NCEJN’s 22nd Annual Environmental Justice Summit (2020) registration open

Registration is open for the summit!  Looks like a great event.  John and I have enrolled and are looking forward to learning together. I took the following from their website: We Can’t Breathe: Policing, Pollution, Public Violence, and Pandemic This year, we are focusing our hearts and attention on the multiple crises that harm our communities – namely the public violence of policing, pollution, and the pandemic – and how our collective struggle can transform that harm into wellbeing for our communities.   To promote the safety of our community members, we have planned for this year’s Summit to be held online for the month of October. We will be gathering via email, social media, on Zoom, and by word of mouth to continue to practice solidarity and prove that our strength in numbers is not changed by any force! In addition to the virtual events, for the month of October, we will be asking our members and others to join in completing weekly action challenges as well [...]

By |2020-09-22T11:57:30-04:00September 22nd, 2020|Categories: Connecting with nature, Eating Consciously, Food, Gatherings, Growing food, Help a Neighbor|

There is definitely an interest in our community for prepared plant-based meals

Thanks to everyone who responded to our question about providing plant-based meals in our community.  We had a great response! We would love to have a community conversation on the topic and get more feedback.  Please answer this short survey so we can explore our next step.  

By |2020-09-14T09:48:56-04:00September 14th, 2020|Categories: Eating Consciously, Food, Help a Neighbor|

Waste Land Podcast on plastic recycling and why it is nearly impossible. Interesting listen…

From Planet Money's podcast page:  https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/912150085/waste-land Last year, Planet Money ran a show about why it doesn't make sense economically and, heartbreakingly, even environmentally to recycle plastic. But if recycling most plastic is not working now — and if it didn't work 30 years ago when the numbers and arrows first popped up — did it ever work? And why did it take us so long to learn the truth? In this episode, NPR reporter Laura Sullivan, with the support of PBS's Frontline, sets out to find out who is responsible.

By |2020-09-14T09:21:20-04:00September 14th, 2020|Categories: Moving to Zero-waste|

Why focus on zero-waste when there are so many more pressing issues?

At one of our potluck events (I sure do miss those), someone said to me, "Why so much focus on zero-waste?  There are more pressing issues."  I have thought of that a lot.  Of all the issues I can think of, they all are impacted by working to move to a zero-waste community. "Our goal is to eliminate the idea of waste from our mindset and to normalize a kinder existence without waste." John and I are moving to that mindset and it has impacted every part of our lives.  John and I have lived most of our life not thinking deeply about our waste.  Recycle, recycle, recycle and we were good citizens.  Items are disposable for a reason right? Well, right we have discovered.  What we discovered and what we continue to learn is that the thought of waste is privileged.  I visit the DrawDown Project website frequently, especially the solutions page.  Here is a paragraph from the page. Here, we present the individual solutions reviewed and [...]

Board of Commissioners Solid Waste Workshop

On September 2nd, Kenn Webb, Transylvania County's Solid Waste Director, gave a presentation to the county commissioners on the state of the landfill.  It was really informative.  Kenn has an amazing background and the depth of the presentation was amazing. The presentation was recorded and you can see it on the county's website here:  https://www.transylvaniacounty.org/meetings/commissioners-meeting-09022020-solid-waste-workshop

By |2020-09-12T11:38:09-04:00September 12th, 2020|Categories: Composting, Moving to Zero-waste, Use Food Scraps|

Eating Consciously Podcast: Shane Bellinger interviews Jacqui Edans of Rooster Head Farms

Welcome to our third podcast in the Eating Consciously series.  In this episode, Shane Bellinger, owner of Green Go Cleaning and member of the Eating Consciously team interviews Jacqui Edans of Rooster Head Farms in Brevard, NC.  Our last episode was focused on systemic racism which included a conversation on factory meat operations.  This episode shows another side of the meat industry on a different scale.  Eating Consciously focuses on the impact our food choices have on others.  This episode continues to educate towards that goal.  Thanks for being here.  We hope you enjoy the show.  Many thanks to Shane and Jacqui for sharing this conversation with us. Farmer Jacqui Shane with her family

Are there fewer pollinators and other insects this year in your yard?

Many of us in T County and across N. America, have noticed this. Habitat loss, we all said, and chemicals. Too true! From Science Daily.com, 2 September '20. Talk with your neighbors ... Food-web threats from common insecticides North Carolina State University: Researchers have argued for curbing the use of neonicotinoid insecticides. In light of emerging evidence showing how a commonly used class of insecticides can spread through the environment to pollinators, predators and other insects they are not intended to kill, researchers are warning about the potential for widespread environmental contamination. In an opinion in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from North Carolina State University and Pennsylvania State University argued for curbing the use of neonicotinoid insecticides by discontinuing the practice of applying them preventively on crop seeds, since the practice is in wide use in the United States and has been found in one study to benefit a small fraction of crop fields. They argue that reducing this and other common [...]

By |2020-09-10T14:31:58-04:00September 4th, 2020|Categories: Connecting with nature|
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