet. Not me.

Unfortunately your yard isn’t safe either. As of 2007, from the City of Dallas, there are 1.2 million registered dogs in North Texas, which produce about 450 tons of waste every day! The Food and Drug Administration estimate that the average dog produces about ¾ pound of waste everyday. That means you should clean up your yard to reduce the amount of waste that enters our water supply. The poop adds up.

Do the right thing and always pick up your dog waste. But don’t get mad at me when I forget a bag, and sneakily creep away like it never happened.

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Beaker and I enjoying the Katy Trail in the big city.

TJThanks to some business’ that provide my best furry friend with some much needed water on these hot walks through the city!

Pick up the dog poop!

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