Paul Hickman is one of a number of individuals and companies nationwide, who have a better idea—actually a number of better ideas—about ways to put those 600 trees, and the many thousands more every year throughout the US, to better uses and to sequester their carbon. Hickman is founder of Urban Ashes, a local company that, since 2009, has been using salvaged wood to produce furniture and picture frames, and has done it primarily by employing formerly incarcerated people, a frequently marginalized population.
Posts tagged #environment
Learning From Our Year Round Birds
Whether you enjoy watching birds flit about casually, are a dedicated birder, or keep a bird feeder going, it is likely some of our beautiful year-round birds have caught your eye on more than one occasion. For centuries, humans have observed birds for signs and omens (called augury or ornithomancy) as well as told stories illuminating the lessons birds carry. Birds have a wealth of wisdom to share with us, and this article highlights several of our year-round winged teachers who can be called on at any time in our hearts and, with some bribing, in our yards. These Michigan loyalists are the Black-Capped Chickadee, the Blue Jay, and the Northern Cardinal.
Roadside Marsh
The westbound traffic on Interstate 94 is at a crawl this morning and I couldn’t be happier. It’s a Wednesday and brilliant sunshine glints in my rear view mirror.
Empowered by Earthella--Ann Arbor's Planet Parade & Action Network
It was a typically beautiful autumn afternoon in Ann Arbor, and I was happily wandering around the Farmers’ Market in Kerrytown, heading toward the People’s Food Co-op. Well, I was mostly happy, aside from that sort of nagging feeling rolling around in the dark back corners of my mind—that antsy sense of restlessness about what’s happening, (and not happening) with our environment, our climate, our depleting soil, our very soul as one entity—human…. “What is really happening here?”
Green Living: Putting Our Yards to Bed For Winter
Over the past six months, we’ve witnessed the transformation from last winter’s dormancy into a lush and verdant summer. We’ve been enjoying the fruits of Nature’s labors—beauty, food, and shade from flowers, vegetables, and trees. Now is the time in our cycle when all this foliar production returns to earth. What has increased must decrease. For leafy life to begin anew next spring, all this green must become brown and nourish the soil.
Life Force: Discovering Invisible Allies Outside Your Door
As the sun moves higher in the sky, warming our bones and our soil, we might find ourselves more frequently drawn outside. We venture into our personal landscapes just outside the door, onto the trails of our neighborhood park, or even Nichols Arboretum, looking for more signs of life emerging from the earth. What is our personal connection with this green world outside? Some of us have started a spring vegetable garden, some of us hike or play regularly in the wild, and some of us might not know anything about plants—we just know what looks beautiful to us or how good we feel after spending time outdoors.
Friends Lake Cooperative Community: A Nature-Based and Spiritual Sanctuary
Places that hold great spiritual energy and history have a special feel to them. For decades, it has been our family practice to pause and open our windows when we turn onto the dirt road that leads into the Friends Lake Cooperative Community. This is partly to inhale the smell of the pine trees near the entrance, and partly to feel the spirit of the place, and the immediate sense of refuge and relaxation it brings us.
Green Living: Tips For Keeping Our Indoor (and Outdoor!) Air Clean
We are in our homes, and our yards (yay Spring!), more than ever. What can we do in and around our homes to be healthier and care for our environment more? There’s a lot of easy things that can make a big difference. Let’s start with our indoor air.
Green Living: More Than the Three R’s: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle… Rot
When thinking about ways to be more sustainable, recycling is often the first option that comes to mind. Sustainability is often presented to us in the neat and tidy rule of three: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. However, recycling should actually be viewed more as a last-ditch effort since most materials can only be recycled a few times before hitting the landfill. Instead, the focus needs to be centered around the Five R’s: Refuse unsustainable products, Reduce the amount of resources you consume, Reuse or repurpose what you can, and Recycle anything possible before jumping directly to your trash can as the easiest method of disposal.
The Devil Wears Denim, or Linen, or Wool — Locally Sourced Clothing is Good for People and the Planet
“Buy local.” It’s a phrase we’ve seen for years, encouraging us to support the mom and pop down the street, the independent bookstore, and the small retailer. Local food and the local food economy have grown in Michigan over the last decade, and the Ann Arbor Farmers Market features new farmers every year, but there are other needs and areas that could benefit from using the same lens. Clothing is one of them.
The Ecology Center – 50 Years of Innovative Solutions for Healthy People and a Healthy Planet
n 2020, the Ecology Center of Ann Arbor will be celebrating its 50th anniversary. It has grown to become one of the most dynamic and influential organizations of its kind in the United States. Created in the wake of the first Earth Day, the Ecology Center was founded by members of ENACT (Environmental Action for Survival), the University of Michigan’s student environmental group. ENACT and the Ecology Center’s primary original focus was to start a recycling program. The city’s first recycling program, at the newly created Recycling Center, was not the recycling program Ann Arbor residents know today: no curbside pickup, only a few types of recyclables were eligible, and residents had to sort recyclables into separate containers and deliver them directly to the Recycling Center.
Celebrating the Ecology Center's 50 year Anniversary--More interviews!
In addition to the interview with Garfield (see the main article here), freelance journalist Sandor Slomovits contacted a few other people who have been associated with the Ecology Center in the past fifty years and asked them to discuss the history and accomplishments of the organization. To provide a multifaceted picture of the EC, he got in touch with people who worked at the EC during various points in its history, and who held different positions and served in a variety of capacities, from staff and leadership, to volunteers.
The Eco-Friendly Wardrobe: Why and How to Make the Shift to Sustainable Fashion
Drought, poverty, worker exploitation. The poisoning of the air, ground water, and soil. These are just a few of the crises facing our world today. We see them everywhere and they seem overwhelming. What can the average person — people like us — do to combat them? We can start with a decision we make every morning: what we choose to wear.
