If you’re in Florida and hope to live a more sustainable “off the grid” lifestyle that’s free from the influence of energy companies and massive agricultural conglomerates by adding solar panels to your home, harvesting rainwater, and planting an organic garden on your property- watch out.
Premium hydroponic-grown, pesticide-free vegetables and herbs growing in the U.S. Gotham Greens facility (from eponline.com). Two entrepreneurs have recently made London the home of a very creative architectural reuse for food production—underground. Steven Dring, a former executive with Bunzl, an international provider of food-related products and services, and his friend and business partner Richard Ballard,
David Bakke, a writer based in Atlanta, shares tips for saving money and saving the environment on Money Crashers Personal Finance. Here’s a guest piece from him: If you think of going green, you may think of lowering your energy bills. But you can also put a significant dent in your grocery bill by opting for
I have a serious fascination with indoor gardens and have for a long time. Living in an area that suffers from serious climate extremes, moving from dry and very hot summers to icy and snow-covered winters (and everything else in between those seasons), keeping a viable garden outdoors is difficult. Especially for more finicky plants.
In this age of relentless urbanization and technological advancements, the following statement often rings true: one small step for man – one giant leap backward for the environment. Today, forests are quickly being replaced by shopping malls, and ecosystems are being replaced by social networks. So it might seem a bit ironic that our mobile
6 decisions that will make your life greener You. Yes, you. You’re ignorantly and selfishly wrecking the world with your excessive consumption. Cut it out. Ok, maybe that’s a bit harsh. It’s not just you. There are, after all, seven billion of us on Earth – and we have a voracious appetite for energy, food, travel, luxury
Edible landscaping, mass transit, community—what’s not to love?! As Beth Buczynski writes on sister site Insteading: “A simple yet creative gardening project called The Edible Bus Stop transforms a public transit area that used to be full of trash, and brings and entire community together.” I’m getting all warm and fuzzy inside (literally). Here’s a fun
Over on sister site Eat Drink Better, Heather Carr recently reviewed The Home Orchard: A Complete Guide to Growing Your Own Fruit Trees Anywhere, which she said “really is a complete guide to growing your own fruit trees anywhere.” Sounds good! Here’s more from Heather: The book starts with the basics: space, light, air
Going well with this 1,200-acre rooftop farming program I discussed about a week ago, the Occupy Wall Street rooftop farm introduced below looks like it will be quite the inspiration. Help the organizers out with a donation if you can! By Winnie and Sarah of OWS Sustainability Working Group. Winnie is also the founder and editor of Seismologik.com.
Cynthia did a nice review of a cool new gardening site, SmartGardener, last week. I recently got word from the folks at SmartGardener that it was trying to raise money on IndieGogo. Looks like it needs a hand! Here’s some text on what they’d be using the money for: Smart Gardener is a free personalized
I encourage you to take a look through a delightfully helpful online gardening site that recently popped onto the internet, Smart Gardener. I had to compete and prove myself among strapping young muscle-bound farmers to gain a position at a local, organic farm in search of healthy dirt and the sort information provided on this site. Smart Gardener makes it all
Check out this video below on a great new Garden Planner tool by Mother Earth News that I ran across on sister site Eat Drink Better last week: Pretty cool! Here’s more from Becky over on Eat Drink Better: “The planner is free for the first 30 days and costs $25 per year after
A big part of being environmentally conscious is knowing when to reuse and when to recycle. Both, along with reducing waste and resource use, are crucial parts of protecting the planet. They are also elements to our lives that will, over time, become second nature as we push forward into a more eco-friendly age. The
In today’s economy, it can be very expensive just to stock up on essential supplies such as sanitary items and food. Food is a necessity, required to live, but in this day and age, the prices are becoming downright outrageous, especially if you choose to buy organic. A good way to avoid breaking your wallet
Avid gardeners look at it as more than a hobby. It is a stress reliever, an enjoyable pastime, an activity for improving health, and a way of establishing self-reliance. The payoff — whether it is in flowers, plants or vegetables — is always rewarding, and it is a proud moment to see the results of all that hard work.
Top green living stories of the past week or so:
There is no way to be a casual gardener. Once you begin you become obsessed, and with good reason. The process of gardening is incredibly cathartic and calming. It eases stress, boosts energy, is good for the body and can help clear the mind. The end results are often beneficial, whether in the look of a flower bed and the sweet smell of its blooms, or the use of vegetables and herbs in your daily cooking. Is it any wonder it is such a popular pass time even in the modern age?
Brooklyn Grange (one of the farms featured in the video above) is reportedly the largest rooftop farm and it recently rolled into its second growing season. The organic urban farm, believe it or not, is located in Brooklyn, NY (funny coincidence with the name, eh?). The farm sits on top of a 6-story 1919 warehouse and is 40,000 square feet in size. It was built by Bromley Caldari Architects.
As a farmer-in-training, I’m always on the look out for great resources on the web. And while you can learn a lot about organic food production by reading, you can learn even more from watching people actually do it.
Becky Striepe, editor of one of our sister sites, Eat Drink Better, is giving home gardening a “whirl” and inviting others to join her in the process. Interested?
There is a growing grassroots movement in suburban and urban areas where the local action of growing food is beginning to profoundly transform our neighborhoods and our world. It begins first with a simple attitude shift, when we start thinking of our lawns and backyard gardens as opportunities for sustainably growing food. As we each start to plant a seed, we are healing not only ourselves, but the planet as well.
If this is the time of year you start thinking about firing up the firepit or chiminea, or if you’ve invested in a wood-burning stove for your home, you’ll no doubt be thinking about what sort of fuel you can burn. Choosing the right supplier of eco-friendly fuel can be tricky, but if you’re a
If you haven’t noticed, I haven’t covered Christmas that much yet. Just a post on a few green gift ideas (well, really, it was one idea but options from a few organizations) and a post on Climate Counts’ Striding Shoppers campaign. I have to say, I’ve been avoiding Christmas a little bit this year… largely
I was recently tipped off to an awesome website that documents real-world projects focused on both protecting the environment and saving money. Each story comes with a video, and website founder Susan Neisloss also provides resources on how to save/make money through such sustainable efforts in the videos and throughout the website. As far as I
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/epXNJNjYBvw&hl=en&fs=1] In two vague bills introduced both in the House and Senate of the US Congress, a vast reorganization of America’s agriculture system aimed at tracking and regulating foods for public safety could endanger organic farms and gardens. [social_buttons] The bills, S.425 and H.R.875, attempt to modernize food safety and regulate and standardize agriculture by
