Category Archives: Environmental Health

01/22/15

Irwin Quagmire Wart, Frog Book Author for Children

Irwin Quagmire Wart - frog author for childrenPlease introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your mission and goals.

I’m a frog so I’ve always been interested in our health and welfare. I have a baby brother and young cousins so I want to see our habitats preserved for them and for all future generations.

What is your educational background and what lead to sharing “The Land of of Lily Pad?”

I’m sorry to admit it, I have no formal education, but I’m loaded with street smarts… swamp smarts, if you prefer. Even though my name is Irwin Quagmire, lots of people know me by my initials, IQ because I am a very smart frog. I began writing books in 2011, after my first trip to France. Since then, I have written three other books, including a book on environmental stewardship for kids. After all, who knows more about being green than a frog!

Do you travel to exotic places and if yes, tell us about some of them.

The most exotic place I’ve been to is my home… Land of Lily Pad. It’s the most fabulous frog pond on earth… where humans are not allowed. So it’s still a beautiful, healthy, safe environment. Otherwise, I’ve only traveled a little in the US and Europe.

Irwin Quagmire's lily pad home

Please share your books and/or publications?

I have written, as I said before, four books:
Irwin Quagmire Wart Travels to Paris, France… a kid’s guide to the City of Lights
Irwin Quagmire Wart Travels Back in Time… a kid’s guide to life in Pioneer America
Green is Good… a kid’s guide to environmental stewardship
Perfectly Perfect – a rhyming book for young children that embraces the idea of self-acceptance and self-love no matter what you look like

What are some challenges you have faced and how did you deal with them?

I’m luckier than a lot of frogs. My family and friends have a clean, safe home. My biggest challenge is where to find the juiciest flies… all kidding aside, I am trying really, really hard to get my message out to the world and to get my books published. But it’s hard and very competitive.

What can people do to help? Donate, and contribute to your cause?

It would be helpful if my message and my website got promoted more. And it would be a dream to find a real publisher or literary agent… but I’m not holding my breath.

“Ask not what your swamp can do for you but what you can do for your swamp”… Irwin Quagmire Wart (and maybe John F. Kennedy). I believe this whole-heartedly and want to help your organization as much as I am able. I am planning on including a link to your website on mine: on the page, Irwin’s Favorite Things. If there’s more I can do, please let me know. My amanuensis can write pretty well and is very willing to contribute whatever she/we can.

Lily Pad environment of Irwin Q. Wart

How do you reach your targeted audience?
Is it through your website, advertising or social media or another route? Which is most effective and why?

I have a Facebook page: Irwin Quagmire Wart
A website: http://www.irwinquagmirewart.com/
Twitter account: @IrwinQWart
So far, none of them are effective but I am hoping that through Twitter, and reaching out to other frogs and frog-related people, I can drive more traffic to my website… and eventually, my books.

How do you keep the audience engaged over time?

I update my website often and try to include subjects that will be of interest to kids and adults, but are also near and dear to my heart; the environment is my big passion.

Tell us about your events around the world and some of the campaigns you have started.

None yet, but I have big plans…

What is in the works for the future? What haven’t you yet tackled, but will want to do soon?

My goal is to write a series of travel books for kids, focusing on unique world locations, both large and small. I believe that through travel, both children and frogs can learn that differences in appearance and culture are both good and interesting. By helping children to “see the world” (through a frog’s eyes) as a beautiful, non-scary place filled with interesting people, beautiful art, and amazing things to see and do, I hope to make the world seem a little smaller and certainly a place that needs protecting.
Land of Lily Pads

01/2/15

The Very Inspiring Green Blogger Award

I want to thank Lauri Fortino, children’s book author and library assistant, who writes a blog called Frog On A Blog for nominating Frogs Are Green for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award! Starting 2015 off right! Her book, The Peddler’s Bed is coming in the Fall!

The award rules:

  • Display the award on your blog
  • Link back to the person who nominated you
  • State 7 things about yourself
  • Nominate 15 bloggers, link to them, and notify them about their nominations

Seven facts you didn’t know about me:

  1. In high school, I was torn between music and art and finally decided my path would be art (I sing, but only around here).
  2. I’m allergic to chocolate. (Sad, I know!)
  3. I wish I could have more animals… dogs, fish, birds. (Maybe I should move to the country?)
  4. I read almost every night, clears the mind of other thoughts.
  5. I truly love helping people and so glad that I get to everyday.
  6. Movies are my favorite pastime, old or new, just tell me a great story.
  7. I collect children’s picture books and yes, FROG things!

My sixteen nominations for the Very Inspiring Green Blogger Award (check them out!)

Blogger awards are a great way to spread the word about blogs that you enjoy. We can all use a bit of help getting the word out. If I’ve nominated you and you’d rather not participate, that’s fine, but do consider giving a shout-out for some of the blogs you follow. Those bloggers will appreciate your support.

12/21/14

Dr. Tyrone Hayes and Atrazine

This video is so important, we needed to share it on our site too. We have collaborated in the past with Save the Frogs on their campaign to Ban Atrazine.

Ban Atrazine graphic designed by Susan Newman

Original broadcast:

http://www.democracynow.org – We speak with a University of California scientist Tyrone Hayes, who discovered a widely used herbicide may have harmful effects on the endocrine system. But when he tried to publish the results, the chemical’s manufacturer launched a campaign to discredit his work. Hayes was first hired in 1997 by a company, which later became agribusiness giant Syngenta, to study their product, Atrazine, a pesticide that is applied to more than half the corn crops in the United States, and widely used on golf courses and Christmas tree farms. When Hayes found results Syngenta did not expect — that Atrazine causes sexual abnormalities in frogs, and could cause the same problems for humans — it refused to allow him to publish his findings. A new article in The New Yorker magazine uses court documents from a class-action lawsuit against Syngenta to show how it sought to smear Hayes’ reputation and prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from banning the profitable chemical, which is already banned by the European Union.

Democracy Now!, is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on 1,200+ TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream 8-9am ET at http://www.democracynow.org.

12/4/14

Frogs Are Good For Your Garden

Frogs and toads are some of nicest critters you can attract in your garden as they can improve it great deal. They have true and undeniable value but are threatened by the constant increase of urbanization. Their habitats are shrinking at an alarming rate and thus reducing their chance of survival.

frogs and toads in your garden

So why not take steps in inviting them in your garden today? For one thing, they are amazing pest control predators. They feed on insects, such as cutworms, caterpillars, sow bugs and many more that can do harm to your garden. There have been reports of entire gardens destroyed by these bugs for a single night, and anything that can help prevent that from happening is to be loved and preferred over other animals. A single frog can eat over a hundred harmful insects a day, which is really a lot and enough in most cases to help you control this threat.

In order to ensure that frogs can perform their duty, you will need to create a suitable habitat for them. During the day, they like to sit under shady and cool areas, such as under trees and other high plants. There are many solutions that can be implemented in your garden which will offer not only proper shelter for frogs, but will also give your garden an innovative look. These animals also require water, so a pond of some sort is needed. Many professional and reliable gardeners share the opinion that there is nothing quite like having a garden pond in your backyard. It needs to have shallow edges to allow the amphibians to enter and leave as they please.

Toads and frogs can be a garden’s best friend and save you the need to spray with pesticides and other chemicals to protect from insects. If you like the calming and sometimes gentle sound of frogs, then smile the next time you see one in your garden.

Guest blog by Ella Andrews

11/18/14

Attracting Newts to Your Pond

Encouraging newts to your garden pond will add life and color that can be seen for much of the year. You should never remove them from the wild but there are a few steps you can take to invite them to take up residence in your pond.

Newts not only add life to the pond, they also eat algae. So they provide a natural solution to a common problem. As they are most active during the warmer months of the year, when algae is rifer, they can be a real help. Of course other natural remedies such as Barley Straw will help too.

The best way to invite newts into your garden is to create the ideal habitat. A natural pond without fish is the best environment, as they will eat newt eggs and spawn.

baby newt

Build a loose rockery around or near the pond. This will provide them with shelter to live and breed. The cool, damp, atmosphere is ideal for newts, and will encourage slugs and insects, a good food source. If you want to feed the newts, then you can add bloodworm, daphnia or brine shrimp to the water, a good retailer will have a wide range of pond foods.

Adding plants such as water mint or water forget-me-nots are small but have wide leaves which are perfect for newts to lay and hide their eggs in. Reed plants are also great to promote natural behaviors. The eggs have a jelly like texture, which newts wrap up in leaves to protect them.

Newts are most active from March/April, and you should see babies appear from June to August. From then on, you will notice that they start to disappear, as they mostly hibernate throughout the winter, until around February. During this time, try not to rearrange the rockery or do too much work around the area, as this will disturb the newts.

Children will no doubt be very interested in the new addition to your pond, and it’s a great way to promote a love of nature. However always supervise your children around these slippery creatures, and ensure that if they do pick a newt up, that they do so very gently and with wet hands. Don’t allow the newts to be taken away from the area, or held for more than a few minutes.

You may find that not only newts arrive, but that frogs and toads appear too. As they thrive in similar environments. They can live well together and create a beautifully natural area of wildlife in your garden.

Newt in garden

Don’t worry if newts don’t start to arrive, despite the lovely home you have created. It may take time for them to appear and breed. If your local environment has changed, such as new roads, building sites etc., this may affect the migration of newts too. Leaving the pond and its inhabitants to its own devices will encourage the most natural behaviors and results.

09/2/14

Hawaii’s Inhumane Frog Policy

I received yet another call from someone distressed about coqui tree frogs on her property. No, she wasn’t wanting to find out how to kill the frogs. She was trying to find out how to keep them and resist aggressive neighbors wanting the frogs destroyed.

For many people in Hawaii, as in Puerto Rico, the coqui frog is considered an adorable creature, singing at night and improving the environment by eating insect pests. They can get loud in large numbers, but for those who enjoy the sounds of wildlife, the coqui chirp is soothing and creates a white noise that aids sleep. 

However, the Hawaiian government has passed laws to vilify coqui frogs as a noisy environmental menace, making it illegal to “harbor” or transport coquis within the state. According to the law, coquis frogs are pests by definition, and anyone enjoying them does so at his own peril. Millions of dollars have been spent trying to stop the spread of the frogs, which now reside happily on the Big Island’s east side and in limited areas of the other islands.

Of course, if the coqui frogs were native to Hawaii, they would be protected, not killed. The sound would be appreciated and promoted, as it is in Puerto Rico.

coqui frog in Hawaii

However, in today’s Hawaii, only native species are valued. Introduced species are now regarded as illegal aliens, and harboring these aliens is against the law. Laws defining the coqui as a “pest” allow the cruel slaughter of these tiny, harmless creatures, bypassing humane treatment laws.

The Good Shepherd Foundation, of which I am the director, believes that cruelty to animals is unacceptable, regardless of whether the animals are native or not. In 2001 we started a program to counter the anti-coqui propaganda, called CHIRP, or the Coqui Hawaiian Integration and Reeducation Project. Acceptance, we believe, is better than an endless environmental war against the frogs.

Over the years we have been contacted by many residents who found the frogs desirable on their property, but who were being harassed by neighbors who did not yet have the frogs and wanted them eradicated. This meant having one’s property sprayed with citric acid, which kills plants as well as coquis, lizards, insects, and other non-target species. The acid burns the victims to death.

Anti-coqui hysteria has made people fearful of admitting they like the coquis, faced with the unfortunate choices of harassment, or letting eradicators poison their property.

Some residents would like to remove the coquis to avoid the drama, but don’t want to kill the coquis in the process. These humane-minded people are faced with another dilemma. Moving coquis is a crime. The government has made it so people can only kill coquis, either with citric acid or by cooking or freezing the live frogs. You can’t legally catch the frogs and release them somewhere else where there are other frogs.

This means the Hawaiian government has made it illegal to treat the coquis humanely. It forces residents to either be cruel to the frogs, or to break the law and illegally release the frogs elsewhere, which many people do.

The most recent phone call was from a woman who wanted to save the lone coqui on her property from a certain death. A neighbor heard the frog and reported it to the homeowner’s association, which was dispatching an eradicator right away. The neighbor also complained that this same woman was feeding non-native birds, and threatened to have the birds shot.

For those who love wildlife, Hawaii is no longer a paradise. Species are not valued for their beauty and other positive qualities, or for the biological diversity they bring to these volcanic islands. Instead, they are valued solely for being “native,” and are killed solely for being introduced.

It is a war on wildlife. Property owners, residents, and visitors who value wildlife for what it is, regardless of whether or not it was introduced, are victims of this war.

For more, see our website, www.HawaiianCoqui.org.

Guest post: Sydney Ross Singer is a medical anthropologist, author, and director of the Good Shepherd Foundation.  He lives on a coqui frog sanctuary with his wife and son on the Big island of Hawaii.