Author:

Categories
Environmentalism

How Reusable Bags Change Shopping Decisions.

  • Post author By
  • Post date 
Do you see this effect at your house?

Taking reusable bags to the supermarket can help identify the environmentally friendly shopper but a new study has now discovered the products they are more likely to buy.

New research in the Journal of Marketing reveals unsurprisingly that shoppers who take their own bags are more likely to purchase organic food – and more surprisingly, junk food as well.

The study describes: “Grocery store shoppers who bring their own bags are more likely to purchase healthy food. But those same shoppers often feel virtuous, because they are acting in an environmentally responsible way.

“That feeling easily persuades them that, because they are being good to the environment, they should treat themselves to cookies or potato chips or some other product with lots of fat, salt, or sugar.”

The study by Uma R. Karmarkar of Harvard University and Bryan Bollinger of Duke University is one of the first to demonstrate that bringing reusable grocery bags causes significant changes in food purchasing behaviour.

The authors collected loyalty cardholder data from a single location of a major grocery chain in California between May 2005 and March 2007. They compared the same shoppers on trips for which they brought their own bags with trips for which they did not.

Participants were also recruited online from a national pool and were randomly assigned one of two situations: bringing their own bags or not bringing their own bags. Depending on the situation, participants were presented with a certain scenario and a floorplan of the grocery store and were asked to list the ten items they were most likely to purchase on the trip.

The researchers found that when shoppers brought their own bags, they were more likely to purchase organic foods. At the same time, bringing one’s own bags also increased the likelihood that the shopper would purchase junk food. And both results were slightly less likely when the shopper had young children: parents have to balance their own purchasing preferences with competing motivations arising from their role as parents.

Continue reading at, ClickGreen.

Reusable bag image via Shutterstock.

Categories
Activism Consuming Less Environmentalism Real Food vs. Fake Food Sustainability

ConAgra: Bad Food, Bad Policies

ConAgra is one of the most irresponsible companies that one can find on Wall St. From fighting GMO labeling to abusing labor and the environment they have done it all. But now ConAgra is on the ropes. They have stretched themselves thin and they are weak with debt and shrinking sales.

cagchartNow is the time to organize an all out boycott, not just from those of us that call ourselves environmentalists, but from everyone who will listen.

In 2002, ConAgra, together with other major food and beverage companies including PepsiCo, General Mills, Kelloggs, Sara Lee, and H. J. Heinz Co., spent millions to defeat Oregon Ballot Measure 27, which would have required food companies to label products that contain genetically modified ingredients.

A 2006 report by CERES, a non-profit organization that works to address global climate change and other sustainability issues, titled “Corporate Governance and Climate Change: Making the Connection,” measures how 100 leading global companies are responding to global warming. Companies in the report were evaluated on a 0 to 100 scale. ConAgra scored a total of 4 points, the lowest of any of the food companies rated.

And that’s not all ConAgra does with major labor and safety violations over the years, and of course corruption. Multinational Monitor, a corporate watchdog organization, named ConAgra one of the ‘Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the 1990s’.

So as you can see they are not a responsible company and are actively contributing to slowing or stopping agriculture reforms.

ConAgra brands to avoid:

Categories
Agriculture Anti-Monsanto GMO crops Organic Gardening Real Food vs. Fake Food

Can organic crops compete with industrial agriculture?

  • Post author By
  • Post date

organicharvest

A systematic overview of more than 100 studies comparing organic and conventional farming finds that the crop yields of organic agriculture are higher than previously thought. The study, conducted by UC Berkeley researchers, also found that certain practices could further shrink the productivity gap between organic crops and conventional farming.

 

The study, to be published online Wednesday, Dec. 10, in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, tackles the lingering perception that organic farming, while offering an environmentally sustainable alternative to chemically intensive agriculture, cannot produce enough food to satisfy the world’s appetite.

“In terms of comparing productivity among the two techniques, this paper sets the record straight on the comparison between organic and conventional agriculture,” said the study’s senior author, Claire Kremen, professor of environmental science, policy and management and co-director of the Berkeley Food Institute. “With global food needs predicted to greatly increase in the next 50 years, it’s critical to look more closely at organic farming, because aside from the environmental impacts of industrial agriculture, the ability of synthetic fertilizers to increase crop yields has been declining.”

The researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 115 studies — a dataset three times greater than previously published work — comparing organic and conventional agriculture. They found that organic yields are about 19.2 percent lower than conventional ones, a smaller difference than in previous estimates.

The researchers pointed out that the available studies comparing farming methods were often biased in favor of conventional agriculture, so this estimate of the yield gap is likely overestimated. They also found that taking into account methods that optimize the productivity of organic agriculture could minimize the yield gap. They specifically highlighted two agricultural practices, multi-cropping (growing several crops together on the same field) and crop rotation, that would substantially reduce the organic-to-conventional yield gap to 9 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

The yields also depended upon the type of crop grown, the researchers found. There were no significant differences in organic and conventional yields for leguminous crops, such as beans, peas and lentils, for instance.

Continue reading at UC Berkeley.

 

Categories
Activism Agriculture Consuming Less Environmentalism Sustainability

6 Green Living Principles Every Household Should Learn (The Basics)

  • Post author By
  • Post date

By: Guest Contributor, Jonathan James More

Sometimes, you are presented with too many ideas on how to maintain sustainability in your living space and are unsure which ones are the most effective. The challenge is to put those concepts together and come up with the best game plan for a greener living.

Here are 6 green living principles your household should learn and live by.

1. Your Electricity Bill Tells a Lot

You can start at home. Try to consume less energy and you’ll realize that it will not only benefit the environment, but it would also yield higher savings for your family. Use natural sunlight rather than electricity during the day. Sunlight is a great source of vitamin D and can boost your mood.

2. Meals Should Be Well-planned

Obesity rate among children ages 2-5 decreased 43% in the past 10 years, based on a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in February 2014. This means that healthier habits are being practiced by more Americans. Do your part by preparing healthy and delicious organic food that your kids would like. As much as possible, have a good estimate of the food you will prepare for your family to avoid throwing away leftovers.

3. Make Play Time More Fun

Aside from preparing healthier meals on the table, you should also be concerned about your kids’ physical and mental development. Being active in the playground allows children to run around freely with other kids. Having fun playground time is one great trick that can prevent your children from watching too much TV, or playing too often using electronic gadgets, or spending too much time in front of the computer. Allow them to exercise at the playground with other kids in your community to make play time more enjoyable for them. Look for commercial playground equipment that would not only address their playground fitness, but also develop their cognitive and social skills.

4. Reduce Waste

Do your share by purchasing items in bulk to reduce the amount of packaging. Buying reusable items rather than disposable single-use products can also help in avoiding waste. And when doing the groceries, bring tote bags to avoid the use of plastic bags.

5. Transform Waste into Treasure

Look for second-hand furniture or previously-owned home pieces that are useful and in great condition. If there are unused toys or old clothes that do not fit anymore, hand them down to other people in need. Donating them to the less fortunate is better than just throwing them away. Glass and plastic bottles are good for decorating the house. Use your creativity and give the house a makeover.

6. Grow Greens

If you have a spacious backyard, consider growing various vegetables in it. This can be a source of food available for your household, so you don’t need to buy them when you do your grocery shopping. If you do not have a yard where you can plant a fruit tree, you can still create a small herb garden. Grow them in a pot and place it on the front porch or windowsill. It’ll be a fun learning experience for the kids to watch the plants grow as well.

Jonathan James More is a medical writer. Connect with him via @JJMore022.

Categories
Agriculture Beneficials in the garden Garden Tips and Ideas Nature Organic Gardening Sustainability The Science Of Growing Urban Gardening

Azospirillum Brasilense Bacteria (Azos) And Why Every Gardner Needs It.

  • Post author By
  • Post date
Once again this is an example of how one must feed the SOIL not the plant. Nature has already thought of everything you need and provided it somehow, all you have to do is learn to restore what has been lost. Many fungi and bacteria have been killed off by spraying and other pressures of modern Western life. So here is a knowledge bomb of one of the hardest working bacteria in your garden, and maybe on the planet,

Azospirillum Brasilense, commonly referred to as Azos or A.Brasilense, is one of the most well-studied plant growth promoting bacteria. It is considered a free-living soil bacterium that has the ability to affect the growth of numerous agricultural crops worldwide through the excretion of various hormones and the bacteria’s ability of nitrogen fixation.

Pull Nitrogen From Thin Air.

Even though you and I breath oxygen and plants breath carbon dioxide, the atmosphere is actually comprised of around 80% nitrogen which is in the form of N2 atmospheric nitrogen that is not conventionally available to plants. Nitrogen is a key component in growing anything. it drives chlorophyll production keeping the plants dark green and happy. It is a huge part of amino acids and other compounds that keep your plants strong and healthy. It is a part of every major protein molecule, and yet soil is often lacking enough N. Chemical fertilizer could provide this N, but they are expensive and can be dangerous.

 

Somewhere along the evolutionary development of the “Plant – Soil – Microbial Matrix”, certain bacteria began to specialize in tasks to enhance plant growth, which in return provided the microbes with a food source exchange opportunity.  A select group of bacteria classified as “Diazotrophs” began to supply nitrogen to plants from a range of sources, including decomposed plant litter, dead micro-organisms, and sequestration of atmospheric nitrogen.

Azos is a particularly efficient agent originally isolated in the Amazon Basin where the lack of soil, the reapid breakdown of any vegetation by hungry microbes, and the environmental conditions which require growth to survive is a fundamental proposition of the ecosystem. Azos specialized in the highly-efficient conversion of the N2 form of nitrogen into plant-available NH3 ammoniacal nitrogen. Azos is so efficient that between 50-percent and 70-percent of all the nitrogen required by most crops can be supplied by this organism. Azos benefit to plants is not limited nitrogen-fixation alone. Azos also acts as a growth simulant, catalyzing the release of a natural growth hormone in plants. This naturally-released hormone increases root development and optimized the harvest potential of your garden. Together, Azos and mycorrhizae fungi work symbiotically to help ordinary plants become the fullest they can be (read about mycorrhizae in this post).

Azos can be used as a cloning solution, though I have not tried it personally.

So grab some for your spring transplants and improve your crop this summer.

Categories
Agriculture Beneficials in the garden Garden Tips and Ideas Nature Organic Gardening Sustainability The Science Of Growing Urban Gardening

Top 5 Reasons To Use Mycorrhizae, Friendly Fungi And Fabulous Friends For Gardeners

  • Post author By
  • Post date
Do you want way to naturally and organically produce more food from your garden or farm. Well, nature provides. Mycorrhizae is a fungi that will rock the roots of most plants and show a HUGE gain in size and yield. In combination with Azos bacteria, the two can nearly grow a plant in anything. So here is some info and The Top 5 Reasons To Use Mycorrhizae.

Top 5 Reasons To Use Mycorrhizae In Your Garden.

5. Can give your plants up to 10000% more root mass (yes 10000%!)

4. It makes a plant heartier and more resistant to drought, pests and disease.

3. Use less water to grow even better plants.

2. Use less compost and fertilizer, meaning less work, energy and waste go into your garden.

1. Plant yield and growth will explode!

Runner Up: They look really cool when you see them pop up on your seedlings.

 

 

Mycorrhizae (or Myco’s for short) form a mutually beneficial relationship with the roots of most plant species. Let me simplify the science. The fungus colonizes roots of plants and breaks down certain nutrients for the plant, in return for those nutrients the plant feeds the fungus the sugars it so craves, its just a fungus with a sweet tooth looking for its next fix, which it is willing to work for.  The mechanisms of increased absorption are both physical and chemical. Mycorrhizal mycelia, tiny little hairs which you can see on the roots, are much smaller in diameter than the smallest root, and thus can explore a greater amount of soil, providing a larger root mass for absorption of water and nutrients. While only a small proportion of all species has been examined, 95% of those plant families are predominantly mycorrhizal. And here is the real kicker, it may be myco’s that allowed waterborne plants to move to the dry land many millions of years ago!

Mycorrhizae should be everywhere, but due to pollution, runoff, pesticides, herbicides and anti-fungal sprays, mycos are missing in many gardens and raised beds, not to mention all indoor potted plants that are started with sterile soil.

Two Types, Two Jobs, Too Easy

There are two types of mycos, endo and ecto. Rather than bore you with my poorly explained science, I will simply tell you that endomycorrizae are for most vegetable and fruit species in your garden (spinach and lettuce type plants do not colonize with it, though it will not hurt them either), and ecto are for a lot of trees and some flowers such as roses and orchids. I just generally get a mix of ecto and endo so that it can both colonize the plant I am planting and rebuild the soil by possibly colonizing other areas and plants.

Technically there is a third type, but it is for bogs and not commonly sold or needed.

You can spray on myco, you can use it as a root inoculate when you transplant or plant, or you can “drill’ a small hole in the soil and spray or sprinkle some in the hole for existing plants. The key is to get it in contact with the roots.

So have heavier yields with less fertilizers and compost for less than $20 an acre. And I will give you a little tip that the guy at the garden center may not. You can use a small amount of myco and culture it in your potting soil, use it in house plants and then put that medium in the garden when done recycling the myco or you can even grow your own with certain grasses etc, but I just find it easier to buy a box or two a year (about a pound) for our whole farm to use.

Here is a good video if you want more info, the more you know, the more you can grow.

Research shows that the lack of mycorrhizal fungi can create problems with many plants, shrubs and trees when they are growing in our gardens, so make sure you get some before this spring.

 

Categories
Uncategorized

Using Wood Ash Instead Of Lime.

  • Post author By
  • Post date

Fireplace ash can be used as a substitute for lime in very acidic soils. It also provides many trace elements that plants need and the trees and fungi you are burning had already mined and stored.

You may want to keep a special ask bucket to make sure you only get pure wood in the loads that you plan to use. Store them in a metal trash can or similar and make sure that you are careful, it is very dangerous if improperly handled. One use for ashes is to make lye, and lye is extremely caustic so keep that in mind.

Fireplace ashes can be used whnever you have to acidic of a soil, SMALL amount to your compost pile can help, larger amounts can be used if you have to much (N) Nitrogen in your compost, N will make it heat up and fireplace ashes can cool it. In the same respect fireplace ashes can kill your compost if you use too much when it wasn’t needed. If you have to much “green” in your compost , add a bit of fireplace ash in the layers to help it even out.

Some other tips:

  • Where long sleeves and proper clothing when applying wood ash. Use the same precautions you would use when handling bleach, as they are about equally dangerous. Wear eye protection and gloves. Depending on the fineness of the ash, you may want to wear a dust mask.
  • Do not use ash from burning trash, cardboard, coal or pressure-treated, painted or stained wood. These substances contain toxic elements, harmful to plants when applied in excessive amounts. For example, the glue in cardboard boxes and paper bags contains boron, an element toxic to many plant species at levels slightly higher than that required for normal growth.
  • Do not use ash on alkaline soils or on acid-loving plants.
  • Do not apply wood ash to a potato patch as wood ashes may favor the development of potato scab, though in can be used in compost that will be used on potatoes..
  • Do not apply ash to newly germinated seeds, or very young plants as ash contains too many salts for seedlings, though again it can be used if properly composted.
  • Do not add ash with nitrogen fertilizers such as ammonium sulfate (21-0-0-24S), urea (46-0-0) or ammonium nitrate (34-0-0). These fertilizers produce ammonia gas when placed in contact with high pH materials such as wood ash.

    Use what you can here, and you may even want to try soap making in the future, good luck.

Categories
Uncategorized

Your Local Average Last Day Of Frost

  • Post author By
  • Post date

In many areas crops are predicated on the average last day of frost, also sometimes called ALDF.

So what is the average last day of frost in your area?

Use this handy Farmers Almanac ALDF calculator to let you know when your spring crops should go in the ground.

They also have one for planting dates in your area.

So spring is slowly coming, lets gear up!

Categories
Activism Agriculture Anti-Monsanto Environmentalism GMO crops Real Food vs. Fake Food

Monsanto Exec. Wins World Food Prize For Creating GMO's

  • Post author By
  • Post date

WFPLogo

In a seemingly crazy decision, a Monsanto executive is winning this year’s “Nobel Prize of agriculture” the formerly prestigious World Food Prize, and he is getting it basically for creating GMOs. Awarding it for this harmful science legitimizes the sort of rampant genetic modification Monsanto pioneered, and helps validate a ruthless business model that impoverishes farmers and monopolizes our food.

Often hailed as the Nobel Prize of food, the World Food Prize has received as much attention this week for its ties to industrial agriculture and genetically modified (GM) crops as it has for honoring those who feed the poor. The WFP has been a magnet for worldwide criticism since June, when it announced its laureates.One of them was Robert Fraley, an executive at the biotech corporation Monsanto, which has been at the center of a number of controversies over GM crops. Fraley shared the honor with Syngenta scientist Mary-Bell Chilton and Plant Genetic Systems co-founder Marc Van Montagu, fellow pioneers in the development of high-yield GM crops resistant to disease, pests and harsh climates.

Oh but we are not done yet! The founder of Syngenta, the same biotech giant joining Bayer in suing Europe to keep selling bee-killing pesticides, will also win the prize,and with it, a share of the $250,000 prize money. This prize has legitimized GMO’s and bee killers.

Winning this prize will encourage the wider use of genetically engineered crops and be a huge obstacle to those fighting to investigate the long-term effects of its GMO’s, which is exactly what Monsanto wants.

From 1999 to 2011, Monsanto donated $380,000 (PDF) to the World Food Prize Foundation in addition to a $5 million contribution in 2008 to help renovate the Hall of Laureates, a public museum honoring Borlaug. The donations have prompted accusations that Monsanto essentially bought Fraley’s award — a charge denied by the foundation.

Rat-Tumor-Monsanto-GMO-Cancer-Study-3-Wide

The picture above is from a study that was published in The Food & Chemical Toxicology Journal.

The study was led by a man named Gilles-Eric Seralini from the University of Caen and it was the first ever study to examine the long-term effects of eating GMOs.

Some quotes from the report:

“The animals on the GM diet suffered mammary tumors, as well as severe liver and kidney damage. The researchers said 50 percent of males and 70 percent of females died prematurely, compared with only 30 percent and 20 percent in the control group.”

“Scientists found that rats exposed to even the smallest amounts, developed mammary tumors and severe liver and kidney damage as early as four months in males, and seven months for females.”

You might want to think twice when choosing food and seeds, and also before trusting the World food prize.
Does it sound like this man deserves an award?
Some more sources to check out.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/topics/technology-and-supply-chain/monsanto-weedkiller-and-gm-maize-in-shocking-cancer-study/232603.article
 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2205509/Fresh-fears-GM-foods-French-study-finds-rats-fed-controversial-crops-suffered-tumours-multiple-organ-failure.html
The international journal of biological sciences:
 http://www.biolsci.org/v05p0706.htm
And if you live in California – Prop 37 is still pushing to label these foods:
http://www.carighttoknow.org/

 

Categories
Activism Environmentalism GMO crops Real Food vs. Fake Food

March Against Monsanto Planned Worldwide 10/12/13

  • Post author By
  • Post date
Photo by: Meghann Prouse
Photo by: Meghann Prouse

March Against Monsanto.

Today I talked to Jenn a co-organizer of March Against Monsanto, a grassroots action group based in St. Louis Missouri, but with chapters and solidarity marches in cities from Boston to LA, Minneapolis to Miami and all over the world. Monsanto’s US headquarters is based in St. Louis, In fact more than 400 marches will take place on Saturday October 12th, with future marches planned in the spring. The last march in spring of 2013 millions of people all around the world took part.

So why are so many people marching against Monsanto? My personal reasons are clear, after our dog recently died due to Roundup exposure, but why would millions march against this company?

According to Jenn; “Our big goal is to raise awareness of GMO’s and Monsanto’s crimes”

“Our biggest problem is industry funded Monsanto science. There is a ton of science that proves how dangerous GMO’s and Monsanto’s products are.”
In 1996 the New York Attorney General fined Monsanto $50,000 for false claims and extracted a promise from Monsanto to never again advertise in the state that Roundup is safe. This is just one example in the last 20+ years where deceptive advertising and lobbyists smear and stretch the truth until forced to do otherwise. In addition to this the EPA has thrown out several studies over the years finding them flawed. While that is a good thing the time it take to form and start a new study can be long, and the companies involved are allowed to use and sell their products in the meantime.

As the sign in the picture shows, Monsanto has been victimizing America for profits for a LONG time.
We need a Rachel Carson “Silent Spring” moment here, she fought against DDT, now it’s time for us to pick up the mantle and March Against Monsanto and their proven poisons.