The Power of Natural

Homemade Pesticides

Using chemical sprays to control pests has proven to have many seriously harmful damages on the natural environment and human health. Reversing damages to ecosystems, plant and animal species, water contamination, crop loss, and human health has cost billions.

However, there was a time when products like Roundup did not exist and people used more natural methods to control pests. Biological Control is the practice of using natural means to maintain pests and plants. There are natural ingredients that can be used as effectively as chemical pesticides but lack the harmful side affects. Using these alternatives can lower your contribution to environmental pollution and economic cost by decreasing the dependency on chemical pesticides.

 Here are a few of the many many mixes you can make to use for pest control. These options won't harm your family or pets! You can find more here

Pesticide	Ingredients	Instructions
Oil spray	Combine 1 tablespoon dish soap + 1 cup cooking oil, add 4 tsp soap and oil mix to 1 pint of water	Spray generously once every 7 days to control aphids, thrips, spider mites, and whiteflies
Baby shampoo spray	Combine 2 tablespoons baby shampoo with 1 gallon water	Spray generously and let sit for several hours before rinsing off with water. Do use the spray in the sun of on plants with hairy leaves
Garlic Spray	10-12 garlic cloves with 1 quart of water in a blender, allow to sit for 24 hours, then strain mixture through a cheesecloth into a jar and add 1 cup cooking oil. When ready to use combine ½ cup of garlic mix with 1 gallon water	Apply liberally to plants. The scent of garlic keeps many little pests away
Red pepper spray	Combine 1 tablespoon of red pepper powder, 6 drops of dish soap and 1 gallon of water. Mix thoroughly	Spray generously on plants for control of pests like leafhoppers, spittlebugs, beetles, and loopers
Salt spray	Combine 2 tablespoons salt with 1.5 gallons of warm water, allow to come to room temperature	Spray generously to control spider mites, caterpillars, cabbage worms, and chewing insects
Citrus spray	Boil 4 cups water, remove from heat, add 2 cups orange or lemon peel, let cool and strain.	Spray to repel white flies
Peppermint tea spray	Mix together 1 tablespoon peppermint essential oil with 1 quart water	Spray liberally, repels ants
Chrysanthemum flower tea	Boil 100 grams of dried chrysanthemum slower in 1 liter water for 20 minutes, strain and let cool	Spray generously. Chrysanthemum has a chemical component that attacks insect’s nervous system. Add organic neem oil for enhanced effectiveness.

How We Can Help End Microbeads

As we know the effects of Microbeads are very harmful to our aquatic ecosystem but by utilizing simple techniques we can put a stop to the production and purchase of the harmful micro-plastics. By sharing information about Microbeads and their harmful effects via word of mouth, signing petitions/creating petitions or social media we are able to take small steps to make a larger impact against the production and purchase of Microbeads. Let's help protect our oceanic wildlife by signing a few petitions, it takes less than a minute, its free, and in return we are rewarded with cleaner oceans, happier marine life and we have taken one more step to creating a healthier environment altogether.

1. Let's help ban the bead in Minnesota!

2. Let's boycott Microbead products everywhere!

3. Let's pledge to not buy products containing Microbeads and support legislation to end it's use!

4. Let's start a petition of our own on Change.org to end Microbeads!
5. Let's support the Stop Microbeads community on Facebook!
6. Let's let our friends on Facebook, Twitter & other social media platforms, know about the harmful effects of Microbeads!

How Plastic Microbeads Are Causing Big Problems

Lush Cosmetics is a company which is devoted to creating vegetarian, eco-friendly, and sustainable beauty products for men and women. Not long ago, Lush released an informative video about Microbeads and how we can help prevent the further production of the nasty Micro-plastic which can be found in our toothpaste, facial cleansers and home care supplies.

  If you believe in saving our oceanic wildlife sign the petition to eliminate plastic microbeads in our waters!

Sources

http://www.lushusa.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bic7QEVRNe4
http://www.5gyres.org/

Heres to another bill banning Microbeads!

In the month of November a measure to ban Microbeads in Columbus, Ohio was introduced by state representatives, John Patterson and Kent Smith.  Lake Eerie in Michigan, is one of the largest fresh water ecosystems in the world and the ban on Microbeads will surely help to keep this body of water and all of its creatures clean and healthy!

Click here to read more!

Sources

http://www.monroenews.com/news/2015/nov/28/bill-banning-microbeads-makes-debut-ohio-legislatu/

http://www.beatthemicrobead.org/en/bill-banning-microbeads-makes-debut-in-ohio-legislature

Tompkins County Bans Microbeads!

In New York, Tompkins County has officially passed the budget unanimously to ban products containing Microbeads in all Tompkins County stores. They will have a six month transitional period for store owners to clear out products containing Microbeads and inform their retailers of the recent shift. Once the six month grace period has been fulfilled, store inspectors will be sent out to assure no Microbead products are left behind, otherwise the store will be fined up to $2,500 per day the product is on their shelves.
     Although Tompkins County is small in comparison to all of New York every small step counts in the protection of our environment. Heres to another ban to Microbeads!


To read the full article Click Here!



Sources Cited

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/36109.html

http://www.ithaca.com/news/tompkins-county-bans-microbeads-passes-budget/article_abadaae4-8d9d-11e5-8a2f-03930070c1c6.html

Composting Corner

       Based on our survey results from last week, we discovered that while recycling seems to be a fairly common practice, more than one fifth of our readers never compost.  For those unfamiliar with the term, composting is the process of recycling organic materials such as leaves and certain food waste into a rich, soil additive.  While composting may sound like a daunting endeavor, it's one of the easiest and most beneficial ways to make a positive impact on our environment.  And any positive impact towards slowing down climate change is a good thing!

Rideshare: Helpful or Harmful to the Environment?

With today's ever changing world, there are more and more alternatives for people to get where they need to go.  Mass public transportation through bus routes and metro systems are not only convenient when traveling through busy cities, but also environmentally friendly.  Recently, there has been a newer trend hitting the streets: ridesharing.  Companies like Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar have begun to take their part of the public transportation marketshare.  Although these and other similar companies are still in the early stages of their inception it would seem they are headed on the right path.  We are beginning to see how they are revolutionizing and impacting the public transportation industry.  A 2001 report from the Transportation Research Board in Washington DC concluded that "organized dynamic ridesharing provides households with the opportunity to save money by reducing the number of cars they own, but without sacrificing convenience."  Moreover, these companies have the ability to employ an almost endless number of drivers who provide rides at a much lower cost than a typical taxi. 

The Reliability of Biodegradation

The United States makes over 200 million tons of garbage each year. That is 400,000,000,000 pounds of garbage, weighing more than one million adult blue whales!

In order to reduce the amount of waste going into landfills, there have been large-scale campaigns to increase recycling of consumer materials. Consumers have become more aware of their waste production as of late, and many companies use branding on their products in order to appeal to the ecological awareness of their consumers. Some of these branding campaigns do not live up to the consumer’s interpretation. The one example I want to focus on is product packaging labeled as ‘biodegradable’.

Landfills have numerous stipulations imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that require the landfills to reduce sunlight, air, and moisture, and prevent contaminants from reaching groundwater. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires packaging labeled as ‘biodegradable’ to completely decompose within a reasonably short period under customary methods of disposal. Due to the way landfills are presently designed, many items such as biodegradable packaging will not break down. This fact in addition to the lack of supportive evidence for these companies’ claims has resulted in the FTC going after companies with misleading environmentally friendly marketing. Despite the legal recourse, many companies continue to mislead or lie to their consumers.

There are a lot companies that are making an effort to be environmentally responsible due to the increase in consumer demand for it. But be aware that many of these claims are not supported or are misleading due to the nature of their use. By reading into misleading labels and determining how your purchases and consumption affect waste production, you will help protect the environment while being a more informed consumer and advocate for moral business practices.

http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/packaging/tom_szaky/myth_biodegradability_plastic_consumer_products_packaging

http://www.doyourpart.com/green-living/terris-top-5-misleading-green-labels/

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2014/08/natural-on-food-labels-is-misleading/index.htm

http://www.green-buildings.com/articles/what-is-post-consumer-recycled-content/

Slowing the pace of climate change: An overview of our priorities to help ensure inter-generational equity.

Climate change is worldwide crisis triggered by population growth and economic activity. If we don’t take an effective approach to alleviate the crisis, the social well-being of future generations will deteriorate at a faster rate than ours. No matter where environmental degradation and pollution takes place, the negative effects of climate change affect people everywhere whether they live in rich countries or poor countries. Because people living in poor countries are only concerned in meeting their basic subsistence needs, they are a lot more likely than advanced societies to cause environmental degradation such as deforestation, depletion of vital natural resources, damage to ecosystems, and other types of environmental problems. I will point to some of the priorities that we face as a society which have been advanced by social scientists to promote sustainability across generations.

According to the World Development report, 95% of world population growth will occur in underdeveloped countries. In the same report, social scientists argue that fertility trends and demographic changes of the world population are two of the most important concerns for the analysis of sustainability as those two factors have a strong link to population growth as well as a strong link to poverty levels. Population increases of higher magnitudes places an enormous stress on the assimilative capacity of the environment, generates more wastes, and threatens the health conditions of people worldwide. In many regions of the world that experience extreme poverty, environmental degradation is inevitable, and under such circumstances technological change is not able to keep up with the demands of a growing population.  Poor countries lack the economic resources needed to invest in environmental protection. For this reason, the most effective approach to improve our current environmental situation is to help increase the income of poor countries. To improve the standard of living in developing countries, it becomes imperative to invest more in education with emphasis in expanding the economic opportunities of women, to increase investment in family planning, and to reduce infant mortality. Policy makers believe that without incentives and without appropriate policies, scarce resources will be utilized inefficiently, damage to the environment will be excessive, and the negative effects of development will dominate. Social scientists have come to realize that environmental sustainability can only be achieved after alleviating poverty and reducing inequality.  Once the very poor have more access to education, more access to sufficient credit, and appropriately defined property rights, they can start to invest in capital and other methods that can reduce environmental degradation.

If you would like to learn more about environmental protection approaches, facts about climate change, income inequality, and organizations devoted to the protection of the environment click the links below.

http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/poorest-list/10-countries-with-the-worst-income-inequality/

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/19/global-inequality-how-the-u-s-compares/

http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/world/poorest-countries-in-the-world/

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange

http://www.ucsusa.org