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A Practical Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournalpdx.com d Spring 2013
Contents
Issue 20 c Green Living Journal d Spring 2013
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Publisher’s Page The Men Who Built America.........................................4 Local Notes . .........................................................................6 Nature - From Godzilla to Earthworm..........................9 Building A Platinum Home for the Golden Years . .............. 12 Electric Vehicle News Every Thing You Wanted to Know About Charging Your EV........................................................... 16 Eco-Fashion Colorful Carton Wallets .............................................. 18 Yesterday’s News Makes Home Fashion Headlines ....................................................................... 19 Health - Chocolate and Your Health ......................... 20 Recycle - The Mysteries of Recycling: Part III.......... 21 Gardening - Grow Sweet Potatoes ........................... 24 Food- Hybrid Seeds vs. GMOs.................................... 26 Education - 10 Things I Learned While Living Without Running Water.............................................. 28 Book Review- Farms With a Future............................ 30 Classifieds . ........................................................................ 30
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Green Living Journal P. O. Box 677, Cascade Locks, OR 97014
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Publisher: Columbia River Press LLC PDX Editorial Team: Katie Cordrey, Gary Munkhoff Susan Place 541.374.5454 gary@greenlivingjournal.com Advertising: Susan Place 541.374.5454 crads@greenlivingjournal.com Prepress/Graphics/Ad Production: Katie Cordrey iByte Company info@ibytecompany.com 509.493.1250 National Editor: Stephen Morris ed@greenlivingjournal.com Webmaster: Michael Potts Michael@thepublicpress.com Distribution : Ambling Bear, Portland Pedal Power Cover Photos: Farm image courtesy of Redwood Hill Farm, Sebastopol, CA Sustainably farmed and family owned since 1968 Printed: with soy-based inks on recycled paper by Signature Graphics. The Portland edition of the Green Living Journal is published quarterly and 20,000 copies are distributed free of charge throughout the Portland-Vancouver metro area. We encourage our readers to patronize our advertisers, but we are not responsible for any advertising claims. Subscriptions $9.95 per year. Copyright © 2012 Columbia River Press LLC
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Publisher ’s Page The Men Who Built America By Gary Munkhoff John D. Rockefeller. Andrew Carnegie. J. P. Morgan. Cornelius Vanderbilt. Henry Ford. These are the men who, at least according to a recent History Channel series, built America. Whether or not you agree with that statement, there is no question that these were exceptional men who were the dominant players during an exceptional time period in our history. Endowed with vision, drive, intelligence, self-confidence and mighty goals, this handful of men believed that they, and they alone, were destined to forge a radically new America by whatever means it took. They were also ruthless, hard-nosed businessmen who believed in the free enterprise system, without government restrictions or regulations. A system that existed for their own benefit as they created mega-monopolies of railroads, steel mills, oil refineries, and electric companies, that in concert built 20th century America. In so doing, they made themselves the wealthiest and most powerful men in America. As such, they were endowed (or so they thought) with the right to crush their competition, exploit their employees (Henry Ford did break with this and paid his men more than the going rate), and to ignore the environmental damage caused by their activities. A whole century has passed and we have entered a new millennium, facing a world that has changed. Emerging technologies, along with the industrial model of mass production created by these five titans, propelled us into an age of advancement and consumerism unlike any other in the history of the world. The few voices that were warning us of the consequences of this strange new world never had a chance against the mob mentality that the earth’s resources were unlimited. Resource reality is setting in, and we are now aware that there are consequences to ignoring the effects that our lifestyle has on the environment. So where are the titans of today that can overcome the challenges that are before us? This is not a job for a few (no matter how powerful), it is a job for all of us. We are all responsible for what happens to the world around us. There are an ever-increasing number of companies that are producing more and more products and services with the environment in mind. We have options at every turn, be it food, clothing, building products, cars, houses, transportation, and on and on. We make the choice, and the future will depend on which options we choose. How we spend our dollars will decide which products and companies succeed and which ones do not. We are the titans and we can create a sustainable world.
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Local Notes
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Body Mind Spirit Expo Coming to the Composting Workshops Convention Center A rind is a terrible thing to waste Body Mind Spirit Expo returns to the Oregon Convention Center (Hall A), April 20-21, with a weekend filled with the finest presentations, exhibitors and entertainment. Discover an outstanding collection of 80 of the nations most intriguing exhibitors, offering the latest findings in natural health, personal growth, and metaphysics. Then, head to the lecture halls to discuss the latest discoveries with more than 70 incredible presenters and authors. Weekend admission of $12 includes all lectures and demos as well as admission to the exhibit hall. Plus, receive a free $5 gift certificate for New Renaissance Books! The expo offers a safe environment for growth and exploration, so mark your calendars for April 20-21!
Get ready for gardening season with a Master Composter/Recycler composting workshop! These workshops will teach how to be earth-friendly and save money by turning organic yard and kitchen waste into a rich garden amendment. Registration is required for all workshops. Register at www.columbiasprings.org/mcr/classes.html
Backyard Composting Workshops - FREE
For more info: http://www.bmse.net Carlos Rodriquez-Vegas teaches backyard composting at a free Master Composter/Recycler workshop
Have questions about composting? Want to learn how to get your compost cooking? Wonder how to tell when your compost is finished, or what type of bin is best? Then this free workshop is for you. Class includes classroom introduction to basic composting science, and a visit to a composting demonstration site. Workshop dates and locations: • Thurs., April 25, 6 - 8 pm Columbia Springs, 12208 SE Evergreen Highway, Vancouver, WA, 98683 • Sat. May 18, 10 am-noon at CASEE, Room 202, 11104 NE 149th St. Brush Prairie, WA 98606 • Sat. June 15, 10 am-noon at Columbia Springs The Master Composter/Recycler Program is funded by Clark County Department of Environmental Services and administered by Columbia Springs. Columbia Springs provides environmental education opportunities for the community and students of all ages. For more info: http://www.columbiasprings.org or 360.882.0936 x 224 6
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Local Notes continued
Better Living Show Coming to the Expo Center
For more info: http://www.betterlivingshow.org/
Green Zebra Grocery is a new Portland based chain of stores led by retail and regional food pioneer Lisa Sedlar. It focuses on opening small format stores that feature fresh, local, natural and healthy food, as well as the most essential grocery items people want and need. This will include a butcher counter and large grab-n-go options. Green Zebra Grocery plans to open several more stores in the Portland area and in other communities that need greater access to healthy food. Lisa Sedlar is a formally trained chef and most recently served as President and CEO of New Seasons Market. She is deeply involved in the community, serving on the boards of the Oregon Food Bank and All Hands Raised The small format stores will focus on fresh, local and healthy foods and feature a selection of the most frequently needed daily grocery products. “The idea of the 20-min-
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The sixth annual Better Living Home, Garden & Lifestyle Show returns to the Portland Expo Center Friday, March 22 through Sunday, March 24, 2013. This free, three-day festival is designed to encourage attendees to become more sustainable consumers. The show features more than 250 exhibiting companies, showing off the best in high-performance, eco-friendly products and services for every aspect of living a better life. The 2013 Better Living Show is packed with information, exhibits and entertainment for the entire family, including exhibitors and speakers in the home, garden, food, beverage, fashion, renewable energy, conservation, and healthcare industries.
Green Zebra is Coming
Local Notes continued
ute neighborhood really resonates with me and I think our smaller sized stores will fit well into a lot of Portland neighborhoods. Our stores will have a produce department with lots of locally grown fruits and veggies, a small butcher counter featuring grass fed beef and we’ll have a great selection of healthy grab-n-go foods. But, because not everyone eats healthily 100% of the time, we’ll also offer a selection of traditional convenience store items like Gatorade and Doritos.” “The name Green Zebra came from the tomato variety that grows particularly well in our region,” said Sedlar, “I wanted the name to be memorable, fun (even fanciful) and relate to our local food shed. I think Green Zebra Grocery accomplishes all three.” The first store will open at the intersection of Woodstock Avenue and SE 49th Street. The second store will be located in the Kenton neighborhood at Lombard Street and Peninsular Avenue.
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For more info: http://greenzebragrocery.com/
Fourth Annual Garden Home Community Sustainability Fair Hosted by the Garden Home Community Library and the Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation Dept. Date, Location & Details: Tues., April 30 from 4 - 6pm at the Garden Home Community Recreation Center, 7475 SW Oleson Rd, Portland, OR 97223. Free and open to the public. People peruse booths on various sustainable topics and businesses from gardening to recycling to water. For more info: Heather Waisanen heatherw@wccls.org
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Dracula’s Monkey Opens in SW Waterfront
Miller’s Grizzled Langur monkey was thought to have gone extinct in 2004, but has been recently rediscovered to be alive in the rainforest of Borneo. The species has a distinctive dark face and white, Dracula-esque ‘collar’ of fur, hence the nickname Dracula’s Monkey David “Pat” Snyder fascinated with the rebirth of Dracula’s Monkey opens a shop dedicated to the idea that recycling doesn’ t have to be boring. He designs upcycled furniture that are unique, funky and one of a kind. Some of the other items he carries; are one of a kind purses and jewelry. Not all of his stuff is recycled. Dracula’s Monkey features Aloha Bay Candles which are GMO free and Botani soap products certified organic. He also endeavors to sell local merchandise produced by local people. The store is located at 1856 SW River Drive. Open 7 daysa-week, 11 am to 8 pm. For more info: http://www.draculasmonkey.com
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Nature From Godzilla to Earthworm: Re-envisioning the Ecological Footprint By Jonathan Teller-Elsberg
The “ecological footprint” has come to be a widely used term in the sustainability community. Mathis Wackernagel developed the concept as a measure of the demands made by human societies on the ecosystem—a larger footprint represents greater demands and therefore more strain on the Earth’s capacity to sustain the living systems upon which we all depend (and by “all” it is meant not just all humans but all our companions in the wondrous process of life). As such, the term in common usage carries something of a negative connotation. People think of their ecological footprint as a source of guilt, a sort of environmental original sin that we can never escape: as though “to live is to consume is to destroy.” The best we seem to be able to do is reduce our footprint, but even a small footprint represents our ongoing personal contribution to the immiseration of the planet. There are circumstances when this approach to analyzing environmental impacts makes sense. After all, it is flatly true that human society at large is undermining nature’s capacity to regenerate and renew the Earth’s living systems.Collectively, we consume more biological energy each year than nature can gather and utilize anew from the sun; simultaneously the toxic discharges of our industries and untenable agricultural practices further the harm by weakening the health and foundation of the life forms that would otherwise make up for some of the over consumption gap.
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When it comes to an ecological footprint, Godzilla is not destiny Photo by kafka4prez
Nonetheless, it is equally inaccurate to think of our impacts on the community of life as necessarily or strictly negative. Not only is this a mistaken view, the emotional baggage associated with such a mistake can inhibit positive choices. By promoting feelings of guilt and depression, a narrowly negative view of human connection to nature disempowers people from making eco-friendly lifestyle changes, or even drives them toward reactionary attitudes. So if our ecological footprints are not only like those of Godzilla, smashing and terrorizing communities of life wherever we roam, what else might they be like? Well, for one, they can be like the “footprint” of the earthworm. As the earthworm goes about its business feeding itself on microbes in the decaying organic matter passing through its gut, it is also providing marvelous benefits to the plants growing in that soil—as well as the multitudes of microbes that escape its predation. Further, the action of earthworms helps to aerate the soil, increasing its functional fertility and water-processing capacities. By consuming decaying matter, earthworms help the decomposition process, making organic matter available for recirculation through the cycle of life. Better than that, the excreted “worm castings” beloved by vermiculturists (those who use worms to compost their kitchen scraps) are rich in humus meaning that they increase soil’s capacity to support life from the microbial to plant levels. In fact, there are more microbes living in an earthworm’s castings than are in the matter entering its mouth. In other words, the ecological footprint of the earthworm is, overall, distinctly positive: though it consumes a fraction of soil life to sustain itself, its overall effect on the soil ecosystem is to promote a greater abundance of life than would exist without the earthworm. Earthworms are not the only beings with beneficial ecological footprints. Most people know that trees “exhale” water through their leaves, increasing humidity; they also release complex organic compounds into the air which form the core of cloud droplets. Without these compounds, the atmosphere would hold more water and return less in the form of rain. The action of these trees (and some bacteria which produce similar compounds) is responsible for up to 75 percent of the precipitation falling on rainforests—so rainforest trees are not mere passive recipients of a given climate. They are active participants in creating and maintaining the astonishingly diverse ecosystems to which they are adapted. Examples of these positive feedbacks, these beneficial footprints exist in every category of life forms. From nitrogenfixing cyanobacteria in soils and waters to ungulate herds traversing grasslands to mycorrhizal fungi growing into the cells of their plant allies, the dynamics of ecosystems and evolution result in organisms that act like the invisible hand commonly admired by proponents of market economics. Though these organisms aren’t planning their behaviors around a goal of
Nature continued
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mutual benefit, the result is undeniable---and inspiring. We humans can do the same, and whether we know it or not many of us are doing so already. When you compost, you are promoting a greater quantity and diversity of soil life. When you plant nitrogen-fixing or nutrient-accumulating plants, you promote fertility for their companions. When you grow flowers rich in nectar, you encourage healthy populations of insects and birds. It’s not for nothing the adage persists, “the best fertilizer is the gardener’s footsteps.” Impacts aren’t necessarily small-scale. Holistically managed cattle herds on ranches and farms in the hundreds to thousands of acres in size have been measured to increase biodiversity and promote formation of massive quantities of new topsoil. Most famous for her positive impact is Wangari Maathai, recently deceased winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her Green Belt Movement that has planted tens of millions of trees, primarily in Kenya. Restoration of deforested lands there has reduced droughts, soil erosion, and poverty while increasing wildlife diversity and food security. Your impact on the world is not restricted to the range of more or less harmful. It can be actively positive. You can live your life in such a way that the world is better off because of your presence. This is as true at the level of ecology in your yard as it is in the sphere of society.
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Nature continued
The answers are not always obvious, but the questions are essential: Will my actions promote a healthier ecosystem? Will they increase the diversity of life forms and the stability of populations in this location? Will they encourage supportive human connections across social boundaries? Are they the actions of an earthworm rather than a Godzilla? We’ll have disagreements and make mistakes in the search for “yes, yes, yes, and yes,” and changing circumstances will require us to revisit our answers over time. But at the moment, too many well-intentioned people don’t even know that these questions exist, let alone know how best to get to “yes.” The challenges facing our world won’t be solved by wholesale optimism any more than by strict pessimism. As with the serenity prayer line, “grant me . . . wisdom to know the difference,” the appropriate use of positive or negative versions of ecological footprint analysis depends on context. Don’t let this useful tool shackle you with a narrow interpretation of your connection to life. Fear not: the beneficial path exists. The first step is to see yourself and others as having the capacity to walk the path, and to extend it.
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Jonathan Teller-Elsberg is a permaculture consultant who operates out of Norwich, VT. REFERENCES: Clive Edwards, Soil Biology: The Soil Biology Primer, Chapter 8: Earthworms http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/concepts/soil_biology/earthworms.html Rhett A. Butler, Rainforest Ecology http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/rainforest_ecology.html.
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Building A Platinum Home for the Golden Years: Part II Building By Gary Munkhoff and David Nemo In part one of our series, Gail and David Nemo shared with us plans and goals for their new retirement home. They had three major objectives in the design of their new home: • Maximize personal comfort • Low utility bills and maintenance expenses
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• Minimal environmental imput They chose to follow the Earth Advantage Institute (EAI) design guidelines and building standards in order to meet these goals. The EAI assigns points to each of the design features, and the total points earned determines which of the three (Silver, Gold, and Platinum) performance levels is achieved. Their architect, Suzanne Zuniga, was familiar with the various design and construction standards and techniques of the Earth Advantage certification, and took those and her own expertise in green building techniques into account in drawing up the house plans and construction specifications. In addition, the house was designed to be wheelchair accessible.
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Their builder, Bob Linnell of Castle Rock Homes, is an Earth Advantage “Certified Builder”, so he was familiar with the certification requirements and process, and the Nemo’s contract with him stipulated that he would handle the application and certification process. Even though their goals did not include building to a particular rating, the Nemos realized that there were extra benefits gained from doing so. As David said, “I did a rough calculation of anticipated Earth Advantage ‘points’ before construction started to see if we would be on the ‘borderline’ between award levels and might want to consider changes to achieve a higher rating. It was pretty apparent that if we followed through with some key, and relatively more expensive, components of the house plans, achieving the highest level, Platinum, certification was fairly certain. Those components being the solar array and rainwater harvesting system.” “In our overall thinking, we designed the house to contain those energy efficient components and features that would be comfortable to us and most environmentally sustainable - not to achieve a particular rating. However, having made the commitment and investment in all the green features of our house, it is rather satisfying to receive the Platinum certification from Earth Advantage. I also would hope and expect that to some extent it will be an advantage
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Building continued
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in selling our house someday.” The important point to keep in mind is that the system of assigning points to green features is simply a tool to help people like the Nemos make decisions when designing their home. Using the points as a yardstick, one can the evaluate the cost of a feature versus the expected benefit that feature will provide in terms of personal comfort, or operating savings, or environmental impact. The next step was to finance the project. As David tells it, “Financing the construction of our house was a particularly challenging ordeal because of the timing, which found us trying to put our deal together just after the collapse of the housing market and the aftermath of turmoil in the financial investment and mortgage industry. The impact to us was that our otherwise very cooperative and life-long credit union, Unitus, was adhering to very strict lending policies (as were all other lenders I interviewed) that basically left them no ability to consider any loan value other than one based on a strict appraisal of our project based primarily on square foot value of comparable sales.” “And even more frustrating at the time, though I understand there is some change coming to the appraisal industry, is that the appraisal placed zero ‘extra’ value on any of the energy efficient components planned for our house.” “Among other things we eventually had to pay for out of pocket, the cost of the solar array and rainwater harvesting systems, about $25,000, presented the most challenging aspect of the project to fund. Our solar contractor, Darryl Erlandson of People’s Solar, was actually the one to tell us about Umpqua’s GreenStreet Lending program specifically for energy efficient home improvements. After a few phone calls and a simple application process, we got an enthusiastic approval to what amounted to a ‘personal loan’ from the bank that financed these two green features.” Let’s take a look at the features that earned the Nemo’s home a Platinum rating.
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Building continued
ity of about 2,800 gallons, given the placement of input and overflow pipes, and stopping short of using water at the very bottom of the tank to avoid collecting sediment. In the mechanical room in the garage is the water pump, and a filtration system consisting of two sediment filters, a carbon filter and an ultraviolet light filter, installed by Harvest The Sky. The City of Portland also required a traditional city water connection with a backflow prevention device to ensure untreated rainwater water will not flow back into the city system. To transfer from city water to the rainwater tank, there is an automatic valve that makes the switch whenever power is turned off to the rainwater system. An automatic controller monitors the level of the rainwater tank, and will cut off the system when the water in the tank reaches about 10% of full.
Insulation
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Spray Foam Insulation On Roof Deck
Heating, Cooling, and Ventilation
Open cell spray foam was used throughout the house in thicknesses ranging from 8 ½ inches to 1½ inches depending on location, and achieving insulation values of R-21 for the walls and R-38 for the roof deck. A two inch Polyisocyanurate rigid foam panel was added to the outside walls, adding an additional R-16. Regardless of its thickness, the spray foam fills all voids and binds to the framework, sealing out air, dust, allergens, moisture, and reducing noise. The result is a house that is very tight. When tested, the house achieved 1.2 air changes per hour at 50 pascals of pressure or ach50. As a comparison, a tight home built to normal building codes will achieve 2.5 to 5 ach50 and a house built to “passive” standards achieves 0.6 ach50. The foam product used was Sealection Agribalance manufactured by Demilec and installed by Spray On Foam & Coatings.
Photovoltaic System An array of 12 SolarWorld, 240 watt solar panels was installed by People’s Solar on the south facing roof at the rear of the house. The system is capable of producing 2.88 kilowatts.
Rainwater Harvesting System A 3,000 gallon concrete water storage tank was installed underground and connected to all the roof gutter downspouts. This will have an effective useable capac14
The home is heated with an in-floor radiant heating system using a gas fired Navien 98% efficient tankless, ondemand water heater. Plastic tubing carrying recirculating hot water was installed on the wood subflooring and then
covered with a a 2-3” layer of gypcrete. This is a concrete like substance which provides the thermal mass to store and evenly disburse the heat from the circulating hot water to the floor. This unit also heats the domestic hot water supply. Air-Conditioning: Ducted (in conditioned attic) Carrier 2-ton Performance Series, 2-stage, 17 seer. Heat Recovery Ventilator [HRV}: Lifebreath 155 ECM MAX with in-line Hepa filter. The HRV is an air exchanger that constantly replaces stale polluted indoor air with an equal quantity of fresh air from the outside. Two streams of air pass on either side of an aluminum heat exchange core. In the winter, the core transfers heat from stale outgoing air to fresh incoming air with virtually no loss of heat to the outside. During the summer, the HRV works in reverse to keep your home cool and fresh. HVAC contractor was Jacobs Heating and Cooling
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Building continued
Roof
Since moving in to their new home in February 2012, the Nemos contracted with Tyron Creek Landscaping to complete the landscaping of their 10,000 square foot lot with some final touches to add to their comfort and inventory of green and sustainable features. They built a bocce ball court in the back yard and a ‘lawn’ in front featuring synthetic grass, retaining walls to create gardening spaces and vinyl, neighbor-friendly fences. The driveway apron and walkways were built using permeable pavers. And the Nemo’ are turning their backyard into an urban farm complete with a vegetable garden, a small orchard and blueberry patch, and a wide assortment of edible berry bushes mixed in with drought-tolerant flowers and shrubs. You could say that Gail and David are “living the green dream.” In our next article we will check back with the Nemos to see how their home’s technical features are performing and how comfortable they are in their retirement.
Windows All windows are Energy Star rated Milguard Tuscany Style with double pane (insulated glass), SunCoat Low-E outer glass. They are Argon gas filled with a U-Factor .30. Placement of windows along the back of the house was strategic to take advantage of southern solar exposure and territorial view. Roof overhang is 3’ to maximize shade protection in the summer. This overhang required a city code variance because they would extend into the building setbacks.
Stormwater Management The City of Portland requires on-site stormwater management for new construction. The extent of management is based on the square feet of impervious area (such as the roof, walkways and other hard surfaces) that otherwise divert water to the city stormwater collection system. The city calculated the Nemo’s plans included 3,457 sq. ft. of impervious surface, requiring an on-site treatment facility of 342 sq. ft. A “flow-through-planter” meeting city design standards was constructed to meet city requirements. The planter has 30” of layered drain rock and a “growing medium” with over 400 plants that will filter and “drink” a portion of the collected water reducing the amount ultimately sent to the storm sewer. Because of the poor soil conditions in this particular neighborhood, the City would not allow any water running through the planter to be discharged into the soil onsite, so
Green Street Lending from Umpqua Bank
Umpqua Bank’s GreenStreet Lending provides loan options so you can invest in energy efficiency improvements or renewable energy. You’ll save money on your energy bills and create a more comfortable place to live.
Types of Projects that Qualify: • Efficient heating and cooling systems • Water heating systems • Insulation, air and duct sealing • Windows • Solar or wind energy For more info: 1-866-790-2121 or
http://www.umpquabank.com/greenstreet/
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A DECRA Shake XD steel roofing system made of a minimum of 25% recycled steel, molded to look convincingly like a normal shingle roof was chosen for several reasons. A metal roof made of steel (but not aluminum) is the preferable roofing material when harvesting rainwater from a roof, and this particular product has been tested and found to meet World Health Organization (WHO) physical and chemical criteria for drinking water quality. Traditional asphalt shingles would be a less desirable roofing material to have for this purpose, as well as most aluminum roofing material, due to higher likelihood of leaching pollutants from the material and/or manufacturing process into the collected rainwater [Source: http://www.harvesth2o.com/ RWH_good_bad_ugly.shtml]. A metal roof is basically a “lifetime roof ”, meaning the Nemos will never have to replace it. Solar panels installed on an asphalt shingle roof have to be removed and reinstalled when replacing the roof. This will not be a concern for the Nemos.
the planter includes a plastic liner to keep the water from discharging into the ground.
Electric Vehicle News All You Ever Wanted to Know About Charging Your EV but Were Afraid to Ask By Patrick Conner Most electric vehicle (EV) owners charge their cars in their garage, overnight. At other times it is useful to charge while out and about. Charging on the road allows you to drive more than the range of a single charge and opens up more locations to your electrically-powered driving. To charge up while away from home, you’ll need to know how to find the charging stations that will work with your EV. These are two things we’ll cover here. To help keep this at an introductory level, we will not be discussing Amps, Volts, kilowatt-hours, or any other electro-technical jargon when it can be avoided.
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Types of Charging
nector, aka J-plug, built in, so you won’t need to bring any equipment. You will, however, most likely need a membership card to activate it. Below there is a list of these networks. These stations provide anywhere from 3 to 6 times the charging rate of a Level 1 station. To know how fast a Level 2 station will charge your EV, you’ll need to know one detail: the rating of your vehicle’s on-board charger. This is typically either 3.3 kilowatts (kW) or 6.6 kW. The 2011-2012 Nissan Leaf has a 3.3kW charger, while the 2013 model has a 6.6kW charger. Check your owner’s manual for your vehicle for the charger’s rating. A 3.3kW charger will provide a typical plug-in car with 12 - 15 miles of range per hour that it is plugged in. At this rate, a long lunch or similar stop, perhaps at your destination, can provide you with the range for the next leg or return trip. A 6.6kW charger will give you 24 to 30 miles of range per hour. DC Fast Charging: You might have assumed after Level 1 and Level 2, this would be Level 3. That might have been true if fast charging had been universally standardized. Unfortunately, it was not. Japanese manufacturers Nissan and Mitsubishi support a standard called CHAdeMO. BMW, Daimler, Ford, Gen-
Nissan Leaf Charging ports - CHAdeMO (Left), J1772 (Right)
There are three different types of charging supported by modern EVs: Level 1: The slowest and most accessible is Level 1. This is the common US household outlet. To use this, you’ll need to have a trickle charge unit. This generally comes with a new EV purchase. For a plug-in car like the Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt, this will provide 4 to 5 miles of range per hour of charging. Not very helpful for a quick stop, but you can find these outlets nearly anywhere you stop. Level 1 is sufficient for locations where your car will be parked for long periods such as workplace charging, an overnight hotel stay, or long term airport parking. Level 2: This is the most common type of EV infrastructure currently being installed. These stations are the same voltage as a home dryer outlet. These stations have the J1772 con16
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Electric Vehicle News continued
Finding Charging Stations Many of the new EVs have navigation systems that include charging station locations. This is convenient since it is always there in your car, but EV infrastructure is being installed at a rapid pace and these built-in systems are often not up to date. Also, they do not provide you with real-time operational status or availability information. For this, you’ll need a smartphone. There are apps written by the charging station manufactures as well as crowdsourced apps that can tell you all of this valuable information.
The two most popular charging station apps are PlugShare and Recargo. Both of these apps aggregate information from the charging station providers with user provided content. The status information can tell you if the station is operational and available. Users can check in at stations and provide status and location notes. These notes can be very helpful. While an address can get you to the area, a note can tell you that the charging stations at Lloyd Center are on the second floor of the Northwest lot at Pole J12. Check-in reports can also tell you if the station has been used successfully recently. Rather than choosing either PlugShare or Recargo, I would suggest installing both of them. Their information, especially the user provided information, is not the same. Depending on what you are looking for, one may be more helpful than the other.
Network Membership Charging Network Membership Cards Many of the public charging station networks require a membership card to activate the charging session. Some of the networks charge you a dollar or two an hour to charge, but even a free station may require a membership card to start the session. You can use the above
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eral Motors, and Volkswagen, on the other hand, teamed up with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) to create a standard that will allow a single port to be used for Level 1, 2, and fast charging. This is called the J1772-combo connector. While this sounds nice to have a widely supported standard, there are currently no vehicles and no charging stations that support the SAE fast charge standard. CHAdeMO was the first to market and is the solution that the West Coast Electric Highway in Oregon and Washington State is using. The (coming soon) Chevy Spark EV is expected to be the first vehicle on the market to use the J1772-combo connector. We’ll see if it can displace or co-exist with CHAdeMO. To further complicate the fast charging story, Tesla Motors didn’t use either of the two methods we’ve discussed. Instead they created their own, the Tesla Super Charger. Ignoring the confusion, the network that is currently installed in the Northwest is CHAdeMO. These stations will charge a Nissan Leaf from empty to 80% full in 25 to 30 minutes. This means that a quick 10 minute stop can get you 30 miles of range. This rate makes long distance drives possible. The fast charger in Woodburn, OR, for example, makes a trip between Portland and Salem easy in an EV. Now that you know the various types of charging, how do you find them?
Eco-Fashion mentioned apps to find out which networks are in your area. In the greater Portland area, I would suggest joining: • ChargePoint (http://chargepoint.net/) - One of the largest networks in North America. • Blink (http://www.blinknetwork.com/) - Funded by The EV Project, these are prolific in the Northwest US.
Colorful Carton Wallets Useful Accessories Made from Discarded Drink Containers By Katie Cordrey
• AeroVironment (http://evsolutions.avinc.com/) - Selected for the West Coast Electric Highway in Oregon and Washington.
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Planning For most EV driving, you’ll have more than enough range for daily needs. When you do intend to go on a trip beyond the range of your vehicle, make sure you plan it. Google maps or similar tools can give you accurate distance estimations. PlugShare and Recargo can show you the charging stations available on the various route options. As with any vehicle, occasionally, things go wrong. Make sure you have a backup plan. This could be as simple as having a cellphone and roadside service that can tow you if needed. AAA now offers EV services and offers roadside EV charging. If you come up just a mile or two short of your next charging spot, this would be very helpful. If you need charging and there is no EV infrastructure available, campgrounds are one source for emergency charging. Campsites often have 120V and 240V service. If you have a portable Level 2 unit and plug adapters, this can get you back on the road in an hour or two. You’ll likely have to pay the typical fees to use the campground.
Conclusion There are three charging rates: Level 1, Level 2, and DC Fast Charging. You need to know what types your vehicle supports. Fast Charging particularly is going through nascent growing pains. Smartphone apps are the best source for up to date information about EV infrastructure availability. Be sure to join the networks in your area and areas you plan to travel. Know before you go and have a charging plan with contingencies when possible.
Photos courtesy of Lauren Beveridge of etsy.com/shop/PickleFishGoods
Far from the floodlights of the world’s fashion runways and star-struck followers of haute couture, frugal fashionistas make more modest style statements. Whether old or young,
they share a love of form and function. Often charmed by simplicity and color, some are further lured by the art of repurposing a disused thing for some completely different objective. Add to that the challenge and satisfaction of do-ityourself and the humble carton wallet seems a perfect fit. Made from empty drink containers, carton wallets have as many uses as their more costly cousins. As it turns out, they are also an attractive project for crafters.
Pat is the social media director of the Oregon Electric Vehicle Association (OEVA). You can follow the OEVA on facebook or twitter from oeva.org. He also writes about renewable energy and EVs at celticsolar.blogspot.com. Pat has been driving EVs since 2007 and currently drives a Nissan LEAF. 18
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Artist, Lauren Beveridge of the Etsy shop, PickleFishGoods, created her vibrantly-colored Recycled Drink Carton Change Pouches from Organic Valley fat free milk and Newman’s Organic Lemonade cartons. As with most wallets using this basic design, the caps function as a latch keeping coins, credit cards, and, Lauren claims, “even something as oddly shaped as lip balm!” snug and secure.
Self-described, stay at home, homeschooling mother to three amazing little girls, (and cookbook author), Tiffany Pidruchny turned carton wallets into a family project. A Silk Fortified Soy Beverage carton sporting cheerful berries and cereal and a So Nice container with its orderly crop-row image were just the ticket for a family walletmaking project. Her daughter, Autumn was pleased with the results. Not only did she making something useful with her own hands, she extended the life of items bound for the recycling bin. Instructions for making carton wallets can be found at Spoonful.com/crafts/carton-wallet. There is even a link to download a printable template for the project.
Recycled Newspapers Wrapped with Cotton Become Rugs By Katie Cordrey Who would imagine that discarded newspapers could be the heart of something as useful and durable as a rug? Apparently the folks at Blue Dot did. They’ve taken cores of recycled newsprint and wrapped them with colorful coats of cotton yarn to create visually delicious floorcoverings that consumers want in their homes. “Last Newspaper” rugs are available in three sizes (4’ x 6’, 6’ x 9’, and 9’ x 9’) and three colors (grey, purple and slate). These aren’t the sort of rugs that are tossed into a washingmachine for laundering. In fact, it’s not quite clear how owners are to care for them, but one company recommends that paper rugs only be used in dry, well-ventilated or climatecontrolled environments away from direct sunlight. They also suggest vacuuming twice a week, immediate removal of spills, and professional dry-extraction cleaning. This may be too much effort for some, but for those who are up to the challenge, the Blue Dot Last Newspaper rugs have a coolness factor that merits a hearty WOW! For more info: http://amzn.to/Yh7F8r.
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Autumn’s carton wallets! Photo courtesy of Tiffany Pidruchny, author of Live. Love. Learn. Eat., and the blog livelearnloveeat.com
Yesterday’s News Makes Home Fashion Headlines
Health Chocolate and Your Health by Tabitha Alterma Have you heard that chocolate is good for you, but doubted that such good news could possibly be true? Well, prepare to be delighted. Two recent meta-analyses (large-scale studies that review the results of multiple smaller studies) — one published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) in 2011 and another in the Cochrane Database of Systemic Reviews (CDSR) in 2012 — confirm some news many of us will gladly get behind: Chocolate is good for us. Specifically, the studies confirm chocolate’s ability to fend off heart disease, a leading cause of death.
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Chocolate and Your Health
BMJ study’s authors report have many beneficial effects. They are antioxidant, antihypertensive and anti-inflammatory, plus the flavanols work against cholesterol plaque buildup in the arteries and blood clot blockages. These beneficial compounds also influence insulin sensitivity, the function of blood vessels and the activation of nitric oxide, a substance that helps relax blood vessels for easier blood flow. Plants produce flavonoids to protect themselves from toxins. When we eat these plants, we ingest those antioxidant benefits. Antioxidants help our bodies resist damage from oxidation, which can cause a host of problems such as the buildup of LDL, or bad cholesterol. In addition to improving blood flow and blood pressure, chocolate’s flavanols can also make platelets less sticky. In reviewing the body of literature, the BMJ study authors found that people who consumed the most cacao had a 37 percent reduction in overall cardiovascular disease, a 31 percent reduction in diabetes and a 29 percent reduction in stroke compared with people who ate the least. The CDSR analysis found evidence in 20 different studies that cacao consumption can moderately reduce blood pressure.
Get the Good Stuff
Photo coutesy of Flickr user Boz Bros
The World Health Organization reports that in the next 17 years, nearly 24 million people worldwide will die from cardiovascular disorders including atherosclerosis, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke and other heart problems. Diet is one of the key factors in preventing this enormous burden on the global population. Chocolate alone will not save us, of course, but there is enough evidence to be excited about its role in prevention. Chocolate contains beneficial compounds called flavanols, which are responsible for its strong flavor, that the
Of course, the health benefits of chocolate are dependent on the quality of the source. The more flavanols a chocolate product contains, the better it will be for your heart and your blood pressure. Flavanols are contained in cacao, which is found in higher proportions in dark chocolate that has not been highly processed. The more processed a chocolate product is, the fewer flavanols it likely contains. Dutchprocessed cocoa, for example, has been treated with an alkali specifically to reduce the acidic flavor, which reduces the potency of the flavanols. Also keep in mind that many candies that contain chocolate also contain high levels of high-fructose corn syrup and other ingredients that are certainly not good for us, so whenever possible, choose pure dark chocolate, minimally processed with high-quality ingredients. Chocolate makers are looking for ways to minimize the loss of flavanols in processing cacao into tasty treats. Meanwhile, the Cleveland Clinic’s Heart and Vascular Health department recommends opting for dark over milk chocolate and products made with cocoa powder that has not undergone Dutch processing. The package on chocolate bars sometimes indicates if the cocoa powder has been Dutch-processed, so begin by looking there. The chocolate maker’s website may also offer more information. Excerpted from Mother Earth Living, a national magazine that provides practical ideas, inspiring examples and expert opinions about healthy, beautiful homes and lifestyles. Copyright 2013 by Ogden Publications Inc.
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Re-Cycle The Mysteries of Recycling: Part III The Future. By Gary Munkhoff A special thanks to Michelle Metzler, the Recycling and Composting Coordinator for Waste Management of Oregon, for sharing her time, knowledge, and suggestions with us.
ment: Materials Management in Oregon: 2050 Vision and Framework for Action. The new paradigm is based on the key words “materials management”. The following statement, along with the illustration from the DEQ report, help to describe materials management:
“The materials management approach includes waste prevention and discard management, while seeking to reduce environmental impacts by managing materials through all stages of their life. It identifies impacts and actions to address those “We do so much to prepare our children impacts across the full cycle of materials and products for the future, but are we doing enough to as they move through the economy, from raw material extraction to product design and manufacture, transport, prepare the future for our children?” consumption, use, reuse, recycling and disposal.” - Larry Chalfan - Advisor and Founding Executive The Oregon DEQ Vision 2050 can be downloaded here: deq.state.or.us/lq/sw/materialsmgmtplan.htm. Director, Zero Waste Alliance Oregon is not alone in its pursuit of materials manAs various groups, agencies, and businesses study the agement and its development of a zero waste vision for the challenge, one conclusion becomes clear: relying solely on the year 2050. In 2010, The World Business Council for Sustanrecycling of our discards will not lead us to zero waste, but it is a good start. If we are going to be successful in eliminating waste we will have to expand well beyond today’s recycling systems by incorporating “reduce” and “reuse” into the process. A new paradigm is needed. One in which the entire lifecycles of all the products we consume are designed and managed to eliminate waste. The vision for just such a paradigm can be found in several places, one of which is in the Oregon DEQ docuIssue 20 c Green Living Journal d Spring 2013
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What does the future hold for recycling? Two words: zero waste. Or to be more explicit, the future of recycling will be a closed loop system where all discarded materials become resources for others to use. The growing population and the rising standard of living around the world will continue to put increasing demand on the finite resources of our planet. Zero waste is a goal that we must achieve. According to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Oregon recycled 52.3% of its municipal post-consumer (residential and commercial) waste in 2011. This means that we are just a little over halfway to zero waste (or 100% recycled), and that there are some major technological, financial, and cultural hurdles that we must get over before we get there. But is a zero waste society actually possible, and if it is, how do we get there? Since Mother Nature has operated on a zero waste basis for billions of years, surely humans can as well, but as to how, well now there’s the rub.
Re-Cycle continued
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able Development (WBCSD) released their report, Vision 2050: The New Agenda for Business. It was developed over 18 months through a collaborative effort between 29 global companies working with hundreds of representatives from business, government, and civil society, with regional partners and with experts. This is a global vision for a sustainable world in 2050 that looks at far more than just materials management. The following statement sums up how they perceive materials management in 2050:
The thought provoking and sobering World Council of Businesses for Sustainable Development report is available online at: http://bit.ly/tGgGqH Companies large and small are also developing their own visions for materials management, and incorporating changes in their operations that will move them towards their visions. A March 14, 2012 US Department of Energy Power Point presentation by Jane Powers highlights the results that a few companies have achieved : General Motor’s first U.S. facility achieved landfill-free status in 2005, and by the end of 2011, more than half of all “Material demand, consumption and production have their world-wide manufacturing facilities had become zero been transformed to match the limits of non-renewable waste to landfill. resources. Closed-loop Proctor&Gamble’s first recycling, making the manufacturing facility in the concept of waste obsolete, Chevrolet engineers partnered with U.S. achieved zero waste in is normal business practice, recycling companies to convert 227 miles December 2010. and societies have a circular As of July 2011, 10 of 14 of oil boom from the Gulf oil spill into air approach to resources. Used Honda manufacturing plants products and materials, deflectors for the Chevrolet Volt. in North America had zero including wood, can be waste to landfill. The remainre-engineered to function ing four are “virtually zero”. In 2001 Honda sent 62.8 pounds again for multiple and distinct purposes, or reduced to raw of waste to the landfill for each car produced. In 2012 they materials for manufacturing other products.” sent only 1.8 pounds to the landfill for each car produced. Here are some examples of what they see for 2050: The vision is clear, and as more and more people, com• There are no landfills. In fact, they foresee that the panies, communities, and public agencies commit themmining of materials from the long-closed landfills selves to it, their concept of waste changes. It is no longer will be an emerging business. waste, it is now a commodity with value, and as such, how • People will need to limit their use of non-renewable it is collected and processed is changing. The focus is on materials to five metric tons (2024 pounds in a metdeveloping strategies and innovations that will recover the ric ton) per year. To put that into perspective, in the highest possible value from the waste stream. The most U.S., in 2009, the average person used 85 metric tons promising of these include: per year. • Making it easier for people to recycle by reducing the • All waste will be inventoried and stored so it can be amount of sorting that they have to do. Communities recycled later, when technology and/or market conthat have gone to a single curbside container for all of ditions make it feasible. their recycling have seen an increase in the amount
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that people recycle. In their 2012 Sustainability Report, Waste Management Inc. reports that single stream recycling increases the recyclable materials collected by 50%.
cling waste material into fuels, chemicals, and energy. Agilyx in Beaverton and Inentec in Bend, are examples of the companies that are working in this area. • Changing consumer behavior with regulations. Oregon has had a bottle bill since 1971, and Portland recently started collecting trash every other week along with the curbside recycling of food waste for composting.
• Improving the sorting technology that is used at the MRFs in order to capture additional material with market value from the waste stream while maintaining the quality of the sorted materials. According to the experts in the collection and recycling business such as Waste Management Inc., the trash that is presently going into landfills still contains billions of dollars worth of recyclable material that could be profitably recovered. This requires investing in new equipment and employee training, so each new level of improvement has to remain in operation long enough to recoup that investment.
The journey from “garbage” to “recycling” to “waste management” to “materials management” to “zero waste” is well underway. So what can you and I do to help?
• Creating innovative ways to handle items that are hard to recycle such as compact fluorescent lamps (CFL), cell phones, computers, batteries, and medical waste. An example of this is Waste Management’s Think Green from Home program, which uses special mail-in kits that enable consumers to send in their CFLs, batteries, small electronics, syringes, and lancets from home.
2. Am I getting the best buy from the standpoint of durability?Support the companies, institutions and organizations that are pursuing the zero waste vision.
• Expanding the pilot facilities that are using a variety of emerging technologies for processing the post recy-
• Does it contain recycled material? • Is it easily recycled at the end of its life? • Is the packaging easily recycled? • Will a repurposed or used item serve me just as well?
3. Reuse and repurpose items that we already have. 4. Reduce our purchases of items that are difficult or impossible to recycle. If we all stay committed to the vision, we can make it happen!
Our Advertisers Provide You With Sustainable Options & Make This Free Magazine Possible Tell Them You Saw Them In The Green Living Journal
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• Driving more responsibility for improving recycling upstream to the manufacturer who can redesign products to use fewer harmful substances, to be more durable, reuseable and recyclable, and to make products from recycled materials. The emerging science of biomimicry holds great promise for developing new manufacturing processes that will have fewer environmental impacts and for creating products that are easier to recycle.
1. Make mindful decisions when we purchase products:
Gardening Grow Sweet Potatoes - Even in the North! by Ken Allan An ideal staple crop for those seeking to meet most of their food needs with homegrown produce would be nutrient-dense, offer high yields, and have excellent flavor and storage qualities. A crop that fits this bill perfectly? The sweet potato. There are five facts about sweet potatoes that may seem like they’re secrets — because a sweet potato rarely makes the trip from field to dinner table without one or more of these facts being ignored — but none of them is optional if you want truly great sweet potatoes.
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1. Sweet potatoes are alive and they breathe. Never store them in a sealed plastic bag — the gases from their respiration will build up and the potatoes will eventually poison themselves. Paper bags or boxes are good for storage, or throw plastic tarps loosely over your crates of sweet potatoes. In fact, as long as you Photo courtesy of Flickr user Wally Hartshorn take care with the curing process (see fact No. 4) and store them at about 60 degrees Fahrenheit, you don’t need to cover sweet potatoes at all during storage (unless rodents could access them). 2. Do not toss or drop sweet potatoes into storage containers. When you dig them, they’ll be firm and appear indestructible — they’re not! A drop that is sufficient to crack an egg is sufficient to produce a tiny bruise on a sweet potato. After a few months in storage, that tiny bruise can turn into a large, rotten spot, which often ruins the entire potato. 3. Sweet potatoes are tropical plants and the storage roots (tubers) start to “shiver” at 50 degrees. At the cool temperature of your refrigerator (or in a supermarket cold room), a sweet potato will “shiver,” and in less than a day, the once healthy sweet potato will turn into a corpse. The official name for this cause of death is “chilling injury,” and it’s thought to be the result
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of a change in metabolism that causes cell walls to no longer have proper control of what comes in and goes out. 4. Sweet potatoes need to be cured, starting on harvest day. To cure them, keep your sweet potatoes at 85 to 90 degrees for five days. During this time, the sweet potato will grow a second skin, which is an incredibly effective seal. After curing, you can leave a sweet potato on the kitchen counter for several months without noticeable moisture loss. Without curing, the sweet potato will only last a month or two in storage.
the slit, and the depression will ensure that, when it rains, water will run into the bed at the base of each plant. Complete article at: motherearthnews.com/organicgardening/growing-sweet-potatoes-zm0z11zsto.aspx Excerpted from MOTHER EARTH NEWS, the Original Guide to Living Wisely. To read more articles from MOTHER EARTH NEWS, please visit www.MotherEarthNews.com. Copyright 2011 by Ogden Publications Inc.
5. A newly dug sweet potato is virtually tasteless — it’s definitely not a treat! A sweet potato doesn’t reach its flavor potential until it has been cured and then stored for a few months. Eat sweet potatoes when they’re new if you must, but don’t judge them until after New Year’s Day.
Hot Potatoes!
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Sweet potato plants are, in most respects, undemanding. Growing temperature is the only environmental factor that can’t be ignored — sweet potatoes like it hot! Southern growers can wait until the soil warms up and still have time to grow a good crop of sweet potatoes. In Canada and the northern United States, June is the month with the longest, sunniest days, and although it’s an excellent growing month for crops that do well in 60-degree soil, it’s not so good for sweet potatoes — unless you get proactive and warm up your soil. The simplest and most effective way to warm the soil is to cover it with a sheet of clear plastic. About 90 percent of the energy from the sun goes through clear plastic, where it’s then absorbed by the soil and trapped there by the greenhouse effect. Look for clear builder’s plastic (used as a vapor barrier) that’s about 8 ½ feet wide. Cutting it down the middle will make two sheets, each just more than 4 feet wide. This is an ideal width for slightly raised, 2-foot-wide beds. Lay the plastic on the bed so that 1 foot remains on each side, then pull the plastic snug and bury the 1-foot edges down the length of the bed. If you only loosely apply the plastic, the moisture under it will turn into hot vapor that will then flow out from under the plastic, causing the soil to lose heat and moisture. If you’re using clear plastic to grow sweet potatoes in a northern climate, you’ll have a couple of extra steps when it’s time to plant your slips: Cut an 8-inch slit in the plastic, and press the soil down to make a shallow, bowl-shaped depression (1 foot in diameter) centered on the slit. Plant the slip through the slit, and water well. Place sand or fine gravel around the plant to cover the slit and to weigh the plastic down into the depression in the bed. This will seal 25
Food Hybrid Seeds vs. GMOs By Vicki Mattern
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What’s the difference between hybrids and genetically modified (GM) vegetable varieties? The term “hybrid,” which you’ll often see in seed catalogs, refers to a plant variety developed through a specific, controlled cross of two parent plants. Usually, the parents are naturally compatible varieties within the same species. This hybridization, or the crossing of compatible varieties, happens naturally in the wild; plant breeders basically just steer the process to control the outcome. Photo courtesy of Flickr user Oculator In contrast, GM varieties (sometimes called “genetically modified organisms,” or “GMOs”) are a whole different animal, as we’ll explain in a bit. First, some background on plant hybridization. Humans have been cultivating new plant varieties since the beginning of agricultural development, but until fairly recently, the process required patience. Developing a nonhybrid, open-pollinated (OP) variety using classic plantbreeding methods takes six to 10 generations, says John Navazio, a plant breeder and senior scientist for the Organic Seed Alliance in Port Townsend, WA (Most heirloom varieties are open-pollinated.)
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Modern hybridization speeds up that process considerably. Using a method of controlled crossing devised by Charles Darwin and Gregor Mendel in the mid-19th century, plant breeders can now produce seed that combines the desired traits of two pure parent lines in the first generation. This creates a new variety known as an “F1 hybrid.” To create F1 seed, seed companies grow two parent lines in the field each year, designate the male and female parents, carry out pollination under controlled conditions — such as hand-pollination under row cover — and then harvest seed from the females. “Plant breeders like F1 seed because it’s faster and easier than breeding new open-pollinated varieties,” Navazio says. “You can cull the bad traits from the parents while stacking their good traits in the F1 offspring.” For gardeners, hybrids sometimes provide advantages compared with OP varieties, such as better disease resistance. Big seed companies also like F1 hybrids because the process gives them proprietary ownership of each new variety. And, because seed from F1 plants won’t produce uniform offspring, gardeners must buy new seeds each year. Unlike hybrids, which are developed in the field using natural, low-tech methods, GM varieties are created in a lab using highly complex technology, such as gene splicing. These high-tech GM varieties can include genes from several species — a phenomenon that almost never occurs in nature. “With GM varieties, genes are transferred from one kingdom to another, such as bacteria to plants,” Navazio says. A corn variety developed by Monsanto, for instance, includes genetic material from the bacterium Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), which kills European corn borers. So far, only commodity crops with GM traits — such as corn, soy, alfalfa and sugar beets — have been approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for use, primarily in processed foods and animal feeds. The exception is GM sweet corn, which is now available at your grocery store. (For more on foods in your grocery store that contain GM ingredients, (see How to Avoid Genetically Modi-
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fied Food on Mother Earth’s website http://bit.ly/V7DRhy.) The trouble is that nobody knows how these unnatural new organisms will behave over time. The seed companies that develop these varieties claim intellectual property rights so that only they can create and sell the variety. In some cases, companies — such as Monsanto — even refuse to allow scientists to obtain and study their GM seeds. For some crops, such as corn, wind can carry the pollen from GM varieties and contaminate non-GM varieties. And there is no mandatory labeling of GM content in seed, says Kristina Hubbard, advocacy and communications director for the Organic Seed Alliance. (To read about other issues surrounding GM crops, see The Threats From Genetically Modified Foods available here http://bit.ly/XkBwk6.) Though few vegetable seeds are GM now, they may be soon. One way to avoid GM seeds is to buy certified organic seed, which, according to the National Organic Program, must not be genetically modified. If a seed catalog doesn’t say a seed has been tested, ask the supplier. In a nutshell: hybrids are the product of guided natural reproduction, while GMOs are the result of unnatural, high-tech methods used to create untested organisms that would never emerge in nature. Reprinted with permission by MOTHER EARTH NEWS, www.MotherEarthNews.com. All rights reserved. Copyright 2013
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Education 10 Things I Learned While Living Without Running Water By Jeff Yeager
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It’s much easier than I thought to save resources.
My wife and I recently endured fifteen days of living without running water while a new well was being drilled on our property. If I was a more conscientious blogger, I suppose I would have chronicled the experience daily, as it unfolded. But the truth is, I couldn’t spend much time at the keyboard 15 days without water was enough to during that period. Evmake the Green Cheapskate psycho Photo Credit: Denise Yeager ery time I stopped moving, I felt like Pig-Pen in the Peanuts cartoon, with a visible cloud of filth and stench ready to descend all around me if I stopped long enough for it to catch up. Now that the water is mercifully flowing once again at the House of Yeager, I want to take a minute to share what I learned from our waterless ordeal. As my father-in-law always said, “If you don’t have a good time, you usually have a good experience.” That about sums it up.
10. Toilets are an engineering marvel
By keeping a bucket of water handy, we almost got use to manually filling the toilet tank whenever it needed flushing. I appreciate the fact that you can still flush a toilet this oldfashioned way in a pinch, and I can hardly believe that in this technological age someone hasn’t invented a “new and improved” toilet that would make it impossible to do so. Still, most older toilets use more water than is really necessary, so keep a water-filled plastic soda bottle in the tank to limit the excess.
9. Never take water for granted
Access to water - particularly safe drinking water - is truly a matter of life or death. Yet more than one billion people, nearly one out of every seven individuals on Earth, have an insufficient supply of potable water. Nonprofit organizations like Drop in the Bucket are working to solve that problem, and they deserve our donations and other support.
8. Clothes don’t really need to be washed so often:
We went the entire two-plus weeks without doing any laundry, when normally we’d probably have done at least a couple of loads. And you know what? Our clothes and other 28
linens still smelled and looked fine. Laundering clothes less often not only saves water and energy, but it also makes clothing last longer - and that all adds up to a closet full of financial savings.
7. I have the best wife on the planet
Of course, after 27 years of marriage (or, as Denise says, “almost three and half good years”), I already knew this. But my mate showed her true grit (not to be confused with her “true grittiness”) as she helped me clear a patch of land where the well could be drilled and kept her sense of humor throughout the entire waterless siege. Boy, do I love that woman.
6. Remodeling an outdated bathroom doesn’t look like a financial priority post-drought:
We’ve been meaning to remodel our bathroom, since it’s looking rather dated. But once you’ve lived without running water, you realize that functionality - and not fashion - is the important thing. Besides, I’m pretty sure avocado-colored bathroom fixtures will eventually come back into vogue, and then we’ll be ahead of trend.
5. You don’t need as much water in the kitchen as you might think
Without a flowing tap at the ready, we found that we could easily cut down on the amount of water we normally use - and waste - in the kitchen. Potatoes and pasta cooked just fine in about half the amount of water we typically use, and the still scalding water used to soft boil eggs in the morning was poured directly into a dishpan to scrub up the dishes from dinner the night before (later rinsed, of course). Even washing the kitchen floor with a small bucket of water and a handheld sponge rather than a mop saved us at least a couple of gallons.
4. Individual bottles of water are a sinful waste of resources
We never buy bottled water (heck, I’m so cheap I don’t even buy bottled wine); even during our recent dry-spell, we just filled pots and buckets at the neighbor’s house. But one day some
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friends - attempting to be kind - dropped off four cases of individual 500 ml bottles of water. We graciously accepted, and for the first time in our lives relied pretty much on those as our daily drinking water. We were horrified to see the plastic carnage that was created, literally overflowing our recycling bin within a few days. The amount of oil used to manufacture disposable water bottles for the U.S. market would fuel more than 100,000 cars for a year. If you drink only bottled water, on average you’ll spend more than $1,000 per year to get your recommended daily amount of H2O, as opposed to just 49 cents for a year’s supply of just as healthy tap water.
3. Cold water is so much better than no water, and HOT water is very, very special
1. Never look at yourself in a mirror when taking a sponge bath Sponge baths get the job done, sort of, but if you ever catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror while taking one, you might just realize that the lack of running water is the least of your problems.
Jeff Yeager is the author of The Cheapskate Next Door and The Ultimate Cheapskate’s Road Map to True Riches. His website is www.UltimateCheapskate.com. Connect with Jeff Yeager on Twitter and Facebook. Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/livinggreen/blogs/save-money/water-conservation-tips460410#ixzz2KEeFhRGg
2. The Earth is an amazing place - but it needs our help
Call me naïve, but I was awestruck by the fact that you can drill a hole in your backyard (at least where we live) and be guaranteed by Mother Nature that you’ll eventually hit a plentiful, pure supply of water. Silly me, I expected a celebratory scene like out of There Will Be Blood when the drillers struck water at around 400 feet. Instead, the moment passed without so much as comment. But on an ominous note, Bob, the sixtyish foreman, told me that when he started out in the business, the water table where we live was at around 200 feet, only about half the depth of today, depleted by rampant development going on in the area. I vow to never water my lawn again.
“Every aspect of our lives is, in a sense, a vote for the kind of world we want to live in.” - Frances Moore Lappé
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It’s amazing how many things you normally use hot water for that can be done just as well using cold (e.g. shaving, washing clothes, dishes, etc.). When you have to heat up every drop of hot water you use on the stovetop, you learn to cherish it. About 15% of total home heating costs is attributable to heating water for domestic use, and that expense can easily be cut in half through better conservation and a few simple energy-saving devices.
Classifieds
Book Review Farms With A Future Rebecca Thistlethwaite Chesea Green Publishing 2013 By ForeWord Reviews-
each chapter ends with ‘Take-Home Messages,’ a bulleted summary of dos and don’ts that affirm much of what each family farm story demonstrates. A superior book for its information, organization, and examples, Farms with a Future is essential for dreamers who intend to be doers, and doers who are seeking more creative dreaming.
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As a farmer and sustainable agriculture consultant, Rebecca Thistlethwaite understands how important it is to share information about small farmers who have redefined success, finding ways to sustain their families, their communities, and the planet. The stories of innovative farmers who have embraced their “inner entrepreneur” fill this collection and serve as ample inspiration for readers who are dreaming of their own farming ventures, as well as those who are searching for new approaches. With chapters organized around specific principles such as “Identifying Your Market Niche” and “Harvesting and Processing,” the emphasis of Thistlethwaite’s book is incorporating necessary tools for survival and profit in a familybased business. Each chapter contains photographs of the farms and farmers, which helps drive home for the reader that these are real people who have - through sacrifice, planning, and hard work- found ways to farm that supports their values. Additionally, 30 A Practical Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournalpdx.com d Spring 2013
Classifieds continued
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