10/28/09
10/11/09
The Perfect Weed.
I guess it depends on your perspective.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_18800.cfm
7/2/09
Sustainable landscaping practices on the news this month
This is just a placeholder announcement, but a client of mine and I were interviewed yesterday by NBC Bay Area on the topic of low water use and California Native plants in the landscape. It's part of a 3 part series that will air later this month. I don't know the dates yet, but I'll let everyone else know as soon as I do. Let's hope this is part of a larger step forward in educating the public on the need for and benefits of more sustainable landscaping practices.
6/18/09
This is not a Plastic Bottle !?!?!?
Why is an environmentally conscience company like Cagwin & Dorward handing out plastic bottles to their employees?
In compliance with recent OSHA regulations, C&D employees have been receiving water bottles, as part of the Company's Heat Illness Prevention Plan. Although they appear to be plastic, they are actually made from wood pulp and other non-toxic, biodegradable materials.
Check out the nifty tag attached to the bottles. You'll find they perform just as you'd like any other bottle to:
• dishwasher safe
• microwavable
• large mouth to add ice
• made in the US
You'll also find that these bottles can be used indefinitely. But when committed to a managed landfill, microbes will find the material irresistible; causing the bottle to fully biodegrade in 1 - 5 years.
In compliance with recent OSHA regulations, C&D employees have been receiving water bottles, as part of the Company's Heat Illness Prevention Plan. Although they appear to be plastic, they are actually made from wood pulp and other non-toxic, biodegradable materials.
Check out the nifty tag attached to the bottles. You'll find they perform just as you'd like any other bottle to:
• dishwasher safe
• microwavable
• large mouth to add ice
• made in the US
You'll also find that these bottles can be used indefinitely. But when committed to a managed landfill, microbes will find the material irresistible; causing the bottle to fully biodegrade in 1 - 5 years.
6/16/09
EPA, HUD, DOT Form Partnership For Sustainable Communities
Collaboration is web of interconnectedness that may create social and economic systems that emulate ecosystems. Below is 1 example of this trend. The government agencies behaving like part of a system to eliminate competitiveness and siloism.
Create abundance through group think and building ideas to allow for a high quality of life.
(Originally posted on Environmental Leader)
Using six guiding “livability principles,” federal efforts in transportation, environmental protection and housing investments will be coordinated under a new partnership.
The Partnership for Sustainable Communities is a joint project of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (HUD), according to a press release.
The partnership’s six livability principles are:
1. Provide more transportation choices - Develop safe, reliable and economical transportation choices to decrease household transportation costs, reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote public health.
2. Promote equitable, affordable housing - Expand location- and energy-efficient housing choices for people of all ages, incomes, races and ethnicities to increase mobility and lower the combined cost of housing and transportation.
3. Enhance economic competitiveness - Improve economic competitiveness through reliable and timely access to employment centers, educational opportunities, services and other basic needs by workers as well as expanded business access to markets.
4. Support existing communities - Target federal funding toward existing communities - through such strategies as transit-oriented, mixed-use development and land recycling - to increase community revitalization, improve the efficiency of public works investments, and safeguard rural landscapes.
5. Coordinate policies and leverage investment - Align federal policies and funding to remove barriers to collaboration, leverage funding and increase the accountability and effectiveness of all levels of government to plan for future growth, including making smart energy choices such as locally generated renewable energy.
6. Value communities and neighborhoods - Enhance the unique characteristics of all communities by investing in healthy, safe and walkable neighborhoods - rural, urban or suburban.
The partnership first began... Read More: http://tinyurl.com/l3n9a8
Create abundance through group think and building ideas to allow for a high quality of life.
(Originally posted on Environmental Leader)
Using six guiding “livability principles,” federal efforts in transportation, environmental protection and housing investments will be coordinated under a new partnership.
The Partnership for Sustainable Communities is a joint project of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (HUD), according to a press release.
The partnership’s six livability principles are:
1. Provide more transportation choices - Develop safe, reliable and economical transportation choices to decrease household transportation costs, reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote public health.
2. Promote equitable, affordable housing - Expand location- and energy-efficient housing choices for people of all ages, incomes, races and ethnicities to increase mobility and lower the combined cost of housing and transportation.
3. Enhance economic competitiveness - Improve economic competitiveness through reliable and timely access to employment centers, educational opportunities, services and other basic needs by workers as well as expanded business access to markets.
4. Support existing communities - Target federal funding toward existing communities - through such strategies as transit-oriented, mixed-use development and land recycling - to increase community revitalization, improve the efficiency of public works investments, and safeguard rural landscapes.
5. Coordinate policies and leverage investment - Align federal policies and funding to remove barriers to collaboration, leverage funding and increase the accountability and effectiveness of all levels of government to plan for future growth, including making smart energy choices such as locally generated renewable energy.
6. Value communities and neighborhoods - Enhance the unique characteristics of all communities by investing in healthy, safe and walkable neighborhoods - rural, urban or suburban.
The partnership first began... Read More: http://tinyurl.com/l3n9a8
6/13/09
Food Solutions!
The Original Urban Farming Company
Originally posted on WorldChanging • by WorldChanging Team • 16 hours ago
Your Backyard Farmer grows veggies in unexpected spots
By Raymond Rendleman
A small piece of property can go a long way toward feeding a family. But coaxing food from the earth takes both time and know-how, and that can be enough to intimidate many of us. Enter Your Backyard Farmer. http://www.yourbackyardfarmer.com/ This small business in Portland, Ore., saw an opportunity to help out many homeowners who wanted to grow their own, but weren't sure where to start.
Partners Robyn Streeter and Donna Smith completed their horticulture degrees together in 2005 and began searching for farmland. By that winter, they had an epiphany: Instead of investing in a farm, they would bolster the urban agriculture movement by helping city dwellers grow backyard crops.
Your Backyard Farmer works a lot like any other home contractor. Streeter and Smith visit dozens of yards each week throughout the growing season to plant, maintain and harvest their clients' edible crops. With their help, even plots as small as 10-by-10 feet yield a cornucopia of produce. They also offer monthly lessons where DIY families can learn how to make their own food gardens grow.
Your Backyard Farmer’s innovative approach has gained the attention of entrepreneurs from Canada to Tasmania, and Streeter and Smith have consulted with many to help develop similar companies. But they say the most important element of their success can’t be conveyed through consultations: “We do it all by grunt labor,” Streeter says.
Each day begins for the duo before dawn, as soon as enough light shows over the horizon to reveal weeds under the squash patches. The pair uses the hands-and-knees methods of crop rotation without tilling that would be familiar to farmers over the millennia. Each portion of their fields exudes the pungency of mushroom compost mixed with the unbelievably fresh scent of the nearest vegetable. During fall, the overall effect resembles a magical supermarket in which numerous produce aisles contain still-rooted carrots, peas, onions and peppers ready to harvest.
Smith and Streeter hope that their idea goes beyond another “green” business service. It does seem like their help has expanded the conversation about city dwellers' relationship to their food. Now, they have reason to believe the idea will grow even further: For example, a group of adjacent households recently decided to forgo their fences, and commissioned Your Backyard Farmer to create a larger plot of shared space for food gardening. The project produced not only a haul of edibles ... but also a new sense of community.
Raymond Rendleman is a writer based in Portland, Ore. Readers may contact him at rrendleman [at] gmail [dot] com.
Photo by author.
Originally posted on WorldChanging • by WorldChanging Team • 16 hours ago
Your Backyard Farmer grows veggies in unexpected spots
By Raymond Rendleman
A small piece of property can go a long way toward feeding a family. But coaxing food from the earth takes both time and know-how, and that can be enough to intimidate many of us. Enter Your Backyard Farmer. http://www.yourbackyardfarmer.com/ This small business in Portland, Ore., saw an opportunity to help out many homeowners who wanted to grow their own, but weren't sure where to start.
Partners Robyn Streeter and Donna Smith completed their horticulture degrees together in 2005 and began searching for farmland. By that winter, they had an epiphany: Instead of investing in a farm, they would bolster the urban agriculture movement by helping city dwellers grow backyard crops.
Your Backyard Farmer works a lot like any other home contractor. Streeter and Smith visit dozens of yards each week throughout the growing season to plant, maintain and harvest their clients' edible crops. With their help, even plots as small as 10-by-10 feet yield a cornucopia of produce. They also offer monthly lessons where DIY families can learn how to make their own food gardens grow.
Your Backyard Farmer’s innovative approach has gained the attention of entrepreneurs from Canada to Tasmania, and Streeter and Smith have consulted with many to help develop similar companies. But they say the most important element of their success can’t be conveyed through consultations: “We do it all by grunt labor,” Streeter says.
Each day begins for the duo before dawn, as soon as enough light shows over the horizon to reveal weeds under the squash patches. The pair uses the hands-and-knees methods of crop rotation without tilling that would be familiar to farmers over the millennia. Each portion of their fields exudes the pungency of mushroom compost mixed with the unbelievably fresh scent of the nearest vegetable. During fall, the overall effect resembles a magical supermarket in which numerous produce aisles contain still-rooted carrots, peas, onions and peppers ready to harvest.
Smith and Streeter hope that their idea goes beyond another “green” business service. It does seem like their help has expanded the conversation about city dwellers' relationship to their food. Now, they have reason to believe the idea will grow even further: For example, a group of adjacent households recently decided to forgo their fences, and commissioned Your Backyard Farmer to create a larger plot of shared space for food gardening. The project produced not only a haul of edibles ... but also a new sense of community.
Raymond Rendleman is a writer based in Portland, Ore. Readers may contact him at rrendleman [at] gmail [dot] com.
Photo by author.
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