This article contains the text and some images from the second half of a speech I presented at the Energy from Biomass and Waste conference in Pittsburgh, PA on September 27. It follows from the first half of the presentation titled Woody Biomass: Fuel for Wildfires which shows recent increased wildfire activity and the consequent greenhouse gas emissions from public forests. It suggests that
Posted September 30th, 2007 by C. Scott Miller
Posted September 28th, 2007 by Biopact team
Dear earthly gardeners!
I'm back, this time with photos from my new garden space. Our gorgeous home in the country is on the market now. For information, click HERE.
My gardens there have been in progress for the last twelve years. It's a bit overwhelming to start over, especially since our new house has almost nothing but crabgrass, Devil Bermuda, and one oak tree. I've been busy, though, and now we have some shrubberies, some herbs, some native Texas plants and a tiny little patch of green beans in the backyard.
Behind the beans, you can barely see my new fig tree, grown from a cutting I took from the tree in my old garden. I was surprised how easy it was to get a cutting to grow.
The backyard is still a blank canvas, so to speak, but I do have a lot of plants in pots. I still have my EarthBox that I talked about in this post, and I have bell peppers, more green beans, lots of herbs and Texas native plants also growing in pots. They really seem to like the somewhat cooler temps here in town, as well as the intermittent shade the oak tree provides.
I really love container gardens, and even when I have my permanent growing beds in, I still plan to do more gardening in pots.
Oh, and here's a photo of a visitor to the new garden, something I never saw at the other one.....a green anole, trying like hell to blend in with the BBQ grill!
Until next time, Dig It!
bobbi c.
I'm back, this time with photos from my new garden space. Our gorgeous home in the country is on the market now. For information, click HERE.
My gardens there have been in progress for the last twelve years. It's a bit overwhelming to start over, especially since our new house has almost nothing but crabgrass, Devil Bermuda, and one oak tree. I've been busy, though, and now we have some shrubberies, some herbs, some native Texas plants and a tiny little patch of green beans in the backyard.
Behind the beans, you can barely see my new fig tree, grown from a cutting I took from the tree in my old garden. I was surprised how easy it was to get a cutting to grow.
The backyard is still a blank canvas, so to speak, but I do have a lot of plants in pots. I still have my EarthBox that I talked about in this post, and I have bell peppers, more green beans, lots of herbs and Texas native plants also growing in pots. They really seem to like the somewhat cooler temps here in town, as well as the intermittent shade the oak tree provides.
I really love container gardens, and even when I have my permanent growing beds in, I still plan to do more gardening in pots.
Oh, and here's a photo of a visitor to the new garden, something I never saw at the other one.....a green anole, trying like hell to blend in with the BBQ grill!
Until next time, Dig It!
bobbi c.
Posted September 26th, 2007 by Curt Rosengren
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Curt Rosengren ~ Passion Catalyst TM "Love your work. Change your world." |
A recent report shows that the largest companies are paying increasingly more attention to their energy use and carbon emissions.
The world's biggest companies are making climate change a higher priority, in part through more widespread disclosure of carbon emissions, according to an annual report released Monday by a nonprofit group.
The report from Carbon Disclosure Project tracked how companies plan to deal with the risks and opportunities associated with greenhouse gas emissions and energy use.
"The big thing this year is the huge increase in the level of seriousness with which climate change is being incorporated into the corporate strategy of companies," said Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Chief Executive Paul Dickinson.
Not so surprisingly, the more they're addressing the issue, the more they seem to be willing to talk about it...
Among the 500 companies ranked by the Financial Times newspaper as the world's largest by market capitalization, 75 percent responded to this year's survey, up from 47 percent when the survey started four years ago.
The response rate by companies in North America rose in all industry sectors, and nine of 10 sectors had a response rate of more than 50 percent. The increased willingness by companies to disclose their carbon emissions and find ways to reduce them reflects the changing political and regulatory landscape over energy efficiency.
Of the companies that responded, 76 percent implemented programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, compared with 48 percent last year.
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Posted September 25th, 2007 by Biopact team
I'm off to Oklahoma City on Thursday for the annual Garden Writers conference (I'll send updates from the event if I can). They've asked me to participate in a panel discussion on organics and the role that garden communicators play in promoting and educating consumers about organic choices. I'm looking forward to the event and to finally meeting some of the faces I've only known via email and telephone for all these years.
Since I'll be gone for nearly a week, I'm sure I'll fall even further behind in my own garden. I managed to give some of my remaining potted plants to my mother for her garden and the rest are waiting on the back patio for the completion of our new retaining wall out front. The stone mason will start shortly after I return and he'll be tearing out the old wall and building a new, higher version that wraps around the steps. He's going to re-use the existing field stone while adding some new ones to make up the difference. The current wall is literally about to collapse.
Of course, I'm excited because this means a whole new garden will be created between the top of the wall and the front walk. I'm going to fill it with some shade perennials like painted ferns, Doronicum, Digitalis lutea, heuchera and some lace cap and 'Lemon Daddy' hydrangeas. 'Lemon Daddy' has bright chartreuse/yellow foliage with pink flowers - it's a real show stopper and will look great with the new boxwood and yellow carex I planted in the new foundation bed across the walk from it. Obviously, I'm going with the chartreuse/yellow/dark green combination. The Heucheras I have are a mix of chartreuse, bronze, burgundy and green leaved varieties. My only fear is that I'll tire of the color combination in a few years and have to re-do the bed in entirety. I guess that's not really a bad thing....in a few years I'll be looking for some new projects...right??
Since I'll be gone for nearly a week, I'm sure I'll fall even further behind in my own garden. I managed to give some of my remaining potted plants to my mother for her garden and the rest are waiting on the back patio for the completion of our new retaining wall out front. The stone mason will start shortly after I return and he'll be tearing out the old wall and building a new, higher version that wraps around the steps. He's going to re-use the existing field stone while adding some new ones to make up the difference. The current wall is literally about to collapse.
Of course, I'm excited because this means a whole new garden will be created between the top of the wall and the front walk. I'm going to fill it with some shade perennials like painted ferns, Doronicum, Digitalis lutea, heuchera and some lace cap and 'Lemon Daddy' hydrangeas. 'Lemon Daddy' has bright chartreuse/yellow foliage with pink flowers - it's a real show stopper and will look great with the new boxwood and yellow carex I planted in the new foundation bed across the walk from it. Obviously, I'm going with the chartreuse/yellow/dark green combination. The Heucheras I have are a mix of chartreuse, bronze, burgundy and green leaved varieties. My only fear is that I'll tire of the color combination in a few years and have to re-do the bed in entirety. I guess that's not really a bad thing....in a few years I'll be looking for some new projects...right??
Posted September 25th, 2007 by Biopact team
In the deluge of quit smoking methods, there are a few gems that stand out. Most of the commercialized methods rely on substitution or exchanging one addiction for another, e.g. nicotine gum, patch, etc. Other methods like hypnotism CDs and the like, are seldom permanent in that the individual reverts to old behavior at the first sign of stress because the basic chemical urge is still present and merely covered over temporarily.
To actually stop this ugly, self destructive habit for good, is very difficult and necessitates freeing the body from the physiological urge that has formed from a slow addiction to the numerous chemicals in tobacco, many of which are “added” to enhance addiction, although they will deny this vehemently.
We found one method that stands out by a Shaman healer no less. It is simple, easy and to the point. It is as painless as you can get while actually and really, freeing yourself from the chemical addiction that is nicotine. Once this chemical dependency is accomplished, it is rather easy for most people to get over the psychological addiction and modify their behavior toward more life affirming activities.
We recommend you check this out for yourself or a friend or loved one who is having a hard time quitting cigarettes. The method is deceptively simple and yet is the quintessential of what is required to stop painlessly and permanently. If we find any other effective methods we will keep you apprised. But, in the meantime, this is all you need to be free from tobacco.
http://www.oxygenmedicine.com/qsnbs.htm
To actually stop this ugly, self destructive habit for good, is very difficult and necessitates freeing the body from the physiological urge that has formed from a slow addiction to the numerous chemicals in tobacco, many of which are “added” to enhance addiction, although they will deny this vehemently.
We found one method that stands out by a Shaman healer no less. It is simple, easy and to the point. It is as painless as you can get while actually and really, freeing yourself from the chemical addiction that is nicotine. Once this chemical dependency is accomplished, it is rather easy for most people to get over the psychological addiction and modify their behavior toward more life affirming activities.
We recommend you check this out for yourself or a friend or loved one who is having a hard time quitting cigarettes. The method is deceptively simple and yet is the quintessential of what is required to stop painlessly and permanently. If we find any other effective methods we will keep you apprised. But, in the meantime, this is all you need to be free from tobacco.
http://www.oxygenmedicine.com/qsnbs.htm
Posted September 23rd, 2007 by Curt Rosengren
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Curt Rosengren ~ Passion Catalyst TM "Love your work. Change your world." |
Here's a good sign that we'll be seeing continued interest in the clean energy industry from the VC community...
Venture backers of European clean energy startups reaped a 55 percent annualized return on their investments from 1998 to 2007, the London-based research group New Energy Finance said Tuesday.
The analysis, which was commissioned by the European Energy Venture Fair to take place this weekend in Zurich, looked at returns earned by 37 venture capital and private equity investors in 129 early stage companies dealing in low-carbon technologies such as renewable energy, fuel cells, power storage since 1998.
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Posted September 23rd, 2007 by Biopact team
Every week during the program, we air a segment called Everybody Gardens. It's an interview with a regular gardener. It's funny because sometimes we show up at someones house to record an interview thinking the story will be one thing, and it turns out to be something else entirely. The difficult part for Doug and I is to find the gardener's story - sometimes it takes a while to discover their passion and find out what will click with the audience. The really great part is that often, we learn a few new things along the way.
I headed to two beautiful gardens on Thursday to record interviews with their owners and I was so pleased with the results of both. Nancy Heraud is an herbalist with literally hundreds of different herb varieties. She's very passionate about preserving the fruits and veggies and herbs that her garden produces. Nancy has some great recipes we'll share with listeners and I think it will be a really lovely piece. But, there was another story in her garden.
Her husband Jose moved to the States from Peru in the 1970's. He shared with me his memories of his parent's gardeners and how he watched them work, knowing that some day he'd like a garden of his own. Jose also shared some seeds with me of two of his favorite plants native from Peru. I'm looking forward to growing them in next years garden.
Jose's gift got me thinking. I'm going to build a travel garden. I'm going to fill it with varieties that I know are native to the countries I have visitied, or with plants I remember seeing during my travels around the world. Of course I'll be careful not to plant anything invasive, but I can't wait to do a little research and find out what is going to find a home in my new travel garden. I must plant Jose's plants, some bougainvillea (Spain), some mouse sh#t peppers (Thailand), some leeks (Italy), and some jasmine (India): these I know will be included. There will also be lots more plants and I can't wait to add to it over the years.
Think about starting a travel garden at your house. No doubt it will bring back great memories.
I headed to two beautiful gardens on Thursday to record interviews with their owners and I was so pleased with the results of both. Nancy Heraud is an herbalist with literally hundreds of different herb varieties. She's very passionate about preserving the fruits and veggies and herbs that her garden produces. Nancy has some great recipes we'll share with listeners and I think it will be a really lovely piece. But, there was another story in her garden.
Her husband Jose moved to the States from Peru in the 1970's. He shared with me his memories of his parent's gardeners and how he watched them work, knowing that some day he'd like a garden of his own. Jose also shared some seeds with me of two of his favorite plants native from Peru. I'm looking forward to growing them in next years garden.
Jose's gift got me thinking. I'm going to build a travel garden. I'm going to fill it with varieties that I know are native to the countries I have visitied, or with plants I remember seeing during my travels around the world. Of course I'll be careful not to plant anything invasive, but I can't wait to do a little research and find out what is going to find a home in my new travel garden. I must plant Jose's plants, some bougainvillea (Spain), some mouse sh#t peppers (Thailand), some leeks (Italy), and some jasmine (India): these I know will be included. There will also be lots more plants and I can't wait to add to it over the years.
Think about starting a travel garden at your house. No doubt it will bring back great memories.
Posted September 18th, 2007 by Biopact team
Green dreams: "Producing fuel from corn and other crops could be good for the planet–if only the process didn't take a significant environmental toll. New breakthroughs could make a difference."
Posted September 17th, 2007 by Biopact team
The Greenest Green Fuel: "Looking for a clean fuel that grows anywhere, needs only sunlight and water, and could produce enough oil to free the U.S. from its petroleum addiction? Here’s one start-up’s plan for converting oil from algae—yes, algae."
Posted September 14th, 2007 by Biopact team
Finally, I think this site's gonna get a well deserved makeover. I've not been able to update this blog for long.
Now, after exams, change is in the air.
Now, after exams, change is in the air.
