one cool earth 2013 and 2012

Food waste. It happens across our county all year long in one way or another. Ripe Empire, Fuji, and Braeburn apples fall to the ground, glorious heads of cabbage roll under the tractor tire, juicy plums stain sidewalks. In the midst of this surfeit, the San Luis Obispo Food Bank Coalition estimates that 44,000 county residents go hungry every year. It is a phenomenon dubbed the "Paradox of Plenty."

December, 2013 Our Native Foods — A Discussion with Jan Timbrook

Asked to name signature foods of San Luis Obispo County, most people think wine, apples, grass-fed beef, luscious veggies, or strawberries. Those who know a bit of recent history might add dry-farmed almonds, grains, and garbanzo beans. But only a select few go further back in time to name the foods that dominated our area for the majority of 10,000 years: tpiti (acorns), l'ipi (chia), qayas (elderberry) and ch'okoko (toyon).

November, 2013 Schools Get Smart About Trash

For the past six months nonprofit One Cool Earth has worked closely with Georgia Brown Elementary school in Paso Robles to give the school's waste-handling systems a make-over. Already, many changes have been created in collaboration with the local waste handler Paso Robles Waste, the area waste regulatory agency Integrated Waste Management Authority (IWMA), the US Green Building Council's local chapter, school parents, administrators, local businesses, and above all students. Principal Ellalina Emrich Keller recognized that schools should cultivate a positive future for students not only by providing them with a proper education, but also by taking care of natural resources. Students are the reason and the means for many of the changes taking place at the school.

October, 2013 The Month of the Co-0p

October is known as the month of the harvest — cornucopias filled with pumpkins, apples, corn, plums, and other fruits of the growing season. Lesser-known, but in keeping with the harvest spirits, October is Co-op Month, the month of the cooperatively owned and operated business (see last month's article for more info on the origins and benefits of co-ops). There's been a great stirrings around co-ops in SLO County during the past month, and we'll see what this October holds.

September, 2013 'Meat' Me at the Co-op

Do you love farmer's markets but have a hard time getting to them on a regular basis? What if there were a store that carried all the same seasonal, fresh, local products every day, all year round? Great news for all those who live in the North County who are trying to access this abundance — the Paso Robles Food Cooperative is on its way!

April, 2013 Conservation Techniques Your Mother Didn't Tell You About Part I - Energy

I confess. I've got something of a reputation among my friends as an 'environmentalist'. While I'd argue that anyone who likes to breath clean air is an environmentalist perforce, I do confess to being a bit of a pedant when it comes to conserving resources. A good friend recently asked me for a few tips on how he could reduce his impact on the earth as well as save money.

March, 2013 Permaculture: Defeating the Math of Doom

Our world reads like a math equation gone bad — the basic needs and bottomless desires of eight billion people on one side, increasingly scarce water, food, and energy on the other. Even people who do not love and appreciate math see the conflict here. Environmental destruction, war and economic collapse seem inevitable to force balance. These are the bodings of the Math of Doom. Before you blow your money on guns and survival supplies, please consider a cheaper, happier solution: permaculture.

February, 2013 Return to the Garden

The call has been sounded, "Return to the garden!" A host of foodies, health activists, farmers, and environmentalists have promoted the idea for decades. Lately, restaurateur Alice Waters, author and activist Micheal Pollan, even our very own first lady Michelle Obama have brought it mainstream, repopularizing local, organic, garden-based diets. I and an increasing number of Americans have heeded the call and are returning to the garden in droves, not only for health and enjoyment but also to save money as food costs rise.

January, 2013 The Golden Age of Hedgerows: Part I

To really understand hedgerows, let's look at their humble origin. Hedgerows date back thousands of years to the dawn of agriculture. Like many amazing and useful things, early hedgerows were more the product of accident than human ingenuity.

December, 2012 Acorns for Dinner

Before Wal Mart, Albertson's, Safeway, the downtown grocery, the market, even before agriculture as we know it, even before the agriculture our grandparents knew, there was the forest. I mean this in two senses — not only that our modern food system is often built on top of the forest, but also in the sense that the forest was a sprawling, ancient, and abundant convenience store.

November, 2012 Growing Natives From Seed

I work at Liberty High School with the nonprofit, One Cool Earth, which has partnered with the school to grow native, edible, and drought tolerant plants. Students work in the nursery, gaining horticultural skills, but also job-skills training. Plants are sold to generate funding for the project, paying for nursery and educational materials, occasional field trips, and staff time.

October, 2012 Seed Hoarding: Part I

I hoard seeds. As summer ends and the seeds ripen, I cannot help myself. I grab handfuls of fluffy milkweed. I shake random bushes like a maniac, catching the peppery rain of seeds in a paper bag. I rake my fingers through deer weed for its tiny pea-shaped pods.

September, 2012 The Greywater Bootlegger - Water Part III

If you were ever lucky enough as a kid to play in the mud in a rainstorm, you probably observed a lot about hydrology without even knowing it. Grownups — if you weren't that lucky, it's not too late!

August, 2012 Water: Part II

A man who will remain anonymous, in an undisclosed California city has set up his washing machine on his back porch. He mixes in a special detergent from a green container and hits the start button. After each load of soiled pantaloons and plaids, dirty water flows into a nearby garbage bin on wheels.

July, 2012 Water: Part I

San Luis Obispo County is at war, at two wars actually. While the wars haven't been declared officially, they're hard to ignore. First, neighboring cities and developers fight over water rights, agriculture and municipalities point fingers over groundwater basin declines, air planes attack clouds with silver iodide, and expensive pipelines raise community ire. One war is for water.

June, 2012 Secrets of the Food Forest

Watch out, San Luis Obispo County — there's a demonstration happening on the lawn of Centennial Park! However, you'll find no hollering people with signs and costumes, no riot police, tear gas, or rubber bullets here. You'd have a hard time telling that it's a demonstration at all — there's nothing except 3,500 square feet of Edenic garden behind a fence.

May, 2012 Golden Age of Hedgerows: Part II - Superhero Hedgerows

In last month's installment of this two-part series, you heard about the origins of hedgerows and how they could save the farm. But you don't have to be a head of lettuce to appreciate the hedgerow: Part 2 focuses on hedgerows around homes and in urban communities improving children's health, feeding you, and ultimately save the world! Enter our superhero in green: the hedgerow!

April, 2012 A Gathering of Nuts

A list of people with a common symptom:

Johnny Appleseed

The Man Who Planted Trees

L.A. Treepeople's founder Andy Lipkis

Nobel Laureate and Greenbelt Movement founder, Wangari Maathai.

These are the names of people united across time and continents by the one feature — an extreme compulsion to plant trees. I do not use the word 'compulsion' here carelessly. I make tree planting sound like a psychological disorder. And it is.