Yard
Peak phosphorus ... peak soil
Inside Waste Weekly / 19 January 2010
The greed of the global economy has forgotten that you can’t have a labourer in China make cheap clothes for the world market without food. And you can’t feed that labourer without soil. The global economy has forgotten that it is nothing without soil.
Every cheap shirt, every cheap car, every cheap tool, represents some part of a nation’s soil. We are nothing without soil. We don’t exist without soil.
Recycle “Useless” Items into “New” Garden Tools
University of California, Cooperative Extension
Dreaming about buying that new "perfect" tool? Forget it. Recycling and inventing new uses for household items can be more productive and certainly less expensive. Some items can gain whole new lives as garden tools, and developing new uses for dependable old standbys can open a whole new world of possibilities. All of these "new" tools will ease your gardening chores for many years, and you'll feel the pride and delight that comes with creating a new use for what might have been discarded.
GoodGuide ... for ethical shopping
This site was discussed in a Bill Moyers interview with Daniel Goleman, author of Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing The Hidden Impacts Of What We Buy Can Change Everything. Goleman claims that sites such as this provide 'radical transparency' to our purchase decisions. And his research suggests that ethical buying is NOT always more costly!
Increasingly, you want to know about the impacts of the products you buy. On your health. On the environment. On society. But unless you’ve got a Ph.D, it is almost impossible to find out the impacts of the products you buy. Until now…
GoodGuide provides the world's largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of the products in your home.
Mow Power, Less Gas
Wall Street Journal / Gwedolyn Bounds / 21 May 2009
Over the past month, I've trimmed my grass four times, sliced firewood with a chainsaw, torn up lawn to reseed and weed-whacked my overgrown two-acre property.
And I haven't used a single drop of gasoline.
It's shaping up to be the summer of the "alternative energy" outdoor power tools. From battery mowers and garden cultivators to a new propane-propelled string trimmer, manufacturers and retailers are rolling out consumer machines that run on gas substitutes and boast lower emissions and fewer maintenance headaches.
"It Starts At Home - Optimal Environmental Lifestyle Guide"
Community & Primary Health Care of Brockville has just released "It Starts At Home - Optimal Environmental Lifestyle Resource Guide". With hundreds of simple everyday tips for a greener lifestyle, this resource guide is the perfect:
- Housewarming or Hostess Gift
- Bridal or Baby Shower Extra
- All Natural Recipe Guide for Home and Garden
- Source to Help You Further Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
- User Friendly Strategy for Greening Your Life
News: We're green (kind of)
Globe and Mail / Sarah Boesveld / 10 December 2008
We may be champions when it comes to hauling our blue boxes to the curb, but Canadians are less aware of the impact their consumer habits have on greenhouse-gas emissions, according to two new studies from Statistics Canada.
Canadian households shoulder nearly half of the responsibility for greenhouse gasses emitted into the atmosphere by the nation, most of which come from the gas our vehicles guzzle, the electricity we use and the products we buy, the study on household greenhouse-gas emissions suggests.
Earth's salvation in urban forests
The Toronto Star / Reese Halter / 08 October 2007
In a remarkably short time, most people on our planet have come to see climate change as the most pressing issue facing us. However, our world leaders remain, in large part, evasive and unwilling to commit to concrete programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper seems to specialize in giving lip service to voluntary cuts in greenhouse gases, but it is actually a city mayor who is making the ambitious moves to back up his public statements. Toronto Mayor David Miller has put bold plans in place to reduce his city's environmental footprint, while still accommodating inevitable growth in the coming decades.
