environment

Ten Ways to Go Green St. Patrick’s Day

| March 16, 2022 | Categories: Biophilia, Environment, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping, Sustainable Living
My neighborhood mascot Mr. Stumpy is ready for St. Patrick's Day in his recycled Irish attire! Thank you, Nina! Photo: Jim Mumford Go Green St. Patrick's
You don’t have to be Irish (or part Irish like me) to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day today, March 17. And I won’t judge if you continue the celebration through the weekend. Slainte! We love any occasion focusing on green things. The Eco-Warriors at Good Earth Plant Company don’t think of shamrocks when we think about going green. There are many more ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day all year long besides just wearing green and drinking green beer. Think green all year with our ten ways to go green on St. Patrick’s Day. Eat Greener For some of you (like me), this is a tough one.… Read More

Our Mission To Enrich Peoples’ Lives With Plants

| March 9, 2022 | Categories: Awards & Achievements, Case Studies, Good Earth Plant Company, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing
We're thrilled to partner with Paige Kries of Plant It Again. (L to R): Team member Laurie Boarders, Paige Kries, Jim Mumford, volunteer Margee Lawrence, and Kaylee Yoon. Photo: Paige Kries growing our mission
Time for some truth-telling on the blog this week. Our industry has a dirty little secret. Of all the environmentally responsible businesses in the world, you might think working with plants is especially earth-friendly. But in reality, there is waste associated with our business. Clients want their plants to look perfect. Living things are rarely perfect. We often swap out old plants that get too big for the space or aren’t doing well for some reason. Since we don’t want to spray anything inside your home or office, we always remove plants with disease or pest issues. We provide beautiful living art pieces that contain orchids and other flowering plants.… Read More

Monarch Butterflies Making A Comeback

| February 23, 2022 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Environment, Gardening, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living
The western California monarch is in danger of extinction. Good Earth Plant Company provides critical milkweed habitat and we're thrilled to see it working. Photo: Erin Lindley
With so much troubling news about our environment lately, any good news is welcome, and I found some worth sharing with you. The Monarch butterfly is making a comeback! Last month, the Xerces Society reported a surprising outcome from its 25th annual Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count. Volunteers observed 247,237 monarch butterflies observed across western overwintering sites: a more than 100-fold increase from last year. Xerces Society biologists Isis Howard and Emma Pelton write, “This year’s total both amazed us with the monarchs’ ability to bounce up from a record low and underscores the importance of ongoing conservation efforts to recover the western monarch butterfly population.”… Read More

Nightmare Before Christmas: Christmas Trees In Short Supply

| December 8, 2021 | Categories: Environment, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
Our Christmas tree created for our client Illumina.
Many families usually make plans to put up their Christmas tree this time of year. But when’s the last time anything seemed normal? Like so many other goods right now, the supply chain problems slowing down the delivery of so many products affect Christmas trees. Whether you prefer a real Christmas tree or an artificial Christmas tree, it’s more complicated and more expensive in 2021. For California residents – and most people in Western states – the supply chain issues combine with inventory destroyed by western wildfires in tree-growing states like Oregon. Rising temperatures also create problems for tree farmers. The result: tree costs are up about five to ten percent.… Read More

Plants Matter: Our Ten Reasons Why

| April 7, 2021 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilia, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
From avocados to zucchini, plants are the basis for all foods humans consume. Photo: Any Lane/Pexels Plants Matter
Food Are you reading this over a meal or snack? Without plants, forget having anything to eat. Every single one of the calories in proteins, fats, and carbohydrates we consume comes from plants. Yes, this includes meat, because animals we consume as food eat plants. Plants use the energy created from photosynthesis to convert carbon-dioxide to complex molecules animals including people eat for food. It hardly gets more basic than this! But we have nine more reasons to go. Oxygen Hold your breath. You probably can’t do it for more than a few minutes. Life on Earth depends on oxygen, and that oxygen comes mostly from plants, which generate oxygen as a byproduct of photosynthesis.… Read More

Don’t Trash The Holidays!

| December 26, 2019 | Categories: Environment, Good Earth Plant Company, Sustainable Living
Don't trash that Christmas tree! Do right by Mother Earth and recycle. Photo: Goran Horvat/Pixabay
The holidays are hitting the home stretch toward New Year’s Day. It’s time to start making your recycling plans if you have a fresh-cut Christmas tree. But there are also other holiday items you should consider recycling even if you celebrated Christmas with an artificial tree. Here’s how to properly dispose of your greenery – and this includes wreaths or other decorations made with living greens. The easiest thing to do for most households in San Diego is to put it out for collection with your regular greenery pickup. If you don’t have greenery pickup, there are 17 drop-off locations available.… Read More

Cool Things Made From Plants, Not Plastic

| March 29, 2018 | Categories: Environment, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living
uman beings are addicted to plastic and trashing our planet with discarded bottles, fishing nets, and more. We need to find a solution. Photo: Courtesy Ocean Cleanup Foundation
Forget being addicted to drugs, or sugar, or the internet. America is addicted most of all to plastic. Last week, the Ocean Cleanup Foundation published a report on the Pacific Garbage Patch, a huge mass of trash swirled together by the ocean’s currents. It sits between the California coast and Hawaii. It is hundreds of miles from land, from any major city. So much trash is getting into the Pacific Ocean that doesn’t biodegrade, it has now grown to 87,000 tons, four to 16 times bigger than anyone previously thought. It is four times the size of the state of California.… Read More

In Business, Green is Good

| August 17, 2017 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Case Studies, Environment, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
  When did you last spend time outdoors? You might think everyone is outside enjoying summer weather and school vacations.  In San Diego, there’s hardly a day all year when you can’t be outside in short sleeves (or less). Buried in a report by the Environmental Protection Agency from 1989 is this shocking statistic: people in industrialized countries include the U.S. and Europe  spend more than 90 percent of their time indoors. Specifically, people spend 93 percent of their time indoors, with anther five percent in transit in a car or public transportation, and just two percent outside. I’d like to think this number is lower in San Diego, but even if it’s 80 percent, it’s still a sobering reality.… Read More

Serving Up a Summer Blog Salad

| July 20, 2017 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Environment, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Sustainable Living
So many plant related news items cross my desk that make me say “huh” or “really?” or “wow.” Or “you’ve got to be (kidding) me!” I had to clean up that sentence using “kidding” for our family-friendly blog but you get the idea. Let me catch you up on a few of them while I’m filling my own brain at the annual Cultivate 17 conference in Columbus, Ohio. Using Vinegar On Plants During a Drought In Japan, scientists say they’ve created greater tolerance for drought conditions in plants by growing them in vinegar. Scientists at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science conducted their tests on the Arabidopsis plant, which is called Thale cress.… Read More

The Green Fix for Good Health

| July 6, 2017 | Categories: Biophilia, Environment, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living
One of the best things about celebrating the Fourth of July is that everyone in Washington D.C. stops what they are doing to join in on parades, fireworks, and barbecues like the rest of us. But they’re now back at work. Healthcare reform remains at the top of the agenda. Don’t worry, I’m not going to discuss coverage or insurance here. This blog is for healthier topics than politics! But if I could give a speech in Congress or write a letter to all 535 members of Congress, I would encourage them to include a big dose of the outdoors and nature in whatever plan they come up with.… Read More