Garden / Nature
How to Organic Garden: Learning to Grow My Own
Each week I fill my grocery cart with organic fruits and vegetables. It takes a lot of produce to feed my family of five but the cost is well worth it—after all, a healthy family is my most valued asset. I’ve always wanted to learn how to organic garden, and grow my own f...
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The Tao of Gardening
Taoism is an ancient philosophy; the principles were first laid out by Lao Tzu in the “Tao Te Ching. ” The Tao Te Ching begins with the premise that it is impossible to define the “Tao” without rendering it something other than what it is. Nevertheless, “Tao” has been bro...
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3 Ways To Make Yard Work Greener
It’s very easy to get dirty when working in the yard yet what ends up on our hands and clothing isn’t true guck and grime. That’s because in reality the earth is clean and nature is constantly renewing itself as a place for life to exist.Ironically, because of limite...
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Preparing For Bug Season
Anyone who is an avid camper or outdoor enthusiast knows the trauma of bug season. Whether you come across black flies, horse flies, fire ants or mosquitoes, these tiny creatures create giant-sized annoyances. They fly up your nose, buzz in your ear and potentially leave ...
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What Is A Vertical Farm?
More than half of the planets human population now lives in urban settings. And that number is expected to increase to 80 percent within the next 40 years. While much of our food still comes from rural settings—being trucked or flown into our local supermarkets— an urban ...
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Harness the Power of Water to Raise the Dead
What do a high society girl, the father of Permaculture and Dr. Frankenstein all have in common? They all practice the art of resurrection.The principles of restoring our landscape are simple, ancient and basic. In a recent article published in Oprah Magazine titled “The ...
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Forest Burials Help Conserve Ecosystems
We are familiar with the concept that we can vote with our dollars, also that we can vote with our feet, but really, we can also vote with our bodies. Access to green burial grounds and services have started to expand as more people look for alternatives to conventional d...
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Don't Release Your Pet Into the Wild
Giant pythons, anacondas and boa constrictors taking over an ecosystem . . . It sounds like a horror movie, but this is a reality in Floridas Everglades.None of the 150,000 Burmese pythons that inhabit the Everglades are native. Theyre there because pet owners decided let...
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Help Save Tigers With One Text (and $10)
2010 is the year of the tiger and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is pulling out all the stops in a Year of the Tiger campaign aimed at saving the endangered cat. With as few as 3,200 tigers left in existence, WWF has embarked on an ambitious plan to double the number of tigers ...
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Farming Helps Iraq and Afghanistan Vets Heal
Nature has an immense power to heal, and an interesting trend is building among veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: some are turning to the land to heal the emotional damage wrought by war.The concept of farming as therapy for vets was featured at the Coalition ...
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15 Ways to Practice Water Conservation
Water is a precious commodity, and Americans and Canadians use more water per capita than people in any other part of the world. A lot of the water we use is wasted, but you can save a lot of water between simple adjustments and water-saving fixtures and appliances.Here a...
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Foraging is Green Eating at its Purest
When people think of eco-friendly foods, they often think of organic foods and family farms. But foraging for wild foods is perhaps the purest way to eat green. Foraging is harvesting indigenous, wild plants and fungi, as well as fishing and hunting—its all about eating w...
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5 Tips for Water-Saving Lawn Maintenance
As temperatures rise throughout the summer, conserving water isnt just something good you can do for the environment—its often a necessity, especially in areas prone to drought and municipalities that draw water from aquifers. Its easy to see why so many municipalities impose ...
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Use Food Scraps to Help Your Garden Thrive
Gardens offer plenty of environmental and aesthetic benefits. But managing your garden can be tough on the planet if youre using chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Pesticides can be dangerous. According to Beyond Pesticides, a national organization that advocates for pes...
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Land Purchase Could Save Red Hills Salamander
A little salamander that is found in only a handful of counties in south Alabama got a boost from the Nature Conservancy last week. The Red Hills salamander is the only species in its genus, and the endangered amphibian could face extinction if its habitat isnt protected. ...
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Nature Poetry Stirs the Soul
Theres a lot of stigma attached to poetry. For many, the word poetry evokes memories of being forced to recite poems or delve into complex meanings. But theres something to be said for taking the time to appreciate art forms. Poets seem to have a special way of showing us the ...
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GM Soy Doesn't Produce Higher Yields
Easier growing and a higher yield are just two of the purported benefits of genetically modified crops, but a Greenpeace report suggests Monsantos GM soya isnt living up to the promise. Beginning in the late-1990s, studies were showing that Monsantos Roundup Ready soya wa...
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Plague Hits Prairie Dog, Black-Footed Ferret
Plague once struck mortal fear in humans, but its a thing of the past, right? Not so, according to research published in a special issue of the journal Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, which focused solely on plague. Two of the papers in the issue were co-authored by a...
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Herbicide Atrazine Morphing Male Frogs
The herbicide atrazine is wreaking havoc on the sex of adult male frogs, a study out of the University of California, Berkeley has found. About three-quarters of the frogs studied were chemically emasculated, while another 10 percent or more essentially became females—to the e...
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Frequent Forest Fires Could Help Ecosystems
About half of the overstory trees were killed in the B&B Complex fire in 2003 near Canyon Creek in the central Oregon Cascade Range, yet a high level of tree survival and vegetation rapidly recovered, as can be seen in this photo taken in 2007. This type of burning and re-gro...
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Reforestation Project to Help Boost Biodiversity
A reforestation project in Brazil's critically endangered Atlantic Forest been handed a boon in the form of CCB certification, only the second project to earn this prestigious designation, which is administered by the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance. The proj...
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Plan Your Vegetable Garden in the Winter
Raw peas warmed by the sunshine, tiny carrots so sweet you can barely resist letting them mature; it always feels like the wait for fresh, homegrown foods is endless in the dead of winter. But as you’re pining for crisp climbing beans and fresh lettuce, you might want to put t...
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Swap Your Favorite Seeds on Jan. 31
From the bizarre to the solemn, there are all sorts of monthly, weekly and daily observances. There are the national holidays such as Veterans Day, and you might have heard of Pirate Day, but did you know there's a day devoted to swapping seeds? National Seed Swap Day falls...
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Get Active and Enjoy Nature This Winter
When winter settles in and that cold Arctic wind is howling, you might feel like staying in with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book, but it's important to get out to get fresh air and exercise. And the good news is, just about all winter outdoor activities are as eco-fri...
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Bluefin Tuna: On the Verge of Collapse?
Bluefin tuna is on the verge of total collapse. Maybe. It depends on who you ask. We may have been talking about bluefin tuna shortages for years, but many scientists and conservation bodies are now sounding panicked. This week, the International Commission for the Conservation ...
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EPA Ban on Insecticide Carbofuran Starts in 2010
As of the end of the year, one more pesticide will be absent from food crops grown in the United States. In May the EPA ruled that the current residue limits of the insecticide carbofuran on food crops was too high, and the agency has now decided to fully revoke carbofuran toler...
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Renegade GM Flax Seed Contaminating Crops
It sounds like science fiction: A genetically modified flax seed—named after an experimental plant in a sci-fi flick—is popping up in flax seed harvested in Canada's prairie. This might not be so strange in today's world of genetically modified foods if it weren't ...
Read more...Chew on This: Andover Hires Goats to Mow Meadow
A Boston suburb is sidelining commercial mowers in favor of a local farmer's goats to maintain a public meadow. Six dairy goats will chow down on a 3.5-acre meadow that is part of the Virginia Hammond Reservation, a conservation area in Andover. The plan makes sense on seve...
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Ireland Bans Genetically Modified Crops
Prince Charles has called it the biggest environmental disaster of all time, while Monsanto and others maintain its safe for humans and the environment. Genetically modified foods are a contentious issue, but Ireland is erring on the side of caution, placing a ban on growing a...
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Yellowstone Grizzlies Back on Endangered List
Two years after the grizzly bears of Yellowstone Park were removed from the Endangered Species List, a federal district judge in Montana has ordered the bears be placed back on it. According to United States District Court Judge Donald Molloy's 46-page ruling, the re-listin...
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Plant Barcodes to Help ID Endangered Species
After four years of research, scientists have decided on a standard DNA barcode for identifying plants. It sounds cool, if you like science (which I do), but is it perhaps one of those findings thats great if youre a researcher, but pretty much useless to the rest of the world...
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Repel Mosquitoes, Other Bugs Naturally
As we welcome spring and summer, we prepare to take in the warm weather and fresh air. However, along with enjoying these perks comes the worry about West Nile Virus and other diseases transmitted by mosquitoes and ticks.Prevention From the Inside OutLow immunity may...
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Greenpeace Stops Bottom Trawling in Swedish Seas
I'm often on the fence regarding Greenpeace's methods, which can cross the line from activism to radicalism. But I can't help but love a recent approach the organization took to dealing with a tangled net of European politics. Last Monday, Greenpeace activists dump...
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Found Flowers: The Eco-Alternative to Cut Flowers
Who doesn't love some pretty flowers on a windowsill, table or desk? Somehow they just transform any space, making it more fresh and lively. But cut flowers are expensive. And between the giant carbon footprint, fair trade issues and the pesticides used, I have some reserv...
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Savvy DIY: Gardening Workstation
My aunt is a gardening guru. My uncle was the king of DIY. So when their barbecue finally had to be replaced, it came as no surprise that he concocted a portable gardening workstation from the old barbecue and a few wood boards he had kicking around.My aunt was a little ske...
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The Latest Buzz On Disappearing Honey Bees
The good news: Honey bee colony losses were down this past winter compared to losses during the two previous ones. The bad news: A whopping 29 percent of honey bee colonies vanished between September 2008 and April 2009.These newly released stats are the results of a survey...
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Green Your Garden
Author: Radha MarcumThumb not green enough for organic gardening? Challenge that thought.Not only is gardening without chemicals healthier for your family, your pets, and nearby ecosystems, but it isnt as complicated as it may seem, say the experts. Its all about sma...
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Delawn and Get Gardening
It happened this week. The first dandelion of the season made an appearance on my lawn. (It seems like they just—poof!—appear overnight.) Every summer my yard is riddled with those yellow weeds until I drag out the lawnmower and lop off their heads. But this year things may cha...
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Grow Seedlings in Junk Containers
We might be moving full speed ahead into winter, but it's time to start thinking spring. No, I'm not joking, and I'm not being cruel. Whether you're a seasoned gardener or a novice, if you want to get a jump on the growing (and eating) season, now is the tim...
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Evolution of The Lawn
How did we get so into grass?Early lawns were nothing more than pasture and became popular in Europe from the Middle Ages onward, but it wasn’t until the Tudor and Elizabethan eras that the garden and the lawn became a place to be loved and admired. In these times, lawns ...
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