Food Scrap Recycling Program Is Underway

A new program has been started in Delta called the Green Can Program. It is a program that will allow single-family homes to dispose of foods such as fruits, vegetables, coffee grounds, teabags, meat, fish, dairy and bread in a more environmental way. Containers of food waste will be collected from the curb every week just like recycling or garbage. Food waste is a big per cent of waste that is disposed and added to landfills. This program targets that problem.
This new program seems like a fantastic idea to me. Many people still do not compost and end up throwing away a lot of food. Just like several years ago, most people did not recycle. Now that it is a weekly curb side collection program practically everyone recylces. Why shouldn't food scrap recycling be the same. The city could save a lot of landfill space by spreading this program around.

http://www.delta-optimist.com/technology/Food+scrap+recycling+program+underway/6470854/story.html

a few more pictures

Transplanted some plants that I started from seed and started some more.

pictures!

Although I did a lot of pre reading on how to prune different types of fruit trees, I still felt unsure of what I was doing. Hopefully I see good results in the summer!

New salmon virus spreads to Vancouver markets

This article, released on April 13, 2012, brings a light to a Norwegian virus that appears to have made its way into the fish markets of Vancouver. There is no proof that any of the 44 out of 45 salmon that were bought and tested from several different stores were farmed or caught in Canada. It is possible that they could have come from Norway, Chile or Eastern Canada. The biologist who discovered the virus, Alexandra Morton, believes the cause of the virus must be found and contained, then destroyed. She also pointed out that wild salmon will likely be affected more significantly than farmed salmon if the virus appears in Canadian waters, as wild salmon use all the energy they have in completing their gruelling life process. They would likely not survive and be able to reproduce if infected with the virus. It is still unknown if consuming the infected salmon will cause human harm.

As someone who enjoys fishing for salmon and eating it for dinner, it worries me to hear of such a potential threat to the salmon that thrive in our aquatic backyard. If this virus continues to appear in the Vancouver markets and reaches the ocean, it could impact many people and the environment to an unthinkable degree. Hopefully enough research can be done to find the cause and a solution.

http://www.theprovince.com/news/salmon+virus+spreads+Canadian+markets+biologist/6457629/story.html

Home gardening

Over the last 3 weeks I have done an hour of composting (combining school and home). I have started broccoli and two types of lettuce from seed and checked on them every day. they should be ready to be planted this coming week. I tidied up the yard from the pruning debris and plotted out where the new plants will go.

Use of Common Pesticide, Imidacloprid, Linked to Bee Colony Collapse

This article reveals a new theory for the cause of the bee collapse worldwide. Researchers have found strong evidence that a common pesticide called imidacloprid is responsible for CCD. After a study of four different bee yards over 23 weeks, 94% of the imidacloprid treated hives were dead and the hives exposed to the highest dose were the first to die. Unlike hives that collapse due to disease or pests, these hives had the same characteristics as the hives that collapse as a result of CCD. The hives were left empty except for food stores, some pollen, young bees and only a few dead bees around the hive. These results strongly support the theory that this pesticide, which is used to treat the majority of corn crops in the U.S., is the cause of CCD.

Just a few days before reading this article, my mom had mention that a new theory had been suggested for the collapse of the bees. Finding this article was interesting because I can now but a name to this theory. It is frightening to read as this pesticide, imidacloprid, is so common and bees are so easily exposed to it. Even beekeepers may be unknowingly supplying the pesticide to their bees through high-fructose corn syrup they use to feed them. If this theory is correct, a solution is going to be needed extremely quickly or else we will have an enormous problem on our hands.