I Social Capital Real?

3 months ago I agreed to intern at SoCap10 for my Farmsreach.com boss, Melanie Cheng. I'v been too busy since to write, but I cannot wait to verbally spill everything I learned and experienced!

Will Allen

Some time ago I heard an NPR clip about a man turning old warehouses into urban farms in Chicago. I was intrigued by the love of compost the man had. He also discussed the importance of diversity and health of earthworms. That was a couple years ago. After, I forgot his name but could never get the story out of my head. He teaches, he grows, and he was expanding to show how schools could grow their own greens year round. His message was about great compost and the increased growing benefits it could bring - without ruining the soil. I finally came upon him today and I am thrilled! http://bit.ly/bxKdLS His name is Will Allen. SInce i heard the clip his voice has grown and his site is great. I am excited to share him with you...if there is anyone reading this?

Chicago - Let's eat local!

Chicago is setting goals for local food purchasing to reach 10%-20% by 2020. A local stimulus bill is being set into motion to help train locals to go into agriculture and hopefully this means diversity in its crops. Currently, the main products of Illinois' are...you guessed it - corn, soy, and hogs. Wouldn't it be great to have a state produce mostly heirlooms? Is that possible? Yum.

Seafood Supply Chains

Greenpeace's evaluations of Canada's chain supermarkets seems to have had an impact on the seafood stocked by the stores. Greenpeace says several less popular choices, think shark, from Greenpeace's redlist are no longer available in these stores. Yet, the more poplar items like salmon are still being sold. Greenpeace has asked supermarkets to look into the sustainability of their seafood supply chains. As consumers it is important to ask before we order or buy, as well. One distress to our environment that is regularly over-looked is farmed fish. These farms pollute our marinas, weaken the species they farm and supply our stores with unhealthy options. Wild caught salmon is actually a much more sustainable choice because of permitting and tracking. How does your supermarket rate? Check it out at: http://bit.ly/bAh3Jr

Teepees, Anyone?

Permanent housing seems great for us: we can eat, sleep and keep our worldly possessions in a convenient place of our own. My question is, to fulfill these requirements do we need permanent housing? Native Americans traveled in tribes and erected homes depending on the seasons, thereby giving the earth opportunities to rejuvenate.
Simplify just the beginning of the building process - the ground is scraped clean and then leveled with machinery. Basically, we have just scraped the earth of its topsoil, re-directed water to our already swollen and usually polluted water systems and now we build a structure that gives the earth no chance to rejuvenate the ecosystem we destroyed.
Green building practices act to minimaze the destruction. Following LEED perameters a homebuilder can minimize damage done to the ecosystem. But any time we erect on bare soil we cannot claim to be building "green." Teepees may just be the greenest option.

Stop and Change

Everyday we learn about another product we use in day-to-day life containing deadly products (polyvinyl cholride, bisphenol A, antimony, teratogenic and carcinogenic compounds) and its easy to think "we've lived this long with them..." But the effects of these products vary. Sure our bodies can fight off small amounts of harmful compounds, but throw a a mixture into your body and a few nasty chemicals are set to prevail. The side effects could be immediate illness, or they could build up to cancers, allergies, asthma or all of the above. Chemicals break our body down, tire us out. They contribute to early signs of aging. Imagine how healthy we could be is we deleted these chemicals from our body altogether. If our body could function normally and only fight off parasites and other naturally occurring organisms? That would require us to STOP AND CHANGE.
Stop producing anything with harmless chemicals.
Change the was we produce.
http://www.greenplanetbottling.com/ Green Planet has created a 100% plant based water bottle, fully recyclable or compostable.