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The Urban Naturalist
216 Madison St.
Lafayette , LA 70501
Telephone:
337-258-0878
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Website:
http://www.theurbannaturalists.com
Year Started:
2011
# American Employees:
1
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Marcus Descant has lived in Lafayette for 10 years. During those ten years, he's owned/operated a lawn service. In the past few years, he's really opened up to alternative methods for maintaining plants in a sustainable way. After pursuing further education in horticulture, "Why aren't we doing things more like Austin, TX, Portland, OR, and California?" These places are very progressive. These places are getting great results without using products that debilitate surrounding ecosystems. Why aren't we?
On his micro-farm located near downtown Lafayette he test some of these same processes used in other areas of the world. Although not all of these methods prove worthy for our climate, he's crafted a process specific for our region. Because of our high heat and humidity, precautions for fungus are more necessary here. On his days off, you could find him scouring the state looking for sources of agricultural byproducts that would improve plant performance without relying on shipping material across the country.
Localization is a very important part of his plan. He relies on our local sugar cane industry for the byproducts generated when refining sugar. He also uses cotton seed and soy as an alternative to ammonia nitrate fertilizer, all derived from local sources. It's easy to see the effects of ammonia nitrate runoff. This huge "dead zone", in the Gulf just a few hours away. This dead zone, one of the biggest in the world, is cause by a number of sources, some of which we can control. This runoff is proof that much of this expensive nitrogen is lost and converted into pollution which has many negative effects on our state. |
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Thoughts on America:
Localization is a must, we waste too many resources on globalization. We can learn alot from our past, there wasn't a choice then. |
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