Mothering Earth Podcast

Most of the animal food products you buy come from what are called factory farms. That includes your beef, chicken, turkey, and pork, as well as eggs and dairy products. The animals in these “farms” live miserable lives in horrible conditions and have a one-way ticket to the slaughterhouse. Compassion in World Farming is an organization dedicated to ending factory farming, and to educating people...

Food is clearly an essential item for all of us, but for some people buying food, especially things like fresh fruits and vegetables, is an impossibility. That's where places like food pantries and organizations like the Sustainable Food Center, come in. We're hearing today from Alex Mace who manages a program at the Sustainable Food Center, in Austin, Texas, that helps people using SNAP benefits...

In part two of our exploration of food forests, our guides Nathan Hunter of the Bronx River Foodway and Umair Khakoo, of the Festival Beach Food Forest in Austin, TX, focus on biodiversity, ecosystem services, and habitat for birds and other wildlife. We also discuss how you can start a food forest in your own neighborhood.

A food forest is a public green space where anyone can come, and not only enjoy relaxing among the trees and flowers, but where anyone can pick and eat the fruit from the trees, and harvest herbs, flowers and other fresh produce. Food forests require people in a caring community, who are willing to put in the hard work of creating the space, and maintaining it for the enjoyment of others. In this...

Water is a blessing to all living things. But water also can be dangerous and deadly, in the form of catastrophic flooding. When there is very little water, resulting droughts lead to loss of life. These types of events have been occurring with increasing frequency in recent years. For these reasons, and many more, managing water resources, including rivers and reservoirs, is essential. That requi...

Herbicide-Free Campus is an organization that provides students with the tools and resources to eliminate synthetic herbicide use on their school or college campuses. It is a movement that began in 2017, with two students at the University of California at Berkeley, and has spread to campuses around the U.S. Their aim is to push for change to organic land management, to protect human and animal he...

Enjoying that salad, or anticipating that yummy apple? Thank a pollinator! Almost all the fruits and vegetables and legumes we eat every day require pollination, and that requires pollinators. Pollinators come in a variety of sizes, colors, and species, but in general they are insects of one kind or another. We think of bees as pollinators, but there are other insects that contribute to the essent...

Most people enjoy listening to birdsong, or watching birds in an outdoor space, as they go about finding food and water, and making nests where they will raise their babies. There are things you can provide for birds which will make them more likely to hang around in your yard or even your apartment balcony. That’s what we learn in this program with master naturalist Bonnie Tull, who has expertise...

Power generation and transportation are huge contributors to climate change, but did you know that what we eat every day is also a big contributor to damaging carbon emissions? Yet this problematic area is seldom talked about. There is plenty of scientific evidence that shows the damaging effects on human health and on the environment, of a diet heavy on red meat and refined grains. The EAT-Lancet...

Imagine a day when your trash contains only a few items. Instead of a large, heavy, bursting bag that you carry out to the curb, your bag is small and lightweight. That’s a goal we can all work toward, because landfills are full, and the ocean is polluted with plastics and other human produced trash. Our atmosphere is polluted with the gases from landfills, gasses such as methane which is a highly...

As cities grow, people in them yearn for parkland and green spaces where they can connect with nature. In the city of San Marcos, Texas, citizens got together and formed a group with a mission of creating a belt of green spaces around the city, a greenbelt. Their story is both powerful and inspirational.

Permaculture is a way of growing food that works with nature, to minimize waste and to use energy, water and human labor efficiently. It requires careful observation of the natural landscape, to determine how to best use the available water, land, sunlight and climate to achieve abundant harvests. In this program you’ll meet a remarkable woman, Rosemary Morrow, who has taught permaculture principl...

Hemp is a plant that can be grown sustainably, and that has a wide variety of uses from food to clothing, to car parts. and even walls for your house. Despite many positives, hemp's reputation remains clouded by years of incorrectly regarding hemp as the same plant as marijuana. It is a cannabis plant, but it does not contain high levels of THC, which is what makes marijuana a drug. In this progra...

Don't kill those weeds. Eat them! That's what foragers do. You'll be amazed at the number of plants we call weeds, that are tasty and nutritious. Learn how to start foraging for wild edible plants, maybe in your own backyard. Of course, there are cautions, such as being sure about the safety of the plants you eat. My guest, Dr. Mark "Merriwether" Vorderbruggen, has the experience and knowledge to...

Have you thought about how many plastic items you use every day? It is quite a staggering amount, from our toothbrushes, to the plastic bags in which we carry home our groceries, to the water bottles we may buy by the dozens and so much more. In this program, my guest Rebecca Prince-Ruiz challenges us to eliminate single-use plastics from our lives, for a month. It's a journey she began years ago...

Most environmental policy experts and environmental organizations have largely ignored one of the major contributors to environmental destruction, namely the production of animal flesh for food. They focus on fossil fuels and the transportation sector, while giving a pass to animal-based agriculture. In this program, we take a hard look at what meat production does to the environment and how a pla...

The production of meat pollutes land, water and air. It is a major contributor to climate change, although it remains largely unacknowledged, even by most environmental organizations. Why can't we face the fact that meat-based diets harm not just human health, but also the environment? Timothy Thorpe of the U.K. based Vegan Society lays out the facts, and the reasons why veganism can help save our...

Most of the water we use is used outdoors. A lot of it goes to watering lawns. Water conservation outside the house means designing gardens that use less water, and using more efficient ways of watering plants. This program provides practical advice that you can put to use immediately, to become a wise user of one of our most precious resources, namely water.

Along with the air we breathe, water is another absolute essential for life. As the world's population has grown, so has the demand for water. But there is only a limited supply of water on earth, which is why it is important for all of us to conserve this precious natural resource. We'll talk about practical ways to conserve water, with Dr. Robert Mace, Executive Director of the Meadows Center fo...

Creating and maintaining a food forest in the middle of a city is a major undertaking. In this program, you will meet two people who are doing just that, in Austin, Texas. the Festival Beach Food Forest is now six years in the making. This public park provides fruit, nuts, and herbs for anyone who walks there, as well as for wildlife, and is a remarkable achievement.

Fungi are fascinating organisms that come in many forms and sizes, from almost invisible to the naked eye, to giant mushrooms. Scientifically speaking, fungi are a kingdom of spore-producing organisms that include mushrooms, yeasts and molds. They are different from other living things in that their cell walls are made of a compound called “chitin”. We eat fungi, which we call mushrooms. Fungi are...

Open your mind and your heart to a new way of thinking about gardens! Garden spaces are not just for humans, but for all the creatures that live there, including animals, insects and birds. In this program, my guest, author and garden designer Benjamin Vogt, introduces us to gardens that are designed ethically, and which are therefore good for our Earth.

Wildscapes are places you can create anywhere there is a bit of space, combined with a desire to be closer to wildlife. Many people like to attract birds, in order to observe them more closely. In this program wildscape expert Kelly Simon provides the dos and don'ts for your bird-friendly wildscape.

What is something you can create in a backyard, an apartment balcony, or on a patio? A wildscape! A wildscape is an area that you and your family and friends can enjoy, that also provides food, water and shelter for wildlife.

Scientists are reporting staggering losses in the populations of birds in North America. The bird population decline is seen in virtually all regions, including forests, grasslands, arid regions and along the coast. My guest Rebekah Rylander, from Texas State University, talks about why this is happening, and what you can do about it.