Where Do Your Garden Plants Come From?
Each Monday we write about the New England environment and way of life seen through our local perspective. Previous posts
By Amy Miller
Did you know that our plants are grown right near here, my local greenhouse guy asks me. No I did not, I say. And?
And, apparently it’s time to get on board with locally grown plants.
I already know it’s good to buy from independent, local shopkeepers. I am well versed in how I should shop with the local grocer who keeps his money in the community bank and buys my son’s blackberries.
I even know it is a high cause to be a locavore, eating strawberries in June from the farm down the street and apples in autumn from trees in a nearby orchard. This saves on gas to transport the food, helps local farmers, protects the environment and nourishes your family with food that has a known provenance.
But I never really considered the origin of my basil, bulbs or bee balm.
This must be a hot new trend, though, because locally evolved, locally grown, and locally distributed plants already have an acronym of their own – LEG’D. (Anyone know how you pronounce this?) And the benefits are many.
Flowers grown far away, in South America for instance, might be sprayed with chemical preservatives and refrigerated so they can be shipped thousands of miles. But the shipping and the refrigeration use significant energy. And the chemicals to make sure the flowers last also must be manufactured and shipped. Local flowers aren’t likely to need refrigeration or chemicals to get to us fresh.
The flowers from my local greenhouse also fuel the economy of my community. These purchases create jobs and since they involve fewer middlemen, they are either less expensive or at least the profits are staying nearby.
Some people say that LEG’D flowers and plants are naturally fresher. Some groups advocate having all decorative plants be locally evolved, grown and distributed.
Indigenous plants are more likely to tolerate the soil and weather in New England, where lows can range from 0 in Connecticut to -50 in parts of Maine, putting New England in Planting Zones 3 to 6. Native species have also evolved for other location conditions and are less likely to attract new exotic insects or diseases. Finally, native species often need less water or fertilizer.
The down side may be that deer or other animals eat local plants. A farm store can tell you what to do about that. I just had my dog mark the territory around the plants. But just in case, we built a double fence around the vegetables.
About the author: Amy Miller is a writer who works in the public affairs office of EPA New England in Boston. She lives in Maine with her husband, two children, eight chickens, dusky conure, chicken-eating dog and a great community.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
A New Strategy for a Changing Arctic
By Bob Perciasepe, Acting Administrator
Day after day, the Arctic Region is getting warmer, and the environment is changing in clear and measurable ways. Scientists have observed declining sea ice during the summer, thinning Arctic sea ice throughout the year, and a decrease in land ice that supports vital infrastructure. These changes are already attracting additional shipping in and through the Arctic and greater interest in the region’s energy and mineral resources.
Today the White House announced the United States’ new National Strategy for the Arctic Region. In the past four years, we have become increasingly aware of the mounting challenges we face in this region and the responsibility our country has as an Arctic nation. If we want to ensure a secure and sustainable Arctic, the federal government and our partners across the region must align our efforts. The Strategy highlights the importance of continued federal cooperation with the State of Alaska and Alaska Natives, which is particularly important for emergency preparedness and response. It also endorses new and innovative partnerships to address emerging challenges.
EPA already works with its Arctic neighbors to address climate and traditional pollutants, including our recent efforts to address black carbon. We’ve seen how working with international partners – including through the Arctic Council — allows us to combine our resources and knowledge so we can better protect American communities from emissions of mercury and other harmful toxins, as well as from the effects of climate pollutants. As part of the new Arctic Strategy, EPA will continue to monitor and take action as necessary to reduce emissions that impact the region.
Working closely with Alaska Natives is another key component of the Arctic Strategy. Not only are local residents essential sources of information when it comes to the region and its challenges, but they are also important stewards of the Arctic environment.
It’s not only about enhancing our partnerships; science has a major role to play in this effort, too. Since I became deputy administrator of EPA back in 2009, one of my most important goals has been ensuring that EPA makes decisions firmly rooted in the best available science. This principle is a cornerstone of the Arctic Strategy we are unveiling. Given the extreme conditions and vulnerabilities that this region has always presented, improving our scientific understanding of the region will allow the U.S. to design and implement better policies for a rapidly changing Arctic.
We don’t have all of the solutions just yet, but the new National Strategy for the Arctic Region provides a framework to address the region’s challenges as they evolve. The strategy we have developed supports EPA’s ongoing work in the Arctic and helps to prioritize our efforts going forward. I am proud of EPA’s role in developing this important framework, and I look forward to working with our many partners to implement it in the time ahead.
About the author: Bob Perciasepe is acting administrator of the U.S. EPA.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
Think at the Sink during Drinking Water Week
By Katie Henderson
This week is national drinking water week, and the theme is “What do you know about H2O?” Have you ever considered how water travels from its source and ends up in your kitchen sink?
In 2006, I worked as a volunteer in South Africa. One day I drove across the province to visit a game preserve, leaving the city where I spent most of my time. The contrast between the city and the country was always jarring, and this day I drove farther into the countryside than I’d ever been. Gradually towns dissipated and were replaced by clusters of domed huts. Off to one side of the road, I spotted a woman and her daughter carrying buckets of water into their village. It is hard to describe the dissonance that I felt during this recreational outing to look at elephants with a liter of bottled water tucked into my seat. I’d never had to haul water into my home; I just turned on the tap and safe, clean water poured out. UNICEF estimates that many people in developing countries, particularly women and girls, walk six kilometers a day for water.
The Safe Drinking Water Act authorizes the EPA to set drinking water standards, protect drinking water sources, and work with states and water systems to deliver safe drinking water some 300 million Americans. In the U.S., the last century has seen amazing improvements to drinking water quality. Mortality rates have plummeted and life expectancy has climbed as a result of better science and engineering, public investment in drinking water infrastructure, and the establishment of landmark environmental laws like the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act. Some historians claim that clean water technologies are likely the most important public health intervention of the 20th century.
Today, we can celebrate the fact that the vast majority of people living in the United States have access to safe drinking water. Ninety-two percent of Americans receive clean, safe drinking water every day, and EPA is working to make that number even higher by partnering with states to reduce pollution and improve our drinking water systems. However, we should be aware of new challenges to our drinking water systems like climate change, aging infrastructure and nutrient pollution.
For drinking water week this year, stop and think about how far we’ve come by paying attention each time you turn on your tap.
About the author: Katie Henderson is an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education Participant in the Drinking Water Protection Division of EPA’s Office of Water. She likes to travel, bake cookies, and promote environmental justice.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
Things My Mother Taught Me
By Lina Younes
As I look back at my relationship with my Mom over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve become an environmentalist largely due to the values that she instilled in me as a child. The love of nature, the interest in protecting wildlife, especially birds, the appreciation for flowering plants are some of the things that my mother taught me, not only in words, but through her actions. 
As far as I can remember, we always had flowering plants in the garden and indoor house plants as well. For many years, my mother had birdfeeders in our back yard. Given the fact that we lived in Puerto Rico where we enjoy summer-like weather all year round, our home definitely felt like a tropical oasis.
As I’ve mentioned in earlier blog posts, my parents, both my grandmothers, and even great grandmother, were fortunate to have a green thumb. It seemed that anything they planted bloomed easily and flourished. I’ve tried to replicate their gardening skills at home as best as possible. I like to joke that our family’s green thumb seems to have skipped a generation in my case.
Nonetheless, I still try to create a welcoming natural environment around my home and a green environment indoors as well.
So as we get ready to celebrate Mother’s Day, I would like to thank my Mother for what she has taught me. I hope that I will transmit those teachings to my children so they will also appreciate nature and protect the environment. This Mother’s Day, as we have done during similar celebrations, we’ll probably go to Brookside Gardens. I promise I’ll take pictures.
Do you have any special plans for Mother’s Day? We would love to hear from you.
About the author: Lina Younes has been working for EPA since 2002 and currently serves the Multilingual Outreach and Communications Liaison for EPA. She manages EPA’s social media efforts in Spanish. Prior to joining EPA, she was the Washington bureau chief for two Puerto Rican newspapers and she has worked for several government agencies.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
By Bob Perciasepe, Acting Administrator
This week is Public Service Recognition week, and as acting administrator at EPA, I wanted to take this opportunity to acknowledge the extraordinary public servants I work alongside every day. Public service is a high calling. I know how keenly aware my colleagues are of the service they provide every day to our country. They are answering the call to duty and heeding the words of President Kennedy, “Ask what you can do for your country.”
Thanks to the hard work of the men and women who serve at EPA, the Agency has helped cut pollution and improve health benefits at a record level, while delivering more assistance and making more investments to help businesses and state and local governments meet health standards. In the 43 years since the EPA opened its doors, the American population has grown by more than 50 percent. During the same time frame, we have cut harmful air pollution by more than half. And as our country’s air, water and land have become cleaner, we have also seen our national gross domestic product (GDP) grow more than 200 percent since 1970.
We’ve developed and supported the most efficient and effective environmental enforcement programs in our history. We’ve advanced our science and our approaches to testing chemicals – and met challenges like Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Sandy and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill by helping to keep those regions clean and the people there safe and healthy. We’ve expanded our partnerships with local communities and tribal nations, and consequently, we’ve been able to target our resources more effectively to address the most pressing environmental problems they face. And we’ve doubled down on our own commitment to sustainability by dramatically cutting the Agency’s overall energy use, reducing our water use, and slashing greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 80 percent. That’s the equivalent of taking 21,700 cars off the road or planting more than 2.7 million trees.
EPA employees have also found innovative and unprecedented ways to address the complex environmental challenges – and tight budgets – Americans face today. For example, in 2011, EPA announced a new water technology innovation cluster in Cincinnati, a public/private partnership to develop and commercialize technologies to solve water quality challenges, encourage sustainable economic development and create jobs. Last year EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance announced the public release of an online mapping tool called NEPAssist to help make federal agencies conduct environmental reviews and project planning more efficiently and more effectively. And just recently EPA launched the Green Button on our Home Energy Yardstick. Now American homeowners can measure – and improve – their home’s energy efficiency using this free online energy-assessment tool.
This is exciting work, and you don’t have to take my word for it: Last week the Partnership for Public Service ranked EPA as third in innovation among large federal agencies, according to a survey they conducted of federal employees. In the many ways they contribute to EPA’s mission of protecting human health and the environment, my colleagues are remarkable public servants. I’m proud to work with them, and this week, to celebrate them.
About the author: Bob Perciasepe is Acting Administrator of the U.S. EPA.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
By Melissa Gutierrez Kapheim
It’s Asthma Awareness Month! For hundreds of asthma community programs across the country, raising asthma awareness is a year-round reality as we work to improve the lives of people living with asthma every day.
As a 2010 winner of EPA’s National Environmental Leadership Award in Asthma Management, my organization, Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI), is always excited to partner with EPA. We strive to share successful strategies that will help programs across the nation deliver environmental asthma management as part of their asthma care services to underserved communities.
Later this month, on May 16th, I will co-present an EPA webinar with Andy Teitelman from the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) on our collaboration efforts for a program called Helping Children Breathe and Thrive in Chicago Public Housing (HCBT).
With funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, SUHI partners with the CHA to implement HCBT in a community where asthma affects 25–30 percent of children, a rate twice the national average. Through community engagement and partnerships, we provide asthma education, assistance navigating the healthcare system, and environmental home assessments.
HCBT uses a Community Health Worker (CHW) model to deliver its services. We hire and train people who live in the same building to educate residents about asthma management. This approach is effective in accelerating honest communications in which people with asthma and their families feel comfortable discussing their home environment.
The visits include a home assessment to identify asthma triggers. HCBT refers triggers to CHA’s case management service, which works with property management to resolve the issue. This referral system was developed so participants can report their housing concerns to CHWs, who shepherd them through the process of getting the problem fixed. As a result, a variety of housing issues that exacerbate asthma, such as mold, roaches, carpet, and mice, are referred to property management. To date, 80 percent of those referrals have been resolved.
Through our partnerships with CHA and residents of the housing developments, we have achieved results indicative of improved asthma symptoms and control. Specifically, preliminary six-month outcomes of the HCBT program indicate a 56 percent reduction in asthma symptoms, significant reductions in health resource utilization, and statistically significant and clinically associated improvements in quality of life. The project is slated to end in the fall of 2013.
Please join us for our webinar on May 16th. For more information and to register, visit
About the author: Melissa Gutierrez Kapheim, MS, is an epidemiologist at the Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI) in Chicago, IL. She has worked in the field of health disparities and community-based health interventions for more than eight years. Since joining SUHI in 2006, she has worked on three consecutive asthma interventions that utilize the community health worker model to improve the health and well-being of children and adults with asthma living in Chicago’s most vulnerable communities.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
Photo Credit: Volkswagen Group of America
By Sara Rasmussen
As I turn the calendar page on another Earth Day, it’s nice to pause and take note of how far we’ve progressed. When I started working on the reuse of RCRA hazardous waste sites in the early 2000s, there was little focus on renewable power. In 2008, to encourage the reuse of contaminated properties for renewable energy production, EPA launched its RE-Powering America’s Land Initiative. Since then, scores of exciting renewable energy projects have been installed around the country on contaminated land, ranging from ground-mounted utility-scale systems to roof-top systems to smaller systems. Some provide energy for activities on the property, while others sell power back to the grid. Information on over 70 such projects is posted on EPA’s RE-Powering website.
What I like about these projects is that they are “win-win.” Renewable energy systems tend to be cleaner which helps protect our environment. At the same time, they productively reuse contaminated properties which brings economic development to a community, makes good use of existing infrastructure, and helps reduce pressure to develop nearby open space.
Photo Credit: Volkswagen Group of America
An impressive example is Volkswagen’s recent revitalization of the former “Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant” property. After the contamination was addressed through the RCRA corrective action program, Volkswagen built a state-of-the-art assembly plant. To help power the plant, a 33,000 solar panel array –Tennessee’s second largest—was installed, increasing the sustainability of the facility and helping it become the only automotive manufacturing plant with Platinum LEED certification.
These projects require vision and extensive collaboration between many different regulators and stakeholders, but are worth the effort. Volkswagen had the vision and willingness to install renewable energy at its facility. Likewise, the City of Chattanooga, Hamilton County, the U.S. Army, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and EPA all came together to help make this happen. Appropriately, there was much to celebrate at the ribbon cutting ceremony this past February.
Others can develop successful projects too. EPA has many tools to help determine if renewable energy is viable for specific locations. These include interactive maps which identify sites with potential for various renewable energy sources (wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass), site screening tools, and several other resources.
With all we’ve learned about how to make renewable energy projects successful, we can look forward to many more exiting projects in the future.
About the author: Sara Rasmussen has served as an analyst and as a manager in EPA’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) program for over 20 years, focusing on the areas of solid and hazardous waste and contaminated land reuse. In 2001, shortly after it was created, she became team leader for the RCRA Reuse and Brownfields Prevention Initiative. She has been working to facilitate the cleanup and beneficial reuse of contaminated RCRA Corrective Action sites ever since.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
Our World of Water
By Cameron Davis
Spring time commemorates a number of environmental awareness days.
Held on March 22 every year, World Water Day is a product of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development that was held in Rio de Janeiro.
Then comes Earth Day every April 22, an idea sprung from the mind of the late U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson (hailing from one of our Great Lakes states!). The first Earth Day was in 1970, the same year that Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” surged in the music charts.
This month brings National Drinking Water Week, May 6-12, originated by the American Water Works Association some 30 years ago.
These global and national commemoratives are great reminders about why we need to care about H20. But we don’t really have a Great Lakes commemorative day.
So let’s make one up later this month. We have several opportunities. First, we have webinars and public meetings coming up for input on the next Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan. For details about webinars and public meetings in Buffalo on May 28, Milwaukee on May 30, and Cleveland on June 5.
Second, we could target every Friday before Memorial Day; this year, on May 24. That’s when the official summer beach season opens at hundreds of these special, sandy places. What better way to celebrate the Lakes that we love than by providing your thoughts at one of these forums and toasting to the Lakes on the beach with drinking water from the Great Lakes? After all, we are what we drink.
What do you think about a Great Lakes Day?
About the author: Cameron Davis is Senior Advisor to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. He provides counsel on Great Lakes matters, including the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
Battling Bugs In Our Neighborhood Garden
Each Monday we write about the New England environment and way of life seen through our local perspective. Previous posts
By Amy Miller
The yellow wormy things are fun to smush. They are easy to spot on the underside of leaves and you know you are protecting your bean plant every time you eviscerate one. After an hour in the scorching sun, though, you realize you may never find all the 1-millimeter larvae hiding in your bounty. And after two years of head to head battle with Mexican bean beetles, I personally was ready to consult the online experts.
Our growing season in New England is short. Very short. So if a plant is decimated, we have little chance to make it up. And I have learned that the bean beetle, native to southern Mexico, is particularly pesky in the east, where it thrives in the significant rainfall.
My assignment in the garden my family shares with three other neighbors was to find an organic and effective way (not an oxymoron, we still believe) to eradicate the Mexican bean bugs as well as equally destructive squash bugs.
For two years in a row, while our red peppers, lettuce, sage, and lemon basil blossomed, the ever-so-prolific pole beans and oh-so-easy zucchini plants have become skeletal victims of insect infestations.
The squash bugs, even more evil-looking than the bean bugs, start as clusters of tiny red eggs and turn into ugly gray creatures. We have tried to control them through a duck tape removal system. It’s quite lovely – not – to see eggs and bugs clustered frantically on duct tape.
Okay, so what do the virtual masses advise?
Bad news. For both pesky insects, the organic method most often recommended we have already tried: pick the darn things off. There was also the suggestion to cover the plants until they are pushing to be freed. By that time the plants will be well enough established the veggies might outlive the onslaught.
But there are other suggestions:
- Introduce natural predatory insects or birds or bats. Nectar plants will encourage predatory wasps, a bird bath will welcome insect-eating birds, and a bat house will let bats know they are welcome.
- Spray the leaves with soapy water or oil, both natural insecticides that will smother the bugs. These must be reapplied repeatedly during the season.
- Surround or infiltrate your garden with mint or other strongly-scented herbs, marigolds or other plants the bugs are apt to avoid.
- At the end of the season, pull out the plants and shake them over a wheelbarrow of hot, soapy water to minimize the number that hang out over the winter, ready to attack again next spring.
Read more EPA information on organic farming.
About the author: Amy Miller is a writer who works in the public affairs office of EPA New England in Boston. She lives in Maine with her husband, two children, eight chickens, dusky conure, chicken-eating dog and a great community.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
A Brief Insight into the World of Asthmatics
By James T. Young
The expanded conversation about Asthma Awareness in recent years is very good. I imagine that only people who actually suffer from it can appreciate how frightening or fatal an attack can be.
I had a summer job at a bakery in Richmond, Virginia. There were several steps in baking commercially. Next to the last step was was placing the dough in a pan and placing the pan on a rack. When the rack was full it was pushed into the steam room, where the bread rose, before going into the oven. One day the foreman told me to go into the steam room and straighten the racks up because they were all stacked near the door. I opened the door and began to push the racks deeper into the steam room. I tried to inhale while in the back. I inhaled, nothing! So, I inhaled again, nothing! I came out of that steam room like a shot out of a rifle. Once outside I took a deep breath and my lungs filled with air as I inhaled deeply.
All of the regular employees were laughing because that was a sort of “initiation”. They all knew that once you left the area where the door was open that there was no oxygen further back in the steam room and after a little exertion one found that out. That is the same type of reaction that Asthma sufferers must go through, except their bronchial tubes constrict keeping the air from reaching their lungs.
As terrifying as my “steam room” experience was, can you imagine what an asthmatic child or adult must cope with knowing that at any moment the air they breathe, food they eat or what they drink may trigger an attack? May the search for a cure and the dissemination of information about asthma awareness continue.
About the author: James T. Young, SEE empoloyee in the Office of Public Engagement.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
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