Happy Mother’s Day! Almost. What’s that? You haven’t a gift for the woman who brought you into the world quite yet? Tsk! We’ll help you out there in just a second, but first: a history.
The event we call Mother’s Day came to be with the persistence of one woman at the turn of the last century who never actually became a mother herself. And Anna Jarvis was very particular about punctuation. She rejected the idea of a “Mothers’ Day” — plural possessive — because she envisioned many individual celebrations for each person’s own mother, rather than an overarching celebration of motherhood itself. In 1908 the first official Mother’s Day service was held at Jarvis’ mother’s church on the second Sunday in May — in memoriam Ann Jarvis’ death in 1905. Daughter Anna succeeded in her lobbying efforts for a national holiday in 1914, but thought it best marked by single white carnations and handwritten, heartfelt letters from children to their mothers. Fast forward 100 years, and we see that a bouquet of flowers, a family brunch, and a hilarious card are more the norm. But we’ll set aside any debate on the merits and faults of this transformation, because we’re still facing the fact that it’s Mother’s Day Eve and you forgot! Here we present some last-minute suggestions for your eco-conscious mama:
— Do you have card stock and scissors? Wrapping paper scraps? A magazine? Finger paints? Channel your elementary-school self and make a card! Thicker paper is best for the main fold, but you can use any colorful scraps for decoration. Try a pop-up card, or, if you’re not so sure of your creative talents, this design is simple and cute. Pick a fine-point Sharpie or a nice pen and use your best handwriting on the inside. Or go for the ransom note look — it’s up to you. — If you’re too busy whipping up a breakfast/lunch/dinner for Mom and don’t have enough time for arts and crafts, look for a design made from recycled materials at your local grocery store or card shop — they’re not too hard to come by nowadays. Or better yet, choose an e-card! — Flowers are a Mother’s Day staple. Who doesn’t appreciate a fresh bouquet? But think about how you could give your mother the floral gift that keeps on giving with a live plant! A quick stop at your local nursery or grocery store gets you something better than a bouquet of carnations fated to wilt within a few days after using up precious natural resources to transport them. Unless Mom has a black thumb, in which case maybe you ought to go for a locally-grown arrangement that’s in-season depending on where you live. — Is there a Ten Thousand Villages near your house? This fair trade retailer is staffed by volunteers and harbors such intriguing wares as this mosaic mirror frame, a lovely way to display a photo of you and Mom. Alternatively, you could write, type, or cut-and-paste, ransom-style, one of Mom’s favorite sayings, and stick it in the frame as a way to tell her you really were listening all these years. — Lastly, while it isn’t likely to arrive in time for the holiday, you can still let Mom know you ordered her a sleek, eco-friendly bamboo rug, a whimsical twist stool, or a farmed teak spa ladder! Print a picture and wrap it in a small box, then let her know when she can expect her gift to arrive in the mail. Everyone loves mail! Especially mothers, when it’s been sent (with love) from their children. May is the month of mothers, maracas, and monsoon-like weather patterns — but it’s also a time of nature’s renewal. What better way to appreciate the delicate blossoms flourishing all around you, symbols of new, fresh beginnings and a reminder to all humanity of the eternally cyclical nature of life, than to clip a couple and bring them inside? Where will you place them, you ask? To fill a regular vase it seems you’d need to slaughter an entire flower bed. But lo — let us direct your attention to the adorable set of five pear-shaped vases pictured below. Perfectly sized for displaying a single flower bud, some grass, or maybe a cool leaf you found while out on your walk, these vases solve all of your problems!
In crisp, white ceramic, they pair (ha!) well with any decorating scheme when perched on a window ledge, fireplace mantle, coffee table, kitchen counter, bookcase, or wherever you’d like. With the Set of 5 Pear Vases, the world is your oyster. Cluster them at varying heights for an effortlessly cool, bohemian sort of look, or space them at exacting intervals as if to say, My home, like my life, is clearly in excellent order. Guests will love the charming, organic shape of these little vases, too. For added effect and to truly complete their viewing experience, show off your new Set of 5 Pear Vases while offering guests a slice of homemade pear tart! For a limited time, you may find these contemporary home decor gems at Verde Lifestyles for the discounted price of $29.79. And don’t forget — to celebrate the beauty of spring, Verde Lifestyles is offering a beautiful 30% discount site-wide until May 31! To start shopping, click here.
Apr
29
How Green Is Your Garden?Gardening seems like an eco-friendly no-brainer. After all, you are keeping plants alive while they, in return, soak up more of the carbon you produce and provide you with fresher air. It’s a beautiful symbiotic relationship — as long as you’re gardening green. Here are a few tips to start!
A plushy front lawn has long been an object of desire for suburban dwellers, so much so that NASA estimates 40 million acres of lawn exist in the United States, making turf grass our most irrigated crop. On top of that, over 70 million tons of fertilizers and pesticides are used on lawns and gardens per year, not to mention all of our carbon-spewing, gas-guzzling lawnmowers. Think of all the water that goes into feeding our front lawns, and all the water we could save by replacing that springy sod with some lovely indigenous plants! Since native species are already adapted to your climate, they require much less attention and valuable resources to keep them healthy. This site lists nurseries in your area that specialize in selling native plants, including grasses, wildflowers, and shrubs.
But any plants you grow around your home will need some extra love sometimes. Don’t break out the garden hose just yet, though! Why not try installing a rain barrel under a gutter to store water? Harvesting rainwater allows you to save on your utility bills and to save drinking-quality water for your fellow humans. Your plants might also need your help in warding off pesky weeds. For a natural solution to chemical pesticides that can and will seep into the groundwater supply, here’s one recipe that relies only on vinegar, salt, and liquid detergent. Next, do your plants a giant favor and give them the gift of compost! Composting is just like throwing your garbage away, but instead of sending your nutrient-rich food scraps to a landfill, you’re sending them to your backyard to decompose into a delicious vitamin mush. Not sure where to start? The EPA can show you how.
Finally, for those of you city-dwellers out there who don’t have the luxury of space for gardening — let alone composting — behold the concept of the “community garden.” The American Community Gardening Association has a list of plots where environment-loving cosmopolites nationwide can grow their own food! At age 22, Beth Doane founded Andira International, a company that focused on importing and distributing luxury European brands to markets in the United States. But despite her success, the experience changed her perception of the apparel industry, she explained in a recent interview with National Geographic.
“There is an entirely dark side of the apparel industry that the consumer does not see. For example, most of our apparel and accessories are made in countries where workers rights are not honored and where millions of garment workers are exposed to dangerous levels of chemical toxins and carcinogens every day,” Doane said. As a lifelong proponent of green living and a rainforest enthusiast, Doane created Rain Tees to give back to the environment, and the communities whose lives are closely connected to it. For every t-shirt sold, a tree is planted by the label’s charity partner, Trees for the Future, in areas where they are needed most. Since 1988, Trees for the Future has planted almost 65 million trees in Central America, Africa, and Asia — trees that not only improve quality of life for nearby residents but remove over 1 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere per year.
“At the rate our population is expanding,” she said, “and the rate rapidly developing countries are expanding their level of product consumption and mass production, it becomes nearly impossible to ensure safe preservation of our natural resources for the future. In general, when we look at manufacturing worldwide, we find that environmental standards are not enforced or minimally enforced to the point where we are polluting our air, water and land at a devastating rate.” Rain Tees shirts are manufactured in the United States with eco-friendly fabrics, and feature original artwork by children living in endangered rainforests around the world. Each child whose artwork is chosen is sponsored to attend school in their home country by the company, which is also working to develop art programs for children in 38 countries by partnering with non-profits and donating school supplies. Order one for yourself here! Everyone knows plastic in landfills is bad for the environment. Left to its own devices, a plastic bag might not decay for 500 to 1,000 years. But Mother Nature, as it turns out, may be able to provide her own solution to one of its larger challenges — with a particular species of fungi native to the jungles of South America that feeds on polyester polyurethane.
You know polyester polyurethane better as spandex, tires, garden hoses, that foam cushion material used in furniture, or any of its hundreds of other applications. It’s a very common plastic that doesn’t biodegrade because microorganisms typically feed on organic food and paper scraps instead of man-made polymers. It does photodegrade, however — ultraviolet radiation from the sun will cause it to fall apart — but since the invention of plastic itself is only about 50 years old, it’s difficult to say for certain exactly how long the process takes. And never mind the fact that landfills are typically covered with a layer of earth and lined with clay to prevent seepage, so any plastic dumped there isn’t likely to see sunlight. Enter Pestalotiopsis microspora. The fungus, discovered by a group of Yale students visiting Ecuador as part of the school’s annual Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory, is not only able to feed on polyurethane alone, but able to do it in an airless environment — much like a landfill. In a report published by the American Society for Microbiology, the student researchers called their finding a “promising source of biodiversity from which to screen for metabolic properties useful for bioremediation.” So, take heart! Your bald car tires, smelly old gym shoes, and used Spanx may not be destined for eternal life in a landfill after all! Will Matt Damon and John Krasinski star in the next Erin Brockovich? If rumors surrounding upcoming feature film The Promised Land are true, the answer is yes.
The Promised Land, directed by Gus Van Sant of Good Will Hunting and Milk fame, centers around the problem of “fracking,” or hydraulic fracturing, a controversial oil drilling technique that environmental groups attribute to a slew of water and air pollution problems. As more of a factual drama than a documentary, the script is co-written by Damon and Krasinski, based off a first draft that Damon commissioned from writer Dave Eggers, known for his novel A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and for writing Where the Wild Things Are and Away We Go.
This all-star team is set to begin filming in Pennsylvania later this month. Rosemarie Dewitt (Mad Men, United States of Tara) joins the cast as a schoolteacher caught up in the conflict between Damon’s and Krasinski’s characters — which, from the sound of things, are rival corporate executives in the business of natural gas drilling. Few other details of the plot are available, with the iMDB page only revealing that “a salesman experiences life-changing events after arriving in a small town.” Frances McDormand (Burn After Reading) will play Damon’s rule-abiding business partner. The film is set for release in 2013, but if you’re in the Pittsburgh area you might catch some of the filming — it’s slated to run through early June.  Click to enlarge Does fracking really pose a serious health concern? While the US Environmental Protection Agency is still working on a detailed study of the increasingly common practice, environmental organizations like earthjustice.org have documented “fraccidents” — suspicious problems in communities surrounded by drilling sites. Using this method of drilling, a high-pressure cocktail of water, sand, and certain chemicals (specifics are not made publicly available) is injected into rock layers sometimes one mile beneath the surface in order to free the natural gas trapped there. Once the gas is extracted, used fracking fluids are sent to sewage treatment plants — but everything can go awry when toxic chemicals leak into groundwater. In some areas, levels of arsenic, mercury, and methane have been shown highly above federally acceptable amounts. In 2011, one Pennsylvania well exploded, causing fluids to spill freely into a nearby creek feeding into the Susquehanna River. Check out earthjustice.org for more information on the controversy until The Promised Land hits theaters next year! Bamboo can make a lovely addition to the home, and ingenious minds have figured out a way to spin its fibers into clothing and other textiles, giving this hardy plant hundreds of different uses! And did you know that, when ingested, bamboo has been known to exhibit anti-cancer, anti-aging, and antibacterial effects? It’s also been used to reduce bad cholesterol to help fight heart disease, and can improve digestion, asthma, and coughs. Before you start nibbling on your bamboo rug, however, behold this marvelous contribution to the corpus of global culinary arts: bamboo beer. It’s five o’clock somewhere, right?
Traditionally, beer is made with water, a starch such as barley that can be converted to sugars and fermented by adding yeast, and a flavoring such as hops. Brewers of bamboo beer forgo the traditional grains and instead ferment natural bamboo sugars found in the plant’s sap. As a result, the drink is distinguished by a mellow, grassy flavor quite similar to bamboo shoots, which have been a staple of Asian cuisine for centuries. Chances are if you’ve eaten a your way around a Chinese menu, or maybe tried a Thai curry, you’ve encountered these crunchy, cream-colored additions. The beer contains an average alcohol content: 4.5%.
Interested in getting your hands on a cool, foamy glass of goodness from what is possibly the world’s most versatile plant? While widely enjoyed in China, where bamboo is bountiful and natively grown, the drink has unfortunately yet to find a more global audience. A popular brand is called Science Bamboo Beer — with a bit of internet savvy you may be able to track down a case for front-door delivery! Otherwise, those planning to a visit to the Far East should be sure to sample this eco-friendly, healthy take on the familiar. Back in January, the White House announced the debut of its Green Button initiative — making individual energy use data available for consumers to download online. Since then, energy companies nationwide such as American Electric Power, Pacific Gas & Electric, and Southern California Edison have announced their commitment, meaning that nearly 30 million households will soon have access to detailed consumption data via their service provider’s site. But what will we do with this newfound information? How can it help us conserve resources?
This past week, the U.S. Department of Energy launched a contest in partnership with a few major power companies to help answer those questions. With Apps for Energy, the department hopes to inspire professional and amateur programmers to create a user-friendly web and smart phone app that helps consumers save on utility bills. By providing individual household energy data in an easy-to-read format, consumers could better manage their energy use and choose a rating plan to best suit their needs. A Green Button app could also provide customized energy-efficiency tips for each user based on his or her data.
The Apps for Energy contest runs from April 5 to May 15, and finalists will share $100,000 in cash prizes. Not-so-tech-savvy members of the public with active imaginations needn’t sit on the sidelines — anyone is welcome to suggest ideas for apps by e-mailing apps@hq.doe.gov, and the best ones will appear online at energy.gov as inspiration! Applicants must be U.S.-based and at least 13 years of age. In May, submissions will be judged by a “prestigious panel of judges selected from government, the energy industry, and the tech community,” according to the department’s website. Check it out here for more updates in the coming weeks! In the right circumstances and with a little love, you, too, can grant the gift of life to a brand new living thing. That’s right — by growing your own moss! Popularized by guerilla eco-artists such as London’s Anna Garforth and New York City’s Edina Tokodi, recipes have been cropping up online for moss formula that can be brushed onto walls and, with daily watering, grown into letters or designs of your choosing. Among Garforth’s creations is the poem partially shown below. Penned by her friend Eleanor Stevens, its four lines were materialized on walls in different locations around urban London, to remind residents of their relationship with nature. Garforth has said that her inspiration came from a visit to a Victorian cemetery, where moss grew perfectly into the letters of gravestones.
Born in Hungary, Tokodi moved to New York City and co-founded the artist collective Mosstika with Jozsef Valyi-Toth. Tokodi is credited for the mossy silhouettes of animals found scattered around New York’s streets, but the group has experimented with moss in other ways, such as with the portrait below. Mosstika operates around a goal of “creating havens of unexpected greenery within the colder, harsher environment.”
Want to spruce up your own community with some unsolicited moss art? You could stencil your house number by the front door, or maybe your backyard patio could benefit from a mossy rendering of a squirrel. Below are two different ways to get started. It’s something like making your own yogurt — you’ll need a little bit to begin with, but then it takes care of itself. So this is a perfect opportunity to take a stroll through the woods on a moss-gathering exhibition. Just remember to keep misting your new creation with water to foster and maintain its plushy green. Recipe #1: Mix 3 handfuls of moss, 3 cups water, 2 tablespoons water-retention gardening gel, 1/2 cup buttermilk in a blender. Apply with a paintbrush. Recipe #2: Mix several clumps of moss, 1 can beer, and 1/2 teaspoon sugar in a blender until smooth. Paint onto surface. Any tips or suggestions? Leave them in the comments!
Mar
11
Rainwater Recycling and YouWhere we are, this week has served as a reminder that life is not an endless winter. Literally! Spring is near. And what goes hand in hand with spring?Showers! Get ready to see plenty of rainwater in the coming weeks and months — water that’s free and plentiful and all-natural. It will rain, and then it won’t. And that’s when you’ll have to water the lawn! But if you’re so inclined, it’s not hard to rig a simple system to collect some of the rainwater that Mother Nature generously bestows, and use it later to keep your garden (or indoor plants) happy. There are a lot of options as far as collection systems go, and, unless it’s banned in your home state, you can get as crazy as you want. (Some states, such as Utah, Washington, and Colorado, have laws against diverting rainfall, so make sure you check!) This site has a good step-by-step tutorial on how to modify a simple plastic trash barrel one might find at their local hardware store. Adding a mesh top is a good idea so sticks and leaves don’t clog the spout at the bottom. Adding a spout at the bottom is another good idea, for (obvious) easy emptying. Place it under a gutter and watch it fill up, then cover with the lid on sunny days to prevent evaporation and mosquitos.
If you don’t trust your own barrel-making abilities, amazon.com has a few ready-made options that can be yours with a few mouse clicks and a credit card.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for a bigger challenge or you work as an engineer for a living, add a couple more barrels or a garden hose to the mix:
The water drips off your roof and into the barrels — so you might want to start keeping an eye on your roof to clear it from debris — which can also be linked by a common pipe to one spigot that can be hooked up to a hose. A hose can be made functional with the aid of gravity or by installing a water pump. There are a lot of possibilities — deciding how to reuse rainwater is up to you! |
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