Chemicals Around You

Author: Bea Fortheearth
February 23, 2009

Every single aspect of our lives has in it artificial components of plastic, out-gassing (fumes) or toxins of some sort.  The sad part about this is that the entire population of this world had no say - and is totally unaware that manufacturers, food producers, agribusiness and technology has contributed to it every day.

Chemicals surround us.  Our computers are made from plastics which release chemicals into our environment.  If we’ve sworn off caffeine, and drink decaf instead, chances are we’re getting a good dose of chemicals from the decaffeination process. Got that suit back from the cleaners?  Guess what it’s been cleaned with?  Dry cleaning fluid=chemicals.

If your kids play sports like football or soccer they’re probably rolling around on turf treated with herbicides, pesticides and other toxic lawn chemicals. Additionally, children are especially at risk for health-related illness from pesticide residues.

Think you’re safe at work?  Your company probably has a contract with an extermination service and sometimes you’re even sitting at your desk when the guy comes through with the little sprayer tank!  Millions of Americans go to work in environments chocked full of chemicals:  manufacturing facilities with dust and fumes from chemicals, heavy metals, plastic compounds, cleaning solutions,  paints, glues and pesticides.  Even if your job does not put you in direct or daily contact, you are still at risk.

WHAT TO DO?

DETOX and eat the cleanest diet that you can.  Make every meal a high quailty one of fresh (organic) foods, filtered water.  Replace the toxins you introduce into your body in your own home with organic personal care products.

Make every day count!


Compost In Suburbia

Author: Bea Fortheearth
February 4, 2009

Composting doesn’t have to be a stinky unsightly mess!   You can compost pest-free with a Sun-Mar composter.

If you have a problem with neighborhood dogs or other critters, the Sun-Mar composter is pest free! It’s easy to unload, too.  No heavy lifting:  the finished compost comes out the bottom.

Compost strengthens the plants by providing essential nutrients - instead of CHEMICALS.  What you put on your veggie garden, goes into your food that you eat.  If you use pesticides and chemicals - GUESS what you are eating!

Now is the perfect time to get started on compost for the spring planting!


Water, Water… NOWHERE?

Author: Bea Fortheearth
January 28, 2009

The Earth is talking back.  She is trying to let us know we need to change our ways.

WATER USE must be one of them.

The water outlook for California and Nevada is a grim one, according to an article posted on Reuters today. With snow pack in the mountains decreasing  due to climate change, consumers and farmers face the possibility of another year of shortages.

What does this mean for you?  Higher food prices as supply drops.

California is one of the top food producers in the nation.  Nevada, on the other hand, has experienced tremendous growth over then past 10 years and now has the nation’s highest water useage. We are in a water crisis in this country, but what can we do?

CONSERVE WATER in every aspect of your life.  If you think that your water use doesn’t affect the entire Earth, think again!  What you take from your tap or garden spigot has to come from somewhere. Unless you collect your own rain water, you’re drawing from the municipal supplies.

Especially if you live in an arid climate such as California, Nevada or other areas of the southwest, you  absolutely should be doing whatever you can to conserve water.

COLLECT RAIN WATER - what a NOVEL idea!  Our great grandparents did this.  Grandma had her rain barrel and used this to wash clothes with.  It was free water.  Then the water was used to water the gardens with.  The veggies grew better because the soap, a natural insecticide, kept bugs off.

You can do a lot to save water.  Start by checking all your faucets, spigots and toilets.  If they leak, fix them. One single leak can waste 200 or more gallons a day.

Use a rain barrel to collect water with.  You can do a LOT with the water you collect:  water your gardens, potted plants, hose off your deck, wash your car and not use any municipal water supplies doing it.

YOU CAN do your part in saving water easily and efficiently.


Chemical vs. Organic Lawn Care

Author: Bea Fortheearth
January 23, 2009

American consumers use millions of tons of chemical lawn and garden products a year.

As an employee in a garden center at a home improvement store for many years, I personally witnessed a frightening aspect of American life:  a staggering amount of sales of toxic chemicals -  thousands of pounds of the stuff went out the door every week - in just this one store!

People thought absolutely nothing of spreading and spraying toxic chemicals all over their lawns.  Their concern wasn’t what it was doing to their environment -or- the potential toxicity to their children, pets and other wildlife. In what  I would call their ‘fanatical desire’ to eradicate   e v e r y   pest and   e v e r y  weed, they didn’t realize they were increasing their risk to cancer & poisoning themselves, their children and the planet!

Most of them probably never read the back of the bags where it gave warnings about the product and said:

WARNING: poison!

Many of them didn’t know that these chemicals were in fact, carcinogens and endocrine disruptors which have been proven in many studies worldwide to cause cancer.

In her her highighly acclaimed book, Living Downstream - An Ecologist Looks at Cancer & the Environment, author,  biologist and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber, Ph. D presents a frightening time line of the rise in cancer over the past 50 years.

Chemical preparations actually do more harm than good. They stress the plants out with a BIG dose of food.  This creates dependency on chemicals by the plant (think drug addict!) in which they do not naturally build up their own defenses. Roots come to the surface to get the food instead of growing down into the soil. Physical damage also occurs due to infrequent or over-dosing.  Granular or dust applications only deliver about 40% of the nutrients to the plant instead of over 95% with natural applications.

Then, of course, there is the environmental damage of groundwater pollution, runoff, introduction into far reaching water sources, to marine life;  all of this eventually returns to us in our food!

Using organic and natural yard care products and remedies helps to protect you and the Earth for further damage caused by pesticides.  Every choice YOU MAKE affects Mother Earth every day.


Easy Compost

Author: Bea Fortheearth
November 6, 2008

Do you go to your local garden center and

BUY DIRT?Sun-Mar 200 Composter

Why?

You can make your own compost very easily and save yourself a lot of money & won’t  have to lug heavy bags by using a composter.

You have all the makings for good compost right there at home.  Use grass from mowing your lawn, leaves from the fall, (which are even better if you’ve mulched them) branches and twigs cut from trees & shrubs. Add vegetable trimmings, egg shells, coffee grounds, tea bags and peels from the kitchen.  Don’t forget those refrigerator experiments with the hair on them! The only exceptions that don’t go in are meat  (including bones) and any dairy products.  Everything else makes great compost! All you need to do is put it in a composter and the rest is done for you.

The breakdown of these materials turns into ‘brown gold’: light, fluffy and nutritious compost.  Good nutrition is vital for your garden.  It helps plants ward off pests and disease without using dangerous  toxic chemicals and pesticides.  Another benefit is you are getting FREE DIRT!

Sun-Mar has been making composters for about 30 years.  They’ve used the proven technology from their  best-selling composting toilets;  a rotating drum. This ensures a good mixture and quick decomposition of organic materials.

Instead of using your garbage disposal, which wastes water and electricity, a composter is an earth-friendly, pest-free alternative.  Outdoor rascals like dogs, cats, racoons, possums and skunks can’t get into the sealed drum.

Compost is easy to make.  You’re half way there every time you make a meal. Why not start today?