Maureen Wise

Plastic is everywhere. What are you reading this article on? It definitely contains plastic. Look around your home and try to find a room that doesn’t contain plastic. It surrounds us. The material has changed the way we live. It has lots of sanitary benefits for the medical and food industry, but we’ve overused it.

Chewing gum: We munch on it to freshen our breath, to reduce boredom, or reduce cravings. Whether you’re a gum-snapper, a bubble-blower, or a more reserved gum-chewer, you’re probably chewing on a material that’s polluting our landscapes and waterways. That’s right, most chewing gum contains plastic.

Whether you’re vacationing, on a school break, or just kicking back in the yard, warm weather and a good book go hand-in-hand. We’ve rounded up a dozen Earth-focused books that offer instruction, inspiration, and engaging stories to add to your summer reading list.

Boxwoods are common landscaping shrubs. They require very little maintenance, stay green all year, and can be shaped into attractive silhouettes. It is believed they arrived in the United States with European settlers in the 1600s. They also thrive in both shade and full sun. However, boxwoods are susceptible to many pests and diseases including Boxwood Blight (Calonectria pseudonaviculata), Boxwood Psyllids (Psylla buxi), and Boxwood Spider mites (Eurytetranychus buxi).

Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church (MAPC) in Cincinnati, Ohio is one of many churches in the Presbyterian denomination that takes part in the denomination’s Earth Care Program. Mount Auburn’s Presbyterian Church’s leadership in creation care goes beyond the Earth Care Program, however.

Summer break from school is nearly upon us! It’s time for library summer reading challenges and lazy days in the shade reading a book with the kiddos. It’s also a great time for helping your children connect with the beauty of nature and learn about how our planet works. These eco-themed books focus on kindness to the environment and learning about the natural world — perfect for summer reading. Our list includes books at different reading levels for summer bookworms of different ages.

A major driving factor in our business at Good Nature Organic Lawn Care is to lessen the environmental impact of managing turfgrass. We don’t want kids and pets to be exposed to poisons that are typically used to kill “pests” like Dandelions. We want to help pollinators thrive. We don’t want our waterways to be choked by algae caused by over-fertilization. We never want those fertilizers to hit the waterways to begin with because they are toxic to aquatic life.

What Are Dandelions?

Dandelions (Taxaracum officinale) are found in nearly every country in the Northern Hemisphere, as well as Australia and New Zealand. The plants moved around the world before written history but were probably native to Europe and Asia. Early Romans documented eating dandelions and European settlers exploring America purposely brought dandelions with them to the new world.

I frequently feel a strong pull to stand among trees in the forest. This pull is both spiritual and physical.
I grew up and still live in Ohio where we have deciduous oaks and maples and some elms and beeches along with evergreen spruce and pines.

With spring upon us in the Northern Hemisphere, many of us are itching to get our hands dirty and plant some flowers or veggie plants. If you do any container gardening or keep indoor plants, you’ve likely made use of potting soil — sometimes called potting mix or growing medium. It beats digging up dirt in your backyard to fill your pots. However, potting soil isn’t quite as innocent as it sounds.

Ticks are parasitic arthropods that feed on the blood of mammals. (What a gross sentence!) They’re kind of like tiny vampires that can give their hosts debilitating diseases. It's fair to say that everyone wants to prevent getting a tick attached to their body, their kids or their pets. We are happy to share some Earth-friendly ways to prevent ticks in your backyard, without chemicals that can be harmful to beneficial insects, pollinators, pets, kids and waterways.

In the Spring, we get excited about caring for our lawns and gardens after a cold, white Winter. Not many flowers are blooming in the gardens in the Midwest in April and May but yellow dandelions and purple violets are blooming in the lawn. Your neighbors may not like these flowers but we want you to reconsider your ideas about Wild Violets.
We encourage you to embrace the Wild Violets in your lawn.

Hairy Bittercress, ​​(Cardamine hirsuta), is a member of the mustard family and is considered a Winter annual weed. Sometimes the weed can act as a Summer annual or biennial, depending on the weather and climate. In the Midwest, it’s a Winter annual, which means the seeds overwinter, germinate sometime in the late Fall, and start growing in the Spring. Hairy Wintercress is one of the first weeds to emerge in gardens after the snows melt.

As a person of faith, I know that small actions (mustard seeds) can add up to mountains. No one person, church, corporation, action, or green choice is sufficient to reduce the effects of climate change, but we can make a difference by acting together. We know that the people most affected by climate disasters such as flooding, drought, and heatwaves have often done the least to cause them. We need to step up for the least of these to reduce their risks.

The clothing industry is a huge energy and water hog that accounts for about 4% of the world’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. While the slow fashion movement is starting to disrupt the industry, there is a dire need for ways to reduce textile waste. We identified three companies that are working to keep textiles out of landfills.