High Pollution Levels May Make People More Susceptible To Stroke

Studies have shown associations between air pollution and daily death rates for respiratory and heart disease. "This study provides new evidence that higher levels of ambient pollutants increase the risk of hospital admissions for stroke, especially on warm days,"

Many experts suspect that air pollution may affect blood volume and resistance of the blood vessels and heart structures, known collectively as the hemodynamic system. High temperatures may also affect blood viscosity. "In hot weather, it is recommended that people avoid pollution, stay inside and use an air conditioner if needed. As stroke is associated with air pollution, lowering the level of exposure could considerably reduce the associated health burden.

From lawn mowers and weed trimmers, to personal watercraft and speedboats, gas-powered engines will soon contribute to healthier and cleaner air for Americans. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set strict new standards for gas-powered lawn equipment and marine engines, enhancing public health by substantially reducing the amount of gas fumes, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and smog-forming pollutants emitted from a wide range of engines. The regulations will take effect in 2010 and 2011.

"EPA's new small engine standards will allow Americans to cut air pollution as well as grass," said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. "These standards help fight smog in our neighborhoods and waterways as we continue to improve the environmental landscape."

When fully implemented, the rule will yield annual emission reductions of 600,000 tons of hydrocarbons, 130,000 tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx), 5,500 tons of direct particulate matter, and 1.5 million tons of carbon monoxide (CO). EPA expects the new standards to save approximately 190 million gallons of gasoline each year. The rule kicks into gear in 2011 for lawn and garden equipment of 25 horsepower or less. For a full range of gas-powered personal watercraft and inboard and outboard engines, the rule powers up in 2010.

Each year, Americans spend more than 3 billion hours using lawn and garden equipment and more than 500 million hours in recreational boating. As a result, the total estimated public health benefits range between $1.6 and $4.4 billion by 2030. These benefits outweigh estimated costs by at least eight to one, while preventing over 300 premature deaths, 1,700 hospitalizations, and 23,000 lost workdays annually.

To meet the new exhaust emission standards, manufacturers will likely employ catalytic converters for the first time in small lawn and garden equipment. Improvements to battery technology makes the cordless battery lawn and garden tools as feasible alternatives to gasoline powered tools.

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Gardening Without Chemicals

Gardeners making their way to the garden centers will notice the growing and endless array of herbicides, fungicides and insecticides, all commonly referred to as pesticides. Already more than 80 communities have passed bylaws restricting or prohibiting use of pesticides for cosmetic reasons within their boundaries.

Research seems to support that as goes the health of our earth, so goes the health of our children. The Ontario College of Family Physicians (OCFP) released a comprehensive review of research on the effects of pesticides on human health which the review showed many studies had found associations between pesticide exposure and solid tumors including prostate, brain, kidney and pancreatic cancer among others such as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Also according to the review, "the implication of pesticides in the development of leukemia warrants further investigation. Since many urbanites use pesticides in their personal lawn and garden spaces at concentration levels between five and 10 times used in agriculture, the implications are dire. These applications can add up to a significant impact since urban homeowners use more pesticides per acre than farmers do, according to Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S.

So how do we actually "just say no" to pesticides? First, getting your lawn off grass is the single most important change you can make to manage weeds in our dry climate and not incidentally, significant reduce water use and get off the addictive cycle of chemical dependence. Plant perennials, trees, shrubs, wildflowers, native species and spread mulch along the borders take the place of rambling lawns and gardens.

Weeds thrive in unhealthy soil, so make sure yours is healthy by fertilizing naturally with manure and compost. Over-seed the lawn with a recommended grass mixture. This creates a more dense, drought - and disease-resistant lawn that crowds out weeds. Keep your lawn a bit longer to discourage weeds and reduce watering needs. Mow high, seven centimeters or three inches, and leave your grass clippings on the lawn to return nutrients to the soil.

A typical garden hoe removes shallow-rooted annual weeds, but cuts off deep-rooted perennials which will continue to grow and are best removed using a specialized weeding tool or chemicals if you are so inclined.

Hoeing improves drainage, aeration, and nutrient dispersal and helps condition your soil.

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Gardening Is Good for the Environment

Protecting the environment should be one of the most important things we do in our lives. For those of us who garden we have a chance to make a big impact on the environment; in a positive or negative way. The methods and procedures we use directly impact ourselves, our neighbors and the planet. The idea is to, at least, leave as small a footprint as we can and, at best, give back to the planet.

Use non-toxic fertilizers with no harmful chemicals such as organic manure - this may sound horrible, but it's so much better than harmful chemicals. I believe you can also get organic pesticides, but you can trap slugs using pools of beer, kill aphids with ladybirds and so on.

The best way to insure we give back and protect the environment is to compost. Recycling garden waste is a wonderful method to grow more soil. Instead of creating more fill for dumps, composting is a very useful method for protecting the planet.

With the use of compost in our garden we cut down on many products that are man-made and take away from precious resources this old globe. Compost allows us to use much less, if any, non-organic fertilizers. It makes our plants healthier which reduces the need for chemicals to control weeds, insects, and disease.

Growing your own flowers, vegetables, and herbs, in the most environmentally sound way, cuts down the need for bad practices to provide us with those products which are fresher, healthier for us and impact the environment in the least negative way. The whole idea of any yard or garden is to make it useful in the most useful way and in such a way that the environment is impacted the least or even made better.

Plant a tree or two - this will help use up quite a large amount of CO2 and replace it with oxygen, which I'm sure you'll agree is more useful. They also look attractive, and if you buy a fruit tree, then you can get fruit too!

Obviously this depends on the size of your garden and where you live...but anything leafy will do. Don't have a garden? Buy a houseplant. Don't have a house? Plant a flower in someone's garden. I'm sure they won't mind...just don't let them see you. And you didn't hear it from me.

Replace the gasoline lawnmower with a cordless battery or electrical model without using fuel. We can all practice ways to help our planet. It's not only good for us. It's good for everyone.

Happy gardening!

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California Acted on Pollution in the Garden As Early As 1990

As early as 1990, California opened a new front in the battle against air pollution, California made moves to control many everyday tools of modern American household to include gasoline-powered lawn mowers, leaf blowers, hedge trimmers and snow blowers.

These actions were believed to be the first efforts then to regulate exhaust from these and other "utility" machines, the state's powerful Air Resources Board issued orders to manufacturers to reduce pollutant emissions by 55 percent in two steps starting as early at 1994. These machines produce up to 50 times more pollution per horsepower than trucks produce.

Consumers nationwide ultimately paid for the new technology. Industry leaders raise the concern that the rules were more likely to double the retail prices of such products that could shut them out of the California market altogether, when the second tier of rules take effect. They argued that the cost of developing the catalytic converter technology needed to comply with the second tier of rules would make the machines prohibitively costly.

Overall, it is estimated that utility machines contribute 5 percent of the hydrocarbon and 4 percent of carbon monoxide emissions in California. The total emissions from such machines are the equivalent of 3.5 million new 1991 model automobiles driven 16,000 miles. In 1989, Americans bought 13.2 million utility machines, including lawn mowers, garden tractors, tillers, shredders, grinders and outdoor vacuums.

These actions illustrated the lengths to which California has been forced to go to clean up its air, which in some sections is the worst in the nation. As cleaner and cleaner cars and industry, other smaller sources became more important.

Given the importance of the huge California market for the lawn-and-garden industry, the rules were likely what had the impact as manufacturers modified their products so they could be sold there. More manufacturers decided to make separate product lines for California and for the rest of the country, and many elected to make only the one, more expensive product.

Enhancements to battery technology have made possible the conversion from two stroke gasoline powered lawn and garden tools to 24 volt to 36 volt battery mowers, hedge trimmer, tree pruners, grass trimmer, chain saw with virtually no harmful emissions. Lithium battery technology is quickly replacing lead acid technology to delivery power equivalent to two stroke engine without the harmful affects of noise air pollution.

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Hydroponic Indoor Gardening

Q. I would like to plant some herbs and vegetables indoors, so that I can have fresh product during the winter.

I don’t have a lot of room and even less knowledge. Is there something simple that would allow me to do this?

A. You are in luck. There is a company that provides indoor hydroponic growing of herbs, vegetables and even tomatoes – no soil. The growing system is attractive and can sit on any counter and because there is no soil you don’t have to worry about bugs!

Follow the link for further information.

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Organic Fertilizers - Have Their Drawbacks!

There is a lot of confusion on what truly can be designated an organic fertilizer. An organic fertilizer contains nutrients that have been derived, in one manner or another, from an organism. As an example, organic fertilizers may be manufactured from cottonseed meal, an emulsion derived from fish, animal manure, sewage sludge, and bone meal or a combination of some or all of the aforementioned items.

Some fertilizers that call themselves organic are made from Urea, which is made from inorganic products hence at best it is a synthetic organic fertilizer.

If a product is sold as a fertilizer in North America, it must state the NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) formulation on the package. In order to avoid having to guarantee a NPK of a product, many manufacturers will sell their fertilizers as soil conditioners. A soil conditioner does not have to state the nutrient formulation of the product. One of the reasons that manufactures do not want to state a guaranteed nutrient formulation is that with organic products the nutrient levels vary dramatically from batch to batch. Organic products that are made from sewage sludge and manures will only have small amounts of nutrients present in the formulation.

Some organic fertilizers are fortified in order to bring up the nutrient levels and to allow the manufacturer to maintain a guaranteed level of formulation.

Organic fertilizers work best in moist warm soils as it is the organisms in the soil that breakdown the fertilizer which is what releases the nutrients into the soil. Because an organic fertilizer must be broken down in order for it to provide any nutrients to the soil, organic fertilizers are classified as very slow release and a gardener must determine if a slow release is what any specific plant variety might need.

It is also important to understand the side effects of the organic fertilizer. As an example, cottonseed meal is acidic. If you are growing plants such as azaleas or rhododendrons, an organic fertilizer derived from cottonseed meal may be the exact product you are looking for. The common formulation for cottonseed meal is 7-3-2.

With an organic fertilizer such as blood meal, derived from the blood of cattle, one must be cautious because it has a very high nitrogen content and if not used carefully can easily burn plants.

Organic fertilizers have there place in the garden, but they are no different than synthetic fertilizers in the fact that you must understand the formulation of the product and how it might negatively affect the specific plants that you are trying to enhance.

Read and follow the manufacturers instructions and guidelines before usage! For additional information on organic fertilizers, follow the link.

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Australia’s Drought – It Could Happen Where You Live!

Australia may seem like a long way away for many of us, but what they are experiencing could happen in any country.

For whatever reason weather patterns are changing, Australia is in a drought, it has been going on for six years and if they do not get heavy rains in the next six to eight weeks, they are going to implement rationing. This is not rationing where you cannot water lawn on certain days of the week, this is serious rationing whereby they are going to stop any irrigation of farmland in order to conserve water for urban needs.

The economic consequences, of the water rationing, will be bankrupt farmers and exceptionally high prices for Australians when they try to buy any fruits, vegetables, grain, and meat products.

It was recently announced that the Australian government had signed a technology pact with Israel in the area of water conservation. Israel turned desert into cultivatable land and are experts in water conservation and drip irrigation.

Drip irrigation is what we should all be practicing, there are fresh water shortages everywhere in the world and one of the best conservation methods is drip irrigation not only on farms but at home as well.

To learn more about drip irrigation follow the link below.

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Tree Pruning

Proper tree pruning is critical to the longevity of the tree. As well, proper tree pruning provides you with a tree that is safe, strong, healthy, and attractive. If you understand the how, when and why to prune your trees and then by following a few simple principles you can reach these objectives with ease.

For fruit trees, proper pruning will stimulate the production of fruit, both in quality and quantity.

We have recently added a 6 part series of detailed information on the proper pruning of trees. Follow the link below for access to the articles.

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Water Features, Mosquitoes, and West Nile Virus

Water features can be a beautiful addition to any landscaping. Fountains, birdbaths, waterfalls, and ponds provide an enhancement and peaceful tranquility.

With spring upon us, many homeowners are considering their landscaping and with that may come the addition of a water feature. The dilemma is that water features can be a haven for mosquitoes and mosquitoes can carry West Nile Virus and other diseases.

So what can a homeowner do?

Mosquitoes enjoy the luxury of standing water, which is why tires, wheelbarrows, pots, pans, and pails should never be left outside in a position where they can collect water. For the same reason birdbaths are attractive areas for mosquitoes to lay their larva.

If you want to have a water feature incorporated in your landscaping, the water should be continuously filtered and aerated utilizing outdoor pumps and filtering systems specifically designed for the task.

For additional information on how to protect your family from West Nile Virus when landscaping, follow the link.

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The Proper Method For Planting Trees

Every year more than one million trees are planted on public and private properties throughout North America, these are not the trees are not planted as a part of a reforestation project, they are the trees that we use for personal and community ambience. Of these trees, less than 50 percent will survive more than two years.

Shock From Transplanting:

The greatest transplanting shock comes from the loss of the tree’s root system that occurs when the tree is dug-up at the tree farm. Placing the tree in shock makes it much more vulnerable to disease, insects, drought and other potential life threatening situations. The transplant shock lasts until the root system is fully replaced to the level it was prior to being removed from the tree farm. Most trees that die after being transplanted do so during the period of time prior to restoration of the full root system. Although there is no method of transplanting that will guaranty that a tree will not die, regular care and good gardening practices, for a three-year period following the transplant, will definitely improve the trees likely hood of survival.

For the balance of this article and information on how to protect your tree from shock follow the link.

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