Planning to travel? This month provides you with simple tips for earth-friendly travel. Some of these also apply when staying home. Before you leave, turn off or unplug lights and electronics. Turn your thermostat up or down. Suspend newspaper delivery. Unwrap items and recycle packaging as much as possible. Do not print tickets – if you…
To share suburbia with wildlife, we need to: create corridors connecting natural areas; reduce lawn area; and begin the transition from alien to native ornamental. Homeowners can do this by planting borders of their properties heavily with native woody plants. Even modest increases in native plant cover on suburban properties increases the number and species…
Use Native Plants in Landscaping. We need biodiversity, our ecosystem depends on it. The more diverse an ecosystem is, the more services (air, water, food, benign weather systems, carbon dioxide sequestration, garbage recycling etc.) it will provide. Because 54% of the U.S. is now in cities or suburbs, and 41% is in agriculture, biodiversity will…
Please pray for Reid Welch, Gail Hoeurt and Don Douglas. Prayers for Pat Slosek who has a broken rib. For Paul Gannett on the death of his father. For the family of Irene Knell. For Warren Hansen and Carl Bradbury – from Sally Marney, a friend. For those affected by gun violence and compassion for…
The importance of using native plants in your home landscape cannot be over emphasized. 90% of all insects that eat plants require native plants to complete their development. That is because plants protect their leaves with toxic chemicals. Insects can survive after eating those chemicals only after they have evolved physiological mechanisms for detoxifying them. This…
Use homemade, safe weed killer. Researchers from the University of Washington evaluated existing studies into the chemical Glyphosate, also known as Roundup, the second most widely used lawn and garden weed killer in the U.S., and concluded that it raises the cancer risk of those exposed to it by 41% and significantly increases the risk of non-Hodgkin…
Choose gas over charcoal grills and reduce carbon emissions: A widely cited Oak Ridge National Laboratory study calculated that a gas burner emits about 5.6 pounds of carbon dioxide per hour, compared to 11 pounds per hour for cooking over the coals. However, consider an electric grill, IF your energy comes from green sources, such as wind,…
GREEN TIP OF THE WEEK To control mosquitoes, try citronella plants, lemongrass, lemon thyme, and catnip and install a bat house, rather than using pesticides. Bats can consume large quantities of pesky bugs. The Weekly Green Tip is brought to by Michelle Sgarlat
Use Earth Friendly Sunscreen this Summer! Do you ever check what is in your sunscreen? Usually, we just search for the letters ‘SPF’ and the highest number next to it and think, ‘this will do’. However given the research around the ingredients in skin care and sun care products and how they impact our health…
Out in your boat – or on a picnic – watch that trash! One of the most serious hazards that pollutes lakes, rivers, and oceans is the careless disposal of plastic debris: plastic bags, six-pack rings, fishing line, and food wrappings. Many people don’t realize how hazardous this trash can be. On your boat, stow…