How Gardeners Can Help Pollinators In Peril

25. May 2010 by Carol Whitaker.

 

As children, most of us over a certain age, let’s say the baby boomers, remember a story from our childhood about a nasty bee sting. Or maybe it was a wasp. If it wasn’t you, it was your sister or brother or best friend or neighbor who was stung.

 

These were days when children still played outside in unstructured activities, days before terms like Nature-Deficit Disorder – a term coined by author, Richard Louv, were a part of the discourse.

 

Days when lawns were coming into prominence as the method of landscape for single family homes. Days when gardens were diminishing with the rise of super markets where already grown food was plentiful. Days when natural forests were being cut down to make room for development of suburbs and strip malls. Days when our industrial nation became wealthier and more women went to work outside the home, unlike their mothers who gardened and proudly prepared vegetables from the garden for the family dinner table.

 

Bee sting stories pepper the histories of those of us raised in rural environments, before so much of development changed the landscape from a mostly living landscape to a more architectural one constructed of concrete and harvested trees and tar.

 

I still hear those stories today, of the dangers of bees in the garden, from people who have created what they hope are sterile gardens and want only to keep them that way. As they are afraid and expecting a killer attack from an insect or bee if they dare cut back on the pesticides or allow a blooming flower into their tightly managed, highly engineered, hard pruned landscape of well cut turf grass, and monoculture of green foundation hedges, planted close to the house or the perimeter of the lawn.

 

These well meaning people, with their highly engineered landscapes often mistakenly believe that they are contributing in a positive fashion to the world, just like they often believe and hope their gardens are sterile. But that is wrong. So utterly incorrect. Gardens and lawns engineered with regular pesticide, herbicide and chemical fertilizers are gardens that are more than likely highly polluted. They are gardens unlikely to host a living bee visitor, or a bee using the garden as habitat.

 

And that garden and bee problem, or non-bee problem, is one that parallels an ongoing problem of our industrial food crops today. The dwindling native bee population, and the dwindling imported bee population, responsible for pollinating much of our fruits and vegetables in this country is being affected by the highly engineered, chemically dependent and therefore often polluted landscape.

 

Still, what’s that got to do with my garden, a garden without bees, what’s the big deal, you may be thinking.

 

The big deal is that our gardens are part of the living landscape, and together are part of the greater ecosystem, an ecosystem which includes the solitary native bees of this country, which help to pollinate the food crops, but are also important as part of our terrestrial ecosystem.

 

Bees are essential to the integrity of many ecosystems, from forest understory and pastures to fields, meadows, orchards, vegetable and flower gardens, our own gardens and roadsides. Without them we loose the sustainability and productivity of these ecosystems. Eventually, without bees, many flower plants would become extinct.

 

I suspect that many folks with polluted gardens that they hoped would be sterile, would likely tell you if you asked them, that they think sustainability is important and that they support conservation and preservation. Many are unaware of the irony of the way they garden and the fact that highly engineered, chemically maintained gardens contribute to pollution and the demise of desirable pollinators and the local ecology.

 

Why aren’t bees living in chemically engineered landscapes? When the plants and soils harbor pesticides and herbicides, and other pollutants commonly found in chemical fertilizers today, the plant often takes up the poison and it is passed on to the foraging pollinators through the flower nectar. This makes the bees and other pollinators sick or in many cases kills them.

 

This problem of ecosystem chemical poisoning is one of the many maladies affecting imported honeybees and native bees.

 

Unfortunately, this is not news and the problem has been getting worse for decades according James Ellis, an entomologist at the University of Florida. Ellis studies bees, including imported honey bees, which are the main pollinators of our food crops in the US today. Read my next blog to learn more.

 

 

 

So, how you ask does the honey bees’ plight have anything to do with local gardens, with our gardens? We all can make a difference and do our part, as I do in my garden, hosting native bees in a healthy living landscape by keeping a garden which accommodates them. Grow lots of flowering plants and plenty of native plants, a sure way to encourage foraging pollinators like bees and butterflies. The living healthy bees will surely do their part, even though some are selective, to pollinate food crops, and contribute to the vital biodiversity of our broader ecosystem.

 

And as far as the bee sting worries, I have none. While some bees don’t sting, the one’s who might, always have flowers, pollen and nectar to keep them busy in my garden, where I have never been stung by a bee.

 

My theory - bees in my garden never mistake me for a flower, as they might if I were the only colorful thing among a broad expanse of turf grass and tightly pruned hedges with no flowers.

 

If you are looking for some advice about plants to grow in your garden to attract pollinators, leave me a comment, and I’ll get back to you soon.

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Green Washing is Alive and At It Again

2. April 2010 by Carol Whitaker.

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted as I’ve been working diligently on a manuscript for a book I am writing. It’s about time I got back here.

• While watching The Jim Leher Report on PBS today I saw an ad for Earth Grains. I went to the website and made a discovery, as I had suspected I would - that there is some Green Washing going on.  Yes, of course the Sara Lee bread products are made from grains grown on the earth but as you will see if you read the article here, http://industry.bnet.com/food/10001539/sara-lees-earthgrains-smack-down-why-greenwashing-is-hard-to-get-away-with/the company is trying to make us believe that somehow applying the usual chemicals and fertilizers to soil that is being depleted and polluted by these processes is somehow Green, that is, good for the environment, us and is sustainable.

• I hoped for the best while I expected to find the worst. Unfortunately, there was nothing at the earthgrains site that talked about using natural ecologically sound practices or refraining from using genetically modified seed for growing. The genetically modified seed alone angers me. Who wants to eat food which has the herbicides and pesticides genetically implanted in it. It’s just nuts!

• And of course, it’s the way it is these days with industrial foods. So check it out and learn that these breads are no better than others made the usual way. They are not even local.

• If all things are equal, meaning that the crop or food product is produced the usual way, with no consideration for natural organic methods, or the growers don’t use heritage seeds that aren’t genetically contaminated with pesticides and herbicides,  then at least I prefer to buy locally, helping the local economy where I live, and eating food that at least doesn’t have as many chemicals because it doesn’t need to be preserved for storing and shipping until it finally gets to the dining room table.

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Gardeners Have Power To Affect Climate

7. February 2010 by Carol Whitaker.

Landscapes can make a positive difference to reduce climate change and global warming.

 

According to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin

 

    * Terrestrial plants capture more carbon dioxide (CO2) than all the oceans combined, globally.

 

    *  Carbon sequestered from plants and stored in the soil is twice the amount found in the atmosphere.

 

    * According to Architecture 2030, forty eight percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. come from buildings.

 

    * Landscape design, construction and maintenance changes can increase the amount of carbon removed from the atmosphere.

 

As gardeners we can reduce carbon emissions by:

 

    * Hand pruning our plants with appropriate hand tools

 

   * Raking or sweeping leaves, or allowing them to remain and decay as mulch, rather than using noisy, polluting blowers to move them around

 

   * Recycling  leaves and garden debris (not infested with fungi or pests) by putting them into a compost pile rather than a plastic bag, which causes pollution through its manufacture

 

  * Using natural fertilizers and compost and composted animal manures to improve the quality of our soil, and wean our landscapes off of fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals

 

(Remember the manufacturing processes of many chemical fertilizers pollute. And many chemicals used as pesticides are known carcinogens.)

 

   * Replacing turf grasses with natural paths and plants grown in their natural habits

 

(Those who say electric mowers are better are mistaken. Remember electricity production also creates pollution. Many electric power plants are fueled by coal.)

   

   * Provide the capture of CO2 from the atmosphere and store it indefinitely, through our gardens, especially our big trees

 

According to The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas, the process by which plants store carbon begins with photosynthesis. Plants need their leaves for photosynthesis, so it’s a good idea to stop whacking them all off with a gas trimmer on a regular basis for that reason alone.

 

Through the process of photosynthesis plants capture carbon dioxide. They store it below ground. This organic carbon “sequestered” in the soil is a vital part of the carbon cycle. It represents a carbon store twice as large as that in the atmosphere.

 

Managing soil and vegetation to maximize carbon sequestration can positively impact greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

 

Various ecosystems are efficient at storing carbon below ground. Saturated conditions of wetlands don’t allow the breakdown of dead plant material providing excellent carbon storage.

 

Native Grassland soils also contain great stores of carbon, as these grasses put more biomass below ground than above – the carbon bound up these soils can be stored there for hundreds of years.

 

Conserving and restoring natural landscapes is important. Creating more natural living landscapes in our homes, suburban and city neighborhoods is vital.  If we fail to design and manage our living landscapes better than we have in the past, we will continue to negatively impact global climate change.

 

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Know What Green Food Is (and Grow It)

16. January 2010 by Carol Whitaker.

One of the tenets of Green Gardening is to grow your own herbs, fruits and vegetables. When doing so, it’s important to use heritage seed that hasn’t been genetically altered in order to grow Green food.

 

Green Food is food that hasn’t been altered genetically. Genetically altered food is grown from seeds that have pesticides and herbicides (some are viruses used as pesticides and herbicides) which are inserted into the DNA of the seed. Many scientist (usually those who don’t work for the industries involved in putting the DNA of viruses into the DNA of food seeds) think this could be dangerous.

 

And frankly, personally, I’m not interested in eating food with pesticides, herbicides or viruses in them. However, I suspect that often we have no choice when that information is not divulged.

Here is some important information about some foods available at your grocery stores, which you should know:

 

Fruits and vegetables have something called a PLU code (i.e. secret code) which you will need to know to learn how your food is grown and whether it has been genetically altered. 

 

A recent study demonstrated, when we humans digest foods that have been genetically modified, the artificially modified genes transfer into and alter the character of beneficial bacteria in human intestines.

 

According to some studies, gene transfer of similarly genetically engineered agricultural crops surrounding native species has created highly resistant species now called superweeds. This has dire consequences. As engineered genes are spreading among and altering other other organisms in the environment, it proves an inter and intra gene species transfer mechanism. It is obvious that enetic engineering is dangerous.

 

Before you read how to tell what has been done to your food, keep in mind, while fruits and vegetables are marked for the way they are grown and whether or not they are grown from genetically altered seed, that is only for first generation altered seed. While the food, in theory, is marked for whether or not they have been genetically altered, foods which come from genetically altered foods or a second generation seed, and subsequent foods made from genetically altered foods do not have to be marked as genetically altered foods. As canola is genetically altered, but oil is made from it, the oil does not have to be marked as made from a genetically altered food.

 

Here’s how to tell sometimes, what has been done to your food and how it is grown or treated:

 

For conventionally grown fruit, (grown with chemicals inputs), the PLU code on the sticker consists of four numbers.

 

Organically grown fruit has a five-numeral PLU prefaced by the number 9.

 

Genetically engineered (GM) fruit has a five-numeral PLU prefaced by the number 8.

 

For example, for conventionally grown fruit, read on:

 

A conventionally grown banana would be:

4011

 

 An organic banana would be:

94011

 

 A genetically engineered (GE or GMO) banana would be:

84011

 

The numeric system was developed by the Produce Electronic Identification Board, an affiliate of the Produce Marketing Association, a Newark, Delaware-based trade group for the produce industry.

 

As of October 2001, the board had assigned more than 1,200 PLUs for individual produce items.

 

Incidentally, it has been said that the adhesive used to attach the stickers is considered food-grade, but the stickers themselves aren’t edible. Hmmm.

 

How to tell if food has been irradiated:

 

As part of its approval, FDA requires that irradiated foods include labeling with either the statement “treated with radiation” or “treated by irradiation,” along with the international symbol for irradiation, the Radura.

 

Irradiation labeling requirements apply only to foods sold in stores.

 

For example, irradiated spices or fresh strawberries should be labeled.

 

Irradiation labeling does not apply to restaurant foods. Foods with smaller amounts of irradiates foods in them do not have to be identified.

 

Source: Excerpted from FDA/CFSAN Food Safety A to Z Reference Guide, 2007

 

The Radura symbol (meaning irradiated food) - is a broken circle with something that looks like a leaf and a sun or a flower in the center.

 

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Green Washing

15. January 2010 by Carol Whitaker.

Green Washing is a term which explains much of what is going on today in industry with relationship to our environment. Often products and practices are touted as green when in actuality they are detrimental to the environment often due to the pollution they contribute to or the pollution caused by the way they are produced.

 

Some fertilizers and other garden products, such as some mulches, are produced using hazardous wastes in dangerous quantities and this practice is encouraged by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Industry and the EPA call this Recycling. And we all know that recycling is good right.

 

Not so in this case. This is a dangerous practice.

 

To read more about it, click on the link to New York Times Fertilizer Articles by Duff Wilson here at the blog.

 

Though this practice was uncovered over a decade ago, it continues today.

 

Knowing about this practice empowers homeowners and gardeners to change the way they garden, and allows us to understand how our gardening practices could be harming our living landscape. We can begin to change the way we garden and look for Green solutions. As a landscaper, I no longer recommend granular fertilizers and build soil quality through amendments and organic products and practices which I will discuss further soon.

 

I want to hear your thoughts and ideas about what you read here, and would like to know what you are doing to keep your living landscape Green.

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