 New Yorkers who weren't able to catch the mysterious, floating Harvest Dome before it crashed into Riker's Island now have a second chance to view it. Harvest Dome 2.0 is a new, improved version of the delicate art installation made from 450 found umbrellas. Read on to find out where and when to see it. via INHABITAT |
Bees are in serious trouble. The tiny little pollinators, that save U.S. farmers billions of dollars in pollination services, are dying off by the thousads—a travesty that has led many a home gardener to plant "bee-friendly" plants in their yards and gardens to provide a refuge for bees, far away from the toxic agricultural pesticides many scientists believe could be playing a role in their die-off.
But a new report, titled Gardeners Beware: Bee-Toxic Pesticides Found in "Bee-Friendly" Plants Sold at Garden Centers Nationwide, from Friends of the Earth US, Pesticide Action Network and the Pesticide Research Institute finds that home gardens could be poisoning bees just as badly as large farms. The groups bought plants marketed as "bee friendly" at big-box home improvement stores in the Washington DC, San Francisco and Minneapolis metropolitan areas, and found that seven out of 13 tested positive for neonicotinoids, pesticides known to be deadly to bees.
The plants purchased for the report included a number of flowers and vegetables popular among home gardeners who want to attract bees and pollinators to their gardens: tomato and summer squash starts, herbs, pumpkins, gaillardia, daisies, zinnias and asters. Most samples tested positive for one neonicotinoid but the two gaillardia samples each tested positive for two types of the pesticide.
"The pilot study confirms that many of the plants sold in nurseries and garden stores across the U.S. have been pre-treated with systemic neonicotinoid insecticides, making them potentially toxic to pollinators," said Timothy Brown, PhD, of the Pesticide Research Institute, in a statement. "Unfortunately, these pesticides don't break down quickly—they remain in the plants and the soil and can continue to affect pollinators for months to years after the treatment," Brown said.
Agricultural researchers have been sounding the alarm on neonicotinoids for years. The pesticides are systemic, meaning they're absorbed by a plant's roots and then travel into the pollen and nectar on which bees feed. Even if the pesticides exist in low enough levels as to not kill bees, the new report states, they can still compromise a bee's immune system, impair a bee's ability to forage and exacerbate the effects of any other infections or diseases a bee might contract.
Because these pesticides are commonly used on large agricultural fields, they've been fingered as one of a complex set of factors that cause colony collapse disorder, the mysterious phenomenon that has decimated beehives since 2006. Yet, as this report shows, home gardens could be just as toxic to bees as massive monocrop fields, given that many home and garden centers treat plants with systemic pesticides to kill insects.
The Environmental Protection Agency has just announced that they have developed new pesticide labels that will sound an alarm on any neonicotinoid pesticide, whether for use in homes or on large farms. The labels state that the use of those pesticides is prohibited anywhere bees are present.
However, it's unlikely those labels will show up on plants. Your move? Go organic.
- Seek out USDA Organic-certified seeds and plant starts. They're prohibited from being treated with pesticides of any sort. And that goes for flowers as well.
- Evict pesticides. Even though the EPA's new labels will help protect bees, why risk killing any in the first place? The new report lists 55 pesticides sold to consumers that contain active neonicotinoid pesticides toxic to bees. In saving the bees, you'll be saving yourself: The inactive ingredients in pesticide formulations are often more harmful to human health than the active ingredient.
- Plant WILDflowers. Attract and feed wild bees by growing lots of flowering plants from spring though fall, especially native wildflowers, which attract not only bees but also birds and other wildlife that thrives in your local climate.
- Go au natural. Leave a part of your landscape uncultivated. Many native bee species are solitary, rather than social, meaning they don't build hives. Some nest in the ground, others, in shrubby, weedy areas.
- Call your congressman! A bill currently floating through Congress, Saving America's Pollinators Act of 2013, would call for national measures to protect bees, beyond simply labeling pesticides.Tell your local reps to support the act here.
Read more at Rodale…
In baseball, it's three strikes and you're out. That doesn't seem to be the case for bisphenol A, or BPA, a chemical that acts like estrogen and tampers with the body's normal hormone functioning. In study after study, researchers have been implicating the common chemical in the growing prevalance of ailments like obesity, cancer, type 2 diabetes, infertility, and behavioral problems.
Despite all of the bad BPA news coming from non-industry-funded researchers, BPA's still "in play" when it comes to consumer products, with the Food and Drug Administration allowing it to coat the packaging of many of the foods we eat. Used in most canned food and drink liners and some No. 7 plastics, as well as thermal cash-register receipts, BPA is readily absorbed into the delicate blood vessels under the tongue, where it bypasses the gut and goes straight into the bloodstream. It can take up to a day to clear a dose of BPA from the body, but the real concern is that we're constantly being exposed—it's detected in 95 percent of Americans.
The latest clue suggesting that BPA is messing with our bodies comes from the University of California–Berkeley, which found exposure to BPA while in the womb or during early childhood meant boys were more likely to have anxiety issues by age 7. Tracking exposure during childhood, scientists reported conduct problems in girls and hyperactivity and trouble focusing in boys.
In the study, researchers measured BPA in the body of nearly 300 pregnant women and then tested the children's BPA levels at age 5. Scientists used data collected on the kids' behavior at age 7 and they tested the children for ADHD at age 9. They found that little boys who experienced the higher BPA concentrations as a fetus were more likely to show signs of anxiety and depression by age 7.
The authors of the study also noted that although many studies are linking BPA exposure to behavioral problems in kids, the science has been inconsistent. For example, this study found no problems in girls exposed in utero, while previous studies linked BPA exposure during early pregnancy to aggressive kids, particularly little girls.
The idea is that BPA could be interfering with and damaging delicate hormonal systems and potentially throwing off normal neurotransmitter health, the scientists wrote, noting that more investigation into the timing of exposure and sex differences is still needed
If you'd rather take all of these studies as a warning sign, you can cut back your BPA exposure by opting for fresh food instead of canned, saying no to trivial receipts (many thermal receipts are loaded with BPA), keeping receipts away from children who may want to put them into their mouths, and washing your hands after handling receipts. Some No. 7 plastics (polycarbonate) also contain BPA, so avoid plastic for food and drink containers and instead opt for glass or stainless steel.
For more reasons to give BPA the boot, read 5 Weird Things BPA Is Doing to Your Body.
1 TB castille soap Is your little one afraid of the dark? Or are they just crazy about anything dinosaur-related? This adorable dinosaur-shaped nightlight from California-based company Yonder Biology might be the perfect friend to get them used to sleeping alone. Made from polyethylene plastic, the dinosaur-shaped container houses dinoflagellate algae. This is just one of many types of algae with bio-luminescent properties, which is a fancy way of saying it glows in the dark. Because the algae is a living organism, Dino Pets actually depend on their owners to survive. Daily sunlight is a must, and special dino food is added once every 1-3 months to keep the algae happy. The Dino Pet is currently gathering funding on Kickstarter. Keep reading to find out how you can nab one! READ MORE >>via INHABITAT http://inhabitat.feedsportal.com/c/34923/f/648037/s/300b2e1d/sc/38/l/0Linhabitat0N0Cadorable0Edinosaur0Enightlight0Euses0Ealgae0Eto0Eglow0Ein0Ethe0Edark0C/story01.htm |
