Scientists Prove Goats Are Better Than Chemical Weedkillers

Science proves what farmers already know: Goats make excellent weedkillers.

Herbivores—not herbicides—is the way to go, according to research published in the journal PeerJ.

The researchers compared the effectiveness of goats versus chemical herbicides against the common reed—a grass that is overrunning coastal wetlands from New England to the Southeast. "For more than two decades, we've declared major chemical and physical warfare on this grass, using all the latest man-made weapons," says Brian R. Silliman, PhD, associate professor of marine conservation biology at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment. "We've used helicopters to spray it with herbicides and bulldozers to remove its roots. More often than not, however, it returns."

Read more here.

How to grow an edible Garden of Eden in your kitchen from the food you didn’t eat

Maybe you’ve always wanted to grow a garden, but you’ve got little time, procrastinate and your thumb is a mild shade of turquoise at best. Luckily a recent infographic produced by Whole Foods and Cooking Stoned means you only need one qualification for building a garden: Do you eat food?

If the answer was “yes” then you’re already half-way to victory. From onion scraps to pineapples and potatoes, you can re-grow most of your household food items with a little water, a pot, and a handful of soil.

Read more here.

Bronx teacher uses gardening to inspire students to study science

He’s not a farmer, but Stephen Ritz said he and his students have grown more than 30,000 pounds of vegetables over the last eight years.

The longtime teacher and founder of the non-profit Green Bronx  Machine is determined to change the lives of disadvantaged students, one garden at a time.

“I’m building healthy living habits and a healthy environment,” said Ritz, who grew up in the Bronx and teaches at P.S. 55 in Morrisania.

He started teaching almost 30 years ago, focusing on special education and crisis intervention. Colleagues say Ritz’s infectious enthusiasm and hard work produced higher test scores and improved attendance.

When he received some free plant bulbs in 2005, he sent his students from Walton High School out — sometimes into enemy gang territory — to beautify the neighborhoods.

Read more here.

Super Creative Organic Urban Gardens Around the World: Who Needs Biotech?

Some of the most creative urban gardening projects around the globe can inspire us to create our own green space in the city, or add luster to a space that’s already underway which just needs a little oomph.

Not only are people around the world capable of growing nutrient-dense, nourishing food that will feed their communities, even if they live in an urban setting, but they can also do it with élan. Some of the most creative urban gardening projects around the globe can inspire us to create our own green space in the city, or add luster to a space that’s already underway which just needs a little oomph. Here are some off-the-(biotech)-chain gardens that will get our creative juices flowing so that we can carry the dream of living pesticide and GMO-free, further:

Everyone who has kept abreast of national news has heard of the urban blight that has devastated Detroit. This once burgeoning center of the auto-trade in America is now a sprawling concrete wasteland – or is it? Food Field is an urban farm in the middle of central Detroit. It grows heaping amounts of organic produce using permaculture. They even raise chickens and ducks, grow food utilizing aquaculture, raise honey bees, and have their own organic fruit orchard. This all happens on a piece of land that is smaller than that of many McMansions. Even in one of this country’s most economically depressed cities, where unemployment rates are currently swollen to 14-17 percent, people are flourishing growing their own organic food.

Detroit isn’t the only city under economic duress, but this doesn’t sway the Distributed Urban Farming Initiative or DUfi in downtown Bryan, Texas from mixing sound agricultural practices with community building.  They want to spread their plan for city gardens everywhere:

Rad more here.

Joe Burton sees opportunity where others just see weeds

Where most people see small, weed-filled sections of land, Joe Burton sees an opportunity to grow fresh produce.

The Chatham man, who runs the Gypsy King fruit and vegetable stand with his family that his dad, Pat Burton, started more than three decades ago, is an urban farmer.

He farms about 120 acres of land, including soybeans, but about 25 acres comes from land that would otherwise be vacant, behind area factories or along railway or hydro right-of-ways.

Some land Burton rents, while other land he uses for free in exchange for keeping the property looking neat and tidy.

“I just keep it clean by growing crops on it,” he said. “Everybody's happy.”

Despite rain pouring down at times on Tuesday the popular stand, located in the parking lot of Lenover's Quality Meats & Seafoods on Park Avenue East, was quite busy as several people stopped by to get fresh produce, especially sweet corn.

Nearby the stand is an area of crops growing beside the railroad tracks that cross Park Avenue East and Park Street. Not far away, in the opposite direction, a friend offered up about a quarter acre of land, near the entrance of Lynwood subdivision, that Burton uses to grow green and yellow beans.

Joe Burton says he has a lot going through his head trying to keep track of the various parcels of land where crops are planted.

The variety of vegetables he grows includes sweet corn, broccoli, tomatoes, green and yellow beans, cucumbers, squash, cauliflower, cabbage, radishes and red beets. He also grows his own strawberries.

Rad more here.

Urban Transport without the hot air – Book review

Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Urban Transport without the hot air
Volume 1: Sustainable solutions for UK cities
By Steve Melia
Published in hardback and paperback, 264 pages
by UIT Cambridge June 4, 2015
Hardback ISBN: 9781906860271
Paperback ISBN: 9781906860264

The UK population will reach 70 million by 2027. How will all these people get around? Is building more, wider roads really the solution? In this book, Steve Melia:
• dispels long-standing transport myths;
• looks at the successes of London and other UK and continental cities in providing 21st century transport;
• and suggests solutions for a sustainable future.

By drawing on the experience of London, Bristol, Cambridge and other European towns, we can have cleaner and more pleasant places to live, and a more sustainable economy.

The book is accessibly written, and is a must-read for the interested lay person as well as those involved in transport and urban-planning.

In Volume 2, (published 2016) Alan Cunningham considers the situation and solutions for the USA. Each volume can be read alone, or they can be read together to look at the wider global-context.

Foreword by Prof Phil Goodwin
1. The myths of urban transport

Part 1: Myths and problems

2. The problem
3. "There has been a war on the motorist"4. "Roads and airports benefit the economy"
5. "All we need is better public transport"
6. "Car ownership isn't a problem - only car use"
7. "You'll never get people over here cycling like the dutch"
8. "The car can be a guest in our streets"
9. We are building too many flats"
10. Summary: myths, values and challenges

Part 2: Sustainable Solutions

11. Four options for traffic in towns
12. European cities: inspiration and similarities
13. Carfree developments
14. London: the politics of bucking the trend
15. Progress in other British cities
16. What sort of cities do we want?
17. What can I do?

Dr Steve Melia lectures in transport and planning at the University of the West of England, Bristol. He has advised two government departments on how to achieve more sustainable transport and helped with the transport planning of the London Olympic Park. The ideas in this book began while cycling 5,000 miles across three summers and seven European countries, studying cities making progress on transport problems and improving the urban environment.

If there is one thing that I think I have to take issue with with this book and the author then it is with regards to cycling and car use in places such as Germany and the Netherlands.

When it comes to cycling and cycling provisions in Germany – and we have to admit that judging from the book the author may not have been in some of the areas where this writer, namely myself, has been – many are exemplary including along roads outside towns and cities. The federal roads, in the main, all have cycle paths on either side of the road, and those continue right through the towns and cities, more often than not. It is, however, more than possible that they vary from state to state as the federal states all have their own legislation and all make their own provisions as to roads and thus also cycling provisions.

Cycling has always been – despite high car ownership and no more so, as regards to car ownership, than in the towns and cities where the motor industry, whether Volkswagen or others, are at home – a mode to transport even for commuting to and from work, and that even in the car towns. More workers at the VW plant in Wolfsburg traveled to and from work by bicycle than were using their cars, at least this was true in the mid-1980s, and that despite the fact that they all could purchase cars from VW at cost almost, and changed their cars – most of them – annually, selling the previous year's one at a profit.

The wife, if not at work, would go shopping by bicycle and the children walked or cycled to school. The school run as we experience it daily in Britain was something that did not exist. It has to be said, however, that the provisions for shops and schools were also very good and they were in easy enough reach to where people lived. But on the other hand children thought nothing of it to cycle 3-5km (and in some cases more than that) to school each way, especially in the case of secondary schools and the high schools. Neither of those schools are to be confused with those in UK or the USA, but that shall not be the mater of discussion here.

I have crossed and crisscrossed much of at least northern and central Germany by bicycle, as well as by armored carrier, and have seen cycle provisions in the form of separated paths in 99 out of 100 cases, and that even along the federal roads in the countryside. Smaller country roads at times did not have such provisions, at least not on both sides of the road, but there also seems to be a completely different attitude towards the cyclist from the side of the motorist as compared with Britain. I assume that this is more than likely due to the fact that many a motorist is also at times a cyclist and appreciates the issue much better therefore. The attitude of motorists that cyclist should not have provisions made for them and that they should not be on the road (if there is no cycle path available), as is the case in Britain with a great number of them, in Germany (not to speak of the Netherlands, Denmark and other countries) just does not seem to exist. I do not think that I have once heard the comment so frequent in Britain that cyclists should not be on the road, that they have to be no right to the road and to provisions, etc.

But that is the only thing where the author and myself differ, I should say. An very important thing to also, I think, that the reader should take from this book, and I urge all, those with a professional interest in the matter such as planners, etc., but also those in the green movement, and others, is the point that Steve makes as to the electric car, especially when it comes to the common, in British towns and cities at least, on street parking and how they just cannot be charged overnight in such a setup. But that is but one of many things that the reader will come to understand by reading this book with an open mind.

While not really wishing to hijack this review for my own end I just would like to say as to electric vehicles, as I have said many a time before in articles, that I do not believe that they are the answer and we will not, after oil, be able to keep the status quo as to personal transport today and that aside from the simple logistics as to where to charge those cars overnight.

A very detailed and informative book that should be read by as many as possible, professionals and laypeople alike.

© 2015

Parliamentarians agree to protect future of forests

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

• New All Party Parliamentary Group formed
• Call for more planting of trees in UK
• MPs urge better public understanding of role of managed forests

MPs and Lords have established a new group to safeguard and boost the future of the country’s forests and the wood processing sector. The new All Party Parliamentary Group on Forestry (APPGF) has been created to highlight the urgent need for more investment in the forestry and wood-processing sector.

The group will focus on the need for increased levels of sustainable forestry, helping to drive UK support for the wider forestry and wood-processing sector.

At the House of Commons launch event, Stuart Goodall, Chief Executive of group organizers, Confor, set out how forestry and wood processing supports 2.5% of the UK economy and three-quarters of a million jobs.

Confor – a non-government organization that promotes sustainable forestry and wood production – has urged MPs to call on the government to commit to investing in the sector to enable the planting of more trees to sustain long-term growth and avoid an expected drop off in the availability after 2030.

MPs at the APPGF launch event also discussed how the benefits of planting more trees go above and beyond economic factors. More British planting, MPs claimed, would bring environmental and biodiversity benefits to the UK.

As a result, MPs called for better public education on the role managed forests play and the need to encourage more people to visit the nation’s forests.

Chris Davies, Conservative MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, newly elected Chair of the APPGF, said: “Forestry needs to be placed right at the forefront of the agricultural sector and appreciated much more by the wider community.

“A successful forestry and wood processing sector is a positive not only for the economy, but also for the environment, recreation and health too. There is a long way to go to get this issue higher up the political agenda, but with cross party, cross industry engagement I believe we can give our forestry and wood sectors the attention they deserve.”

In addition to electing Mr Davies as Chair of the APPGF, MPs elected three vice chairs: Labour peer, Lord Clark of Windermere, Conservative Lord Boswell of Aynho and Anne-Marie Trevelyan Conservative MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed.

With proper investment and commitment from the government the forestry sector could deliver an additional 7000 jobs in deprived rural areas and increased planting could mean that by 2050, forestry alone could decrease 10% of the UK’s annual greenhouse gases emissions.

Confor have also called for increased domestic production of timber to help address problems of illegal timber highlighted in a recent Early Day Motion signed by almost 40 MPs.

Stuart Goodall from Confor welcomed the formation of the Group: “The need for increased levels of sustainable forestry and support for the wider forestry and wood processing sector has never been more important. The sector needs a secure long-term supply of timber, and woodlands need to be managed responsibly to protect them from climate change and pests/diseases.

“We welcome MPs calling for better public education and will work with other organizations to make this happen. We also need to ensure that the planned devolution of responsibility for forests doesn’t damage our sector.”

Confor’s 2014 ‘Delivering Green Growth Report’ sets out three key asks for the government to consider backing which are: to plant more productive forests, stimulate markets for timber and deploy ‘wood first’ policies in all public building projects, and encourage active forest management to deliver the widest possible range of benefits.

The only – and this is a large only – problem that I am seeing here with all of this is that this is all, primarily, aimed at the forest industry, that is to say large operations, whether by the Forestry Commission, Tilhill Forestry, or other private forestry companies and forest owners and that it will be aimed, once again, predominately, at the single species stands of conifers that will produce a quick ROI rather than hardwoods and especially coppicing. Or am I just too pessimistic and critical?

While we most certainly need more trees in Britain, and also a thriving forestry sector, in order to become more self-sufficient in wood in this country, the operational practices of the forest industry, as they are at present, with more often than not the use of heavy machinery, such as timber harvesters, are doing more harm than good.

We must return to a more gentler forestry practice that has less destructive impact on the forest and the forest floor especially. It is my belief that the use of those machines and other heavy extraction gear is the reason that the forest floor flora and fauna is in such a bad state that it is today. When ten or twenty tonne machines compact the soil for hours and days on end what can we expect but destruction and anyone who has seen the aftermath of those machines in action must, I am sure, come to the same conclusion.

In days not all that long ago the extraction of timber from the felling locations was either done by horse or much lighter tractors, or even from the forestry roads by tractor-mounted winch and thus the impact on the forest floor in the stands was much less severe than it is today. The use of horses, actually, benefited the forest in that the hooves of the horses in action would push acorns intoo the ground to just about the right depth for germination. Maybe we should rethink how we do thing. In addition to that it would also create additional employment in the forestry and woodland management sector as some more loggers and other people would be required.

From a sustainability aspect one must also question the use of those heavy machines and that alone as regards to the fuel consumption of them when in full operation. The problem with this, in the capitalist system, is that it would cut somewhat into the profits of the companies and their shareholders and that is more important to them, regardless of what is being said publicly, that the true sustainability of their operations and the health of the forests.

© 2015

Resilient Woodlands Campaign

A much-needed campaign to raise awareness about the importance of resilience in our woodlands is shortly to get underway.

Work behind the scenes for more than one year has seen organisations and experts from across the forestry and tree sector coming together to work on a range of activities. The degree and method of collaboration has been unprecedented. Sylva’s team have been centrally involved in helping the process advance and in fostering collaboration. Our CEO has acted as editor-in-chief for the drafting of an Accord (see below) and thanks to funding from Forestry Commission England and the Woodland Trust, we are repeating the British Woodlands Survey, this time on the theme of Resilience.

The first outcomes will be launched publicly at the CLA Game Fair on July 31st. The main outcomes of theResilient Woodlands Campaign will be:

1. An Accord detailing common agreement among a very wide partnership of organisations that environmental change is impacting our woodlands, and that fundamental changes in actions are necessary.

2. A series of Adaptation in Action statements from a large number of organisations outlining their specific stance, activities and intended outcomes.

3. A national survey on Resilience, under the British Woodland Survey series to launch 31st July. We encourage all woodland owners, agents, tree nursery businesses and tree professionals to take part. Read more about the British Woodlands Survey 2015

4. Conference on Resilience organised jointly by the Woodland Trust and Royal Forestry Society on October 1st.
   Read more

The British Woodlands Survey will be national in perspective. Although the brand name of the survey series run by the Sylva Foundation uses the term ‘British’, we hope to attract responses from across the United Kingdom.

Some elements of the campaign have an English focus due to funding bodies involved and policy fit. Outcomes of the campaign will feed directly into the National Adaptation Programme, overseen by Defra and supported by Climate Ready (Environment Agency).

This press release is presented without editing for your information only.

Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article.

Pope Francis calls for new economic order, criticises capitalism

In Bolivia during his tour of South America, Pope Francis on Thursday urged the downtrodden to change the world economic order, denouncing a "new colonialism" by agencies that impose austerity programs and calling for the poor to have the "sacred rights" of labour, lodging and land.

In one of the longest, most passionate and sweeping speeches of his pontificate, the Argentine-born pope also asked forgiveness for the sins committed by the Roman Catholic Church in its treatment of native Americans during what he called the "so-called conquest of America".

Quoting a 4th century bishop, he called the unfettered pursuit of money "the dung of the devil", and said poor countries should not be reduced to being providers of raw material and cheap labour for developed countries.

Read more here.

Roundup’s Lesser-Known Cousin Is Coming to a Farm Near You

It’s the next wave in a revolution of GMO crops—and it’s happening right under our noses.

One of the world’s leading groups of cancer experts has just classified the industrial herbicide 2,4-D as a possible human carcinogen, and that’s got one of the world’s biggest ag-tech companies in an uproar. But why should we care about some corporate kerfuffle?

Because the U.S. is about to be deluged with 2,4-D—an herbicide similar to Roundup but lacking the comfort of a consumer-facing, trademarked name.

This week, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, an arm of the World Health Organization, released the results of its evaluation of three agricultural chemicals, including 2,4-D. The agency’s designation of the herbicide as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” is based on a review of the existing scientific evidence, which it deems “inadequate” in humans and “limited” in animal experiments—hence the emphasis on “possibly” carcinogenic. Nevertheless, the agency says, “There is strong evidence that 2,4-D induces oxidative stress, a mechanism that can operate in humans, and moderate evidence that 2,4-D causes immunosuppression, based on in vivo and in vitro studies.”

Read more here.