Amphora Indoor Hydroponics Planter by Cloud Farms - Green Festival NYC

I love gardening, but living in an apartment in Queens, NY, options are limited. I made the main window area in the front of my apartment a sun room, full of house plants some some edible plants I have growing in containers. My basil is doing great, and I've grown several more plants from cuttings of it. I also have an avocado tree growing from a pit, and pineapple from the scrap top of one that I ate one time.

While I adore picking off basil to eat fresh in my recipes, or dry out to save for later, I could live without all the dirt. Especially since I seem to get spider mites on the edible plants. I found them hiding out in the dirt during the winter. I've changed the dirt and cleaned the plants which did help, but all it takes is one hiding out somewhere to find its way back. I just need to dump everything and start again, but getting some hydroponics in my apartment would definitely stop them from hiding out inside the soil.

The Amphora by Cloud Farms is an indoor, hydroponics, "vase" that grows herbs without the use of soil. It holds enough water for the life time of your plant, so it never needs to be watered, which is great for conservation and efficiency. And laziness and forgetfulness, let's be real. Up to 8 plants can be grown with a single kit, for about a years worth of herby goodness. For more about Amphora, check out my video below with it's inventor, Bradley Ferrada at the Green Festival in NYC.

Amphora

Cloud-Farms.com 

Twig Terrariums at the Philadelphia Flower Show

I have always loved Terrariums! Mini, self sustaining eco-systems inside of glass that remind us of the interconnections of life, and our part as humans in maintaining that system. Applying that to the bigger picture of the Earth's environment, just leave shit alone and stop messing with it so much, it knows what it's doing.

Plus, terrariums are miniature worlds, and who doesn't love a good tiny thing? Twig Terrariums from Brooklyn, NY do just that, creating small worlds you can hold in your hands.

Katy Maslow, co-founder of Twig, invited me to the Philadelphia Flower Show at the Pennsylvania Convention Center March 5-13th where they were exhibiting. I took the time to do a quick video with them in all the hub bub, so come dive into the tiny world of Twig.

TWIG
287 3rd Avenue Brooklyn, NY
twigterrariums.com

West Virginia Chemical Spill Sheds Light on Need for Self Reliance

With all of this terrible business in West Virginia regarding the chemical spill from Freedom Industries, it gets increasingly clear that we are unprepared for many types of disasters and accidents. In my town, NYC, we come to a crawl when there's heavy snow, let alone if we were to be faced with something REALLY unexpected and life-threatening. 

 

The fact that we encounter these so called "unexpected" things may be the problem. I am reminded of a saying that tells us to "expect the unexpected", which in turn would assume that we should also prepare for the unexpected. When we take a step back, we see what we already know; which is that we are terribly unprepared, yet don't put in the extra effort to take proper precautionary measures.

Solar Power Breakthrough Using The Intelligence of Nature - Biomimicry

Nature has its own system and design that enables it to function efficiently. After thousands of years of trial and error followed by evolution, nature knows what it's doing. This makes it come as no surprise that humans use inspiration from nature to solve human problems and create more productive and efficient products through biological engineering.

This practice is known as biomimicry, and while the term first appeared in the early 80's, it was made popular by scientist and author Janine Benyus in her book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature in 1997. Benyus suggests looking to Nature as a "Model, Measure, and Mentor" and puts heavy emphasis on sustainability as biomimicry focus.

Being that I'm a big solar panel supporter, I was happy to see that there has been a nice little advancement made in the field, and by a 13 year old no less. Taking inspiration from the unique ways that trees branch off to absorb the most sunlight and nourish itself, Aidan Dwyer created a solar cell tree that produces 20-50% more power than a uniform array of photovoltaic panels.

Read more: 13-Year-Old Makes Solar Power Breakthrough by Harnessing the Fibonacci Sequence | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

When I see intelligent 13 year old children making advancements in science, it shows me just how little scientists and head honchos in charge of improving our efficiency are doing to make us a more sustainable machine.