Celebrate Earth Day!! (No Matter Where You Live) #EarthDay

As you may have noticed many people around the country are gearing up for the annual event on April 22nd called Earth Day.  There are many many events  going on to help us celebrate our big blue sphere that you can easily participate in.  And even if you can't attend an event there are easy ways to celebrate Earth Day without even living your home. 

Obviously the first thing I am going  to mention is our video with the @RainforestSite.  You can help save our rainforests just by going to their site and clicking on the link.  Watch our newest video here and then go to The Rainforest Site and 

Click away!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvTqKJFdbL0

Since I spend so much time on Twitter with our account here are some other great events and ideas I have seen over the past week to help celebrate #EarthDay:

Via @inhabitat:

Enjoy the St. George Day Festival (Saturday April 20th, 2013 from 12pm - 7pm) at Thompkinsville Park on Staten Island. The festival includes a dragon parade, puppet shoes, recycling games and many other Earthday related activities.   Learn more about the festival here:  http://www.nycgovparks.org/events/2013/04/20/st-george-day-festival

Attend the Green Festival at the Javits Center April 20th - 21st.  They have all kinds of green focused events and keynote speakers that are going to be involved in this year's festival.    Learn More Here:  http://www.greenfestivals.org/nyc

Via @World_Wildlife : 

This week Recycle old cell phones with @Sprint and they will donate $1 per phone to the WWF.  

Via @NatureRocks:

Host your own picnic for Earth Day and get your family outside and participate in the All Hands On Earth Picnic day.  Check out all the information on the Nature Conservancy's Website Here: 

http://earthday.nature.org/?src=r.earthday

Via @EarthDayNetwork: 

Not sure what is going on for Earth Day near you?  Check out this list of over 100 events going on around the country. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration can help you find a great way to participate.  http://www.noaa.gov/earthday/

Here is the link to the official Earth Day website as well:  http://www.earthday.org/

Via@TwitCause:

Make a donation to @charitywater.  From today until 4/22 Actress Kristen Bell Will match donation made to Charity Water.  Check out more info here:  http://my.charitywater.org/agjeans

This is just the beginning of things you can do and events you can attend to celebrate our earth.  And if you do participate in an event and are on Twitter don't forget to share with everyone and tag it with #EarthDay.  Remember even the smallest act can help make our planet a better place.  You can be the change you want to see in the world. #bethechange

Cheers!

Missy

Urban Gardening for Earth Day Update

Just when I thought I had completely failed at growing anything at all, I was shocked and delighted to come into work on Wednesday to find tiny green sprouts emerging from the soil! What an amazing sight! Here I go again being cheesy, but the sense of pride and self-satisfaction you get knowing that you made a living thing grow is greater that buying the most amazing herbs at the world’s best farmer’s market. Based on that statement, it’s probably easy to guess that I don’t have kids. Thus far, basil and sweet peas are both about a half an inch to two inches tall, while cilantro has yet to sprout, and parsley is just barely above the dirt.

In an effort to aid anyone who is inspired to grow an indoor garden, I figured I’d share some of my trials and tribulations. For starters, the water bottles(an excellent green choice for a seed starter) were much more difficult to cut holes in the bottom of than I thought. Be careful! After trying all kinds of tools, I ended up using a pushpin on the sides of the bottles near the bottom. Make sure you puncture a lot of holes for proper drainage. Each container, be it plastic, paper, or terracotta drains very differently, so watering is likely not consistent for each individual plant container. Also, I found that for seed growing, the wider the container the better. The one that reigns supreme, in my opinion, for seed starting is the egg carton. It seems to provide the perfect separation for seeds, and makes it easy if you’re starting more than one plant in the carton.

Just so I wouldn’t be devastated if nothing actually grew, I purchased an Aloe plant and a couple colorful and interesting terrarium plants from the Union Square Farmers Market. The Aloe plant is as hardy as it is useful, and perfect to have around in the beach-going season if you tend to burn like I do! Succulents are excellent, low-maintenance plants to have around, indoors or out, just be sure not to water them too much.

As for the terrarium plants, I purchased them without having really thought about planting a terrarium. I just saw small terrariums at the market and thought they looked awesome. After researching these cool little ecosystems, I just couldn’t resist! Based on my findings, you can use pretty much any glass container to build yours in. You will also need rocks, or fired clay pellets, and or activated charcoal pieces to put in the bottom under the soil for drainage. Make sure to check out which terrarium plants like shade and which like a lot of sun and locate yours accordingly. Learn from my mistake and pick a glass container larger than what you think you’ll need(my pasta sauce jar did not suffice).

Now that it seems like I’m on the right track with the plants, I will keep you updated as they grow. This urban gardening endeavor has already proven to be an excellent way to celebrate Earth Day! I encourage you to give it a try, or tell me about your garden!

Urban Gardening for Earth Day!

This April, to honor Earth Day, I have decided to start an indoor garden at the office. Unlike my previous gardening ventures, I’ll be going the extra mile to make this endeavor a one green.

Since moving to the city, I’ve been perpetually pouting about how I can’t have plants or grow veggies or herbs because of my small city apartment situation, and my ever present dilemma of having no outdoor space to call my own. However, after browsing around online at what other inspiring individuals are doing, I have come to realize that I have no excuse not to do something that gives me so much joy because I just don’t think I can.  So here it goes, my first attempt at urban gardening. After all, all you really need is a window and some sunshine, which it appears we will be receiving on a more regular basis. Finally!

I’d also like to preface this undertaking by admitting that I haven’t done that much digging in the soil. At all. I helped my Mom when I was younger, and that was fun but I didn’t retain any wisdom about how to do it right. Then in college, to fill the void of a pet, I thought a large succulent garden might do the trick. Only problem is that they require the least amount of attention in the plant world, but I wanted to give them a lot of attention since they were serving as my "pet". This resulted in imminent death by over-watering. Lesson learned. However, I feel like I’m ready to take this on and maybe do it right this time!

Let me kick this project off with the Earth Day-inspired reasons behind it. First and foremost would be the benefits of having plants indoors. We all know that trees are the lungs of our planet, which is why we should bring the best natural air producer and filter into our homes and offices. Research shows that rooms with plants contain 50-60% fewer airborne molds and bacteria than rooms without!

Another interesting fact I stumbled upon is that plants can actually cool a room. Good info to know as we’re heading into some toasty times.

Now that we know that they’re aren’t any good reasons not to have plants indoors, save those that are toxic to your pets (please note these lists of plants Fluffy and Cujo will not like at all), let’s get started!

Read on to see which houseplants are best to filter the air (not only producing oxygen from CO2, but also absorbing benzene, formaldehyde and/or trichloroethylene.)

First thing I did following my research was make a list of the plants I wanted to grow based on their benefits, tastiness, aroma, and maintenance requirements. I came up with the following list to start with:

Basil (Genovese) – Smells great, easy to grow, delicious in so many dishes!

Cilantro – I’m not one of those people who thinks it tastes like soap, so bring it on! Cilantro does not transplant well. When you grow cilantro indoors start with seeds or starter plants. Ultimately, make sure that your plants are 3 – 4 inches apart.

Parsley – Foliage looks great! According to many sources, the hard casing of the seed make it a tricky one to germinate. I heeded the advice to soak the seeds in warm water for 24hrs. so I will report back with my findings.

Sweet peas – Delicate, beautiful, and oh so sweet! Apparently, some people have the knack for growing them and others don’t. Pressure!

After deciding what to plant, next step it deciding what green materials do the planting in. I decided to go with water bottles that were in the recycling bin at home, along with a recycled egg carton and milk carton and two terracotta pots that I painted. I also learned that terracotta is made of natural materials and being that it is porous, you will never encounter an issue with over watering(we’ll see about that).

Next step, get your hands dirty and start planting the seeds.

Prior to the step that’s actually considered the gardening part, it occurred to me that while I have a vested interest in gardening, my knowledge of how to actually execute it was nil. Back to the computer I went.

After learning the most basic gardening terms that I’m too embarrassed to mention, I finally got the seeds in the dirt, labeled them with cut-up pieces of cardboard, and watered. Now we wait!

I’ll keep you posted about my gardening adventures throughout the month. If you have any questions, or tips(please, please I need some tips!) feel free to write in.

My hope is that this will inspire you to garden, or figure out a way to do whatever your hobby is, despite your environmental limitations. Plants are beautiful, air-purifying, mind-soothing reminders of how amazing our planet is. Even if you’re living in a concrete jungle, you can still get your hands in the dirt and feel that much needed and awesome connection to the Earth! So, happy gardening!