Sustainable Living
Many myths circulate at Christmastime, and several of them deal with our favorite holiday theme plants. The Good Earth Plants Eco-Warrior is here with his Myth Busters hat on to help you out by spreading the true dirt.
Myth 1: Poinsettias are poisonous.
NO, poinsettias are NOT poisonous! It has been a real battle to bust this myth. Some sources attribute the rumor to a 1919 poisoning case in Hawaii that led to the death of a two year-old child. At the time, the cause of the poisoning was incorrectly determined to be a poinsettia leaf.
Poison control centers nationwide say a child or pet weighing 50 pounds would have to eat 500 poinsettia leaves to even start being affected, and that might be due to plant overload versus outright poisoning.… Read More
Join the #OptOutside Movement on Black Friday
Recently it seems like we barely get to clear the Thanksgiving dinner table before the madness known as Black Friday hits us. So I was one of many people who loved REI’s announcement on October 27 it would not just close its stores in Black Friday and give their 12,000 employees the day off, but it would also encourage all of them to enjoy outdoor activities with family and friends.
What a concept, putting Nature at the center of your Thanksgiving holiday. We could all use a reason to burn some calories after chowing down Thursday night.
I’m not naïve enough to think there wasn’t a bit of public relations genius behind this.… Read More
What’s More Toxic Than Bacon? Find Out Monday, Nov 16 on San Diego 6 Morning News
Just a few weeks ago, all of us who love our bacon got some bad news. Researchers report consuming processed meats including bacon increase your risk of certain kinds of cancer. There were a lot of people freaking out at the idea of saying goodbye to their bacon cheeseburgers and bacon doughnuts.
Another study about health risks in our lives hit the news the same week and it didn’t get half as much attention. I’m here to change this by getting the word out here on my Good Earth Plants blog. It turns out your office is ruining your brain.
More specifically, it’s the toxins in the office air affecting your brain’s ability to process thoughts.… Read More
Water, Water Everywhere: Tips to Prep for El Niño
It seemed like just a few days ago we were still wearing shorts and flip flops while watching our bone dry yards hang on for cooler, wetter weather ahead.
Suddenly we have freeway offramps and neighborhoods flooding due to rainstorms. Is this San Diego or the Pacific Northwest?
Weather forecasters tell us an El Niño winter is ahead, and based on this week’s weather you can call me a believer. It seems like the temporary answer to our drought problems and your long-suffering landscape plants. But an overabundance of water can create its own set of problems. Some of them can turn out to be destructive and very expensive to fix if you don’t take measures now to prepare.… Read More
Prescribing Nature as the Cure: Ecotherapy
When I first started writing this blog over two years ago in 2013, one of the first topics I wrote about was the concept of biophilia, the study of the connection between human beings and nature. I’m sure a lot of people thought the idea was a little “out there.”
We have come a long way in thinking about how nature affects our well-being in that time. This month, the respected magazine The Atlantic published an article called “The Nature Cure.” It is all about the growing practice of medical professionals including mental health specialists actually prescribing nature to their patients to help treat their ills.… Read More
Get Fresh Ideas at the Good Earth Plants Fall Open House on Friday, October 16
In San Diego we are blessed to enjoy the last bits of summer weather almost until Halloween. Good Earth Plant Company loves to take advantage of this with our annual Fall Open House every year in the middle of October. This year, our 2015 Fall Open House and Plant Sale at our warehouse and demo garden takes place Friday October 16, from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
The Open House takes place at our headquarters, 7922 Armour Street in San Diego. See a map here.
What’s behind our invitation to you? Everyone at Good Earth Plant Company is very proud of the work we do, and we love to share what we are about.… Read More
Going Green is a Cruise
The cruise line Royal Caribbean got our attention last year when Good Earth Plant Company learned that two of his ships, “Oasis of the Seas” and “Allure of the Seas” featured their own onboard living walls covered in 12,000 beautiful living plants for their passengers to enjoy.
We were – and still are – so glad to see ships growing real plants instead of displaying all replicas as many have done in the past. Royal Caribbean recently got in touch with us to let us know about some of its additional efforts to be environmentally responsible while sailing on the world’s oceans.… Read More
Let An Urban Farm Grow In Your Part of the Planet
It was great to see so many of you at the U.S. Green Building Conference on “The Value of Sustainability” held on September 22 at SDG&E’s Energy Innovation Center, where we have one of our favorite outdoor succulent walls. It looked fantastic if I do say so myself!
If you missed it, the conference featured local and national experts including yours truly talking about sustainable strategies on the triple bottom line: People, Planet and Profit. They aren’t mutually exclusive.
It was well attended and well organized. Due to the press of business at Good Earth Plant Company I wasn’t able to stay all day, but many people did.… Read More
Good Earth Plant Company Leaflet Newsletter: Fall 2015
Hot off the … laptop! Click here to read the Fall 2015 edition of the Good Earth Plant Company Leaflet newsletter.
Highlights this issue include: waterwise tips, our newest featured project, our Calendar full of fun, informative green themed events in San Diego (including our next Open House) and the President’s Letter.
Would you like to get our newsletter delivered right to your inbox? Sign up here at the bottom of our home page. All we need is your email address.
Celebrating National Indoor Plant Week!
It’s one of our favorite occasions this week at Good Earth Plant Company: National Indoor Plant Week. It is the third week of September each year, which is this week.
We talk about indoor plants and plantscaping a lot, and not just because it’s our business. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ranks indoor air pollution as one of the top threats to public health. That means YOUR health if you work indoors for multiple hours per day in an office environment. What’s even more awful is that most people have no idea how many pollutants they breathe in every single day.… Read More