Green Talk™

Earth Day, Green Infrastructure, and Global Awareness

Green Talk — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:58:04 +0000

Welcome Guest Poster, J. Garver – “Writer of all things left and progressively green.” Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day. Are you wearing the green? Well, here is some green to think about.

Spring 2010 is approaching and there’s a lot of buzz around topics like the economy, taxation, global poverty, restoration in Haiti/Chile, and lastly, green awareness. With spring, Earth Day also draws nearer (April 22nd); as individuals, we must remember and realize the importance of global warming and all of its implications. Subsequent topics discussed as of late include space travel/burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and green building. As nations like Haiti and Chile prepare for rebuilding and new construction, there are many things to consider when advancing. Moving towards cleaner, greener infrastructure is vital in ensuring a successful restoration campaign.

The U.S. Green Building Council is a 501(3)(c) non-profit community of leaders working to make green buildings available to everybody. It’s one of the many organizations playing its role in green progression. Heavy discussion lies on green topics, especially the more recent ones like space travel; others include deforestation, green crops, clothing, energy, and much more. It’s important that we as individuals/citizens stay up-to-date on important global topics like warming. As organizations like the CGI (Clinton Global Initiative), AFH (Architecture for Humanity), and the USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council) conducts sustainability campaigns and enforce strict green constraints, our world will continue to become a better, cleaner place. Machines behind the CGI, Doug Band and Former President Clinton have been pursuing an emission reduction plan in the San Francisco Bay area. Meanwhile, CEO of GEC (Globetrotters Engineering Corporation), Niranjan Shah, is underway with green building projects in Chicago, IL. Despite these few national examples, green infrastructure, particularly in places like Haiti, has become an integral part of restoration and construction.

As polluters continue to buy their way out of Carbon Cuts globally, and large organizations continue to dump their waste into lakes, ponds and rivers, communities and must play their role in ensuring sustainability. Organizations like the CGI, AFH, and USGBC provide repercussion and policy change for acts such as. Most of the results from warming and climate change are miniscule and unnoticeable now, but our youth and earlier generations will experience firsthand the effects of pollutants and unsustainable efforts. Feel free to visit EarthDay.org to learn more about what you can do to support your world.

So, Readers, what have you done to support your world? Thoughts about the article?

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MilkMuny Eco-Fundraising. Get Paid to Collect Milk and Juice Cartons

Green Talk — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:41:34 +0000

Milk does a Body Good, right? The containers? Well, that is a different story. According to the EPA, over 510,000 tons of milk cartons are generated in the US but only .5% of them are recycled. The rest sadly sit in a landfill. In my case, my town does not recycle milk or juice cartons. So, I can’t even do the right thing.

I firmly believe that for every problem is a solution. Enter Milkmuny, which saw the potential in all of those lonely milk cartons. So, the Company starting collecting milk and juice cartons and up-cycles them into cool wallets. You might wonder, how do they get all these cartons?

Show me the Milkmuny.

Schools and not for profit organization can collect the following 1/2 gallon milk and juice cartons, and the Company will pay 25 cents for each carton collected. Shipping is pre-paid. For a short video of the Company’s mission, see here.

Once you collect them, the milk cartons need to be washed and their tops cut off. See the below diagram.

Corporate partnerships are welcomed. The Company will take expired, misprints, and overrun of milk cartons.

Want to keep the Milkmuny love flowing?

Consider buying one of their cool wallets. The wallets are 3 by 4″ wallets with four accordion pockets. They cost $10.00 and can be purchased here .

On Earth Day, my school is collecting the above milk and juice cartons. We know where the Muny is. Helping the Earth.

For more Eco-fundraising ideas, see her e. Be sure to read the comments since many other companies chimed in.

So, Readers,

would you consider this fundraiser?
thoughts about the wallets?

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NoMix Toilets Could Power Your House and Feed Your Plants

Green Talk — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:17:30 +0000

Roediger NoMix toilet (urine diversion flush toilet).

Move over dual flushing toilets. Meet the NoMix toilet, which separates your number 1 from your number 2. Okay, Anna. What’s the trick here? Who cares if a toilet can separates my bodily movements.

Hear me out. There is a method to my madness. What is a the point of a No Mix or urine diversion toilet?

“The “NoMix technology” concept is also simple: urine is collected in the front compartment of specially designed toilets and drained, with a little flushing water or even undiluted, into a local storage tank. The back compartment of these toilets operates on the same principle as conventional models; the waste matter collected is flushed into the sewers with water. One of the Novaquatis research topics was how urine is to be subsequently managed: the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus are used to produce a fertilizer – or are removed by processes similar to those applied at wastewater treatment plants.” [Source.]

Oh, come on, Anna. Be serious. I’m not eating anything someone or even I urinated on.

Urine as a Fertilizer:

I know. It is strange, but there have been studies of the benefits of human urine as fertilizer. In my earlier article, “Urine Does a Plant Good,” I spoke about a 2009 Finland study that found tomato plants prospered with added urine and wood ash. In fact, the ones with the yellow mellow? Let’s just say the plants produced a bumper crop of those juicy red beauties.

Better yet. Taste testers did not notice any difference between urinated tomato plants and ones which were not fertilized with urine. Since urine is abundant, it is a cheap fertilizer. In addition, urine is high in phosphorous, a needed building block for agricultural purposes.

“High-grade phosphate rock reserves are running out: at current rates of exploitation (increasing at around 3% per year), the economic reserves of phosphorus will last no more than 50 years. The economically viable reserves in the United States for example, will be depleted within 25 to 30 years (Rosemarin et al., 2008; Cordell et al., 2009).” [Source]

There are several urine diversion toilets available and are being operated in such places as Sweden, Finland, and Germany. (See page 16 of the above hyper-linked report.) In the US, you can buy one here.

So, what happens to the urine? It is collected from the toilet and then sent to a waste water facility to remove hormones such as birth control pills and pharmaceutical residues from the urine. The final product? Fertilizer.

Overburden Wastewater Facilities:

But, the benefits of urine collection does not just stop at making fertilizer. Urine diversion also helps our overtaxed wastewater systems. Rose George, the author of “The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters, ” stated in her Op-ed piece in the New York Times entitled, “Yellow is the New Green,”

“When a rainstorm suddenly sends millions of gallons of water into an already overloaded system, the extra must be stored or — if storage is lacking — discharged, untreated, into the nearest river or harbor. Each week, New York City sends about 800 Olympic-size swimming pools’ worth of sewage-polluted water into nearby waters because there’s nowhere else for it to go.”

The beauty of the urine diversion system is our waste water facilities would be filtering much less water than would ordinarily be the case with our current toilets . Thus waste water facilities could be made smaller. In my own town, many of the property owners have septic systems installed because the cost to expand the waste water plant would cost an arm and a leg. However, the problem with septic systems if not maintained properly, they can fail and cause groundwater pollution.

How much water would you be saving?

The manufacturer of the Doublett Systemet, one of the urine diversion toilets, states:

“Thanks to its unique design, we can sawe approximately 80% of flushing water in comparison with a normal two bottoms toilet, and reduce 80% of wastewater.

Example: Ordinary person used WC 6 times per day, in which 5 times one urinates. 5 x 1,5 dl x 4 person = 3 Liter per day and family. 5 x 4 liter x 4 person = 80 Liter per day and family. 80 -3 = 77 Liter drinking water can saves , and 77 liter wastewater reduce.”

(Note, 77 liters is about 20 gallons of water.)

“Left: urine-diversion flush toilet by Roediger (Germany). A valve opens only when the user is seated to prevent flushing water drain into the urine tank. Right: urine diversion flush toilet by Gustavsberg (Sweden). No valve is used to allow a little bit of flushing water enter the urine pipe, which avoids clogging of assemblies.”

Challenges of the use of Urine Diversion Toilets:

There are over 135,000 urine diversion toilets in use today. [Source] Before you get on the urine diversion band wagon, there are some challenges involved with this technology. Novaraquatis who conducted research about the these toilets noted the following challenges.

Approval of urine to be used as fertilizer
Ongoing maintenance of the toilets so they do not get blocked.
Must be cleaned every day
Hard for children because they may not be able to aim properly.
Hard for women to use because they may not want to sit on a public toilet seat.
Good ventilation is required where the urine is stored.
Double the cost of conventional toilets.
Use of urine as a fertilizer on our food.

See here (on page 10) and here for more challenges discussed.

However despite the above challenges, a 2009 survey conducted of 38 NoMix projects in 7 European countries revealed a high level of approval of the technology. 2700 people responded.

“NoMix-technology is well accepted; around 80% of users liked the idea, 75−85% were satisfied with design, hygiene, smell, and seating comfort of NoMix-toilets, 85% regarded urine-fertilizers as good idea (50% of farmers), and 70% would purchase such food. However, 60% of users encountered problems; NoMix-toilets need further development. We found few differences among countries, but systematic differences between public and private settings, where people seem more critical. Information was positively correlated with acceptance, and, e.g., a good mood or environmentally friendly behavior.”

What about the Poop?

What are we going to do with the poop? Power our houses. In 2005, Wired Magazine reported how human feces power a Rwandan Prison. It is converted into methane to be used for cooking.

“It has reduced by 60 percent the annual wood-fuel costs which would otherwise reach near $1 million, according to Silas Lwakabamba, rector of the Kigali Institute of Science, Technology and Management, where the technology was developed.”

Love Toilet Talk? More Sustainable Sanitation Info

Some of you are saying, “Anna, I got the eco-toilet talk. Others are saying dish it out. Just love hearing about new ways to be more sustainable. So, I will keep it brief. Urine Diversion toilets are not the only form of sustainable sanitation. See here for more information on other EcoSans toliets. For the more visual types, here are some pictures of them as well. Note, Sustainable Sanitation has wonderful pictures on her Flickr pages of all interesting type of sanitation collection systems and methods. If you are interested in this topic, I encourage you to take a look.

So, readers,

do you think urine diversion toilets will become more common place in the world?
could it be the answer to our heavily taxed sewer systems?
would people buy produce where urine was used as fertilizer?
what’s our thoughts about this technology?

Photos by permission of Sustainable Sanitation.

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Urine Does a Plant Good

Green Talk — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:07:22 +0000

Photo by Andrew Scott

Let’s talk about #1 (aka pee pee, urine, pee, or urea) and #2 (aka poop, poo,or sh*t) . Frankly, #2 gets alot more attention. We use the word to express our unhappiness, when we bang into something, or drop something on our toes. (No maybe that is the “F” word.) We say things like “you think your sh*t doesn’t stink. Even UPS’ uniforms are brown. Plus, it has presence. You definitely know when it is around since it smells for goodness sakes. Even I have been known to talk about poop especially when it comes to the quality of recycled toilet paper.

On the other hand, #1, pee, or urine really gets very little attention. Who cares about the yellow mellow stuff? Plants. They love it and we produce a lot of it. Some more than others. How come? Read on.

According to the Washington Post article, ”Human Urine Safe, Productive Fertilizer,”

“Urine is a valuable fertilizer which poor people could use to increase yields and not contaminate their environment. It is a resource, not a pollutant, if correctly managed,” said Helvi Heinonen-Tanski, leader of a research group at the University of Kuopio’s Department of Environmental Sciences in Finland.

Before you start with the “ewww” and that is disgusting, the above noted research group decided to compare a nitrogen loving cabbage crop feed urine fertilizer versus a crop without . What they found is as follows:

” At harvest, the cabbage enriched with the urine had several advantages: It was slightly larger, it grew to its maximum size more quickly, and, for most of the growth cycle, it suffered less bug damage than the commercially fertilized variety.

Cabbage from all three plots was made into sauerkraut and taste-tested by 20 panelists. Each type tasted different, but all were rated “good,” the study said.”

Heck, if I had known this I would have had my boys urinate all around my cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli. I hate those cabbage loopers. Kill the buggers.

Urine studies are sooo fascinating. Why not find another purpose for urine other than tricking people that it is shampoo? (Yes, we tried to do this as kids.)

A 2009 Finland study reported in an ABC News article found that tomato plants fed urine and wood ash from a fireplace produced a bumper crop with no noticeable difference in taste from other tomatoes. Urine contains nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium. The wood ash helps to reduce the acidity of the soil.

“But the Fins say they are the first ones to combine urine with wood ash, and plants treated with that substitute performed four times as well as unfertilized plants and left the soil less acidic. The scientists insist it’s safe and doesn’t pose “any microbial or chemical risks.”

According to the article, human urine packs a punch in which a single human could fertilize about 6,300 tomato plants,which in turn would produce 2.41 tons of fruit in just one season! A word of caution, before you send junior or hubby out to the garden, human urine can carry pathogens if a donor is severely infected.

“But most pathogens can be inhibited or killed if the urine is stored for one to two months,” Prahan said. Urine contains urea, which turns into ammonia in a few hours or days, which kills pathogens, Prahan added.”

Now, if you are going to do the ready aim fire bit, here are some words of advice from the article. Urine should be stored in a jar or other suitable container for at least a couple of months so that it naturally immobilizes any pathogens. I wondered if you have to keep it in the refrigerator or not? In any event, never spray it directly on the plants but rather around the plants and rake it into the soil. Who said being green wasn’t cheap?

Who would have thought someone would develop a homemade solution on how to make pee into fertilizer? Brita and Rebecca developed a kit, which is no longer being sold since “our lawyer has advised us not to sell the kits anymore and so we are taking a break from producing them while we think this through. The liability of making these chemicals available to other people is high. This is one of the interesting predicaments that we find ourselves in as bioartists.”

See the below Planet Green video featuring the kit.

Oh, by the way, April 17 (2 days after tax due date) is Pee Outside Day. See here for more information on how you can participate.

Guess what? There are toilets to separate #1 and #2. Want to learn more? Read part 2 of my post on how your toilet might power your house and help grow your plants. Now, I call this eco-tasking.

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Get Your Red Hot Heirloom Tomatoes and Veggies

Green Talk — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:58:01 +0000

Spring is just around the corner. Thinking of planting an organic garden this year but wishing you could just buy organic seedlings in lieu of growing from seed? Many of my loyal readers know that I grow my plants from seed. But I have in the past grown my vegetables from organic seedlings that I purchased by mail order.

My first year I purchased four different heirloom organic tomato seedlings from California’s Laurel’s Heirloom Tomatoes. She has over 140 different varieties of heirloom tomatoes! Laurel is wonderful and help me choose four different varieties that I could make tasty homemade sauce. Once I put the seedlings into the ground, they shot up immediately and looked like very tall overgrown bushes.

At the end of the growing season, I saved the seeds and put them in the freezer. To date, I have use the seeds I save for three years. They poop out of the pots like they are racing to the finish line. And the tomatoes. Well, all I have to say is they are sooo delicious. (Is you mouth watering for that summer tomato right now?)

Despite my love affair with Laurel’s seedlings, I yearned for someone to sell organic seedlings in New Jersey (you know the garden state.) Call it fate or just plain dumb luck but I ran across Catalpa Ridge Farm who sells their heirloom tomatoes, peppers, and other vegetables to the public in May at three different locations in the NJ/NY area (Ramsey and Lafayette Village, NJ and Orangeburg, New York.) However, it is strongly advised to pre-order your plants for pick-up in those three locations. See here for a peek at their heirloom goodies.

Don’t fret if you don’t live near any of those locations. The Farm will mail them to you. You can visit them online or on their eBay store. While you are on the site, note, that the Farm offers community supported farm memberships. See here for more information.

So, not a seedling grower? Then consider purchasing heirlooms from Laurel’s or Catalpa Ridge Farm. Heirlooms are amazing. Give them a try.

Any other Heirloom Plant companies out there? If so, tell us about what you grow and how do Green Talk readers purchase your plants.

Readers, what are you planning to grow this year?

Have you planted heirloom vegetables before?

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Demand Stronger Environmental Guidelines for Dioxin

Green Talk — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:06:46 +0000

Photo by Ethan Prater

The Center for Health, Environment, and Justice sent me the following email asking for all of us to take action to demand stronger environmental guidelines to Dioxin. I mentioned this horrible chemical in my article, “Are Toxic Chemicals Lurking in your Furniture and Building Products? ” One product that contains dioxin is PVC. As noted below, dioxin is a known carcinogen. Read on as to why you need to sign the below petition.

“At the request of Dow Chemical and the American Chemistry Council, the EPA has extended the public comment period on their proposed cleanup guidelines for Dioxin to Friday April 2^nd. Now more than ever, we need your help to counteract lobbying by Dow Chemical and the chemical industry.

There is still time to let your voice be heard! To date over 1,400 people have raised their voice and told EPA they want stronger cleanup guidelines for Dioxin, one of the most hazardous chemicals known to man. Dow Chemical and the American Chemistry Council have pressured EPA to expand the public comment period through April 2^nd. Let’s use this to our advantage and allow EPA to hear from you!

Take action by joining parents and families across America in telling EPA you want stronger cleanup guidelines for Dioxin.

Dioxin poses a serious health risk to both children and adults. In response more than 100 countries have signed a treaty that calls for a global phase out of Dioxin. Dioxin is a powerful cancer causing agent and human carcinogen. Join over 1,400 Americans by telling EPA that more stringent guidelines must be developed for Dioxin cleanup.

Remember, there is still time to take action and let your voice be heard!“

It only take a minute to click and sign your name. Remember, it takes a village.

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Mother Earth News Squash Bug Squishing Technique

Green Talk — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:11:47 +0000

Photo by Ivan Armsby (http://www.flickr.com/photos/squeezyboy/ / CC BY 2.0)

How many of you grow squashes? Last year, I grew about six different squashes. Little pumpkins. Acorn Squash. Sweet Potato Squash. And some other funny sounding name squashes. My neighbor grew them too and complained of the dreaded squash bug. She even showed me one while I was visiting her. They are gray and to be kind to bugs, they are not too attractive. Ms America bug, um, not this one.

Fortunately, I did not see any of my own squash bugs, but then again they could have been there under the straw mulch. I just did not notice.

Mother Earth News (who I love) sent me an email on how to deal with those suckers this year. Well all gardeners share. Remember it is us gardeners against them–the bugs who eat our hard work. Sorry, after dealing with gross slugs and dill eating amazingly beautiful caterpillars, I am not that charitable these days.

I warn you this suggestion is not for the faint of heart. It is involved smashing bugs. I am not sure I will be able to follow the suggestion, but here goes:

“Greetings, Anna.

I’m writing today to invite you to try out a technique this summer for squash bug control. If this bug causes problems in your garden, read on.

Some years ago, I wrote a report about research done at Texas A&M that found trap crops of early plantings of squash could attract “up to 90 percent of squash bugs in the area.” The key is to plant a few pots of squash indoors, earlier than your usual timing (the bugs are reportedly most attracted to winter squash varieties), then move the plants into the garden as soon as you can. Overwintering squash bugs will make a beeline for them (who knows how they find these plants—bugs are so amazing). The researchers suggested laying a few boards on the ground around the trap crop, and then turning the boards over and squishing the bugs, which like to hide on the undersides. Delay sowing your main squash crops as long as you can, continuing to squish any bugs that show up at the trap crop.

Now, we’ve come up with what we think might be an improvement on that technique: a “Squash-Bug Squisher“! Instead of just using whatever is handy to squish the bugs on each board, we expect it would be quicker and more effective if you connected two boards together with hinges, so you could pick up the Squisher, flip it over and slam the two boards against each other. The boards will have to be very flat—we’re thinking that fiber cement siding, which is highly resistant to warping and heavier than wood, might work well.

So, what do you say—if squash bugs are a challenge in your garden, why not pop a few squash seeds into some pots this week, and give this technique a try this season? We’ve posted a Squash-Bug Squisher page, http://www.motherearthnews.com/Squash-Bug-Control-Squisher-Trap-Crop.aspx, where you can post your ideas and questions, and eventually, report your results.

Happy Gardening,

Cheryl Long
Editor in Chief

P.S. The Texas researchers also mention that the squash trap crop will attract cucumber beetles, and that you can drown many of your spring cuke beetles by placing pans painted yellow and filled with soapy water beside the squash trap crop. (The beetles are attracted to the yellow color.)

P.P.S. We’re hoping to announce more “citizen science” projects like this, so if you have any suggestions, let us know. And if you are a long-time gardener, we would love to have you sign up for our Garden Advisory Group, at www.surveymonkey.com/s/N3QBZKD.

Did I hear a collective “ewwww” about the thoughts of smashing these bugs? (Okay, I said it.) So, readers, what are your thoughts about Mother Earth News squash bug suggestion? Are you a smasher or a squealer?

By the way, did you see that amazing cuke tip for cuke bugs?

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Is Faxing Bad for the Environment?

Green Talk — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:55:18 +0000

The other day, I received my second unwanted fax from a broadcast advertiser. In my post, “How to Stop Unwanted Faxes,” I gave you the keys on how to stop these faxes from showing up in your fax tray. But as I thought about it more and more, was faxing just plain bad for the environment?

This thought about the environmental impact of faxing did not just come out of the blue. (Although many of my thoughts do.) The unwanted fax that I received had a unsubscribe address, National Do Not Fax (also know as “Stop Junk Faxes”) which promoted e-faxing in the name of the environment. Of course, it was linked to an e-fax website, MyFax, with starting costs at $10 a month/$110 per year for 100 sending faxes and 200 receiving faxes. (Prices varied based upon the amount of faxes sent and received. )

But I was intrigued with their green argument of why you should use an e-fax site from both a financial and environmental standpoint. They argued e-faxing

Saves money (no toner cartridges, paper, and phone lines and charges)
Portable (can receive and send fax anywhere)
No need to buy additional equipment (or for that matter recycle anything any more)
Upgrade to electronic communication

The more I thought about it, faxing was not very green even if your recipients use recycled paper.

If you are like me, I barely fax any documents. I email everything unless a signature is need or I have to send a hard copy which was not in my computer. For someone like me who faxes very seldom, GotFreeFax service might be your best bet. It starting cost is .$.98 per fax for 10 pages .

But if you do fax, the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability has the following suggestions besides sending and receiving faxes from your computer:

“Program your fax machine not to print confirmation sheets.
Eliminate fax cover sheets by using fax Post-it Notes.”

So, I am curious.

Would an e-fax service be valuable to you given its environmental and budgetary preferences? If so, which service do you use and why?
Do you see faxing as being ungreen?
Do you fax via your computer? If so, which program do you use?
How do you send signed documents? What software do you use?

If you don’t want to leave a comment, please take the poll on the sidebar. I would love to know your thoughts.

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