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A TOUCH OF NATURE
January 1, 2004 Issue
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DONNA'S COMMENTS
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They once lived here on Earth, known to modern people, but now are no more.
The animals and plants now globally extinct will never be seen again. Why
care about them? And honestly, why memorialize them? They were part of a
total picture of life on Earth. Each was a totally different lifeform,
certainly worthy to have been allowed to stay here. But there are many more
reasons too .....

The Extinction Memorial website located at www.extinctionmemorial.org was created to draw attention to both
extinct species and those getting close to extinction. Visit the Extinction
Memorial site and click on your state to find what you are missing on your
nature walks.

We have a whole new year before us! I love new beginnings! Think about it
- it's like a clean slate! Consider what you can do to make a difference in
the lives of others - people, animals and plants.

I discovered awhile back that living on Earth is not about ME! A "what's in
it for me" lifestyle really doesn't produce much satisfaction or peace ....
and what I thought was important is no longer remembered even by me, much
less anybody else. Determine to make life better for something or someone
in some way. Everybody has a few hours to spare if they look closely at
where their hours are going. Those few hours can make a magnificent
difference for YOU when YOU make a difference for others.

New Year Blessings on All! :-)
Donna

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CRITTER FACTS
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THE BIG SLEEP FOR BEARS
From eNature.com http://enature.com

The morning air is crisp with the approach of winter. You lie in bed, warm
beneath thick blankets, and reach for the alarm clock. Wouldn't it be nice
to drift back into a deep sleep until . . . the first warm days of spring?
Alas, that's not an option; we humans must face the challenges of winter.
But there are some creatures that cope with the cold temperatures and the
food shortages by taking very long naps. Whether or not we can call their
behavior hibernation, though, depends on a number of factors.

When most people think of hibernation they picture bears. Yet bears aren't
true hibernators; their long nap is more properly called winter lethargy. A
true hibernator, like a chipmunk, can reduce its body temperature to nearly
freezing during hibernation and change its heart rate from 350 beats per
minute to as low as 4 beats per minute within hours of retiring to its den.
The heart rate of a bear also drops, though not as rapidly. During the early
part of its winter dormancy, a bear's heart rate averages 50 beats per
minute. After several months of uninterrupted sleep, the rate may drop to as
low as 8 beats per minute. But a bear's body temperature remains nearly
normal during this period. That's the reason a bear can wake relatively
quickly -- a fact that's resulted in more than one hasty exit by from a bear
den researchers. Pregnant females wake in mid-winter to give birth, then go
back to sleep while their newborn cubs nurse. Still, most bears sleep all
through the winter if left undisturbed.

Rodents that exercise true hibernation, by contrast, wake every few weeks to
eat small amounts of stored food and pass wastes. These brief periods of
activity are extremely costly: up to 90 percent of the stored energy
reserves (mostly fats) allotted for the entire winter are consumed during
these bouts of arousal. Thus the animals that truly hibernate don't actually
sleep all winter, while "winter lethargic" species often do.

The difference between these two strategies -- true hibernation and winter
lethargy -- is related to the animal's size. Bears are too large to
dissipate the heat necessary to enter hibernation, whereas smaller mammals,
with their high surface-to-volume ratio, can achieve this temperature drop
quickly and evenly.

Possibly the largest rodent that truly hibernates is the Woodchuck (also
known as the Groundhog), and it's a champion napper. In the Northeast, it
has been known to enter its burrow while the weather is still warm in
September and not emerge until late March. In other words, a Woodchuck can
spend more than half of its life sleeping.

Sound like a good plan? Would you like to doze off after the end of the
World Series and wake up just in time for opening day? The concept isn't too
far fetched; researchers are experimenting with the compounds responsible
for inducing hibernation, and they're finding that even species that don't
hibernate will respond to treatment with these hormones.

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THOSE AMAZING BIRDS!
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DO YOU "EAT LIKE A BIRD?"

If someone says you eat like a bird, you might consider going on a diet.
Most birds eat 25-50% of their body weight daily.
Birds have high metabolisms, burning up calories faster than a long-distance
runner. Hummingbirds are probably the metabolic champs, putting away a meal
of flower nectar and insects every 10 minutes! They eat twice their body
weight daily, the equivalent of a 150-pound man eating about 1,000
hamburgers a day

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GARDENING FOR WILDLIFE- Restoring the Balance
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FOREST GARDENS

Forests in nature are stable, productive, and biodiverse.

The forest garden emulates how forests grow.

Forest gardens are not necessarily gardens in forests.

One can be established in a small backyard!

Trees can be planted in winter in many parts of the country/world.

Visit Forest Gardens.

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NATURE'S BOUNTY FOR US
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Nature offers essential oils with potent properties that can be used in many
areas around the home. For health, bath, beauty, and household cleaning
supplies. Here's our featured recipe for this issue:

DEPRESSION

Lavender, Ylang Ylang, Marjoram - Add 20 drops of lavender to a bath and
soak away the blues, or use 10-15 drops of Ylang Ylang or 15 drops of
Marjoram.

Read more about the benefits of these oils, find other recipes, and purchase
oils.

CLEAN START COLON CLEANSE

Colon health is a major concern for people today. The colon is designed to
eliminate waste and toxins from the body, like those found in many of
today's processed foods. Unfortunately, processed foods don't supply your
body with the essential enzymes and fiber it needs to eliminate these
toxins. This can result in a buildup of toxic material in your colon, which
can lead to poisoning or disease. To help protect your body from common
colon toxins that deplete and degrade your health, Nature's Sunshine's
CleanStart™ cleansing and detoxifying program provides the most complete and
balanced herbal cleanse available. Read more.

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" GREEN" INFO- Making It a Way of Life!
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CARTRIDGE AND CELL PHONE RECYCLING CAMPAIGN

So much of what we throw away is potentially reusable. Inkjet Recycling
Company, which gives used ink cartridges a second life, is adding cell
phones to its mission for less garbage. The average lifespan of a cell phone
is but a year and a half, what with all the deals and gadgets and whatnot.
This leads to tons of landfill space per year, not to mention unacceptable
amounts of toxic chemicals entering our soil and water system.
Read about - DEAD LINK REMOVED - Inkjet's new campaign.

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MUSINGS: POETRY & PROSE
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" Memorials are not just about the past.
If you make people aware of the extent of extinction,
you can also make them aware of what they can do."

-- Maya Lin, creator of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

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GOOD NEWS ABOUT OUR PLANET
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MYSTERIES OF THE SEA: SPAWNING AGGREGATIONS

  It is one of the secrets of the sea-the mysterious places where teeming
masses of fish gather to mate at the same time each year. To people who
depend on the sea for their food and income, these predictable mating
dances, called spawning aggregations, seem like vast cornucopias of
limitless fish, but their abundance is an illusion.

For decades, commercial fishers have exploited known spawning aggregation
sites, and overfishing has taxed their ecosystems to the breaking point. In
the Caribbean Sea, the Nassau grouper has been one of the hardest-hit
species.

The good news is that research by The Nature Conservancy is offering
solutions to this problem.

The Nature Conservancy's Marine Initiative is working with government,
non-government and fishing industry partners to manage and protect spawning
aggregation sites within Marine Protected Areas throughout the Caribbean Sea
and the Asia Pacific region. In doing so, the Conservancy hopes to protect
marine biodiversity and benefit local and regional tourism and fishing
economies.

Marine scientist Will Heyman has been studying Belize's reefs for five years
and has identified 13 spawning sites that need protection. Using satellite
imagery, Heyman and Timothy Boucher, a remote sensing expert, are amongst
the first to accurately predict when and where spawning aggregations will
occur. He currently runs workshops for local fishers and managers to help
them maintain sustainable fishing practices in Belize and throughout the
Meso-American Reef.

Learn more about spawning aggregations and watch the action of reef fish spawning on video or view a photo slide show of reef fish at The Nature Conservancy site.

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DISCLAIMER:

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informational purposes only and not necessarily endorsed by our sponsor "The
Herbs Place.com" This is a personal publication by Donna Watkins. The ideas
and information expressed in it have not been approved or authorized by
anyone either explicitly or impliedly. In no event shall Donna Watkins or
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