If you’re somewhere in the world connected to the media, be it the paper, TV, magazines, or internet (and I have a feeling you are), you then know about the sexiest movement growing across the nation. No, not Zumba, I’m talking about the Grow-Your-Own movement that is capturing the hearts and tastebuds of people worldwide. Sadly, for those with limited spaces, gardening may seem less empowering when you wonder how you and your closet-sized balcony can participate in the coolest emerging activity in town. Thankfully, that’s why being connected helps. Read more…
Photo: pgoings
By 2050 the world’s population is projected to reach 9.1 billion. So we’re gonna need more food, 70% more to be exact. But as the population continues to grow, land available for cultivation becomes scarcer. Imagine if you will towering glass skyscrapers where each floor isn’t an office or apartment, but an orchard. Not only does this create farmable land out of thin air, but it would also slash the costs and carbon emissions associated with transporting food long distances. But wait, there’s more; it would also reduce spoilage and the use of pesticides. Read more…
Photo Credit: Brajeshwar
Lately fishing has been getting a bad rep, but don’t rule out seafood quite yet! Fisheries and even local chefs are making efforts to clear up confusion and teach people ways you can still enjoy seafood while remaining sustainable. Read more…
Photo Credit: Aaron Weber
Sure, you try to eat organic fruits and vegetables as often as possible, but every once in awhile non-organic produce undoubtedly finds its way into your shopping cart. According to a new report from the Environmental Working Group, that may be more dangerous than you think. The nonprofit group, which is focused on public health, poured over 100,000 produce pesticide reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to uncover what fruits and vegetables have the highest—and lowest—amounts of chemical residue. Read more…
You may not like it or what youʻve heard about it. You may not like what it sells or what the company symbolizes. But no matter what you think, Walmart is still the largest grocer in the world, making it a catalyst for agricultural change in any form. And lucky for sustainability activists, today Walmart took a huge step in the right direction by pledging to double the sales of locally sourced produce (grown in the state which it will be sold) and will “begin holding farms accountable for the amount of water, energy, fertilizer and pesticides used to grow food.” Read more…
Invasive plants are an ever-looming problem around the world, affecting native food webs, availability of water, and overall plant biodiversity. Easily navigating their way on plane, car, boat, and boot, the problem becomes all the more daunting when you look out the window and realize nearly every plant you see is not, in fact, in its original environment. Although some invasives have a much larger impact on their host environment than others, it’s the immensity of the invasive populations that make any eradication solution less than than appetizing. Unless, of course, you have a fork. Read more…
Photo Credit: Shutterstock
Did you know that indoor air pollution is the 4th largest health risk in the developing world? Or that exposure to cookstove smoke kills nearly 2 million people every year? That is a life lost every 16 seconds.
Every year, according to the United Nations, 1.9 million people are killed from the toxic smoke produced from makeshift indoor stoves used in developing countries. Those most affected are women and children, who are likely to spend the majority of their time indoors with a close proximity to the smoke, and suffer from lung and heart diseases as well as low birth weight. People living in poverty in the Third World commonly fuel their stoves with crop waste, wood, coal and dung, which are simply the only materials available to them. Wood is difficult to come by due to deforestation from development, population pressure, as well as expansion of agriculture and land degradation. The toxicity from these primitive stoves is a leading cause of death and disease, but is also the second biggest contributor to global warming, after the industrial use of fossil fuels. Read more…
Fracking, a funny word well worth remembering. If you’ve been listening to NPR recently, you will know that fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a drilling technique that involves blasting millions of tons of chemical-laced water into the ground to release natural gas trapped thousands of feet underground. The goal: mining natural gas deposits. The consequences: your drinking water now lights on fire. Read more…
Photo Credit: Gabriel Herrera
We all know smoking kills, right?
If this is news to you, then you may be interested in the fact that cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals (200 of which are known to be poisonous) and over 60 have been identified as carcinogens. The harmful consequences associated with smoking are staggering! Lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, blocked blood vessels and a large variety of other ailments and diseases are commonly associated with tobacco smokers. Read more…
Photo Credit: Liz West
If you aren’t already aware, there are certain foods out there that can actually help fight cancer- and some that just can’t. With a growing desire for health in a world where we are surrounded by toxins, it is beneficial to become educated on those foods that are exceptionally good at sustaining the health of our bodies. Let’s take a moment to examine a few odds and ends that decrease our risk of cancer, and possess many additional health benefits. Read more…
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