International Surfing Day

Ever need an excuse to go surfing? Well on June 2oth you finally have one. International surfing day created by Surfing Magazine, this unofficial, official surfers holiday gives us to promote and celebrate the sport while bringing awareness to the state of our oceans and beaches.

The goal is simple, take the day, or at least part of the day to go down to your favorite surf spot to catch a wave or two, or watch your your favorite agro local grom snake you, whatever it takes. While your at it take some time to clean up your local beach. Surfrider Foundation will be organizing a hand full of official beach cleanups, but that shouldn’t stop you from fixing up your own stretch of sand.

Join ISD at http://www.surfingmagazine.com/isd/

Urban Chickens

All the rage, urban chickens are the new thing and not in places that you would expect. If you are into organic gardens, eggs and composting then Urban Chickens might be just right for you. Now I am not talking about having a rooster to wake up all of your neighbors, but a couple of Hens might treat you just fine. They are very easy to keep and fall in love with. Most cities already allow their citizens in urban areas to keep a couple of hens, but it worth checking into to see if you are allowed to in your town.

The Environment or a Chaffed Ass?

A friend directed us to an interesting article in the guardian.co.uk Posted on February 26, 2009. It turns out that American’s Love for a soft tissue to wipe there buttocks with is worse for the environment than their love for driving gas guzzling Hummers.

According to Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent guardian.co.uk,”The tenderness of the delicate American buttock is causing more environmental devastation than the country’s love of gas-guzzling cars, fast food or McMansions, according to green campaigners. At fault, they say, is the US public’s insistence on extra-soft, quilted and multi-ply products when they use the bathroom.”

She goes on to quote Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defence Council”This is a product that we use for less than three seconds and the ecological consequences of manufacturing it from trees is enormous,” he goes on to say, “Future generations are going to look at the way we make toilet paper as one of the greatest excesses of our age. Making toilet paper from virgin woodis a lot worse than driving Hummers in terms of global warming pollution.” Making toilet paper has a significant impact because of chemicals used in pulp manufacture and cutting down forests.”

Susan also points out that Paper manufacturers such as Kimberly-Clark have identified luxury brands such as three-ply tissues or tissues infused with hand lotion as the fastest-growing market share in a highly competitive industry. Its latest television advertisements show a woman caressing tissue infused with hand lotion.

The New York Times reported a 40% rise in sales of luxury brands of toilet paper in 2008. Paper companies are anxious to keep those percentages up, even as the recession bites. And Reuters reported that Kimberly-Clark spent $25m in its third quarter on advertising to persuade Americans against trusting their bottoms to cheaper brands.

But Kimberly-Clark, which touts its green credentials on its website, rejects the idea that it is pushing destructive products on an unwitting American public.

Americans already consume vastly more paper than any other country — about three times more per person than the average European, and 100 times more than the average person in China.

Barely a third of the paper products sold in America are from recycled sources — most of it comes from virgin forests.

“I really do think it is overwhelmingly an American phenomenom,” said Hershkowitz. “People just don’t understand that softness equals ecological destruction.”

Source & images Courtesy of guardian.co.uk

Check out More Articles by Suzanne Goldenberg

Vermicomposting Worm Tea

I got in a conversation with some friends that are just now starting to get into planting their own organic gardens. We were discussing composting when it dawned on me that none of them were familiar with vermicomposter (worm composters). I shared with them the benefits that I have found having both types of composters in my yard. One to make fresh batch of regular compost, and the other to make a fresh batch of Humus(worm droppings) that can also be used to make tea.

So what, you may ask, is vermicomposting and how does it work?

Well, “vermi” is the Latin word for worm, and worms like to feed on slowly decomposing organic materials (e.g., vegetable scraps). The “end” product, called castings, is full of beneficial microbes and nutrients, and makes a great plant fertilizer. So, vermicomposting is the practice of using worms to make compost simply by feeding them your food waste.

The reason vermicomposting is becoming popular is because worms are very efficient eating machines. They eat over half their body weight in organic matter per day!

If you look online you will notice a bunch of different companies selling their own version of a worm bin, however If you look around your house you may be able to make one yourself for next to nothing.

To make your own vermicomposter you need a few things:

1.Two 10gallon Plastic Container bins (Dark Colors are better, Worms do not like the light)

2.A sharp object (knife or scissors or drill to poke holes)

3.A couple of bricks

4.Bedding

5.Worms (Red Wingers)

6.Spray Water Bottle With Water in it

7.Old Newspaper

Directions:

1.)First take one plastic container and set it aside. This will be your reservoir.

2.)Second take the other plastic container and poke holes on the bottom of the container. 1 hole every square inch should do.

3.)Next poke holes on the top piece of the container. 1 whole every square inch is fine.

4.)Place bricks inside the container with NO holes (Reservoir). Lay bricks on their side, this is to give the top container space to let the worm tea drip out.

5.)Place containers with holes on top of the bricks inside the Reservoir container (with no holes)

6.)Place bedding at bottom of container with holes( I used a cocoa mix, cardboard clipping work fine as well. Anything that will retain moister, try to avoid anything glossy)

7.)Spray bedding with water from water bottle so that it is damp but not drenched.

8.)Add Red Winger worms

9.)Add vegetable clippings, and shredded junk mail

10.)Spray with water bottle to make moist

9.)Place damp Newspaper on top to keep in moist.

10.)Put the lid with holes on top of the container. Place the lid with no holes on the bottom of your reservoir bin for a stand if you like.

YOUR VERMICOMPSTING

If you get this far, keep adding your worm food daily and wait atleast three months for your worms to thier thing. One you get a good batch of Humus, let me know and I will tell you how to sperate the worms from the humus so that you can add it to your garden.

Earth Day

What if every day was earth day? Do you think things would actually change for the better or do you think that people would become immune to it and go on living their glutenous lives without paying attention to their surroundings? Do you think big companies and goofy politicians would still be talking about silly make believe concepts like Clean Coal? Do you think new buzz words like “Green, ECO and Sustainable” would have any meaning?

We found this picture online and thought that it pretty much hit the nail right on the head.

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