Sparkling Green

Setting out on my path toward more responsible living in August 2010, I am conscious of a growing, shimmering, emerald-green passion within me. Earth is so full of wonders – many beyond our understanding. Scientific discovery has long illuminated how our Earth can take care of us and new science ever strives for ways that we can reciprocate in this post-industrial era. Online technology today is such that most of us are in a good position to become well versed in living more responsibly. This is particularly due to the democratic and open-source nature of most Internet houses. YouTube, The HuffPost, TED, Digg, EZines, Amazon, TreeHugger, and of course The Urban Times! There has never been a more diverse platform for debate and education on sustainable living.

My journey started with the simple desire to live a greener, more organic and eco-friendly life. For practical reasons, the internet was my first tool. After having learned the differences between organic and conventionally grown food, I found myself absorbing information about nutrients, minerals, and healing properties of food and plants. I have since become quite convinced that an interdependent harmony with our chlorophyllic chronies is key to keeping ourselves and our planet alive and well. An eyeopener for me came with the brilliant work of one-time NASA scientist Dr. Bill Wolverton, who headed a team responsible for finding that swamp plants were eliminating the effects of agent orange, a powerful herbicide used in Vietnam to defoliate forest areas in environmental test sites. The swamp plants were counteracting agent orange.

Agent Orange over Vietnam. From Scientificamerican.com

During the 1960’s, 70’s, and 80s, Dr. Bill Wolverton (then of NASA) made amazing discoveries about plants and their power to rid the environment of dangerous chemicals. Wolverton found that VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) such as benzene, formaldehyde, and carbon monoxide were reduced when plants like Gerbera Daisies, Peace Lilies, Ivy plants, and Warneckii were introduced to an environment containing such pollutants.  For example, in one 1983 study entitled “Foliage Plants for Removing Indoor Air Pollutants in Energy-Efficient homes“, Dr. Wolverton reported that in a poorly ventilated chamber constructed for the experiment, formaldehyde within the chamber was reduced by 85% through use of chlorophytum elatum (spider plant) after 6 hours, and was undetectable in the air in the interval of 6 to 24 hours. He concluded that an average home of 167 square meters of heated area with 2.5 meter ceilings (1800 square ft with 8-ft ceilings) emitting formaldehyde from furniture and rugs, would need approximately 15 spider plants to clean the air of formaldehyde effectively.

Formaldehyde Buster (Spider Plant)

He published these and other results of his longtime work in his book: “How to Grow Fresh Air: 50 Houseplants That Purify Your Home or Office.” After doing some preliminary internet research, I am intrigued by his suggestions and will be diving into Wolverton’s world at my local bookstore. For today, however, I’m going to TAKE ACTION and go on the hunt for, or rather… carefully gather some of the following de-polluting plants: Gerbera Daisies, English Ivies and Warneckii. Dr. Wolverton’s newest book “Plants, Why You Can’t Live Without Them” is definitely on my reading list for this harvest time of year. As I go down my long checklist of ‘things I’d like to do to make my life greener’, I notice that what I’m starting more than merely the linear progression of proverbial “notches” on my emerald-green belt. It is more comparable to an all-encompassing musical round; a life-long rendition like Row Row Row your Boat. I’m thrilled and humbled as I row my little boat down this incredible stream of enlightenment. I bet you have a little boat somewhere that would be just perfect for taking youon your own sparkling green adventure. Let us know how your green journeys fare. Have an awesome day, friends. I’ll check back in soon.

Wolverton B.C, McDonald R.C., Watkins E.A.  “Foliage Plants for Removing Indoor Air Pollutants in Energy-Efficient homes” Economic
Botony 38(2) 1984 pp. 224-228

About

A native New Yorker and a New England transplant, Eve is a family and child mental health clinical therapist with a lifelong affinity for plants, knowledge, and words. Educated at Trinity College, USA and Simmons Graduate School of Social Work,...

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Solid Gold piece. We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.

In whole of cosmic or the universe, our planet earth is a very special, spectacular, wonderful and green to blue in colour, what a creation , wonderful treat for all the living beings, from green Algae to giant Banyan trees, to Red wood trees, great Blue whale(extinct?) to elephants, from oldest insect Cockroach to beautiful butterflies all around us. The wonder world of Arica, gives a great picture of the diversity this planet can present us. All the animal/natural world, the great , the Amzaon, Nile, Nayagra, mighty Himalayas, Alps, the least is very lengthy. There are wonderful pictures from our space, which you and me are not, perhaps ,unlucky to watch ourselves from there, much I heard and read the beauty of it from NASA pictures, it is unbelievable, here on mother of all planets earth, we are dividing the lands by small fragmentation as our boundaries, a universe without boundaries, ever expanding. The question in your and my mind is how to protect the green which actually gives lot more to the living being than we as human being return, actually we are spoiling, the environment and atmosphere, our demands are more and we are in the competitive mode, for a simple living, in a complicated world. Our quench for more money and materials will not be satisfied, unless we should adopt a simple life style and exploit the minerals and all other natural resources, whether granite mountains or Marble from Rajasthan or Boliva, it is difficult to stop our Hungry for more more and more. The planet is giving us more, but it cannot satisfy our greed. The government heads met in Kyoto, and wonderful document came out of the meeting, later when they met in Europe, they could not come to any conclusion . But for the sake of the meeting, a statement read out, BRIC countries met separately. The hypocritical American Presidents speech, US wants to bell the cat but not in America or by any Americans. They wanted the job or the cross to bear on the shoulder of up coming countries. Our system and styles of living and understanding the nature and its future implications are just a call away. Already the signs of the planets are not healthy, unexpected floods, temperatures increasing, sudden snow , rains storms like Katrina. All because of our senseless consumption. REDUCE CARBON EMISSION AT WHAT EVER POSSIBLE WAY, THERE ARE SO MANY, INDIVIDUALS ARE DIFFERENT, LET US DO OUR SMALL MIGHT.SPREAD THE MESSAGE TO KEEP GREEN TO BEGIN WITH, WITH IN OUR HOUSE. Our water resources are filled with affluents and are not clean, our glaziers are drying up? there are differences of opinion. There new generations of wastes, by name e-waste, where to dump all these, disposed cell phones batteries, old type Fluorescent 4 feet tube lights, old tyres, all bad for the atmosphere and environment. We can try and use solar power, wind energy, use bi-cycle to move around our neighborhood, good for healthy heart. Stop Petroleum based products or reduce the usage by 10% every year, Adopt new style living, work in our place, reduce travelling, Plant more trees sapling in our countryside and urban centers, find out substitute for all the present day style of functioning and living. We human beings have given the name BLUE to all the rarely available things/animal/species of life/materials and machines also call it Blue if it is new and costly. For example, ink is blue, blue baby, blue-chip,blue whale, blue eyed, space is blue, ocean is blue, in short our MOTHER PLANET IS ALSO BLUE. Let us keep it GREEN AND give Air to live for more centuries co come. We are only temporary custodians of this planet let us PRESERVE IT FOR OUR FUTURE GENERATIONS. Before I conclude, my mind is sad to see all these injuries we causing to the mother planet. It is suffocating. Every citizens sincere effort to keep it green and lively be our motto. let us spread the message. Green, Green ,Go Green

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