Who Gets Food Stamps?

Today is Wednesday, June 5, 2013.

If you ask people in general who they think gets food stamps, a majority will reply that food stamp recipients are mostly Black, that they don't have jobs, and that most of them are lazy and don't really want to work, because, after all, it's so much easier to live off the dole and sell drugs on the side.  Many will also tell you that there are a lot of "welfare queens," single mothers who have several children, each fathered by a different guy.  They will tell you that there is a lot of fraud going on, and that a lot of welfare recipients are bums who sit around and use drugs all day.  They don't even try to get a job, and they feel "entitled" to their dole from the government.  Oh, and among them are a whole lot of illegal immigrants. You will also hear certain people say that the food stamp program is badly administered, with the lion's share of money going to administrators' salaries.  Some will also tell you that it's easy as pie to use the food stamp cards, which look and work like credit cards, for luxuries such as eating out at restaurants, going to the movies, or buying plane tickets.  They will tell you that the food stamp program (called SNAP), is a serious drain on the economy, and that it is significantly responsible for the national debt.  Some will refer you to an  email from a disgruntled veteran, now gone viral, which highlights a single mother of 8 children living in Florida who gets $1500 per month, per child.  Unfortunately, all these beliefs are well-entrenched in the American psyche, and it's going to be really hard to change people's minds. Much of this misinformation comes from stereotyping in the media, and from certain conservative politicians and politically-motivated organizations such as the Heritage Foundation. 

The illustration at the top of this blog is correct.  I checked the data. The census data gives a slightly less-than-accurate picture, but when supplemented by USDA (United States Department of Agriculture, the entity that administers the food stamp program) data, a pattern becomes clear.

Nationally, 61% of food stamp recipients are white.  Only 26.4% are Black.  1.5% are American Indian or Native Alaskan.  2.2% are Asian or Pacific Islander, and 2.7% represent people who identify themselves as two or more races.  "Other" constitutes 6.2%.  This is not to say that there is a mysterious "other" race that we don't know about.  It simply means that racial data is voluntary, and that information was missing on some people's census forms. 

Let's put that into perspective.  Nationally, the population of the United States is 78.1% white, 13.1% Black, 1.2% Native American or Alaska Native, 5.0% Asian, 0.2% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and 16.7% Hispanic (any race).

It's important to know that the food stamp program, called SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) is administered by the various states, not by the federal government.  State data don't all fit the national mold, since the racial component of their populations vary.  Here's an example:

In Alabama, where the white population is 70.1% of the total (66.8% are white, non-Hispanic), the percentage of whites getting food stamps is 46.3%.   Blacks are 26.5 of the Alabama population, and they get 50.7% of the food stamp assistance in Alabama, not that much more than whites.  Native Americans are 0.7% of the population and get 0.8% of the food stamp assistance.  Asians represent 1.2% of the population of Alabama, and they get 0.5% of the assistance.  Pacific Islanders are only 0.1% of the state population, and none of them gets food stamps.  4.0% of the Alabama population is Hispanic.  I didn't find data for Hispanics in Alabama, but 0.7% of food stamp recipients in that state were listed as "other, " which I assume must include Hispanics.   1.2% of the people who get food stamps in Alabama identified them selves as a mixture of two or more races.  There is a higher percentage of Blacks in Alabama than the national average, so it makes sense that more Blacks from Alabama get food stamp assistance than the national percentage for Black people.

In Alaska, the population ratios are quite different.  Whites make up 67.9% of the population (63.7 are white, non-Hispanic), Blacks are 3.6%, Native Americans and Alaska Natives are 14.9% of the population.  Asians are 5.6%, Pacific Islanders are 1.1%, and people who identify themselves as belonging to two or more races are 7.0%.   In Alaska, whites get 43.9% of the food stamp assistance.  Blacks get 2.5%, Native Americans and Alaska Natives get 35.5%, Asians get 6.0%, "other" (the people who did not fill in the racial data) got 1.3%, and those who identified as two or more races got 6.9% of food stamp assistance in Alaska.   This state has a much higher percentage of Native Americans than the national average, so it makes sense that the percentage of Native Americans of food stamps in Alaska is greater than the national figure for Native Americans.

I looked up the data for one more state, my own: South Dakota.  Our population is 84% white, with 84.4% white, non-Hispanic).  This is a much "whiter" state than Alabama or Alaska.  The percentage of Blacks in South Dakota is 1.4% (much lower than nationally), Native Americans 8.9%  (much higher than nationally), Asians 1.0%, Pacific Islander, 0.1%, Hispanic, 2.9 % and people who identify as two or more races, 2.9%.  In South Dakota, 54% of the food stamp recipients are white.  3.6% are Black, 1.0% are Hispanic and 34.2% are "other" - in this case, I would guess that the vast majority of "other" people in the state are Native Americans, as we have very few Asians or Pacific Islanders.

It's interesting to note how few Native Americans are on the welfare rolls.  Some of them are actually taken care of by food assistance programs run by their own tribes, so they are not counted among the recipients in the USDA-administered programs.  Many Native Americans don't know how to get assistance.  Another problem for Native Americans on the reservations, who are among the poorest people in our nation, is that there just aren't jobs available on the reservations, so they can't meet the requirement for applying for jobs without leaving their homes and going off reservation.  If you want to know why more companies don't take their production facilities to Native American reservations, instead of outsourcing them to China, you have to understand that the problem is lack of infrastructure.  Lack of electricity, telephones, and Internet connectivity keeps companies from locating on reservations.  Add lack of good roads to that, and you see why companies are not interested in going there.  There are some other problems crop up for Native Americans that make things different for them than for the general public.  Surprisingly, food tends to cost more on Indian reservations that it does outside of the reservations.  Those who travel off-reservation to get their groceries end up paying more for gas to get to the store.  Another myth about Indians is that they all get big paychecks from gambling proceeds.  Not all tribes run gaming establishments, and the payments are not necessarily that large. Within the U.S., there are 562 Native American tribes.  Only 240 of them run gaming establishments. Also, many people are unaware that there is an increasing number of people who no longer qualify to be on the official rolls of Native American tribes, because of their so-called "blood quantum" level.  In some families, strangely enough, some of the children qualify as official tribal members while others do not.  Only official tribal members get payments. 

Another problem for Native Americans is the dismal graduation rate.  Nationally, only 46.6% of Native American kids graduate from high school.  In states where Native Americans are concentrated, it's sometimes lower.  For example, in South Dakota, the graduation rate for Native American kids has dropped within the last two years to 34%.   By contrast, the national rate for whites is 69.8 percent, for Asians 77.9 percent, Blacks 54.7 percent, and for Hispanics 50.8 percent.  These are all dismal numbers, but as you can see, Native American kids who do manage to graduate have beaten the odds, big-time.

The data are clear:  White people get most of the food stamp assistance nationally.  Even in a state like Alabama, which has a high percentage of Blacks in the population, the percentage of whites who get food stamps is high. 

Chart by Matt Trivisonno

When we look at the data on welfare recipients with jobs, we learn that 30% of recipients do have jobs.   The vast majority of adults who do work are underemployed, trapped in low-wage jobs for which they are generally overqualified. The average wage is lower than $23.50/hour.  On average, food stamp households earn $731 per month in gross income (that's before taxes, folks). Their food assistance averaged $287 a month.

What about the other 70% who don't have jobs? Don't forget that children are counted as welfare recipients, and they are not yet of working age.  Children under 18 make up 47% of all welfare recipients.  Then there are the elderly (age 60 and older), who make up 8%.  In other words, 55% of all recipients are below or above working age.  Add that to the percentage of recipients who are working, and you come up with 85%.  So yes, about 15% are not working, and I would guess that some of them are mothers who can't afford daycare, and I'm sure there must be a significant percentage of people on disability, as well. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says that elderly plus disabled are 19% of recipients.  This means that not that many welfare recipients don't work just because they are lazy or prefer to be on the dole. 

It's important to remember that those who receive welfare are required not only to apply for jobs each week, but they are also required to document this in order to continue to receive benefits.  One reason that so many people are out of work is due to the economic woes in this country.  The number of
food stamp recipients began to climb back in 2001.  Before that, the only time the number of food stamps was lower was 1978.  For reference, Jimmy Carter was president then (1977-1981).  In 2000, we elected George W. Bush, who started his term in 2001 and served as President until 2009.  Matt Trivisonno pointed out in his blog on the food stamp program that China was admitted to the World Trade Organization in December of 2001.  As a result, tariffs were lowered, and it became profitable for American businesses, including giants like Apple, Inc., to relocate their production facilities to China.  These production facilities were and are, essentially sweatshops. This resulted in millions of American jobs lost.  Whole towns full of people suddenly lost their livelihood.  Many of these people joined the ranks of welfare recipients. 

When George W. Bush left office, he handed over a rapidly tanking economy to President Barack Obama, and the number of recipients skyrocketed.  The Obama Administration relaxed rules for single people who wanted to apply for welfare in response to the increased joblessness.  It appears that, recently, the number of people on welfare has begun to decline.  Time will tell whether this is true or not.

EBT cards look different in every state.

Another reason for the rise in the number of welfare recipients  in the last decade is that the food stamp program (SNAP) no longer uses paper coupons to allocate benefits.  Welfare recipients use an EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) card that looks like a credit or debit card, so some of the stigma associated with having to hand over paper "food stamps" has been eliminated, since it looks like recipients are paying the same way as everybody else.  EBT cards do not work exactly like debit cards, however. 

EBT cards that process SNAP funds cannot purchase non-food items, but EBT cards have been programmed in many states to include TANF benefits (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families).  The SNAP benefits cannot be used for beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes or tobacco, and any nonfood items, (e.g. pet foods, soaps, paper products, and household supplies), vitamins and medicines, and prepared hot foods.  Unlike SNAP benefits, TANF benefits can be used to pay for nonfood expenses, such as diapers, gasoline, heating and utility bills, as well as household items such as toiletries and cleaning products.  The average recipient is only in the TANF program for about 4 months, by the way.

The use of these EBT cards has resulted in misunderstandings on the part of observers, who see people buying non-food items with these cards.  EBT cards cannot be used for travel, no matter which program the recipient is on.  In general EBT cards cannot be used in restaurants, but there are five states where certain elderly, disabled, and homeless recipients can eat prepared meals in restaurants that meet certain qualifications.  In three of those five states, the benefit is not available statewide, but only in certain counties.  Restaurants must offer low cost or reduced price meals and meet other SNAP requirements in order to qualify for the program.

What about welfare queens?  Well, the email that went viral about a Florida mom has been shown to contain falsehoods. The state of Florida has said that such a person does not exist.  The average number of children in a welfare household is about 1.8.  That's under two kids.  In fact, half of welfare families had only 1 child and only 10% of households had more than 3 kids.  There may be a few moms out there who have more kids, but not that many. 

What about all those immigrants who get food stamps?  Folks, 94% of the people on welfare are American citizens.  92% are citizens born here.  3.2% are "naturalized" citizens - people born in other countries who became American. 0.8% have "refugee" status in the U.S. (You have to apply for this, and it is not an easy thing to get, as you have to prove that your life is in danger in your own country.)  3.2% are "other non-citizens" - and the majority of these are people who are on the deportation list, but who have been granted a stay of deportation because they are applying, through channels, for legal resident status or legal work permission status.  Remember, also, that there are parents who are non-citizens, but whose children are citizens of the United States by birth, and the children can qualify for food stamps even though their parents do not.  Illegal immigrants are not eligible for food stamps under any circumstances. 

How does the food stamp program (SNAP) affect the economy?  USDA reports total federal SNAP costs for 2010 and 2011 at $68.4 and $75.3 billion, respectively.  This is a drop in the bucket for a budget that tops $1 trillion.  As the economy continues to improve, these costs are expected to go down.   It is unnecessary to cut finding for SNAP to reduce the federal deficit, because it is already shrinking on its own as the economy continues to recover.   The 2009 Recovery Act temporarily boosted SNAP benefits by 13.6 percent for all SNAP households, but all SNAP households will see a cut as of November 2013.

In answer to the charge that SNAP is run inefficiently, 92% of SNAP funds are used for benefits to recipients.  0.7% of SNAP funds go to SNAP programs on Indian Reservations.  0.3% goes to support for local food banks. 2.5% goes for nutrition assistance in territories of the U.S.  Administrative costs are around 4.5% of the total budget.  Certainly not 70%, as Michelle Bachmann once claimed. The amount of fraud associated with welfare benefits has decreased significantly in the past few years from 3.8 cents per dollar of benefits back in 1993 down to 1 cent per dollar now.

Drugs?  Well, when Florida began testing their TANF recipients for drug use, only 2% failed the test. Considering that an estimated 8.7% of the national population is addicted to drugs, these results show that concerns about drug use among welfare recipients is vastly overestimated.  The amount of money Florida has had to spend for drug testing probably hasn't been offset by reduced food assistance expenditures, and they have had to pay for legal defense when the drug-testing legislation was challenged.

Any questions?  :-/

Giving Up on People

Today is Tuesday, June 4, 2013.

Sometimes you have to give up on people, not because you don't care, but because they don't.  –Anonymous

I am not fond of using the words "give up" but this quote does have some merit.  I guess I would substitute "let go of" for "give up on" because the idea is that I release my expectations for them, rather than blaming them for something they have or haven't done.  It's a slight difference in attitude, and it avoids the blame game.

I think of friendship as a two-way street.  If I'm always the one to call them, if I'm always the one to make the effort to travel to their turf (especially if we live reasonably close to one another), then I start to wonder whether the friendship is something that I've hung onto for too long.  If they're letting it go, then maybe I should, too.

It's a bit harder when you live far away from people.  I know I can't expect people to drive out to Brandon, SD, which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, just to see me.  I do hope that people will make an effort to arrange their schedules to see me when I visit their area, not that I expect that to happen every time.    I'm lucky to have so many "standing invitations" from friends around the country, and I hope they know they have a standing invitation to visit me, as well.

These days, nobody writes letters.  I did get a letter from a former student teacher today, which is so rare. I rarely get "real" letters from people, except at Christmas, and those are usually just cards with someone's name signed under the greeting, or one of those one-size-fits-all newsletters.  I must say, I am guilty of writing those newsletters, myself, and although I try hard to add some individual message in longhand on each one, it's a convenience not to have to write the same thing over fifty times.  When I get those cards with no message, I always wonder, "Why bother sending this?  You haven't bothered to tell me anything about your life.  Why should I care what your dog looks like?  Or why should I care what your kids have been up to, when you say nothing about yourself?  It's YOU that I was friends with, not your kids.

Online correspondence is another matter.  I used to get a lot more private emails from friends, but these days, email is another thing that is starting to go the way of the dinosaur.  Very few of my friends or relatives even check their email very often, anymore.  You have to get hold of them through Facebook, if they participate in that.  Or leave a phone message, because nobody answers their phone anymore, either.  Now it's text messages, if you want to get hold of them, and even then they don't always bother to respond.  It took me days to track down my sister, who lives across the street from me, because she never responded to my calls or text messages. I only wanted to give her a book I had bought for her.  Now I'm wondering whether I should even have bothered.

I still keep up with a lot of people on Facebook, but that's another medium where people don't always respond to you right away, even after they have seen the message.  (Facebook tells you whether the message has been seen, and when.)  I've had a lot of people "friend" me on Facebook, then never post or respond to my posts.  It occurred to me that maybe I should start paring down a bit.  There's no reason to have so many "friends-who-aren't-really-friends."

As far as friends who don't communicate much goes, I realize that everyone leads busy  lives, and there are a few people with whom I have lost contact, then found, and we were able to more or less start up where we stopped.  I do appreciate those kinds of friends, which is why I never totally cross anyone off my list for good. 

There is one other type of person that we should perhaps consider "giving up on," or at least letting go of, and that is a person who is an energy drain (asking for too much of your time and attention, always wanting to control where you go together or what activities you engage in together, or just generally being negative and doing a lot of complaining).  People who are not functioning at their best and who blame everyone and everything else for their troubles fall to the bottom of my priority list fast, especially when I see that they are just using me for one thing or another (a shoulder to cry on, someone to blame things on, a personal loan service, etc.).  Over the years, it's gotten a lot easier to just tell certain people to bug off.  I try to do it as nicely as possible, but sometimes, you just have to be very obvious, or they don't get it.  

Have you ever "given up" on someone?  Do you wish you could just give up and let go?  If so, you certainly have my permission, for what it's worth.   :-)

Creativity Is a Way of Life

Photo: McKee Jewelry Designs

Today is Monday, June 3, 2013.

According to the dictionary, the definition of creativity is the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, or interpretations.  Synonyms are originality, progressiveness, and imagination.  

A lot of people will tell you that they are not creative, but they are using too narrow a definition of the word.  If you look once again at the definition above, there is nothing in it about painting or drawing a picture, sculpting something, making jewelry, knitting, or any of the other activities that we usually associate with creativity.  

There is something in there about transcending traditional ideas, transcending traditional rules, transcending traditional patterns, transcending traditional relationships.   

Scientists who have transcended traditional ideas have been the ones to discover new ideas that move humanity forward.  At one point, it took a lot of guts to say that the earth orbited the sun, and not vice versa, that people of every race are basically the same inside, or that the earth was a whole lot older than the Church reckoned.  One thing is clear: scientists will continue to explore new ground, and it will take more traditionally-minded people a while to catch up.  Without creative thinking, we are all stuck in a rut.  I would guess that in a majority of cases, new ideas tend to go against accepted wisdom, or so-called "common sense."   Einstein's Theory of Relativity was one of those things, because if you try to envision what it means by visualizing a situation here on the earth, it violates our intuitive sense of how things should go.  Fortunately, Einstein was smart enough to trust his math skills over "common sense."  His ideas have paved the way for a lot of other new ideas that would still shock the average person on the street, if they could understand them.

Young people, especially, are good at "transcending" rules, which is a nice way of saying that they break them.  This year, alone, high school students have held a racially-mixed prom in a little town where it had never been done before and voted a gay couple as the "cutest couple" for the yearbook.  One young woman courageously wore an eagle feather with her graduation cap and gown, as a badge of honor, since she is Native American.  (She is being denied her diploma because of this, but I suspect that the high school doesn't really have a legal right to do that.)  In all of these cases, the kids have broken the "rules" - that couples who attend a prom should be of the same race and opposite sex, and that all the graduates should look alike.   

There is a TV commercial for Cheerios on TV right now that features a white mother, black father, and obviously mixed child.  (Since I don't have a TV, I had to learn about this on the Internet.)  The little girl is a real cutie.  She asks her mother if Cheerios is really good for your heart, and her mother says yes, so the little girl grabs the box and runs out of the room.  Next, we see her daddy lying on the sofa, taking a nap.  He has just woken up, and realizes that his daughter poured Cheerios on his "heart" while he was sleeping.  The ad is really well done, and despite a whole lot of hate mail and racist comments on YouTube, the company has stood by their ad.  Someday ads like this will be commonplace, as will ads that feature gay couples or gay parents of children.  It will just take a while for some people to get with the program. 

Same-sex couples have always transcended the traditional male-female model of marriage, but these days, more and more states are opting to allow them to make their relationships legal.  There are other non-traditional relationships, however, such as a man with several wives – with his own show on TV, no less.  (My mom is addicted to this show.)   There may be women with more than one husband, too, but they don't have their own show, yet.   Or what about Thomas Beatie, the transgender man who had a baby?   "I feel it's not a male or female desire to have a child. It's a human need. I'm a person and I have the right to have a biological child," he said.  Of course, traditional dads who leave the birth process to their wives also have a biological child, but Beatie was talking about having the child himself.   By now, he has had three children, and moved from Oregon to Arizona, where his marriage is not considered legal.  This is more trouble than you might think, because he wants to get an official divorce.  More breaking of rules!

You don't have to stand out like the folks above in order to be considered creative, though.  You can still engage in "everyday creativity," and no, that doesn't necessarily mean that you have to get back into macramé or tye-dyeing.  You can learn to think out of the box when you solve problems, and you can get more comfortable with doing things in new ways. 

Creative people often do things like changing their hairstyle or taking a different way to work.  They make change, itself, part of their lifestyle.  They tend to be open-minded and curious about all kinds of things.  They tend to be positive and energetic.  They tend to be persistent, rather than giving up easily.  They are flexible and adaptable, and they learn from their mistakes.  Although they enjoy social stimulation, they also tend to need some "alone time" every day.  In some ways, their willingness to try new ideas is regarded as childlike naïveté.  

It's important to realize that everyone is born with creativity, but it is one of those qualities that needs to be honed.  You can do this, in general, by exploring opposites.  For example, if you are a morning person, try doing something at night.  If you're a night person, try getting up early to do something.  If you're a "busy" person, try being idle for a while.  If you're very "girly," try dressing like a tomboy.  

Christine Kane, a motivational coach, identified 21 ways to be more creative.  As I read the list, I was really surprised at how many of these things I have already done at one time or another.  Perhaps you will be surprised, too.   Her first and last item were the same, because she feels so strongly about it.  Here's her list minus the duplication, with the ones I have done in bold. 

1.  Stop watching TV.  Even better: get rid of the TV.   
2.  Take a 20-minute walk every day.
3.  Write in longhand with pen/pencil and paper.
4.  Write songs to your pets.
5.  Dance around the house.
6.  Walk in the rain.
7.  Make a collage. (no, not a "vision board" - just a collage with no particular purpose)
8.   Make a list of things you love - and focus on one of them.
9.   Write 10 postcards.
10. Get up early and watch the sun rise.
11. Listen to music you've never listened to before.
12. Eat with your hands.
13. Be quiet - allow for more silence in your life.  (I keep harping on meditation.)
14. Take a nap.  (This works especially well when you're trying to solve a problem. Short naps are OK, but give yourself 2 hours if you're not used to this.  That will give you a couple of REM sleep periods.) 
15. Take photos - real ones, not digital.
16. Make an event about watching the full moon come up.
17. Read poetry aloud.
18. Go see a play, concert, or other live entertainment.
19. Visit an art gallery for inspiration.
20. Write a letter - with pen and paper.

That's 16 out of 20 for me.  How did you do?   I could add things like taking a different route to work, going for a Sunday drive in a part of town you are unfamiliar with, changing your hairstyle, wearing a color that you've never worn before,  taking a vacation to a new place (rather than going "up to the lake" every year), eating something completely new, such as starfruit, Asian pears, or tofu.  (Considering its availability, I am always amazed at how many people haven't tried it – around here, anyway.) 

Think of one new thing you can do this week, or a new way of doing something old.  Make that list of things you love and circle one item to focus on.  You are more creative than you think! :-) 

Using Houseplants to Purify the Air

Today is Sunday, June 2, 2013. 

When I saw this image of six air-purifying houseplants, I recalled that there were a few others, as well, not pictured.  Once I started researching the topic, it occurred to me that I didn't really know which things produced which toxic substances in the air, so I researched that, too.  

Last summer, I bought a wardrobe chest from Home Depot that was made of particle board.  It was one of those things you have to put together yourself, and fortunately my dad agreed to do that part for me.  After the wardrobe chest was up, I realized that it stunk, so I decided to keep the doors open for a while to air it out.  Then I started to have huge headaches, especially at night, because the wardrobe chest was right next to the bed.  On doing some research on the web, I realized that the glue that they use to make particle board gives off formaldehyde, and I realized that I would have to open my windows for a long time to make sure the gas dissipated.  That, of course, led to an increase in seasonal allergy symptoms.  My eyes were so red that one doctor thought I had pink-eye.  When the pink-eye medicine didn't work, the doctor realized it was an allergic reaction.  

I realize, now, that I should have aired out the pieces for the wardrobe chest in my dad's garage for a while before having him put it up.  And... I should have had more houseplants. 

I'm going to introduce the plants first, then give you a bit of information about the substances that they filter out of the air in your home.  In the photo above, the plants are numbered 1-6, with numbers 1-3 in the top row, left to right, and numbers 4-6 in the bottom row, left to right.   

1. Bamboo Palm (Chamaedorea seifrizii):  This plant removes formaldehyde and acts as a natural humidifier.  It also filters out benzene and trichloroethylene (TCE).

2.  Snake Plant (Sansevieria trifasciata) aka Mother-in-law's Tongue: This plant absorbs nitrogen oxides and formaldehyde.  It grows in low light, so it's perfect for rooms with no natural light source.

3.  Areca Palm (Dypsis lutescens): This plant is good for general air cleanliness.  It filters xylene and toluene from the air, and acts as an effective humidifier.

4.  Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum):  This is a great indoor plant for removing carbon monoxide, benzine, and xylene.  NASA says that spider plants are one of the best for removing formaldehyde from the air, as well.  

5.  Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum):  This is not a true lily plant.  It is mildly toxic to humans and animals, if ingested, but not as toxic as true lilies.  These plants are often placed in bathrooms or laundry rooms because they are known for removing mold spores.  They also remove formaldehyde and trichloroethylene (TCE).  They can also filter toluene  and xylene.

6. Gerbera (Gerber) Daisy (Gerbera):  These beautiful flowers remove benzene from the air.  They absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen overnight, which can improve your sleep.

Here are a few other plants that can improve your air quality.

Photo: emmar/Flikr

7. Aloe (Aloe vera):  This plant is easy to grow.  It is a sun-loving succulent, so needs to be put in a bright spot in your home.  It helps to clear formaldehyde and benzene.

Photo: elvisripley/Flikr

8. Golden pothos (Scindapsus aures) aka Devil's Ivy: This is another good plant for getting rid of formaldehyde.  You can plant this fast-growing vine in a hanging basket, and it's a good one to keep in your garage.  This plant thrives in low light, and stays green, even when kept in the dark.

Photo: aplysia_06/Flickr

9. Chrysanthemum (Chrysantheium morifolium):  Besides brightening your home or office, this plant filters out benzene.  It needs direct sunlight to encourage the buds to open.

Photo: Forrest & Kim Starr

10. Red-edged dracaena (Dracaena marginata):  The red puts color into your home.  This shrub can grow up to your ceiling, up to 15 feet, so it's a good plant for rooms with high ceilings. It likes moderate sunlight and occasional waterin.  It's best for removing xylene, tuolene, trichloroethylene (TCE), and formaldehyde.

Photo: dugasj/Flickr

11. Weeping fig (Ficus benjamina): This indoor tree also filters out formaldehyde, benzene, and trichloroethylene (TCE).   Caring for a ficus can be tricky.   The main thing to remember is that ficus does not like changes in terms of temperature, amount of light, or amount of water.  Keep the temperature above 55˚F, within the range of 66-75˚ (they do like it cooler at night).  They like light, but will grow in low light.  The trick is to acclimate them slowly to a new situation.  Ficus needs more water when the temperature and light levels are higher, and less water when conditions are cooler, with less light.   If you manage to get it right, your ficus will last a long time. 

Photo: cogito ergo imago/Flickr

12. Azalea (Rhododendron simsii):  This flowering shrub helps to take formaldehyde from the air.  Azaleas do best in cool areas around 60-65˚, so they're good for improving the air in your basement, if you can find a bright spot for them. 

Photo: gorgeous/Flickr

13. English Ivy (Hedera helix):  Believe it or not, this plant reduces airborne fecal-matter particles. It also filters out formaldehyde.  

Photo: a_sorense/Flickr

14. Warneck dracaena (Dracaena deremensis 'Warneckii') aka Warneck Dragon Tree:  This plant can reach a height of up to 12 feet.  It likes bright, but not direct, light, but it will grow in low light, as well.  You have to be sure not to give this plant too much water, or the roots will rot.   Like its cousin, the red-edge dracaena, it filters out xylene, tuolene, trichloroethylene (TCE), and formaldehyde.
  

Photo: ryoki/Flickr

15. Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema Crispum 'Deborah'):  This is another easy-to-care-for plant that grows in low light. It produces blooms and red berries, even in low light. Keep the soil moist, but not soggy. This plant likes high humidity.  Be careful if you touch the sap, though, as it causes mild irritation in humans.  If ingested, the sap causes irritation of the mouth, lips, throat and tongue, so it may not be a good choice if you have small children.  It filters formaldehyde, benzene and other toxins from the air.

Photo: crowstoburnaby/Flickr

16. Hart Leaf Philodendron (Philodendron oxycardium):  This climbing vine is a good one for people with kids or pets, although it is toxic when eaten.  It's known as a "workhorse" for filtering the air of formaldehyde and other VOC's.  (Volatile organic compounds), most of which I've already listed.  I have a philodendron plant cut from one that was growing in my grandmother's home many years ago. It's a good idea to wash off the leaves once in a while so that they can do their job well.

Photo: The Top Tenz

17. Boston Fern (Nephrolepis Exaltata):  These are great for simple air exchange, giving off oxygen that we breathe in and absorbing the carbon dioxide that we breathe out. They also filter out formaldehyde, benzene, tuolene, xylene and trichloroethylene (TCE).  They like bright indirect sunlight and high humidity.  Keep the soil moist, but don't let it sit in water.  Soil composition for this plant should be 1 part garden soil, 2 parts humus, 1 p art coarse sand and 1 part peat.

Now, what are all these nasty things in the air, and where do they come from?

Formaldehyde is a common chemical with a strong, pickle-like odor.  It is used in thousands of products as a bonding agent or solvent.  It is used to make plywood, particle board, paneling, and pressed-wood products, as well as foam insulation.  Permanent press fabrics, shampoos, cosmetics, and even toilet paper contain small amounts of formaldehyde.  The formaldehyde gets released into the air as a gas.  Carpets have not been made using formaldehyde for some 30 years, now, but they do contain other chemicals that can interact with ozone in the air inside your home to produce formaldehyde.  If you buy a large piece of furniture made of particle board or install new carpet, keep your home well ventilated and use plants to help clear the air.

Nitrogen oxides are released into the air from motor vehicle exhaust in attached garages, or the burning of coal, oil, diesel fuel, or natural gas.  If you live near an electric power plant, this may be an issue for you. Nitrogen oxides are also released during the process of welding, electroplating, and engraving, so if you have a workshop where one of these processes take place, this may be an issue.  The most prevalent source of nitrogen oxides in the home is cigarette smoke.

Benzene vapors come from glues, paints, furniture wax and detergents, although many of these products have been reformulated since the late 1970s to reduce or eliminate benzene content.  About 50% of all benzene exposure in the United States is due to exposure to tobacco smoke. 

Tuolene is used in making paint, paint thinners, fingernail polish, lacquers, adhesives and rubber.  It is also used in some printing and leather tanning processes.

Xylene is a solvent used in leather, rubber, and printing industries. 

Trichloroethylene (TCE) is found in typewriter correction fluid, paint, spot removers, carpet-cleaning fluids, metal cleaners, and varnishes. 

Carbon monoxide sources include unvented kerosene and gas space heaters, leaking chimneys and furnaces; back-drafting from furnaces, gas water heaters wood stoves and fireplaces; gas cooking stoves; generators and other gasoline-powered equipment; automobile exhaust from attached garages; and tobacco smoke.   This is not to be confused with carbon dioxide. 

Carbon dioxide is produced when humans and animals breathe out.   Plants give off oxygen, which we breathe in, and we give off carbon dioxide, which plants absorb.  It's a nice exchange, and one of the main reasons why we need those rainforests.   Carbon dioxide is also produced when coal is burned and when volcanoes erupt.  

Mold spores grow and fill the air in humid conditions where rooms are not well ventilated.  Make sure your furniture is not blocking ventilation ducts.  Mold spores also grow in homes that have been flooded.  

Airborne fecal matter sounds gross, but it's not as much of a problem as it might appear.  Older, dried stools can become airborne on the wind, or when you are mixing it into compost.  Fortunately, the illness-causing organisms (viruses, bacteria, fungus or parasites) die when fecal matter dries out.  Normally, people don't have any problem handling this, should they breathe in fecal matter, but if your immune system is suppressed (after chemotherapy, for example, or if you have HIV), you may wish to be especially careful to flush stools immediately and clean your bathroom area regularly. This should be standard procedure, for everybody, anyway. 

:-)  

Tornado Weather

A tornado in Oklahoma, May 31, 2013  Image credit: ABC News

Today is Saturday, June 1, 2013.

It's tornado season again, and since I'm planning to drive to the Kansas City area, I'm concerned about the weather.  The current storm system seems to be siting on us, and hasn't budged much.  I'm hoping that next weekend's weather will be much nicer.

This year's tornado season had a late start, and has been rather quiet until just recently.  As of May 31, the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center recorded a preliminary count of 207 tornadoes in the month of May, and 441 for the year so far.  That number will go up, most likely after last night's  nasty weather, which has resulted in at least 9 fatalities. The United States experiences 1200 to 1300 tornadoes every year. 

Last year had the most active tornado season on record, with a total of 1691 tornadoes across the United States.  In 2011, 553 people lost their lives in tornadoes. The Joplin, Missouri tornado was the most deadly, killing 157 people. That tornado ranked as the seventh deadliest tornado in U.S. history since record-keeping began in 1950. 

In places like Moore, Oklahoma, where the wreckage from the F 5 storm on May 20 has not been completely cleaned up, there was a new danger – jagged pieces of wood, metal and glass that could become deadly flying projectiles in the strong winds.  At least 2 people are dead after last night's storms. There was chaos on Interstate Highway 40, a major east-west highway that cuts across the middle of the continental United States from Wilmington, NC to Barstow, CA, as the storm hit the Oklahoma City area right at evening rush hour, stopping traffic and essentially making motorists "sitting ducks". 

For all but four of the tornado victims in 2011, both a tornado watch and a tornado warning were in effect before the storm arrived.  99.3% of the people in the path of the 2011 tornadoes had some warning of danger.  For those who don't experience tornadoes often, a tornado watch is issued when the conditions are favorable for the formation of tornadoes.  A tornado warning means that an actual funnel cloud has been sighted and that it is heading toward your area.  For every four warnings that are issued, only one tornado touches down, so some people court danger by ignoring the warnings.

Most people don't have to wait for a warning, though.  The U.S. Weather Service is very good about warning people days ahead of time that there may be severe storm activity, and those who live in tornado-prone areas know enough to keep an eye on the clouds, and they tend to keep their TV or radio tuned to a station that will advise them if they need to head to shelter.  Some people even have a special weather radio that is pre-tuned to a network of stations that give a continuous weather broadcast.  The sound is typically turned down, but the radio comes equipped with flashing lights or a loud alert sound that goes off when specific types of weather occur in specific areas.  Back in 1990, people were lucky to get 5 minutes' warning of a tornado strike.  These days, people often get 12-15 minutes' warning, thanks to modern technology.   Still, if you are away from your TV, radio, or computer, and you aren't paying attention, you may find yourself in a considerable amount of danger.

Some tornado facts:  

Tornadoes are most likely to occur in mid- to late afternoon, between 3 and 7 p.m., but they can happen anytime.

Tornadoes usually move from southwest to northeast, but tornadoes associated with hurricanes can move from an easterly direction.  A tornado's path is not straight, but zig-zags erratically. 

The average tornado's path is about 4 miles, but may be as long as 300 miles.  In 1917, a tornado lasting 7 hours and 20 minutes traveled 293 miles across Illinois and Indiana.

The average tornado is 300 to 400 yards (900-1200 feet) across, but some have been more than a mile in diameter. 

Tornadoes typically travel 25-40 miles per hour, but may remain stationary or travel up to 70 miles per hour.

A tornado cloud is very dark and heavy, and there is definite circular movement in the cloud. 

Tornadoes often follow a rainstorm, and sometimes hail.  There is typically a heavy downpour immediately to the left of the tornado's path.

A tornado's sound has been described as roaring, like a train speeding through a tunnel, or the roar of many engines.  Just before a tornado, there is a stillness, and you may notice that the birds are not singing.  They are very smart - if they are not singing, you should be in a tornado shelter.

There is still a lot of misinformation about tornadoes.  I'd like to bust a few tornado myths here, if I may. 

When a warning sounds, the earlier the warning, the better.  Not necessarily, because then people tend to think they have more time than they really do.  They wonder whether they should go put the car in the garage or bring in the lawn furniture.  Frankly, if you haven't done that by the time the siren sounds, you are too late.   Also, people don't like spending more than about 15 minutes in a shelter.

When a tornado warning sounds, you should open all the windows in your house to equalize the pressure.  This will not help, and may keep you from getting to shelter in time.  As well, you should not go near windows when a tornado hits.  Besides, if your roof is ripped off, the pressure will equalize all by itself.

Tornadoes don't hit the big cities.  Bunk.  There have been tornadoes in Dallas, TX,  Oklahoma City OK, St. Louis, MO, Miami, FL, Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN and Salt Lake City, UT.  When a tornado hits a densely-populated area, there is lots more debris to toss around, making these tornadoes especially dangerous. 

Tornadoes do not occur in the mountains.  Oh, yes, they do.  Damage from an F3 tornado has been recorded at an elevation above 10,000 feet.  One hiker took a picture of a weaker storm in the mountains of Utah. 

Tornadoes don't cross rivers.  They do and they have. They temporarily become "waterspouts" while over the water, which doesn't slow them down much.   In fact, the Nachez, MS tornado of 1840 tracked right down the Mississippi River.  A tornado in 1953 crossed the Brazos River in Waco, TX, and one twister jumped the Mississippi River in St. Louis, MO, in 1896.   

Tornadoes can occur in the middle of the night, and even during the winter.  The likelihood of a tornado happening in winter is pretty low, unless you live in the southern part of the United States.  Tornadoes do sometimes happen in the middle of the night.  That's why people in tornado-prone areas should have a weather radio turned on before they go to bed or keep their cell phone handy, if they have asked to be sent text warnings.  My mother, who grew up in tornado-prone Kansas, taught my siblings and me that if she said, "Go to the basement right now," we were to go, pronto. We were also taught that when a tornado watch was put into effect, we should put on our shoes and prepare a small radio and a blanket to be taken with us to a pre-identified shelter area, if necessary.  We were told to go directly to shelter when the tornado siren sounded, and stay there until an all-clear was given.  Mom never did get much sleep when there was a tornado watch issued for the wee hours of the night. 

Tornadoes can pick people, animals and items up, carry them some distance away, then set them down without injury or damage.   It's true, they can, but this is an exception, rather than the rule.  Naturally, occurrences like this get reported, because they are so miraculous, but don't let that give you the impression that these events are normal.   I do remember hearing that one little boy was sleep in his bed and woke up in a cornfield miles away.  I also have some cousins who lived in northern Minnesota, who were all taking a nap on Sunday afternoon, when a tornado struck their farm.  The barn was obliterated except for the stone foundation, and all the other buildings on their property were gone, as were all the trees around the house, but the house was left virtually undisturbed.  People have found precious photographs miles away and have made efforts to get them back to their owners.  An event like that always manages to get into the papers.

When driving, you can protect yourself by hiding under a bridge or freeway overpass.  Not really.  The bridge may protect you somewhat from falling debris, but the area under a bridge can actually become a wind tunnel that collects debris. Whatever you do, don't abandon your vehicle on a bridge and attempt to climb down under the bridge, because the tornado may end up turning the abandoned cars into a mangled mess that will make it hard for police, fire trucks and ambulances to get across the bridge later.  You should only consider this option if you can hide on the ground next to the supports.  Otherwise, you should try to get away from the bridge area and lay face-down in a ditch by the roadside with your hands covering your neck.   Frankly, I think people who drive in tornado weather are not being very smart, so I guess it doesn't surprise me that some of them try dumb stunts like this.

A vehicle can outrun a tornado.   Tornadoes can travel at up to 70 miles per hour, and often change directions suddenly and erratically.  A better option is to stay off the road altogether.  Failing that, park your car and seek shelter in a building when the clouds turn black, or lie flat, face-down, in a ditch by the side of the road with your neck covered by your hands. 

An F5 tornado is the strongest.  The Fujita scale goes up to F12. However, the wind speeds of an F12 storm would exceed Mach 1.0 (over 700 miles per hour), which makes an F12 tornado a highly unlikely event.  An F5 tornado can destroy just about everything in its path, and since wind speed is generally established by looking at the damage after the fact, it would be hard to say if a tornado were F6 or stronger.   It's not currently possible to accurately measure wind speed inside a tornado, but it is conceivable that speeds above 319 miles per hour might possibly be recorded.  That will be for future generations to establish. 

Tornadoes are more likely to hit mobile home parks.  Not really.  It may seem that way because they tend to sustain more damage in a tornado.  Mobile homes are not good protection against even the weakest tornado.  Now that it is possible to predict severe weather earlier and more accurately, tornado-prone communities with lots of mobile home parks should consider building community shelters.  If you live in a mobile home, figure out where you could go for shelter in a storm.

A tornado can drive a straw into a telephone pole without breaking the straw.  This is true, although very rare.  The point is that even a piece of straw can be deadly while flying through the air in a tornado.  

I am safe if a tornado is not coming directly toward me.   Unfortunately, this is not true, because tornadoes are so unpredictable.  The safest place to be in a tornado is in a shelter.  

Here's what to do if there is a tornado warning.

If your area is prone to tornadoes, or even if it's not, you should identify a safe place in your home to use as a shelter area.  The safest place is away from windows and underground.  Next best is a small room (typically a bathroom or closet)  in the center of your home, away from outside walls.  Duck under a sturdy piece of furniture, such as a table, if you can, and find something to hang on to.

If you are in an apartment building, go to the lowest floor, and stay away from doors and windows. Failing that, hide in the bathroom.

Especially during tornado season, each person in your home should have a "go kit" ready.  The basic kit is a blanket, flashlight with good batteries, portable radio, and cell phone, and everyone should be wearing covered shoes, not just sandals or flip-flops.  Your most important papers should all be in one place, where you can grab them if there is a tornado, fire, or other disaster.  If you have more time to prepare, you can grab a bag with an extra set of clothes, your ID, bottled water, and perhaps a candle and some matches. 

If your family is separated during a storm, identify in advance a relative or friend who lives outside your area that family members can call to give status updates.  It's often easier to get calls through from a storm area to the outside, rather than the other way around.  Make sure that person knows you are doing this, and offer to do the same for him or her.

If you are in a tornado-prone area, have weather updates sent to your cell phone.  (I was in a bookstore in St. Paul one day when my phone received a text alert.  I was paying for my purchase and the manager was right there at the cash register.  I notified the manager of the warning and she forced all the shoppers to exit the store and proceed to the shelter area in the mall.  Meanwhile a tornado was touching down in downtown Minneapolis, just a few miles away.)

Know what county you are in, so that you can interpret the warnings on TV or radio.  This is important when you are traveling.  Know before you go, especially if you are doing a long road trip. 

If you are outdoors, find the lowest spot possible and lie flat, face down, covering your neck with your hands.  

After the tornado passes, do not enter damaged buildings, and be careful not to go near downed power lines or leaky gas mains.  Some storm systems spawn multiple tornadoes, so remain alert until the storm system clears up. 

Remember that although there are many tornadoes each year, they are still rare events, and many people can go a whole lifetime without actually experiencing a live tornado, even in tornado-prone areas such as Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma.  :-)