Growing food almost year round in the mountains of Colorado is a green solution for localized food. It's a bit beyond farming -- this cozy dome greenhouse, the plants are growing happily. Take a grand tour with Buckhorn Gardens manager this cozy dome greenhouse, the plants are growing happily. Take a grand tour with Buckhorn Gardens manager.
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"Locovores" eat foods from their local foodshed
or a self-determined radius from their home (commonly either 100 or 250
miles, depending on location). By eating locally, most locavores hope
to create a greater connection between themselves and their food
sources, resist industrialized and processed foods, and support their
local economy.
In trying to live a more sustainable, logical lifestyle, many locavores give themselves exceptions to a strict local diet. Commonly excluded items include coffee, chocolate, salt, and/or spices. To keep a local focus, they often try to find local coffee roasters, chocolate producers, and spice importers.
There is a growing interest in regional native foods and ethnic foods such as the Southwest's historic Mexican influence with herbs and peppers. But there are additional native foods such as dried beans, squash, corn and nuts.
Locovores find tremendous challenge and adventure in discovering what grows in their own neighborhood and nearby communities. They learn more about their ecosystems and how their use of water, their waste management choices and their choice of housing size, materials and styles all affect the natural food production capability in their region. Everything is connected ... weather patterns, soil nutrients, drainage, insect infestations...and even those humble gardeners, migrating birds!
Locovores have much to learn from their wild neighbors -- both plants and animals. What a great challenge to give your family -- trying to eat foods from driving distance from where you live!
"Leslie Allen has always been enthusiastic in her support of northern Nevada's local food lifestyle. As commercial horticulture program coordinator for University of Nevada Cooperative Extension (UNCE), it's part of her job ... yet her passion for this increasingly important field goes far beyond the norm. So much so, in fact, that Allen's love of what she does has found a new description." She's a "Locavore" ... and proud of it.
A local eating study, known as "Locavore Nation," in which participants attempted to eat 80% of their food from local, organic and sustainable sources. "Locavore Nation" was sponsored by America Public Media's radio show, "The Splendid Table."
After voluntarily subjecting themselves to eating 80% locally produced foods for a year, the 15 participants in the Splendid Table's "Locavore Nation" have been released from captivity and are free to go back to eating Corn Nuts and powdered mini donuts.
You can retrace their steps on the "Splendid Table" site, where the entire year's worth of blogs are still archived.
Learn more about Locovores at www.Locavore.ws
In trying to live a more sustainable, logical lifestyle, many locavores give themselves exceptions to a strict local diet. Commonly excluded items include coffee, chocolate, salt, and/or spices. To keep a local focus, they often try to find local coffee roasters, chocolate producers, and spice importers.
There is a growing interest in regional native foods and ethnic foods such as the Southwest's historic Mexican influence with herbs and peppers. But there are additional native foods such as dried beans, squash, corn and nuts.
Locovores find tremendous challenge and adventure in discovering what grows in their own neighborhood and nearby communities. They learn more about their ecosystems and how their use of water, their waste management choices and their choice of housing size, materials and styles all affect the natural food production capability in their region. Everything is connected ... weather patterns, soil nutrients, drainage, insect infestations...and even those humble gardeners, migrating birds!
Locovores have much to learn from their wild neighbors -- both plants and animals. What a great challenge to give your family -- trying to eat foods from driving distance from where you live!
"Leslie Allen has always been enthusiastic in her support of northern Nevada's local food lifestyle. As commercial horticulture program coordinator for University of Nevada Cooperative Extension (UNCE), it's part of her job ... yet her passion for this increasingly important field goes far beyond the norm. So much so, in fact, that Allen's love of what she does has found a new description." She's a "Locavore" ... and proud of it.
A local eating study, known as "Locavore Nation," in which participants attempted to eat 80% of their food from local, organic and sustainable sources. "Locavore Nation" was sponsored by America Public Media's radio show, "The Splendid Table."
After voluntarily subjecting themselves to eating 80% locally produced foods for a year, the 15 participants in the Splendid Table's "Locavore Nation" have been released from captivity and are free to go back to eating Corn Nuts and powdered mini donuts.
You can retrace their steps on the "Splendid Table" site, where the entire year's worth of blogs are still archived.
Learn more about Locovores at www.Locavore.ws
that manages your computer's power
usage when it's idle,
saving energy and decreasing the demand on your power utility.
Save Computer Power Every Day!
When a computer is running, energy providers supplying power to it are burning fossil fuels and emitting harmful Carbon Dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Although CO2 is a normal component of the atmosphere, elevated levels of it are likely to cause future climate change (global warming). Although there are other types of emissions from burning fossil fuels, CO2 makes up over 99.6% of emissions by weight.So...the less electricity produced, the fewer harmful emissions and greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) are released into the atmosphere.
The green-conscious folks at Snap.com developed this handy little tool and is giving it away to help reduce CO2 emissions.
- It's quick to download
- Windows XP and Vista compatible
- Works on desktops and laptops
- Displays savings in US or Metric
- No spyware or adware...just a helping hand for you and Mother Earth!
In a matter of seconds you can reduce the amount of energy your computer and monitor use when they are idle and prevent extra CO2 emissions from being generated. What's more, CO2 Saver shows you the amount of CO2 you've saved single-handedly, as well as all other CO2 Saver users combined!
Because each computer is different, we currently use averages. CO2 Saver detects the type of computer you're using (for example, desktop vs. laptop) and uses that information to help calculate how much energy it normally uses (and how much the program will save).
In the Options menu under "Computer Details," you have the ability to enter more information about your computer and monitor(s) so this can be taken into account, as power consumption also varies widely across monitor types and sizes. In the future, the developers plan to allow more precise measurements, and they're working on those features now.
Download CO2 Saver
More info...and download CO2 Saver at:co2saver.snap.com
David Holmgren is co-originator (with Bill Mollison) of the
permaculture concept and author of the recent book, PERMACULTURE:
Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability. He talks about the need
to move beyond the lulling hope that 'green tech' breakthroughs will
allow world-wide 'sustainable consumption' to the recognition that
dwindling oil supplies inevitably mean a mandatory 'energy descent' for
human civilization across the planet.
He observes that Americans' global leadership was not based on brillance -- but abundant oil resources that provided energy for rapid growth, political dominance and mobility. Ouch!
Holgren argues that permaculture
principles provide the best guide to a peaceful societal 'powering
down.
Excellent, thoughtful overview of a pathway to a more sustainable role of energy in a more peaceful world.
