After Earth Day--Now What?

Earth Day, the annual day we honor that which sustains our lives, came and went on Wednesday, April 22.  You may have gone to DPR's Earth Day festival at Holton Career and Resource Center, or went to any of the numerous events around the Triangle.  Now that Earth Day has passed for another year, what small, regular steps can we all take to take care of this fragile ecosystem that sustains us?

• Turn off the water when you're brushing your teeth.  Gallons of water go down the sink when in the minute that you're brushing. 
• Don't throw food trash out your window.  That apple core may seem a nuisance in your vehicle, but those birds of prey--hawks, owls, falcons--are waiting for the rodents who wait on the roadside for our tossed apples, burgers, fries and gum.  They swoop down to get the rodents and BAM! meet the grill of a car.

Hawk on Power Line

• Install a bat house on your property.  About 80% of the brown bat population  (almost 99% in Pennsylvania!) has been annihilated by White Nose Syndrome, a fungus that kills hibernating bats.  The disease is spread two ways: by humans carrying the fungus from one cave to another, or a bat from a contaminated cave roosting in a new cave. Bats eat about 3,000 mosquitoes per day and help pollinate the planet--in other words, the world would be pretty darned miserable without them.  Help give them a safe place to roost, and keep your yard free of mosquitoes! 

  

  A bat house provides a safe roosting place for bats.

• Water your lawn when it needs it rather than on a schedule.  In the humid southeast, our lawns need far less water than we think they do.  Better yet, install native plants, mosses and grasses which thrive in local conditions.  I'm letting a native grass take over my front yard and I have a lush, green lawn without herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers.  A very interesting article from NASA about lawns and watering can be found here.  

DPR Sky Watch Astronomy Program Postponed Due to Weather

The Sky Watch astronomy program scheduled for this evening is postponed to Sunday, April 12 from 8:30 pm to 10:30 pm due to a truly rotten forecast for star gazing--cloudy skies and a high potential for severe storms during the hours of--you guessed it--8 pm to 10 pm.  It may or may not rain, but as you might imagine, moving large telescopes quickly isn't the easiest proposition, so we can't take a chance of getting caught in the rain. If you'd like more detailed information,  Durham Clear Sky Chart has an excellent page that shows the transparency and cloud cover of the sky at the various hours of the day. Sounds a little wonky, but it's really very cool.  So, until Sunday evening at 8:30 pm, here's a great image of our solar system to tide you over:

A Big Week of Programs for Outdoor Recreation--Astronomy and City Lakes Season Opening Party

Well, the warm weather is here finally!  So exciting to have warm days, leaves and blossoms on the trees and a wave of very cool outdoor recreation programs for Durham.  First up this week is our Star Watch program at Old North Durham Park Friday night, April 10. As a part of the North Carolina Science Festival, this sky gazing program is focusing on our solar system this year.  In particular, we'll be looking at Jupiter and Venus Friday evening through North Carolina Central University's 10- and 12-inch telescopes and we'll have a solar system walk with crazy facts about our solar system. It's pretty amazing just how much we can see in the middle of Durham. When we were first scouting locations for the program, we were pleasantly at just how much we were able to view.   Below are some images of last year's event--unfortunately, no night-time shots because, well, it was really dark and a flash would have interfered with night vision.  If you're curious and would like more information about the night skies, In-the-sky.org is a fun site to find what celestial events are happening on any given day.

Staff Testing a Telescope and Astronomy Binoculars

Star Watch viewing station

Diane and David Markoff of NCCU Mathematics and Physics

Our second big event is our City Lakes Season Opening Party at Lake Michie this Saturday, April 11 from noon--3pm.  Come try out canoes, kayaks, stand-up paddleboards (SUP's) and paddle bikes as well as fish from the banks for free on this day. We'll also have food and prizes from Dick's Sporting Goods.  If you haven't been to Lake Michie or Little River lake you're missing some of Durham's most peaceful and beautiful natural resources.  More information about the City Lakes can be found here.