While to many it might seem like a great challenge, a home garden can bring green space to your city, fresh organic vegetables to your table, and a great space to your community. Whether it's a large garden or a few plants inside your home, plants bring great benefits to your life – especially when provided with ...
With the rise of the fashion industry and mass retailer brands, producing clothing at a massive scale under the lowest costs has led to the heavy use of chemicals in order to manufacture and preserve clothes. The non-organic cotton industry is the highest user of the herbicide glyphosate, a substance that is ...
Commercial farming focuses on producing large amounts of food, but doesn't take into account that chemical pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers threaten ecosystems, and wildlife, while also damaging the soil and affecting the nutritional value of crops. Organic farming represents not only an alternative but rather ...
What is a GMO? A GMO is a genetically modified organism, either a plant, an animal, a microorganism or any other organism whose genetic makeup has been modified in a laboratory using genetic engineering or transgenetic technology. This creates combinations of plant, animal, bacterial and virus genes that do not occur ...
What would happen if the entire farming industry turned organic? According to the Organic Trade Association, if every farmer in the U.S. produced organic foods, 500 millions pounds of harmful pesticides could be eliminated per year. Why Should We Change to Organic Farming? Traditional farming involves the use of ...
Have you ever wondered how long it takes to generate soil? Generating only three centimeters of top soil can take over 1,000 years! According to the United Nations, if current rates of soil degradation continue, the world’s top soil could be gone within 60 years. Today we are losing an impressive amount of 30 soccer ...
Have you ever asked yourself how we can manage to feed an entire world with safe and sustainable agriculture? Agriculture has always been the key to humanity’s survival. However, in this time and age, feeding the world in a safe and sustainable manner is becoming an increasingly difficult task - especially given ...
For decades there has been a debate whether organic foods are healthier than conventional foods. But what exactly are the differences between organic and conventional crops and how does an organic diet impact your health? According to a new study by Newcastle University on organic versus conventional crops, organic ...
Did you know that mosquitoes are often referred to as the deadliest animal in the world? It is almost hard to believe that such a small insect can be considered even more deadly than some of the most ferocious animals…but, what exactly makes it so dangerous? The World's Deadliest Animal Mosquitoes are vectors, living ...
If synthetic pesticides are killing bugs… What are they doing to your body? The fact that they have been used for decades has created a completely false sense of security among people. But what if you were told that commonly used pesticides are to blame for hormonal unbalance, food allergies and many more daily health ...
Have you heard about the architecture of life? Biophilic design, an emerging trend in architecture, implies a new way of designing our daily architecture through the inclusion of nature into our urban environment with the aim of reducing stress, enhancing creativity, improving well-being and expediting healing. ...
For millions of years our oceans’ have maintained a stable acidity level, providing an ideal environment that has allowed various animals and plants to flourish. However, recent research shows that this ideal balance is now in danger, as increasing ocean pollution has led to a severe drop in surface pH that might have ...
Did you know that healthy soils are able to store atmospheric CO2, one of the harmful greenhouse gases responsible for climate change? Despite this amazing capability, since the industrial revolution, up to 70 percent of carbon stored in the soil has been lost to the atmosphere. Intense farmland management, synthetic ...
Over the past year, over 1,400 official complaints have been collected regarding dicamba, with an estimated 2.5 million acres of farmland affected. What is dicamba? Dicamba is a synthetic agrochemical herbicide that has been used for decades in conventional agriculture. Typically, it was used to kill weeds before ...
When we think of the food on your table, we don’t usually think about the vast range of toxic and poisonous chemicals used in nearly all stages of the production process. We think mainly about the taste. This mentality needs to change. We must inform ourselves of the agrochemicals used in conventional agriculture and ...
The Bioscience Resource Project and the Center for Media and Democracy have released 20,000 documents that reveal both industry heavyweights and regulators understood the extraordinary toxicity of many chemical products approved for widespread and commercial use. They even worked together to conceal information from ...
With recent controversy over the quality of organic food, how can you determine what is truly organic and what is not? Recently, there have been large imports of so-called organic corn and soybeans to the US that have been accused of being grown using conventional, dangerous and environmentally irresponsible methods. ...
Senators from New Mexico, California, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York have introduced a bill calling for the ban of chlorpyrifos, one of the most toxic and highly used synthetic pesticides in the world! Why is this bill such an essential step in the right direction? Chlorpyrifos is available for ...
Beautiful, perfect fruits and vegetables are overrated. The “perfect” produce phenomenon is quickly becoming a global problem. Did you ever stop to think that if you don’t pick the slightly twisted carrot or oval apple that they might simply be thrown away? Nearly the same amount of food eaten in the United States is ...
After the controversial article published by David Wallace-Wells in the New York Magazine in early July, people have questioned the effectiveness of using scare tactics. One of the biggest controversies was the harrowing nature of the report. Is this an effective way to motive action? Or does it simply fatigue and ...
Organic farming has grown dramatically in the past 20 years due to increased consumer demand and a greater awareness that sustainable farming practices improve global health. Over 50 million hectares were producing food organically around the world in 2015. This was a 500% increase since 1999, when only 11 million ...
Without a basic knowledge of how agriculture works, global consumers are separated from understanding the most important and basic information about their survival - how and where their food comes from. Without this understanding, how can consumers be expected to make informed decisions regarding conventional versus ...
Today, the majority of food you eat, if not organic, is produced using synthetic pesticides. In order to produce enough food, famers have used these products indiscriminately, as weeds, molds, and other pests target crops and destroy yields! Insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and all other types of synthetic ...
In the Gulf of Mexico, an aquatic dead zone has been growing in size for decades and this summer, when the zone spreads to its peak area of the year, will cover 8,198 square miles, an area around the size of the state of New Jersey. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), this will be ...
Over the past year, chlorpyrifos, a synthetic chemical, has been popping up consistently in the news. First, with the chemical linked to bee colony collapse disorder. Now, with new research: according to a study from the New Zealand’s University of Otago, bees suffer severe learning and memory impairment after ...
The single most comprehensive and peer-reviewed study to date on neonicotinoid pesticides confirms their harm to both honeybee and wild bee populations around the world. On June 29th, 2017, scientists from the Natural Environment Research Council released their field research spanning 2,000 hectares across Europe and ...
Monsanto’s glyphosate, the active ingredient in the world’s most ubiquitous herbicide, is entwined in one of agriculture’s most controversial battles. On one side, independent and peer-reviewed science compiled by the World Health Organization lists glyphosate as a probable carcinogen. On the other, Monsanto ...
Could the way we talk about climate change affect how people react to it? Absolutely! By explaining concepts using large, hypothetical figures and percentages, people “yawn.” For example, saying that coal use in the United States has dropped by 20% in just two years, people immediately turn off and their eyes glaze ...
Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Pollinator Week 2017 began as a reminder to address the mass decline of pollinator populations around the world. Today, it is an international celebration of the valuable services birds, bees, butterflies, bats, and beetles provide to the ecosystem. Unfortunately, declining ...
As consumers become more informed, concern is growing over the way that conventional food is produced. Although synthetic pesticides allowed the global population to grow exponentially and more than double since 1970, the consequences of these toxic chemicals are now becoming a consumer concern. This has not only led ...
Children are one of the most vulnerable age groups in the world. As their bodies, brains, and immune systems are still growing, they are exposed to a multitude of different chemicals and toxins through the air, water, and most importantly, the food they eat. Unfortunately, these toxins cause an abundance of health ...
Organic food sales skyrocketed last year in the United States, jumping to $43 billion, an increase of 8.6% from 2015 and the first time that sales have surpassed the $40 billion mark! With 82.3% of households purchasing organic items, consumers are becoming more informed, more health-conscious, and more sustainably ...
The California Healthy Soils Initiative is set to start this summer. With a main objective to protect and restore soil organic matter in California’s soils, this initiative will see state agencies and departments, along with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, band together to replenish this vital ...
One of the most controversial new food products has finally hit shelves. Have you seen it? Have you eaten it? The new non-browning Arctic apples have been causing discussions, questions, and concerns regarding genetically modified food and whether or not consumers should be able to know what they are eating. The fact ...
Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers and Chemicals (GNFC) has been awarded the Porter Prize in the category of “Creating Shared Value”, a prestigious award from the Institute of Competitiveness in affiliation with Harvard Business School, for their Neem Project. So far, this project has directly worked with over 225,000 ...
Even though 5.6 billion pounds of pesticides are used worldwide every year, less than 1% of reach their intended target. Once sprayed over crops, synthetic pesticides frequently contaminate the surrounding environment, including the water, air, and soil. The social and environmental costs of pesticide use in the ...
Genetically modified (GMO) crops have become commonplace in agriculture throughout the world. Introduced in 1996, genetically modified corn and soy are relatively new technologies and yet they now comprise 54% and 92% of global use of those crops, respectively. Biotech crops reside over 180 million hectares of ...
With rising consumer knowledge and demand, paired with more scientific evidence, big companies are finally getting behind consumer health and safety! Global retailers Walmart and True Value are phasing out the sale of products containing neonicotinoids! What are neonicotinoids? They are a type of synthetic chemical ...
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in RoundUp, Monsanto’s ubiquitous herbicide, has been linked to many health concerns such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, autism, lowered intelligence, and now rheumatoid arthritis (RA)! RA is an autoimmune disease in which the body begins to attack its own tissues and not only causes ...
The world’s dirtiest crop is one that you put on your body every single day: cotton. Though cotton is only grown on 2.4% of the world’s farmland, over 16% of all pesticides produced are applied to this globally utilized crop, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Even though the use of cotton in clothes has ...
Every year, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) tests thousands of food products for pesticides and other toxins so that consumers can be informed about general food toxicity. They test food for herbicides, pesticides, and other toxins to ensure that the levels are not surpassing the “maximum residue ...
One of the best things that you can do for the earth is to adopt a more natural, organic lifestyle. When you live naturally, you not only help your body by providing the nutrients that it needs, but you are also helping the earth by choosing practices that are safe for the environment and that allow ecosystems to ...
In conventional farming, the earth is tilled, or turned over with a machine, to loosen the top layer of soil and open it up to oxygen and nutrients that have made their way deeper underground. This has been the accepted farming method for years, but there is evidence that it may not be the most effective. In comes ...
Since 1981, the Rodale Institute has conducted a Farming Systems Trial, where they have studied three different farming systems, side-by-side: A manure-based organic system, a legume-based organic system, and a conventional, synthetic input-based system. This has allowed them to easily compare and determine, over the ...
Despite recommendation from its own scientists, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has chosen to approve chlorpyrifos, a synthetic chemical used in pesticides across the United States that is linked to brain damage in children and sold under the name Losban by Dow Chemical. In November, the EPA released a ...
Global food security is one of the most critical and necessary solutions of our generation. How is the global population going to secure food sources for the added 3 billion people in 2050? It won’t be possible without bees. Native and wild bees are vital for the future of agriculture. Each year, $3 billion of the ...
What if the narrative of organic and conventional food you are being told isn’t the truth? What if its been tampered with, played with, false hypotheses thrust into our everyday media? That’s exactly what has happened. In a recently released report, Spinning Food, by Friends of the Earth, an independent, grassroots ...
Though you may feel as if synthetic pesticides don’t affect you or your community, you’re wrong! Traces of synthetic pesticides can be found everywhere, even in small amounts, and can affect important aspects of human health that are vital to growth and development. By spraying synthetics, we place our own future at ...
According to a new report from the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, the aggressive promotion of pesticides has led to a violation of human rights - our right to adequate food and our right to health. The report emphasizes that “the right to food obligates States to implement protective measures and food ...
When Monsanto introduced glyphosate in the 1960s, it was considered a miracle chemical. It eliminated weeds without harming the crops, how could it cause any damage? Now, almost 50 years later, mankind is finally realizing the devastating health and environmental impacts this probable carcinogen, according to the ...
With more consumers than ever before realizing the value in organic and natural food, there is more demand for a change in our everyday lives! For instance, instead of purchasing a synthetic garden spray that could potentially harm you, your family, non-target animals such as pollinators, and the environment, you ...
One of the best-kept secrets of the food industry is the sheer amount of chemicals that are sprayed on crops! Why does that affect you, as a consumer? The reason is simple - many of those synthetic chemicals are known or probable carcinogens. These synthetic chemicals are only ever tested in isolation; therefore the ...
The neem tree is one of the amazing feats of nature that has been and will be changing the world for generations to come. For thousands of years, neem leaves, the bark, neem oil, and the flowers have been used in hundreds of different applications from preventing infection in a wound to acting as a pesticide, ...
If farm workers need to wear protective suits and cover their faces to spray chemicals on the food we eat, why should we believe that the most popular foods we buy are safe to eat? On March 20th, 2015, the World Health Organization labeled glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen. There are thousands of synthetic ...
Are you a part of the organic food trend? If you are like the majority of the population, you have at one time or another bought something with an organic label. However, do you know where that organic product is coming from? With a global trend of increasing consumer demand for organic products, companies are ...
“This is not a partisan debate; it’s a human one. Clean air and water and a livable climate are inalienable human rights. And solving this crisis is not a question of politics. It is our moral obligation.” - Leonardo DiCaprio, United Nations Climate Summit, 2014 With the recent change of power in the United States ...
Are you worried about the fate of the planet? You should be. Why? There is a predicted population increase of 3 billion people in the next 30 years. That is a 40% increase in the population! The world reached its first billion just 200 years ago, and during the 20th century alone, the population increased ...
Earth Overshoot Day, also known as Ecological Debt Day, is the day of the year when humanity’s consumption of resources overtakes the earth’s ability to naturally regenerate those resources. In 2018, this day came earlier than it ever has before: On August 1st we began to rob time and resources from future ...
To start with, the way that organic food is produced is much more beneficial to the environment. In conventional farming, hundreds of toxic chemicals are used to ward off pests, synthetically add nutrients to the soil and improve livestock health. Designed to kill destructive organisms while synthetically increasing ...
Neem is an extremely valuable resource for any home garden. One of the best solutions for pest management, this gift of nature naturally eliminates fungi, preventing nematodes in the soil, while protecting against literally hundreds of insects. Neem cake also works as an effective fertilizer. offering many nutrients ...
What is neem? Neem is a tree, native to India, that is used as a natural pesticide and fertilizer, as a natural ingredient in cosmetics, as an additive to livestock feed and in pet care products, and even in healthcare treatments! Every part of the tree can be used - the bark, the leaves, the flowers, the gum, ...
The first wild bee to be listed as an endangered species, the rusty patched bumblebee, represents the danger that synthetic pesticides pose to our environment and future survival. The United Nations recently released a global assessment stating that 40% of invertebrate pollinator species are in danger of extinction. ...
In 1804, mankind reached its first major milestone: 1 billion people. Since then, the global population has grown exponentially. In the last 20 years, we have grown from just under 6 billion to 7.5 billion people. By 2056, the global population is expected to reach 10 billion, requiring a 70% increase in food ...
France is one of the world’s greatest agricultural producers, having exported $68 billion in food products around the world in 2016. With such global reach comes a profound responsibility to lead the way towards a healthy and sustainable agricultural food system. Leading by example, the French government plans to ...
Neem has played an important role in Cuba’s transition towards sustainable agriculture. Forced to turn to organic farming for self-sufficiency in the late 1990s, after losing over 1.3 million tons of synthetic fertilizer imports annually, Cuba had to rely on natural alternatives like neem for crop care and protection ...
Discovered less than a century ago, antibiotics are essential to the survival of human race, allowing for the treatment of many diseases previously regarded as fatal. They also enable farmers to protect livestock from infection, further strengthening our global food supply. 80% of all antibiotics in the US are ...
Effectiveness & Persistency Neem extracts are effective and non-toxic to pollinators because they do not kill pests immediately, but affect the feeding or life cycle of the insect until it is no longer able to live or reproduce. Environmentally Friendly Neem based pesticides are entirely biodegradable, ...
The corporations that sell the synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, and agricultural tools currently used are the ones that tell us that genetic engineering is the only way our increasing population will be fed. These corporations have created, manufactured, and sold their harmful products and methods to farmers, and ...
Improves Soil Health Neem helps soil retain moisture and increases workability. Organic fertilizers such as neem increase airflow through the soil, which allow the plants’ roots to breathe. Environmentally Friendly Organic fertilizers such as neem are healthier for the ecosystem because they must first break down ...
This video shows us how much food is wasted in the United States. The real problem in farms is that 40% of food produced goes directly to the dump because it is not the right color or size.
Organic products provide a sustainable solution in feeding an ever increasing population and therefore have drastically increased in popularity over the last few years. The produce has gone mainstream; increasingly popular for consumers while being highly profitable for growers and producers.
Making agriculture greener and more efficient will be achieved by new legislation supporting the use of natural resources that tackle climate change, safeguard biodiversity and ensure a sustainable food chain. As consumers become more educated and aware of agriculture’s more dangerous traditions, pressure is placed on ...
Neem cake is a product of the left over neem seed kernels that remain after extracting neem oil from the seeds. It is mainly used as a fertilizer, but has properties of a pesticide, as well, because of its azadirachtin content. It can help to control nematodes and other pests found in the soil, in addition to ...
Neem offers an inexpensive and non-toxic alternative to a number of synthetic pesticides because of azadirachtin. Azadirachtin is the wonder compound found in neem with which natural biopesticides and bioherbicides are made. Azadirachtin has been endorsed by the EPA, the USDA, and the EU because of its amazing ...
With mankind’s pervasive use of synthetic and toxic pesticides in agriculture, organic products are urgently needed for their positive environmental impact. Neem is becoming more relevant in the agricultural space because it contains over two hundred biologically active compounds that are effective in crop ...
Organic food is the only sustainable solution to feed an ever increasing population. Conventional agricultural practices and non-organic food risk further stress on our environment and our health. Now, government intervention and a knowledgable consumer base is shifting the world away from intensive, conventional ...
The use of synthetic fertilizers can benefit plant growth and help to achieve optimal yields, but their excessive use is a danger to society. They can negatively affect public health, lead to lower yields in the long term, increase pollution, and kill a significant percentage of beneficial microorganisms. Being ...
A synthetic pesticide is a poisonous chemical or mixture that is used to prevent, repel, or kill insects, weeds and fungi. While these synthetic pesticides can aid farmers in preventing the crop losses that can be caused by pests, the negative effects they have on human health and the environment are catastrophic.
Extensive synthetic pesticide use contributed to crop yields increasing by 90% worldwide between 1960-1990. While synthetic pesticides aid farmers by preventing crop losses, the negative effects they have on human health and the environment can be catastrophic. 98% of sprayed pesticides and 95% of herbicides ...
Population growth is unrelenting – The 40% increase in our population expected by 2050 will require the production of 70% more food and 100% more protein. At the same time: Arable land is in decline – 12 million hectares (29.6 million acres) of arable land is degrading each year, a rate 35x that was experienced ...
As synthetic pesticides end up virtually everywhere due to environmental contamination, their pervasive use in agriculture has led to a variety of health problems.
In this infographic, we see the effect that neem biopesticides have on the environment. One of neem’s main active ingredients, azadirachtin, acts as a natural growth regulator and feeding deterrent to over 500 species of insects.
An explanation of soil health in the Dakota Research Farms and how diversity in planting gives farmers the benefits and costs to stay productive .
Today, 14% of all humans who have ever existed are currently alive. It took 1800 years for the world’s population to reach one billion. Fast-forward 200 years and the human race had increased to 6 billion, and an additional 12 years for our last billion. Though global fertility rates are falling, a 2014 study by ...
Mankind has evolved from the wheel, printing press and Industrial Revolution, arriving today at the New Green Revolution with Neem leading the way to a sustainable future. Neem tree has become a valuable crop in international markets, both for sustainable agriculture as well as for its applications in health, ...
