By Marion Smith, AIA, LEED AP, Engine House No. 1and USGBC-Missouri Gateway Chapter Founder
As we celebrate the 20-year anniversary of our local USGBC Chapter this year, it has been a good reminder to reflect on what the green building movement looked like at the founding. Before our U.S. Green Building Council St. Louis Regional Chapter […]
By Michelle “Mike” Ochonicky, Healthy Planet Arts Editor
Photo Caption: Acorns, acrylic by Mike Ochonicky.
It may still be warm but September signals the end of summer. Back in 19-oh-never-mind, the school year started after Labor Day. The sidewalks of the neighborhood where I grew up were lined with huge pin oaks. By the start of school, […]
By Chiamaka Chukwu
Missouri Coalition for the Environment (MCE) is a nonpartisan nonprofit that focuses on advocating for clear water, clear air, clean energy, and a healthier environment. MCE supports allied organizations working towards the same goals while providing vital information to thousands of Missourians on issues that affect their water, air, food, health, and environment.
One […]
By Dan Zarlenga, Missouri Department of Conservation
Photo caption: Pawpaws, freshly picked, ripe, and ready to eat. It’s Missouri’s Top Banana!Photo courtesy of the Missouri Department of Conservation
Did you know that you don’t have to travel to an exotic island to pick a fresh, tropical fruit? There’s one that grows right here in Missouri… and it’s […]
By Dan Zarlenga, Missouri Department of Conservation
Photo Caption: The Perseid Meteor Shower is one of the best of the year, and it peaks around August 12 this year. Photo by Dan Zarlenga
You can watch thousands of particles older than the Earth itself come to dramatic and fiery ends before your eyes. That’s essentially what […]
By Jean Ponzi
Remember the sounds of your childhood? Search your audio memory and find the time before “central air” shut our species into white noise boxes as soon as summer weather broke a sweat.
How can I sleep enclosed in a machine-sound room? Short stays in summer conference hotels are as long as I can ever […]
By Jean Ponzi
Golden Yellow
Lavish Greens
Birdie warbles, twitters, trills
Breeze lilt, rattle and whoosh
Solar canopy
Cumulus piles
July Sunday afternoon heat
Ripples the vast blue dome view.
Rare treat now for human eyes:
Vista that all hues of our species
Took for granted, loved and fought,
Over ages under Nature’s rule.
Square-stemmed
Monarda,
bee balm,
Sturdy as tomato stakes.
Towering
Silphium
brush my chest.
Grasses I cannot name
Poke and whisk and flip […]
By Simon Yu, MD
Dentists have no sense of humor! When I tell them that lots of medical crimes are committed in the dental chair with high-speed drills, amalgams, fluoride treatment, root canals, incompatible dental materials and implants, they certainly are not laughing.
Dental problems are one of the major reasons adding complexity to already complicated medically […]
photo caption: Bike, or hike along the Tunnel Hill Trail
Whether you’re looking for one-of-a-kind art, wine, or antiques, or exploring the great outdoors, Shawnee Forest Country in Southernmost Illinois can take you there.
The trails begin in the rolling Southern Illinois countryside where you can sip your way along and discover truly surprising and authentic wine […]
By Joshua Valeri
On July 24th, 2021, residents from both sides of the MississippiRiver gathered at the McKinley Bridge Roadside Park to demandpolitical action on issues of regional air quality. After listening to aseries of speakers denounce corporate and political crimes againstthe environment, attendees marched across McKinley Bridge in asymbolic unification of Missouri and Illinois’ […]
By Crystal StevensUrban Farmer
Photo Caption: Flourish Farm photo by Virginia Harold
Fresh, homegrown food adds flavor and nutrition to every meal from spring through fall for gardeners in the midwest. There is nothing quite like slicing open a fresh, homegrown heirloom tomato in the summertime or cooking a butternut squash. You can almost taste the summer […]
By Tom BrafordWe are all familiar with the phrase, “United we stand; divided we fall.” But what does that really mean, and how can we become united, if we are not already?
The conventional wisdom is that people often unite around a common threat or a common opportunity, but the debate around Covid-19 and whether the […]
By Tom Braford
Critical mass is the minimum amount of something required to start or maintain a project or venture. It begins a chain reaction and follows the same laws of contagion as communicable diseases, but what if we actively pursue it to create a positive social movement!?
According to British anthropologist, Robin Dunbar, there is a […]
Ian Wahl, DAc, LAc, CH
A minor headache can make it hard to concentrate for a while, but for most people, a couple of over-the-counter remedies can usually get them under control. However, if you are suffering from migraine headaches, it can be outright debilitating.
According to the American Migraine Association, 12% to 16% of the U.S. […]
By Pat Tuholske
The Generosity of Plants
Plants are not innate objects but living, growing green beings that react to your presence, your energy and your thoughts. Current research on plants demonstrate how they communicate with each other, have memory of harm or good will, are conscious of their environment and those who pass through. The intelligence […]
By Teresa Garden, DVM
Non-core vaccines are not for every dog. The diseases they protect against have less mortality than those of the core vaccines. The dog’s risk factors based on his lifestyle and exposure should determine if a non-core vaccine is needed. Examples of non-core vaccines include Leptospirosis, Bordetella, and Influenza.
Leptospirosis is the most common […]
Article courtesy of the Clean Air Partnership
While cities all across the nation have made significant strides in cleaning up harmful air pollution over the last several decades, many areas in the United States – including the St. Louis metropolitan region – produce high enough concentrations of particulate matter that it can trigger illness, hospitalization and […]
Sorrow In Our Family
The other night I was sitting on the loveseat watching my 8-year-old grandson Jackson playing a video game while I was feeding a bottle to my 5-week-old grandson Cooper. This would have been such a special moment for me if it were not for the sudden and tragic loss of Cooper’s father […]
As I write this column on July 26, facemask mandates have been reinstated in the St. Louis City and St. Louis County. The Covid-19 Delta variant, 1,000 times more infectious as the original Covid-19 virus, is running wild across the country and particularly bad in southern Missouri and quickly coming our way. Those who are […]
By Abby Lapides
If you made it to our fabulous Missouri Botanical Gardens this year, you may have witnessed a magnificent Allium show. Many of our customers kept asking “What is it? What is it?”
The answer: Globemaster Ornamental Onion
A crowd favorite, Globemaster Ornamental Onion, Allium, brings fun and whimsy to the garden with its huge 6-10” […]
By Brandon Verhoff, Ph.D., USGBC-Missouri Gateway Education Committee Chair
When we design spaces, we design them for the people who use them. At the Missouri Gateway Chapter of the US. Green Building Council, when highlighting a building we often focus on the sustainable materials used to build it or the super energy efficient HVAC system. At […]
By Linda Wiggen Kraft, Healthy Planet Green & Growing Editor
There may be way more songs in your garden, and all gardens, than meets our ears. We hear bird song and songs of cicadas that fill the summer air. But are our ears tuned out to songs that go beyond our limited senses? Even if we […]
By Linda Wiggen KraftHealthy Planet Green & Growing Editor
Now is the time to plant seeds for your fall vegetable garden. Seeds of arugula, Asian greens, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, mustard greens, peas, radish, spinach, and turnips can all be planted now. Seeds need time to germinate and grow large enough to harvest […]
T’ai Chi Ch’uan For Health and Fitnessby Paul MacFarlane and Bill Grivna
Like everyone else, the St. Louis T’ai Chi Ch’uan Association found itself having to change its usual class schedule this last year in response to the corona virus. We are planning to start an in-person class for beginners in September. If you are interested, […]
By Dr. Amy Davis, MD
Functional Medicine identifies the Root Cause of disease, and recognizes that symptoms manifest and provide clues to the underlying cause. The symptoms experienced provide key information to help identify and treat the root cause.
Symptoms that correlate with digestion and the gut microbiome are among the most common. They provide us with […]