Greenzone Online

Asian Carp: If We Can’t Beat ‘Em, We Better Eat ‘Em–and fast!

Originally introduced in the early 1970’s by southerners to control algae blooms in catfish farms, bighead asian carp were washed into the Mississippi River after major flooding in the region starting in the 1980’s. These ravenous fish have fought their way upstream ever since, causing much concern to a plethora of ecosystems along the way. [...]

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The Truth about my Green Roots

People often ask me how I came to be green. I tell them it’s the leprechaun blood. Seriously, I owe my green roots to my dad. He is the one who has inspired many of my so-called cockamamie (as my hubby claims) ideas. Now my dad is a mixture of Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, the [...]

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Stephen Colbert vs. the Sierra Club

Recently on The Colbert Report, host Stephen Colbert interviewed Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, in a segment entitled “Better Know a Lobby.” In typical Colbert fashion, he asked the tough questions that most reporters are afraid to ask. We all know that Pope has hugged a tree, but has he ever gone [...]

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But Feral Pigs Are So Sweet.

  Everyone loves Spring. Flowers are blooming, making for great nature hikes and beautiful scenery.  Unfortunately, a lot of the flowers in bloom are actually invasive plant species, which have virtually extinguished native wildflowers from some areas. We’ve heard of butterfly colonies having to move farther up in altitude and latitude to live because of the warming [...]

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98 Varieties in a Mere Half-acre

When I was in the mountains of Peru (that’s the Andes, folks), I met a grower named Don Gustavo who had a bit of a farm on incredibly steep mountainside slopes outside Tarapoto. Don Gustavo was a mestizo, that is, part Quechua community (an old indigenous group from the Andes) and part mixed Spanish blood. [...]

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Farms That Scrape the Sky

In my last post regarding urban gardening I had considered, but eventually omitted, mentioning one long-shot possibility: vertical farming. It seemed too outlandish, too far reaching. “Maybe when pigs fly”, I thought. Well Babe and his porcine ilk might be sprouting wings and taking to the skies sooner than anyone had thought. Dr. Dickson Despommier (professor [...]

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