Farmers’ Markets Are Good for Communities…Right?

Vegetables at the Dane County Farmers’ Market. Photo courtesy of Bill Lubing. Farmers’ markets practically glow with wholesome virtue: Shop here, they promise, and you can help build a sustainable, healthy food system! But without the data to buttress those claims, it’s hard to know whether farmers’ markets are actually meeting those goals or how […]

Organic Gardening: 10 Tips to Success

Organic gardening is the method of gardening that utilizes only materials derived from living things, ie. all natural plant foods and pesticides. Once you know the basic tenets of this practice, organic vegetable gardening is simple. And the payoff is enormous: no toxic chemicals, no waste, better for the environment as a whole, and not […]

What is Permaculture?

` This is a very hard question to answer concisely. Put 10 permaculturalists in a room and you’ll come out with 20 definitions of permaculture. Here are a few. The word permaculture was coined in the mid-1970′s by David Holmgren, a systems ecologist and Bill Mollisonand, a researcher, author, teacher and naturalist, as a combination […]

Is Sustainable-Labeled Seafood Really Sustainable?

Capt. Art Gaeten holds a blue shark that was caught during a research trip in Nova Scotia. Scientists are studying the impact of swordfish fishing methods on the shark population. Part one of a three part series by Daniel Zwerdling and Margot Williams for NPR.Listen to the story here. Rebecca Weel pushes a baby stroller […]

Revealed: What the Beef Industry Pumps Into Your Dinner

A common industry practice puts consumers at higher risks for eating food contaminated by deadly pathogens — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  By Tara Lohan Alternet and Global Possibilities, December 13, 2012 If acclaimed authors Upton Sinclair (The Jungle), Jeremy Rifkin (Beyond Beef) and John Robbins (Diet for a New America) haven’t […]

FTC Issues Revised “Green Guides”

Expect to see fewer products pitched as “environmentally friendly” if the government has its way. Hoping to limit the number of deceptive claims, the Federal Trade Commission on Monday released an updated version of its green marketing guidelines that hold companies to truthful standards in marketing their products. The revision to the Green Guides is […]

Urban Foraging

  Today’s post comes from Bistro OneSix, an entertaining blog full of stories about all things delicious. Enjoy this post about urban foraging and then head over to Bistro OneSix for more fabulous tales from the kitchen.  I hear the term “urban foraging” tossed around more and more lately and knew what my definition of it […]

HOW TO: Enjoy Your Labor Day Weekend

You probably don’t need anyone to tell you how to spend your Labor Day weekend, but the fine folks at Organic Gardening came up with a list of a few nifty ways to enjoy the long weekend. We think they’re pretty great, so we figured we’d share them with you. Enjoy! 1. Go to a farmers’ […]

Harvard Student Designs Dirt-Powered Phone Charger

Wind turbines and solar panels don’t only generate large amounts of power, they do so without the pollution and danger that come along with fossil fuels. But for the millions around the world that live without access to reliable power, waiting for a wind farm to pop up is a long and frustrating task. What […]