Recently in Learning from Nature Category

In an ongoing effort to increase recycling in California, support environmental education and keep litter out of our waterways, the American Chemistry Council (ACC)  joined LA City Councilman Ed Reyes and representatives of the Los Angeles Conservation Corps on the banks of the LA River to announce a $100,000 contribution from ACC's Plastics Division, Progressive Bag Affiliates and Plastic Foodservice Packaging Group to the LA River Keepers program.

LA River Keepers Program

This program, developed in partnership with the Los Angeles Community Development Department and the Bureau of Sanitization, works to restore and revitalize sections of the LA River.

Remove and Recycle Litter and Debris from LA River

"Thanks to this new partnership , the LA River Keepers program will be able to continue its efforts to remove and recycle litter and debris from the LA River and promote environmental education, as well as provide ongoing opportunities for job skills training for our area youth," said Bruce Saito, Executive Director of the LA Conservation Corps.

The LA River Keepers' vision lies in the premise that the Los Angeles River environment is an excellent location for training, education and green job skill development through classroom and outdoor environmental restoration projects.

"This generous donation from the American Chemistry Council pumps much-needed dollars into two of the City's most valuable resources--our youth and our environment," said Councilmember Ed P. Reyes, who spearheaded the City's Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan to transform the concrete-corseted L.A. River into a continuous greenbelt linking communities.

The L.A. River Keepers, mostly inner-city young adults, pick up trash, remove bulky items and provide an ongoing presence at the River as it undergoes revitalization. 

The LA River Keepers provides these service projects:

• watershed education
• native plant landscaping
  
• weekly restoration work including removal of debris and illegal dumping,
• removal of graffiti
• recycling,
  
• fire hazard and fuel reduction
  

"The LA River Keepers program will help increase recycling, improve environmental education, and keep litter out of our waterways, which are goals we all share," said Sherri McCarthy, Manager, State Affairs, American Chemistry Council. "We're very pleased to support this program and to help increase awareness of the many plastics that can be recycled in Los Angeles."

Recycling Programs to Collect Plastic Debris

The LA Conservation Corps is the latest partner to join the statewide recycling awareness campaign, "Plastics. Too Valuable to Waste. Recycle.(SM)," which has found success in a variety of areas. The campaign began in 2008 when representatives from the California Department of Parks and Recreation, ACC and Keep California Beautiful (KCB) launched a recycling program that placed - and continues to maintain - hundreds of permanent and seasonal recycling bins at State Parks sites in the Los Angeles and Central Coast areas. The program soon spread to State Parks beaches in the San Diego, Monterey and Santa Cruz areas, the City of Woodland, California, and to California highway rest stops through its new partnership with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). 

About the LA Conservation Corps:

The LA Conservation Corps was founded in 1986 with the primary mission to provide at-risk young adults and school-aged youth with opportunities for success through job skills training, education and work experience with an emphasis on conservation and service projects that benefit the community. Over the past 24 years, the Corps has grown into the largest urban conservation corps in the nation with a full-time staff of over 150 employees serving over 17,000 young people each year

About the American Chemistry Council's Plastics Division:
The American Chemistry Council, whose members include major plastics manufacturers, recognizes the importance of keeping plastics out of the marine environment best management practices. 

Web Site: http://www.2valuable2waste.com/

Sustainability rests on the principle that we must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Therefore, stewardship of both natural and human resources is of prime importance. Sustainable farming systems are biologically-based and designed to be productive in both the short- and long-term.

Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals--

• environmental health,
  
• economic profitability, and
  
• social equity
  

Because it is more a philosophical approach to agriculture than a set of farming practices, the specific practices that can be called sustainable vary depending on the crop and the specific environmental and social issues important to a region. Therefore, it is important that all those interested in making agriculture more sustainable--consumers, growers, environmentalists, farm workers, processors, retailers--educate themselves on the related issues.

Does sustainable agriculture and organic farming mean the same thing?

No. Agriculture can be "sustainable" without being "organic." And some organic operations may not be sustainable. Organic farming excludes the use of any synthetic agricultural chemical and then certifies this to be true. Often, however, approaches to management of healthy soils can be similar between organic and sustainable farming systems.

Can chemicals be used in a sustainable system?

Yes. Growers frequently ask if synthetic chemicals are appropriate in a sustainable farming system. Sustainable approaches are those that are the least toxic and least energy intensive, and yet maintain productivity and profitability. There may be situations where the use of synthetic chemicals would be more "sustainable" than a strictly non-chemical approach.

For example, one technique for weed control may involve mechanical cultivation. A hoe,  weed knife or other implement may need to make several passes in a season to do what one application of Round-Up (a relatively safe, effective, and economic herbicide) could accomplish in terms of weed control. The passes with the mechanical device have associated environmental and social risks (i.e., soil compaction, soil erosion, fuel consumption, potential worker injury). The manager needs to decide which is the most appropriate method based on a particular situation and resource concerns at a particular site. The manager may decide that the chemical option has less environmental, economic, and social risks than the non-chemical option.

Converting to sustainable practices does not mean simple input substitution. Instead, sustainable farming substitutes enhanced management and scientific knowledge for conventional inputs, especially inputs that may threaten the natural or human resources. One goal of sustainable agriculture is to develop efficient, biological systems that do not need high levels of material inputs.

Read more about sustainable farming...and applications in vineyard mangement at Central Coast Vineyard Team

Adapted from materials from the University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (UCSAREP) www.sarep.ucdavis.edu.

Learning FROM the natural world is not the same as learning ABOUT the natural world. Janine Benyus brings us new insights about solving problems by taking the genius of the natural world and learning processes...not just mimicing or domesticating nature. Life adds "information" to matter and gives it structure for functionality. Life doesn't deal with "things" divorced from functionality. Biological and business challenges are looking at nature to get us through stymied challenges.