I hope you and yours are doing well. I am doing great, thanks be to God! As some of you may know, April commemorates Earth Month! If you are connected with me on Facebook, you will have noticed that every day in the month so far, I've posted interesting tidbits about planet Earth in my Thank You, Mother Earth series. Below is a summary of Earth Month 2015, Week 2:
Day 8: Brown
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| Miss Earth Maryland 2015 Ruby B. Johnson |
The thin top layer of the earth's crust on land is largely made up of soil colored different shades of brown. Good soil is composed of about 45% minerals, 25% water, 25% air, and 5% organic material, living and dead. Half the color of soil comes from minerals it contains; soils containing iron turn yellowish or reddish as the iron oxidizes. Manganese, nitrogen and sulfur turn brownish or blackish as they decay naturally. Rich and fertile soils tend to be darker in color; the deeper brown color of fertile soil comes from the decomposing of the organic matter. Dead leaves and roots become black or brown as they decay. Poorer soils are usually paler brown in color, and contain less water or organic matter.
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| Miss Earth Maryland 2015 Ruby B. Johnson |
Snow is precipitation in the form of flakes of crystalline water ice that falls from clouds. A granular material. It has an open and soft, white, and fluffy structure, unless subjected to external pressure. Snowfall can be beneficial to agriculture by serving as a thermal insulator, conserving the heat of the Earth and protecting crops from subfreezing weather. Some agricultural areas depend on an accumulation of snow during winter that will melt gradually in spring, providing water for crop growth. If it melts into water and refreezes upon sensitive crops, such as oranges, the resulting ice will protect the fruit from exposure to lower temperatures.
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| Miss Earth Maryland 2015 Ruby B. Johnson |
Spring is one of the four conventional temperate seasons, following winter and preceding summer. Spring and "springtime" refer to the season, and also to ideas of rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal, resurrection and regrowth. During spring, the hemisphere begins to warm significantly causing new plant growth to "spring forth," and many flowering plants bloom this time of the year. The rainfall in spring follows trends more related to longer cycles or events created by ocean currents and ocean temperatures.
Day 11: Leaves
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| Miss Earth Maryland 2015 Ruby B. Johnson |
Leaves are the food making factories of green plants. Leaves come in many different shapes and sizes. Leaves in temperate, boreal, and seasonally dry zones may be seasonally falling off or dying for the inclement season. This mechanism to shed leaves is called abscission. When the leaf is shed, it leaves a leaf scar on the twig. In cold autumns, they sometimes change color, and turn yellow, bright-orange, or red, as various accessory pigments (carotenoids and xanthophylls) are revealed when the tree responds to cold and reduced sunlight by curtailing chlorophyll production.
Day 12: Sustainability
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| Miss Earth Maryland 2015 Ruby B. Johnson |
Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations. Sustainability is important to making sure that we have and will continue to have, the water, materials, and resources to protect human health and our environment.
Day 13: Pine Needles
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| Miss Earth Maryland 2015 Ruby B. Johnson |
Pine needle mulch is an organic material that is readily available at garden centers and nurseries. Like any mulch, pine needles provide protection for roots and help preserve moisture in the soil. Pine needles, a renewable resource, drop annually from trees and the pine straw is bundled into either round or square bales for sale. 3 cubic feet of pine straw covers 60 square feet at a depth of 2 to 3 inches. As pine needles decompose, they add acid to the soil. Marigolds, snapdragons, zinnias, dahlias and roses are just a few flowers that grow well in pine needle mulch. Blueberries, onions, potatoes, strawberries and tomatoes are a sample of the plants that produce edibles that do well in gardens mulched with pine straw.
Day 14: Ruby
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| Ruby stone |
Ruby B. Johnson,
Your Miss Earth Maryland 2015
Continuing the legacy of beauty and responsibility
Help me compete at Miss Earth United States 2015. DONATE HERE
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