Airborne chemicals are embedded inside our homes. They swirl around us as toxic gases emitted from the poorly-labeled bottles of cleaning fluids in our kitchens and bathrooms, from the bug sprays and air fresheners we use, and from the glues, sealants and flame retardants in our furniture. They are also dragged inside our homes on the bottoms of our shoes and then stirred up when we walk on our carpets. Studies have shown that the air that surrounds us indoors is more toxic than the air outdoors — even if you live in a highly polluted city like Los Angeles or New York.

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What if you could take 1 million pounds of waste that was heading towards landfill and repurpose it to grow food? Well, that’s exactly what two recent UC Berkeley graduates are doing with their company Back to the Roots. Founders, Nikhil Arora and Alex Velez started a 100% sustainable urban mushroom farm that transforms coffee ground waste into the growing medium for gourmet mushrooms. The 2 year-old company is on pace in 2011 to collect, divert and reuse 1 million lbs. of used coffee grounds, from Peet’s Coffee & Tea, a San Francisco Bay Area company, and use it to grow over 250,000 lbs. of gourmet mushrooms.

They got the idea during their last semester at Berkeley in 2009. The two 23-year-olds had the intention to go into investment banking and consulting, but became intrigued, during a business ethics class lecture, with the idea of being able to grow gourmet mushrooms entirely on recycled coffee grounds. They walked around to local cafes and collected used coffee grounds, put them in paint buckets and seeded them with mushroom spawn. The experiment, to their delight, led to one bucket of pearl oyster mushrooms. They then saw the potential of these mushrooms… to turn waste into wages, as well as provide fresh, local food to their community. Read the rest of this entry »

“Your Super Natural Life with Beth Greer” GUEST: Beth Greer is interviewed by Dr. Peter Fairfield on how to improve your health and well-being by making small lifestyle changes. Beth, the show’s host and author of the book, “Super Natural Home,” offers practical solutions to creating a safe home or office environment by eliminating invisible toxins that can cause fatigue, allergies, asthma, and other health problems. http://www.BethGreer.com

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“Your Super Natural Life with Beth Greer” GUEST: Meg Jordan, Ph.D., RN, author, health journalist, clinical medical anthropologist, and “Global Medicine Hunter,” talks about searching the globe for healing remedies derived not only from botanicals, but from ritual, energy work, prayer, and non-ordinary ways of knowing. She shares her insights into the benefits of taking Turmeric and Red Reishi mushrooms, and why healing circles are beneficial for people with chronic disease. http://www.megjordan.com/

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“Your Super Natural Life with Beth Greer” GUEST: Nikhil Arora, co-founder of Back to the Roots talks about how he started his 100% sustainable urban mushroom farm that transforms coffee ground waste into the growing medium for gourmet mushrooms. This year alone his company will collect and reuse 1 million lbs. of used coffee grounds (from Peet’s Coffee) and use it to grow over 250,000 lbs of gourmet mushrooms. www.backtotheroots.com

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“Your Super Natural Life with Beth Greer” GUEST: Melinda Kramer, Founder and Co-Director of Women’s Earth Alliance talks about how her organization empowers women around the world, by providing them with tools like training, resources and long-term solutions around water, food, land, and climate change in Africa, India and the U.S. http://www.womensearthalliance.org/

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“Your Super Natural Life with Beth Greer” GUEST: Dr. Peter Fairfield, acupuncturist, healer and medical intuitive, talks about using acupuncture, energy healing, homeopathics, and herbal remedies to treat depression and other mood disorders. He also talks about LENS, or Low Energy Neurofeedback System, to help improve brain function. http://www.peterfairfield.com/

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If you had to choose just one room in your home to make environmentally friendly, it’s your bedroom. We can unsuspectingly create a toxic environment by sleeping on the wrong type of mattress, or exposing ourselves to electronic devices that interfere with sleep. Getting good quality sleep allows you to stay healthy and fight off illness because sleep is the time when your body heals, repairs and rejuvenates.

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“Your Super Natural Life with Beth Greer” GUEST: Dr. Jacqueline Chan, Integrative Medical Doctor at the Clear Center of Health in Mill Valley, CA talks about simple remedies we can take to counteract ill effects, including food, herbs, and supplements. Plus the optimal diet to eat, and lifestyle measures to take to detox and boost our immune systems. http://www.clearcenterofhealth.com

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“Your Super Natural Life with Beth Greer” GUEST: Dr. Sandra Steingraber, ecologist, author, cancer survivor, and internationally recognized, award-winning expert on the environmental links to cancer and reproductive health. She talks about her latest book, Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis (A Merloyd Lawrence Book)

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