Is burning Corn for home heating really Eco-Friendly?

Paynes Prairie, Florida.
All photos copyright 2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

I read with interest the article by Karen Farkas about burning corn as an eco-friendly heating fuel in today's Plain Dealer. Nowhere in the article was there any mention of the total picture of how corn is eco-friendly as compared to other fuels. The article said it was clean-burning, but did not take into account the carbon dioxide-load to the environment from cultivating, fertilizing, harvesting, processing, and transporting the corn. The chart comparing corn with electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, LP gas, wood, and wood pellets only listed efficiency, BTU's per unit, comparative amounts of fuel needed, and cost to purchase.

The concept of alternative energy came about mainly to be more gentle to the earth, but seems to have morphed into "use anything but oil no matter what".

How can we determine which actions we as individuals can do to be helpful to the planet if critical information is left off articles, studies, and comparison charts?

I want to know which of these fuels has the lowest overall negative impact on the health of the earth's atmosphere.

See my earlier essay "Corn for Fuel".

Chains

How many remember the joy that life held as a child? There was discovery of new things every day. Some were scary, some were exciting, and some expanded the mind and created mental growth and new awareness of the world.

How much of that joy is left in each of us? Does it ever show up? Do you ever allow it to come forth?

We enclose ourselves in chains and build box walls around ourselves as we go through life. Things that hurt us build walls.
Expectations from those we admire create must-do behaviors that we retain long after the cause, source, and reason-for-being have passed and been forgotten.



The first step to inner peace is to let down these barriers preventing access to the joy of childhood, which is quite simply, joy in life itself.

These chains around the soul can be released, through your own efforts by trusting your heart. If a long-held belief or behavior feels wrong or unnatural, it is. The heart is connected to the Universal Truth. The boxes we construct for ourselves, and the chains we tie around our feelings, prevent us from reaching out in a real and honest way to family, friends, lovers, humanity, nature, and the planet.


We are all connected. Dissolve the chains and peer through the walls to the Light beyond. Inner peace and purpose lie just ahead ...

Inner Peace Brings World Peace

"Rough Exteriors filled with Beauty and Wisdom"

This is a post from a blog I regularly read. It was so beautifully written, and so exemplifies a peaceful life, that I wanted to share it with you.

Andrew, from 4th Avenue Blues says:

It is late afternoon. I am bored and have read my fill of the internet. I wander down to the shopping center in the late afternoon sun. Nary a cloud is in the sky and the warmth of the low hanging winter sun splashes upon my face only interrupted by the occasional tree or house as I walk through my neighborhood. The day has warmed up quite nicely.

I pass the newspaper office and a few cars are sitting in the parking lot. I think of late deadlines as editors ponderously peruse over today's newsworthy items for tomorrow's edition of the local paper getting ready to publish. I don't envy them of such a job. Early next morning will soon arrive and a sea of delivery cars will adorn the parking lot to deliver the paper in the dark hours before sunrise. People will wander out to a new morning sun to gather their papers only to be entertained by the unexceptional news that a small southern town can generate in one day. The daily police report is one of the most hotly read columns.

As I approach the many dumpsters behind the shopping center, a lone bicycle is propped up against one. An elderly black man crawls out with something in hand. I remark to myself how popular these dumpsters have become for scavenging. Dumpster Diving Dan has the right idea to hit them so early in the morning. That old adage the early bird gets the worm comes to mind. I haven't seen Dan in days and hope he is okay.

I walk past the hair salon and the tax preparation office as I round the corner. Rosa is sitting on an isolated bench far down from the main part of the shopping center. She looks deep in thought as she holds a can of soda. I take a seat beside her and drum up a conversation. I notice her hands once again as we talk. Just like the many lines on her face, these calloused hands tell a story; a story that is not often told as it is normal to not let your steely guard down that most people put up.

"I have a daughter," She tells me as I offer her a cigarette from my backpack. "I haven't seen her in years."

"Does she live near here?" I ask.

"I don't know," Rosa says with a forlorn look upon her weathered face.

"I've never had any kids," I say. "I don't think I ever will."

"Never say never, "She replies. "You are still so young and life has a way of bringing the unexpected."

I realize there is a bright, wise, and beautiful woman underneath that drug worn and unflatteringly rough exterior. She was probably beautiful once and was courted by many a man. She now sits tired in middle age with her thoughts about a past life. Idle days trying to stay clean and sober with those thoughts are not easy. Much like my own long days I have experienced this week broken only by the safe confines of the meeting halls of A.A. every night.

As I leave Rosa, I hand her my spare pack of cigarettes and my almost spent spare lighter from my backpack. She smiles softly revealing a few missing teeth."

"Thank you, "She says. "You made today easier."

I genuinely just wanted to bring some small comfort to another soul. I needed someone to talk to and she was there. I left her staring out in the parking lot watching the middle class ladies with their glamorous SUVs busily chattering nosily upon cell phones as they all made their way to the many stores in the shopping center to spend their money. Rosa doesn't have much and her life is far removed from these ladies I just spoke of, but she has a story to tell; a story much richer and vibrant than those of those milquetoast ladies leading uninspired lives filled with the frivolousness of modern American life.

Mundane vs Exciting

It is amazing how easy it is to put off boring things that must be done in favor of exciting things that are fun. In the nick of time, I have jumped through all the hoops to get new license plate stickers. The first year I had cars registered in Ohio, I did not do it at all until I was stopped by a police officer. New York State does not require yearly stickers, so I had no idea it was needed. I was not sent a notice, either. ...Not a valid excuse. Pay the fine and learn a lesson.

The exciting things are art classes, volunteering to give Imagination Arts programs for returning veterans and their families, purchasing granite tiles for a wood stove insert installation, get-togethers with friends, and ongoing programs with COSE, Eldercare Professionals of Ohio, and Ladies Who Launch.

All photos ©2007Kristen S. Boyesen

Help Yourself Through the Dark Days of Winter

I keep running into people who lament the long winter days and say they suffer from depression or the blues or lack of energy.

This once was a bother to me, also. I read about the wonders of light therapy, but the devices were very expensive when they first came out over 10 years ago. I also could not imagine myself sitting still in front of a light for as long as was needed! Another thing that I read was that the body senses the length of day even as we are sleeping, and if the bottoms of the feet can be exposed to light early in the morning, there is a sense that the day is longer.

Mind you, I am pulling all of this off the top of my head from things read several years ago, so let's not get an urban legend going on the preliminaries.

Here is the real stuff, experienced by me personally.


I have not had 'winter blues' in over ten years because I took what I could from what I read and applied it as best I could to my life with what finances I had.

My bedroom has plants in front of the windows, not curtains. At 6 AM, beginning when the days start to be noticably shorter, lights come on by timer to flood the plants in my bedroom with light. 6 AM is prior to when I normally rise in the morning, so my sleeping body senses the 'morning light'. I sleep better in a cold room, so having my feet outside the covers is not an option. I also do not sit in front of the lights. All I do is have my bedroom flooded with light before I wake in the morning.

This 'before waking' light starts my day off right. It can be snowing, raining, or foggy, and I do not notice because my world is bright and sunny, with green plants and light.

When the days start to get light on their own by 6 AM, the timer is unpugged until the next year.

It is not too late to try it. Get a jump-start on the longer days of summer that are just around the corner. A timer is $6 to 8. I use fluorescent bulbs in clamp lights aimed at my plants. Fluorescents take less electricity.

One last thing is, if the day is gloomy, switch on the lights! It works. Take charge of your mood. If you feel oppressed by the dark and the gloom, banish it with light. Again, fluorescents make this practice of daytime lighting far less expensive.

Add to all of this the inner Light of Connection.

Peace be with you.


Photos taken during the dark days of winter at the Cleveland Botnanical Garden.
All photos ©2007Kristen S. Boyesen

Favorite Turtle

©2007Kristen S. Boyesen

Lake Wauberg Through Spanish Moss

©2007 Kristen S. Boyesen


This was two photos collaged together, then skootched a bit with Photoshop at the places that did not quite match. I plan on doing a painting from this photo, so look for it soon at Wilderness Art.

01-15-07 note: I have started the painting, but it is not yet finished. The painting-in-progress can be seen at Visual Arts. If you have two windows of your browser up at the same time, you can see this photo on one, and the beginning painting of this photo on the other. Cool!

Critiques welcome.

Some Kind of Crab

©2007Kristen S. Boyesen

I spent an afternoon at Honeymoon Island State Park, walking the nature trails and along the beach collecting shells for drawing class. While on the Pelican Cove Trail I could see leftward movement on the path ahead, as if a low wind were intermittently blowing and rolling pebbles along the ground. As I drew near, I could see that the moving objects were very small crabs. By the time I got to their house holes in the sand, they had all disappeared!

So, I waited, hardly breathing. I had thought that they were sensing my presence by footfall vibrations alone, but when one cautiously popped out and I moved to position the camera, back in the hole he went!

I have a Minolta zoom camera, an old one using film because my digital was removed from my possessions by a troubled youth who will eventually return the camera and set the course of his life in a positive direction. (This is my prayer of Light for him.)

I aimed at one of the small holes in the ground and waited some more. My patience rewarded me with three photos, all in focus. If this seems a bit blurry, it is because I scanned a one inch square of the original photo into Photoshop at 2000 resolution, then changed the size to 6x7 at 72.

Can anyone identify it? I have not had a chance to look it up in the Audubon Florida book.

Cove near the Vulture Tree, Alexander Springs

©2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

OK, how is that for a teaser. Guess I need to scan in photos of the vulture tree!

Turtle, Alexander Springs

©2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

This fellow was basking on a log when we paddled by in our canoe. It looks as if it may be a Slider, from the pond and box turtle family, though all I have for ID purposes is an Audubon book covering everything in Florida. That is a lot to ask of one book! If anyone knows what it really is, let me know.

Palm, Juniper Springs, Ocala National Forest

While sorting through the piles of photos, this image of peace and serenity made me take a break from my task to share!











©2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

Back Home and Catching Up

I did not leave the world of blogging, but was on a trip to see family and to do something different before undertaking an all-out effort to launch my new business. There are 15 rolls of film being developed, with many photos to share as photos and as new art works. Please visit again in a bit. I will post new things after I sort through three weeks of bills and finish unpacking the car!