Video Resources
Moms Across America knows that staying on top of new information that can potentially improve your family’s life, and all life on the planet, is important, but not always easy. We love bringing you solutions! On this page, we will add to and update new videos on different aspects of a healthy lifestyle on a consistent basis. Now you can spend as little as 5 minutes or less learning something new that can really make a difference for your health and your family! Enjoy these videos, and be sure to keep your eyes on social media or sign-up for our emails to know when new videos are posted. Let us know in the comments below which topics are important to you!
These videos come from a variety of sources, including our sponsor, Baker Creek Seeds. We encourage you to visit the webpages of these video makers directly if you prefer to take a deeper dive into the wisdom they have to share!
Many of the MAA moms are master gardeners, and others of us have been wanting to start a small container garden for years now. No matter! There is no shortage of information from experienced organic gardeners to make it easier for you to pursue your goals - no matter what they may be. We encourage you to get started NOW. Spring is right around the corner.
Becoming an Organic (Backyard) Gardener
17 Brilliant FREE Vegetable Gardening Hacks | More Food for Less Effort
This video features 17 garden hacks that work so well. Garden hacks are all about saving time and effort!
From Preparation to Packets - How We Get Your Seeds by Baker Creek
The whole Baker Creek Heirloom seed packing process explained. From gathering seeds, to order and delivery, this video gives you an overview of the whole amazing process! It’s a cool mix of old-fashioned and high-tech methods everyone should watch.
How to Make Biodegradable Pots from GrowVeg
Are you one of those people that is always looking at ways to save money and reuse items to keep them out of the landfill? So are we! Ben Vanheems of Growveg.com shows you how to make seedling pots out of newspaper, cardboard toilet rolls and more. Did we mention that you can save money? What a great idea!
Selecting High Quality Seeds
The seed catalogs are coming in and you are dreaming of what you will grow this year! With that comes the questions – How to choose the best quality seeds? and What to look for when deciding between seed companies?
Jessica Smith from Grow Food Nation covers these questions and gives examples among different seed varieties so you can see the difference yourself!
12 Perfect Vegetables to Grow in a Shady Garden Space
When we think of vegetable gardening, we're often convinced that FULL SUN is the only way we'll be successful. This couldn't be more wrong! There are plenty of shade friendly plants that will thrive in 2-5 hours of sun.
How to Grow Carrots Super Cheap and Easy by Farmer Jei
This video from mom farmer Jei isn't so much about what she’s planting - but how she’s planting. Even if carrots weren’t on your list of things to plant - watch this video and learn a super easy way to start a garden - whether you have a small urban space or a sprawling backyard!
What is Composting and How Does it Work? - One Small Step - with Lucy Biggers
Composting not something you thought about doing? According to the EPA, food accounts for 20% of what Americans throw away everyday. Food in landfills cause 15% of methane gases in the US, which are a major cause of climate change. What can be done? One answer to that question is composting.
Vermi Composting: How Worms Can Reduce Our Waste by Matthew Ross, TED Ed
How can worms play a role in composting. This short video will have you seeing worms in a different light.
Starting Seeds Indoors for Your Spring Garden - 6 Mistakes to Avoid by Home & Home DYI
Have the best of intentions to plant a garden each year but before you know it spring has come and gone? Start your garden indoors the easy way and be ahead of the game.
Emulate a Permaculture Food Forest in Your Vegetable Garden by OYR Frugal and Sustainable Organic Gardening
Patrick Dolan walks you through creating a highly productive, self-sustaining, low maintenance vegetable garden bed by emulating a permaculture food forest.
Your Best Garden 3-Part Video Series (free) with Matt Powers of Baker Creek
Ready to make a commitment? Amazing gardener and educator, Matt Powers covers everything you need to know in this 3-part (still free) online course. In it you’ll learn Soil Made Easy, Vegetables Made Easy, and Seed Made Easy.
There is no such thing as ���away’. When we throw anything away, it must go somewhere. – Annie Leonard
We’re all plagued by plastic in multiple ways. It seems like it’s everywhere you go and you can’t get away from it. Or can you? Take control over the plastic in your own life by educating yourself about the problem, and learning ways to limit, reuse and recycle the plastic in your life. You can start by clicking on any of the videos below.
Plastic Consumption - Limiting/Reusing/Recycling
The Nurdles Quest for Ocean Dominance by Kim Preshoff, TED Ed
Nurdles are tiny, factory-made pellets that form the raw material for every plastic product that we use, from toys to toothbrushes. And while they look pretty harmless on land, they can really wreak havoc on our oceans. Kim Preshoff details the nurdles’ quest for ocean domination, shedding light on the particular features that allow these pervasive polluters to persist for entire generations.
What Really Happens to the Plastic You Throw Away by Emma Bryce, TED Ed
Follow along with 3 plastic bottles as they each are thrown away - only to each take a different path.
One Month Without Plastics One Small Step with Lucy Biggers
Thinking of taking the Plastic Free July challenge this year? With a little preparation (or maybe more than a little) it can be done - and it’s worth the effort! Watch this video to learn from Lucy’s experience.
Are Reusable Containers the Future? One Small Step - NowThis with Lucy Biggers
The average American produces 4.4 pounds of waste per day - including a large portion of single-use plastics. It’s time we become serious about other options and consider reusable containers as a viable option. Reusables are nothing new. It’s the old milkman models where your milk would be delivered to your door in glass bottles which would later be picked up empty, cleaned and reused. The system was a closed loop with the bottles being used over and over. Watch the video to learn about the new 2020 version of LOOP.
Here’s What Happens to Your Recycling - One Small Step - NowThis with Lucy Biggers
75% of our waste is recyclable but American only recycle 34% of what we throw out. News to you? Find out what really happens to what you think you’re recycling, and how we can all do more.
Don’t Make These Recycling Mistakes - with Lucy Biggers
Not all of us know all the rules for recycling. And guessing kind of defeats the purpose. Luckily Lucy is here with the easy help we need to overcome the most common recycling mistakes.
Do your values take on a holiday during the holidays? Do your celebrations end up being a bonanza of plastic? Is your guilt taking the fun out of your celebration? Learn a different way to do things...
Sustainable Holiday Fun
No Waste Wrapping with Bea Copeland (and Lucy Biggers)
Think that sustainable gift wrapping isn’t important? If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in reused materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.
Why You Should Recycle Your Christmas Trees - One Small Step with Lucy Biggers
Over 27 million Christmas trees were purchased in the US in 2018. Reason enough to make sure they are all given a second life through recycling in one form or another.
Gift Giving for Extreme Minimalists - Sustainable and Non Material Gifts by Heal Your Living
Extreme minimalist living probably isn’t for everyone, but this video offers some great ideas for gift giving - from someone who wants nothing! See the links below the video for all the specific products mentioned.
“A bargain is something you can’t use at a price you can’t resist.” - Franklin P. Jones
Clothes and Fabric
For many people heading to the mall is entertainment and shopping is a hobby or at least a favorite pastime. But that mild addiction comes at a price. Do we really need all those clothes? And what are we going to do with them when the styles change and we no longer want them?
The Lifecycle of a T Shirt by Angel Chang - TED Ed
Consider the classic white t-shirt. Annually, we sell and buy 2 billion t-shirts globally, making it one of the most common garments in the world. But how and where is the average t-shirt made, and what’s its environmental impact? Angel Chang traces the life cycle of a t-shirt.
How to Recycle Your Old Clothes - One Small Step - NowThis with Lucy Biggers
The average American throws away 80 lbs of clothing every year. Whether you want to resell, donate or recycle, Lucy shares how to get rid of your clothes in an eco-friendly way.
The High Cost of our Cheap Fashion - Maxine Bedat - TEDxPescataquaRiver
Clothing - our buying habits, the quality of what we buy, how much we buy, how it’s made, it’s impact on the environment and society - everything about clothing in the US has changed dramatically over the past several decades. Find out the true cost and the real value of the clothes in your closet.
The Trust Cost of Fast Fashion - The Economist
Facts about today’s fashion industry and throw-away consumer culture. Learn what the fashion industry is doing and can do to continue to grow while addressing the environmental need for people to buy fewer clothes. Have you thought about renting your wardrobe?
How Fast Fashion Adds to the World’s Clothing Problem - CBC Canadian Radio
Impressed at the number of retailers that accept your old clothing as donations or to recycle? Uh oh. Clothing recycling today isn’t what you’d think. This 2-part video sheds a lot of light on this global issue.
The Basics
Every day the global news brings to our screens information about new science, technology, and happenings around the world. Keeping current can be a challenge. Some things just get past us. Here’s the help you need to get caught up.
The Climate Buzzwords You Need to Know - NowThis - with Lucy Biggers
Greenhouse gases, carbon tax, decarbonization, oh my! If these climate crisis buzzwords have your head spinning - fear not! Lucy Biggers is here to give you the 101. You may have noticed a lot of videos from Lucy on these pages. The fact is, what’s not to love about Lucy?! Read about her here.
More Climate Buzzwords You Need to Know - NowThis - with Lucy Biggers
Ready for more? Here’s a second serving.
Off the Beaten Path
Some things you might never think to question, but you should. Here are some of the unusual topics about which we should all be informed.
Green Burial: How Natural Burials Help the Planet - NowThis - One Small Step with Lucy Biggers
What should we do with our bodies when we die? No one wants to talk about this topic but everyone needs to know the facts. Roughly 4.3 million gallons of embalming fluid are used in US burials each year and some of the harsh chemicals used, like formaldehyde, do evaporate before burial. But some of it does go into the ground putting potential drinking water at risk, particularly in the first year after the burial. Cremation isn’t any better for the environment. The 1.4 million cremations reported in 2017 emitted the same amount of carbon dioxide that approximately 52,000 cars emit in a year.
How to Recycle Your Old Electronics - NowThis - One Small Step with Lucy Biggers
Recycling electronics is a costly and laborious business, and our e-waste problem only appears to be getting worse. Find out the problems and options associated with our global production of 45 million tons of electronic waste per year...and growing.
Reusing What You Already Have | Zero Waste Alternatives
As tempting as it is to purge yourself of all things plastic, take a moment to reconsider if there's anything you can reuse to keep it out of the landfill. At the same time what can you use that you already have instead of buying new items?
5 Fast Growing Veggies You Can Harvest in Under 1 Month
If you're just getting started on your first garden, it's important to have early success. These 5 groups of crops are extremely easy and fast to grow, so you can have your first successful harvest and build your gardening confidence.
3 Vegetable plants for busy gardeners: Growing greens with ease
Easy planning makes for easy gardening!
Some plants are so easy:
Hot or cold doesn't matter.
Pests aren't interested.
They are flavorful as babies or more mature.
And they just keep growing and growing.
How to Grow Ginger in Containers And Get a Huge Harvest
Growing ginger is a rewarding experience as it's such a versatile plant...and surprisingly easy to do! Kevin from Epic Gardening is growing ginger in containers from store-bought ginger and talking about planting ginger to increase both the size and speed of your harvest. You can learn more at https://www.epicgardening.com/ginger.
Food Solutions in Challenging Times
Are you concerned with food shortages? Access to organic food? Lack of nutrients in most of our American food? Food waste? WE HAVE SOLUTIONS!!! Interview by Zen Honeycutt of Moms Across America with John Steven Bianucci of Iroquois Valley Farms and David Rose of Just One Organics will leave you inspired!
Secret Ingredients
A film by Jeffrey Smith and Amy Hart.
Secret Ingredients uncovers how you can get healthy and stay healthy despite hidden hazardous foods.
Join the online showing event:
Free for a limited time! 👇
https://freeshowing.secretingredientsmovie.com/…/free-scr…/…
Modified
In the award-winning documentary Modified, filmmaker Aube Giroux and her mother embark on a very personal and poignant investigative journey to find out why genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are not labelled on food products in the United States and Canada, despite being labeled in 64 countries around the world.
