sustainability - Our Green Health

Water Conservation Management is Crucial for a Sustainable Agriculture

28/07/202114/07/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

Water conservation management is, of course, not only crucial for sustainable agriculture. Any agriculture needs proper water conservation management. However, for various reasons, with sustainable agriculture, water conservation management requires much more skills and attention. Even our kitchen gardens require water conservation management.

Today it is 37 Celsius. The sun burns all day. There is hardly any wind. When the sun no longer shines in the kitchen gardens, our irrigation system waters the plants for 10 minutes. First, the one where the herbs grow, next, the one where we try to grow tomatoes and zucchini.

Sustainable Agricultural Practices Prevent Excessive Soil Erosion

28/07/202107/07/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

We support sustainable agricultural practices, such as ecological and biological agriculture and permaculture. Many farmers oppose sustainable agricultural practices.

They argue that sustainable agricultural practices are unable to feed the world population. Even though they are never able to back up this claim.

Fortunately, there are many ways to counter excessive soil erosion. It is no surprise that sustainable agricultural practices are at the top of the prevention and restoration list.

9 Tips on How to Recycle E-Waste Safely and Sustainable

05/07/202105/07/2021 by Hannie Mommers

E-waste, short for Electronic waste, means all your leftover electronics. With technology progressing so fast, many people have tons of old TVs, computers, cell phones, and other old stuff just lying around the house not being used.

How to recycle e-waste? As long as it is still in the cupboard drawer or a box, e-waste can do little harm. Although it is of course a pity that it is uselessly waiting for a destination.

Worse, many of these old devices end up in nature or in illegal dumping grounds. While there are plenty of good solutions for e-waste that save nature and can even provide us with money.

5 Eco-Friendly Reasons why we Should Buy Recycled Toilet Paper

05/07/202130/06/2021 by Hannie Mommers

In our quest to be an environmentally conscious consumer, we probably consider to buy recycled toilet paper, don’t we? In this article, I want to explore the pros and cons of recycled toilet paper and some alternatives.

Some might have the wrong idea of recycled toilet paper. However, I can reassure you, it’s definitely not recycled from other toilet paper but rather other paper products. There really is no yuck factor! 🙂

Recycled paper is either made from paper previously used for magazines, posters, printing paper, and the like. This is also called post-consumer content. Or it is made from cutting waste from paper manufacture.

Working from Home is more and more Favored as Essential

28/06/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

Working from home wasn’t exactly how my paid career started. At the age of 15, I delivered the local newspaper to people’s homes. The day started at 06:00 hours. Through rain, snow, and sometimes sunshine.

I very much enjoyed the freedom and the exercise. In fact, I never stopped walking after that. Never stopped working either.

In those days, my newspaper route was just the beginning of a very long day. First the newspaper delivery, a quick breakfast at home, to school for the remainder of the day. Back from school, homework until late at night. At 06:00 hours the routine started all over again.

Poverty in the World and Sustainability, a Tense Relation

26/05/202126/05/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

Poverty in the world and sustainability are not on par. Sustainability plans are usually designed to manage the long-term environmental impacts of human activities. What we tend to forget is that these plans can have devastating effects on world poverty.

Economic growth, financial stability, and jobs are often believed to be essential to sustainability plans. These plans are usually aligned with the protection of ecosystems, biodiversity, and water resources on which the poorest of the world depend.

What is Permaculture Farming, and Why can it Save Biodiversity?

26/10/202117/05/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

What is permaculture farming? Although permaculture is often associated with the replication of nature, design principles are at the heart of permaculture farming. It’s one of the most challenging types of farming we know.

If only because permaculture farming contrasts highly with conventional, industrial farming in which non-renewable resources are used, air, land, and water are poisoned, biodiversity is destroyed, and the soil eroded.

Sustainable and organic farming is closely related to permaculture: the continuation of all life systems is supported (the earth component), as well as community life (the people component), and a fair share for everybody (the economic component).

The Advantages of Organic Farming Vastly Outweigh those of Conventional Farming

13/10/202105/05/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

The advantages of organic farming vastly outweigh those of conventional farming. However, the conversion from conventional to organic food production is one of the most challenging endeavors of the 21st century.

To illustrate the truth of both these arguments, I will explain what the challenges are of the conversion. I use the results from a research assignment two of my colleagues and I performed in 2002 and 2003 in The Netherlands.

A provincial board decided to join the national endeavor for an organic agricultural area of 10% in 2010. The most obvious expansion of organic agriculture in this province is that of organic dairy farming.