The frog was not talking about his garden when he sang "it's not easy being green" he was talking about his soul. Cultivating a green soul is not always easy but it is more worth the doing than just about anything I know.

When it becomes our goal to nurture nature we begin to cultivate a relationship that supports our entire ecosystem.

Remember, if it is poisoning the frogs, birds and insects, then it is probably poisoning us and our kids. So this year take a vow to ditch the pesticides and herbicides and grow a lawn and garden that the frog would be happy to sing his heart out in. Here are some helpful tips:

1. Let's begin by considering our home, garden and environs as part of our immediate family and treat them with the love and respect that they deserve.
2. Keep it simple, let some of the marginal areas of our small or large acre go native or wild. This makes less work for us and helps restore depleted habitats for pollinators and small wildlife. There is no shame in, as Jane Austen puts it, "a prettyish kind of little wilderness on one side of your lawn." You gotta love the style of those nature loving Victorians.
3. Growing grasses, flowers and vegetables that are suitable for our zone helps to maximize gratification from our landscape. Having our soil tested then amending it properly and organically is key.
4. Always choosing to go green with our dollar by sticking to organic and green gardening sites, seeds and supplies for our landscape, is easier now than ever.
5. Making Green Hour activities part of our family's daily routine helps us to build a healthy relationship with our environment. Remembering to dream green by visualizing our lives, our gardens and our planet greenly helps to reinforce their health via "ye olde power of positive thinking."

Happy green planning and I'll see you over the fence this spring with lots of green gardening tips!

(Photo credit:ms.lume on flickr)

Is this deformed cyclops frog real? Thankfully, it's not. I triple-checked, because you never know these days. Real and really freaky froggy mutations eerily similar to this Photoshop tweak aren't too far off in the future, give or take a leg or three.

The evidence, according to an Associated Press report released today: An alarming 1,895 species of frogs, toads and other amphibian cousins are dropping like their favorite food at an alarming rate. Why? Because of toxic fungus- and algae-brewing industrial and residential runoff water pollution and pharmaceutical-loaded pee from you and me. But you knew that. Don't forget climate change, habitat annihilation and ozone thinning.

Poor Kermit. Miss Piggy's codependency isn't enough. He has to have major existential issues, too. Literally.

And when frogs have problems, so do we, the fertilizer-sprinkling two-leggeds who endanger them. See, certain amphibians, like frogs, are indicator species. Basically, they are the first animals to show up warped when something's rotten in Denmark, and in the rest of the world and our environment. When frogs grow freaky, biodiversity scientists cry Red Alert. For example, they're warning that "up to 30 percent of all species on Earth could vanish by 2050 due to unsustainable human activities."

If you think mosquitoes are a pain now, just wait.

Actually, please don't.

Don't wait until Kermit ends up like the countless webbed wonders that died off before scientists could discover them. How can you help? Start by reading this and picking one or two easy action items to help slow the fast-forward plight of the frog. When you do, you also help the birds and other wildlife that rely on frog eggs and tadpoles for survival, and you help yourself and everyone else in this great and greatly diminishing web of life.

(Photo credit:flickr, azrainman)

Before I tear what's left of the "hemorrhaging" newspaper industry to unrecyclable shreds, allow me to sincerely apologize to my two favorite journalism professors, Nicholas Daniloff and Jane Harrigan. I don't want to believe it either.

Today, el Dia de Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead), seems a fitting day to bid the newspaper--and more than a few of my unfulfilled print journalism dreams--a final farewell. R.I.P. Baltimore Examiner, Rocky Mountain News, Kentucky Post and whichever press the ax fells dead next.

Sadly, print journalism is heaving its last breath, as evidenced by the recent sale of TV Guide (though not exactly quality print journalism) for a measly buck, less than the price of a single copy, as noted in the New York Times, online of course.

I was blind to the inevitable coup of new media over old media 14 years ago, when I bombed an interview with this somehow still-surviving Massachusetts daily by naively answering the question "Will the Internet eventually kill newspapers?" with a cocky "Of course not! Newspapers are the only way commuters will ever get their news." Clearly not a sustainable answer ... or institution.

That was before Blackberrys stormed our world and Kindle rekindled our lust for reading, before "green" grew up from a buzzword to a lifestyle to a global movement (then back to an overkill buzzword again?).

Only the online will (might?) survive the rising Newspaper Death Watch. That is the newspapers that convert their aging old-school paper-readers into screen-readers, then convince them to fork over green for the very same news they can get faster and FREE here, there and everywhere.

I'm too deep in career denial to fully mourn the newspaper ... yet. So I'll start by embracing the greener pasture--the upside, I suppose--of its demise. The umpteen tree-hugging upsides. So, goodbye to the printed newspaper, the love of my professional life and, regrettably, a major environmental menace that:

• Spews the fourth-largest level of greenhouse gases of all U.S. industries, including carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and other carcinogenic particulate uglies.
• Contributes to the PCB sediment contamination and much more toxic chemical runoff polluting our nation's rivers and waterways.
• Relies upon a carcinogenic concoction of toxins to break down wood fibers and bleach pulp, including chlorine compounds and biocides.
• Sucks up tons of energy to power polluting paper mills and printing presses, which often lean heavily on coal plants and already-maxed public utilities.
• Wastes critical groundwater stores, thanks to the water-hogging (and polluting) newsprint production process.
• Heaps solid waste sludge newsprint leftovers that can no longer be recycled (and all of its inks, dyes, staples, coatings and films) onto landfills.
• "Starts with trees being cut down in a forest and ends with the burning and (hopefully) recycling of old" newspapers, a process that contributes to the deforestation and animal habitat destruction of old-growth and endangered forests.

Uh, oh. Google News searches aren't so good for green either. But I didn't read about that in the paper.

(Photo credit:flickr, ShironekoEuro)

The bad news about climate change: Let's be honest; It's an overwhelming, omnipresent (hot) cloud looming precariously over us all. To reverse it feels like an impossible goal at times, like achieving world peace or detoxing our beleaguered oceans. But that's no reason to give up.

The good news: It's not too late to make a real, quantifiable difference. Yes, it's easy to feel defeated about not doing enough of our own, individual part to help reverse the climate crisis, especially because we can't always see, touch and feel its effects on our own lives.

But today, Oct. 15, Change.org's official Blog Action Day '09, gives each and every one of us the nudge we need to personally start protecting our climate RIGHT NOW. Tell me, whose responsibility is it but our own?

So please pencil an easy climate-healing tasks into your schedule today in honor of Blog Action Day, starting with even one of these (EPA-approved!) simple, everyday green lifestyle retrofits: 

1.Change five lights. Switch out old-school incandescent bulbs with ENERGY STAR bulbs. You'll reduce greenhouse gases, pollution and your electric bill.
2. Be an ENERGY STAR when you shop products like lighting, home electronics, heating and cooling equipment and appliances.
3. Heat and cool smartly. Regularly "green clean" your air filters. Trust me, it's easier than it sounds.
4. Be green when you garden, even if you don't have a green thumb. Bring back the sweat-powered push mower and just say no to fossil-fueled gas and plug-in mowers. Or use a mulching mower and compost.
5. Don't be a water hog, especially when it comes to hot water, which sucks loads of energy to heat.

Finally, don't forget to spread the word about changing climate change today. Need a headstart? Change.org's got your back.

(Photo credit:flickr, Cherrylynx)

“Water is life's matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.”
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

"All the water that will ever be is, right now."
National Geographic, October 1993

Summer is upon us and this is an especially good time to do a household water audit to evaluate your water consumption. Here are some simple water saving tips for your kitchen:

1. Soak dirty pots and pans in the sink before washing, use the soaking water to wash them up.
2. Wash your dishes in the dishwasher instead of the sink and resist the urge to rinse the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. If you must rinse, do it in a basin of water that you can dump it outside.
3. If you wash your dishes by hand, fill one pan with soapy water and another with rinse water. Use the spent dishwater in the garden.
4. Also rinse fruits and vegetables in a pan of water instead of running water from the tap.
5. After rinsing your fruits and vegetables, reuse the water on your houseplants.
6. Compost instead of using a garbage disposal, this saves a bunch of water daily and is a bonus for your garden.
7. Keep a pitcher of water in the refrigerator instead of running the tap until the water is cold.
8. Fix those leaky faucets, it a simple way to save a bunch of water.

The water that we use is only on loan to us, it is so important not to squander this most ancient and venerable resource. Remember, try to save energy in the kitchen every day.

(Photo credit:Randy Son Of Robert)

Getting caught with a running hose in your hand nowadays is almost as embarrassing as getting busted scarfing drive-thru McJunk. Or not recycling, or buying plastic anything, or driving to the corner store ... and the green 'shame spiral'* swirls on.

Quaff and quaff alone. Doing anything with water other than pouring it down our throats is (sometimes) a crime, in certain states more than others.

So what are we backyard gardeners, perhaps the thirstiest H20 guzzlers in the neighborhood, to do?

Plenty, actually, starting with retaining water (in a good way) and ending with blowing off your seedlings when they're finally ready to cut the cord, or should I say hose?

So, here it is. Your 10-step guide to becoming a water-wise garden greenie:

1. Retain water … by piling on the mulch. A three- to six-inch layer of organic moisture-retaining mulch keeps weeds down and continually hydrates plants. Coffee drinker? Toss old grounds into the mix. Here's how. Grass clippings and leaves do the trick, too.
2. Roll out the green carpet. Installing a non-toxic landscape fabric (aka weed barrier) beneath your mulch cushion will further starve thirsty weeds and lock-in moisture where it belongs.
3. Irrigate wisely. Why not install an H20- and energy-efficient automatic irrigation system? Set-it-and-forget-it with a web-based, weather-sensing "garden from orbit" satellite thingamabob.
4. Suck up excess water … by adding porous paving materials to backyard patios and garden walkways. Decomposed granite, gravel and brick all trap water in the garden, not in the gutter.
5. Hold off on the makeover. Redesigning your garden in the summer, the hottest, driest time of year, is a big waterwise no, no. A major overhaul requires gallons more water. Besides, your existing plants have likely already adapted to low-water conditions ... because you've been such a diligent, watertight greenie, right?
6. Drop the hose ... and put your soggy hands up where I can see them! Using an old-fashioned watering can when caring for potted plants saves water, reduces spillage and battles Battered Plant Syndrome. Yes, I made that up. You can stop Google-ing BPS for real now.
7. Be a good plant parent. Plants that are properly fed, snuggled and watered tend to talk back less and demand less liquid and solid (fertilizer) nourishment. That's not to say they won't still abuse your nighttime and weekend minutes or fry your Wii if given the chance. Remember, when you lovingly weed them, prune them, and keep bad influences (insects and pests) at bay, your spoiled seedlings should act out (binge drink?) fewer times a month. Just don't expect them to thank you until decades later, when they have their own seedlings and finally know what it's like. Ahem, moving on ...
   
8. Just stop runoff! When you see miniature oceans pooling in the nooks and crannies of your garden, it means it was time to stop watering a few minutes (hopefully not hours!) ago. Eyeball it. Use common sense and quit watering before the soil looks like it's gasping for a Baywatch rescue scene. This jingle should help: "Water deep, once a week."
   
9. Save raindrops by the barrel. Rain?! What's that?! Obviously this won't do for those of us in the midst of a historically dire drought (California). But anyone who still remembers what drizzle feels like (lucky!) can set out backyard buckets and barrels to catch garden water. Please send some my way. Isn't there some rain dance I can do? Also, dump any leftover drinking water and dishwater in your parched garden, not down the kitchen sink. Tsk, tsk.
   
10. Xeriscape. Sorry, it's just another green gardening technique, not a nifty new iPhone app. If there were an "app for that" water problem, I'd already have it. Instead, I touch low- to no-maintenance xeriscape plants that don't ask for much, not even a sip, at least once they're over that cloyingly co-dependent honeymoon phase. If only relationships described on Facebook as "It's Complicated" were so easy.

Hey, didn't I just nag you about Bogart-ing the world's water supply yesterday?

*"Shame Spiral" is a term of endearment that Babble "News Junkie" writer and SuperEco contributor Madeline Holler came up with. Thanks, Madeline!

(Photo credit:Beth-Harper, flickr)

Dear water-hogging Los Angelenos,

Just in case you forgot, we live in a desert, not a rain forest. The news came down in a panic-happy media deluge today: If we La-La Landers don't suck up our gluttonous water ways--as anal retentively as we manicure our waterlogged lawns--we'll soon be forking over for even heftier fines.

So, if the words "Stage Two Drought" mean anything to us, we have to clamp down once and for all and finally start saving Hollywood hot tub-fuls of H20 at our own, not-so-glamorous casas (then compulsively Twitter about it like freaks).

Exactly how much water must we scrimp? Fifteen percent of each household's total water suckage. You do the math ... or this water-tron will for you, right down to the last courtesy flush.

Really, it's not that bad. If you tackle even one or two of these easy water-saving tips, you'll be on the dry wagon with the rest of us faster than you can Waterpik your teeth, which better be lickety-split … or you'll soon hear a budget soggy cha-ching with every extra drop.

Let the water-saving tips flow:

1. Sprinkle smart. Run your sprinklers during off-peak hours (before 9 a.m., after 4 p.m.). Or, be the envy of your persnickety neighbors and just quit watering your grass at all ... ever! I say, live and let grass die. But don't let it grow to brush fire fuel proportions.
2. Plant smart. Accent your landscaping with drought-resistant native shrubs, plants and trees. They weather dry spells (California's worsening cottonmouth) and make you look like the crunchiest neighbor on the block. Green cred isn't exactly street cred around here, but you know what I'm saying.
3. Green your appliances. Start by switching from a top-loading washing machine to a front-loading unit, perhaps, and set your water level to match the size of each load. Ditto for your dishwasher. Make every batch count!
4. Clean sweep. Yes, I'm talking brooms. Think Quidditch, but not as fun. Well, we should all be wielding one—not a water hose--to scour our homes' hardscapes (sidewalks and driveways) instead of lazily spraying them down with precious water (like someone I know, ahem, next door).
5. Have better aim. Adjust your sprinklers so the water soaks the grass, not the street or sidewalk (or the little old lady walking her poodle).
6. Go deep ... once a week. Deep soak your garden or grass only once a week instead of lightly dousing them daily. Sounds a lot like drinking wine to me. Anyway, be sure your plants are getting adequate sunlight and ventilation to avoid mystery mold and mildew. Excuse me, I'm going out in the sun now to get some air.
7. Step lightly … on your lawn. If the grass bounces back when you lift your foot, chances are it isn't thirsty. Warning: This test does not work with kids. Trust me.
8. Be an early bird. Watering your yard before 7 a.m. saves 750 to 1,500 gallons every month! Don't forget to set your (husband's) alarm and the sprinkler timer.
9. Don't drip. A leaky faucet that drips as little as one drop per second adds up to 2,700 gallons of wasted water a year (not to mention all those extra trips to the toilet because of that annoying sound). You'll save 20 gallons per day for every leak when you fix sloppy plumbing joints and drippy faucets.
10. Go low-flow. Retrofit all household faucets with flow restricting aerators and replace wasteful shower heads with low-flow alternatives. Or, stop showering altogether, oh brave one.

Sorry, SoCal. It's really, really, REALLY time to stop getting carried away with the 'ol Three S's Routine already: (Something you can guess but I won't write), Shower and Shave. Kapiche?

Finally, when you're done water-tightening up the house inside and out, sip a tall glass of "refreshing" L.A. tap water and savor every metallic sip. The water police are watching.

*Bonus tip: Flik off! No, I'm serious. We all should, at least once a day.

(Photo credit:gadgetbubba, flickr)

Cigarette butts account for 50% of all litter in most Western countries. Now, it's not too often that we start off a post at Super Eco by blurting out the cold, hard fact of the matter—but this is just disgusting. How many times have you seen drivers fling a butt out the window, assuming that such a tiny thing couldn't possibly have much of an environmental impact? Blech.

According to BUTTsOUT, cigarette butt litter is the world’s greatest environmental litter problem.

• Some 4.3 trillion cigarette butts end up as litter every year, worldwide.
• American smokers contribute more than 250 billion cigarette butts to the litter per year, with UK smokers adding 200 tons of butts and Australians littering more than 7 billion cigarette butts
• Almost 1 in 3 cigarette butts ends up as litter.

It's not only the sheer quantity of butts that creates such an appalling litter problem.

• It can take up to 12 years (some say 25 years or more) for a cigarette butt to break down.
• Cigarette butts can leach chemicals including cadmium, lead and arsenic into the water table and marine environment as quickly as an hour after contact with water.
• Cigarette butts have been found in the stomachs of fish, whales, birds and other marine animals.

Banning cigarettes isn't enough. In fact, smoking bans actually aggravate butt litter. Cigarette butt litter dramatically increases where indoor smoking bans are implemented, as careless smokers collectively puff up and toss out a torrent of tiny, toxic trash. Over 4 trillion—that's TRILLION, with a T— cigarette butts ending up as litter every year ... Time for smokers to stop blowing off their careless ways, wouldn't you agree?

(Photo credit:Roomic Cube, flickr)

Founded in 1967, the Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics and law to create innovative, equitable and cost-effective solutions to society's most urgent environmental problems. One of its more prominent programs is the Innovation Exchange, which helps businesses, governments and other organizations share information and best practices to reduce everyone's negative impact on the environment.  

As part of this program, the EDF provides an annual Innovation Review which searches out compelling and practical new ways of doing things that increase efficiency, provide new business opportunities and of course benefit the environment.

The 2009 Review features startups, Fortune 100 companies, and groups and individuals working together. Beginning today, we'll feature one of the 2009 Innovation Review winners each Friday.

So let's kick off the series with a group of individuals working in agriculture: Iowa soy farmers.

Soy farmers traditionally fertilize their crops with nitrogen, however, often that nitrogen ends up degrading the water table and working its way down to Chesapeake Bay, which has had for many years significant nitrogen problems, killing fish and other sea-life as well as encouraging algae blooms which block out light to plant-life which creates dead zones in the Bay.

The Iowa Soybean Association has created a monitoring and information-sharing network that allows farmers to determine exactly what is the right amount of nitrogen necessary and when is the best time to apply it.

Continue reading Innovation Review Friday: Iowa soy farmers ›

(Photo credit:Dan Zen, flickr)

Water treatment plants may be cooking up more than (supposedly) clean water. A new report shows that the same conditions that allow beneficial bacteria to do their job during sewage treatment may also be creating a new class of antibiotic-resistant "super bacteria." These super bacteria make their way into rivers and public waterways, potentially infecting wildlife and people with infections that are difficult to treat.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) national sewage sludge survey noted toxic heavy metals, steroids and pharmaceuticals, including the antibacterials triclocarban and triclosan, in sewage sludge. According to Beyond Pesticides Daily News, the implications are significant: "Sewage sludge is widely recycled on agricultural lands and nonagricultural landscapes as fertilizer, and for land reclaiming and filling. The application of sewage sludge on terrestrial systems means that these antimicrobial compounds, as well as the host of other heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, hormones, organics and PBDEs found in this report may be absorbed by crops, earthworms and other soil organisms and find their way up the food chain and into human diets. Many of these chemicals, such as triclosan, are persistent and do not break down easily. Their effects on soil microorganisms are still not understood. Major questions remain, such as whether these compounds harm soil microbes, or aquatic life if leached into streams."

Sound ominous? Have no fear—the EPA maintains that it is not appropriate to speculate on the significance of the results at this time.

(Photo credit:jlj4774, flickr)