The American spirit lives on at a 300-year-old, cream-line dairy farm, where a farmer is working around the clock to bottle his own milk after his processor told him to dump it. Locals are lining up to support him.

We may have our own opinions as to what is important in life but when it comes to important creatures, it seems as if bees have that title sewn up.

At the last meeting of the Royal Geographical Society of London, the EarthWatch Institute came to a startling conclusion. They declared that bees are the most important living being on the planet, and for good reason.



The Science Times reports that 70% of the world’s agriculture is dependent on pollination that happens exclusively by bees. Bees may do many different things but pollinating plants, allowing them to reproduce is by far their most important. Without pollination, those plants would disappear quickly.

A study conducted by the Apiculture Entrepreneurship Center of the Universidad Mayor (CeapiMayor) and the Apiculture Corporation of Chile (Cach), with the support of the Foundation for Agrarian Innovation (FIA) also came to an interesting conclusion. Bees are the only living thing on earth that doesn’t carry any type of pathogen, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi.

Even though that’s the case, bees are now on the endangered species list with a dramatic decline being shown in the numbers of those insects worldwide. Within the past few years, almost 90% of the bee population has been wiped out.


Uncontrolled use of pesticides is probably the main reason for their decline. You can also blame it on deforestation and a lack of flowers. Activists are now saying that the use of pesticides needs to be stopped immediately and we need to look to more natural agricultural alternatives as we keep a close eye on the health and welfare of bees.

Greenpeace also weighed in on the situation, saying it is possible to use ‘commonsense actions’ to restore and protect bees around the world. This would include eliminating the seven most dangerous pesticides, restoring ecological agriculture and preserving wild habitat to protect the health of pollinators.

In other words, ecological farming is important for the preservation of bee habitats. It would require diversifying the ecosystem and avoiding mono-crops.


In addition to saving the health of bees, it can also restore soil nutrients through the use of natural composting, limit wind and water erosion and eliminate the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

When these factors are put into place, bee populations will be restored and pollination will be improved, along with crop yields.

Learn more about saving the bees on this website.

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“Long-neck” avocados grow up to 3 feet long, and they’re all organic, non-GMO

Trader Joe’s was one of the first chain grocery stores to begin selling organic food, but their products have not necessarily been eco-friendly. A vast amount of the produce that can be found at Trader Joe’s is needlessly covered in plastic, but that is about to change soon.


The company recently announced that they will be cutting down on their use of plastic, and reduce their consumption of plastic by roughly 4 million pounds each year. More than half of that plastic, 2.5 million pounds, is being cut from the produce department.

Now, many produce items that can be safely sold loose will not contain any packaging. This change will save the company a ton of money, and those savings are reportedly being noticed by customers as well.

At one Trader Joe’s location, a customer said that they found a single head of garlic for $.49, when before the same item was sold in packs of two for $1.39 before. For this item, the loss of packaging came with a 25% reduction in price, and customers say that this has happened all over the produce section.

There were some food items that just needed plastic to be kept fresh, although a statement from Trader Joe’s noted that they were seeking solutions for more eco-friendly packaging for these situations.

“The outcome of our test was not tolerable from a food-waste perspective, so we are in pursuit of alternatives. While we may not always arrive at the right solution the first time, we remain steadfast in our dedication to this important work,” the statement read.

The company also said that they will be phasing out the use of styrofoam trays and looking for a variety of different ways that they can cut down on waste in their stores.

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Trader Joe’s has been keeping their customers informed about the changes through their website and on their podcast, “Inside Trader Joe’s.”

In the press release, the company explained that:

A fundamental focus of sustainability is maintaining product integrity and preventing food waste. We strive to balance the key role packaging plays in this effort with the overall impact packaging has on the ecosystem, as we approach making any changes. We are also aware that the realistic opportunities for recycling materials, along with differing understandings of what is the “best choice” for sustainability, makes this work complex. While most of the plastic in our packaging has the highest recyclability acceptance rate in the U.S., reducing the amount of plastic packaging in our stores is another important focus of our sustainability.

Trader Joe’s has also taken some other measures recently, in addition to reducing packaging and no longer offering single-use plastic bags. The company has also promised to get rid of Bisphenol A, or BPA, from their packaging.

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Teenager wins Google Science award for genius invention that could cheaply remove most microplastics from the ocean


Because microplastics are so small — some as tiny as grains of sand — scientists have had a hard time figuring out to remove them from the soil and the sea.

Now, an Irish teenager has come up with a promising solution for this seemingly impossible task — a magnetic liquid that attracts microplastics to itself.

18-year-old Fionn Ferreira was kayaking one day when he spotted a rock covered in oil from a recent spill. Clinging to the oil were a bunch of tiny pieces of plastic.

“It got me thinking,” Ferreira told Business Insider. “In chemistry, like attracts like.”

Plastic and oil are nonpolar, making them likely to stick together in nature

Ferreira wondered if the effect could be recreated using ferrofluid, a magnetic, oil-based liquid invented by NASA in 1963 to keep rocket fuel moving in zero gravity.

Today ferrofluid is used to control vibrations in speakers and to seal off electronics to keep debris out.

Ferreira makes a more environmentally friendly version of the liquid than the kind used in rocket fuel, using recycled vegetable oil and magnetite powder, a mineral found naturally on Earth’s surface.

When he first drops the liquid into a container of water contaminated with microplastics, it disperses and turns the water black.

Then he dips a magnet in the water, which pulls out all the ferrofluid, plastic and all, leaving clear water behind.

The method removed 88% of the micrplastics in his test samples.

The most difficult type of microplastic to remove was polypropylene, used to make all sorts of plastic packaging. Still, the ferrofluid removes 80% of polypropylene.

The easiest microplastics to remove were microfibers from plastic clothing such polyester, spandex and Lycra.

Washers and dryers are currently not equipped to filter these microfibers, which are a major source of ocean plastic pollution, so this is great news for that application.

Additionally, Ferreira‘s invention can be used at wastewater treatment plants as a sort of catch-all for microplastic pollution before it enters rivers, lakes and oceans.




Ferreira has won the Google Science award, $50,000 and educational funding for his invention.

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The Blue Java is a variety of banana that has a taste and consistency that are strikingly similar to vanilla ice cream. It is also known as ice cream banana in Hawaii, Cenizo in Central America and Hawaiian banana in Fiji.

It has a sweet aroma and an aqua blue peel when unripe. When ripe, these bananas are greenish or pale yellow, and the inside is whitish yellow. It originates from South East Asia, and unlike other banana varieties, it can keep growing in temperatures as low as 20F / -7c.

Bananas are low in fat, but energy dense, so 100 grams of banana provide about 0.3g of fat, 22.8g of carbs, and 89 calories. They are abundant in potassium, that supports proper muscles contraction, and nerve cell response, and regulates heart pressure.

Blue Java bananas contain a fair amount of fiber, as well as several antioxidants that strengthen the immune system. They are also high in vitamin B6 and C, magnesium, copper, manganese, and protein.

The high pectin and resistant starch content moderate blood sugar levels after meals and suppress appetite by slowing the emptying of your stomach. These fruits also rank low to medium on the glycemic index (GI).

The high amounts of vitamin B6 help the body to synthesize its own serotonin, meaning that the consumption of these bananas significantly improves mood. A smoothie or delicious banana ice cream with 2-3 Blue Java bananas will provide over 75% of your RDA of vitamin B6.



Furthermore, these bananas are abundant in non-digestible fibers like cellulose, hemicellulose, and alpha-glucans, which prevent constipation and restore and maintain regular bowel function.

The resistant starch also escapes digestion and ends up in the large intestine where it becomes food for the beneficial bacteria in the gut.

This banana variety has wide, thick, and strong leaves, which can be used instead of aluminum foil, and parchment paper for cooking, as well as for The Blue Java Banana has wide, strong, and thick leaves like any other banana variety. These leaves can also be used for baking, boiling, steaming, grilling, and drying.

You can replace ice cream with these bananas, or add it to various recipes for an added vanilla flavor, like smoothies, banana cakes, oatmeal cookies, pancakes, and more.

Therefore, if you decide to grow a Blue Java banana here, and reap the benefits of these delicious fruits, you should know the following facts:

-- It the U.S. it is suitable for growing in the USDA’s zones 9b through 11, although some farmers grow from zones 8 through 11, which are part of the hardiness zones

-- It takes about 9 months from the time the first leaves appear for the fruits to mature if you plant a pseudostem

-- Bananas love mushy conditions and warm, rich soil, so you should water the banana tree frequently

-- They also require a lot of fertilizing, so you will need to use an NPK fertilizer with nutrients in the ratio of 3:1:6 to nurture it. You will need to spray a cup of fertilizer around the roots a month for a one-foot tall plant.

-- Also, you need to prune the secondary shoots around each rhizome, but leave at least one shoot around the plant to improve photosynthesis

-- Bananas require sunlight to germinate, but it is best for the banana tree to be partially to fully exposed to sunlight

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This Thai supermarket chain is now wrapping its fruits and veggies in an abundant biodegradable, renewable resource — banana leaves.


A supermarket chain in Chiangmai, Thailand, is doing its part to stem the tide of single-use plastics flooding into the ocean.

While most supermarkets bundle their strawberries in plastic boxes, their corn in plastic shrink wrap and their mushrooms in plastic produce bags, this grocer has come up with an innovative, eco-friendly solution.


Banana leaves are a plentiful and nearly free resource, except for the cost of gathering them.


They’ve been used for millennia as plates and food wrappers and are still used as stylish serving dishes today in Indian and Filipino restaurants.


Banana leaves are said to lend a special flavor to a dish and can even be used to steam foods like Vietnamese sausage.

Not only do the leaves make for a lovely presentation, but it is believed that an enzyme on the leaf, which is released into the food, aids in digestion.


So instead of contaminating our produce with hormone-disrupting BPA, we could actually be making it more nutritious.

Now the benefits of the banana leaf are being expanded beyond fine dining and into the grocery store. They’re large, flexible and waterproof, making for sturdy packaging.




Researchers in Sri Lanka have also perfected a technique for curing banana leaves so they can be kept for more than a month under refrigerated conditions without any change in color or quality.

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Have you transitioned to a plant-based diet? Do you make an effort to reduce the amount of animal products you are consuming on a regular basis? If so, it is thanks to you that 500 million lives have been spared this year, and with continued awareness, that number continues to rise.

It has become clear that everyone is not going to stop eating meat anytime soon, but as more and more awareness has been made towards the treatment of animals, and about the health effects of a conventional diet and environmental factors that come from eating too much meat, more people are starting to at least consider the option of consuming much less meat. Although, many vegans would argue that it’s all or nothing and that the only way to make an impact is to give up meat entirely. We can clearly see the difference that has come from people simply being more conscious about their meat consumption.

Personally, I don’t eat meat or animal products for the most part, but I also don’t consider myself a vegan, mainly because I don’t feel the need for a label or to define myself in this way — anymore. In the past I was a vegan, a strict one at that, and I realized that putting labels on yourself and preaching your beliefs isn’t necessarily an effective way to create change. Now, educating people on the ethical, environmental, and health concerns that go hand in hand with a traditional diet, and how much being more mindful about the amount of meat and animal products you are consuming and encouraging the idea of consuming less of these products and avoiding products coming from factory farms, now that was a more effective way to go about it. Telling someone that they are wrong and you are right usually doesn’t go over so well, in my experience anyways.

We Are Consuming Less Meat
Meat consumption has been steadily on the decline since 2007. In fact, it has dropped 10% per capita in the United States according to statistics from The Humane Society of the United States. That year, the U.S. raised and slaughtered around 9.5 billion land animals for food. As of 2014 that number fell by 400 million. This is according to Paul Shapiro, Vice President, Farm Animal Protection for The Humane Society of the United States.

“What that means is that compared to 2007, last year almost half a billion fewer animals were subjected to the torment of factory farming and industrial slaughter plants and that’s despite the increase in the U.S. population.”

Ready For More Great News?
That number continues to drop, and really 500 million lives spared in a matter of only 10 years is actually quite impressive. If the number of animals being mass-produced and slaughtered for consumption continued to drop by half a billion every 10 years then it wouldn’t take long before no animal would have to suffer any longer; animals who would be used for food could be treated with respect and raised ethically and have an actual life before their eventual slaughter, which is still by no means humane.

Is It Because People Are Moving Towards A Plant-Based Diet?
Not necessarily. As more and more people are becoming aware of the benefits of a plant-based diet, they are making more ethical and conscious decisions about what they are consuming. This doesn’t automatically mean going vegan, but people are choosing to eat less meat. This is certainly becoming obvious by the increasing number of vegetarian and vegan restaurants that seem to be opening up everywhere all the time. In the past decade, we have also seen a large variety of plant-based alternatives to meat products that put the traditional veggie burger to shame. There are many realistic, and surprisingly tasty alternatives, and people seem to be more open-minded to giving these a chance. Perhaps because subconsciously they know that it might be time to make a shift. Many athletes are going vegan and swear by this type of lifestyle for achieving optimal results. We are even seeing many doctors adopting this type of lifestyle as well.

Times Are Changing
This serves as a powerful reminder that with enough awareness, and especially with the help of the Internet, things can and will change. If someone is choosing to remain ignorant, they won’t change, but the Internet has made this a difficult thing to do. Nobody wants to see animals suffer and I’m sure that most sane people on the planet would prefer if no animal ever had to suffer again. When we realize how much of an impact we ourselves can make, it helps us to make more ethical decisions. Never forget that “small acts of kindness, multiplied by millions will transform the world.” I believe that this is what has caused this drastic decline in the amount of animals that were slaughtered for food. We can all do our part to actively create the type of the world we want to live in and truly understand that if we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem. What can you do to reduce your impact?

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Celery is one of the most nutritious vegetables we can consume, as it is a rich source of magnesium, potassium, and vitamins C, A, B, and K. It is also high in phytonutrients, which act as potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agents, strengthen the immune system, boosts the intracellular communication, and repairs the DNA damage due to toxins.

According to Jillian Levy, CHHC:

“Fresh celery benefits nutrition thanks to all the tremendous vitamins and minerals it contains. One cup of chopped raw celery (about 101 grams) contains approximately:

• 16.2 calories
• 3.5 grams carbohydrates
• 0.7 gram protein
• 0.2 gram fat
• 1.6 grams fiber
• 29.6 micrograms vitamin K (37 percent DV)
• 453 international units (9 percent DV)
• 36.5 micrograms folate (9 percent DV)
• 263 milligrams potassium (8 percent DV)
• 3.1 milligrams vitamin C (5 percent DV)
• 0.1 milligram manganese (5 percent DV)
• 0.1 milligram vitamin B6 (4 percent DV)
• 40.4 milligrams calcium (4 percent DV)
• 0.1 milligram riboflavin (3 percent DV)
• 11.1 milligrams magnesium (3 percent DV)

All with some sugars, celery also contains some vitamin E, niacin, pantothenic acid, iron, phosphorus, zinc, and selenium.”




Researchers have confirmed the numerous health benefits of celery:

• Celery treats and prevents chronic inflammation
• It regulates the pH balance of the body
• it helps weight loss since it is low in calories but high in fiber
• Celery helps digestion and treats stomach issues and constipation
• It is 96% water, so it hydrates the body
• It lowers the risk of gastritis and gastric ulcers
• It treats urinary tract infections as it has potent diuretic properties
• It soothes the nervous system and helps you fall asleep
• It regulates cholesterol and blood pressure, as it contains phthalide
• It is low in acids and relieves heartburn and acid reflux
• Celery is abundant in vitamin A, so it improves vision, treats dry eyes, and protects the cornea
• It acts as a natural aphrodisiac since it is rich in the male pheromones, androstenol, and androsterone
• It boosts the levels of the hormone aldosterone, so it improves male’s fertility and the count of sperm
• It can clean your teeth like a natural dental floss since it is breaking into fibrous strands while chewing

You can enjoy the amazing taste and numerous benefits of this vegetable in numerous ways. You can add it to soups, stir-fries, salads, stews, and salad dressings, or dip it in peanut butter, sauces, or hummus.

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Did you know that the nutritional properties of bananas change as they ripen? Have you noticed that the taste of the bananas changes as they ripen, it gets sweeter? This happens because of the enzymes contained in the bananas are progressively breaking down the starch (a long polymeric form of sugar that doesn’t taste sweet) turning it into simple sugars (disaccharides or monosaccharides which taste sweet).

When the banana ripens that means that the starch has already turned into simple sugar and it is easier to digest. Although according to researches, the quantities of vitamins and minerals reduces as the banana ripens. That is why it should be stored in a refrigerator.


Japanese researchers discovered a very interesting fact about bananas. According to them as the banana ripens it produces more antioxidants and more anticancer properties. When the banana is fully riped with dark spots on the yellow skin it produces a substance called TNF (Tumor Necrosis Factor), a substance that can combat abnormal cells.

The research also shows that the more darker spots it has the better the anti-cancer properties are. Moreover, a banana with yellow skin and dark spots is eight times more effective in boosting body’s immune system than the green skin banana.

Therefore, the best time to eat the banana is when it’s fully ripen. But if you suffer from type 2 diabetes or you want to avoid a fast increase of your blood sugar levels, you might want to consider eating a riped banana with nut butter – because the fat slows down the sugar absorption into your blood stream. Or you can consume the banana while it’s still green. (level 3 or 4 in the pic)

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