Lasagna Gardening

Pesticides linked to ADHD in Children

What you bringing into your house?

Pesticides in foods are only part of the story. Soaps, dishwashing and laundry detergent, shampoos, toothpaste and many other household items also have chemicals in them that your family shouldn't be exposed to either. Consult the Whole Green Catalog for tested chemical-free alternatives for every imaginable product. Please consider making these changes. You'll be glad you did!

Study: A Link Between ADHD and Pesticides

Studies linking environmental substances to disease are coming fast and furious. Chemicals in plastics and common household goods have been associated with serious developmental problems, while a long inventory of other hazards are contributing to rising rates of modern ills: heart disease, obesity, diabetes, autism.

Add attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to the list. A new study in the journal Pediatrics associates exposure to pesticides with cases of ADHD in the U.S. and Canada. In the U.S. alone, an estimated 4.5 million children ages 5 to 17 have been diagnosed with ADHD, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and rates of diagnosis have risen 3% a year between 1997 and 2006. Increasingly, research suggests that chemical influences, perhaps in combination with other environmental factors — like video games, hyperkinetically edited TV shows and flashing images in educational DVDs aimed at infants — may be contributing to the increase in attention problems.

"I am very confident in the correlation in this study, because we controlled for quite a few things that we thought could play a role," says Bouchard. "Adjusting for those things did not change the results very much. Which indicates that there is very little potential for confounding in this association between pesticides and ADHD."

Read more at http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1989564,00.html

Whole Foods is Coming to OKC!

I always enjoy shopping at the Whole Foods Grocery in Tulsa and finally after much waiting, Whole Foods has announced a new location in the OKC area. A location has not yet been disclosed but read more about this exciting development in the Daily Oklahoman and stay tuned for more details!

Water Use It Wisely Conservation Week

Econundrum: 12 Most Pesticide-Laden Fruits and Veggies

The Environmental Working Group recently analyzed samples of 47 common produce items in the state that they're usually eaten (i.e., avocados were peeled, apples washed with water, etc.) then ranked them according to the amount and variety of pesticides the researchers found.

In descending order, the EWG's 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables:

1. Peaches
2. Apples
3. Sweet bell peppers
4. Celery
5. Nectarines
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Kale
9. Lettuce
10. Grapes (imported)
11. Carrots
12. Pears

For the full list of all 47 fruits and veggies, go here.

Community Vision: Sustainable Tahlequah is continuing to move forward with an eye on a greener and greater future for all residents.
By BETTY RIDGE Press Special Writer

Tahlequah’s future may not be exactly a Norman Rockwell illustration, but members of Sustainable Tahlequah have visions that could return many old-time values to a contemporary world.

During the first official gathering Saturday of Sustainable Tahlequah, which recently became an affiliate of the Oklahoma Sustainability Network, participants discussed these ideas:

• Expanding the Farmers’ Market and community garden that already exist.

• Developing a network where producers are listed and consumers can find a place to buy the locally-produced items they need. Although much of the meeting focused on foods, members said this could also include other products.

• Establishing a community kitchen where people could get together to can and preserve foods that are grown locally.

• Educational efforts, including gardening classes.

• Old ideas such as barter (trading what you have for something you need that someone else has) and neighbors getting together to share the labor of planting, harvesting, building fence, etc.

For the complete article, visit tahlequahdailypress.com/features/x1004929433/Community-vision

Homebuilder's Corner

EPA Releases Final Specification for WaterSense New Homes
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its final WaterSense single-family new homes specification today, creating the first national, voluntary, water-efficiency specification for an entire new home. “Home builders can now partner with EPA and earn the WaterSense label for their newly built homes, helping to create livable communities and quality homes that are easy to maintain,” said Peter S. Silva, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Water. “These homes will save homeowners as much as $200 a year on utility bills compared to their current homes.” More at www.epa.gov/watersense/spaces/new_homes.html

Tulsa Homebuilders to Launch Green Council

TULSA – The Home Builders Association of Greater Tulsa will launch its Green Building Council on Jan. 1, enabling both residential developers and homeowners to use more environmentally friendly products. “I think it’s the coming thing,” said Phil Rhees of BMI Properties, who helped create the Tulsa council. He expects it to help advance construction of environmentally friendly homes in Oklahoma’s second-largest metro area. “I think we’re five years behind the national trends.” Larry Cagle of Cagle Construction will preside over the 25-member Green Building Council, which will partner with the interest group Sustainable Tulsa to help educate people on recycled and environmentally friendly product and construction options, connecting them to contractors, suppliers and service companies. Sustainable Tulsa unveiled its 2010 Tulsa Area Green Directory Tuesday to help fulfill that goal. “There’s some things we can do that will be short term, and a lot of things we can do long term,” said Rhees. “We have to start somewhere.” More here ::: http://www.journalrecord.com/article.cfm?recid=104729

OG&E Selects Norman for Jan. 2010 Smart Meter Energy Efficiency Project

Norman, Oklahoma has been selected to be the first city to participate in OG&E’s Positive Energy Community program. As a result it will become one of the country’s first cities to be blanketed with smart meters and hundreds of “energy portals” located in homes. Within the next couple of years OG&E will install 42,000 smart meters in the city. About 2,000 homes will have a programmable thermostat installed and other devices that are designed to help consumers monitor and control their energy usage.

With the new meters OG&E can remotely connect and disconnect electrical service and is notified immediately if there are problems occurring in the power grid. The programmable thermostats and graphical display units allow customers to easily understand how and when they are using energy and can help them make decisions that save them money. On average, customers who used the displays were able to save between 10 and 15 percent off their electric bills during the test in 2008. They did so by using power during off-peak times when the cost of energy is cheaper.

Click here for the complete article.

Sustainable Shawnee's Survey Results

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and hopes for the future with us. Click Here to review the survey results. All responses are completely anonymous.

ODOT's Long Range Transportation Planning for Oklahoma

Leave Your Comment Online Today!

How do you want your transportation system to look? Now? In the future? The Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) wants to know. ODOT’s Planning & Research Division is hosting a series of meetings across the State to provide residents with information, access to ODOT staff, and avenues for commenting on two important transportation planning documents.

Visit http://www.oklongrangeplan.com/ for more information on the state's plan. Can't make the meeting? Leave on online comment to make your voice heard.