While you wait: the cost of inactivity
Nutrition Action Healthletter, Dec, 2005 by Bonnie Liebman
Why? In stimulated mice, an enzyme that degrades amyloid deposits is more active. (7) "So there may be a specific anti-Alzheimer's effect of physical activity and social stimulation," he explains.
4 The Heart
Every year, 1.2 million Americans have a heart attack. It's no surprise that couch potatoes have a higher risk.
"Exercise affects the function of the heart muscle, but it also affects the blood vessels, from the large aortic artery to the veins and the small capillaries," says Tufts University's Miriam Nelson.
Researchers have long known that regular exercise can boost HDL ("good") cholesterol, which is the cholesterol that's on its way out of the arteries. But in recent years, they've learned that physical activity also makes the lining of blood vessels--the endothelium--more flexible.
"If partially blocked arteries are more elastic, they can relax better and send more blood to the heart muscles," explains Harvard's I-Min Lee. "It's like pumping blood through a rubber hose instead of a concrete pipe."
And you don't have to be an athlete to protect your heart.
In a study that tracked nearly 40,000 women for five years, those who walked briskly for at least an hour a week were half as likely to be diagnosed with heart disease as those who did no regular walking. (8) The risk was even lower for women who jogged or did other vigorous activity.
Scientists have good reason to believe that regular exercise protects the heart. "We know that physical activity has beneficial effects on risk factors for heart disease like lipids, blood pressure, and insulin sensitivity," explains Lee.
What's more, researchers have tested the impact of exercise training on people who already have heart disease.
"If they are assigned to an exercise program, they have a lower risk of dying and of dying from heart disease," says Lee.
5 Stroke
People who are active are 25 percent less likely to have a stroke than their sedentary counterparts.
(9) How can exercise keep strokes at bay?
"By lowering blood pressure, raising HDL cholesterol, and reducing the risk of blood clots," says Lee.
In the U.S., most strokes occur when a blood clot gets stuck in a partially clogged artery that feeds the brain. "Physical activity has the same effect on arteries to the brain as on arteries to the heart," she adds.
The evidence is less solid that regular exercise wards off less-common hemorrhagic strokes, which occur when a blood vessel in the brain bursts. However, if exercise prevents hemorrhagic stroke, says Lee, "it's probably by lowering blood pressure."
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is the biggest risk factor for any stroke. And researchers are now finding that a regular spin on the bike or walk on the treadmill doesn't lower blood pressure in everyone.
"It's a mixed bag," says the University of Maryland's Ben Hurley. "Regular aerobic exercise reduces blood pressure in aboperformers in 75 percent of people."
In others, blood pressure doesn't budge. (10) "Our group found that blood pressure improved in people with one gene profile, but not in others."
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Inactivity - page 2
That may be because most studies aren't long or large enough to see the link, he adds. "It's a modest effect, but it does look like it's there, mostly for postmenopausal women."
And it looks like women can protect their breasts at the same time they're maintaining other body parts.
"We're not clear how much physical activity you need to reduce the risk of breast cancer," says Lee. "But it's in the same ballpark as for colon cancer--between 30 and 60 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a day."
As for some other cancers, she adds, "there's some suggestive evidence, but it's not as conclusive."
3 The Brain
It's bad enough that inactivity can turn your muscles to Jell-O. Can it do the same to your brain?
"The evidence is fairly solid that people who are more physically active are at lower risk for cognitive decline and dementia," says Constantine Lyketsos, director of the division of geriatric psychiatry and neuropsychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
For example, among more than 3,000 older men and women in the Cardiovascular Health Cognition Study, those who reported engaging in at least four activities (like walking, household chores, gardening, and jogging) during the previous two weeks were half as likely to be diagnosed with dementia five years later than those who took part in no more than one activity. (5)
However, exercise had no link with either Alzheimer's or other dementias in people in the study who had the [epsilon]4 version of the apolipoprotein (ApoE) gene. In contrast, a Finnish study found that exercise protected ApoE [epsilon]4 carriers more than people without the gene. (6) (About 20 percent of people have at least one copy of the [epsilon]4 version of the gene.)
"People with the gene seem to get Alzheimer's about 8 to 10 years earlier than non-carriers," explains Lyketsos, who coauthored the Cardiovascular Health Cognition Study. That usually means it starts in their 70s rather than their 80s.
With or without ApoE [epsilon]4, he acknowledges, the evidence on exercise isn't conclusive. "It's always possible that people are reducing their physical activity because they're in the early stages of dementia."
But clues from animal studies are compelling.
"There's a fairly strong neurobiological basis to suggest that the more physically active you are, the less likely you are to develop dementia," says Lyketsos.
For example, the brains of physically active mice have more nerves, more connections between nerves, fewer clogged arteries, more oxygen flow, and better ability to utilize glucose, he explains.
"All are probably factors in helping prevent cognitive decline and dementia."
Recent studies used mice that are prone to acquire the amyloid plaques that are found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.
"At least one study suggests that if you take these mice out of their traditional cages, where there's little to do, and put them into stimulating cages with more colors, objects, brighter areas, and little mouse treadmills, you find fewer amyloid deposits in the brain," says Lyketsos.
And it looks like women can protect their breasts at the same time they're maintaining other body parts.
"We're not clear how much physical activity you need to reduce the risk of breast cancer," says Lee. "But it's in the same ballpark as for colon cancer--between 30 and 60 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a day."
As for some other cancers, she adds, "there's some suggestive evidence, but it's not as conclusive."
3 The Brain
It's bad enough that inactivity can turn your muscles to Jell-O. Can it do the same to your brain?
"The evidence is fairly solid that people who are more physically active are at lower risk for cognitive decline and dementia," says Constantine Lyketsos, director of the division of geriatric psychiatry and neuropsychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
For example, among more than 3,000 older men and women in the Cardiovascular Health Cognition Study, those who reported engaging in at least four activities (like walking, household chores, gardening, and jogging) during the previous two weeks were half as likely to be diagnosed with dementia five years later than those who took part in no more than one activity. (5)
However, exercise had no link with either Alzheimer's or other dementias in people in the study who had the [epsilon]4 version of the apolipoprotein (ApoE) gene. In contrast, a Finnish study found that exercise protected ApoE [epsilon]4 carriers more than people without the gene. (6) (About 20 percent of people have at least one copy of the [epsilon]4 version of the gene.)
"People with the gene seem to get Alzheimer's about 8 to 10 years earlier than non-carriers," explains Lyketsos, who coauthored the Cardiovascular Health Cognition Study. That usually means it starts in their 70s rather than their 80s.
With or without ApoE [epsilon]4, he acknowledges, the evidence on exercise isn't conclusive. "It's always possible that people are reducing their physical activity because they're in the early stages of dementia."
But clues from animal studies are compelling.
"There's a fairly strong neurobiological basis to suggest that the more physically active you are, the less likely you are to develop dementia," says Lyketsos.
For example, the brains of physically active mice have more nerves, more connections between nerves, fewer clogged arteries, more oxygen flow, and better ability to utilize glucose, he explains.
"All are probably factors in helping prevent cognitive decline and dementia."
Recent studies used mice that are prone to acquire the amyloid plaques that are found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.
"At least one study suggests that if you take these mice out of their traditional cages, where there's little to do, and put them into stimulating cages with more colors, objects, brighter areas, and little mouse treadmills, you find fewer amyloid deposits in the brain," says Lyketsos.
Nutrition Action article - Inactivity- page 1
Planning to exercise more? Been planning on it for a while?
It's easy to put off, at least today, at least this week, at least until you (choose one) get new sneakers, get past the holidays, get some free time, get a new job, get the kids off to college, whatever.
But as the years slip by, your body isn't just frozen in time, waiting to get moving. It's fading.
"If muscle isn't stimulated, your body senses that you don't need it," explains Miriam Nelson of Tufts University in Boston. "Metabolically, it's expensive to keep up so you start to lose it."
Muscle is just the beginning, she adds. "Inactivity affects the brain, heart, blood vessels, bones, liver, gut, sleep, anxiety, depression, self-esteem, your ability to use glucose, and more."
More Articles of Interest
Give me strength: why you need to lift weights
Glycemic index & weight
"From the top of your head to the bottom of your toes, being physically active is the stimulus that gets most organs in the body to work at their best," says Tufts University exercise expert Miriam Nelson.
"If you're not active, it affects all body systems, literally down to the cellular level, where your ability to transfer oxygen from the bloodstream to cells is diminished and the number of power-producing mitochondria in your cells is less."
"If you can't get as much oxygen out of your blood, you can't walk up a flight of stairs as easily as you get older." And that's just one system that suffers if you're sedentary.
The good news: it's never too late to start moving. "Well into your 90s, all of these systems can be stimulated," notes Nelson. "It's quite remarkable."
Here are 10 ways inactivity can take a toll on your body.
1 Diabetes
"The one thing that seems to deteriorate quickest with inactivity is insulin sensitivity," says Ben Hurley, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Maryland at College Park (and husband of Nutrition Action's Jayne Hurley). Fortunately, "it also responds most consistently when you train."
Type 2 diabetes--by far the most common kind--occurs when the body be comes insensitive, or resistant, to insulin in the blood. When insulin stops working, blood sugar levels rise and diabetes sets in.
Regular exercise reverses the damage.
"It increases insulin sensitivity and makes the cells better at taking in glucose and processing it," explains I-Min Lee, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
In a study of more than 50,000 nurses, every two hours a day of TV-watching was linked to a 14 percent increase in the risk of diabetes. (1) Every two hours of sitting at work was linked to a 7 percent increase. In contrast, every hour of brisk walking per day was linked to a 34 percent lower risk.
What's more, when researchers told people with high-but-not-yet-diabetic blood sugar levels to do aerobic exercise for at least 2 1/2 hours a week and lose at least 7 percent of their body weight, their risk of diabetes was 58 percent lower than similar people who didn't exercise or lose weight. (2)
"The data are striking," says Hurley. And it's not just an issue for adults. "Type 2 diabetes used to be a disease of middle age," he adds. "But now we're seeing it in young people. It's a sedentary disease."
Hurley sounds like researcher Steven Blair talking about the metabolic syndrome, which raises the risk of both diabetes and heart disease. Doctors diagnose the syndrome when people have a large waist, low HDL ("good") cholesterol, and elevated (though not necessarily high) blood pressure, blood sugar, and triglycerides.
"The metabolic syndrome is misnamed," says Blair, who is president of the Cooper Institute in Dallas, Texas. "It ought to be called the inactivity syndrome."
2 Cancer
"The evidence is fairly clear now that men and women who are physically active have a 30 to 40 percent lower risk of colon cancer compared to individuals who are not active," says Harvard's I-Min Lee, who examined dozens of studies. (3)
Experts have several theories that might explain how physical activity protects the colon. "It increases transit in the intestine, which makes food flow through fast," says Lee. "So any carcinogens in the intestine have less contact with the cells that line the intestine."
Another possibility is that regular exercise shores up the immune system. "That would protect the body from any cancer, including colon," she adds,
Hormone-like substances called prosta glandins might also play a role. "Activity can decrease prostaglandin E2 levels in the intestinal cells," says Lee. "Prostaglandin E2 is associated with a higher risk of colon cancer," she notes, probably because it makes colon cells proliferate faster and slows intestinal motility.
Then there's the obvious: "Physical activity prevents weight gain, and the overweight have a higher risk of colon cancer," says Lee.
How much movement is enough? "We don't have precise data, but it looks like you need 30 to 60 minutes a day of moderate-intensity physical activity."
Regular exercise also appears to lower the risk of breast cancer by about 20 percent. (4) "But the research has been somewhat inconsistent," says Walter Willett, chair of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health.
It's easy to put off, at least today, at least this week, at least until you (choose one) get new sneakers, get past the holidays, get some free time, get a new job, get the kids off to college, whatever.
But as the years slip by, your body isn't just frozen in time, waiting to get moving. It's fading.
"If muscle isn't stimulated, your body senses that you don't need it," explains Miriam Nelson of Tufts University in Boston. "Metabolically, it's expensive to keep up so you start to lose it."
Muscle is just the beginning, she adds. "Inactivity affects the brain, heart, blood vessels, bones, liver, gut, sleep, anxiety, depression, self-esteem, your ability to use glucose, and more."
More Articles of Interest
Give me strength: why you need to lift weights
Glycemic index & weight
"From the top of your head to the bottom of your toes, being physically active is the stimulus that gets most organs in the body to work at their best," says Tufts University exercise expert Miriam Nelson.
"If you're not active, it affects all body systems, literally down to the cellular level, where your ability to transfer oxygen from the bloodstream to cells is diminished and the number of power-producing mitochondria in your cells is less."
"If you can't get as much oxygen out of your blood, you can't walk up a flight of stairs as easily as you get older." And that's just one system that suffers if you're sedentary.
The good news: it's never too late to start moving. "Well into your 90s, all of these systems can be stimulated," notes Nelson. "It's quite remarkable."
Here are 10 ways inactivity can take a toll on your body.
1 Diabetes
"The one thing that seems to deteriorate quickest with inactivity is insulin sensitivity," says Ben Hurley, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Maryland at College Park (and husband of Nutrition Action's Jayne Hurley). Fortunately, "it also responds most consistently when you train."
Type 2 diabetes--by far the most common kind--occurs when the body be comes insensitive, or resistant, to insulin in the blood. When insulin stops working, blood sugar levels rise and diabetes sets in.
Regular exercise reverses the damage.
"It increases insulin sensitivity and makes the cells better at taking in glucose and processing it," explains I-Min Lee, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
In a study of more than 50,000 nurses, every two hours a day of TV-watching was linked to a 14 percent increase in the risk of diabetes. (1) Every two hours of sitting at work was linked to a 7 percent increase. In contrast, every hour of brisk walking per day was linked to a 34 percent lower risk.
What's more, when researchers told people with high-but-not-yet-diabetic blood sugar levels to do aerobic exercise for at least 2 1/2 hours a week and lose at least 7 percent of their body weight, their risk of diabetes was 58 percent lower than similar people who didn't exercise or lose weight. (2)
"The data are striking," says Hurley. And it's not just an issue for adults. "Type 2 diabetes used to be a disease of middle age," he adds. "But now we're seeing it in young people. It's a sedentary disease."
Hurley sounds like researcher Steven Blair talking about the metabolic syndrome, which raises the risk of both diabetes and heart disease. Doctors diagnose the syndrome when people have a large waist, low HDL ("good") cholesterol, and elevated (though not necessarily high) blood pressure, blood sugar, and triglycerides.
"The metabolic syndrome is misnamed," says Blair, who is president of the Cooper Institute in Dallas, Texas. "It ought to be called the inactivity syndrome."
2 Cancer
"The evidence is fairly clear now that men and women who are physically active have a 30 to 40 percent lower risk of colon cancer compared to individuals who are not active," says Harvard's I-Min Lee, who examined dozens of studies. (3)
Experts have several theories that might explain how physical activity protects the colon. "It increases transit in the intestine, which makes food flow through fast," says Lee. "So any carcinogens in the intestine have less contact with the cells that line the intestine."
Another possibility is that regular exercise shores up the immune system. "That would protect the body from any cancer, including colon," she adds,
Hormone-like substances called prosta glandins might also play a role. "Activity can decrease prostaglandin E2 levels in the intestinal cells," says Lee. "Prostaglandin E2 is associated with a higher risk of colon cancer," she notes, probably because it makes colon cells proliferate faster and slows intestinal motility.
Then there's the obvious: "Physical activity prevents weight gain, and the overweight have a higher risk of colon cancer," says Lee.
How much movement is enough? "We don't have precise data, but it looks like you need 30 to 60 minutes a day of moderate-intensity physical activity."
Regular exercise also appears to lower the risk of breast cancer by about 20 percent. (4) "But the research has been somewhat inconsistent," says Walter Willett, chair of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Atlanta and Miami Among Cities Declaring Green Initiatives
Published on April 22nd, 2009
Atlanta and Miami Among Cities Declaring Green Initiatives
by Lori Brown
The cities of Atlanta and Miami are two of the most recent cities to announce their green initiatives –Atlanta for zero-waste and Miami for energy efficiency. Both Atlanta and Miami hope to serve as model cities for their respective programs, inspiring other cities to expand their green efforts.
Downtown Atlanta announced its plan to become the Southeast’s first Zero Waste Zone in February of this year, with plans to expand the program across the state in the near future. The project’s first stop was the downtown Atlanta convention district, where hundreds of thousands tons of waste are sent to landfills. Here’s an outline of some measures put in place to accomplish a zero waste initiative:
The Hyatt Regency Atlanta, where 423,433 meals were served in 2008, now diverts an estimated 928,000 pounds of residual food product from the landfill to be composted. All plates are wiped clean of food, including meat products and placed in compost containers. The spent grease from frying is even captured and refined into bio-fuel.
The city now has commercially available biodiesel fuel, being sold for $2.29 a gallon, for any vehicle that runs on diesel. The fuel is made from locally collected fryer oils, meaning it doesn’t travel far from the source to the pump.
The food waste is collected and blended with wood and yard waste, creating a high-quality organic compost available for sale to local farmers, landscapers and gardeners.
According to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, Georgians dispose of more than 17 million tons of solid waste per year. Recoverable products, including paper, organics and plastics, make up 82 percent of the recyclable materials disposed of in the landfills. With the Zero Waste Zone project, these reusable products will be recycled.
300 Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles will be added to the Florida Power & Light Company fleet, powered using 50 new charging stations. Photo: Austinenergy.com
A bit further South, the mayor of Miami announced this week an energy initiative to invest in Smart Grid technology and renewable energy over the next two years. The initiative, called “Energy Smart Miami,” is expected to create 800 to 1,000 jobs to implement a wide range of technologies to improve electricity delivery and electricity management.
The initiative will use federal economic stimulus funds to help implement the $200 million energy efficiency investment. Program highlights will include:
The installation of Smart Meters to more than 1 million homes and most businesses in Miami-Dade County. The Smart Meters will allow customers to monitor energy use.
The addition of solar panels to local universities and schools to help meet their energy needs with renewable, non-polluting technologies.
The implementation of a Smart-Grid Automation and Communication system to connect Smart Meters, high-efficiency transformers, digitized substations, power generation and other equipment.
Both Atlanta and Miami are serving as model cities for their respective programs. Carol Browner, who serves as President Obama’s point person on energy and climate change said of Miami’s program, “I commend Mayor Diaz for creating a plan that will put these recovery dollars to work and make Miami a Smart Grid model for cities across our country.”
Its good to see Miami is finally getting with the Green program. I have to give the Mayor credit.
Atlanta and Miami Among Cities Declaring Green Initiatives
by Lori Brown
The cities of Atlanta and Miami are two of the most recent cities to announce their green initiatives –Atlanta for zero-waste and Miami for energy efficiency. Both Atlanta and Miami hope to serve as model cities for their respective programs, inspiring other cities to expand their green efforts.
Downtown Atlanta announced its plan to become the Southeast’s first Zero Waste Zone in February of this year, with plans to expand the program across the state in the near future. The project’s first stop was the downtown Atlanta convention district, where hundreds of thousands tons of waste are sent to landfills. Here’s an outline of some measures put in place to accomplish a zero waste initiative:
The Hyatt Regency Atlanta, where 423,433 meals were served in 2008, now diverts an estimated 928,000 pounds of residual food product from the landfill to be composted. All plates are wiped clean of food, including meat products and placed in compost containers. The spent grease from frying is even captured and refined into bio-fuel.
The city now has commercially available biodiesel fuel, being sold for $2.29 a gallon, for any vehicle that runs on diesel. The fuel is made from locally collected fryer oils, meaning it doesn’t travel far from the source to the pump.
The food waste is collected and blended with wood and yard waste, creating a high-quality organic compost available for sale to local farmers, landscapers and gardeners.
According to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, Georgians dispose of more than 17 million tons of solid waste per year. Recoverable products, including paper, organics and plastics, make up 82 percent of the recyclable materials disposed of in the landfills. With the Zero Waste Zone project, these reusable products will be recycled.
300 Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles will be added to the Florida Power & Light Company fleet, powered using 50 new charging stations. Photo: Austinenergy.com
A bit further South, the mayor of Miami announced this week an energy initiative to invest in Smart Grid technology and renewable energy over the next two years. The initiative, called “Energy Smart Miami,” is expected to create 800 to 1,000 jobs to implement a wide range of technologies to improve electricity delivery and electricity management.
The initiative will use federal economic stimulus funds to help implement the $200 million energy efficiency investment. Program highlights will include:
The installation of Smart Meters to more than 1 million homes and most businesses in Miami-Dade County. The Smart Meters will allow customers to monitor energy use.
The addition of solar panels to local universities and schools to help meet their energy needs with renewable, non-polluting technologies.
The implementation of a Smart-Grid Automation and Communication system to connect Smart Meters, high-efficiency transformers, digitized substations, power generation and other equipment.
Both Atlanta and Miami are serving as model cities for their respective programs. Carol Browner, who serves as President Obama’s point person on energy and climate change said of Miami’s program, “I commend Mayor Diaz for creating a plan that will put these recovery dollars to work and make Miami a Smart Grid model for cities across our country.”
Its good to see Miami is finally getting with the Green program. I have to give the Mayor credit.
Composting worms its way into workplaces
Composting worms its way into workplaces
Monday, April 20th, 2009
By Lori Kurtzman • lkurtzman[at]enquirer[dot]com • April 20, 2009
In the break room of Emersion Design in Norwood, beneath the coffee maker, inside an 18-gallon Rubbermaid container, hundreds of worms feast on coffee grounds and the leftover scraps of workday lunches. Emersion started this - it’s called vermicomposting - about a year ago to cut down on waste.
“We had this brilliant idea that we didn’t need to throw away all of our organic stuff,” said Nikki Marksberry, who works in marketing at the architecture and engineering firm. “So I just went to a local pet store and bought food (worms) intended to be for reptiles.”
As growing concern for the environment is pushing many to find more ways to “think green,” some are going beyond recycling cans and reusable grocery bags. Ensuring their food scraps won’t end up perfectly preserved in a landfill - you can find whole carrots at the dump - a growing number of area residents are investing in compost systems, ranging from large outdoor bins to small, worm-led operations like the one at Emersion.
Attendance has doubled in composting classes held at the Civic Garden Center of Greater Cincinnati. Eco-friendly Over-the-Rhine general store Park + Vine has twice sold out of its supply of Happy Farmer indoor kitchen composters. The Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services’ annual sale of outdoor compost bins was such a smash in the fall that even the organizers were shocked.
“For the first time ever, we sold out,” said department spokeswoman Sarah Dowers.
Customers snapped up all 1,500 Earth Machine bins, which retail for $100 and which the county sells for $35. “People were actually upset there were not more to be bought,” Dowers said.
The composting craze even wormed its way to the Wyoming Youth Services Bureau’s annual benefit breakfast last month. Some 900 people tore through thousands of pancakes and gallons of syrup and the amount of landfill-bound trash they generated filled just three garbage bags.
“It was such a good feeling,” said Heidi Spicer, who worked as the event’s “eco-organizer.”
Spicer took table scraps back to her Wyoming home, where she and her husband compost food, leaves and grass and use the resulting organic material to enrich the soil in their fruit and vegetable gardens.
“It’s really simple,” Spicer said.
That’s the refrain from a lot of composters, no matter how they’re doing it. Spicer - who also collects rainwater in an 1,100-gallon tank - has a large system of bins spread throughout her back yard. Jenny Kessler, a University of Cincinnati student who said her roommates “lovingly call me the ‘Green Nazi,’ ” has the compact Happy Farmer and said it’s easy, too.
And at Emersion, the worms do the really hard work. Marksberry loads coffee grounds and decomposing fruit and vegetable waste into the bin weekly.
“You cover it with moist, shredded paper and that’s it,” Marksberry said. “The worms do their thing.”
Every six months or so, when it’s time to unload the bin, Marksberry hauls it home. She dumps the compost - which her fiancé will use in his organic garden - onto her driveway, and picks out the worms. The neighbor kids help
Monday, April 20th, 2009
By Lori Kurtzman • lkurtzman[at]enquirer[dot]com • April 20, 2009
In the break room of Emersion Design in Norwood, beneath the coffee maker, inside an 18-gallon Rubbermaid container, hundreds of worms feast on coffee grounds and the leftover scraps of workday lunches. Emersion started this - it’s called vermicomposting - about a year ago to cut down on waste.
“We had this brilliant idea that we didn’t need to throw away all of our organic stuff,” said Nikki Marksberry, who works in marketing at the architecture and engineering firm. “So I just went to a local pet store and bought food (worms) intended to be for reptiles.”
As growing concern for the environment is pushing many to find more ways to “think green,” some are going beyond recycling cans and reusable grocery bags. Ensuring their food scraps won’t end up perfectly preserved in a landfill - you can find whole carrots at the dump - a growing number of area residents are investing in compost systems, ranging from large outdoor bins to small, worm-led operations like the one at Emersion.
Attendance has doubled in composting classes held at the Civic Garden Center of Greater Cincinnati. Eco-friendly Over-the-Rhine general store Park + Vine has twice sold out of its supply of Happy Farmer indoor kitchen composters. The Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services’ annual sale of outdoor compost bins was such a smash in the fall that even the organizers were shocked.
“For the first time ever, we sold out,” said department spokeswoman Sarah Dowers.
Customers snapped up all 1,500 Earth Machine bins, which retail for $100 and which the county sells for $35. “People were actually upset there were not more to be bought,” Dowers said.
The composting craze even wormed its way to the Wyoming Youth Services Bureau’s annual benefit breakfast last month. Some 900 people tore through thousands of pancakes and gallons of syrup and the amount of landfill-bound trash they generated filled just three garbage bags.
“It was such a good feeling,” said Heidi Spicer, who worked as the event’s “eco-organizer.”
Spicer took table scraps back to her Wyoming home, where she and her husband compost food, leaves and grass and use the resulting organic material to enrich the soil in their fruit and vegetable gardens.
“It’s really simple,” Spicer said.
That’s the refrain from a lot of composters, no matter how they’re doing it. Spicer - who also collects rainwater in an 1,100-gallon tank - has a large system of bins spread throughout her back yard. Jenny Kessler, a University of Cincinnati student who said her roommates “lovingly call me the ‘Green Nazi,’ ” has the compact Happy Farmer and said it’s easy, too.
And at Emersion, the worms do the really hard work. Marksberry loads coffee grounds and decomposing fruit and vegetable waste into the bin weekly.
“You cover it with moist, shredded paper and that’s it,” Marksberry said. “The worms do their thing.”
Every six months or so, when it’s time to unload the bin, Marksberry hauls it home. She dumps the compost - which her fiancé will use in his organic garden - onto her driveway, and picks out the worms. The neighbor kids help
New Times article
Public Food Composting Pilot Project on Virginia Key
By Jackie Sayet in Coming Attractions, Locavore Express
Thursday, Jun. 4 2009 @ 7:30AM
The City of Miami
Fertile ground
We can't seem to get enough of the vermicomposting wormies here on Short Order... If you've got food waste to share or an urban garden that needs soiil, The only thing that might turn your stomach is that there may be a Bush involved. And no, we're not talking the lowercase variety.
Beginning July 1, a summer pilot program will make public food composting a reality on Virginia Key at the site where the City of Miami currently offers residents free mulch and compost from yard trash. The address is 3851 Rickenbacker Causeway.
According to Lanette Sobel of Fertile Earth, a non-profit working with the city, South Dade Soil and Water Conservation District, Florida Atlantic University, and others, the test could become Florida's first public food residuals composting program churning out tons of the stuff to delight urban gardeners and small farmers alike in Miami-Dade.
The plan appears straight forward. Organics from hotels (echem, Ritz Carlton) and restaurants (Sir Pizza?) that agree to participate are collected and deposited at the facility. The local community will also have the opportunity to bring food waste to the site, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., where it will be inspected to make sure it meets criteria. If a person is associated with an urban gardening project, they will receive something in exchange for food residuals, most likely either finished compost or maybe gift certificates to an organic farmers market. An experienced technician then loads the "in-vessel" composting machine. The goodies brew for about 3-5 days, then cure for another 10, and there you have it -- finished compost ready for bulk wholesale to the local agricultural community, or bagged and sold to consumers through a retail distributor like Whole Foods Market.
It's all very exciting, but you may not feel so enthused after a quick visit to the website of BW Organics, the composting machine company with whom Fertile Earth is in talks to procure an in-vessel unit for the project. To promote the wide range of uses for its machines, it's conducting research "to process 25% mortality and 75% chicken litter to be tested and used as a cattle feed supplement." That's not exactly what I wanted to read after watching an advance copy of "Food, Inc." the soon-to-be-released film documenting the horrors of the American food industry, like our systemic dependence on corn and cows being unnaturally fed this rather than grass -- not to mention the idea of dead chickens. But really... Why focus on making the chickens' pen less fatal when we can recycle the ones that die from disease from overcrowding? Oh yeah. Money! Not sure if I'd want to get in compost with that.
By Jackie Sayet in Coming Attractions, Locavore Express
Thursday, Jun. 4 2009 @ 7:30AM
The City of Miami
Fertile ground
We can't seem to get enough of the vermicomposting wormies here on Short Order... If you've got food waste to share or an urban garden that needs soiil, The only thing that might turn your stomach is that there may be a Bush involved. And no, we're not talking the lowercase variety.
Beginning July 1, a summer pilot program will make public food composting a reality on Virginia Key at the site where the City of Miami currently offers residents free mulch and compost from yard trash. The address is 3851 Rickenbacker Causeway.
According to Lanette Sobel of Fertile Earth, a non-profit working with the city, South Dade Soil and Water Conservation District, Florida Atlantic University, and others, the test could become Florida's first public food residuals composting program churning out tons of the stuff to delight urban gardeners and small farmers alike in Miami-Dade.
The plan appears straight forward. Organics from hotels (echem, Ritz Carlton) and restaurants (Sir Pizza?) that agree to participate are collected and deposited at the facility. The local community will also have the opportunity to bring food waste to the site, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., where it will be inspected to make sure it meets criteria. If a person is associated with an urban gardening project, they will receive something in exchange for food residuals, most likely either finished compost or maybe gift certificates to an organic farmers market. An experienced technician then loads the "in-vessel" composting machine. The goodies brew for about 3-5 days, then cure for another 10, and there you have it -- finished compost ready for bulk wholesale to the local agricultural community, or bagged and sold to consumers through a retail distributor like Whole Foods Market.
It's all very exciting, but you may not feel so enthused after a quick visit to the website of BW Organics, the composting machine company with whom Fertile Earth is in talks to procure an in-vessel unit for the project. To promote the wide range of uses for its machines, it's conducting research "to process 25% mortality and 75% chicken litter to be tested and used as a cattle feed supplement." That's not exactly what I wanted to read after watching an advance copy of "Food, Inc." the soon-to-be-released film documenting the horrors of the American food industry, like our systemic dependence on corn and cows being unnaturally fed this rather than grass -- not to mention the idea of dead chickens. But really... Why focus on making the chickens' pen less fatal when we can recycle the ones that die from disease from overcrowding? Oh yeah. Money! Not sure if I'd want to get in compost with that.
Miami's Green Thumb
July 2, 2009
Miami's Green Thumb
Jackie Sayet's blog about Miami's flourishing urban garden movement.
Miami's greening thumb
Miami's greening thumb
It's cropping up on the White House lawn and taking root here in our own backyard. A few days before First Lady Michelle Obama and Assistant White House Chef Sam Kass broke ground on an organic "kitchen garden" with children from a D.C. school, about one hundred of us locals interested in urban gardening sat mesmerized at a public information session with Will Allen of Growing Power. Brought in by area food activist Jo Anne Bander with help from Human Services Coalition President Daniella Levine, the former pro basketball player and University of Miami alum spoke about his love affair with composting worms, aquaponic farming systems and how his Milwaukee-based non-profit distributes 4,000 healthy afterschool snacks of sprouts to area public schools. Yes, you read correctly. Kids are eating sprouts, not mac and cheese, as an afterschool snack in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Everyone from parents to baby-sitters knows that children don't like to be told what to do without knowing why. And that "because I said so" doesn't fly as a reason. I don't pretend to be a child psychologist or nutritionist, but in my experience, the same goes for why they turn their noses up at good-for-you foods. I've seen kids eat and very much enjoy healthy foods when they feel a sense of agency and are involved in the process to the table, especially in a hands-on fashion.
Growing Power began as a youth-serving organization in 1993, when Allen, a farmer with land, began offering teens the opportunity to work at his store and renovate the greenhouses on the property to cultivate food for the surrounding neighborhoods. The program has now grown into a community outreach effort spanning the U.S. and the globe to Africa, Eastern Europe and South America. Its mission revolves around thinking locally and acting globally. Not concerning himself with the big commercial outfits of commodity farmers, Allen focuses on small-scale urban farming techniques to educate people from diverse backgrounds on how to cultivate their own sustainable food sources, and thus improve the environments in which they live. The grass roots movement is steadily gaining momentum in popular culture, as more affluent people look to adopt environmentally-sound lifestyles and cut household expenses to contend with challenging economic conditions.
Allen has been recognized for his accomplishments to date with an 2008 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, providing him with $500,000 in grant money to continue his work over the next five years. A good thing, since action on a mainstream level will take time. And although awareness is very high (just Google "Will Allen Urban Garden" or "Growing Power"), growingpower.org has logged a healthy but modest 81,761 visitors since August 2008, traffic that is a far cry from what You Tube video sensations attract on a weekly basis.
Corporate America is listening and acting now, following the lead of Will Allen, the White House and influential crusaders of the food community like organic gardening advocate and chef Alice Waters. Reader's Digest has just launched a contest called Good Food Gardens, in partnership with Share Our Strength and the Food Network, awarding the creation of five new edible gardens in schools and communities to eligible nonprofits, schools with a valid NCES code or local government entities that serve children and youth. See if your organization qualifies and enter here.
I connected with Jo Anne Bander via email today about Will Allen's presentation last week, and the progress being made on the urban gardening front in Miami. She writes, "Over 125 individuals attended, including individuals with personal interests and representatives of organizations already doing the work, such as Miami-Dade Earth Ethics Institute, the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, Roots in the City and Urban Empowerment in Coconut Grove. There were also individuals present who control land available for urban gardens and good citizen groups. There were individuals from government and quasi-governmental bodies and Mayor Cindy Lerner of Pinecrest. There were educators and backyard gardeners. Most significantly, people who could not attend but heard about the gathering have been contacting us and asking to be kept in the loop."
"There is a significant school garden program already underway, with strong support within Dade County Public Schools. The Education Fund is developing and managing one such initiative, Plant a Thousand Gardens/Collaborative Nutrition Initiative, which launched with a significant grant from Health Foundation of South Florida and has grown with assistance from other funders. They are working with 10 Title I schools."
"Daniella and I, as conveners, see our role as building a big umbrella under which many related and interested groups can work together to increase urban gardening as a means to make healthy food accessible to both children and adults and reduce the Miami-Dade obesity epidemic in both populations-an effective and appropriate means to improve health in our community. School gardens will be an important effort, but only one among many."
To collect the contact information of people who may be interested in learning more or getting involved in the movement, the organizers have developed a short survey here that they are requesting be filled out by March 27. Feel free to forward to others who may be interested in having a conversation about next steps, or who want to be part of the "assets mapping" for urban gardening in Miami
Miami's Green Thumb
Jackie Sayet's blog about Miami's flourishing urban garden movement.
Miami's greening thumb
Miami's greening thumb
It's cropping up on the White House lawn and taking root here in our own backyard. A few days before First Lady Michelle Obama and Assistant White House Chef Sam Kass broke ground on an organic "kitchen garden" with children from a D.C. school, about one hundred of us locals interested in urban gardening sat mesmerized at a public information session with Will Allen of Growing Power. Brought in by area food activist Jo Anne Bander with help from Human Services Coalition President Daniella Levine, the former pro basketball player and University of Miami alum spoke about his love affair with composting worms, aquaponic farming systems and how his Milwaukee-based non-profit distributes 4,000 healthy afterschool snacks of sprouts to area public schools. Yes, you read correctly. Kids are eating sprouts, not mac and cheese, as an afterschool snack in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Everyone from parents to baby-sitters knows that children don't like to be told what to do without knowing why. And that "because I said so" doesn't fly as a reason. I don't pretend to be a child psychologist or nutritionist, but in my experience, the same goes for why they turn their noses up at good-for-you foods. I've seen kids eat and very much enjoy healthy foods when they feel a sense of agency and are involved in the process to the table, especially in a hands-on fashion.
Growing Power began as a youth-serving organization in 1993, when Allen, a farmer with land, began offering teens the opportunity to work at his store and renovate the greenhouses on the property to cultivate food for the surrounding neighborhoods. The program has now grown into a community outreach effort spanning the U.S. and the globe to Africa, Eastern Europe and South America. Its mission revolves around thinking locally and acting globally. Not concerning himself with the big commercial outfits of commodity farmers, Allen focuses on small-scale urban farming techniques to educate people from diverse backgrounds on how to cultivate their own sustainable food sources, and thus improve the environments in which they live. The grass roots movement is steadily gaining momentum in popular culture, as more affluent people look to adopt environmentally-sound lifestyles and cut household expenses to contend with challenging economic conditions.
Allen has been recognized for his accomplishments to date with an 2008 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, providing him with $500,000 in grant money to continue his work over the next five years. A good thing, since action on a mainstream level will take time. And although awareness is very high (just Google "Will Allen Urban Garden" or "Growing Power"), growingpower.org has logged a healthy but modest 81,761 visitors since August 2008, traffic that is a far cry from what You Tube video sensations attract on a weekly basis.
Corporate America is listening and acting now, following the lead of Will Allen, the White House and influential crusaders of the food community like organic gardening advocate and chef Alice Waters. Reader's Digest has just launched a contest called Good Food Gardens, in partnership with Share Our Strength and the Food Network, awarding the creation of five new edible gardens in schools and communities to eligible nonprofits, schools with a valid NCES code or local government entities that serve children and youth. See if your organization qualifies and enter here.
I connected with Jo Anne Bander via email today about Will Allen's presentation last week, and the progress being made on the urban gardening front in Miami. She writes, "Over 125 individuals attended, including individuals with personal interests and representatives of organizations already doing the work, such as Miami-Dade Earth Ethics Institute, the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, Roots in the City and Urban Empowerment in Coconut Grove. There were also individuals present who control land available for urban gardens and good citizen groups. There were individuals from government and quasi-governmental bodies and Mayor Cindy Lerner of Pinecrest. There were educators and backyard gardeners. Most significantly, people who could not attend but heard about the gathering have been contacting us and asking to be kept in the loop."
"There is a significant school garden program already underway, with strong support within Dade County Public Schools. The Education Fund is developing and managing one such initiative, Plant a Thousand Gardens/Collaborative Nutrition Initiative, which launched with a significant grant from Health Foundation of South Florida and has grown with assistance from other funders. They are working with 10 Title I schools."
"Daniella and I, as conveners, see our role as building a big umbrella under which many related and interested groups can work together to increase urban gardening as a means to make healthy food accessible to both children and adults and reduce the Miami-Dade obesity epidemic in both populations-an effective and appropriate means to improve health in our community. School gardens will be an important effort, but only one among many."
To collect the contact information of people who may be interested in learning more or getting involved in the movement, the organizers have developed a short survey here that they are requesting be filled out by March 27. Feel free to forward to others who may be interested in having a conversation about next steps, or who want to be part of the "assets mapping" for urban gardening in Miami
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