Eating Fresh Papaya In Sweden:The Locavore Movement Needs Legs To Stand On
By Erin Gallagher
Filed Under Conscious Commerce, The Big Picture | 2 Comments
Along with the words cougar, cloudware, mumblecore and upcycling, locavore made the new Oxford American Dictionary’s list of new words last year. For those playing the home game, a locavore is a person who chooses to only eat food that is grown locally.
Restaurants everywhere are adding locally grown, organic dishes to their menus, farmers markets have spouted up in many cities across the world and in 2007, American schools in over 35 states presented students with locally grown produce for lunch in their cafeterias. It has been decided: eating foods grown within a 100-mile radius of your kitchen is a sure-fire way to ensure that spiking gas prices have less impact on your wallet and allows you tighter control over how many pounds of pesticides you ingest. Great. So grab a trowel, some native plants, create an edible forest in your neighborhood and responsibly choose produce you do not grow from (organic) farms in the region. Continue reading Eating Fresh Papaya In Sweden:The Locavore Movement Needs Legs To Stand On…
Posted on September 12, 2008 |
The Healthiest Egg: Designing Chickens Into Your Urban Lifestyle
By Erin Gallagher
Filed Under eCo TV | 1 Comment
We found these British Blokes online who call themselves “Giving It A Go” and are bent on creating an edible backyard and putting permacultural principles into action. Some may say that this feat would be extremely difficult if not impossible to accomplish in an urban setting where temperatures can get extremely low and the sun makes only a few guest appearances, but these guys are proving that to be a myth and we think they deserve a massive “jolly good job well done” pat on the back.
In many permaculture designs, a domesticated bird species is used to speed up the process of making food scraps into soil nutrients. This portion of the video series illustrates how to build a chicken coop in a tiny backyard space. The first is a time-lapsed overview of the construction process and the second is a walk-through of the design.
Enjoy!
If you are really keen to know more about chickens in your backyard and how they can be an essential component in your sustainable home design
- eCo Times will be publishing an article on this in the next few weeks, so check back
- If you are wanting to know more about the permacultural design concept, start with our Permaculture 101 article
- Read an article on Urban Hens by the BBC
- Look at what “Urban Chickens” organizations is doing to promote chickens in your backyard
Posted on September 5, 2008 |
Exposing: The People’s Grocery
By Erin Gallagher
Filed Under eCo TV | 1 Comment
Q: What is the second largest cause of death in America?
A: Eating unhealthy food and sitting around
The People’s Grocery is a revolutionary, community oriented, citizen-driven project that began by identifying an opportunity to supply organically produced food to those who could not afford it due to the poorly designed US food system. It has succeeded in creating a thriving urban agricultural landscape in West Oakland, California by educating local citizens on urban farming techniques and thereby increasing the health of the entire community. Inspiring and insightful, this short film by the Global Oneness Project models what can and should be done in most urban settings to offset the effects of exponentially rising transportation costs and live a healthier life.
Click here to check out what else the Global Oneness Project is up to.
Statistical Source: The Center for Disease Control
Posted on August 13, 2008 |
How To Green Your City
By Anne O'Loughlin
Filed Under Green Living, The Big Picture | 1 Comment
A few weeks ago, Pippa Sorley of eCo Times, intrigued, inspired and even disgruntled readers with her announcement of the Top 5 Eco Cities In The US. Though I was indeed excited that my hometown of Boston made the list, it is undeniable that even the “Top 5’s” of the world still have a long way to go. Perhaps it’s time to consider what each of us can personally do to green our own city or town. This article explores direct actions that focus on local, manageable projects we can all do. May the force be with you!
Start At Home
If you truly believe in something, the best way to implement it is to practice what you preach. Making small changes in your daily routine will have a much larger impact than you can ever imagine. Put the car keys down and walk or bike to work. Buy a reusable bag to take to the grocery store, or reuse the ones piled up in your kitchen cupboard. Change your home appliances and light bulbs to energy efficient models. Check out the incredibly fun web game Consumer Consequences from American Public Media and Redefining Progress to find out how resource intense your personal lifestyle is. Then go to LowImpactLiving.com for great green projects you can do to lessen your impact on the planet. The list of small changes that make a big difference is massive, just choose one thing at a time and get started!
Continue reading How To Green Your City…
Posted on July 31, 2008 |
Food Not Lawns
By Christy Rice
Filed Under Green Living, The Big Picture | 7 Comments
After months of purchasing the same bag of frozen organic strawberries, I recently read the label for the first time: Product of Turkey. Humbled as my presumably small carbon footprint doubled its size, I couldn’t escape this haunting realization, “I’ve never been to Turkey-why should my berries be so fortunate?”
In a nation where a mere 0.3% of land is cultivated for organic farming, petroleum-powered planes and trucks are a requirement in the delivery of my organic goods. After all, I live on a city plot just north of Seattle where most farmland is now cemented. When I heard about the concept of the “urban homestead” though, I realized that those berries could have grown much closer to home.
Take the Dervaes family of Pasadena. Modern society would say they are the exception to self-sustainability; my heart says they’re the rule. Practically having dubbed the term urban homestead, they produce three tons of produce a year from their one-tenth of an acre garden, handcraft their own honey and wine, and bicycle-power their blender. They have a biodiesel truck, solar oven, goats, chickens, and a driveway lined with strawberries. The Dervaes’ slowly began cultivating this property in the mid-80’s, and now own their home and live off of the $25,000 a year they make selling their goods. Certain variables, such as renting a home or apartment-dwelling, could dampen dreams of self-sustainability, but the Dervaes’ emphasize that there are degrees to this lifestyle. Each small step is a significant part of the journey toward urban self-sufficiency.
Continue reading Food Not Lawns…
Posted on July 17, 2008 |
Meet The Greenhorns
By Jenn Breckenridge
Filed Under Arts & Culture, eCo TV | Leave a Comment
green·horn 
[green-hawrn]
–noun
| 1. | an untrained or inexperienced person. |
| 2. | a naive or gullible person; someone who is easily tricked or swindled. |
| 3. | Slang. a newly arrived immigrant; newcomer. |
These wild youngsters have spun completely out of control. They’ve left behind everything they’ve previously known to go off on their own and…farm. Yes, there is a new youth movement underfoot here in America, and its about growing vegetables, raising chickens, and moving dirt from one place to another. Believe it.
Strip mall designers, take heed-you could be out of work in the next 5-10 years if this farming trend takes over. Check out this trailer for The Greenhorns, a documentary film about the young farmers movement. See if it makes you want to ditch your office job and join WWOOF…
Posted on July 2, 2008 |
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