The work of protecting our waters and green spaces comes down to stewardship — keeping what is good about the outdoors alive for the people who come after us. That same spirit runs quietly through one of North America’s oldest and most overlooked folk arts: the hand-carved fishing decoy. Long before mass-produced tackle filled store shelves, people shaped and painted small wooden fish to draw game up through the ice, and the finest examples are treasured today as genuine American art.
What a Fishing Decoy Actually Is
A decoy is not a lure you cast. It is a weighted, carved wooden fish lowered on a line through a hole in the ice, where a gentle jig of the hand makes it circle and dart as if alive. That lifelike swim draws pike and other predators within range of a spear. Every decoy is a small feat of observation: the carver has to understand how a real fish moves in order to fool one.
A Living Folk Tradition
For generations this was a family craft — one hand carving, another painting, the patterns passed down at the kitchen table. Decoys are judged on two things: how they look and how they swim. Regional styles developed across the ice-fishing states and provinces, and collectors now prize antique pieces alongside the work of living carvers. A beautifully made set of fishing decoys carries that whole lineage in a single carved and painted form.
Watch: Fish Decoys — Folk Art Beneath the Ice (YouTube)
Why It Still Matters
There is something deeply green about a decoy. It is handmade, durable, and built to last decades rather than end up in a landfill after a season. It reflects a close, respectful attention to the water and the creatures in it — the very attention that drives conservation. Keeping a craft like this alive is its own small act of stewardship, honoring both the artistry and the ecosystems that inspired it.
Small Fish, Long Legacy
Whether it is jigged beneath the ice or displayed on a shelf, a hand-carved decoy connects us to a slower, more intentional way of being outdoors. For anyone who cares about protecting our waters, it is a fitting reminder that respect for nature and lasting, beautiful craftsmanship have always gone hand in hand.
Glass. When you look around you, it is very likely that you see some type of glass. It is everywhere. For “green” conscious people, it also means that they wonder if the creation of the glass that we depend on is actually good or bad for our Earth. It has come up several times, people wanting to know, “Is glass a “green” material?” Here is our reply.
Glass isn’t necessarily a green product because it has to be heated, melted, and made into the form that we recognize as “glass”. This does not mean that it is “bad” for the environment though. By using glass windows on “green” buildings, we are still enabling those buildings to use less power to heat with. Windows can also help natural light flow inside, it conducts solar power, and more. Glass is NOT a bad thing.
If you are absolutely sure that you want to avoid glass by getting an unbreakable, but clear material, you have options. There are plastics such as polycarbonate, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, Polypropylene, or Polyethylene. Each of these options is an ideal solution for glass alternatives. For greenhouses, green buildings, and other options, they can be used effectively to do the same job as glass. However, they may be less environmentally friendly than using actual glass.
Over the last decade or so, we have seen a lot of changes. Many of them are happening still in our own neighborhoods. Just think about how many times your favorite “Mom and Pop” restaurant has changed ownership or may have closed its doors permanently. Or how that bar you used to enjoy going to on a Friday night has closed its doors and maybe been transformed into something totally unrelated to the bar you loved. These things are happening all over the U.S. You can benefit from these closures and keep a piece of it for yourself if you want. Here are a few ideas for reusing or recycling bar and restaurant equipment.
The simplest answer to this question is that as a general rule, people want more. Some people may love the smaller, more intimate settings, but not everyone embraces it. The rest want bars that also serve food, restaurants that are family-friendly with a little adult beverage thrown in. If not that, then they want nightclubs or higher-class establishments.
Often, when a bar, club, or restaurant closes its doors for good, there are things that get left behind. If the owner loses it to bankruptcy, they may have to auction off what is left, especially the equipment such as stoves, stainless steel work tables, sinks, and tables. However, not all parts can be taken away without damages, so they are unworthy of auctioning. This can often include bartops, countertops, and other things.
We all have to think about sustainability. We don’t want want to deplete natural resources, but we all need to have different things. This makes working with eco-friendly materials vital to our existence and the existence of our Earth. However, many people worry that working with wood could actually cause more damage than it is worth. They want to know if it is sustainable or if we are simply causing more damage than good. Here is the truth.
There should be no doubt that wood is one of our most valuable resources. It is proven by the fact that deforestation is something we hear about often. However, there is proof that wood is very sustainable. In fact, many people say that wood should be used over concrete and steel and it would be just as durable.
If you are curious about which type of wood people feel is the most eco-friendly and which one that builders favor the most, you have a few choices. Some trees do grow quicker than others, which may make them a better choice. The fastest-growing trees are: Hybrid Poplars, Weeping Willows, Aspen, and Maple.
In today’s world, many people are starting to go off-the-grid as a way of living a greener lifestyle. It works. By doing this, we do lessen our overall negative affects on our world. It is a great idea, but going green off the grid isn’t something that is easy to do for all.
The first step and requirement for going off the grid for greener existence is the right mindset for it. You have to be committed to the overall lifestyle change that you are about to enjoy. You have to decide if you want the full rustic experience or power when you need it the most.
Waste Disposal Options
When you think of today’s world, what is it that you think about first? For many of us, it is the violence that we see talked about on the news and among friends that is most prevalent in our minds. The truth is, as a nation and as a world, we seem determined to embrace the violence. However, there is a hope that we will one day learn to change it. It comes in the form of government officials, our leaders, deciding to redirect anger into more positive emotions. That is the purpose of groups like DC Green State.
How prepared should we be for war? We live in a world where weapons of mass destruction are waiting to be aimed and fired at opposition. Some people feel it is warranted, and indeed, it may be. But how much preparation is too much?
You cannot choose a book by it’s cover. The same is true for people on a global level. Think of all that we fight for or against. We may shoot people for having different cultural values than we have. We judge because they choose to love someone of the same sex, their skin is a different color, they choose to embrace a religion that isn’t yours, and more. No one is exempt from our persecution of them if we feel it is justified, but who really gets to choose what is best or worst?