06.11.08
Posted in home & garden, recycling, habitat at 1:50 pm by greengirl
I was just floating around Gmail and came across this awesome tile site via their weblinks. They’ve got eco-friendly tile, including cork, pebble mosaics and recycled glass. The cork is recycled from the stopper industry’s byproduct (think: the end of wine corks). Modwalls.com also supports some great causes.
Cork is a particularly good substance to use in construction. According to the Rainforest Alliance, “cork oak forests are one of the most sustainable natural systems, and supports one of the highest levels of biodiversity among European forests.” Cork comes from the bark of the cork oak tree. It’s harvested every 10 years or so, and harvesting it doesn’t hurt the tree.
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07.10.07
Posted in organic, pollution, habitat at 2:09 pm by greengirl
Reuters reported today that a study at the University of Michigan has shown that organic farming can yield as much as three times as conventional (read: herbicide and pesticide laden) farming in developing countries, and equal the food production of conventional farming in developed countries. According to the 293 examples that they looked at, organic methods can sustain the existing population of the earth (and possibly an expanded population) without increasing the agricultural land base. The full article is online in the Journal of Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. Hooray for organic and for U of Michigan!
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07.02.07
Posted in education, health, habitat, water at 11:01 am by greengirl
Normally, I shy away from depressing representations of the state of the world. But, the well-known miniature earth representation - if our world was reduced to a village of 100 people - can actually be helpful. I watched the video, and it certainly makes my struggles to pay off my credit card seem trivial. So, if you need a little motivation to stay motivated, as it were, I recommend it.
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06.21.07
Posted in habitat at 2:24 pm by greengirl
The Bald Eagle will be removed from the Endangered Species list on, appropriately, July 4th. At their lowest, their numbers were at 500 nesting pairs, and they’ve now resurged to 10,000 nesting pairs. Environmental Defense points to the Endangered Species Act of 1973 as a big part of this success. They’re also using it as a stepping stone to increase support for new legislation (the Endangered Species Recovery Act) that will give tax incentives to landowners who protect imperiled wildlife. Now that the bald eagle can be happily removed from the list, hopefully this new act will help to support the many animals still in danger of extinction.
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04.24.07
Posted in recycling, habitat at 9:07 pm by greengirl
I recently heard a story on Marketplace about rubber sidewalks. Everyone has seen concrete sidewalks buckled by tree roots and cracked from persistent weeds. Well, there’s a California company now making sidewalks out of rubber that prevent many of these problems. This saves the labor to replace the cracked concrete and the materials used to make the concrete, as well as preventing all the damage to tree roots because they give and stretch more than concrete. The rubber sidewalk sections are made from recycled tires, and they’re cooler (temperature-wise, that is) than concrete. You can get them in a variety of colors, and they’re apparently very difficult to tell apart from regular concrete. Over 60 cities are already installing them on a limited basis including Washington D.C., Seattle, Santa Monica and New Rochelle, NY.
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03.06.07
Posted in education, pollution, habitat, water at 9:50 pm by greengirl
Recently, I was listening to a broadcast of the Bioneers on an independent radio station. The speaker was talking about an organization called Ocean Revolution, which was developed to “inspire and empower a new wave of young leaders to protect our oceans.” He also spoke about an amazing effort called the Census of Marine Life. The census is an effort to catalog the past, present and future life of the oceans. Knowing which areas of the ocean have the highest diversity of life will allow scientists and activists to more effectively protect those areas.
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12.07.06
Posted in recycling, habitat at 10:09 pm by greengirl
The activitists did it! Two years ago, ForestEthics started a campaign against Victoria’s Secret,
entitled Victoria’s Dirty Secret. The parent company of Victoria’s Secret, Limited Brands, had been using paper from endangered forests like the caribou habitat in the foothills of Alberta Canada to print 395 million catalogs annually. Catalogs without any recycled paper content. The activists of ForestEthics protested at Victoria’s Secret events and ran ads in the New York Times. This got them attention from other media sources, and Limited Brands took notice. They organized Days of Action, which included call-ins and letters of protest. Rev Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping joined in the campaign. After numerous grassroots protests and lots of publicity, Limited Brands reached an agreement with ForestEthics and signed a new paper contract. According to the ForestEthics press release: “The policy, unprecedented in its scope, includes several landmark environmental measures and ensures that the pulp for the company’s catalog paper will not come from Endangered Forests. A new paper contract was also signed in accordance with the new policy.” A victory from lingerie-clad ladies wielding chainsaws! It’s so awesome to see a grassroots protest succeed.
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12.06.06
Posted in home & garden, pollution, habitat at 8:50 pm by greengirl
Recently, the EPA made it possible for people to spray pesticides over or near water without a Clean Water Act permit, with the intent of controlling the spread of West Nile virus through control of mosquito populations.
But, there are natural, less polluting alternatives if you have the responsibility for a pond or lake, or even just your backyard bird bath.
One option, only intended for ornamental ponds and animal water troughs, is mosquitofish. They can eat as many as 100 mosquito larvae per day. They shouldn’t be introduced into the ecosystem because introducing a foreign species can wildly upset the ecological balance.
There are various natural sprays that will repel mosquitoes. Some are concentrated garlic solutions, including Mosquito Fighter, Garlic Barrier and Mosquito Barrier. These can be used as water repellants by mixing them with soybean oil to coat standing water with a thin film of natural oil. Other sprays include organic natural mosquito repellant and Green Light lawn and garden spray, though they may not work as well in water and are not necessarily designed to be combined with soybean oil.
Another common natural treatment for water is mosquito dunks, each of which will treat 100 square feet of water and works because it contains a bacterium toxic to mosquitoes. They’re sustained release and non-toxic, designed for small bodies of water.
There are also mechanical control solutions, including a Solar Mosquito Guard, Guardian Mosquito Trap, and the Oak Stump Mosquito and Flying Insect Trap.
With all these natural options, why would anyone use chemical pesticides?
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11.27.06
Posted in home & garden, health, habitat, shopping at 6:43 pm by greengirl
As we approach flu season (approach? hello! I think this flu means I’m already in it?!), you may be looking at the rows and rows of tissue and wondering how your shopping dollar can make a difference everytime you sneeze.
The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has published a complete list of which brands use recycled paper in their toilet tissue, facial tissue, paper towels and paper napkins. They’ve even got a handy wallet card (pdf) to print and take with you to the grocery store. Included in their list are some inspiring factoids like: if every household in the US replaced just one roll of virgin fiber toilet paper with recycled, we could save 423,900 trees.
To be blunt, gone are the days of rough recycled paper products. As a regular user of Green Forest products, I can tell you that these are just as soft as any of the big guys. If you’d like to take a big leap and give up paper napkins and towels (hey, I said paper napkins, not toilet paper), Native Organic, Totally Organic, Downbound and many others have a lovely selection of organically grown napkins.
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