Most people believe that farming requires large plots of land.

Well, in this article, we hope to prove this statement wrong by giving you an introduction to urban gardening, the act of gardening in small plots of land, such as backyards, front yards, balconies, and even windowsills.

This movement aims to improve the quality of life in urban areas by introducing green spaces in even the smallest of areas, and so far has gained momentum in densely populated areas such as the Netherlands, New York, and even the most unlikely of places, like China.

But before we begin…

Why should you start a garden in your urban plot?

Most people believe that by reducing their beef consumption, they have done all that is needed to reduce their CO2 footprint induced by their food consumption choices.

But this is not true.

Most of the vegetables and fruits in your local supermarket are often imported from distant countries, causing a huge CO2 footprint.

Other benefits of urban gardens include reducing urban noise pollution, improving air quality, and simply looking nicer than empty concrete plots.

Your garden could provide you with some tasty vegetables or fruit, or it could simply be for decoration. Either way, you’ll be helping the environment!

How to start an urban garden

Now that we’ve hopefully convinced you to start an urban farm, here are a few tips to get you started.

Tip 1- Vertical gardens are the staple of the urban farm.

The rise of vertical farms means that literally, no house owner has an excuse to not grow their own gardens.

Some vertical gardening kits can be quite expensive, but even you don’t have a budget, transforming used wooden palettes into vertical gardens is super easy, as this article shows.

Some great plants to grow in these structures include herbs, such as thyme, parsley, mint, and rosemary, and fruit vines, such as strawberries, melons, and cucumbers.

Make sure that you choose an unobstructed wall facing south to maximize the yields of your crop.

Tip 2- Start with easy to grow varieties

Some species of plants are easier to grow than others. Here are a few beginner-friendly recommendations:

• Cucumbers
• Carrots
• Strawberries
• Onions
• Garlic

The above-mentioned plants will grow without requiring much water and light, so if you have to leave your home for a few days, they’ll do just fine.

Tip 3- Compost your garbage

This is a great way to both decrease waste and to increase your garden’s yield, killing two birds with one stone.

An easy way to compost is to simply get a trash bin for your egg shells, coffee grounds, and banana peels, and let them decompose naturally.

Alternatively, you can ground them up with a blender and add to the water you feed your plants.

Final Thoughts

We hope this article has inspired you to take action on your backyard or house.

There is a whole community focused on urban farming, and profiting from it, so if you want to dig deeper, here are a few videos and documentaries on the subject that we’ve enjoyed:

Feel free to drop a comment below with any additional tips!

With the election of Trump and the apparent approximation of China to global goals of CO2 reductions, the Paris Agreement becomes a relevant topic to discuss amongst climate change stakeholders.

With that in mind, we have decided to dedicate our latest article to that exact topic.

So without further ado…

What is the Paris Agreement?

The Paris Agreement or Accord is an agreement between countries in regards to their emission of greenhouse gases. It imposes proposed limits and controls on the amount of CO2 and other polluting gases produced.

It represents the most serious global effort in tackling global warming and even though it was adopted only recently, in December 2015, has shown some great results in reducing greenhouse emissions worldwide.

This treaty was signed by 195 countries, representing by far the biggest global effort against climate change.

Effects of the Paris Agreement so far

There have been many studies on this subject, of which one has found that if countries stick to their pledges, 0.8 degrees Celsius of global warming can be reversed.

That same study has found that Trump’s proposed departure from this agreement alone could cause 0.3 degrees of global warming.

The main concerns regarding the effects of this agreement are that a) they won’t be implemented/regulated properly, leading to an inadequate response to global warming and/or b) even if implemented fully, they won’t be nearly enough to reverse the current climate change path.

Finally, there is a concern that no real punishments are stipulated as part of the agreement, which makes it very easy for countries to back out from. This is a real political danger, as country leaderships change with elections and views on climate change are reversed. Unfortunately, this seems to be the case with the United Sates, as Donald Trump has signalled a potential reversal of Paris Agreement goals.

Conclusion

We hope that we’ve helped you convince of the importance of the Paris Agreement in reversing the already enormous amount of damage made by greenhouse gas emission.

The data is clear on this subject: If we don’t take climate change seriously, global average temperatures are bound to increase, causing the melting of glaciers and sea levels to rise, which will kill whole species of animals and even put humans in dangers.

People are hearing a lot about global warming and climate change in the news, on television, from the newspaper, radio and even on the internet. In many places, it is the topic often mentioned everyday discussions.  Many governments are trying to encourage their citizens to help, stop, or at least slow down global warming. This is because it has changed the way our climate behaves.

What is Global Warming?  It is the rise in the temperature of the earth, which results in great changes in our climate.  It is generally believed to be caused by the thinning of our ozone layer, and it is due to our undisciplined method of survival here on earth.  One main reason for global warming is the pollution that comes from smoke from industrial plants, and emissions from our cars and other machinery.

What are the effects of Global Warming?

1. This category includes extreme weather in our world. This means that if it is cold, it will be extremely cold, and when it is hot, it will be extremely hot. Another environmental effect is the sudden rise in sea level.  It may be caused by the melting of ice in some parts of the planet, due to very hot temperatures.  It is expected that much of our ecosystem is facing extinction, such as mangroves, coral reefs and caves.  This is all because of a very hot temperature to come.  This will also lead to an increase in volcanic activity and landslides.
2. Social System. This phenomenon will greatly affect human beings through food production and health. Extreme hot temperatures will cause the low production of crops and other agricultural products, which in turn results in poor health due to malnutrition.
3. Human Displacement. In some countries which are low lying, this is expected to happen. With the fast rising of sea levels, low lying countries’ population may tend to be displaced.
4. The economy in this world is greatly affected. Many industrialized countries will need to find alternative ways to continue operating their plants.  It will require them to spend more.  Repairing infrastructures that will be damaged due to climate change are expected.
5. Imminent damage to infrastructure is expected with the instability of the soil. It will affect bridges, buildings and many more infrastructures in the very near future.

The effects of Global Warming would be very dangerous to humanity and if left unattended, will cause the extinction of all living things in the future.

This is a very big problem humanity is facing, and this concerns every citizen of this world. It is not only the responsibility of leaders in this world but each person that lives here as well. Policies and regulations are now introduced, through different governments, and there is not so much awareness being spread among the people. Still, some people do not cooperate and are insensitive to the matter.  They still continue to use materials that greatly affect our environment.  Carbon dioxide is still continuously emitted in the air, contributing to global warming.

This world is for us to live in.  Humans are responsible for taking care of our planet. Destroying it will only lead to us destroying ourselves. People must be responsible to survive.

Definition of Greenhouse Gases

Even the most uneducated reader should be familiar with greenhouse gases. This is a basic compound that is behind much of the current climate change theory and the understanding of its formation, and contribution to the environment is of extreme importance to dialogue about climate.

That’s why in this article, we will going through all you need to know about greenhouse gases.

How are Greenhouse Gases Formed?

The first important question to answer regards its origin. Greenhouse gases are formed through natural ways such as the ones caused by plants, or they can be created from human activity, usually pollution.

The name greenhouse gas is applied to any gas that helps regulates the temperature on earth, with CO2 being the most famous one. If you’ve heard about CO2 taxes and quotas, you know now what they are used for.

Benefits and Disadvantages

As you might have derived from the above paragraph, greenhouse gases aren’t stricly bad. They help regulate the temperature, by capturing heat and lingering in the atmosphere, these particles are contributing to climate regulation.

The issue arises when the amount of these gases present in the atmosphere becomes unbalanced. This can occur due to nature, of course, but it is highly likely that the major cause for the recent imbalances is derived from human activity.

The figure below shows the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere in the past 160 years:

Source: European environment agency

Conclusion

As the data shows, CO2 emissions have grown exponentially in the last 30 to 40 years. It could be argued that this is due to natural reasons, but that is a very hard argument to make. If we graph together the amount of man-made pollution with the levels of CO2 it would become pretty clear that it is very likely that there is a causal relationship between the two.

So what can we do? Well, changes should start at the personal level. Evaluate how you get around and what you consume and start making positive changes!

History of the Industry

The coal mining industry in the United States began in the early years before the 1950s when coal is the main source of fuel that is essential to the country. In this time, the coals can be found in the east of Mississippi’s underground mines. But as the years pass; the industry encounter difficulties as the people had found another alternative source of fuel other than coal in the year of 1970s. In spite of this, the industry overcomes it and still became available in the year 2000 when most of the coal that is produced came from the west area of Mississippi.

Production of Coal Mining

Coal mining production in the United States had its apogee in the year of 2008 when it set a record of a 1,172 million short tons production and its lowest peak in 2016 when it has only a record of 728.2 million tons production which is a 37 percent decreased. The three areas that produced the highest number of coal production are the basins of Powder River, Appalachian, and especially Illinois respectively. In addition to this, there are also three primary types of coal that can be produced and use for different purposes. It includes anthracite which is known for being the hardest type and typically used as a material for the production of steels, bituminous which is a softer type, and lastly the lignite type and sub-bituminous which are the most softer type of coal and outclass the bituminous type in the year of 2000.

Uses of Coals

In the time of 2013, the leading use of coal that is produced is specifically for the generation of electrical energy while the other uses are for industrial, manufacturing, and also for commercial and institutional purposes respectively. As the year of 2016 came, the US energy administration stated that the coal produced by the coal mining industry could provide the generation of electricity up to 30 percent in the entire nation along with the support of natural gas, nuclear energy and even renewable energy. With this, it only goes to show that coals are very important and it plays a vital role in the development and growth of the nation.

Now that you have the idea of what are the important things you must know about coal mining in the United States, you are now more familiar and knowledgeable about it. And if you want to know more, you can also ask an expert on this topic.

1. It is a Non – Commercial Organization

The first important fact that you need to know about the climate registry is that it is an organization which is non–profitable and is subjected to the administration of the government in the United States and territories and provinces of Canada. The main operation of this organization is to create and manage both voluntary and mandatory greenhouse gas programs which need to be reported globally. Furthermore, it also assists other organizations which include measurements, reports, and verification of carbons in each of its operations so that the organizations can have a way to control and manage it. They are also responsible for making consultations with the governments whether in the national and international countries that have relevance in greenhouse gas aspects.

2. It Has a Significant History

The Climate Registry organization has been established in the year of 2007 to resume the operations of the registry of Climate Action in California or also known as CCAR. The CCAR organization became the foundation and instrument for the development of The Climate Registry also called as TCR. TCR was an established organization which is responsible for continuing and expanding the mission of CCAR so that the scope of the area they can control and manage would be larger and not only in a certain area. TCR received the transitioned members of CCAR officially in the year of 2010. But in commemoration for the CCAR, it became a program of the Climate Action Reserve which is a sister organization of TCR.

3. It Has a Long, and Distinguished List of Participants

When the launching of The Climate Registry became official, it immediately gained a long list of participants coming from the states of the United States and provinces of Canada. Some of the US States are Arizona, Oregon, New York, Washington, Florida, Vermont, Hawaii and other famous states while, some of the provinces in Canada who took part are Manitoba, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador and even Ontario. But when the year of 2009 on September 24, most of all the territories and provinces of Canada have already participated in the registry so that the areas it can control and manage would become extensive which would make it more effective and potent.

As what stated above, you now have the idea of what are the important facts that you need to know about The Climate Registry. With this, you now also realize that it plays a very important role in the sustainability of the environment of the world. So, if you want to know more about this matter, you can ask the help of a person who is familiar with this topic.

The advantage of a solar energy comes from the sun. The purpose of the solar panel is to capture as much of the sunlight as possible and then convert it into a form of electricity. Indeed, this provides a simple, cost-effective and clean way to produce a better life quality. In comparison to a fossil fuel, the use of the sun is considered to be as unlimited. The good thing if you have a good source of sunlight is that you don’t have to worry about living in a place where you will feel warm and sunny at the same time.

So, if there is more sunlight received by the solar panel, the more it can generate as much electricity which makes life better. However, these solar panels work best on days that are cloudy just like as if you are using a solar-powered calculator.

To clear the knowledge about how solar panels work, first of all, you should understand the following terms:

1. Direct current (DC) energy- this is a type of energy wherein the sunlight can hit the cells of every solar panel.
2. The direct current energy travels with an electrical device that is also called an inverter.
3. Most of the air conditioner electricity are powered supplied by a utility company thus it can go directly to power every household that has appliances and lights as well.
4. The production power can be directed or exported to the grid and should be redistributed again locally.
5. The important task of monitoring your system can be done via the web.

The good thing about having a solar panel is that you can actually save your life and even earn an income as well. Its benefits mainly revolve around as it can generate your own electricity use and the advantage of controlling and cutting your bills as well. Keep in mind that the use of solar panels can bring you to as much power usage. For you to be able to identify its use, it is also important to know the different solar cells.

Types of Solar Cells

Polycrystalline cells– these are generally made of a molten type of silicon that is sliced into pieces of squares. As the production of power supply is lowered so does the efficiency of solar cells. Keep in mind that the use of this type of cell is made up half of the photovoltaic panels.

Single crystal cells- these are made long cylinders that are sliced into very thin wafers. While the process has more materials and it uses high-efficiency type of cells.

Thin types of film cells- this involves depositing and spraying of materials to the metal or glass surfaces.

In conclusion, the good thing about solar panels is that it can provide as much energy in your household. It promotes better ways for you to save your budget and at the same time provides quality of life. Great things are well stabilized because the use of electricity can be more resilient but it is also much more economical and environmentally friendly than coal-based energy, for example.