The top 12 produce with the highest pesticide content are often called   “The Dirty Dozen” for obvious reasons. This information will help you in deciding where you may want to make the cut-off. Bear in mind that there are many fruits and vegetables that are not on this list, this is meant to get you thinking.

Pesticides on Popular Produce: Peaches – 100Strawberries – 89Apples – 88Spinach – 85 Nectarines – 85 Celery - 83 Pears – 80 Cherries – 76Potatoes – 67 Sweet Bell Peppers – 66 Raspberries – 66 Grapes – Imported  – 64

 

Africa cannot grow enough food to feed itself. It is not feasible toexpect a poor African farmer to spend 400 euro to 500 euro per hectare to grow acrop if he can live on 1 euro per day as many do. For the money he has to spendon one hectare - he can live for a year. The NEPAD conference shows that they are looking at chemical fertilizer as the solution.The reasoning behind this is the success enjoyed by relatively wealthy farmers in Africa(predominantly of European origin), who have enough money to buy fertilizer. "Tè a fatige"

The poor results obtained with organic farming in South Africa together withthe lack of credible research and information, were crucial in the decisionbehind initiating research into organic farming as a discipline.

Dell CEO Michael Dell just introduced a never-seen-before Dell eco PC with a bamboo casing at the Fortune Green conference.Dell claims the environment friendly computer is 81 percent smaller than a standard desktop, and uses 70 percent less power.Not green enough for you? Well, it is also utilizes recycled materials such as old bottles, milk jugs and detergent cases in shipping.The still un-named PC is set to be released out later this year at an estimated $500 to $700 price tag. Via: earth2tech

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How much oxygen did your furniture produce today? Yeah, this is not your typical piece of furniture.

Add some alive furniture to your lawn or garden with these neat looking environmental chair and couch.

Simply fill the frame with soil, spread grass seeds evenly over the dirt, press them in and water slightly. Watch your furniture grow within 10 days. Once the grass has grown, trim it and you have a cool chair and sofa that blends with your lawn!

A fun project for kids to build and maintain their own garden furniture during the summer.

Via: stlloftstyle

Imagine wall art that was eco-friendly, added Mother Nature to your living room and was a constantly changing spectacle, and you will come close to envisioning something like the creative Living Wall Planters.

At $169, they are relatively good priced, especially since they are coupled with the entertainment and novelty value.

It is a very good idea, but as with most pioneering inventors, the first concept is by no means the best one. The Living Wall Planters gets full-marks for the idea, but the execution lacks the necessary sleek sophistication to make it popular and successful inside the home.

The cedar wood frame is packed with a metallic grid of pockets for the soil and plant roots to sit in, which allows for the plants to sit upright on the wall. Hidden from view is a basic watering and reservoir system that slowly feeds the plants and ensures there are no leakages (on your stylish wall-coverings or furniture).

Once the makers address the ‘look what I built in my backyard’ appearance and inject a little more aesthetic appeal to their design, they will have created a whole new trend in wall art and household gardening. Until that day comes, it’ll be best not to remove any existing works of art from the walls in your home, and instead, maybe look to use the Living Wall Planter to decorate the exterior walls of your living space.

Source: gardeners Via: thegreenhead

"We tend to think that water doesn't cost anything so we don't have to protect it," says Steve Maxwell, managing director at TechKnowledgey Strategic Group, a water industry management consulting firm. "The truth is that the planet has a fixed amount of water, while the population and industry continue to explode." As that fixed resource grows scarce, the need for conservation measures increases.One fruitful area is irrigation, says Maxwell, who points to: • Water reuse and reclamation programs for city parks and golf courses • Smart irrigation systems, whose automation increases efficiency • Consulting firms that help organizations implement and monitor efficient lawn-care technologies

These beautiful sculptures have charisma and character. They are designed by Ptolemy and are made from auto-mobile hubcaps that were found lying about roadways and junk yards.

Each Hubcap Creature is made from 100% recycled material and often show the scars of their previous existence, which simply adds to the charm and beauty of each piece. Prices range from $300 to $1,000 depending on the value of the material and complexity of design.

Over the years, the garbage pile at Hiriya dump site in Israel grew so big that the birds it attracted became a danger to the jets taking off and landing at Ben Gurion Airport.

From 1952 until it was closed nine years ago, Hiriya accumulated greater Tel Aviv’s trash for a total of roughly 565 million cubic feet (16 million cubic meters) and attained a height of 261 ft (80m).

Recycling plants have been working there ever since to reuse the refuse and capture the gases released by the mound. Soon the area will be renamed the Ariel Sharon Park after the Prime Minister who worked to keep the area out of the hands of developers and insure that it will a unique ecological park.

A couple of top designers have teamed up to launch Recycle Now Week to promote their passions for fashion and raising environmental awareness. They designed dresses out of trash, recycling old packaging, cans, newspapers and more, proving waste can be made in to striking fashion with the right touch. Even a tiered ball gown of recycled denim looks good.

Via: telegraph

From newspapers to your wardrobe! Do you picture yourself wearing a mapbelt made of recycled newpapers or carrying a hip trendy newspaper bag? This one of a kind products were thought up and designed by four brilliant Swiss entrepreneurs. If you are in need of something customizable, colorful or black and white, waterproof and Swiss made, take a quick glance at their website! Choose a specific part of a newspaper and the language that you would like your bag or belt made of, select the model that makes your heart beat, wait a few weeks until delivery, and enjoy. It doesn’t taste as good as the Swiss chocolate but it will still give you a taste of being eco-friendly while trendy!

Via: primecut.ch

How cool is this- a courier bag made of a real gentleman’s business suit. 40x60cm and complete with a very hard wearing recycled seatbelt as the shoulder strap, for a mere 180 bucks AUS, you probably could make this at home for a fraction of the price- well your price, I’m not sure your father would appreciate you recycling his number 5 pinstripe 2 button for the cause..

Source: vandashop

If sending flowers didn’t do the trick, perhaps you should try expressing your heartfelt apology by sending the person you have peeved an olive branch adoption package as a peace offering. Start an adoption service for trees.

The article's in the September 2008 National Geographic Magazine made a huge impact on me, knowing the benefits of vermicompost, it seems there is a huge gap that we must bridge between piling up waste and turning our garbage into good quality topsoil. Here is an extract of the article's written by Charles C. Mann and Joel K. Bourne, Jr.

To boost food production, Kramer and colleagues founded [title]SOIL[/title] [content] Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods www.oursoil.org[/content] , a nonprofit group that builds composting toilets in rural communities to get much needed organic matter and fertility back into fields. "With the current hunger crisis, it's very clear," says Kramer, an adjunct professor at the University of Miami. "If Haitians had more local production, they would not be so vulnerable to imported food prices."Until then Haiti remains a poignant lesson in what soil scientists have preached for years: As a nation's soil goes, so goes the nation.

"Tè a fatige," said 70 percent of Haitian farmers in a recent survey when asked about the major agricultural problems they faced. "The earth is tired"

I found this statement by Joseph Jenkins fascinating:

"There is a disturbing theory about the human species that has begun to take on an alarming level of reality. It seems that the behaviour of the human race is displaying uncanny parallels to the behaviour of pathogenic, or disease-causing,organisms.When viewed at the next quantum level of perspective, from which the Earth is seen as an organism and humans are seen as micro-organisms, the human species looks like a menace to the planet. In fact, the human race is looking a lot like a disease — comprised of organisms excessively multiplying, mindlessly consuming, and generating waste with little regard for the health and well-being of its host — planet Earth."

 

Using rain barrels to collect rainwater is environmentally friendly in many ways. Obviously collecting rainwater is free and requires no pumping or electricity making rainwater cheaper to use and more energy efficient. I know you already thought of it, but do you actually have one now?

When you are having a handful or more of guests over for dinner, you might think to use disposable plates and utensils. However, resist this urge so you don’t increase your consumption of paper. green tips

Earthworm Composting: Worm composting is the decomposition by a type of earthworm called  RED WIGGLER Eisenia fetida which eats your organic raw food waste and leaves rich compost and a liquid fertiliser in return. Worm Castings Worm castings are the richest form of natural fertiliser known to man. It promotes ahigher than average growth in plants (ideal to start seedlings, when mixed withpotting mix or as a top-dressing around plants).