Entries categorized as ‘Environmental Concerns’
By Ann Rothschild
50 to 75 percent of your home water bill comes from landscape watering. More people are changing from lawns to drought resistant shrubs and attractive rock gardens. It’s called Xeriscaping. UC Davis Arboretum, http://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/arboretum_all_stars.aspx, has a Web page on this with info and resources galore. The site will guide you to tough, reliable, and beautiful drought-resistant plants; many supporting native birds and insects. See also: www.howstuffworks.com.
Mulch and compost are wonderful fertilizers and you may not need more than that. If you do, please use green fertilizers. Look for “organic” on the label, and use slow-release fertilizers which penetrate more deeply and feed plants or lawn slowly and evenly. This will reduce runoff to your drain, too.
Ideally, fertilize before it rains and conserve water. A soil test kit from a garden center will tell you the levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and lime in your soil, and how much you need to add.
We all know how commercial pesticide run-off has polluted rivers and fish. Let’s not add to the mix! Only 5 to 15 percent of insects in your garden are harmful. Good insect control starts with healthy soil (compost again!) and pest-resistant plants. A mix of plants, acceptance of some damage, and as a last resort, after experimenting and waiting for the good insects to eat the bad ones (remember ladybugs eat aphids!), then organic, green, non-polluting insecticide, used sparingly. Happy gardening!
Categories: Environmental Concerns
by Ann Rothschild
A Bicycling Boost—Are You Interested?
We can bemoan the economy and the price of gas…or we can get out our bikes!
According to Tony Bizjak in the Sacramento Bee (6-8-09, B1), Sacramento had a Million Mile May bike program last month and “participants racked up 1.3 million miles” on bicycles, doing errands, commuting, or simply enjoying the countryside on two wheels in the open air. What a wonderful response—well done, Sacramento! Don’t forget the health benefits also. We can keep this going and make it a habit, and the good weather and flatness of Sacramento encourage us more.
So how about a Front-of-Church Bike Rack?
Several people have suggested putting a visible and inviting bike rack in front of the church—to show the community that we are bike-friendly, and to invite more people to cycle to church. Our alley rack is fine, but doesn’t advertise our green consciousness. Rejecting the $500.00 bike racks, I found modest bollard style racks at $102.00 each and $67.00 each (see www.belson.com). However, before we start lobbying the Vestry or getting out our drills—we need to hear from you.
- How many of you really want a front-of-church bike rack and will ride your bikes to services on Sunday or use it during the week?
- Email me at dzonokwa@comcast.net if you would like TREE to pursue this idea.
Categories: Environmental Concerns
A Novel Kind of Writing Paper
by Ann Rothschild
New England Cartographics, Inc. has a novel idea for using outdated ordnance survey maps. They make them into stationery! I actually have some and like the design and the fact they are reused paper. In spite of email, I still use stationery for personal letters and to include notes with parcels. Their website is www.necartographics.com .
According to their website, “Geolopes are common sized envelopes and stationery recycled from outdated government surplus topographic maps published by various U.S. and Canadian government mapping agencies. This is the perfect three R’s green product for the next century–Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. They make excellent gifts for the geomanics on your list or just use them for yourself. Your correspondents will definitely want to tear open their mail when they get one of these fascinating envelopes in the letterbox. There is no telling what geographic areas of North America will appear in your assortment — mountains, forests, lakes, rivers, cities – who knows?”
Items include a $15.95 gift box with packets of envelopes of various sizes and 25 sheets of writing paper with the maps on one side and blank sheet on the other. Sheets are suitable for copiers. They also have many packets of envelopes in large bundles for offices, and a ream of stationery (500 sheets) costs $20.00.
Battery Bucket Is Here! Thanks to Chris Brown and Jerry Paré, we have a bucket for used batteries under the stairs in the office building. Bring your used batteries and they will be legally disposed of, instead of contaminating our environment.
Categories: Environmental Concerns
