Monthly Archives: October 2009

The Botany of Desire on PBS

By Ang Jordan | Published: October 28, 2009
Heads up to fans of Michael Pollan: PBS has created a documentary based on his book The Botany of Desire. It airs tonight on PBS, at 7pm on APTV (Alabama Public) or WSRE (Pensacola). Featuring Michael Pollan and based on his best-selling book, this special takes viewers on an eye-opening exploration of the human relationship [...]
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Toxic Waters

By Ang Jordan | Published: October 26, 2009
The New York Times is publishing an excellent series about “the worsening pollution in America’s waters and regulators’ response,” Toxic Waters. I listened to journalist Charles Duhigg on Fresh Air, and it’s a fascinating and frightening interview. The bottom line is that there has simply not been enforcement of the regulations written to protect our [...]
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On Clotheslines

By Ang Jordan | Published: October 26, 2009
The current Room for Debate column at the New York Times is Rethinking Laundry in the 21st Century, and explores the importance of changing our laundry habits in light of energy conservation. We’ve added a clothesline to our back yard and have found that it does make a noticeable difference in our electric bill. We [...]
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October 24, 2009: International Day of Climate Action

By Ang Jordan | Published: October 22, 2009
The latest digital edition of Orion reminded me that this Saturday is 350.org‘s International Day of Climate Action, a worldwide call to spur international cooperation on an effective climate change treaty. If you’re not familiar with the number 350, that’s the number, in parts per million, that NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen proposed to be [...]
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Local Food Production Initiative Meeting on October 19

By Ang Jordan | Published: October 18, 2009
WHAT: Local Food Production Initiative general membership meeting WHEN: Monday, October 19 at 6:30pm WHERE: Windmill Market, 85 North Bancroft Street at the corner of Equality Street, in Fairhope TOPIC: Architects Mac and Gina Walcott, designers and owners of the Windmill Market, will present “An Overview of the Green Ideas and Community Garden at Windmill [...]
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Nasty Parasite

By Ang Jordan | Published: October 15, 2009
I’ve been disturbed to note that in the last week I have twice seen the hammerhead flatworm, a land planarian which parasitizes earthworms. It’s an invasive species, originally from southeast Asia. The first one I found was actually in the process of parasitizing an earthworm, and I had to look it up online to figure [...]
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Mobile Botanical Gardens Fall Plant Sale

By Ang Jordan | Published: October 14, 2009
WHAT: Mobile Botanical Gardens Fall Plant Sale WHEN: Thursday, October 15, 4-8pm; Friday and Saturday, October 16-17, 9am-4pm; Sunday, October 18, 11am-4pm WHERE: Mobile Botanical Gardens, 5151 Museum Drive, Mobile AL COST: $20 for the opening night party and sale on Thursday; all subsequent days are free ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Gardeners of all sorts – including [...]
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Eat Local Challenge Update, Day 14

By Ang Jordan | Published: October 14, 2009
With a little planning, and the luck of some new foods in the local market, as well as better availability of some products this year, I think we have greater variety in our diet this time around. Our menu in the past week has included: Omelettes with Market Tomatoes, Sweet Home Farm Cheese, and Fresh [...]
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How Food Shapes Our Cities

By Ang Jordan | Published: October 14, 2009
Thanks to my brother-in-law for this link to video of architect and author Carolyn Steel (Hungry City) speaking at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference, July 2009. In this 18-minute talk she gives an overview of the historical relationship between cities and agriculture and the changes technology has wrought. She says, “We live in a [...]
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Ten Web Sites That Will Help You Eat with Greater Awareness

By Ang Jordan | Published: October 10, 2009
From Culinate comes this handy list of sustainable food resources online where you can learn more about your food. Included are many that I read and reference regularly, and some I’ll be adding to the rolls. Here’s the list only (the article explains what resources you can find, and gives some additional links): The American [...]
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