Green Pepper

Urban organic gardening in New York city

wildelycreative — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:07:54 +0000

Mike Lieberman is the Urban Organic Gardener. Living in the concrete jungle that is New York city hasn’t stopped Mike from growing his own food and composting his own food waste. Here’s how he did it.

Mike Lieberman - The Urban Organic Gardener

One of the biggest obstacles that I had in getting started in urban gardening was getting started. That’s probably the biggest obstacle for others as well. I’ve never taken on such a project and was pretty intimidated. I got over that quickly though. Hopefully, you will too.

At first, I began reading some blogs and took out books from the library. After about five minutes of reading my interest waned, but still wanted to grow my own. I then decided that I was just going to start a vegetable garden. Forget the experts and the books.

Think about it. What did people do hundreds of years ago? They didn’t have fancy certificates and take courses. They just planted. That’s what I wanted to do. Make it simple again.

The small reading and research that I did do was on what to grow the vegetables in. After coming across self watering containers, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. Not only would they fit nicely on my fire escape, but it’s earth-friendly and could build using recycled materials for under $5.

So I got everything set up and planted on my fire escape garden at the end of May and was able to get my first lettuce harvest in June.

We’ve become so disconnected with our food source that on the average it travels 1,500 miles from farm to plate. So I got pretty overwhelmed when I had my first fire escape salad. Forget the travel, I was able to trace my produce from fire escape to bowl.

In addition to the fire escape garden, I also built up my own indoor compost bin in my kitchen. Most of the trash that I generate is food scraps. This was the perfect way to reduce my waste and reuse it as a part of my garden.

The lesson that I quickly learned with composting is to be easy on the food scraps. The smell was horrific, but quickly resolved and haven’t had it since.

Overall this has been one of the most fun and rewarding projects that I’ve ever taken on. It’s one that I encourage all of you to take on as well. There’s no excuses.

Photos
On fire escape

Compost

With produce: here or here

Thanks to Mike for his contribution. You can keep up with Mike’s antics on Twitter too: @CanarsieBK

Zero Waste Week – Mount Landfill

wildelycreative — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:00:42 +0000

In honour of Zero Waste Week, Seppo Leinonen takes an irreverent look at where we could be headed if we fail to take action. You can see more of his wonderful and highly entertaining environmental cartoons on his website.

What’s your pledge for Zero Waste Week? We’ve made ours.

Zero Waste Week 2009

wildelycreative — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:37:56 +0000

It’s Day 2 of National Zero Waste Week and we ask, what are you doing to reduce landfill?

At GP HQ we are careful about what we buy, checking provenance and buying as locally as possible, as often as possible. We recycle everything that can be recycled and compost as much food waste as we can fit into the heap and the Green Cone.

But one thing we don’t do enough of – and hear our pledge now – is growing our own food.

Our Zero Waste Week Pledge

At Green Pepper we pledge to grow as much of our own food as our tiny plot allows, to share any excess food with family, friends and neighbours to reduce waste and to continue to compost as much material as we can.

It’s only a small area and we already have some existing plants, but we think we can, with some careful planning, grow enough to supply about 50% of our food intake.

Food Waste and Methane

Food waste in landfill sites generates methane, a climate change gas 20 times more harmful to the global environment than CO2. For every tonne of food waste in landfill, the equivalent of 15 tonnes of CO2 is released into our fragile atmosphere.

We believe that by growing our own food and composting food waste more efficiently than on a landfill site, we can reduce our emissions.

What’s your Zero Waste Week pledge?

Find out more about National Zero Waste Week and see what others have pledged by visiting their website

Green News Round-up #23

wildelycreative — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:01:13 +0000

Each Friday we’ll bring you a round-up of the week’s green news from around the web. Please drop us a line if you know of a story we should include in the next round-up.

Engineering Earth “is feasible”

From the BBC on 1st September 2009

A UK Royal Society study has concluded that many engineering proposals to reduce the impact of climate change are “technically possible”. Such approaches could be effective, the authors said in their report. But they also stressed that the potential of geo-engineering should not divert governments away from their efforts to reduce carbon emissions. [full article]

“Natural systems our biggest allies”: TEEB study

From Reuters on 02 September 2009

Governments can help combat climate change by investing more in natural areas, including forests and mangroves, a European study said on Wednesday. The paper pointed out that nations have natural assets worth trillions of dollars which could help fight global warming and save investment in industrial schemes for carbon capture. [full article]

Academics set the pace in cycling to work groups

From The Guardian Environment Blog on 02 September 2009

Last month we published a news story about a scheme encouraging novice cycle commuters in London to ride to work in guided groups, calling it “a first for a British city”. Michael Bane wrote to the paper to say that this was not the case. Here, he explains how he helped to set up a similar system at the University of Manchester – and how you can do the same. [full article]

365 ways to go green

From Mike Lieberman on 01 September 2009

New blog launched offering “simple green acts that you can also do without rearranging your daily lives”. New Yorker and avid eco-warrior Mike Lieberman sets off on a self-imposed challenge to become a little greener every day. “I was doing a lot of talking about going green, but what was I doing? So I posed a challenge to myself to perform one simple green act a day for a year and to document them to hold myself accountable.” [visit blog]

Scotland winning waste battle

From Association for Organics Recycling

Scotland is producing less municipal waste than in previous years, and recycling more as well. Figures released by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), show that Scotland’s recycling and composting rate for the last quarter of the 2008/09 financial year increased to 33.2%, an improvement on 30.1% for the same quarter of 2007/08. [full article]

Sita to appeal Cornwall EfW refusal

From MRW on 02 September 2009

Recycling and waste management contractor Sita Cornwall is to lodge an appeal this month against refused planning permission to build an energy-from-waste facility. The Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre was to manage residual household waste in the county and generate enough electricity to power 21,000 homes. [full article]

EPA draft greenhouse gas rule focuses on large emitters

From Scientific American on 01 September 2009

US EPA has sent a draft rule to the White House that could limit regulations on greenhouse gas emissions to cover only very large industrial sources. The agency submitted a rule to the White House Office of Management and Budget that experts say will likely limit strict permitting requirements to industrial sources of more than 25,000 tons a year of carbon dioxide equivalent. [full article]

Google trick tracks extinctions

From the BBC on 04 September 2009

Google’s algorithm for ranking web pages can be adapted to determine which species are critical for sustaining ecosystems, say researchers. According to a paper in PLoS Computational Biology, “PageRank” can be applied to the study of food webs. These are the complex networks of who eats whom in an ecosystem. The scientists say their version of PageRank could be a simple way of working out which extinctions would lead to ecosystem collapse. [full article]

Don’t forget to drop us a line if you know of a story we should include in the next round-up of green news.

The Big If says NO to Dirty Coal

wildelycreative — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:55:11 +0000

Since the Big If pledge launched in March, when Age of Stupid actor Pete Postletwaite promised the UK Energy and Climate Change minister Ed Miliband that he would return his OBE if the government gave the go-ahead for a new coal power station Kingsnorth, thousands of people have joined him in making pledges of their own.

Greenpeace UK has been a core member of the Big If coalition from the start, together with a wide range of other organisations including the RSPB, World Development Movement, Oxfam and the Women’s Institute. Because if Kingsnorth and the other 10 plants planned to follow it get built, then we’ll have next to no chance of meeting our CO2 reduction targets and reining in runaway climate change.

The first major coalition event was the Mili-band – a symbolic surrounding of the Kingsnorth site in July, and others are planned in the near future. Each organisation has asked its supporters to pledge what they are prepared to do if Ed Miliband does give the go-ahead to new coal. The actual pledges vary depending on the nature of the organisation.

Greenpeace have already signed up nearly 6,000 people, who’ve variously agreed to either:

vote at the next election for political candidates who oppose new coal;
join a protest at the Department of Energy and Climate Change;
take non-violent direct action to prevent the new plant being built;

…or make some other useful protest of their own devising.

From Greenpeace UK.

The Psychology of Climate Change

wildelycreative — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:02:12 +0000

While around 75% of the general public in the UK and US say climate change is an important issue it is not seen as an immediate threat.

Dr Tom Crompton of WWF, who have produced a number of reports over the past few years. said there needs to be a shift away from short-term campaigning.

“The environmental movement has for too long focused on policy response, without considering the social and psychological barriers.” Dr Tom Crompton, WWF

A recent report published by the American Psychological Association suggests that anxiety and helplessness are the biggest barriers to individuals taking action against climate change.

Janet Swim, APA report chair, said it will help us to “understand how to get people to act” by looking at the reasons for inaction.

The report identified key barriers, including;

Uncertainty

Research has shown that uncertainty over climate change reduces the frequency of “green” behaviour.

Mistrust

Evidence shows that most people don’t believe the risk messages of scientists or government officials.

Social Comparison

People routinely compare their actions with those of others and derive subjective and descriptive norms from their observations about what is the “proper” course of action.

Undervaluing Risks

A study of more than 3,000 people in 18 countries showed that many people believe environmental conditions will worsen in 25 years. While this may be true, this thinking could lead people to believe that changes can be made later.

Lack of Control

People believe their actions would be too small to make a difference and choose to do nothing.

Perceived Behavioural Control

Because climate change is a global problem, many individuals understandably believe that they can do nothing about it.

Habit

Ingrained behaviours are extremely resistant to permanent change while others change slowly.

Are we like frogs placed in cold water, not truly perceiving the danger as the water heats and we are cooked to death? Divorced from a connection to nature, as many people are, it is more difficult to perceive the longer term. Will this research allow us to break through the barriers so we can achieve a true shift towards eco-conciousness?

From The Ecologist

Hello from the New Editor

wildelycreative — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:35:01 +0000

I didn’t know anything about sustainability and eco-living until I began working for a recycling machinery distributor in 2004. It was an eye-opener. Seeing the back end of consumerism, the dirty little secret of the materials process, was a huge reality jolt.

MRF’s, waste transfer stations, landfill and composting sites are smelly, but fascinating – at least they were to me. Aggregate recycling (400 million tonnes/year) and composting (3.6 million tonnes/year) became my favourites.

The fascination, I admit, was in the big machines that did the task. I started to realise just how efficient we could be. Not just in our recycling process but in our buying processes too.

I stopped worshipping at the Cathedrals of Consumerism and am aiming for a simpler life. A life closer to the natural world, where play is a part of every day – unstructured outdoor time, so necessary for a balanced life.

Joining the Green Pepper team is very exciting; becoming more active in the Green Community, growing and working together, expanding the grass roots changes that are occuring all around us.

Yes, we need to be more resource efficient. Yes, we need to get back to a simpler, more natural lifestyle. Yes, we have a challenge to face in Climate Change.

We are One Earth, one community. Working together we can move any mountain. Even if there are 400 million tonnes of it!

Over the coming weeks and months I hope to bring the same level of informative and entertaining articles for which Green Pepper is renowned. If you have any suggestions or comments, do let me know. I look forward to hearing more from the Green Pepper readers.

Green Pepper is going Wilde!

Paul — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:58:06 +0000

Firstly, I apologise to our regular readers for the lack of posts here during the past few weeks. It’s been a busy time and I’ve neglected Green Pepper due to other committments.

I was beginning to wonder if I’d ever be able to resume things but wasn’t about to abandon it after all the hard work to establish Green Pepper as a great source of information about eco-friendly living and environmental issues.

Twitter power!

Then something happened. The power of Twitter to bring people together, in the real world as well as the virtual, brought me in to contact with another resourceful, environmentally-minded person looking to inspire others to live more sustainably.

That person was Karen Wilde of Wildely Creative – hence the title of the post – and during our conversations and ‘tweet-ups’ (Twitter for meet-ups, for the uninitiated!) it became apparent that Green Pepper had found a new owner/editor.

A new take on things

I’ll leave Karen to introduce herself in the next post. Suffice to say, the future for Green Pepper looks brighter than ever. I’m sure Karen will bring a fresh new take on things.

There’ll be plenty more ideas for eco-friendly living, plus news and views on the most pressing environmental issues of the day – everything that you’ve come to expect from Green Pepper. And then some.

It’s been a blast!

I’m signing off and handing over to Karen but, before I go, I’d just like to thank you ALL for your encouraging comments over the past year. It’s been a blast! I know you’ll continue to give Green Pepper your support into the future, and I wish Karen much success with everything she does here.

Green News Round-up #22

Paul — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:30:24 +0000

Each Friday we’ll bring you a round-up of the week’s green news from around the web. Please drop us a line if you know of a story we should include in the next round-up.

Poor countries could be paid to go nuclear

From New Scientist on 05 June 2009

For the first time in eight years, countries are contemplating giving nuclear stations carbon credits in the run-up to the crucial world summit on climate change in Copenhagen in December. Draft text currently under negotiation at climate change talks by 182 countries in Bonn, Germany, includes an option to make nuclear facilities eligible for funding from 2012 under two schemes meant to help poorer countries develop low-carbon technologies: the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation. Nuclear power was excluded from these schemes under the Kyoto protocol in 2001, after opposition from European and developing countries. Now the nuclear industry is hoping to overturn that, and open the door for funding to flow to nuclear stations across the developing world. [full article]

Wind turbines on public sector land could power 1.5m homes

From The Telegraph on 05 June 2009

On World Environment Day (5th June), the Environment Agency are calling on the Government to use the one million hectares of land and tens of thousands of buildings owned by public sector organisations to generate more renewable electricity. At the moment less than 0.1 per cent of the total amount of renewable energy which the UK is capable of producing comes from renewable energy projects on publicly owned property like Ministry of Defence land, schools, hospitals and public parks. However the Environment Agency calculate that it would be possible to generate three gigawatts of power – mostly through installing wind turbines on public sector land but also through hydroelectric plants on rivers and solar panels on buildings like hospitals and schools. [full article]

Melting ice could lead to waves of climate refugees

From Sustainablog on 04 June 2009

As the earth warms, the melting of the earth’s two massive ice sheets – Antarctica and Greenland – could raise sea level enormously. If the Greenland ice sheet were to melt, it would raise sea level 7 meters (23 feet). Melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would raise sea level 5 meters (16 feet). But even just partial melting of these ice sheets will have a dramatic effect on sea level rise. Senior scientists are noting that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projections of sea level rise during this century of 18 to 59 centimeters are already obsolete and that a rise of 2 meters during this time is within range. [full article]

Modest carbon price could save Borneo forests

From Reuters on 04 June 2009

Tropical forests in Borneo under threat of conversion to palm oil plantations could be more profitable left standing if carbon credits were priced between $10 and $33 per tonne, a study has found. Forests soak up vast amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide each year and are crucial in the fight to curb climate change. Many governments and scientists want to put a price on the carbon locked away in forests as an incentive to curb deforestation, which contributes nearly a fifth of mankind’s greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers led by Oscar Venter of the University of Queensland in Australia studied data from 808 concessions in Kalimantan, Indonesia’s part of Borneo island, covering 8 million hectares (20 million acres). [full article]

Fat people causing climate change says Jonathan Porritt

From The Telegraph on 03 June 2009

Echoing the famous slogan “fat is a feminist issue”, Sir Jonathan, Chair of the Sustainable Development Commission, said “fat is a climate change issue”. He pointed out overweight people eat more protein-rich food such as beef or lamb, which is responsible for producing greenhouse gases because of the toxic methane livestock emits. He also said obese people are more likely to use cars rather than walk or cycle, therefore producing more carbon emissions. The former Green Party politician, who has caused controversy before by suggesting people should not have more than two children to prevent over-population, said the Government should be encouraging people who are above the recommended body mass index to lose weight not only to improve their health but to help the environment. [full article]

Chevron Escapes Tar Oil Accountability

From Planetsave on 02 June 2009

Much will be said at the Chevron Corporation’s shareholder conference this week; the agenda is full. However, there will be little said about Chevron’s involvement in controversial projects concerning tar sand. Despite the requests of shareholders owning $31.4 billion dollars, Chevron will remain quiet, keeping the Alberta tar sand projects off the agenda. Tar sand, a source of non-conventional oil, consists of bitumen, a sticky, tar-like form of petroleum which is so thick and heavy that it must be heated or diluted before it will flow. Harvesting tar sand requires huge amounts of energy and water. [full article]

Friends of the Earth slams offsetting model

From BusinessGreen on 02 June 2009

The practice of carbon offsetting is “profoundly unjust” and “fundamentally flawed”, according to a critical new report from Friends of the Earth. A Dangerous Distraction, which calls on the UK government to ditch calls for an expansion of UN-backed offsetting schemes, argues there is now ample evidence to show that offsetting is “ineffective and damaging”. The report has been released to coincide with international talks in Bonn this week, where reforms designed to expand the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) offsetting scheme to include forestry are expected to be high up the agenda. [full article]

Why do whales beach themselves?

From Scientific American on 01 June 2009

Mass strandings of dolphins, whales, and other marine mammals date back to the time of Aristotle, but some environmental activists have suggested that human impacts of pollution, shipping noise and, in some cases, military sonar have led to a rise in such frequency and severity of such events. And so scientists have been trying to untangle what factors cause these normally adept swimmers and maritime navigators end up in shallow water where they can become beached and die. To find out more about mass strandings we spoke with Darlene Ketten, a neuroethologist and expert on hearing in marine mammals at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. [full article]

MPs attack shipping industry’s inaction on emissions

From The Guardian on 01 June 2009

The international shipping industry has acted irresponsibly in failing to address rapidly growing climate change emissions and the UN body that governs it is “not fit for purpose”, according to an influential group of MPs. Showing clear impatience at continuing lack of progress in cutting emissions, the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee said: “There can be no excuse for the lack of progress within the International Maritime Organisation since the Kyoto protocol was signed [in 2005]. That the IMO has yet to reach agreement even over the type of emissions control regime to take forward, let alone decide any details, suggests it is not fit for purpose in this vital area. [full article]

Extinct bumblebee to be reintroduced from New Zealand

From The Guardian on 01 June 2009

A bumblebee which died out in the UK, but survived in New Zealand after being shipped there more than 100 years ago, is to be reintroduced here under plans announced today. Small populations of the short-haired bumblebee were established on the South Island of New Zealand after being transported there on the first refrigerated lamb boats in the late 19th century to pollinate crops of red clover. The bees will not suffer from jet lag as they will be in hibernation when they are transported on planes in cool boxes, according to Natural England. The short-haired bumblebee became extinct in this country in 2000, but the populations on the other side of the world have clung on — although conservationists say they are unprotected and under threat. [full article]

Don’t forget to drop us a line if you know of a story we should include in the next round-up of green news.

Vote for the Green Party on 4th June

Paul — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:38:04 +0000

You’re probably fed-up of hearing about politicians’ expenses by now and might be unsure about voting at all on Thursday 4th June.

So here’s a short video by the great comedian and campaigner, Mark Thomas (no relation!), explaining why you should vote Green in the local and European elections…

Mark makes some important points in the video and it’s worth bearing in mind that not voting at all will play into the hands of extremists, who’ll be out in force on Thursday.

“All the other parties are CRAP, and that’s official!” Mark Thomas, comedian and campaigner

If you weren’t convinced by Mark’s “they’ve also got the cutest sandals” argument (and you have a few minutes to spare), check out Caroline Lucas speaking on the recession, the Green New Deal, and the need for more Green councillors, in a speech on the opening day of the Green Party spring conference in Blackpool, last month.

You might also want to head over to the Green Party website for more information about why you should vote Green in the local and European elections on Thursday.