Have you Given to our planet today? It can be Constructive or Destructive. The Choice is yours.

World 'has used up 2013 resources'

Press Association – Tue, Aug 20, 2013

Humans have used up the natural resources the Earth can provide for the year and are now in "overdraft", campaigners have warned.

The world has reached "earth overshoot day", the point in the year that humans have exhausted supplies such as land, trees and fish and outstripped the planet's annual capacity to absorb waste products including carbon dioxide.

For the rest of the year, the world is in ecological debt, with fish stocks and forests being depleted, land degraded and carbon dioxide building up in the atmosphere, the Global Footprint Network said.

[Ecuador dumps Amazon 'nature-for-oil' scheme]

Earth overshoot day is calculated by comparing the demands made by humans on global resources - our "ecological footprint" - with the planet's ability to replenish resources and absorb waste.

This year, in less than nine months we have used as much of nature as the Earth can regenerate in a year. Earth overshoot day has fallen a couple of days earlier than it did last year.

The Global Footprint Network said that in 1961, humanity only used around two-thirds of the available natural resources on Earth, but by the 1970s increased carbon emissions and consumption began to outstrip what the planet could provide.

Humans now need the equivalent of 1.5 planets to sustain us, and by mid century it will have risen to two planets, the campaigners said.

[Coastal cities face rising risk of flood losses: study]

China has the biggest total ecological footprint, because of its large population, but other countries have much higher demands on resources per person. If everyone were to live like US residents we would need four planets to supply demand.

Alessandro Galli, Global Footprint Network regional director, said: "Everyday life in many Mediterranean countries is showing us what it means to live beyond financial limits.

"Ecological and financial deficits are two sides of the same coin. Over the long run, nations cannot deal with one deficit without addressing the other."

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Your Act of Green, Your Support to Earth.

Earth Day 2011 - What is your Act of Green?

By Lucy Brake  - 31 Mar 2011 17:44:0 GMT

The aim of Earth Day 2011 is to gather at least one billion acts of services to the environment by the time the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development rolls around, otherwise known as Rio+20. So far the Earth Day Network has recorded over 70 million Acts of Green as part of Earth Day 2011 and now school children in the Middle East have contributed in their own way by planting trees at their school.

By clicking up another 650 acts the school children at the Patriarch Diodoros the 1^st School in Amman, Jordan are helping make Earth Day 2001 become the world's largest environmental campaign ever.

The students at the Patriarch Diodoros School listened to talks about Earth Day and environmental issues, discussions on how planting trees can help the environment and also how to save precious energy resources. Naming themselves 'Earth Day Volunteers', they then headed into the gardens surrounding their school and planted trees and flowers.

The President of Earth Day Network, Kathleen Rogers, said '''Patriarch Diodoros School is a prime example of the great commitment our partners in the Middle East continue to demonstrate in helping us collect a billion Acts of Green worldwide. Hearing the voices of children at PDS and elsewhere is critical to bringing the attention of government leaders to the movement''.

The students at the school recognise how vital the environment is to their own futures and see Earth Day 2011 as an opportunity to raise awareness to sustainability and the importance of individual actions. Abdul Aziz Al-Gandye, a student in grade 4 at the Patriarch Diodoros School said, ''We all should contribute to raising the load of the environmental pollution on the shoulders of our Mother Earth''.

The Earth Day Network hope that by reaching A Billion Acts of Green they will encourage the government leaders who are meeting at the UN Rio+20 conference to really act. They want to demonstrate just how seriously the citizens of Planet Earth take sustainability and care for the environment.

So now is the perfect time to complete your own Act of Green and add your support to Earth Day 2011.

Read more at http://www.earthtimes.org/going-green/earth-day-2011-what-act-green/638/#hc5itu2RxRYCewe7.99 - See more at: http://www.earthtimes.org/going-green/earth-day-2011-what-act-green/638/#sthash.6CclXC5z.dpuf

Promote Urban Agriculture. Go Green!

Urban Agriculture - the Way of the Future?

By Julian Jackson  - 26 Apr 2011 8:5:0 GMT

Dr Robert Biel is an author and academic, who works for University College London and has written about sustainable agriculture. More than that, he practices what he calls ''experimental agriculture'' in his own allotment and with his students.

Biel believes that we are coming to a crisis of agricultural production, and we need to have more 'Food Sovereignty', which he defines as greater autonomy over our own food production. He would like to see more local food production and less reliance on imported and fossil-fuel produced foodstuffs (a famous study by Professor David Pimentel of Cornell University, found, for example, that for every 1 calorie of meat we eat, over 8 calories of fossil fuel input - in the form of natural gas for fertiliser and oil for agricultural machines and transportation, refrigeration, etc. was needed).

Biel describes what first got him interested in food growing: ''In my academic work I was looking at traditional social systems, and I saw that to understand them fully I needed to know about their agriculture and relationship to the land. After a period of time I moved on from the purely theoretical and started growing things - experimenting with 'No Dig' urban agriculture using traditional techniques, which were low in the amount of labour needed. I found that a high input of knowledge compensated for a lower input of physical work. It is best to avoid interfering too much and allow nature to do as much as possible.'' He found using these methods he could produce nearly enough vegetables for one person on 250 square metres of land.


Dr Robert Biel in Brixton Community Garden in South London.
Biel takes inspiration from what he calls self-organising systems. Drawing on the experiences of Cuba during its ''Special Period'' in the 1990s, when the former Soviet Union cut off supplies of fossil fuels, forcing the Cubans to institute radical reform of agricultural practices, and Argentina during the economic crisis of 1999-2002, he notes how these have influenced the Transition Movement in the UK and elsewhere. Cuba had already investigated moving towards a resilient, organic, localised agriculture and away from the Soviet model of large farms with a lot of fossil fuel input, but it needed the crisis to move this from a theory into reality - aided by Cuba's centrally planned economy, where this could be implemented by government decree. In contrast, Argentina was what Biel calls an Emergent System - where a radical grass-roots social movement grew out of the chaos and self-organised by taking over factories, picketing banks and creating and distributing food itself.

Both of these movements promoted urban agriculture in spaces in the city, including abandoned lots, rooftop farms, or any area that is open to cultivation.


Community growing in greenhouse at Brixton Community Garden, South London.
In the UK and USA there is the similar example of wartime expedients, where people cultivated allotments and produced local backyard food to provide a substantial amount of the food necessary for the nation, but this is now something of a dim memory as World War 2 fades from lived experience.
Biel notes that one of the main outputs from a crisis is often co-operation. Behavioural studies show that under stress, humans often pull together. We have just seen that in the responses to the recent tragic events in Japan.

As the depletion of fossil fuels continues, countries will have to make changes in their agricultural production systems. Biel believes that by growing some of our own food we can aid the transition to a lower-carbon way of life. ''The huge urban population is not producing food and this puts an intolerable pressure on the rural side of society which has to produce most of the food.''

He notes that the increase in the costs of fossil fuels including fertiliser have made US commercial farmers look to more eco-friendly methods like green manures and No Till growing purely because of the pressures of reduced profitability caused by high fuel prices. He acknowledges the difficulties in moving from a fossil fuel orientated agriculture to an organic one but maintains that it can be done.

Dr Biel's book The New Imperialism: Crisis and Contradictions in North/South Relations is still available and his new book 'Entropy of Capitalism' is due out later this year, published by Brill in Leiden.
Photos by Julian Jackson

Read more at http://www.earthtimes.org/going-green/sustainable-urban-agriculture-future/767/#PIc3e7jZ2Kuy6wtB.99 - See more at: http://www.earthtimes.org/going-green/sustainable-urban-agriculture-future/767/#sthash.HicUN3Z0.dpuf

Eat it Right!

Film Review: What's On Your Plate?

By Kirsten E. Silven  - 24 May 2011 11:21:0 GMT

Film review of ''What's On Your Plate?'' which will be shown at the Projecting Change 2011 festival on May 27th.
This thought provoking documentary is directed and produced by the award winning Catherine Gund.  What's On Your Plate? examines the politics of the food industry from fast food restaurants, to farmer's markets and everything in between.

We follow the journey of two eleven year old kids, Sadie and Safiyah, as they explore New York City and talk to food activists, farmers, storekeepers, families, friends and even the viewers about what is on our plate for each meal. The two kids ask excellent questions of all whom they meet. How food gets from harvest to plate is a critical question. How food is prepared and who prepares it. How is food packaged and leftovers handled.

By looking at restaurants, school cafeterias and supermarkets they get one perspective on the answers to these and many other questions. The girls also look at farms, markets, community supported agricultural programs and innovative sustainable food systems in an effort to find their answers. Many of these alternative programs are very beneficial to struggling local farmers but are also providers of healthy food choices to low income city dwellers.

With the rise of childhood obesity and diabetes in America the relationship children have with their food is becoming ever more important. How kids feel about who controls the food production, distribution and quality, not to mention cost of food is another important question that the kids hope to provide some insight on. During the course of filming we will meet restaurant owners who cook with locally grown produce and meet a farmer who is hoping to sell his crop of carrots to the Department of Education school lunch program. The girls even cook a meal for their classmates using ingredients produced from local farmers.
The film hopes to educate and inspire kids and adults alike to make healthy choices regarding what goes into their bodies. By questioning food production and consumption practices, the filmmakers hope to raise the overall consciousness of food issues and promote a taste for local community agricultural practices.

Read more at http://www.earthtimes.org/going-green/film-review-whats-on-your-plate/897/#ZDk28drWwJZI5u0o.99 - See more at: http://www.earthtimes.org/going-green/film-review-whats-on-your-plate/897/#sthash.KunQMizd.dpuf

Green Benefits

Urban farming offers green benefits

By John Dean  - 17 Jun 2011 7:33:0 GMT

Work by a team of researchers has suggested that increasing levels of urban agriculture are having a beneficial effect on the environment by reducing vehicle emissions and reducing landfill waste.

The team behind the Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet project say that as people move from rural to urban settings in search of work, particularly in Asia and Africa, urban agriculture is becoming an important provider of  food and employment.
Danielle Nierenberg, co-director of the Nourishing the Planet project, said: "Urban agriculture is providing food, jobs, and hope in Nairobi, Kampala, Dakar, and other cities across sub-Saharan Africa."

"In some cases, urban farmers are providing important inputs, such as seed, to rural farmers, dispelling the myth that urban agriculture helps feed the poor and hungry only in cities."
According to the United Nations, 65 per cent of the world's population will live in cities by 2050, up from 50 percent today, a movement particularly pronounced in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Worldwatch says that 800 million people worldwide are engaged in urban agriculture, producing 15-20 per cent of the world's food.

Much of this currently happens in Asia but the Institute says that work is under way to increase it in Africa as well, where 14 million people a year migrate from rural to urban areas. In sub-Saharan Africa, the Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization, a Florida-based organisation, has helped farmers build gardens using old tires and other rubbish to create plant beds. Also, Harvest of Hope has helped urban agriculture programmes in Cape Town, South Africa.

Mary Njenga, researcher at the University of Nairobi and the World Agroforestry Centre, said: "These projects are not only helping to provide fresh sources of food for city dwellers, but also providing a source of income, a tool to empower women, and a means of protecting the environment, among other benefits."

The Worldwatch Institute says that such projects help the environment because they are closer to markets, which means that the food does not have to be transported as far, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions from vehicle exhausts.
Also, according to the Institute, because urban farmers recycle waste for compost, animal feed and building materials there is less waste going to landfill, which can create vast amounts of methane.

Read more at http://www.earthtimes.org/going-green/urban-farming-offers-green-benefits/1042/#OriJ9I2I4AydBMta.99 - See more at: http://www.earthtimes.org/going-green/urban-farming-offers-green-benefits/1042/#sthash.s5yTbgNC.dpuf

What is Forest to you?

Timber plantations are not forests

By Michelle Simon  - 05 Dec 2011 9:40:0 GMT

Timber plantation via Shutterstock
Environmentalists have always clearly defined commercial plantations and forests. The latter being natural and the former destroying indigenous biodiversity and natural resources with the aim to maximise profits. The social consequences of timber plantations have also displaced communities.

Deforestation and forest degradation have been a pivotal struggle of the indigenous people's movements in the Amazonian Basin for decades, since the colonial intrusion and expropriation of forest land for agricultural activity at a commercial level. In the 1960s the forest was regarded as a no-go zone and remained largely intact but by succeeding decade, deforestation was growing at a fast rate bringing the proportion of deforestation to an excessive 91%. The dominant agri-business being livestock pastureland and largely feeding with mono-cropped crop-feed for the cattle that eventually goes to the slaughter house to feed the rich west.

The dynamics of deforestation extend to extreme biophysical degradation and human rights abuses with whole indigenous forest communities who have lived in harmony with nature being displaced.
Environmentalists and indigenous people campaigned vociferously for years against the social and environmental abuses, this was only heeded under the climate change agenda when the carbon emissions from deforestation became a hot item, accounting for up to 20% of the global GHG (Green House Gas) emissions, second in line to the energy sector.

The UN developed the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) programme to address the problem. On paper all things seem progressive and helpful, but strip the frontier marketing and the truth stands stark and real. The indigenous communities here at COP 17 have been holding briefing sessions voicing their plights and revealing the truth and are proactive in recommending solutions to "cool the planet" without the current breaches being experienced.

According to a coalition of leading peoples-environmental movements from the Peruvian indigenous organisations, AIDESEP, FENAMAD, CARE and the international human rights organisation of the Forests Peoples Programme (FPP), the reality of REDD+ is the undermining of the rights of indigenous peoples and is leading to carbon piracy and conflicts over land and resources.
"The commitments made by the previous government in 2011 were not made lightly, they were assumed by the State and approved in a global meeting of the World Bank's FCPF (Forest Carbon Partnership Facility). We hope that the present government and international entities like the World Bank will deliver on their promises to respect land and territorial rights. Continual monitoring will be necessary to make sure they keep their word," says Robert Espinoza Llanos (co-ordinator of AIDESEP's Climate Change Programme).

Carbon Piracy and Carbon Barons: In essence what this means is that developers are campaigning for REDD+ by-in by trying to get local forest communities with promises of wealth and the fine print reveals a signing away of their land rights, which would give the Carbon Barons to control the carbon trade. In communities with low literacy, innocent communities are being duped without realising what they have signed onto.

Land Grabs: According to FPP's Conrad Feather, "REDD is not just a policy instrument being negotiated at the UN; unregulated REDD developments are already turning Peru into a centre of international carbon piracy and the site for potential land grab[s] of indigenous peoples' territories on a massive scale. Urgent measures are needed to protect the lands and livelihoods of indigenous peoples."

Indigenous peoples' movements are being proactive with alternatives being proposed as they are more than concerned with carbon emissions as it affects them directly as people living off the land and want the REDD funds used justly to secure the forest territories and support grassroots solutions to tackle climate change.

For centuries these communities have lived by the laws of nature not man, protecting the forests, its wildlife, its water and the air but have been victims of ruthless colonisation, industrialisation, capitalism, oppression and environmental injustices.
Once again all the grand plans should always be scanned for ground-truth, it is a far cry from what's promised on paper.

Read more at http://www.earthtimes.org/going-green/timber-plantations-forests/1683/#Xs1dgiJIpVdGSrbF.99 - See more at: http://www.earthtimes.org/going-green/timber-plantations-forests/1683/#sthash.iDS2vmhb.dpuf

Both Man and the Planet can be Happy, If we care.

6 eco-woes and 6 green balms for 2012

By Martin Leggett  - 13 Feb 2012 16:12:39 GMT

Environmental worries in 2012 - and possible solutions; Credit: Shutterstock
When worries on the environment flutter down faster than the bundles of notes piled at the doors of banks, it makes sense to step back from the 'bad-news blizzard' - and to look instead at what can be done to get out of the storm. While some environmental woes need action over decades to be cured, there are many where the balms to ease them are already to hand.
So here's a pick-list of six of the most worrisome issues threatening our planet - and us - and what we can do about them in the next 12 months.

Woe: The New Wave of Animal Plunder from the East: Last year was a truly awful one for a number of the most iconic, and most threatened, of wildlife. Rhinos, elephants, tigers and sharks - all came under a renewed assault from gruesome 'harvesting' and poaching practices. And the common thread weaving together this needless slaughter? A swelling demand for animal products from the new economic giants of the East - Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and especially China.
Their, rising personal wealth, tied to culture that values the medicinal properties of rhino horns, tiger bones, and elephant trunks, is helping to push many species to the brink. And the rarer they become, the more valuable they are dead. 'Market forces' are now forming a particularly vicious cycle towards extinction, as the East rises to economic preeminence.

Balm: Putting a value on the majesty of wildlife: Already the more savvy of conservation groups are switching from a ring-fence mentality - of just protecting the animals-at-risk - to a more holistic approach. Local people are as much part of the conservation landscape as the endangered animals that live among them.
Increasingly they are being helped to see the benefits of conservation - and being paid to help. But that concern needs to be sown wider, to include the people driving the market in poaching. Grassroots groups need to be nurtured in China and Vietnam, so that wildlife conservation, not skyscrapers, becomes the new touchstone of modernism in Asia.

Woe: Shale gas bubble swamping the world with methane: The shale gas boom may have crept up unannounced throughout the last decade, but now the word 'fracking' is on everyone's lips. Vast resources of shale gas are being eyed greedily by gas companies across the world, with the governments being promised cheap energy for decades.
There may be worries about polluting local water supplies, and shaking the ground around fracking sites. But the elephant in the room is the extra methane leaking into the air with each well that is fracked. It seems that shale gas could be more damaging than coal for promoting global warming.

Balm: Melding local concerns to global worries: Shale gas drilling is both an intensely local issue,as well as a global worry. With fracking tearing up local roads, blighting landscapes, and threatening earthquakes, it's not just the usual activists trying to prick the shale gas bubble.
Already anti-fracking groups have sprung up in response to drilling plans in New York State, France and the UK - with some success. So this may be an issue where local concerns can help to stop a global worry, before it gets out of hand.

Woe: Is the EV 'tailpipe' now the coal plant smokestack?: Electric Vehicles (EVs) may not quite have gone from 0-to-60 over the last 12 months. But in 2012, the signs are there for a spurt of acceleration towards a more electric vehicular future. The problem is that while the cars themselves are no longer pumping out greenhouse gases, the electricity fueling their rise is still wedded to fossil fuels. That means the emissions savings for switching to EVs are still not being realized.

Balm: Cheaper renewables herald a clean-up of EV 'juice': The costs of both solar and wind power are now falling towards the range where they can compete with fossil fuels - even without accounting for the extra costs that burning coal, oil and gas brings (think global warming). 2012 could be the year where the vision of clean, green and cheap electricity could be grasped. In many countries, electricity customers now have some choices over accelerating that revolution. Going with green electricity suppliers, or generating green electricity from your home is now a real option. The hidden EV smokestack could soon be demolished.

Woe: Forests disappearing into the sawmill: 2011 was the International Year of the Forests. But trees in many of the world's most-threatened forests may not have picked up on that message. Last year saw the rates of deforestation pick up markedly in parts of the Amazon, as Brazil moved towards a law which would pardon landowners, for cutting down swathes of forest. And west Africa forest's are rapidly heading towards ground-zero - no trees - with Nigeria and Togo posting the highest deforestation rates in the world.

Balm: Going green on REDD+: After a decade of tortuous plodding towards making forest-protection pay - through the UN-sponsored REDD+ scheme - 2012 may see results. The framework for channeling money, to save forests, may finally be put in place. And Costa Rica has already shown the way forward, when the ecological benefits of forests for the wider community are properly valued. Local people are paid for the environmental services that Costa Rica's forests provide. As a result, Cost Rica's forests have now doubled in size. Giving the green light to accelerating REDD+ in 2012 could eventually see the same happen across the globe.

Woe: Carbon dioxide emissions leaping ahead: Finding solutions to global warming can look beyond reach. After decades of hand-wringing, and tinkering with green energy, CO2 emissions in 2011 are still soaring. It is estimated that, globally, well over 10 billion tonnes of carbon were emitted in 2011, and CO2 levels topped 391ppm. With 2011 ranked as the 11th warmest on record, despite the cooling effects of La Nina, global warming shows no signs of stopping.

Balm: Harvesting the low-hanging fruit: Whilst the world struggles to tame its addiction to carbon-emitting fossil fuels, there may be quick, and reasonably simple, ways to slow the rising global thermometer. Black carbon, better known as soot, and methane are both big contributors to increasing temperatures. But while CO2 will hang around for millennium, even if we stopped all CO2 emissions tomorrow, that's not the case with soot and methane. They would fall back quickly if we found ways to slash emissions. And the good news is that reducing emissions of both is much simpler than cutting back on CO2.

Woe: Economic stagnation shows no sign of ending: While the planet's environmental problems mount, the resources to deal with them, from hard-pressed governments have shrunk. The culprit is the credit crunch - which spawned first a recession, and which now appears to be sucking the world back into a mire of economic stagnation. Can any of the green woes described above be addressed, while the world is fixated on restarting the growth engine?

Balm: Dropping the Growth Mantra: Perhaps this is the biggest potential healer of so-many of the world's environmental woes - letting go of the idea that economic growth is over-arching drive of all our lives. After all, the press of ecological problems are really an indicator that limits have been reached - to what humankind can extract from, and spew back into, the global ecosystem. If the fervent questioning of the 99% movement were to crystallize on the notion that growth itself is the problem, then perhaps we could manage a gradual descent, back to material comfort that would keep both man, and the planet, happy.

Read more at http://www.earthtimes.org/going-green/6-eco-woes-6-green-balms-2012/1821/#chRmHtU2hrXk8GGl.99 - See more at: http://www.earthtimes.org/going-green/6-eco-woes-6-green-balms-2012/1821/#sthash.gbzWbe7K.dpuf

Those Little Plants know that we care. Never Give Up!

Keeping the garden growing

By Michael Evans  - 11 Apr 2012 15:1:0 GMT

Gardening image via Shutterstock
In England, after months of unusually dry weather, the country is now experiencing its worst drought since 1976. 20 million customers in southern and eastern England have now been affected by hosepipe bans, with heavy fines likely to be imposed for washing cars or watering gardens.
Britain's dry weather is nothing compared to the climatic extremes that are being experienced in North America. In an area stretching from the Midwest, through New England and up into Canada, March 2012 has seen high temperature records broken by the thousand in what has been described as the "summer in March 2012".

In mid-March, between the 12^thand 18^th, no fewer than 3,350 temperature records were broken and in South Dakota, with two days to go before the official end of winter, the temperature reached 34.4°C (94°F), which equalled the previous highest March record that was set in 1943.
What people are now asking is if these are the March temperatures, what are we likely to expect in July?
In England, although we have not experienced these extreme temperatures, gardeners are still concerned about how they are to cope with a prolonged period of dry weather when they are no longer able to use hosepipes to water their plants.

Fortunately there are ways where careful planning can help gardeners cope with this situation. It is important to conserve moisture and prevent the soil from getting too dry and hot. Covering the soil with leaves, grass clippings, pulled weeds, compost or other organic material in a process known as mulching can help to regulate soil temperature and moisture, as well as stopping it from being blown away. Not only this, but it also inhibits the growth of weeds and prevents soil being washed away by the heavy rains that often accompany high rises in temperature.
So-called living mulches can have similar results. These "green mulches" as they are called, also inhibit weed growth and protect and stabilise the soil, but since most are legumes, they also have the benefit of adding nitrogen.

Gardeners have long realised that the space between plants is often little more than wasted space that can quite readily be filled by what is often known as a "catch crop". A good example is a plant like garlic, which needs a fair amount of space when mature, but takes a while to grow. Early in the season when the garlic plants are still small, the space between them can be filled with plants such as lettuce and spinach.
When these plants reach edible size the leaves can be harvested, although the plants should be left to continue growing. Carrots can be planted at the same time as the greens and during the early part of the season the fast-growing greens will shade and crowd the carrots, but later in the season, as the greens finally run their course, the carrots will take over between the garlic plants and the two will happily co-exist side by side.

Of course this happy side-by-side co-existence will not apply to all plants. A process known as alleolpathy gives plants the ability to secrete substances into the soil via their roots that have the effect of inhibiting the growth of certain other plants. The results will be plain to see. Care must therefore be taken in the selection of crops that are to be grown in this way, but where it works it can be very successful.
The garlic/greens/carrot scenario is just one example, but other combinations can work just as well. With care and planning it is relatively easy to achieve three different crops in one season from the same plot of land, but it doesn't just end there. At the same time this living mulch process will have protected the topsoil from the elements, prevented it from drying out and as an added bonus the biomass will have sucked up far more carbon dioxide than a layer of rotting vegetation will ever have done.

Small cottage gardeners have always known the value of growing produce in this way but most will not have known that there is a scientific term for this kind of diversity-focused gardening. It falls into the broad category of agroecology, which is the name given to the practice of building diverse and sustainable agriculture systems based on ecological principles. In these days of industrial-style farming such practices have often been neglected.

Research into agroecology is currently being undertaken at around 20 universities worldwide. The potential for double food production in marginally productive areas is enormous and these are generally the very areas that are most at risk of desertification when soil is over exposed.
There are high hopes that the introduction of agroecology techniques will help to solve world food shortages and given that there is every indication that this year will be a hot one in many parts of the northern hemisphere, now seems to be a very good time to take a closer look at methods of green mulching on the domestic front.

Read more at http://www.earthtimes.org/going-green/keeping-garden-growing/1917/#1DdzZV68mfcFb4Hx.99 - See more at: http://www.earthtimes.org/going-green/keeping-garden-growing/1917/#sthash.dUB9BdEr.dpuf

With Green in Mind

World Environment Day 2013

By Paul Robinson  - 05 Jun 2013 10:45:0 GMT

The Mongolians are filling their World Environment Day with a plethora of activities, such as how to preserve meats in the manner of indigenous Indian, African and other peoples- the Mongol Horde, for example, preserved the whole meat of a cow as a fist-shaped ball (borts) used like an ancient beef stock; World Environment Day 2013 Logo; Credit: UNEP
With Mongolia hosting this year's World Environment Day, their set theme is a food carbon-footprint topic called Think. Eat. Save! The WED was established after an inter-governmental conference in Stockholm in 1972. In 1973, with the first WED, the "greens" and others were enthusiastic but we had big problems.
Strange, that we still have those problems after all this time. We now waste so much food, that's it is estimated to weigh 1.3 billion tons. That amount could feed the 1 in 7 children who go to bed hungry every day and help prevent their frequent death from starvation.

Think.Eat.Save is empowering everybody in the sense that it informs you about all the water wasted in producing food that goes to waste, all of the methane that animals produce in creating beef and the carbon dioxide given off to create the energy needed to produce the finished meat. Food production globally occupies 25% of all the land that we live on, using 70% of our fresh water. The greenhouse gases from all of this food total 30%. Most land-use change and loss of biodiversity is caused by food production.
So what should we do to avid all of this waste of pristine resources? Informed decision-making is more difficult than it was in 1978. Limiting some emissions now can mean buying local produce to avoid flights from distant regions. Organic food, too, avoids the expense, both environmentally and financially of chemicals used in many food products.

Last year, and in previous years, forest and biodiversity were themed. Brazil's Green Economy theme in 2012 used one of the fastest growth rates among nations to showcase how people and development could go hand-in-hand with their environment. Highlights from some early years included Stockholm's 1991 Climate Change theme and the need for partnership and several desertification themed years such as that in Algiers in 2006
This year, UNEP, FAO and Messe Düsseldorf aim o save food ad contribute to the Zero Hunger Challenge that ban Ki-Moon launched at the Rio+20 Conference last year.. Literally, they want, "to add its authority and voice to these efforts in order to galvanize widespread global, regional and national actions and catalyze more sectors of society to be aware of and to act on the growing scandal of food waste."

First steps involve pest control, proper storage and the Mongolians ideas on preservation, preserved for us through time from ancient habits worldwide. More developed countries must concentrate of their horrific wastage of food because it is the wrong shape or some other ridiculous reason. Smallholders in every country need to address the increase in productivity needed to solve supply problems locally.
Beyond agriculture, many Mongolian gold miners are concentrating on the health within their mines rather than their immediate rewards. The healthy future achieved is more valuable than short term monetary gain. Their President is very supportive in his statement, "Our blue planet is only one for all of us. Yet, our home Earth is visibly losing its vitality and pristineness due to the reckless policies and ruinous acts of its children, the human beings. Its resources are being exhausted and the safe livelihood of the humankind is gravely endangered." Obviously this is not a single day campaign.

Those of us who don't go to Mongolia need to buy our local produce, even if it has an odd shape, preserve food instead of wasting it and use cloth reusable bags. Growing you own food is a desire within many of us, so ways to efficiently produce attractive vegetables will be spread around on World Environment Day 2013 (WED).
Children can certainly improve with their personal consumption of leftovers, although I'd hate to be around in some households with spoilt children's opinionated comment. The obese and the obsessive dieters among us also have something important to offer on this special day, particularly for their own healthy future!

Read more at http://www.earthtimes.org/going-green/world-environment-day-2013/2371/#aiGI5sQLv50xJc6U.99 - See more at: http://www.earthtimes.org/going-green/world-environment-day-2013/2371/#sthash.6qGz5Zm9.dpuf

Taking Care of Our Environment, Our First Priority

Searing Temperatures for the US

By Michelle Simon  - 14 Oct 2012 13:22:0 GMT

Drought Image; Credit: © Shutterstock
If there were any climate change denialists located in the United States, over the last nine months, their arguments have been shattered by rising temperatures and the highest average over nine months with severe drought conditions disabling many economic sectors and livelihoods.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor (October 2012), "64.6 percent of the contiguous U.S. was experiencing moderate-to-exceptional drought, slightly larger than the extent of drought at the end of August. The percent area of the nation experiencing exceptional drought, the worst category of drought, remained nearly constant at about 6 percent."

January to September was recorded by the National Climate Data Centre as the warmest first nine months of any year with national temperature of 59.8° F, a 1.2° F rise from previous spike in 2006 and 3.6° F higher than the 2006 national average.
Low rainfall, increased evaporation with high temperatures have triggered wildfires across the northwest US. The hardest hit has been the food production and livestock sector. The low agricultural yield will undoubtedly send food prices rocketing, a devastating economic impact during an already all time low.

Human impacts to nature and nature's returned devastating impacts affect the stability of the economy and in turn sustainable livelihoods, with the poor taking the brunt of the hit. The US government predicts a CPI (Consumer Price Index) hike of 4-5% for meat products by next year and similar increases across the food market. Corn and soybean are also forecast to increase substantially.


; Credit: NOAA/NWS/NCEP/CPC
In addition, industrial processes dependent on water are also directly affected, from manufacturing to energy production.
The climate change crisis is here and now, the call for adaptation, mitigation and an overhaul of our unsustainable development paradigm with high costs to the environment and boomerang effects to the functioning of human society needs to happen with urgency.

Every sector from industrial to agricultural and every household needs to change the way we produce goods and live, to conserve resources, to utilise and manage survival resources with the aim of having enough for the future. Climate change is water, climate change is food, climate change is oxygen, and climate change is survival.

Go Green Today

The record harvests changing lives for impoverished Indian farmers

By Martin Leggett  - 24 Feb 2013 10:6:46 GMT

Rice Paddy; Credit: © Shutterstock
From drought-stricken crops to pesticide-riddled farms; from the creeping GM takeover of farming, to rising food prices and warnings of famine - the drumbeat of bad news for small farmers in the developing world has been relentless. With more mouths to feed, in an era of climate change and extreme weather, many have argued that only genetically-modified seeds, from the giant agricultural companies, can save farming in countries like India.

But what's this? A chord of good news, breaking through the gloomy tones? A small farmer, in one of the poorest parts of India, breaking the world record for rice harvested per hectare? That's the promising note coming from the Indian state of Bihar.
And he bought in his staggering, record-breaking 22.4 tonnes per hectare (five times the usual yield) with nothing but some clever and careful nurturing of his crop - without a drop of pesticide, herbicide and fertilizer in sight. Not only that, but Sumant Kumar is far from the only farmer in Bihar to see yields rise. In fact, this impoverished state in the north-east of India saw its rice harvest leap from 3 million to 8 million tonnes in just 1 year. And it's all down to a new technique that is the very opposite of the high-tech, high-costagriculture the developed world has so often pushed on developing-world farmers.

Getting intense with the nurturing
It's called System of Rice Intensification (or SRI), and it started with highland rice farmers in Madagascar. But its use is spreading far beyond rice, to crops like potatoes, tomatoes, wheat and peppers. At its heart is a simple organic approach, that looks to raise fewer, stronger plants, by ensuring the seedlings get off to flying start. Rice seedlings are transplanted when very young (and quickly too) aiming to keep the stress on the tiny roots to a minimum. Only 1 seed is planted per 'hill', and they are more widely spaced, so each plant can flourish.
SRI also aims for minimal watering, so the soil stays air-rich and loose, encouraging root growth. For the moment the SRI technique involves more work at the outset - more careful planting, and more frequent hoeing and dressing with manure. But with less seed used, no need for expensive fertilizers - and with the healthier plants generally not needing pesticides or herbicides - the payback for farmers from the increased yields seems more than worth the extra effort.

'My whole life has changed'
"In previous years, farming has not been very profitable," Sumant Kumar told the Guardian last week. "Now I realize that it can be. My whole life has changed. I can send my children to school and spend more on health. My income has increased a lot." There are dissenting voices, however. SRI has had a long and rocky path towards adoption, as conventional agricultural scientists and labs have poo-pooed the idea that yield increases can be achieved so simply. One hold-out critic is Yuan Longping, a leading Chinese researcher credited with the development of hybrid rice varieties.
He told the South China Morning Post that the record yield was "120 per cent fake", and dismissed the Indian government's verification of the harvest. "How could the Indian government have confirmed the number after the harvesting was already done?" Yuan Longping is the previous record holder for the highest rice yield per hectare (at 19 tonnes). But the Bihar government fiercely defends the results they are seeing from SRI, which they said was done in front of independent witnesses.

Go to the fields and see..
If they are right, SRI could be a game-changer for the world's hundreds of millions of small farmers - and for ensuring a more sustainable future for agriculture. Amir Kassam, a former director of the UN's agricultural research organization, CGIAR, has a message for the doubters, which he passed on through the Guardian. "I would say to them, 'go to the fields and see the evidence'. There are now close to a million hectares under SRI and that cannot be regarded as a delusion. It is real."

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