Jim Mumford

Helping Homeless San Diegans One Plant At A Time

| September 1, 2016 | Categories: Case Studies, Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
Alpha Project residents show off their new orchids from Good Earth Plant Company.
Several months ago at a Citizens Coordinate for Century 3 (C3) panel discussion on the homelessness problem in San Diego, one of the panel members really energized me. Her name is Amy Gonyeau, and she is Chief Operating Officer with the Alpha Project. For those who aren’t familiar with it (like me I’m embarrassed to say), Alpha Project is a nonprofit human services organization that serves over 4,000 homeless men, women, and children each day with a variety of services like affordable housing, residential substance abuse treatment, transportation, mental health counseling, employment training, and also emergency services. I started my career in the plant industry with a flower kiosk on the corner of 6th and B streets in downtown San Diego.… Read More

Go Green When You Remodel Your Home

| August 25, 2016 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Environment, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping, Sustainable Living
Good Earth Pl;ant Company makes sustainability a way of life.
Plenty of people put off home improvement and remodeling projects over the last few years due to America’s Great Recession. Get ready for a new look in a lot of homes – maybe even your own. Several major industry studies predict a big jump in remodeling activity. The Joint Center for Housing Students of Harvard University projects a trend for home improvement and repair expenses to reach eight percent by 2017, nearly double the historic average, based on its own model it calls the “Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity” or LIRA. And who are we to argue with Harvard? The website HomeAdvisor and the National Association of Home Builders reports also agree with the Harvard outlook.… Read More

I’m Jim Mumford and I Approved This Green Message

| August 18, 2016 | Categories: Biophilia, Good Earth Plant Company, Sustainable Living
Go green this election and request an electronic sample ballot this year.
The November election is barely 10 weeks away and San Diego County residents will have a LOT of decisions to make. Not just the big one about who will be our next American President, but about legalizing marijuana, changing the way local elections work, and whether we want to help build a new stadium/convention center downtown for the San Diego Chargers. There are so many decisions and so much information for voters, the San Diego County Registrar of Voters will send City of San Diego residents not just one but TWO ballot pamphlets, each more than 100 pages long. Only the fall fashion magazines have more pages (so I am told).… Read More

Before You Go Back to School, Go Back to Nature

| August 11, 2016 | Categories: Environment, Gardening, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living
A Harvard study found teens living in areas with high quality green spaces are at less risk of depression.
Those precious days of summer vacation are already starting to wind down. Back to school ads are everywhere. By this point of the summer back when I was a kid (yes, I realize this is a LONG time ago to some of you), I didn’t stay at the breakfast or dinner table a second longer than I had to. I was too busy outside with all kinds of activities. Do kids even build forts anymore? If you are still trying to pry your kids away from the screens of their phones, tablets or laptops to enjoy outdoor activities during the summer and haven’t been too successful, don’t give up.… Read More

Amazon Goes Big With New HQ Biosphere in Seattle

| August 4, 2016 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilia, Biophilic Design, Living Walls, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping, Sustainable Living
Rendering of the Amazon headquarters "biospheres" under construction in Seattle. Photo Courtesy NBBJ
Outrageous workplace perks in the tech industry have reached epic proportions. Google has the reputation of offering the most extreme benefits. Google better enjoy its status while it can. The new Amazon headquarters in downtown Seattle is going to blow Google’s free laundry services and the Facebook snack bar away. Amazon is building three massive “biosphere” type greenhouses as part of its new $4 billion headquarters in the hip Denny Regrade. These three connected greenhouses will house 65,000 square feet of tropical plants, with 3,000 different species. Compare this to the San Diego Botanical Garden in Balboa Park. It houses 2,100 species of plants in just under 20,000 square feet of space.… Read More

What’s Good For Nature Is Good for the Bottom Line at the San Diego Green Building Expo

| July 28, 2016 | Categories: Good Earth Plant Company, Green Roofs, Nature and Wellbeing
USGBC Green Building Conference and Expo September 16, 2016
San Diego is known for a lot of things. Comic-Con. Craft beer. Green building. Yes, the City of San Diego and the state of California as a whole are policy leaders when it comes to setting goals for using water and energy wisely and in sustainable ways, which includes encouraging green building. We all know by now we’ve got to get serious about sustainability to stop doing damage to the planet. Plant a green roof is a good start! But what’s good for Mother Nature can also be good for the bottom line. Business can benefit from biophilic design and thinking.… Read More

Plants’ Secret Language: Can They Communicate?

| July 21, 2016 | Categories: Biophilia, Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
People have been talking to plants for years. Is there now a way for plants to talk to us?
When I first got started working with plants professionally in the late 1970s, talking to your plants to make them grow better was a hot topic. Even Prince Charles said in a 1986 interview that he talked to his plants. “I just come and talk to the plants, really. Very important to talk to them; they respond.” Some people thought it was pretty hippie dippy, but others took it seriously including a lot of scientists, long before the 1970s fad. German researcher Gustav Fechner wrote a book about it in 1848. Electrical signals in plants were discovered over 100 years ago, in 1873, by British scientist John Burdon-Sanderson.… Read More

Breathe Easier With These Top Air Purifying Plants

| July 14, 2016 | Categories: Environment, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living
Our most popular blog post of all time describes the many benefits of indoor plants in the workplace. It makes me happy when I see people interested in this topic and educating themselves on the myriad of benefits that indoor plants provide to their human companions beyond just looking pretty. Many of these proven benefits can be traced back to one of the original studies done by NASA in conjunction with the Associated Landscape Contractors of America in 1989, which wanted to learn the most effective “house-plants” which might help purify the air their astronauts must breathe during extended missions at the International Space Station, and eventually on trips to Mars and beyond.… Read More

Nature Has The Answer to Our Toughest Questions (As Usual)

| July 7, 2016 | Categories: Biophilia, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living
Could a bionic leaf help us cut our use of fossil fuels for energy and solve the global warming crisis? Research at Harvard University is promising.
The quest to find a new energy source and solve our global warming problem could come down to turning over a new leaf. It’s one of the most exciting developments in science I’ve read about in a long time. Daniel Nocera, the Patterson Rockwood Professor of Energy at Harvard University, has been working on a way to find a new energy source that is practical and replicable. His work is based on one of the most efficient energy processing machines there is: the simple plant leaf, which is responsible for turning light (solar energy) into chemical energy that it can use to fuel growth.… Read More

Nature Photography Is A Family Affair In New Book

| June 30, 2016 | Categories: Environment, Good Earth Plant Company, Nature and Wellbeing
I’m fascinated on both a personal and professional level with the principles of biophilia, the instinctive bond between human beings and other living systems. Edward O. Wilson introduced this concept in his book, Biophilia (1984). He defines biophilia as “the urge to affiliate with other forms of life.” The implications for our personal physical and mental well-being are profound. We can use the principles of biophilia and improve our well-being by proactively seeking this connection with nature through things like introducing plants into our work and home environments, taking walks through parks, or encouraging the integration of nature into our everyday urban spaces with elements such as living walls.… Read More