Tag: soil
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This Spring Improve Survival Of Trees You Plant
Every year the landowners of Ontario’s watershed areas collectively plant tens of thousands of trees. These trees help to restore the natural environment by protecting water quality in streams and rivers, providing wildlife corridors and purifying the air we breathe. Unpredictable weather patterns mean it is even more important to keep planting trees. A number…
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Acupuncturist Explains Eastern Medicine Methods and Chi
As westerners we’re used to running to the doctor for a prescription when we’re sick, but the down side to this is that many pharmaceuticals come with serious side effects. That’s just one reason why Asians believe in helping the body heal from more natural methods. Sheri Laine studied under one of the great…
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Agrarians From Ancient World Knew About Biochar
Agrarians from various ancient cultures around the world discovered the soil fertility benefits of charred biomass over two thousand years ago. Now known as ‘biochar’, this ancient soil management practice has been enjoying a renaissance of late for a number of reasons largely related to the need for more resilient and productive soils and biochar’s…
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Why Radiation Protection Makes Sense- even at ‘Low’ Exposure levels
Radiation is all around us. It occurs naturally in our environment, coming to us from the sun, from the soil and foods that we eat, and in the air that we breathe. It is omnipresent across a diverse cross section of industries. We tend to associate radiation with the nuclear industry, but the reality…
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How Cell Phone Behavioral Data Can Help Save Our Planet
Zurich, Switzerland- A report from a few years ago deserves a second look. That study demonstrated how leveraging mobile network data can estimate levels of carbon emissions and air pollution in cities, an approach that could substantially reduce the cost of implementing the Paris Agreement. The study analyses mobility patterns derived from mobile network data…
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Plants With Real Healing Powers That Cure
A fever, stomach pains or a simple case of the sniffles can send people rushing to the pharmacy for a drug to cure their symptoms. But Mother Nature provides a number of medicinal plants with healing properties that also can nurse you back to health, a fact more North Americans are beginning to discover. Doctor…
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Quirky Doc About One Man’s Quest For Supreme Tea
Invest a little over an hour watching this documentary about tea and you might find yourself contemplating a new connection between rural farming communities and the tea farmers of China. That’s because All in this Tea deals with all aspects of Chinese tea production, but takes a special interest in how a new demand for…
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Crickets And Grasshoppers Relaxing Sounds For Your Mind
If you didn’t know already, crickets and grasshoppers are not the same insect- though they do share a distant common ancestor from somewhere back in time. How can you tell them apart? For one thing, grasshoppers have short antennae whereas crickets have long antennae. Considering that crickets are active at night, in the dark- it makes sense for…
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Weak Labeling Rules for Canadians
From toothpaste to shampoo, to all-purpose cleaner and dish soap, cleaning and personal care products are essentials that we use every day. Whether we choose a product based on the price or the brand, we often don’t realize that the ingredients in these products can contain harmful ingredients not indicated on the labeling. Findings from…
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Winners And Losers Around The World In School Lunches
School has ‘been in’ for awhile now. Does your child’s school lunches sound healthy to you? How do you think it compares to school dinners from around the world? And how much do school meals affect energy levels for post-lunch learning and does that have an impact on PISA test results? Check out this infographic…
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How We Set In Motion Coffee Global Business
If you are like me- someone who has drunk much more than one coffee in your life, you might be interested in pondering this question: Why do you think the multi-billion-dollar global coffee industry can be a losing business for the growers, whose hands till the land from where coffee starts? In fact, if you…
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Climate Peril Book Highlights Predicted Ecological Catastrophe
A new, authoritative climate book puts all major aspects of the climate crisis into a broad national and international perspective, revealing that the gravity, imminence, and permanence of the crisis are widely misunderstood. Climate Peril: The Intelligent Reader’s Guide to Understanding the Climate Crisis (Northbrae Books) by energy and climate expert Dr. John J. Berger…
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Can Another Ottawa Residence Win Canada’s Best Garden Street?
Toronto, ON Garden Days – The month of June hosts Canada’s three-day celebration of gardens and gardening. There are loads of Garden Days official activities scheduled across the country, and almost every province has a Flagship Event for you to enjoy. It’s the perfect time to get dirty in one’s own garden, visit a nearby public…
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Terrace Photographer Captures Sunrise And Sunset From Fourteenth Story
“It’s important in today’s world that we counter all the bad news we read or hear about by savoring positive moments as if our lives depended on it.” So says author/photographer, Kim Weiss, who every days stops to “smell the sunshine” and photographs nature scenes from her 14th story balcony. This daily ritual, now documented…
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Canada Reassessing Glyphosate Roundup Herbicide Link To Cancer
It’s been nearly four years since we published the article below and the water surrounding glyphosate use in Canada is still murky. Roundup is currently being used in an official capacity in certain situations by government agencies such as the Ministry of the Environment to fight the invasive species Phragmites. Let’s review the earlier article:…
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Pull On Blundstone Boots Style Every Season
A pair of Blundstone boots has a way of replacing a big chunk of your everyday footwear. Not only because Blundstone boots are so functional, but also because these are boots you want to wear every day. The two-tone styles aim to appeal to those who like a bit more colour in their fashion choices.…
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Sugar Battery Set To Power Phones, Tablets And Other Devices
Catalyzing Commercialization Sugar could some day be used to power smartphones, tablets, and other electronic devices thanks to a recent breakthrough by Blacksburg, VA-based Cell-Free BioInnovations, Inc. It might seem strange to use an ingredient found in cupcakes and cookies as an energy source, but it’s not, as most living cells break down sugar to…
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Canadian Garden Days Is Annual Event Celebrating Vital Role Of Gardening
DO YOU LIVE ON CANADA’S BEST GARDEN STREET? Canada is a country made up of neighbourhoods, and in many are streets where neighbours take pride in making their gardens – and even city-owned medians – as pretty as possible through their collaborative ‘green thumbed’ efforts. As part of this year’s Garden Days program, being held…
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Ontario Law Protects Bees By Reducing Neonicotinoid Corn And Soybean Crops
On July 1, 2015, Ontario was the first jurisdiction in North America to protect bees and other pollinators through new rules to reduce the number of acres planted with neonicotinoid-treated corn and soybean seeds by 80 per cent. To support this goal, new requirements were put in place for the sale and use of neonicotinoid-treated…
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It Will Cost Over $45 Billion To Clean Up Alberta Toxic Tailings Ponds
The numbers are staggering. For over 50 years, the tars sands industry in Alberta has been producing a toxic brew of water, sand, silt and petrochemical waste products and storing them in what the industry refers to as “tailings ponds”. And, the volumes are only growing – surpassing 1 TRILLION litres, covering an area greater…
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Winners Of Earth Day Canada Hometown Heroes Awards
Earth Day Canada is thrilled to announce the five winners of our Hometown Heroes Award Program 2017. This program recognizes and celebrates environmental leaders at the community level with a Youth, Individual, Teacher, Group and Small Business award. Earth Day Canada’s (EDC) Hometown Heroes Award Program has become one of Canada’s most prestigious environmental awards.…
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This May Be Last Chance To Save Ontario Greenbelt From Sprawl Developers
Ontario’s Premier is facing intense pressure from real estate and development lobbies. These groups are peddling myths that are intended to weaken the Greenbelt and Growth Plans so that the development industry can build more sprawling cookie-cutter subdivisions, instead of building a greater range of family-friendly and affordable housing options. Send a message to the…
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Funding Available To Cover Up To 80% Of Tree Planting Costs On Your Open Land
Spring is for new ideas. Do you have idle land or extra acreage that could be enhanced? Planting trees is an excellent way to add value to your property and has never been easier. If you have 2.5 acres or more of open land, you may be eligible for the 50 Million Tree Program, and…
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The Dakota Access Pipeline, Environmental Injustice And More?
“Standing Side by Side in Peaceful Prayer” Starting in April 2016, thousands of people, led by Standing Rock Sioux Tribal members, gathered at camps near the crossing of the Missouri and Cannon Ball Rivers to stop the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) there- creating the #noDAPL movement. DAPL is a 1,172-mile pipeline for…
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Circular Economy Is New Direction For Waste Free Ontario
In late Spring 2016, Ontario passed legislation to divert more waste from landfills, create jobs, help fight climate change and lead towards a waste-free province. Currently, Ontario is producing too much waste, and not recycling enough. Over eight million tonnes of waste is sent to landfill each year. Absolute greenhouse gas emissions from Ontario’s waste…
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Ontario Passes Landmark Climate Change Legislation
Today, Ontario passed landmark climate change legislation that lays a foundation for the province to join the biggest carbon market in North America and ensures that the province is accountable for responsibly and transparently investing proceeds from the cap and trade program into actions that reduce greenhouse gas pollution, create jobs and help people and…
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Now Available In Ontario- IF You Can Find It- ‘Environment Friendly’ Boxed Water
Water. It covers the vast majority of the earth’s surface. Likewise, water also comprises the bulk of the human body. The Earth and humans are each as dependent on the existence of water as the other. The earth’s environment graciously provides human beings with water, our most vital means of survival. It is our responsibility to…
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When Are We Going to Get Serious About Invasive Species- Phragmites?
The Phragmites invasion was identified as the number one concern facing the Long Point area at this summer’s Long Point Biosphere symposium on ecosystem stresses. In the pond adjacent to my house, a few Phragmites plants appeared about 20 years ago. Those few stalks then turned into a patch covering 15 per cent of the…