Archive for August, 2009

Victory Gardens - How To Start A Community Garden

On March 19, 2009, the New York Times reported that First Lady Obama was preparing the ground for the first vegetable garden at the White House since the time of Eleanor Roosevelt’s Victory Garden, during World War II.  The garden was to be organic, and would provide fresh-grown vegetables for the White House dinner table.  Children from a nearby school would help her prepare and plant the garden, and the garden was to be used as a teaching tool – to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern.  Mrs. Obama told the reporters that it was her hope that the children would then begin to educate their families “and that will, in turn, begin to educate our communities.” The White House Garden was not the first of its kind, of course.  Many schools and even communities have had established vegetable gardens for several years. If you would like to start a community garden, there is, of course, a website chock-full of information on how to do so, called communitygarden.org.  It’s the website of the American Community ...

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Recycling Water In Your Garden

Do you live in a city or state where it is illegal to collect rainwater? It used to be illegal in Colorado, for example (although the law was very infrequently enforced).  The reasoning was that the rain was needed to replenish the aquifers.  However, in June 2009, Colorado passed two new laws that does make it legal to do so. In Utah and Washington State, however, it is still illegal to collect rainwater from the roof, unless the roof owner also owns water rights on the ground. But if you live in a locality where it is legal to collect rainwater, here’s how to do it. Acquire a rain barrel or two, depending on the size of your home.  If you pick up a container barrel from a junk yard, make sure it has never contained toxic waste.  Drums that were used to contain vegetable oil are fine – simply wash out the interior a few times with soap and water, then rinse thoroughly. Are there rainspouts on the four corners of your home already that guide the water down and out and away from the foundation of the home?  Simply take ...

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Labels May Not Lie, but They Do Skirt the Truth

If you’re interested in purchasing organic foods, and green clothing, and dealing with green businesses, it’s important to do research into the providers of these items to ensure you’re getting the environmentally friendly products that you think you are. It is the business of advertisers to sell the consumers product, and they do it in a variety of ways, including deceiving the consumer – entirely legally.  It all comes down to words. Advertisers have their best success with the organic food market. Did you know that the phrase “all natural ingredients” has no legal meaning? When you check the labels on your food packages, therefore, be aware of what they mean. •    “100 percent organic” means the products are completely organic, or made of all organic ingredients. •    “Organic” means the products that are at least 95 percent organic. •    “Made with organic ingredients” means these are products that contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients.  The organic seal can't be used on these packages. •    “All natural” has no legal meaning. What about labels on poultry? •    “100% organic” means the chicken was raised without antibiotics and hormones, or fed arsenic, which for some reason is fed to ...

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Car Pooling

Driving to work has a lot of benefits.  Sure, some will begrudge their trek due to the congestion and distance.  However, driving to work can be a great opportunity for listening to an audio book, looking the local scenery, and helping the environment. Helping the environment?  Don’t cars burn fuel and send emissions into the air?  Yes, they do and if you car pool to work you will dramatically cut down the impact that vehicles have on the environment. Car pooling is a relatively simple process.  Instead of driving to work individually, a group of people who work together and live close to one another will drive to work in a single car.  Each member chips in for gas and makes sure to punctually pick everyone at agreed an agreed upon time and location.  Yes, it is that simple! And it certainly helps the environment…. The price of a barrel of oil is based on supply and demand.  When cars are consuming significant amounts of gasoline, the supply of oil will drop.  This means the finite oil resources the world has will further deplete.  This will not only raise the price of gasoline, ...

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The Secrets of Baking Soda

“Shall I get you a bicarbonate of soda?”  This was a question Curly would ask Moe in the old Three Stooges comedy shorts.  No matter what precarious situation Moe may find himself, Curly would suggest bicarbonate of soda – aka baking soda – as a cure all solution.  While the scenes were played for laughs, the fact remains baking soda DOES have a variety of uses.  Often, it is a much safer alternative to common chemical products people use. Baking soda is a derivative of sodium bicarbonate which was originally found in mineral springs.  The first early uses of sodium bicarbonate were primarily as a salt substitute.  This usage can be traced back to the ancient Egyptians.  However, it was not until the 18th century in France that the modern form of baking soda came into being.  The product was developed from sodium bicarbonate soda ash and it was massed produced for a number of uses.  In general, there are two forms of baking soda: a more natural and more artificial version.  (There are no purely natural forms of baking soda available on the market.)  Obviously, it was closer to ...

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