The Green Room

Lynn Keating from Calgary, AB writes:

For several years now, we have filled up our hybrid vehicles with fuel that contains ethanol, thinking this was the environmentally correct action.  However, lately I have been reading articles indicating this may not be so. What is your position on this controversial topic?

Ryan Kadowaki, Climate Change Administrator for the David Suzuki Foundation responds:

While our organization has not been directly involved with the biofuels issue, I would say that we foresee a niche market for these fuels. The large-scale use of biofuels, though, is problematic.

Biofuels are not capable of replacing oil entirely, and there is the very real concern about using farmland to supply fuel for vehicles rather than growing food for human consumption. For biodiesel, we absolutely support its production when the fuel source is recycled cooking fat (i.e. deep fryer grease), as this constitutes reusing a "waste" product (though of course there would be other potential uses for it).

For ethanol, we do favour lignocellulosic ethanol (made from straw, corn husks, forest residue, etc.) because it does not require arable land to produce and it also has a much higher net energy (although this may have negative consequences for soil nutrient levels). In terms of the net-carbon benefits of using corn-based ethanol, there is still considerable debate on this issue, but as of yet, the modest to non-existent greenhouse gas benefits do not appear to outweigh the issue of arable land use.

Additional insight on this issue can be found in a Science Matters article by Dr. Suzuki on September 14, 2007, "Biofuels not necessarily all that green" .

Jim from South Vernon, BC writes:

This is a silly but honest question. If I had a home on a hillside and wanted to have a gravity irrigation system, in what order would I have my vegetables to benefit most from the water system?

A reader wrote:

Your compost tea is missing one KEY ingredient: oxygen.  In the anaerobic water environment it’s most likely you’ll create something that will kill your plants as that is the best way to create harmful bacteria, fungi, etc. The key to great compost tea is aeration. I use an aeration pump/filters used in fish tanks.

Lindsay responds:

The compost tea recipe we provided was definitely the anaerobic or non-aerated version. As you can imagine we have a wide audience out there, from those who have never gardened to master gardeners! Our intent was to provide the most basic and simple recipe, hence the "bucket-fermentation method" versus what some would consider the more complicated, ‘Bucket-blubbler method" or suggesting they purchase a commercial tea brewer.

From my reseach I found that the non-aerated version also has a function in the garden and compost tea can be as complex or as simple as you want to make it. Now that we’ve got people curious about compost tea, perhaps we’ll do another ‘level 2′ video, where we talk about aeration (like the a aquarium aerater), adding nitrogen via alfalfa pellets and adding sugar, like molasses.

Again, sources I found called this ‘Level 1" compost tea or the ‘bucket fermentation method". Stay tuned, as we hope to bring people along one small step at a time. I think your suggestion of highlighting the benefits of aeration when making compost tea are definitely worth exploring. In a future issue we can elaborate on Level 2, 3 and 4 types of tea which includes aerated teas.

Got extra food you can’t use? There are lots of agencies across Canada who will give it to people who can, including Toronto’s Second Harvest , The Vancouver Fruit Tree Project , North Vancouver’s Edible Garden Project and the Lower Mainland’s Quest Food Exchange . Readers - who in your neck-of-the woods provides this service? Let’s all do what we an to share the bounty and avoid food and water waste.

Denham Dingle of Lindsay, Ontario asks:

Define "pesticide" please! Is it a substance to kill animal pests only or does it extend to plants - i.e. so-called "weeds"?

Good question! The definition of ‘pesticides’ includes insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, rodenticides, algaecides, and slimicides. Be aware that "Weed and Feed" products include chemical pesticides.

So yes, the definition of pesticide extends to plants - so-called ‘weeds’.

Ken Davis of Lone Pine Publishing sends this note:

Our company published three new books this spring - Garden Bugs of Ontario , Garden Bugs of Alberta , and Garden Bugs of British Columbia .

These books, written by professional entomologists in an accessible manner and beautifully hand-illustrated throughout, talk about both beneficial and damaging insects in the garden from the perspective of using natural controls and also with a view to sharing the fabulous display of nature available at the ‘bug’ level right in your own back yard. For more information, you can check out these books on our website www.lonepinepublishing.com .

Ruth Tschannen, of the Cascadia Society for Social Working relates how they’ve turned the backyard of their centre into a productive vegetable garden using the principals of biodynamic gardening:

In the beginning of last century Rudolf Steiner introduced biodynamic preparations - a wonderful way of bringing back worn out soil. We’ve been doing this here for the last five years. Our composts are incredible within a short time. Birds and bees are abundant within our garden.

The biodynamic preparations are stirred at different times of the day. During summer it is Silica 501. In spring and fall it is Horn manure 500.

Our garden is going to be featured on the Natural Garden tour on Sept. 14th.  If people would be interested in dates for the stirring of the preparations please let me know (604)987-3407.

Anyone else have experience with this method? Here are a couple of websites to look at for more information:
http://www.perc.ca/PEN/1999-11/s-cleary.html
http://www.biodynamics.com/biodynamics.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodynamic_agriculture

Eating low on the food chain is better for your health and the planet’s. We invited readers tell us about their favourite veggie restaurants and we post them on our website here:

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/NatureChallenge/What_is_it/Food/Veg_restaurants.asp

but we didn’t have room for more info - until now! Readers, write in with your veggie faves, whether they provide organic selections, support local growers, etc.

Here are a few from Louis Desgrosseilliers of Waterloo Ontario:

"The chain first started off as Juice for Life , but then expanded its menu to become what is now the Fresh restaurant chain in Toronto. Their locations are at Spadina, Bloor, and Crawford in the Toronto core. They welcome reusable bags and takeout containers. Their menu is mostly vegan.
Check out www.juiceforlife.com .

In Waterloo there is also Lotus Tea House (on Regina St N) and Chill and Grill (which serves really great veggie burgers and soy chicken burgers/wraps as alternatives to their regular menu items, in the University Plaza at University Ave W and Philip St).

Vegetarian Fast Food is also in the University Plaza (in fact next door to Chill and Grill) and have tons of vegan hot dishes and really great lunch specials. They are also friendly to those who bring in tupperware for takeout rather than resorting to the usual, wasteful styrofoam dishes."

Stacy L Hird of Ottawa, Ontario submitted these photos together:

Scroll down or look here for more gnome captions and puns:

http://naturechallenge.org/2008/07/vote-here-for-your-favourite-gnome-photo-caption/

Here’s two ways to do it:

1. Jack Johnson has donated 10 tickets to his August 21 concert in Vancouver (at UBC Thunderbird Stadium) to FarmFolk/CityFolk to help spread the word about sustainable food choices. To win a pair of tickets:

• Follow this link to the Jack Johnson web site: http://www.jackjohnsonmusic.com/allatonce/explore
• Scroll down to the FarmFolk/CityFolk show (bee on flower photograph)
• View the entire three-minute video. (FarmFolk/CityFolk gets $1 for every complete viewing.)
• Answer this question: What are the three things that Wendell Berry says to do wherever possible to support sustainable food choices?
• Send your answer to FarmFolk/CityFolk using this email address: contest@ffcf.bc.ca

Five correct answers will win a pair of tickets. Winners will be notified one week before the concert.

2. Go to http://www.jackjohnsonmusic.com/allatonce/explore and watch the entire FarmFolk/CityFolk video (scroll down to the picture of the bee on the flower) even if you won’t be anywhere near Vancouver this summer - FFCF gets $1 for every complete viewing. Tell your friends!