While I’ve never been one for New Year’s Resolutions, I do resolve to waste less food next year.

Image courtesy FoodandYou flickr photostreamFood waste has always been a hot topic in our household. One might think that my husband and I were raised during the Great Depression based on how we respond when good food is thrown out or wasted in our home (while neither of us lived through the Depression we both come from frugal Saskatchewan stock that valued not wasting food).

Eco etiquette: is wasting food a sin? Huffington Post

Our two sons went to Outdoor School with their classes this semester. One of the many things that left an impression on them was the focus on food and food waste. After each meal, every table group (of several children) would gather together all of the food left uneaten on their plates. The goal by the end of the week was to consistently make sure that there was no food gathered—zero food waste. (All four classes succeeded.)

How do we avoid food waste? For me, the most important step is to avoid purchasing too much to start in the first place. Even the smallest amount of meal planning can help individuals or households with buying only the food they will use in a certain time period. Composting organic waste means that leftover food is at least being put to good use. The City of Calgary’s Green Cart pilot will begin in March 2012 as four neighbourhoods try to collect their compostable food waste (that would otherwise go into the garbage) into green bins.

Simple lifestyle changes can reduce food waste Calgary Herald

In a world of abundance, food waste is a crime USA Today

I just discovered the University of Calgary Waste Management site, which shows an impressive push to work towards being a net zero waste campus. The same site has a wonderful checklist for anyone who wants to hold a waste free event.

Sometimes, of course, food should be thrown out for safety reasons. How can you be sure? You may want to visit the StillTasty: your ultimate shelf life guide site (or download its iPhone App), which lets you know when to keep and when to toss.

	American wasteland: how America throws away nearly half of its food (and what we can do about it) by Jonathan Bloom
	Waste: uncovering the global food scandal by Tristam Stuart

One of the reasons why I was interested in being more environmentally friendly was because I was interested in animals and their well being (there are a lot of animals in the wild, after all). So, it is a bit disconcerting when one discovers information about how having an animal companion might actually be bad for the environment.

I’ve discovered Carol Frischmann’s book Pets and the planet: a practical guide to sustainable pet care (636. 0887 FRI) at the library. Frischmann gives a detailed account of how to give your pets good care and still take care (or at least take the steps to take care) of the environment.

Cats

One of the problems is cats and cat litter. Cats themselves of course are not the problem. The problem is when people allow their pets to go outside, they often can injure and kill wildlife (cats and dogs can both do significant damage to wildlife, and vice versa). And while, as Alan Weisman’s poignant book The World Without Us mentions, cats can keep the populations of other introduced species such as starlings in check, they don’t decipher between our native songbirds and European house sparrows. To them, a bird is a bird, which is prey. Even if the bird gets away, cat saliva can infect the bird which may lead to an untimely death. So the best thing for both your cat and the other animals outside is to keep your cat indoors – this also extends the cat’s lifespan, as it keeps your cat safe from cars, coyotes, owls, other cats that can spread infectious diseases, etc.

Litter

As for cat litter – clay litters are ultimately not very good for the environment. For one, how we get the clay is by mining for it, which is hard on the environment. Clay litter is also not compostable or biodegradable, and contains silica which is potentially harmful for you if you breathe it in.There is also a risk (as with any clumping litters) of cat’s developing an intestinal blockage from licking the clumps off of their paws!

You can get pine litter (which is made from reclaimed sawdust from the timber industry.) This alternative is biodegradable, although you want to make sure that your cat does not react to the pine resin. Yesterday's News is a litter made up of recycled newspapers, although it doesn't have much in the way of odor control, and has parfum listed as one of its ingredients. Silica gel litter is recommended for cats, but fairly pricey, so I stick with pine litter.

Everyone should have some basic sewing skills such as sewing a button back on or taking up a hem. This allows you to take in or let out the side seams of jeans from skinny to wide as fashion or figure dictates instead of buying new. Mending and transforming prolongs the life of good quality and treasured items. Sew some cool scraps or patches over moth holes or turn a shrunken sweater into a throw pillow.

Garage sales, swaps and charity sales are great sources of fabric for scrap quilting and other sewing projects. A family member has scored metres of Liberty print cotton for $4.00 total or less (it's normally upwards of $100.00 per yard from the Liberty store in London). More and more fabric stores are closing and the quality and durability of new clothes has really declined (not to mention the distance travelled and the working conditions of the factories), so alternate sources of fabric are the wave of the future. Try sourcing environmentally friendly fibres with safe dyes on-line. Hemp silk is now available. It's not just for t-shirt cotton anymore!

In the meantime, the library has some great books that inspire green sewing projects:

Sewing Green and Sew Eco focus on sustainability and re-use.

Denim Revolution- What to make when cutoffs don't cut it.

Generation T-This book and its sequel show you how tomake yourself a cool halter top and other clothes from the humungous t-shirts found in abundance everywhere.

Dozens of ways to Repurpose Scarves and Dozens of ways to Repurpose Pillowcases-fun quick projects when you're inside over the winter.

And there's always scrap quilting...

From Flickr, copyright Dan Dzurisin (NDomer73)The greater Sage Grouse is an iconic prairie bird. Forty years ago, when we first began keeping records, hundreds were strutting their stuff on our Canadian prairies; this past year only 13 males were counted in Alberta, and 35 in Saskatchewan. Scientists say the species’ days in Alberta could be numbered – they could be gone as early as next year.

The cause of their rapid decline is simple: loss of sagebrush habitat – the only habitat in which they can live – due to oil and gas exploration. The birds will not go within 1.9 kilometers of a disturbed area, so the fractured landscape created by oil and gas exploration basically shuts them out of their natural habitat.

Sage grouse males are known for their complex courtship dance, where they puff up the colourful air sacs in their chest with up to 5 liters of air, and make otherworldly sounds to attract a female. What was once a common sight on the prairies now attracts people by the hundreds to see the last remaining few.

They were first recognized as a species that ‘may be at risk’ in 1996, and were listed as endangered under Alberta's Wildlife Act in 2000. Since 1996 the population has crashed by more than 90 percent. Read about the politics of saving the sage grouse here and here.

So, what’s the value of a species? Do we let the greater sage grouse fade to black? Only public pressure for swift action in defense of this species will help now.

Contact the Alberta Wilderness Association for more details.

Great Grey Owl spotted in Bridgeland, Calgary. Copyright DigiDragon, from FlickrI’ve only seen an owl in the wild a few times in my life. Once, in Edworthy Park I saw an owl up in a tree and was mesmerized by its large sharp eyes and beautiful feathers. If you’re observant, and you go out ‘owling’ at the right times, you can get lucky and spot an owl in the city.

What got me thinking about birds, and owls in particular, was this fantastic video I came across the other day of an Eagle Owl (native to parts of Europe and Asia) swooping in for some prey. The video is slowed down so you can see every moment of its flight. Every time I’ve watched it my eyes nearly bug out of my head. It’s like watching a beautiful flower unfurl -- nature in all its glory.

The Inglewood Bird Sanctuary offers the occasional program on owls, and the Calgary Field Naturalists have regular birding field trips. If you’re up for a road trip next spring why not check out the Alberta Birds of Prey Foundation’s visitor centre in Coaldale (15 minutes east of Lethbridge). They rehabilitate and release injured birds and offer public education programs.

In Canada the Burrowing Owl, Spotted Owl, Barn Owl and Screech Owl are listed as endangered by COSEWIC. Who says one person or ... bird can't make a difference? That eagle owl has inspired me to get out to the annual Christmas bird count with the Calgary Field Naturalists and to make a donation to bird conservation efforts this year. Go owls!!!