Green White North

That time of the year again

bbas — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 04:22:32 +0000

I just finished planting my vegetable garden this past weekend. It was hard to get into the swing of it this year with the crazy cooler weather we have been having. My garden has asparagus that I harvest for about a month before planting and then I usually plant tomatoes, cucumbers etc. Just to fill you in, I try to have the plants get all the water they need but only at the plant itself. A number of years ago I installed a watering system that allows me to drip irrigate the entire garden. This allows me to use water very efficiently. I have rain barrels set up but I use this water for other plant uses that are not on the watering system (ie some flowers). The grand plan is to install a 1000 or so gallon water storage tank and collect all the rain water from both my garage and house roofs. It will be fairly easy to connect the tank using a pump to charge up the irrigation system and completely water everything from rain water. Unfortunately plans like that take time and money and the plan is to have it installed and running withing 5 years. Right now the irrigation system uses city water. (very expensive, more reason to use drip irrigation if you can).

Lawn Repair

bbas — Tue, 06 May 2008 02:53:53 +0000

This past weekend I finished up repairing my lawn after grubs took out about 10′ x 20′ section (see my previous post). It went pretty well. The first step I did was rake the entire lawn. This uncovered all the weak areas that need top soil and seeding. I did not aerate the lawn as I have very sandy soil and aerating would be a waste of money. I put a 1″ layer of topsoil down where needed and then spread the seed. I then used the back side of my lawn rake to embed the seed into the soil. I used a sun/shade mix which should work out pretty good. I then put down a starter fertilizer 28-24-5. Now I just water and wait. I will have to keep the lawn very well watered this summer as the new grass will not tolerate any drought conditions the first season.

Benificial Nematodes Word of Caution

bbas — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:24:21 +0000

I have said previously that Nematodes work great for grubs. That statement is still correct but a word of caution. If your lawn or neighbors lawn has grubs and you use Nematodes, whatever you do don’t miss the yearly treatment. I got lazy again and missed a season (Spring 2007). My front lawn still looks okay but I now have a patch about 10 ft by 20 ft that the grubs got. I put them down last fall and now I will be putting them down again in May. Unlike pesticides (please don’t use), nematodes don’t kill the majority of the grubs but will keep them under control. The grubs that are left cannot eat enough of the roots before the grass plant shoots down new ones and therefore the grass survives. If the grass is attacked by many grubs at the same time then the plant does not have enough time to create new roots and die. This is the reason when using nematodes that you must be vigilant in putting them down once or twice a year depending on the severity of the infestation.

Earth Hour London Results

bbas — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:01:21 +0000

Well it’s official, London reduced overall consumption by 2%. Thats equivalent to 117,000 60 watt bulbs being turned off. Not a bad result but a bit disappointing as the overall average for the province is 5%. London officials have said they will do a better next year with more advance publicity to make Londoners more aware. Good job to everyone in London who participated.

More details in the London Free Press Article

What I plan on doing during Earth Hour

bbas — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:33:03 +0000

Hi All,

You have all probably heard that Earth Hour takes place March 29 at 8 PM. Check out the website Earth Hour for details.

What is Earth Hour:

Earth Hour 2007 took place in Australia. Earth Hour 2008 has now involved many countries including Canada. London Ontario is participating and I hope many other cities in Canada also partipate. On March 29 at 8 PM, everyone is asked to turn off at least one light if not all the lights for 1 hour until 9 PM.

What I plan on doing:

I currently have over 90% of my lighting that use CF Bulbs hence my consumption is already pretty low. At 8 PM I plan on turning all my lights off (2 in total) and using flashlights or Candles. I also plan on not just turning off but unplugging all electronic devices not needed (Cell phone charger, computer etc). Not many people realize but all electronic devices plugged into the wall consume a small amount of energy, yes even when turned off.

What is your plan for Earth Hour:

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Using the Oceans to solve our CO2 problem

bbas — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 17:14:24 +0000

Oceanographer John Martin back in 1988 made a statement “Give me a half tanker of iron, and I will give you an ice age.” during a lecture at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. His idea was to seed certain parts of the ocean with iron dust and promote the growth of Algae. The theory was that with plumes of Algae growth, CO2 from the atmosphere would be absorbed and ultimately end up at the bottom of the ocean and transformed into sedimentary rock. Martin died in 1993 but only a few months after his death, his colleagues proved his theory could work. Corporations are now considering making money from this using carbon trading, but more testing is required as nobody knows what side effects of having all this extra Algae in the ocean can produce. Lets hope governments can step in to manage this until it can be proven that by removing CO2 gas from the atmosphere with this method does not produce even worst conditions. Check out the story in the London Free Press

CFLight Bulb Recycling

bbas — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:52:32 +0000

Happy New Year Everyone.

During the holidays I noticed Home Depot here in London has started a CFL recycling program. This is excellent. It is nice to see the retailers are starting to see that CFL bulbs also need to be deposed of properly. They have a drop box that you just put the used CFL bulb into. I don’t know how many other Home Depots are doing this but the one near Argle Mall in London definitely is.

Everyone please check with your local Home Depot for disposal of your used CFL bulbs.

Have a Environmentally Friendly 2008

Arctic is Screaming!

bbas — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:02:32 +0000

Scientists report that the Arctic Summer ice melt has gone beyond computer model predictions. 2007 has broken most records for melting of Summar Arctic ice and the world needs to get more serious on the subject. Scientists previously predicted the summer Arctic ice would melt completely by 2040 but have updated their predictions. They now say summer of 2012 is the new date they predict this will happen. Check out the article at http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/12/11/arctic.melt.ap/index.html
I have been watching this now for about five years and every year things seem to be getting worst. I hope the world hasn’t taken us past the breaking point now but in five years we could be. I wish the Canadian Government would be more serious and just start to put CO2 targets in place. I don’t agree with their argument that everyone has to be on board or nothing will happen. Canada should take the lead and just do it. If they do this at least as Canadians we would have done as much as we can with regards to Global Warming.

Bisphenol A – Ever heard of this chemical?

bbas — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:14:05 +0000

I never realized this chemical is used in all hard plastics. Bisphenol A is used to harden a hard plastic item. A study in Europe announced that it is safe to have up to 600 parts per billion in the human body without ill effects. I can’t comment on that as I am not a medical professional but realizing now that even plastic baby bottles contain this chemical is a concern. Liquids in the bottles leach out 1 part per billion, so I am guessing that over the life of that bottle the child could easily get to the limit of 600 parts per billion. I am definitely for banning this chemical. Check out the article about this. Ban this Chemical

Eco Friendly Clothing

bbas — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 15:48:40 +0000

Clothing is another area that needs some exposure with regards to Green.

Did you know that up to 50% of the worldwide insecticide use and 10% pesticide use is for cotton production. Thats quite a bit considering that cotton only accounts for 3% of the worldwide agriculture output. Organic Cotton products are now available. These products are produced in an environmentally friendly atmosphere guaranteed not to harm the earth. Check out this Organic Cotton website. Its amazing there are alternatives to old school cotton production.

Update: Please check out fellow blogger Anna Martin who has a report from CNN on Ingestion of Toxic Chemicals Going organic only makes more sense all the time.

Did you know that plastic bottles that are put into the blue box can be re manufactured into clothing. Plastic itself is not very environmentally friendly, but as long as the plastic can be reused and kept out of landfills, I have no problems with that. Check out Recycling Plastic into clothing