Omega Center for Sustainable Living (OCSL)

04/29/2026

A growing body of evidence shows that cemeteries host much more life — including insects, birds, mammals, and rare plants — than death.

04/22/2026

Explore how communities, educators, and local leaders sustain environmental progress—an Earth Day 2026 message from OCSL Founder Robert "Skip" Backus.

Explore how communities, educators, and local leaders sustain environmental progress—an Earth Day 2026 message from OCSL Founder Robert "Skip" Backus. ,

04/15/2026

With some planning and forethought, you can create rich healthy compost in as little as three weeks.

Watch this step-by-step video by permaculture expert Connor Stedman to learn how to create your own thermophilic compost pile.

04/08/2026

Scientists still don’t fully understand the health risks of the chemicals. Here’s how they recommend protecting yourself.

04/01/2026

As efforts to study and conserve fungi expand, researchers say a "shroom boom" is underway.

Fungi create soil, sequester vast amounts of carbon, and contribute $55 trillion to the global economy, but knowledge about them is scarce. Now, mycologists are pushing to get the international scientific community to recognize fungi on the same level as plants and animals.

03/26/2026

Feeling distressed about climate collapse? That’s not brokenness—it’s awareness. Studies link eco-anxiety to pro-environmental action and deeper connection.

Feeling distressed about climate collapse? That’s not brokenness—it’s awareness. Studies link eco-anxiety to pro-environmental action and deeper…

03/24/2026

Across fields as different as conservation filmmaking, agricultural science, and sustainable farming, these leaders are demonstrating that environmental progress grows stronger when it is locally rooted and inclusive.

Community Solutions: Nat Geo’s 2026 Nat Geo 33 highlights women creating local solutions to climate change, biodiversity loss, and global food security.

03/18/2026

Partula snails all but vanished from Polynesia after the arrival of a carnivorous foreign snail. But a global alliance of zoos has worked to bring them back.

03/11/2026

Given their position on the frontlines of the climate crisis, women are uniquely situated to be agents of change — to help find ways to mitigate the causes of global warming and adapt to its impacts on the ground.

The climate crisis does not affect everyone equally. Women and girls face disproportionate impacts from climate change — largely because they make up the majority of the world’s poor, who are highly dependent on local natural resources for their livelihood. Particularly in rural areas, women and...

03/04/2026

A recent survey found that rural Americans would pay for the privilege of water reuse. Here's the huge potential benefit of the technique: https://grist.org/drought/would-you-pay-49-a-month-to-drink-recycled-wastewater/

Omega's Eco Machine™ can process as many as 52,000 gallons of water per day when Omega's campus is open (May to October), and about 5,000 gallons of water per day in the off season (November to March).

02/25/2026

How nature-based practices unlock clarity, self-trust, and emotional renewal.

Discover how the wisdom of wild spaces can help you rebuild resilience, and why rest, movement, and retreat are essential restorative practices.

02/18/2026

Lazarus Kgasi entered the orbit of paleontology on a whim. After high school, he needed to support his family. He worked a couple of odd jobs before he was hired as a fossil digger. It would forever change his life.

In South Africa, paleontology has been dominated by white people. Lazarus Kgasi is changing that dynamic — and coloring in the picture of the world our distant ancestors once inhabited.