Search

Search My Garden Blog with Google Custom Search

22.3.07

Harry Potter Goes Green

Look out Ed Begley, Jr. Harry Potter not content with being the world's most beloved sorcerer is gunning for your title of most beloved environmentalist by going Green. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , the seventh and final book in the series by J. K Rowling with be printed on 30% recycled paper.

"Moreover, 65% of the 16,700 tons of paper used in the U.S. first printing will be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the global standard-setter for responsible forest management. This historic commitment is the largest purchase of FSC certified paper to be used in the printing of a single book title." A press release issued by Scholastic Inc., states.

Lisa Holton, President of Scholastic Trade Publishing and Book Fairs, added, “Scholastic worked hard with our suppliers and the Rainforest Alliance to secure this extraordinary amount of recycled and FSC certified paper for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. As a company with an ongoing commitment to protecting the environment for this generation and generations to come, we believe producing this book and our future reprints of Harry Potter books with a minimum of 30% pcw recycled paper is an important publishing decision.”

This is very good news considering how many of these books may go unread after they are purchased by parents who haven't realized their kids have outgrown Harry Potter. Ed Begley, Jr I'm sure will welcome the news because he will be able to reuse the books that end up in book drives, two months after the release, as insulation in mansions owned by the likes of Leonardo Dicaprio.

Those less jaded can purchase the book at 12:01 a.m. on July 21, 2007. I'll wait until they release the biodegradable DVD.

Blogger Buzz

If like me you haven't scrolled down past your blog list on the Blogger dashboard you may be surprised to learn that all of the photos you've uploaded to your blog(s) since December are available as albums on Picassa web albums. Eventually Google plans to make all of the photos you've uploaded to your blog available in your Picassa web album. The good news is that you can integrate a mini-album into your blog similar to the flickr badge. The bad news is that there are settings you may want to adjust and if you're obsessive about tags and descriptions you'll have to add them all by hand.

If you've downloaded the Google Toolbar and you've updated it recently there is now a blog search button built in. Just like the Google search button the Blogger search button allows you to search the web the difference is that your searching for content on blogs. I've been playing around with it and really like the ability to search and see what fellow garden bloggers are blogging about. The bad news is that I don't see the Blog This button that was there previously that allowed you to blog about any page on the internet you came across. I use FireFox (with the Google Toolbar installed) as my default browser. If you'd like to download it and browse the web faster and use the Blogger search button you can download it by clicking the FireFox button found on my blog.

House Plants Get Sunburn

Just like people and pets house plants can get sunburned too. This is something that many house plant owners and enthusiasts may not realize or think about often. Most of the time we find ourself finding ways to expose our plants to more sun in order to have healthy house plants. I've been known to move a plant around a room as the sun moves across the sky to keep as much light as possible shining on it. So the idea of a plant getting too much light is not something that is always on my mind especially during the winter.

But I was reminded of the fact that there is such a thing as too much light yesterday when I was watering a cactus a friend had given me. I went to remove the plant from the shelf and when I turned it around the side of the plant facing the window was a whitish yellow. In the course of two sunny days this sun loving cacti received enough light to cause a small amount of damage.

If you've been growing your plants indoors or under lights make sure to get them acclimated to the sun. If your indoor garden sits in a window consider using sheer blinds or matchstick blinds during the first few weeks of spring to filter the sun that will be more intense than it was during the winter, until they become accustomed. Don't forget to acclimate them to the outdoor sun too if you let your house plants spend the summer outdoors.