fertilizer // Current TV

‘Bee-Aware, Bee very Aware!

I have to admit, seeing a honey bee these days is now like see a rainbow or finding a... more

mab001
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5 months ago
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6 comments

Get this composting bin and free shipping here: http://www.ecobold.com/products/2519-100-recycled-composting-bin

Composting is becoming very popular and lots of people now want to learn how to compost. It's very easy and very rewarding. There are three basic rules to composting:

1. Only add raw fruits or vegetable scraps, everything goes: pits, skins, even when they're moldy
2. Turn it about once a week
3. Use the result, a black healthy soil, in your garden, flowers, trees and give it to friends

To get started, you will want to get a composting bin, the one we highlight is made by the Happy Gardner and has free shipping. It's very strong and easy to assemble, we assembled it in literally five minutes. Then, put the bin in a location you'll want to keep on for the next few years, either with full sun throughout the day or partial sun. Some people recommend that you begin the compost by putting about a foot of straws and dry leaves, but it's not really necessary. You can now begin to put all kinds of raw fruits and vegetable scraps: banana peel, orange peel, seeds, tomato vine, coffee grinds (you may also leave the paper filter), coconut shell, and any other fruit or veggie you have. Make sure it's only raw, no processed or cooked food, do not add any bread, dairy, meat or fish. Consider your composting bin to be on a "gluten free raw vegan diet". I also recommend getting some worms from your local nursery to get the breakdown going a few weeks after starting. One of the reasons not to put cooked vegetables (unless they were steamed and with no seasonings or oils) is that it will not only attract unwanted animals and insects but it will also likely make your composting go bad entirely, even killing the worms.

Once you have it going, make sure to turn it about once a week. If you live in a dry area, make sure to sprinkle about a gallon of water every three weeks or so, just make sure that the compost is healthy. If you didn't add worms at the beginning stages, you'll probably see them coming around six months after you started your compost. When you see them, do not panic, they are the life that keeps it strong and helps make a very healthy fertilizer, also called black hummus, which is one of the best things for your plants.

Congratulations! Now you have a compost going. Your bin will give you a very rich soil that you can add to your garden and flowers. This soil is as good as it gets.

Lastly, if you live in an apartment you still have a couple of options, the first is to talk to the management and ask them to get a community compost going where everyone can contribute (imagine how much trash you'd be diverting from landfills!). The second is to keep your fruits and vegetable scraps separate in a container and give it every week to someone who has a composting bin. There are also indoor composters which is something that we will be reviewing in another few months.

We hope you enjoyed learning how to compost and will get your bin going soon, you'll see what a huge difference you're making not only in our environment but also in your own garden.Get this composting bin and free shipping here:... more

EcoBold
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8 months ago
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Food chain breach: radioactive sludge used for fertilizer on farms

The revelation that natural gas drilling companies are dumping radioactive waste water into our rivers virtually unregulated was shocking enough, but now the New York Times is reporting that radioactive sludge is being used for fertilizer on our nation’s farms. You heard right: radioactive fertilizer – a direct line to the food chain.

Has the whole world gone stark raving mad? Well, if not the whole world, at least the part that handles U.S. environmental regulation.

The news that radioactive material is being used for fertilizer on the farms that produce our vegetables and milk (among other food products) should make even the most permissive pro-industry segments of the American public exceedingly uncomfortable. Radiation outside the food chain – in rivers, for example – is one level of risk, but radiation contamination in the food chain is a much more serious and insidious threat to public health.

This latest bombshell comes from NYT reporter Ian Urbina, who focuses on Pennsylvania environmental regulators in his most recent story on the fracking industry, saying they are “…calling for waste treatment plants and drinking water facilities to increase testing for radioactive pollutant and other contaminants, to see whether they are ending up in rivers because of the growth of natural gas drilling in the state.”

Again, radioactive material in our rivers is a huge concern that needs to be addressed by both lawmakers and regulators, however, another even more urgent issue is that sludge from waste water treatment plants is being used for fertilizer in a kind of “land farming” process run amok (or, I should say, further amok). Land farming is one way industry tries to dispose of radioactive waste – not by removing it but by incorporating it into surface soil and tilling it to aerate the mixture. Unfortunately, the process removes neither the radiation nor the threat, it simply dilutes the density of the pollutants. And radium 226 – one of the radioactive isotopes contained in fracking waste water – has a half-life of more than 1,600 years, so the risk remains with us across generations.

One very real health threat is bio-accumulation, where you begin with radiation in soil that can be absorbed by grasses that are then consumed by farm animals (like cattle) that are in turn consumed by humans. Cows’ milk is immediately and closely monitored when radiation has been detected in an area, because the cows eat the contaminated grass and the radiation shows up (usually very quickly) in the milk they produce. Just like grasses, vegetables can become contaminated when grown in soil containing radioactive material, which presents another direct line to human ingestion.

Another point that needs to be considered is that low-level radiation, which can be blocked by our skin, can wreak havoc if it gets inside our bodies. Both government and industry officials often lump internal and external exposures together, treating them in much the same way as far as health risks go. In reality, internal exposure, even at low levels, is extremely dangerous while low-level external exposure – like x-rays and CT scans – is less of a concern. For more than 20 years, I have been suing the oil and gas industry for damages associated with radioactive waste, and I can assure you that ingested (internal) radiation poses a grave health risk at virtually any level. There is no safe limit for internal exposure. You won’t hear this from official sources, but the inhalation of one particle of plutonium or uranium can, and does, cause lung cancer. Devastating, but true.

Under pressure from the EPA – pressure coming in the wake of Mr. Urbina’s reporting – Pennsylvania regulators say they sent letters requiring new testing to 14 public water authorities while contacting another 25 wastewater plants, “…requesting that those with older permits ‘voluntarily’ begin testing for radium, uranium and other pollutants.”

cont.The revelation that natural gas drilling companies are dumping radioactive waste water... more

JanforGore
added this
10 months ago
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68 comments

High Prices Sow Seeds of Erosion

The New York Times Photo: Bill Hammitt on his farm near Portsmouth, Iowa, where he... more

EthicalVegan
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10 months ago
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1 comment

Save the Planet by save the earthworm

This is about Kartini who struggle to save this planet by breeding the worm.

sigitbali
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10 months ago
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0 comments

The Dead Zone Is Expanding

Mon May 17, 2010 4:59 PM EDT By The Rachel Maddow Show (Times-Picayune graphic)... more

EthicalVegan
added this
1 year ago
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51 comments

Surveillance Images May Reveal Faisal Shahzad Purchasing Fireworks - FBI: "That's Our Man" - 05-06-10

[This is the original submission. To read hopefully accurate updates, please scroll... more

EthicalVegan
added this
1 year ago
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205 comments

Findworms - A Resource Website to Locate Local Worm Farms

For farmers and gardeners:

http://www.findworms.com/about/

What is Find Worms?

Find Worms was created as a small website dedicated to helping people interested in worm composting find worm farms in their local area. Shipping worms can be a harrowing process with disappointing endings (we all know of this firsthand). When worms are packaged and sent through the mail, they are subject to a number of harmful variables such as the length of time they spend in your mailbox or sitting on your porch exposed to the elements. We have eliminated the guesswork of ordering worms by making an easy to use worm farm directory where finding worm farms within driving distance is a snap.

Find Worms has added over 250 worm farms from all across the United States and Canada since its creation in 2007 and the database is constantly updated with new worm farms. With over 50 unique visitors daily, we are becoming the number one worm directory listing online. The addition of new worm farms is entirely user generated, so if you don't see a worm farm in your local area, suggest one!

Over the years, Find Worms has also expanded beyond offering just a worm farm directory for those interested in composting with worms. Our staff now review green products that encourage an eco-friendly lifestyle, post blog articles on worm composting and organic gardening, and we also provide a number of worm composting related resources such as worm bin reviews and how-to guides on worm composting.

"We have eliminated the guesswork of ordering worms by making an easy to use worm farm directory where finding worm farms within driving distance is a snap."

Find Worms is a continuous project that is updated daily, so check back often for the newest articles and guides on worm composting. Our small office staff keeps growing and we are experimenting with sponsorship opportunities for interested parties. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, we value your feedback and would like to hear from you! Send us a message using the Contact page.

As always, Find Worms would like to encourage you, whether you're a first time gardener or an experienced worm composting enthusiast, to live on less to live for more and reduce your impact on the environment so we can all contribute to a more sustainable way of life.For farmers and gardeners: http://www.findworms.com/about/ What is Find Worms?... more

SeaJade
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1 year ago
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1 comment

10 Million Tons of Chemical Fertilizer Discharged into China's Water Every Year

"Fertilizer Pollution Must Stop When most people picture China as a polluting... more

lookatmypix
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2 years ago
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4 comments

Gas Gas Gas *Feature Documentary

China’s environment has been affected in the wake of two decades of economic... more

IFAD
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2 years ago
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My guide to making your fortune

So what has saving water got to do with making a fortune?... more

lookatmypix
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2 years ago
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3 comments

Bomb Material Cache Uncovered in Afghanistan

With fertilizer bombs now the most lethal weapons used against American and NATO... more

cutee_leslie
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2 years ago
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Which fruits, vegetables, and other crops have the smallest environmental footprints?

We've already been over the environmental benefits of choosing poultry over beef and anchovies over haddock. But you're right to suggest that the same sort of logic can apply to picking vegetarian foodstuffs. Certain crops require loads of phosphate fertilizer, for example, which is mined from the ground and can eventually cause stream-choking algal growth. Other fruits and veggies are grown with heavy doses of pesticides, fungicides, and other chemicals that can pollute waterways and cause reproductive problems in animals. So how do you know which crops are best to eat? Here's the Lantern's rule of thumb: Try to keep your more extravagant fruit cravings in check, but don't sweat the low-impact calories that come with your carbs.

As it turns out, it's not hard to find digestible data on the use of fertilizers. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization offers a handy list of various crops and their associated fertilizer loads. (Check page 60 of this PDF.) Bananas consume the most by a very large margin, requiring a whopping 427 pounds of nitrogen, phosphate, and potash fertilizer per acre of cultivation. Sugar beets and citrus crops are next, followed by vegetables, tubers, and grains. Peas and beans require just 35 pounds per acre, in part because they have capacity to absorb nitrogen from the air. In short, eat more beans.

Numbers on pesticide use can be found in a database of California crops maintained by the Pesticide Action Network. According to the information compiled there, raspberries are the worst offenders, accounting for an average of 20.2 pounds of chemicals dumped on every acre of treated land. Other particularly noxious crops include carrots and strawberries. Wild rice also fares poorly by this metric, requiring nearly 6 pounds of pesticide per acre. In the middle of the pack are the tree crops, like avocados and oranges, and at the clean end of the list you'll find broccoli, leafy greens, beans and grains—which are grown with an average of less than 3 pounds of pesticide per acre. (Remember, we're talking about risks to the planet here, not risks to individual health. The Environmental Working Group has a list of the fruits and veggies that show up in stores—and on your plates—with the highest levels of pesticide residue. But that doesn't make them the worst offenders against the environment.)

It's useful to know the amount of pesticide or fertilizer that goes into each acre of a given crop, but there's more to the story. Some crops make more efficient use of the land than others, so their environmental impacts may be less intense on per-calorie basis. To figure out how all this fits together, the Lantern whipped out his solar-powered pocket calculator and compared overall pesticide and fertilizer use with California's agricultural yields from 2007 and nutritional information for each of 12 conventionally grown crops. White rice came out the big winner here, returning more than 2 million calories per pound of pesticide used and 82,000 calories per pound of phosphate. Onions and sweet corn ranked nearly as efficient as rice when it came to pesticide, but were only so-so in terms of fertilizer; the opposite was true for oranges and apples. Lingering at the bottom of both lists were strawberries, which returned just 121,000 calories per pound of pesticide, and 5,300 per pound of fertilizer.

http://www.slate.com/id/2234783/?from=rssWe've already been over the environmental benefits of choosing poultry over beef... more

vincius
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2 years ago
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1 comment

Thomas Wolfe, Are You Sure “You Can’t Go Home Again?”

Where are YOU from? Really think about that question. Not where do you LIVE. But... more

jrn
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2 years ago
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0 comments

3 Cool Green Ideas To Help Feed 9 Billion Grumbling Bellies

Mmmmm....you're hungry, right? So are billions of other people around the world.... more

sfinfgeld2
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2 years ago
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1 comment

Scientists urge Chinese farmers rethink fertilizer usage

In recent decades, China has pushed the use of nitrogen fertilizer to help wrest as... more

mako2424
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2 years ago
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0 comments

Organic Fertilizer Plant Employs Former Rebels

The second of 10 planned organic fertilizer plants, which will provide employment to 300 men and women demobilized from illegal armed groups, recently opened in the city of Medellín.

The plants raise earthworms to produce solid and liquid humus, a brown or black organic substance consisting of partially or wholly decayed vegetable or animal matter that provides nutrients for plants and increases the ability of soil to retain water.

The 2,500 square metre plant treats up to 3.5 tonnes of organic waste per day, which translates into a monthly production of 40 tonnes of solid humus and 3,000 liters of liquid humus, all of which will be purchased by Biprocol Company.

Biprocol Company is implementing the project under the coordination of Colombia's High Commission for Reintegration (ACR), with technical support from IOM, and funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Mayor's Office of Medellín.

The employees receive government assistance for education, health care and psychosocial support, while they are training to become technicians in earthworm raising.

At the plant's opening ceremony, Andrés Gonzalez, General Manager of Biprocol, said he is proud that the private sector, the government and international organizations have a chance to work together to create employment for Colombians who believe in contributing to a peaceful country.

The Presidential High Commissioner for Reintegration, Frank Pearl, added that these joint endeavours lead to the successful economic reintegration of demobilized persons who need support in order to fully reintegrate and become autonomous citizens.

From November 2003 to August 2006, more than 31,000 members of the illegal self-defense groups had demobilized as a result of a peace process with the Colombian government. IOM provides its support to the government of Colombia for the reintegration process of these men and women as they transition into civilian life.

The other plants are planned for the cities of Montería, Sincelejo, Valledupar, Cartagena and Pereira.

For more information visit www.oim.org.co and http://biprocol.com/ The second of 10 planned organic fertilizer plants, which will provide employment to... more

goldenways
added this
3 years ago
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2 comments

Interfaith Blessing of the Garden: Native Plants are new lawn for 21st Century in Michigan

During 2008 a solar fountain will flow - and wild flowers will bloom - in a native... more

Yoopernewsman
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3 years ago
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0 comments

Clean, Carbon-Neutral Hydrogen on the Horizon

Hydrogen as an everyday, environmentally friendly fuel source may be closer than we... more

covelogibbs
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4 years ago
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