Herb Gardens and Farmers' Markets

Earlier this summer, I went to one of Evanston’s several farmers’ markets and bought a basil plant. It served me beautifully for three long months, supplying me with loads of delicious fresh basil for omelettes, pastas, stirfries, and more.

However, basil doesn’t last through the summer, not usually at least. It's an annual plant so by season's end, the plant will die. Luckily, there are ways to extend the life of your basil, namely by constantly trimming the ends. In doing so, you prevent the basil from reaching maturity and going to seed (when the leaves won’t taste as good). I thought I was doing a good job, but time has started to get the best of my basil plant. After my last pesto, this is all that was left:

The current condition of my basil plant: yellow tinged but growing.

My friend, Sam, revitalized his droopy basil plant by fertilizing it. I think I’m going to try that too.

At $5 a plant vs. $1/oz. of packaged basil, my little project has probably saved me around $15.  The best part about my basil is that the slightest breeze from my window sends a wonderful, herby aroma through my apartment. My point: raising herb plants is a great idea. Why?

They:

•        are sustainable- No more packaging waste. I may be reaching, but they also suck up carbon dioxide from the air.
•        save you money
•        smell great
• inspire you to cook, which stops you from eating packaged processed food

I was a first-timer this year, and I’m never going back. I promise you that if you start, you won’t either. Money back guarantee. Besides basil, other great herbs include rosemary, parsley, mint, sage, thyme, chives, and tarragon. If you have an herb in mind, just figure out what it needs, and get to it.

As a note, farmers’ market season is ending so get cheap produce while you still can!

For all of you Evanstonions, here’s the low down:

Downtown Evanston Farmers' Market
Dates/Time: Saturdays, May 8 - November 6, 2010 7:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Location: Intersection of University Place and Oak Ave.

West End Market
Dates: Saturdays, June 5 - Oct. 30, 2010
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Location: Intersection of Church St. and Dodge Ave. (ETHS parking lot)

For people in Chicago, check this website out.

For everyone else, Google has your back.

A Planet Capable of Sustaining Life?

If we ever use up all of our resources, we can always invade another planet.

Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW)

Yesterday evening was the NU Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) kick-off meeting. I love the fall, and a significant reason for that is the fall ESW kick-off meeting. Excited freshman and excited new leaders come together to share project achievements, future plans, and a rocking enthusiasm for sustainability. It always puts me in a good mood.

This year was a little different for me because:

A) I wasn’t working a booth. I guess it wasn't so bad because I got to observe everyone. Also, I managed to find my way behind the Portobelo booth to talk to some newbies. I even succeed in getting people to sign up, which probably invalidates my entire point.

B) A lot of people were surprised to see I was still around. They knew I graduated and didn't realize I was sticking around for my master's. I just hope people were happy to see me. I missed them.

C) There was Pita Inn and ice cream instead of Jimmy John’s. Three words: THANK YOU SASHA (President of ESW-NU).

You can feel the passion oozing from these pictures.

I'm going to shamelessly plug ESW in this blog post. When I came to Northwestern freshman year, ESW is what inspired me to become an engineer (better luck next time, poli-sci). It's because ESW is so great. Our projects provide a way for all students, not just engineers, to make the world more sustainable. The organization is completely student run, and all projects have dedicated leaders. If you want to start a project, all you need to do is take initiative. The same goes for if you want to join a project.  Our funding comes mostly from the grants, so if you think you have a cool idea, all you have to do is write a grant proposal and see if someone else agrees with you. Not only can you build some wicked team, leadership, and writing skills, but you can also help a lot of people, making some pretty great friends/contacts along the way.

I'm amazed by how much we've accomplished here and around the world. We've worked to:

• improve a water treatment system in Portobelo, Panama to reduce water contamination
• install solar panels and electrify homes in Chagres, Panama
• lead alternative energy and energy efficiency projects on campus
• build cheap, simple, and sustainable biogas digesters and wind turbines in Nicaragua
• teach children (here and abroad) about sustainability and global health
• design a solar powered shuttle stop
• and so much more...

If you want to support our organization, you can join our chapter, ESW-NU, join ESW national, sponsor us, and/or donate to our projects. If you know of a community in need, please shoot me an email and maybe we can get something started.

Drought in the Southwest

A few days ago, the New York Times posted an article about the 11-year drought that has been occurring in the Southwest. Lake Mead, on the Colorado River, has a water level only 15 inches above its lowest recorded minimum in 1956. From Las Vegas to Los Angeles, water prices have skyrocketed, water use restrictions have been tightened, and people are starting to feel the pain. Now, in order to relieve the stress on Lake Mead, they’re considering releasing water from Lake Powell, also on the Colorado River, so that it flows into Lake Mead. The map below is kind of hard to read but Lake Mead is at the southern tip of Nevada, and Lake Powell is in southern Utah.

Right now, 70% of water use can be attributed to outdoor activities. While some of this is legitimate, i.e. irrigation of crop growth, a lot of that is pure landscaping. Word of advice: if you want a luscious green lawn, move somewhere NOT in the desert. I know you want your yard to be just as pretty as your neighbors, but for the good of everyone, please don't fall into the tragedy of the commons. I really don’t understand the population boom in the Southwest. It’s a seemingly uninhabitable environment that we humans decided we should make habitable. The thought: why should we adjust ourselves to the climate when we can simply adjust it to fit our needs? It’s a perspective that I’m sure will change once the water crisis felt around the world finally hits America hard. The drought in the Southwest? Not bad enough.

Nationally, agriculture is responsible for 80% of our water use. What are some ways to address that? I would like to advocate vertical farming, if not simply as an effort to conserve water. A vertical farm is basically a bunch of greenhouses stacked on top of one another. They use technology like hydroponics, which requires 70% less water than conventional agriculture, and aeroponics, which uses 70% less than that. There are other benefits too. In addition to having a small physical footprint, vertical farming is indoors, which makes it relatively immune to weather variation, such as droughts and disease/pest invasion. Furthermore, biogas digesters and living machines can be employed to convert waste into usable resources, including methane for energy. Vertical farming isn't without downsides, however. The daylighting and heating needed to farm indoors requires a lot of energy. About half of the energy can be covered by biogas digestion, but the rest will need various energy sources, like solar and wind, to keep farming economical and sustainable.  I could say more, but I won’t. Instead, if you want to learn more about vertical farms, I’m going to add a long spiel about them under “Favorite Concepts”.

Hydroponics

Aeroponics

Dickson Despommier, a professor at Columbia University, is the field's all star. Here's his website.