Guerilla Gardening: Are you in?

May 1, 2013

is

 International Sunflower Guerilla Gardening Day.

To join up, just visit the Facebook page.

Source

Throughout the world, on this day Guerilla Gardeners will step forth in their communities and plant Sunflower seeds “in the hope that they will bring beauty and health to our neighborhoods.”  What is this day all about you ask? It’s a day to actively take back our urban and neighborhood streets and beautify them with living plants and flowers. It is about becoming a garden activist and taking action against the urban blight surrounding us.



The Guerilla Gardening movement’s mission is to make our public spaces greener and more beautiful.   Started by Richard Reynolds in London in 2004, it quickly spread throughout England, Europe and the World.  Now, it has grown into an international horticultural movement to beautify and green up our public spaces.



Guerilla gardening is the term used to describe the unauthorized cultivation of plants or crops on vacant public or private land.  It can take place privately or publicly in an effort to engage the community into improving its streets.
Some Guerilla gardeners make seed bombs.



And spread them throughout their urban streetscapes, wherever beautification or greenery is needed … or not.



Won’t you join the movement?  This is something we can all benefit from!  Just stop by Here, sign up and create an event in your own community!  Then go out and identify an empty patch of dirt, traffic island or planter in your community.  Cultivate it, plant it and nurture it for the benefit of all!

To purchase wildflower seeds for your area, click on the pic.

       

It is time to reclaim our sterile streetscape!

Carbon footprint

I’ve been reading lately about our carbon footprint.  Here is what I have learned. 

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.  It also defines our carbon footprint.  Basically, this is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment, and especially, climate change.  It relates to the amount of greenhouse gases or carbon dioxide that is produced in our day-to-day lives, typically through the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transportation.   Simply put, it is the amount of total carbon dioxide emitted for us to carry out our daily lives.

The carbon footprint consists of two parts.  The primary footprint is a measure of our direct emissions of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels including domestic energy consumption and transportation (e.g. car and plane). We have direct control of these.

The secondary footprint is a measure of the indirect CO2 emissions from the whole lifecycle of products we use - those associated with their manufacture and eventual breakdown. To put it very simply – the more we buy, the more emissions will be caused on our behalf.

Are you aware that your home is typically the largest contributor to your carbon footprint annually? 
Why is it important to reduce our carbon footprint?  Because carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that damages the environment and contributes to global warming.  It is important for all of us to be aware of this and take steps to reduce our carbon footprint.  To see what you can do to reduce your carbon footprint, go Here. 

Finally, if you’re interested, you can also go Here to calculate your own carbon footprint.

Grow Your Own Food

Now, it’s easier than ever to grow your own veggies at home!   Friends, meet the Food Map Container.  A garden on wheels.  Coming soon to your neighborhood I hope!


To order one for your home or garden, go Here.

     

What has become of our American Landscape?

For years now, the vast and beautiful landscape of our country has become more and more homogenized.  Why does Maine have to look like Cincinnati?  Why is it that more places are losing their unique identities or “sense of place” and looking more and more the same?  

It started with this …

McDonald’s created the golden arches and they sprung up all across America and the world.   Look at this map showing all of the McDonalds’ locations across the United States.

You can read all about this Here. 

McDonalds was successful at branding itself and its image.  It wasn’t long before others followed suit. 

Hotels popped up everywhere.

 

Outlet Malls or “Factory Outlets” became in vogue all across the U.S.  They were nothing more than themed strip centers but they have changed the face of our suburban landscape.

Auto parts stores grew like weeds side by side along our urban and suburban roads.

 

Perhaps worst of all – drugstores at every intersection.  They pollute our major intersections everywhere, putting parking lots and ugly architecture front and center at so many traffic intersections across the American landscape.

Now, we have Starbucks and other drive throughs…

 

Dunkin’ Donuts …

and Panera Bread.

New ‘mixed use’ Town Centers have recently begun their assent across the American landscape.   They have managed to combine all of these ‘upscale’ branded chains into centralized lovely “Main Street”-type settings, putting the pedestrian back on the sidewalks.

Mayfaire Town Center, Wilmington, NC

Bethesda Row, Bethesda, MD

Mercato, Naples, FL

Generally, they are large, well-designed and planned communities that combine mixed uses such as residential, commercial office space and retail shopping.   Parks, landscaping, and outdoor promenades are incorporated to tie it all together in an urban streetscape-type setting.  Hotels and corporate office buildings along with luxury townhomes and apartments and upscale “Charleston-style” single family residential neighborhoods are set in the surrounding areas.  They are all connected by tree-lined streets and sidewalks.   Large open, park-like gathering areas are mixed in to accommodate larger events such as boat shows and weekend concerts.

Finally, a setting where we are given the opportunity to live, work and recreate all within walking distance.  Maybe there is hope, at least to put Americans back on the sidewalks instead of in the car. 

However, I can’t help but lament all of this progress that has come at such great cost -- the loss of our regional sense of place or “genus loci.”  Everything looks the same.  How can we move forward and keep our unique regional spirit of place at the same time?  This is a great challenge for all designers.

Consume less, Share more

 

I saw this bumper sticker on a car today …

 

 

… and it made me think. 

So, when I got home, I googled it and found this …

 

The Global Warming Survival Guide:  51 Ways to Save the Environment

Number 51:  Consume less, share more, live simply. 

Here is the Full List:

Turn Food Into Fuel

Get Blueprints For a Green House

Change Your Lightbulbs

Light Up Your City

Pay the Carbon Tax

Ditch the Mansion

Hang Up a Clothes Line

Give New Life to Your Old Fleece

Build a Skyscraper

Turn Up the Geothermal Heat

Take Another Look at Vintage Clothes

Capture the Carbon

Let Employees Work Close to Home

Ride the Bus

Move to a High-Rise

Pay Your Bills Online

Open a Window

Ask the Experts For An Energy Audit of Your Home

Buy Green Power, At Home or Away

Check the Label

Cozy Up to Your Water Heater

Skip the Steak

Copy California

Just Say No to Plastic Bags

Support your local farmer

Plant a bamboo fence

Straighten up and fly right

Have a green wedding

Remove the tie

Shut off your computer

Wear green eye shadow

Kill the Lights At Quitting Time

Rearrange the Heavens and the Earth

Rake in the Fall Colors

End the Paper Chase

Play the Market

Think Outside the Packaging

Trade Carbon for Capital

Make Your Garden Grow

Get a Carbon Budget

Fill'er Up With Passengers

Pay For Your Carbon Sins

Move to London's New Green Zone

Check Your Tires

Make One Right Turn After Another

Plant a Tree in the Tropics

If You Must Burn Coal, Do it Right

Drive Green on the Scenic Route

Set a Higher Standard

Be aggressive about passive

Consume Less, Share More, Live Simply

Who knew?

To get the bumper sticker, go Here or Here.

Earth Hour: Tonight’s the Night!

At 8:30 pm local time on Saturday, March 28, 2009 Earth Hour will commence. People all over the world will band together in unity by turning off their lights for one hour. The purpose is to “make a global statement of concern about climate change and to demonstrate commitment to finding solutions.”

Spread the word! Email your friends, family and associates and ask them to participate in this world-wide event. Ask your federal, state and local officials to do the same.

Lets stand together for one hour. Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 8:30 pm. Turn out. Take action.

My friend Ross in South Africa will participate. So will Christine in Kentucky. I will turn out my lights tonight at 8:30 pm. How about you? Will you join us?

To learn more about this important event, visit the Earth Hour website. To join the movement of global solidarity against global warming, go Here. Be the voice for our planet!