To help gauge your impact on the earth please visit the link below to see what your environmental footprint is and what steps you can take to improve it!

http://www.earthday.org/footprint-calculator

My name is Jason Sather, and I am one of the new interns here at Nourish the Planet in Loveland, CO.  I graduated from Prescott College in 2012 with a B.A. in Sustainable Community Development with an emphasis in Ecopsycology and a strong breadth in Earth Sciences. Now 34 years old, I have spent much of my adult life working in the construction industry with experience as a professional plumber and carpenter, among others.  I like to tell people I build things and fix things.  With what I have learned in extensive undergraduate studies encompassing topics like agroecology, earth system science, adventure education, psychology, and sustainability I like to think that I can help fix some of the problems we face as human participants in this more-than-human world while building new systems that help us make sense of our place in it.

It wasn’t until my first collegiate environmental science class in the late nineties that I was introduced to the effects my life had on the world around me.  The ideas that were introduced there created a chain of events that have widened my perspective of the world, and led me here to Nourish the Planet.  Along the way I have learned much about our world and the human effects on it.  Sustainability has become for me much more than a goal, it is a way of life.

For me sustainability is about responsibility and some sacrifice.  It is our responsibility as humans being the most impactful species on the planet to be humans doing the most to be sure that our actions and effects do not destroy the vibrant and fragile systems that sustain life around us.  It is not all about carbon emissions and climate change, although these are very important.  It is also about food systems, water use, resource conservation, habitat loss, economic stability, social equity, waste management and undoing the damage we have already done.  For me, in my life, this is simple: sacrifice some of the comforts we are so accustomed to so that others might be able to have comfort at all. Shorter showers and mindful use and reuse of water, reuse and recycling of materials and resources, driving less, being a more mindful consumer and reducing my waste, and eating less processed foods from sources closer to home as often as I can; these simple things have made a big difference in my life.

I think it really is this simple.  If most people were to incorporate these simple guides into their life we could reduce the environmental footprint of human species substantially.  And this is my plan for the future; sharing what I have learned and teaching others how to be more mindful in their lives, to make choices that have more positive impacts on the world.  My goals for the future all stem from these ideas.  I believe that in the next ten years the U.S.A. can become world leaders in environmental stewardship and resource management.  I do not mean that we will have the best Parks system.  I mean that we can create a society with the lowest environmental footprint, making the greatest strides in technology, conservation, and rehabilitation all aimed at making the life sustaining systems of our planet stronger.  For my part in it, I plan to help inform people about choices that make more sense.   Whether that is convincing clients to build homes that have smaller environmental footprints, developing food systems that feed our growing urban populations without damaging our rural and wild lands, or leading informational workshops to inform citizens about the plethora of choices out there that just make better sense – I will be making a difference.

This is what excites me about working with Nourish the Planet and the Mountain Sky Group.  Nothing is as important to the human species as redefining our food systems.  The carbon footprint associated with our current processed and packed food paradigm is so large that once we start paying the real cost of feeding a growing human population – and we are starting with loss of environmental quality worldwide  – only the richest will be able to feed their families well.  But with innovative livestock feeding systems, and brilliantly designed and implemented urban growing systems, we have the ability to not only offer the urban populations more nutritious food, but with a lower environmental and financial cost as well.  With our global fresh water supplies dwindling, options like aquaponics systems just make a lot of sense.  The things I am learning at Nourish the Planet are leading the way in repurposing urban blight and developing food security and I am enthusiastic about being a part of it!  If I could go back and tell my younger self anything, it would be to get into this sort of thing much earlier, and maybe see more of the world.

I love traveling and south-east Asia is high on the list as is South America.  I would love to spend some time in small villages around the world, learning from different cultures their secrets to happiness and simplicity.  I love hiking and exploring and when I get overburdened by the pressures of life nothing makes me feel better than getting far away from the trappings of the city and wondering in strange lands.  I often carry with me my camera, trying to capture the essence of beauty in the wild around me or catching a glimpse of the humanity we all share.  This is what inspires me when I feel down; the truth that we all share that spark of creation within and between us, every person, plant and animal the essence of creativity and beauty.  I try to remember that we all share in the joy of accomplishment and sorrows of defeat with those close to us, and together as human beings and humans doing, we can overcome anything. When it all comes down to it, I try to live my life, as my father taught me, with integrity. In the highest, represented by the life of Mahatma Gandhi, the words and actions of a few can inspire the many to rise together and do what is right.  Or more directly summed up in a phrase attributed to Gandhi: “Live simply so that others may simply live.”

When did you first become interested in sustainability?

I first got turned on to some of the bigger ideas of sustainability working on my senior project in high school which involved building a biodiesel reactor and designing passive solar buildings for our campus. I really caught the bug and have been trying to learn more ever since.

What are the most interesting/important things that you’ve learned since being an intern at Nourish the Planet?

It’s been great to see the procedures in place for monitoring the various systems. My past experiences with aquaculture and hydroponics have been very hodgepodge, seeing a steady-state system is great.

How do you incorporate sustainability into your life?

My biggest commitment to sustainability is that I try not to consume excessively. I like to live frugally and make or reuse things rather than buying them new.

What do you want to see change in the world in the next 10 years?

I think the biggest improvement would be if people start to rethink our transportation system. It’s bigger than driving better cars or even biking though, you have to also look at how cities are laid out and really redesign the whole built environment. It’s one of the big areas where change is about improving the entire experience with sustainable benefits on the side.

What are your goals for the future?

It’s all in flux but I hope that someday down the road I’ll be able to look back and say I created some change for the better

If you could give advice to your younger self, what would it be?

Not everything has gone smoothly, but they’ve always been learning experiences so I wouldn’t change a thing. Although it would’ve been nice to get fewer speeding tickets right off the bat.

What is the number one place that you would like to travel to?

I’d really like to visit Spain. For the food and architecture especially. And of course, once you’re there, you have to see Barcelona play.

What is your favorite book that you’ve read in the past year?

Walden has been a big influence on my thinking, it’s one of those books I always come back to. There are some big ideas in there. “Don’t stretch the seams in trying on the coat, for you may find it fits another man quite well,” (give or take) made quite an impression on me the first time through, for example.

As for the last year, the best book I read was by far The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham.

Name one thing that you could not live without?

I have a pretty bad internet addiction. A week or two at a time isn’t so bad, but living without it? That’d really get to me.

When did you first become interested in sustainability?
I remember coming home from an afternoon at the World Water Day celebration on the CU Boulder campus as a 5th grader and declaring that I would never waste a drop of water EVER. I’m a little more realistic these days… My first run-in with conservation has since grown into a more holistic and complex understanding of sustainability, and with it my interest.

What are the most interesting/important things that you’ve learned since being an intern at Nourish the Planet?
Trade-offs. Achieving sustainability requires a great many trade-offs along the winding R&D road.

How do you incorporate sustainability into your life?
In small ways everyday. From biking around town, to compost and container gardening, to DIY and re-use projects. Living as sustainably as possible and living on a budget go extremely well together.

What do you want to see change in the world in the next 10 years?
Too many things. But if I have to narrow it down, I would like for fear to take a back seat, leaving room for inclusion, patience, generosity, and optimism to take the wheel in most every social institution.

What are your goals for the future?
I intend to continue working at the intersection of nutrition and agriculture in a sustainable context and applying technology in places with the most to gain from innovation.

If you could give advice to your younger self, what would it be?
Never forget that you are the captain of your brainship! And always trust your intuition.

What is your favorite book that you’ve read in the past year?
Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything. Hands down.

What do you wish you were better at?
Delivering bad news, and running.

Name one thing that you could not live without?
The internet, though basic nutrition and clean water make a good case
for themselves too.

When you are feeling unmotivated, how do you inspire yourself?
I check out the stars and let the mind-blowing vastness of it all put
things back into perspective. TED lectures can do the trick too.

What is one sentence that describes the philosophy by which you live your life?
Leap! And the net will appear.

This same process is occurring in California, specifically the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.  The San Joaquin Valley, which makes up the southern portion of California’s Central Valley, is among the most productive farming areas in the United States. However, salt build-up in the soils and groundwater is threatening its productivity and sustainability.  Another example is with the Imperial Valley and the Salton Sea.  Irrigation water comes from the Colorado River and is very high in salt.  The runoff from irrigation water flows to the Salton Sea.  With no outlet, the Salton Sea’s salinity has continuously increased as the water evaporates.  According to California Agriculture Online, three factors contribute to salinization:

1.  All irrigation waters contain dissolved salts, with concentrations varying considerably according to the origin of the water.

2.  Plants extract negligible amounts of salt, so the soil solution becomes concentrated as water is removed by evapotranspiration.

3.  Water quantities in excess of evapotranspiration must be applied to leach salts beyond the root zone to prevent reduced crop yields.

In areas where salinity poses a problem, sustainable irrigated agriculture can still be achieved.   This would be by: (1) maintaining a salt balance so that salts added is equal to salts removed, and (2) removing drainage water and dissolved salts when the water table reaches the root zone.  When the water table is high, water is more prone to evapotranspiration, thus increasing the amount of water depleted and leaving behind salts.  

Both methods mentioned above are simply stated, yet they are far more complicated, especially when applied on a global scale.  Not only are there technological and environmental factors, but there are also cultural and political factors that can hinder the salt balance within sustainable irrigated agriculture.  

References:

Letey, John.  “Soil salinity poses challenges for sustainable agriculture and wildlife”.  University of California.  2000.  Site accessed on 25-Oct-2012. http://ucanr.org/repository/cao/landingpage.cfm?article=ca.v054n02p43&fulltext=yes

Schoups, Gerrit et al.  “Sustainability of irrigated agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley, California”.  University of California, Davis.  2005.  Site accessed on 25-Oct-2012. <http://www.pnas.org/content/102/43/15352.full.pdf>

Written By: Stephanie Lynn, Aquaponics Intern

I grew up in Indiana and moved to Colorado in 2007.  My educational background is in agronomy and pharmaceutics from Purdue, and environmental engineering from Colorado State.  I have always enjoyed science and math and I love to apply those principles to the real world.  I also enjoy spending time outdoors observing the world around me.  

When did you first become interested in sustainability?

I became interested in sustainability during one of my plant breeding classes at Purdue.  The professor was from Africa and he often gave real examples of how many people around the world struggle just to be able to eat and drink.  These struggles were the result of environmental, educational, economical, and/or cultural factors. 

What are the most interesting/important things that you’ve learned since being an intern at Nourish the Planet?

I have only been working a couple weeks now, but I have already learned about the dynamic interactions between the plants, aquatic life, and water.  In school I was taught about these interactions, but to be able to actually witness this first-hand is extremely valuable from an educational standpoint.  

How do you incorporate sustainability into your life?

I have always incorporated the three R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle), but recently, I have been getting into growing my own garden.  I really enjoy learning new things and developing new skills.  

What do you want to see change in the world in the next 10 years? I would like to see the world take a little time to observe what is around them – to appreciate what they have, and to learn to use their local resources in an efficient and responsible manner.

What are your goals for the future?

I have two goals.  The first would be to either work for a company, or own my own company, that provides consulting for river and lake restoration.  I would absolutely love to work on high alpine lakes.  My second goal is to provide educational and technological consulting on an international level in ecological sustainability and restoration.  

If you could give advice to your younger self, what would it be?

I would tell myself to not get so wrapped up in the little things.  Things will get tough, but keep an open mind and a good heart, and things will work out.

What is the number one place that you would like to travel to?

Iceland.  The amount of beauty here is unimaginable – volcanoes, mountains, waterfalls, green earth, rock, etc.  The land and geology are fascinating.  I am also interested in how the country uses thermal energy for their needs.

What do you do to “get away from it all” or what is your passion?

I really enjoy getting out to the mountains.  I enjoy climbing the 14ers and 13ers as well as going for long trail runs.

What is your favorite book that you’ve read in the past year?

Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner.  It’s an interesting book about the effects and impacts of water during the settling of the American West.

What do you wish you were better at?

I wish I was better at learning by listening.  I seem to learn best by either doing or by seeing; but it is hard for me to remember or understand much when it is given to me verbally.

When you are feeling unmotivated, how do you inspire yourself?

I usually go for a long run to clear my mind.  It’s amazing how much better and calmer I feel when I am finished.

In 2003, the European Union commissioned a greenhouse design from Watergy that would do just that. Over the course of three years, two prototypes were tested; the system built in Spain consisted of an airtight greenhouse combined with a secondary solar collector and cooling tower (concept shown in figure below). It was able to recycle evaporation and plant transpiration, desalinate seawater, and passively cool the air during the day and heat the air at night – all by virtue of its design and water coolant circulation.

During the daytime, sunlight heats the greenhouse’s moist air, causing it to rise up the outside of the cooling tower. The tower is colored black to absorb as much heat as possible, thus encouraging warm, moist air to gather from the entire lower section of the greenhouse. Cool water is circulated from a reserve tank outside the greenhouse and into a water-to-air exchanger built into the inner tube of the tower. This encourages the moist air near the top of the tower to condense droplets onto the exchanger. These droplets stream down the inside of the tower to the bottom, where it is collected and reused. The dry air resulting from this process continues to the lower section of the tower and out into the greenhouse, thus cooling the plants.

During the condensation process the heat from the air in the top of the tower is transferred into the circulating exchanger-water. This causes the water in the reserve tank to gradually heat up throughout the daytime. The water from this reserve tank continues circulating in the same direction all throughout the day and night. At night, this causes the air in the greenhouse to reverse direction, as the warm air-to-water exchanger encourages the air near the plants to rise up the inner tube of the tower. This air then falls down the outside of the inner tube, heating the greenhouse. By morning, the water in the reserve tank has returned to its originally-cool temperature, and is ready to begin the cycle anew.

I’ll be posting updates and results for the application of this concept to a small-scale aquaponics system in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

Written by: Alex Gan, Water Quality Intern

When did you first become interested in sustainability?

Sustainability has always been defined in my mind as the proper stewarding of our natural environment. The first time I really appreciated nature in its pristine state was my first hike into Rocky Mountain National Park. Western Colorado’s mountainous region contains vistas worthy enough to convince anyone that environmental stewarding is a significant endeavor.

What are the most interesting/important things that you’ve learned since being an intern at Nourish the Planet?

I have always assumed that agriculture, be it natural or hydroponically-grown, consumes a large amount of water. Maintaining the modular aquaponic systems here at NTP has taught me that crops can be grown with astonishingly efficient water usage.

How do you incorporate sustainability into your life?

I utilize my purchasing power carefully. The United States, as with much of the world, is a society dominated by consumerism. All products, regardless of production location and efficiency, stress the planet’s resources. Some, like home-grown herb gardens, stress the soil marginally, and yield the payback of reducing commercial pesticide use, transportation costs, and packaging. Others, like many of the latest high-tech gadgets, distress literally all parts of nature’s resource cycle. Consumerism is powerful, and holds the potential for both the greatest preservation of our planet, and its expedited demise. By considering all of my purchases carefully, and by researching their production methods, I affect the sustainability of our planet’s resources with literally every dollar I spend.

What do you want to see change in the world in the next 10 years?

What do I want to see change in the world in the next 10 years? Too many things. But I’ll settle for something smaller, for the immediate future: Stereotypes. Categorization is very necessary for daily living, and we (me and you, likely) all classify the people we meet every day into different social bins. I am no psychology major, but I’ve heard its actually quite necessary for daily functioning. What I would like to see continue to change is people’s willingness to challenge those self-proscribed stereotypes more often.

What are your goals for the future?

I could put something inspirational here, but honestly, I don’t have a list of goals. I try to live in each day as it comes, loving others and working productively as best I can for the day. 

If you could give advice to your younger self, what would it be?

Be with people. Don’t allow yourself to be captured by the lull of entertainment media. Meet someone new each day, re-connect with old friends more frequently, and go deeper in the friendships you have already. Don’t quit the day until you’ve broached the skin of superficiality with at least one person in your path.

What do you do to “get away from it all” or what is your passion?

The Iron and Steel. Never mind the fact that it’s actually mostly steel and hardened rubber; when I need to get away from it all, I turn to the tension-releasing activity of lifting weights against gravity. The simplicity of concept and motion found in weight-training pulls me back to the gym daily.

What is your favorite book that you’ve read in the past year?

The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. Some have said that he’s the J.R.R. Tolkien of the century. I’m not quite sure I agree; the book is much easier to start reading. You don’t have to wade through dozens of pages of insomnia-curing Hobbit-lore to get to the meaty, delightful story.

Name one thing that you could not live without?

Books. Having traveled the world since my early youth – and spent several hours in long waiting-lines – I propose that books are a person’s greatest inanimate companion.

When you are feeling unmotivated, how do you inspire yourself?

I read the words of Dave Draper, the Blond Bomber, who is my favorite bodybuilder. Being a former Mr. America, Mr. Olympia, and Mr. Universe, not only is Draper a great worker of the body, but he’s an incredibly creative, funny, and inspirational writer. Having worked through some of the lowest lows and highest highs of life, his writing reflects all that is most important to keep in mind when you’re feeling unmotivated. God’s love, a can of tuna, and plenty of water. Enough said.

What is one sentence that describes the philosophy by which you live your life?

There is no single sentence that encapsulates the entire philosophy by which I live my life. There is a relationship that does, but that’s with a Person, and not with a sentence. There is a sentence that describes some of how I choose to live my life, however:

I believe individuals to be of more value than things, quality of more value than happiness, forgiveness of more value than pride, sincerity of more value than artificiality, and beauty of more value than adornment.

Barry Levinson Makes Eco-Horror -  “The idea behind “The Bay” began after Mr. Levinson was asked to direct a documentary about environmental crises facing Chesapeake Bay. After watching a 2009 “Frontline” broadcast on the topic he opted instead for a graphic fictional treatment. “I don’t know that we pay attention to facts anymore,” he said over lunch in New York recently…  “We have to breathe the air and drink water,” he continued. “If you take one of those common elements, or put something into those elements, and make it the enemy, it becomes terrifying.”

Climate Changing Methane Rapidly Destabilizing off East Coast – A changing Gulf Stream off the East Coast has destabilized frozen methane deposits trapped under nearly 4,000 square miles of seafloor, scientists reported Wednesday. And since methane is even more potent than carbon dioxide as a global warming gas, the researchers said, any large-scale release could have significant climate impacts.

Sandy Storm Surge, is This What Climate Change Looks Like – Excellent graphics.

Vertical Farm in Singapore Produces a Ton of Food a Day – “The vertical farm, which has been developed by Sky Green Farms, consists of 120 aluminum towers, each extending up almost 30 feet in height. It can produce over 1,000 pounds of three kinds of vegetables per day, all of which are sold in the local FairPrice Finest supermarkets. However, they do cost a little more than imported vegetables.”

Corn Mazes Help Cash Strapped Farmers – “All across the country, small farmers have figured out the same formula. The hundreds of corn mazes that rise up each autumn can be more lucrative than agriculture itself.”

US Corn Moves Upside Down – “Processors and ethanol producers in No. 2 corn state Illinois, where the average corn yield was the lowest in nearly 25 years, are “importing” millions of bushels of the grain – an unprecedented volume – from North Dakota, which produced a record crop this year, trade sources said. Northern corn is even reaching key livestock states such as Texas and Oklahoma.”

Oxen’s Possible Slaughter Prompts Fight in Vermont -  “Just past the village here is the farm at Green Mountain College, where chickens roam free and solar panels heat a greenhouse. The idea of sustainability runs so deep that instead of machines fueled by diesel, a pair of working oxen have tilled the fields for the better part of a decade, a rare evocation of a New England agricultural tradition. Their names are Bill and Lou, and by the end of the month, they are to be slaughtered and turned into hamburger meat for the dining hall.”

Axolotl’s Endangered -  “Aztec legend has it that the first axolotl, the feathery-gilled salamander that once swarmed through the ancient lakes of this city, was a god who changed form to elude sacrifice.  But what remains of its habitat today — a polluted network of canals choked with hungry fish imported from another continent — may prove to be an inescapable threat.”