tag:www.naturalawakeningsnj.com,2005:/categories/green-living?page=6Green Living Green Living | Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey Page 6Healthy Living Healthy Planet2020-05-06T09:29:17-07:00urn:uuid:73ffaa4c-ef02-4243-9f6f-8b0fbbb35a4f2019-08-15T21:54:13-07:002020-05-06T09:29:17-07:00Help For Home Gardeners: Extension Agents at Your Service2019-06-28 11:23:00 -0700Yvette C. Hammett<p><span class="dropcap">M</span>any home gardeners readily list flies, wasps and beetles among the “pests” in their gardens. However, many of these are actually pollinators that help boost production of fruits and vegetables; others are beneficial insects that keep the real plant-killers at bay. A quick call to the local cooperative extension service can help sort out friend from foe—and that’s just the beginning of what this valuable, underutilized resource can offer.</p>
<p>Each year, millions in federal taxpayer dollars help fund county agricultural extension programs administered through the 108 colleges and universities that comprise the nation’s land grant university system. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which supplies the money, also helps fund science-based research meant to reach not only farmers, but home gardeners seeking advice on best practices.</p>
<p>The USDA is trying to do a better job of raising public awareness of assistance that’s readily available, free of charge, especially now that it’s getting more funding.</p>
<h3>Organic on the Rise</h3>
<p>“The good news is that the 2018 Farm Bill provided increases for many of our programs, including the organic agriculture research and extension initiative program for which we received significant funding,” says Mathieu Ngouajio, program leader for the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.</p>
<p>The USDA is eager to see the connections their constituents are making with the research. “We want to identify the needs of organic gardeners, and the best way to meet those needs to get our research into their hands,” Ngouajio says.</p>
<p>County extension agents are on the front lines of this effort, offering low- or no-cost soil testing, handbooks on a variety of local gardening topics and workshops on everything from making rain barrels and creating rain gardens to implementing eco-friendly pest control, cultivating native plants and employing best practices for organic gardening. Master gardeners that volunteer their expertise are central to supporting extension outreach activities.</p>
<p>“We would love more business from the public,” says Weston Miller, an associate professor with Oregon State University’s extension service. “The public service of the master gardener program is to answer questions,” including what and when to plant and how much irrigation is required.</p>
<p>In Oregon, there are 3,500 master gardeners, with 650 volunteers in Portland alone. “We train master gardeners in how to use our resources and interpret the research to the public,” Miller says.</p>
<p>“There are trained volunteers in pretty much every county in the country ready and willing to answer any gardening question,” Miller says. For example, a new organic gardener might not know the correct soil amendments to use or how to start a composting pile to supplement the soil in an organic garden.</p>
<p class="pullquote">The good news is that the 2018 Farm Bill provided increases for many of our programs, including an organic program for which we received significant funding.<br>
~Mathieu Ngouajio</p>
<p>There is also a nationwide network called <a href="https://www.usda.gov/ask-expert">Ask the Expert</a> and questions will automatically go to an extension staff person or master gardener in the area where the inquiring gardener lives.</p>
<h3>Reducing Confusion</h3>
<p>Many of those getting into organic gardening might feel confused as to what connotes organic, Miller says. “Organic gardening is using a naturally formed material for fertilizer and pesticide, from plant, animal or mineral sources.”</p>
<p>The biggest area of confusion is that many people think organic means pesticide-free. But that is not always true. There is organic pest control, Miller says. “In terms of gardening, there are certified organic products you can use and still be organic.” One thing to look for on a label is the seal of the Organic Materials Review Institute, which indicates the product is suitable for organic gardening.</p>
<p>However, there aren’t many good options for weed management, he adds. “You have to do weeding by hand or use an herbicide that isn’t organic.”</p>
<p>Another issue that extension programs can help with is making sure organic gardeners receive only scientifically researched information, says Nicole Pinson, an urban horticulture agent with the Hillsborough County Extension Service, in Tampa, Florida.</p>
<p>“Gardening information is available on websites and on social media. Some information that pops up is not research-based, or they are selling a product and are not unbiased,” Pinson says. “We generally stick to recommendations we have been able to vet through research. When we make a recommendation, we give folks all of the options of what they can do.” </p>
<p><br>
<em>Visit <a href="https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/extension-search">Gardening Know How to find a nearby extension office</a>.</em></p>
<p><br>
<em>Yvette C. Hammett is an environmental writer based in Valrico, Florida. She can be contacted at YvetteHammett28@hotmail.com.</em></p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:35795445-3bd8-44c5-90cb-763f3cf0a26c2019-08-15T21:00:41-07:002020-05-06T09:29:07-07:00Eco-Friendly Outdoor Eating: Save Resources, Reduce Food Waste and More2019-06-28 09:38:00 -0700Anonymous<p><span class="dropcap">M</span>idsummer is prime time for outdoor family meals, barbecues and picnics. Selecting the healthiest food, along with eco-friendly materials in preparing for the fun feasts, can fulfill a more environmentally sustainable lifestyle and conserve resources at the same time.</p>
<p>• <a href="https://greenamerica.org/">Green America</a> recommends using organic cloth, reusable mesh or string produce bags when grocery shopping; use bamboo utensil sets and plastic straw alternatives made of stainless steel, food-grade silicone, bamboo or glass.</p>
<p>• To keep uninvited flying pests like mosquitoes, flies and the like away from humans and food, apply natural repellents—many made of natural, essential oil; plant-based and food-grade ingredients can be found at <a href="http://chasinggreen.org/">Chasing Green</a>.</p>
<p>• According to <a href="https://www.webmd.com/">WebMD</a>, charcoal grilling of meat can expose us to two potentially cancer-causing compounds—polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that form when fat from meat drips onto hot coals and are “deposited on food courtesy of flame-ups and rising smoke,” and heterocyclic amines that “are produced when red meat, poultry and fish meet high-heat cooking.” Instead, consider using a closed-flame gas grill to reduce exposure to toxins and cook fresh and organic fruits and vegetables like zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, onions and mushrooms.</p>
<p>• Both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warn against eating shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish due to high levels of mercury, and to consume no more than six ounces of albacore tuna per week for the same reason. Some studies point to avoiding farmed salmon due to potentially high amounts of PCBs. Bypass larger fish of the food chain; look for those that have earned the Marine Stewardship Council or Aquaculture Stewardship Council labels.</p>
<p>• The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently estimated that between 30 to 40 percent of all food in the country is wasted. To improve this situation, use glass containers instead of plastic bags to store leftovers. Also consider sustainable food wraps like <a href="https://beeswrap.com/">Bees Wrap</a>. Made from beeswax, organic cotton, jojoba oil and tree resin, they seal and conform to the shape of whatever food is being stored.</p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the July 2019 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:ddf730a2-1eb3-46ae-885d-ac9bd5bb5c342019-08-15T21:38:21-07:002021-06-14T11:49:07-07:00Crops in the City: Urban Agriculture Breaks New Ground2019-06-28 09:38:00 -0700April Thompson<p>The average American meal travels 1,500 miles to reach its plate, according to the nonprofit Center for Urban Education About Sustainable Agriculture. Yet, enterprising green thumbs across the country are bringing the farm back to plate’s reach, growing hyperlocal food in backyards, on rooftops, through indoor farms and more. City farming reconnects urbanites to their food sources while bettering the environment, communities, diets and health.</p>
<p>Urban agriculture, harkening back to the Victory Gardens planted to ward off food shortages during World War I and II, is nothing new. While today’s home gardeners have staked out balconies, window boxes and vacant lots in this locavore resurgence, noteworthy pioneers are forging a path to organic urban agriculture on a commercial scale—tapping into new technologies and markets, and turning challenges like dealing with space constraints into fresh opportunities.</p>
<h3>A View From the Roofs</h3>
<p>Take Niraj Ray, whose company Cultivate the City is working to transform urban food deserts in the nation’s capital into thriving local food systems. “We want to get more people interested in growing their own food and show them how they can grow more with less square footage through vertical gardens and sustainable techniques like [soil-less] hydroponic systems,” says Ray.</p>
<p>Cultivate the City manages numerous gardens for clients around Washington, D.C., from elementary school gardens where kids learn to grow, cook and eat nutritious food to corporate gardens inside a new office building for lender Fannie Mae’s employee café. One of its crown jewels is a 6,500-square-foot rooftop garden on the Nationals Park baseball stadium, where edible flowers end up in cocktails and organic produce feeds fine diners and VIP ticket holders.</p>
<p>Ray grew his business organically, fueled by passion and curiosity, rather than any horticultural background. “I grew up in NYC, where I had nothing to grow on. When I moved to Florida for grad school, I had a huge backyard to play around with,” says Ray.</p>
<p>Like many other urban farms, Cultivate the City offers a seasonal farm subscription known as a community supported agriculture (CSA) program that allows city dwellers to buy directly from local producers. Ray’s rooftop greenhouse, located on top of a local hardware store that sells his edible plants at retail, offers all the fixings for a healthy, diverse diet: hydroponic towers of leafy greens, trays of microgreens for corporate clients, specialty varieties of hot peppers for the company’s hot sauce and stacking cubes of an albino strawberry variety that Ray crossbred himself. “There are so many ways to contribute to urban farming, from aquaponics to vermicomposting; it’s about finding your niche,” he says.</p>
<h3>Growing Up With Vertical Farming</h3>
<p>By 2050, it’s estimated that 9 billion people will be living on the planet—7 billion in cities. “City planners need innovative solutions like vertical farming to feed the growing population. We can grow at scale, with minimum space and environmental impact,” says Wendy Coleman, who began her California-based business LA Urban Farms in 2013. Today, Coleman’s team works with chefs, resorts, hotels, universities, greenhouses and corporate clients like Google and Ikea to set up aeroponic tower gardens across the U.S. and Europe. </p>
<p></p><div class="image-with-caption image-align-right">
<img alt="goodluzShutterstockcom" src="//cdn1.locable.com/uploads/resource/file/574631/city-farming.jpg"><div class="small">goodluz/Shutterstock.com</div>
</div>With aeroponics, nutrient-enriched water is pumped through a garden tower to shower the roots of plants suspended in air. “It actually uses 90 percent less water than conventional growing, which is a huge benefit in a place like California, and avoids any kind of agricultural runoff,” says Coleman. In conjunction with urban farming partners, the business churns out 30,000 seedlings a month using aeroponic technology to grow for their diverse client base and working with chefs to plan seasonal menus around their produce.
<p>Aeroponics and other innovative farm technologies are transforming spaces in cities across the U.S., reclaiming peripheral and idle spaces like alleys and warehouses to grow herbs and vegetables in abundance, using 90 percent less land by growing vertically, notes Coleman. “With our gardens, diners can see their food growing at their table; they get such a personal connection with their food. It’s an interactive way for hotels and restaurants to demonstrate their commitment to local, sustainable food,” she says.</p>
<h3>Breaking into Hives: City Beekeepers</h3>
<p>“I had a backyard garden that wasn’t doing so well, and I thought it was the lack of pollinators, so I got bees; but then I realized I was just a bad gardener,” quips master beekeeper John Coldwell, of Fort Lauderdale.</p>
<p>Since this humble beginning in 2012 with a few backyard hives, Coldwell and his wife Teresa have been leading a movement to repurpose public land for “microapiaries” and provide apiary education for youth and adults throughout South Florida. Through their entity The Urban Beekeepers, the Coldwells offer beekeeping classes, consult with local governments, sell equipment and rescue “feral hives” to integrate into managed hives. They’ve worked successfully with parks, airports, golf clubs and country clubs to put honeybee habitats on site.</p>
<p>Urban beekeeping works in synergy with city farms, as honeybees forage up to five miles for food, and in so doing pollinate a lot of crops. Seventy of the top 100 human food crops are pollinated by bees, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “We often hear people say their garden is doing better than it has in years, thanks to the apiaries nearby,” says John Coldwell.</p>
<p>The challenges of growing at scale are a recurrent theme among urban farmers. Ian Marvy, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) outreach specialist for the greater New York City area, ran his own urban farm, grossing six figures for 14 years. However, Marvy says most farmers growing in the city aren’t operating at a profitable scale or producing enough for everyone to eat local.</p>
<p>Even so, locally grown produce is a booming market in New York City. Greenmarket, founded in 1976, operates more than 50 farmers’ markets, limited to vendors that grow within a 200-mile radius, some of whom take home five figures on a good day, says Marvy. Interest in growing at the community level has also mushroomed, adds Marvy, who estimates that 90 percent of the city’s more than 500 school gardens weren’t there 15 years ago when he started this work. “The USDA has a huge opportunity here and nationally to make cities more sustainable and feed more people. I’m really excited and committed to that,” he says.</p>
<p>While urban agriculture efforts are sometimes criticized for catering to upper income residents that can afford to pay top dollar for specialty items like microgreens, many businesses and organizations are working on multiple fronts, with lucrative specialty crops helping to subsidize programs serving families lacking access to healthy affordable food.</p>
<p>Grow Ohio Valley takes an integrated approach to food sovereignty in Wheeling, West Virginia, and the Upper Ohio Valley. “This part of the Appalachian Rustbelt has lost much of its population, jobs and economic base over the last generation. We want to promote health and wellness through fresh food, while helping to transform the urban landscape from falling-down buildings and vacant lots into productive community assets,” says founder Danny Swan.</p>
<p>The operation’s food hub aggregates produce from small local farmers, providing a guaranteed market for their produce and the opportunity to reach a larger market, usually only served by food grown thousands of miles away. The produce is supplemented by four urban farm sites run by the organization, including an apple orchard on the site of a demolished housing project.</p>
<p>Grow Ohio Valley also works to reach the “last-mile customers” that lack access to high-quality affordable produce via a mobile farmers’ market that goes to housing projects, senior communities and schools six days a week.</p>
<p>Their latest project, the Public Market, is a retail location on Wheeling’s Main Street that will serve as a year-round farmers’ market. The organization is also building alliances between local farmers and healthcare providers through a project called The Farmacy. A partnership with a local free clinic, it targets people suffering from diabetes and other diseases linked to poor diets with a doctor’s prescription for organic produce offered free through the organization’s CSA.</p>
<p>These urban agriculture pioneers are helping to not only grow food, but community, and are nurturing renewed connections to the Earth. City growing has so many benefits: decreasing packaging, costs and food miles traveled, making it easier to eat organic seasonal food and a more diverse diet. “The connection people feel when they plant seed and get to harvest the mature plant is transformative. Growing food is something we can all do to make a difference, for our health and the environment,” says Coleman.</p>
<p><br>
<em><a href="http://aprilwrites.com/">Connect with Washington, D.C. freelance writer April Thompson</a>.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<h3><strong>Tips From the Pioneers</strong></h3>
<p><img alt="Urban Agriculture Farming" src="//cdn3.locable.com/uploads/resource/file/574632/Urban-Farming.jpg"></p>
<p><em> Joshua Resnick/Shutterstock.com</em></p>
<p>Those that have never nurtured more than a houseplant shouldn’t be intimidated, says Wendy Coleman, founder of LA Urban Farms. “Growing food is easy and doesn’t require any special background,” says Coleman, who was green to growing when she started her business six years ago.</p>
<p>When growing commercially, find a niche, says Niraj Ray, of Cultivate the City. The company grows plants of ethnic or cultural significance to appeal to Asian, African and Latino populations, from the nutrition-packed moringa to okra, a staple of both Indian and African cooking, given it is a growing market for immigrant populations not served by most traditional garden centers.</p>
<p>Seek natural allies like sustainability-minded chefs to bolster an urban ag business. The farm-to-fork chef’s movement has been a boon for beekeepers and farmers, with chefs acting as patrons of the farms, according to beekeeping expert Teresa Coldwell. Sette Bello Ristorante, an Italian restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, funds vertical gardens at a community garden where the Coldwells have hives so its chef can have pure organic food like squash blossoms pollinated by local bees.</p>
<p>Urban farming has its pleasures and rewards, but can also bring hardships. Ray struggles with employee turnover when newbie farmers face the realities of working in the heat and rain, even from a sleek, trendy, rooftop garden.</p>
<p> </p>
<h3><strong>LET’S GET GROWING</strong></h3>
<p>For those interested in trying home growing or supporting metro area farmers, here are some resources for eating food grown in and around your zip code.</p>
<p>The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s <a href="https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/urban-agriculture-toolkit.pdf">Urban Agriculture Toolkit</a> walks prospective city farmers through all of the necessary steps to planning a successful urban agriculture operation, from soil testing to accessing financing.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.urbanfarming.org/">Urban Farming</a> features a clickable map of community gardens in the U.S. and beyond where neighbors can connect and grow together.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.csacoalition.org/">FairShare CSA Coalition</a>’s site offers an interactive Farm Search tool to find community supported agriculture (CSA) programs where city dwellers can subscribe to local farms and receive a share of the seasonal bounty.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://communitygarden.org/">American Community Garden Association</a> provides resources for finding, starting and managing community gardens.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.localharvest.org/">Local Harvest</a> has a searchable national directory of farmers’ markets, farms, CSAs and more.</p>
<p><br>
<em>This article appears in the July 2019 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p><hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:fd6dd968-618f-48da-937a-4aecf79c746b2019-08-15T21:42:16-07:002019-08-15T21:42:16-07:00Wonder Weed: Hemp to the Rescue at Detox Sites2019-06-28 09:38:00 -0700Anonymous<p><span class="dropcap">C</span>annabis is enjoying a renaissance of sorts, and one new application for hemp, the no-buzz industrial variety used in fabrics, oils and foods, is cleaning nuclear radiation from toxic soil and removing metals like cadmium, lead, mercury and other pollutants via phytoremediation. Allison Beckett, a cultivation expert at <a href="https://www.marijuana.com/">Marijuana.com</a>, says, “Industrial hemp has been used in areas of high radiation, such as Fukushima, [in Japan,] with promising results. Not only does hemp pull toxic, heavy metals from the soil, it actually improves soil structure, making it usable as productive farmland again. Plus, hemp is a vigorous plant that absorbs CO2 rapidly, making it an encouraging solution to climate change.” Hemp phytoremediation has been used in Italy to clean up the small town of Taranto, where a steel plant has been leaking dioxin into the air and soil. The Pennsylvania Industrial Hemp Council and Lehigh University, in Bethlehem, are running a project to test the process in an arsenic-contaminated area in Upper Saucon Township that once harbored a zinc mine.</p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the July 2019 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:704de832-8904-49a7-8ee0-2985b93d2f032019-08-15T21:55:44-07:002019-08-15T21:55:44-07:00Sunny Solution: Wastewater Turned into Hydrogen Fuel2019-06-28 09:38:00 -0700Anonymous<p><span class="dropcap">P</span>roducing pure hydrogen is expensive and energy intensive, but a research team at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, at Princeton University, used sunlight to pull hydrogen from industrial wastewater by using a specially designed chamber with a “Swiss cheese”-like black silicon interface. As reported in the journal <em>Energy & Environmental Science</em>, the process is aided by bacteria that generate electrical current when consuming organic matter in the wastewater; the current, in turn, aids in the water splitting. It “allows us to treat wastewater and simultaneously generate fuels,” says Jing Gu, a co-researcher and assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at San Diego State University. The scientists say the technology could appeal to refineries and chemical plants, which typically produce their own hydrogen from fossil fuels and face high costs for cleaning wastewater.</p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the July 2019 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:bd94a166-65ee-45b6-a38d-41c1beb6ac5c2019-08-19T11:57:40-07:002019-08-19T11:57:40-07:00From Soil to Gut: Growing a Dirty Healthy Life2019-06-25 21:00:00 -0700Craig Shelton and Dr. Donald Joergens, DC<p><span class="dropcap">O</span>ur environment, health and future is in a tailspin. Our loss of balance with Mother Nature has resulted in a rapidly warming world where soils and foods are contaminated with poisons and depleted in life bestowing nutrients and gut strengthening good dirt. Our bodies, weakened by poorly grown, nutritionally drained foods, are subject to more debilitating illnesses as we outpace our current “disease care” system.</p>
<p> Fortunately, Mother Nature does not require apologies—only the embrace of a dynamic balance within the natural order. The destiny of our children’s children as well as the current states of life for all is within our power to positively change.</p>
<p> Thankfully, strong activists are rising within the greatest vocations—the farmer and gardener. Hoisting bags of GMO-free seeds upon their shoulders while firmly grasping the tools to make beds from which a new future of foods will arise. The movement toward suburban and urban agriculture—private home gardens in the suburbs, urban neighborhoods that reclaim disused lots for edible plants, organic family farms near and far—energizes personal and community commitment to working with nature as we move away from factory farming with potash fertilizer, dead dirt, corrupted seeds, deadly pesticides and gene altering herbicides.</p>
<p> While this movement is a key step in the right direction, there are other vital concepts to incorporate as we move forward.</p>
<p><strong>Grow Healthy Topsoil</strong></p>
<p>All farms of 100 acres or more must be regenerative. Regenerative agriculture practices “grow” healthy topsoil instead of depleting it. It has been said that the most destructive invention of humankind is not the gun or nuclear power but the plow. Turning of topsoil not only releases carbon into the air but doesn’t allow for its recapturing back into the earth. Regenerative farming doesn’t turn the soil. Instead it incorporates the proper utilization of herd animals, management of a strong biodiversity within the root microbiome of cultivated plants and improved water cycle of the land to compel biosequestration—the capture and storage (sequestrate) of the atmospheric greenhouse gas of carbon dioxide, a main player in global warming, and returns it back into the earth! This enriches the topsoil and all that is produced from it.</p>
<p><strong>Protect the Microbiome</strong></p>
<p>Root systems, including the fungal branches that connect plants one to another in a brain like communication, have their own and extremely necessary microbiome. A microbiome is the collection of microorganisms necessary for the health of a particular environment. The vast diversity of bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses within each of us comes from the microorganisms within the soil.</p>
<p> Microbiome also means the genetics and the potential expression for healthy responses or, more likely, unhealthy reactions from the community of friends living within our gut. What is less understood is that every plant also has a gut. The soil is the gut of the plant. Soil that is healthy supports a thriving microbiome, which can be passed onto us to refresh our own gut health. Our increasing knowledge about the impact of food on our health makes caring for our food supply from the ground up critical. Determining a scientific link between food and conditions like ADD/HD, autism, Alzheimer’s, anxiety, depression, cancer and more is challenging, but those with the conditions often report improvement through a dedicated diet of food grown in healthy ways.</p>
<p> Everyone benefits when soils are a net carbon sink. Through our food choices and farming and gardening practices we all have the opportunity to influence how soil is managed. Profitable agriculture, nutrient-dense food, clean water, and vibrant communities can be ours… if that is what we choose.</p>
<p>Craig Shelton is CEO at AEON Holistic Agriculture, Inc., an organization formed to demonstrate that large-scale sustainable agriculture is more profitable and makes farmland more valuable than the dominant model of commercial agriculture in the U.S. today. In addition, he teaches about sustainability, agriculture and food at Princeton University. For details, visit AEONHolisticAgriculture.com.</p>
<p><em>Dr. Donald Joergens, DC, has been an innovative thinker for over 25 years. His discoveries within cutting-edge functional neuroscience and its connection with the natural world, reflect his powerful understanding of how the principles in functional brain-based methods impact the lives of all people. For more information, visit <a href="http://FunctionalBrainTraining.com">FunctionalBrainTraining.com</a>.</em></p>
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<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:a2555209-3c5f-48a4-8119-ff45075e5f742019-08-15T21:05:59-07:002020-02-19T14:20:58-08:00Green Surfing: Search Engine Company Plants Trees2019-06-04 17:29:58 -0700Rachael Oppy<p>Internet users can help fight global deforestation even while surfing. German online search engine <a href="https://www.ecosia.org/">Ecosia</a>, now used in 183 countries, diverts its advertising revenue from click-throughs to planting trees worldwide to the tune of more than 52 million since 2009. With each search, the company says, it removes around two-and-a-half pounds of carbon dioxide from the air. Christian Kroll, Ecosia’s founder, wrote, “Climate change is a very real threat, and if we’re to stop the world heating above the 1.5 degrees warned about in the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] report, we need to plant trees at scale.” Kroll suggests that if Ecosia were to get as big as Google, they could absorb 15 percent of all global carbon dioxide emissions. Users can find it at <a href="https://www.ecosia.org/">Ecosia.org</a>.</p>
<p><br>
<em>This article appears in the June 2019 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p><hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:60b21385-c869-4e44-ab70-3efceb9217612019-08-15T21:40:20-07:002019-08-15T21:40:20-07:00Aqua Breakthrough: Clean Water Solution in the Pipeline2019-06-04 17:29:57 -0700Anonymous<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>ith the world facing a future of climate change and water scarcity, finding an environmental way to cleanse drinking water is paramount. Researchers in China contend they are working on a method to remove bacteria from water that’s both highly efficient and environmentally sound. By shining ultraviolet light onto a two-dimensional sheet of graphitic carbon nitride, the team’s prototype can purify two-and-a-half gallons of water in one hour, killing virtually all the harmful bacteria present. This technique of photocatalytic disinfection is an alternative to current eco-unfriendly water filtration systems such as chlorination or ozone disinfection.</p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the June 2019 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:95d6d9ad-4f09-4070-b408-2b604785695b2019-08-15T21:33:57-07:002019-08-15T21:33:57-07:00Revamping Recycling: China Forces U.S. Cities to Change Specs2019-06-04 17:29:53 -0700Anonymous<p><span class="dropcap">C</span>hina, one of the world’s main importers of recyclable waste, is rejecting shipments that are more than 0.5 percent impure, so loads contaminated by a greasy pizza box, disposable coffee cups and the odd plastic bag could end up in the local landfill instead. Most single-use cups, for instance, are lined with a fine film of polyethylene, which makes the cups liquid-proof, but also difficult and expensive to reprocess. Most waste management facilities will treat the cups as trash. Since China banned impure plastics, many U.S. municipalities no longer accept plastics numbered 3 to 7, which can include yogurt cups, butter tubs and vegetable oil bottles. Another contamination culprit is food residue. Washing out food scraps from recyclables can be just as important as putting the appropriate item in the recycling bin.</p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the June 2019 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:1d2250e0-5e63-4b5f-88d2-271a7a2220272019-08-15T22:16:23-07:002021-02-25T10:18:36-08:00Mold Matters: Kill It Naturally2019-06-04 17:29:49 -0700Rachael Oppy<p>Heavy rains, leaky pipes and floods can lead to mold growth, which can create poor and even toxic indoor air quality. Irritating the eyes, skin, nose, throat and lungs of both mold-sensitive and non-allergic people, mold can also cause immediate or delayed respiratory symptoms; some can be extremely severe in individuals prone to asthma.</p>
<p>The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns that people with a weakened immune system are at higher risk of health effects from mold, which can also instigate a chronic cough. Toxic reactions can include pulmonary hemorrhaging in infants and memory loss in young children.</p>
<p>A roof leak, burst pipe or malfunctioning water heater can all set the stage for mold to take root, sometimes hidden behind walls and cabinetry. Even in homes that haven’t been damaged by excessive water, mold can be found wherever humidity levels are high, including basements, garages and showers. Proper ventilation and repair of leaky fixtures can help keep mold growth at bay.</p>
<p>According to the CDC, mold growth can be removed from hard surfaces with soap and water. Natural antimicrobials such as plain white vinegar and baking soda are also powerful cleansers; tea tree oil is a natural, antibacterial and antiseptic fungicide that can kill black mold on impermeable surfaces.</p>
<p>Remediation of extensive mold growth on drywall and other permeable building materials is best left to professionals to arrest its spread and prevent toxic spores from becoming airborne. There are many companies that use eco-friendly “green” methods and materials.</p>
<p>If choosing to go the DIY route, sequester the area to be worked on and use specialized HEPA filters and a respirator to avoid inhaling spores. Use protective goggles and gloves throughout the entire process.</p>
<p>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency suggests that surface sampling may be useful to determine if an area has been adequately cleaned or remediated. Sampling for mold should be conducted by professionals that have specific experience in designing mold sampling protocols, sampling methods and interpreting results.</p>
<p><br>
<em>This article appears in the June 2019 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p><hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:53b9c8c8-6baa-4451-a7ec-e1f445c273cc2019-08-15T21:49:42-07:002019-08-15T21:49:43-07:00Norwegian Nudge: Countries Learn from Recycling Strategy2019-05-31 08:46:58 -0700Anonymous<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>n Norway, up to 97 percent of the country’s plastic bottles are recycled, and other countries are taking note. The government’s environmental taxes reward companies that are eco-friendly. If a company recycles more than 95 percent of its plastic, then its tax is dropped. Customers pay a deposit on each bottled product they buy. To get back their money, they must return their used bottles to one of the 3,700 machines found in the country’s supermarkets and convenience stores. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates that if current global trends continue, plastic trash in the ocean will outweigh fish by 2050.</p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the June 2019 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:d83856cb-4a8a-4d62-bd52-f9012f84fbee2019-08-15T22:04:55-07:002020-09-26T06:00:01-07:00Pre-Wired for the Future: Transportation Drives Urban Planning2019-05-31 08:46:50 -0700Jim Motavalli<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>he Congress for the New Urbanism, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy nonprofit, has some decisive views about what makes a walkable community: “complete streets” that are designed for bicyclists, pedestrians and transit. What it doesn’t have is cars—at least not those with tailpipes.</p>
<p>City planners are increasingly designing green buildings without parking, and mandating—where it exists—that wiring for zero-emission electric vehicles (EV) is part of the plan. Oslo, Norway, for instance, has become known as the electric car capital of the world, yet it has also replaced considerable on-street parking with bike lanes and sidewalks. Its city center went mostly car-free this year, and according to <em>Fast Company</em> magazine, it’s a huge success: “Parking spots are now bike lanes, transit is fast and easy, and the streets (and local businesses) are full of people.”</p>
<p>Until recently, a new apartment building without parking was unthinkable, but architects are now contemplating—and building—just such new construction. A 13,000-square-foot, mixed-use development in Boston is being built with 16 rental units—and no onsite parking. Boston is a transit-friendly city and the complex is just a quarter mile from a Red Line subway stop. The city is a hub for what the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Institute, a project of the U.S. High Speed Rail Association, calls “the creation of compact, walkable, pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use communities centered around high-quality train systems.”</p>
<p>Also proposed in the city is a five-story, 56-unit apartment building that features a gym, media room, a rack for several dozen bicycles—but no parking. The structure is adjacent to the Red Line, and the plan aligns with efforts by the Boston Planning and Development Agency to reduce—to zero in some cases—the ratio of units to parking spaces.</p>
<p>The Boston Redevelopment Authority has expressed concern that the residents of buildings without parking will simply add to congestion on neighborhood streets, but a report by Atlantic Cities (now called CityLab) found that 45 percent of residents in five census tracts around one proposed car-free Boston building didn’t even own cars, so a possible “no cars” covenant could be part of a lease.</p>
<p>According to the Smart Growth America report <em>Empty Spaces</em>, most TOD developments build reduced parking lots, yet even those turned out to be too big; on average, its study of five such developments shows they were 58 to 84 percent occupied.</p>
<h3>Wiring for EVs: It’s the Law</h3>
<p>It can be expensive to retrofit buildings with wiring for electric cars, because “trenching” under existing pavement is usually required. A California Air Resources Board report in 2015 put these costs per building at between $3,750 and $6,975, and that’s just for the wiring. Costs are reduced 64 to 75 percent if the buildings are wired when they’re built, according to an Energy Solutions/Pacific Gas and Electric report.</p>
<p class="pullquote">It’s super-important to prewire for EVs. New buildings will last for 50 to 100 years, and in that time, EVs will become a much bigger slice of our transportation future than they are now. <br>
~Tom Saxton, Plug In America</p>
<p>California has become the leader in requiring EV prewiring in new construction of multifamily dwellings and nonresidential developments. The state began requiring wiring for Level 2 (240-volt) EV charging in 2015.</p>
<p>Chelsea Sexton, a Los Angeles-based electric car advocate and advisor, backs the state law, with caveats. “Where there is parking included,” she says, “most buildings and public lots should be pre-wired for EV charging—while it is the most cost effective to do so and preserves the most flexibility for that property going forward.”</p>
<p>It’s not just California. Atlanta passed a city ordinance in 2017 that will require all new residential homes and public parking areas to accommodate EVs. Some 20 percent of the spaces have to be ready to be connected. In Washington state, 5 percent of parking spaces in new construction have to be wired for EVs. In Colorado, which has the goal of nearly a million EVs on state roads by 2030, the cities of Denver, Fort Collins, Boulder and Aspen all require new one- and two-family residential construction to be EV-ready. There are also EV-friendly laws in New York City, Hawaii, Oregon and Montgomery County, Maryland.</p>
<p>Tom Saxton, the chief science officer of the Plug In America advocacy group, based in Los Angeles, says, “It’s super-important to prewire for EVs. New buildings will last for 50 to 100 years, and in that time, EVs will become a much bigger slice of our transportation future than they are now.”</p>
<p><br>
<em><a href="http://jimmotavalli.com/">Jim Motavalli</a>, of Fairfield, CT, is an author and freelance journalist.</em></p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the June 2019 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:b0cb9855-80c4-4c45-a44e-c13b4862e4bb2019-08-19T11:57:31-07:002019-08-19T11:57:31-07:00Enhancing Intuition with Young Living Essential Oils Workshop2019-05-25 10:51:00 -0700Anonymous<p><span class="dropcap">N</span>ancy Orlen Weber, author of <em>The Life of a Psychic Detective, </em>transformed her life from a crime victim to a crime solver when she began to view the challenges she faced as an opportunity to trust her intuition and respect her soul’s guidance. Her powerful spiritual suggestions have deeply impacted her readers, and she continues to develop her psychic gifts. She uses her intuition and psychic gifts for everything from day-to-day choices to medical intuitive, working as a medium and on crime cases. On June 22, Nancy will present her workshop, “Enhancing Intuition with Young Living Essential Oils,” at Blossoming into Light, in Chester. The class will teach participants how to respect and nurture their own gifts in order to manifest them into a powerful tool for both themselves and the world.</p>
<p> Nancy suggests that people bring a journal and one photo of someone (living or deceased, person or pet), placed in a sealed envelope. Nancy brings a world of ideas to all who seek to make a difference in their own lives and others. There will be a book signing at the end of class.</p>
<p><em>Location: Blossoming into Light, 401 Route 24, Chester. For more information, visit <a href="http://NancyOrlenWeber.com">NancyOrlenWeber.com</a>.</em></p>
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<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:ef20ac62-aa81-4bb7-b977-0bdfc874811b2019-08-15T21:17:38-07:002019-08-15T21:17:38-07:00Plants Talk: Discover Their Secret Language2019-04-30 11:45:10 -0700April Thompson<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>hile flowers are known to lean toward light, a growing body of research is demonstrating plants also respond to sounds and scents—and then herald the news to their neighbors. Far from being passive life forms, members of the plant kingdom are adept at interacting with their environments and with each other.</p>
<p>“Plants don’t have specialized sense organs, but like animals, plants are very capable of sensing their environment. They perceive cues, weigh different alternatives and allocate resources in very sophisticated ways,” says Richard Karban, professor of entomology at the University of California at Davis and the author of <em>Plant Sensing and Communication</em>.</p>
<h3>Better Living Through Chemistry</h3>
<p>Early evidence of plant communication was discovered by accident, according to Jack Schultz, senior executive director of research development at the University of Toledo, in Ohio. “In the 1970s, researchers began to notice plants under attack respond by increasing defensive chemistry—things that make a plant distasteful or toxic to predators,” he says. Researchers noticed that control plants also seemed to respond to their neighbors being attacked.</p>
<p>Since then, Schultz, Karban and other investigators have discovered that plants emit complex profiles of odors in the form of volatile compounds that can be picked up by other plants, as well as insects. Studying sagebrush in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Karban found that plants under duress emit chemical cues that trigger nearby plants to increase their defenses.</p>
<p class="pullquote">We underestimate what plants can do because their communication is invisible to us. <br>
~Heidi Appel</p>
<p>These odors vary with the type of threat and time, working to attract pollinators during the day and fending off enemies at night, Schultz says. A plant being eaten by an insect may release a chemical that attracts predatory insects looking for herbivore prey. “There is a clear adaptive advantage in attracting the ‘enemy of your enemy’, who can act as a bodyguard for the plant being attacked.”</p>
<p>Smells are just part of a plant’s multisensory life, says Heidi Appel, a professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Toledo and one of Schultz’s collaborators. Appel’s research with collaborator Rex Cocroft, at the University of Missouri, demonstrates they’re listening for threats, too.</p>
<p>Her lab exposed plants from the mustard family to the sound of a caterpillar feeding, with control plants in silence or “listening” to a recording of the wind or other insects, and found that those vibrations didn’t effect the same defensive-priming response as that of the plant-munching caterpillar. “Plants have no special sense organs, so their sophisticated sense of hearing is very surprising,” says Appel.</p>
<h3>Nature’s Networks</h3>
<p>Karban’s lab isolated plants to determine that their chemical signals were transmitted by air rather than soil or root systems. Yet researcher Suzanne Simard, a professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, is digging into the underground connections, finding that trees are interacting with one another below the ground in complex ways.</p>
<p class="pullquote">Plants have no special sense organs, so their sophisticated sense of hearing is very surprising.<br>
~Heidi Appel</p>
<p>Trees have a symbiotic relationship with fungi that’s built on a mutually beneficial exchange of nutrients, says Simard. This underground network links root systems of trees together, enabling them to exchange carbon, water and other nutrients in a kind of natural balance sheet. Simard discovered these networks had hubs—typically older “mother trees”—that can connect to hundreds of saplings and send them excess carbon that can quadruple their survival rates.</p>
<p>Simard also found that trees engage in “defense signaling” similar to plants, increasing their natural defenses in response to damage inflicted on their neighbors, but only if the mycorrhizal networks of fungi that aid in sending such messages are intact. Simard’s research seeks to understand how environmental threats like climate change and logging may further disrupt these communication networks.</p>
<p>Recognizing all of the communication that exists between plants, we might wonder if human words of encouragement can help them grow. Perhaps, but not for the reasons one might hope, says Appel. “Whenever we feel a sense of connection to another life form, we are more likely to take better care of it,” says the researcher. “We underestimate what plants can do because their communication is invisible to us. Yet we also have to be careful about overestimating their abilities. We need an understanding to be driven by science, and not wishful thinking.”</p>
<p><br>
<em><a href="http://aprilwrites.com/">April Thompson</a> is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C.</em></p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the May 2019 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:ffdefa1e-8533-43d2-8e03-a75c42973c262019-08-15T22:21:09-07:002020-08-28T05:27:33-07:00Skip the Slip: Digital Receipts Gain Momentum2019-04-30 08:46:37 -0700Anonymous<p><span class="dropcap">C</span>ompared to newspapers, magazines and junk mail, retail sales receipts may seem inconsequential in their use of trees and their footprint on the environment. Yet, getting and handling that tabulation of a sale is a health hazard that contributes to landfills. Certainly, some receipts are required for tax records and product returns, but the vast majority serve no future purpose; there’s also a better and safer option than paper.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.treehugger.com/">TreeHugger</a> reports the annual waste from receipts in the U.S. totals 686 million pounds, and that skipping receipts would save 12 billion pounds of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of 1 million cars on the road. The problem is getting worse as many retail outlets include special offers and other promotional information on receipts, making them longer and the corresponding amount of paper used greater.</p>
<p>The Ecology Center, an educational nonprofit located in San Juan Capistrano, California, estimates that 93 percent of paper receipts are coated with Bisphenol-A (BPA) or Bisphenol-S (BPS), endocrine disrupters that are used as color developers to help make the receipts more legible. However, the presence of either makes them ineligible for recycling.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://greenamerica.org/">Green America</a>, BPA that can be “absorbed into our bodies through our hands in mere seconds,” can impact fetal development and “is linked to reproductive impairment, Type 2 diabetes, thyroid conditions and other health concerns.” Employees that regularly handle receipts have 30 percent more BPA or BPS in their bodies.</p>
<p>In January, California Assembly member Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) introduced legislation (AB 161) nicknamed “skip the slip”, which would require retailers to offer digital receipts to customers. If it passes, it will be the first such law in the country.</p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the May 2019 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>