Link – Page 19 of 26 – Valhalla Movement

One Step Closer to Artificial Leaves That Convert Water to Fuel

April 3, 2015 by Germ

PASADENA, California, April 1, 2015 (ENS) – Inspired by a chemical process found in leaves, researchers at the California Institute of Technology have developed an electrically conductive film that could lead to devices that harness sunlight to split water (H2O), safely creating hydrogen fuel.

When applied to semiconducting materials such as silicon, the nickel oxide film facilitates an important chemical process in the solar-driven production of fuels such as methane or hydrogen.

“We have developed a new type of protective coating that enables a key process in the solar-driven production of fuels to be performed with record efficiency, stability, and effectiveness, and in a system that is intrinsically safe and does not produce explosive mixtures of hydrogen and oxygen,” says Nate Lewis, a distinguished professor of chemistry at Caltech and coauthor of a new study that describes the film.

The development could lead to safe, efficient artificial photosynthetic systems – also called solar-fuel generators or “artificial leaves.”

Such a system would replicate the natural process of photosynthesis that plants use to convert sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into oxygen and fuel in the form of carbohydrates, or sugars.

The artificial leaf that Lewis’ team is developing in part at Caltech’s Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) consists of three main components: two electrodes – a photoanode and a photocathode – and a plastic membrane.

The photoanode uses sunlight to oxidize water molecules to generate oxygen gas, protons, and electrons, while the photocathode recombines the protons and electrons to form hydrogen gas.

The membrane keeps the two gases separate to eliminate any possibility of an explosion, and lets the gas be collected under pressure to safely push it into a pipeline.

All previous attempts have failed for various reasons.

“You want the coating to be many things: chemically compatible with the semiconductor it’s trying to protect, impermeable to water, electrically conductive, highly transparent to incoming light, and highly catalytic for the reaction to make oxygen and fuels,” says Lewis, who is also JCAP’s scientific director.

“Creating a protective layer that displayed any one of these attributes would be a significant leap forward, but what we’ve now discovered is a material that can do all of these things at once,” he said.

The team has shown that its nickel oxide film is compatible with many different kinds of semiconductor materials, including silicon, indium phosphide, and cadmium telluride.

When applied to photoanodes, the nickel oxide film exceeded the performance of other similar films – including one that Lewis’s group created just last year.

“After watching the photoanodes run at record performance without any noticeable degradation for 24 hours, and then 100 hours, and then 500 hours, I knew we had done what scientists had failed to do before,” said Ke Sun, a postdoctoral fellow in Lewis’s lab and the first author of the new study.

The team’s nickel oxide film works well with the membrane that separates the photoanode from the photocathode and staggers the production of hydrogen and oxygen gases from water (H2O), which consists of the two gases.

“Without a membrane, the photoanode and photocathode are close enough to each other to conduct electricity, and if you also have bubbles of highly reactive hydrogen and oxygen gases being produced in the same place at the same time, that is a recipe for disaster,” Lewis explains.

“With our film, you can build a safe device that will not explode, and that lasts and is efficient, all at once,” he said.

Lewis cautions that scientists are still far from developing a commercial product that can convert sunlight into fuel. Other components of the system, such as the photocathode, also need to be perfected.

“Our team is also working on a photocathode,” Lewis says. “What we have to do is combine both of these elements together and show that the entire system works. That will not be easy, but we now have one of the missing key pieces that has eluded the field for the past half-century.”

The study, “Stable solar-driven oxidation of water by semiconducting photoanodes protected by transparent catalytic nickel oxide films,” was published the week of March 9 in the online issue of the journal “The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”

Additional authors on the paper include scientists from the University of Southampton and King Abdullah University in Saudi Arabia, and Bruce Brunschwig, the director of the Molecular Materials Research Center at Caltech.

Funding for this research was provided by the Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the Beckman Institute, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

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Fountain Of Youth: 5 Tibetan Exercises You Should Be Doing Every Day

April 2, 2015 by Marc Angelo Coppola

Aside from yoga, a workout I love for enhancing flexibility is the Five Tibetan Rites, also known as the “Fountain of Youth,” because this practice effectively strengthens and stretches all the main muscles in your body. It also helps with balance. I know at least five elderly women (over 80) who keep themselves limber and strong by performing these rites daily. I recommend you learn this simple practice, which you can do in just ten minutes.

I recommend doing the rites in the morning rather than the evening, because they do stoke your energy. Begin by practicing five to seven repetitions of each rite, and build up to 21 reps.

Rite 1

Stand with your arms outstretched and horizontal to the floor, palms facing down. Make sure your arms are in line with your shoulders. Your feet should be about hip distance apart. Draw the crown of your head up toward the ceiling. Focus on a spot in front of you so that you can count your rotations. Spin around clockwise until you become a little dizzy. Gradually increase the number of spins from two to 21. When I first started, I could only do about seven rotations; I’m now up to 14.

Breathing: Inhale and exhale deeply as you spin.

Tip: If you feel super dizzy, interlace your fingers at your heart and stare at your thumbs. Also have a chair very nearby to grab onto to steady yourself if you feel as if you are going to fall.

Rite 2

Lie flat on the floor. Fully extend your arms along your sides and place the palms of your hands against the floor. If you have lower back issues, place your fingers underneath your sacrum. As you inhale, raise your head off the floor, tucking your chin into your chest. Simultaneously lift your legs, knees straight, into a vertical position. If possible, extend your legs over your body toward your head. Then slowly exhale, lowering your legs and head to the floor, keeping your knees straight and your big toes together.

Breathing: Breathe in deeply as you lift your head and legs, and exhale as you lower them.

Rite 3

Kneel on the floor with your toes curled under. Place your hands on the backs of your thigh muscles. Tuck your chin in toward your chest. Slide your hands down the backs of your thighs as you draw your shoulders back and your head up toward the sky. Keep in mind that you are arching your upper back more than your lower back. Move your head back as if you were drawing a line with your nose on the ceiling. Slowly return to an upright position and repeat.

Breathing: Inhale as you arch your spine and exhale as you return to an erect position.

Rite 4

Sit down on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you and your feet about 12 inches apart. Place your palms on the floor alongside your sitz bones. As you gently drop your head back, raise your torso so that your knees bend while your arms remain straight. You are basically in a table-top position. Slowly return to your original sitting position. Rest for a few seconds before repeating this rite.

Breathing: Breathe in as you rise up into the pose, hold your breath as you tense your muscles, and breathe out fully as you come down.

Rite 5

Lie down on your belly with your palms face down and in line with your bra strap. Press up into an upward-facing dog by curling your toes under, lifting your heart, and drawing your shoulders back. Your arms should be straight. Look straight ahead of you, or if you are a little more flexible, gently draw your head back, taking your eyes toward the sky. Then draw your hips up and back, extending your spine, into downward-facing dog pose. Repeat by moving back and forth between downward- and upward-facing dog.

Breathing: Breathe in as your rise up into upward-facing dog; breath out as you push back into downward-facing dog.

Body Rolling

The final activity that I recommend for improving flexibility is body rolling using a body roller. If you are very sensitive, you might want to go with a foam roller, but if you prefer something harder, you can go with a piece of PVC pipe or order one of the many great body rollers online.

Why I love rolling out: it stretches the muscles and tendons and helps release the fascia (structure of connective tissue surrounding muscles, joints, and tendons). Rolling before a hard workout increases blood flow to your soft tissue, and rolling after a workout helps release your muscles. While body rolling isn’t a workout in and of itself, it is invaluable for keeping your muscles soft and pliable.

Excerpted from Gorgeous for Good: A Simple 30-Day Program for Lasting Beauty – Inside and Out by Sophie Uliano. It is published by Hay House (April 7th, 2015) and is available for pre-order now with all major bookstores.

California’s Dire Drought Leads to Record Low Snowpack Levels at 6%, Triggers Mandatory Conservation Measures || EcoWatch

April 2, 2015April 2, 2015 by Marc Angelo Coppola

California’s dire drought conditions have finally triggered more meaningful action at the state level. Today, Gov. Brown issued an executive order which calls on state and local water agencies “to implement a series of measures to save water, including increased enforcement to prevent wasteful water use, streamline the state’s drought response, and invest in new technologies,” said California Coastkeeper Alliance.

The governor issued the statement today as readings of the April 1 assessment came in, which showed snowpack levels are at their lowest since the state started keeping records (approximately 6 percent of normal levels, compared to 24 percent of normal levels last year).

“Today we are standing on dry grass where there should be five feet of snow. This historic drought demands unprecedented action,” said Gov. Brown. “Therefore, I’m issuing an executive order mandating substantial water reductions across our state. As Californians, we must pull together and save water in every way possible.”

The lack of snowpack will result in very little or no runoff from the Sierra into California’s reservoirs and rivers, posing a serious problem for the already incredibly water-starved state. Only a few weeks ago, NASA scientist Jay Famiglietti warned “the state has only about one year of water supply left in its reservoirs.”

Gov. Brown directed the State Water Resources Control Board to implement mandatory water reductions in cities and towns across California to reduce water usage by 25 percent. After a series of weak measures involving voluntary conservation orders issued by Brown’s administration, organizations such as Waterkeeper Alliance, California Coastkeeper Alliance and Los Angeles Waterkeeper praise the mandatory conservation order.

The organizations said they “are encouraged by measures to increase reporting and monitoring of water usage, a needed move to improve local enforcement.” They also praised “the requirement that local water agencies adjust rate structures to implement conservation pricing.” They are however concerned “about how streamlining permitting of drought salinity barriers could harm Delta smelt, Chinook salmon and other threatened and endangered fish and other species.”

According to the governor’s statement, the issue will also:

Replace 50 million square feet of lawns throughout the state with drought tolerant landscaping in partnership with local governments;
Direct the creation of a temporary, statewide consumer rebate program to replace old appliances with more water and energy efficient models;
Require campuses, golf courses, cemeteries and other large landscapes to make significant cuts in water use; and
Prohibit new homes and developments from irrigating with potable water unless water-efficient drip irrigation systems are used, and ban watering of ornamental grass on public street medians.

This executive order comes on the heels of emergency legislation, which was signed by Gov. Brown last week to fast-track more than $1 billion in funding for drought relief and critical water infrastructure projects.

As for whether the order will be a game changer, Liz Crosson, Los Angeles Waterkeeper executive director says, “Local jurisdictions have to implement and enforce these measures to actually reduce water usage. Many of the State Board’s mandatory measures are still not enforced in Los Angeles. Until Californians take the drought seriously, we will continue to see reserves depleted and the future become more uncertain. The next step for California is to set mandatory daily limits on gallons per person per day.”

And while California may be one of the farthest “up the creek,” Marc Yaggi, executive director at Waterkeeper Alliance, points out climate threatens all of our world’s waterways. “Nearly every region in the country is facing increased risk of seasonal drought and as we’re seeing in California, climate change is wreaking havoc on the sustainability of our water supplies,” says Yaggi. “We need to amplify the voice of communities that are suffering in order to demand action from our leaders at the global level before it’s too late.”

GMOs Will Not Feed the World, New Report Concludes ” EcoWatch

April 1, 2015 by Marc Angelo Coppola

By the year 2050, the Earth’s population will reach more than 9 billion people. With so many mouths to feed, agribusiness giants have argued that genetically modified crops are the answer to global food security as these plants have been spliced and diced to resist herbicides and pesticides and (theoretically) yield more crops.

However, a new analysis from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) slams this conventional agribusiness argument-and recommends much more sustainable solutions to feed the world.

The report, Feeding the World Without GMOs, argues that genetically engineered crops (also known as GE or GMOs) have not significantly improved the yields of crops such as corn and soy. Emily Cassidy, an EWG research analyst who authored the report, found that in the last 20 years, yields of both GE corn and soy have been no different from traditionally bred corn and soy grown in western Europe, where GE crops are banned. Additionally, a recent case study in Africa found that crops that were crossbred for drought tolerance using traditional techniques improved yields 30 percent more than GE varieties, she wrote.

The report also said that in the two decades that GE crops have been a mainstay in conventional agriculture, they “have not substantially improved global food security” and have instead increased the use of toxic herbicides and led to herbicide-resistant ” superweeds.” (FYI: superweeds have spread to more than 60 million acres of U.S. farmland, wreaking environmental and economic havoc along the way).

She pointed out that while corn and soybeans take up the vast majority (about 80 percent) of global land devoted to growing GE crops, they are not even used to feed people but instead as animal feed or fuel.

Unfortunately, this practice is unlikely to change in light of increased consumption of meat around the world, as well as U.S. biofuel policy requiring production of millions of gallons of corn ethanol to blend into gasoline, Cassidy observed. “Seed companies’ investment in improving the yields of GMOs in already high-yielding areas does little to improve food security; it mainly helps line the pockets of seed and chemical companies and producers of corn ethanol,” she said. “The world’s resources would be better spent focusing on strategies to actually increase food supplies and access to basic resources for the poor, small farmers who need it most.”

Gary Hirshberg, chairman of Just Label It, an organization advocating for federal labeling of GMO foods that also provided funding for the EWG report added, “Biotech companies and their customers in chemical agriculture have been attempting to sell the benefits of GMOs for two decades. Between exaggerated claims about feeding the world and a dramatic escalation in the use of toxic pesticides, it is no wonder consumers are increasingly skeptical.”

Fortunately, as Cassidy noted, there are ways out of this mess that will not only produce enough food for the world’s burgeoning population but will also make minimal impacts on our environment. It comes down to four main approaches:

Smarter use of fertilizers: Fertilizer should be used in places with nutrient-poor soils where it would have the greatest impact, instead of over-fertilizing industrial-scale farms. This switch could increase global production of major cereals by 30 percent, the report said.
A dramatic shift in biofuels policy: A World Resources Institute analysis found that by 2050, biofuels mandates could consume the equivalent of 29 percent of all calories currently produced on the world’s croplands. According to the report, reversing course on food-based biofuels policies could alleviate the need to double the global calorie supply.
A significant reduction in food waste: By weight, a third of all food grown around the world-accounting for a quarter of calories-goes uneaten, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. Food gets tossed before it reaches the market, much less anyone’s plate. So in theory, by eliminating all food waste in fields, grocery stores and at home would increase the global calorie supply by 33 percent, the report noted.
A better diet: Meat production currently uses up three-quarters of all agricultural land, and on average, it takes about 10 calories of animal feed to produce just one calorie of meat. This suggests that a shift from grain-fed beef to a diet emphasizing chicken or grass-fed beef could reduce the amount of land devoted to growing animal feed such as corn and soy (Beef also stands far above the production of other livestock for its negative environmental impact).

Cassidy concluded that investment in genetic engineering is no substitute for solving the real causes of food insecurity and poverty, such as improving access to basic resources and infrastructure in developing countries.

“The alternative strategies of smarter resource use, improving the livelihoods of small farmers, reducing food waste and changing diets could double calorie availability and reduce the environmental burden of food production, all without relying on GE foods,” she wrote.

We wonder what Bill Nye thinks about this?

U.S. Makes Historic Climate Pledge Ahead of Paris Talks, Joins EU, Mexico, Norway and Switzerland || EcoWatch

April 1, 2015 by Marc Angelo Coppola

With the Paris climate talks looming in December, nations are being challenged to come up with climate action plans to mitigate their own impacts on climate change. The informal target for climate plans to be submitted to the UN is today and they have begun to trickle in.

The U.S. released its plan today, putting it ahead of such major countries as China, India, Russia, Canada and Australia. Australia, which has been a laggard on climate issues thanks to Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s commitment to fossil fuels, has said it will not release its plan until mid-year, and it is currently seeking public input on what its emissions reduction target should be.

The U.S. said it would reduce emissions 26 to 28 percent over 2005 levels cut by 2025, the same pledge that President Obama made last November in Beijing. Many other countries are looking to the U.S. pledge for direction.

“The U.S. is strongly committed to reducing greenhouse gas pollution, thereby contributing to the objective of the Convention,” said the announcement. “The target is fair and ambitious. The U.S. has already taken substantial policy action to reduce emissions, taking the necessary steps to place us on a path to achieve the 2020 target of reducing emissions in the range of 17 percent below the 2005 level in 2020. Additional action to achieve the 2025 target represents a substantial acceleration of the current pace of greenhouse gas emission reductions.”

America is taking steps to #ActOnClimate, and the world is joining us → https://t.co/Ft0xj1KpIJ pic.twitter.com/yqaM9MMwgt

– The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 31, 2015

“By announcing its plan ahead of Paris as agreed, the U.S. has at least shown it is committed to the negotiation process and willing to push the other nearly 200 countries to deliver,” said Greenpeace legislative director Kyle Ash. “It is incredibly important countries move quickly in developing strong proposals for climate action so we can step back and assess the progress toward an agreement in December.”

Americans agree. A new poll released yesterday found that 72 percent of Americans support the U.S. signing an international climate agreement.

“We applaud the Obama Administration for following through on the ambitious commitment made last November with China by pledging clear, significant action to tackle the climate crisis and protect our children and grandchildren,” said Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune. “We’ve seen the effects of unmitigated carbon pollution take their toll around the world, but this announcement is further proof that the U.S. is stepping up to lead the world in pursuing solutions.”

“Momentum for real climate action is building at a historic rate. With our nation moving away from coal and the world embracing clean energy at a record pace, this announcement and others like it open the door to meet the 2 degree celsius goal needed to avoid catastrophic climate change. In the coming months, we expect additional ambitious commitments to pour in that will further prove the world is ready to act and keep us on the right track to Paris and beyond,” Brune concluded.

On Friday, Mexico became one of the first countries to formally submit its plan, saying it will cap its greenhouse gas emissions by 2026 and reduce them by 22 percent by 2030. The country, considered an “emerging” nation, said it would do so without financial help from wealthier, developed countries.

“The U.S. welcomes the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) submission by President Peña Nieto earlier today and applauds Mexico for being the first major emerging economy to formally submit its INDC,” said a White House press statement. “Mexico is setting an example for the rest of the world by submitting an INDC that is timely, clear, ambitious and supported by robust, unconditional policy commitments. We hope that Mexico’s actions will encourage other economies to submit INDCs that are ambitious, timely, transparent, detailed and achievable.”

In addition, President Enrique Peña Nieto and U.S. President Barack Obama announced a new joint clean energy and climate policy task force intended to “further deepen policy and regulatory coordination in specific areas including clean electricity, grid modernization, appliance standards and energy efficiency, as well as promoting more fuel efficient automobile fleets in both countries, global and regional climate modeling, weather forecasting and early alerts system.”

“On the occasion of Mexico submitting its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), President Barack Obama and President Enrique Peña Nieto reaffirm their commitment to addressing global climate change, one of the greatest threats facing humanity,” said the White House. “The leaders underscore the importance of jointly addressing climate in their integrated economy.”

Switzerland was the first country to submit its INDC plan, which promises to reduce its emissions by 50 percent from 1990 levels by 2030. It did so on February 27. The 28-nation European Union (EU) followed on March 6 with a promise of a 40 percent reduction in the same time frame. Norway also submitted its plan on Friday, making a commitment identical to the EU’s while suggesting it might step up its level of commitment.

“If it can contribute to a global and ambitious climate agreement in Paris, Norway will consider taking a commitment beyond an emission reduction of 40 percent compared to 1990 levels, through the use of flexible mechanisms under the UN framework convention, beyond a collective delivery with the EU,” said Norway’s climate and environment minister Tine Sundtoft in a statement. “We need more international cooperation to meet the climate challenge. Both Norway and the EU have high ambitions on climate and view climate measures in the context of long-term transition to low-emission societies. By linking our climate efforts, we can achieve better results.”

According to the New Climate Institute, which is tracking the submissions, the first wave submitted by the end of March is expected to cover less than 30 percent of global emissions, but more than 50 percent are likely to be covered in plans submitted by June. Oct. 1 has been set as the deadline for the submission of all INDC plans in order to assemble the final report for the December talks.

Paris itself is gearing up for the talks by moving toward divestment. Paris city council voted earlier this month to divest from fossil fuel holdings, the first European city to do so. If ratified by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, it would bar the city’s newly created endowment fund from investing in fossil fuel industries and phase out such investments from the city’s pension funds.

In an open letter to Hidalgo, 350.org founder Bill McKibben, 350.org France campaigner Nicholas Haeringer and This Changes Everything author Naomi Klein, along with 18 French co-signers, said, “People concerned about climate change were so happy to hear the news that the Paris City Council had gone on record as favoring divestment from fossil fuel companies. The motion is a very important step towards a fossil fuel free future. That’s why it’s so imperative that the city government now agrees to implement this wise recommendation, and ensures that the newly created endowment fund never invests in fossil fuel companies, while making sure that the council members’ pension fund divests from the sector.”

“With Paris playing host to the next climate talks at the end of the year, it has a responsibility to set an example and to go a step further,” they added. “The city could take a leadership role in local authorities’ climate action and call other cities in France to join the divestment movement. The momentum behind a Fossil Free France would help immeasurably as the world heads toward the important climate negotiations in Paris this December.”

Scientists Have Discovered That Bees Can Detect Cancer And This Designer Is Taking It A Step Further

March 31, 2015 by Marc Angelo Coppola

Scientists have discovered that honey bees, Apis mellifera, have an extraordinary talent. Using their superior sense of smell, even more sensitive than that of a dog, bees can be trained to detect specific chemical odors. Those odors include biomarkers associated with lung, skin, and pancreatic cancer, as well as tuberculosis.

A Portuguese designer, Susan Soares, took that knowledge and developed a device that can utilize trained bees to detect serious diseases.

Bees are simply placed in the glass chamber and the patient simply exhales into it. The bees fly into a smaller, secondary chamber if they detect any cancer.

Bees don’t always live terribly long lives, but this method is still effective because bees can be trained in just 10 minutes by using Pavolv’s reflex, which connects certain odors with a food reward.

When bees are exposed to that odor, they are fed sugar and water as a reward. Once taught, the bees remember for the entirety of their six-week-long lives.

Early diagnosis is key for treating these deadly diseases, and fortunately, bees can help. Just one more reason to do everything we can to save the bees.

Buzzing Artist Swarms City Walls to Save the Bees || EcoWatch

March 31, 2015 by Marc Angelo Coppola

With a little help from a spray can, a London-based street artist is swarming urban walls with a simple but important message: Save the bees.

According to the artist’s website, Louis Masai Michel and his collaborator Jim Vision have painted these beautiful bee murals to raise awareness about the planet’s dwindling bee population and the “detrimental effects upon the human race if they disappear.”

Protecting the planet’s fragile bee population is not only important for saving honey and wax, honey bees-wild and domestic-perform about 80 percent of all pollination worldwide. In fact, seventy out of the top 100 human food crops, which supply about 90 percent of the world’s nutrition, are pollinated by bees. However, our favorite black-and-yellow pollinators are dying off due to pesticides, drought, habitat loss, pollution and other major environmental concerns, scientists have said.

Insights writer Dr. David Suzuki wrote that neonicotinoid pesticides, or “neonics,” have been identified as one of the main culprits to the die-offs. While scientists say the evidence is clear, the global food market has been slow to wake up to this reality. As Suzuki pointed out, “Neonics make up about 40 percent of the world insecticide market, with global sales of $2.63 billion in 2011-and growing. That may explain why, despite increasing evidence that they’re harmful, there’s been such strong resistance to phasing them out or banning them.”

A report from the U.S. National Agriculture Statistics found that the honey bee population in the country has declined from about six million hives in 1947 to 2.4 million hives in 2008, a 60 percent reduction.

Looks like being a bee isn’t so easy. Some of Michel’s artworks appears to show what life may be like for the buzzing insects. Check out the murals below with the haunting words, “When we go, we’re taking you all with us” on a wall in Shoreditch.

bees artist wall paintings — Photo Credit: Louis Masai Michel

There’s also this grim closeup of an overturned bee with a sign that says “Save me” on Brick Lane’s Sclater Street in England.

save me bees — Photo Credit: Louis Masai Michel

According to Colossal, after the murals became wildly popular in the English capital, they have since spread to Bristol, Glastonbury, Croatia, New York, Miami and New Orleans. You can track the artist’s work with the Twitter hashtag #SaveTheBees. Below, you’ll see a commissioned mural at a quince farm in Devon, England.

devon — Photo Credit: Louis Masai Michel

devon2 — Photo Credit: Louis Masai Michel

The inspiration behind the murals stemmed from a trip to South Africa where Michel learned about the devastating impacts of colony collapse disorder that’s plaguing honeybee populations around the world. Colossal writes that Michel is currently taking a break from the bee murals to work on a different art project, but he plans to pick up phase two the bee project sometime next year.

michelandvision — Photo Credit: Louis Masai Michel

Ever the artist-conservationist, Michel also creates art to raise awareness for other rare or endangered animals species around the world, such as the grey African crowned crane, Rothschild’s giraffes, rhinos and more.

Michel realizes there is only so much that art can do, but points out the importance of raising awareness. “I’m not saying that by me painting a painting it’s going to save any animals,” he says in the video below (where he’s spray-painting a picture of a Scottish bobcat at an art party). “But it might mean that people are a little but more woken. They’re like, ‘Oh, okay, there’s only 400 bobcats left in the world. That’s pretty interesting.’ And then maybe they might look into it a little bit.”

1,000-year-old onion and garlic eye remedy kills MRSA

March 31, 2015 by Greg

A 1,000-year-old treatment for eye infections could hold the key to killing antibiotic-resistant superbugs, experts have said.

Scientists recreated a 9th Century Anglo-Saxon remedy using onion, garlic and part of a cow’s stomach.

They were “astonished” to find it almost completely wiped out staphylococcus aureus, otherwise known as MRSA.

Their findings will be presented at a national microbiology conference.

The remedy was found in Bald’s Leechbook – an old English manuscript containing instructions on various treatments held in the British Library.

Anglo-Saxon expert Dr Christina Lee, from the University of Nottingham, translated the recipe for an “eye salve”, which includes garlic, onion or leeks, wine and cow bile.

Experts from the university’s microbiology team recreated the remedy and then tested it on large cultures of MRSA.

Tom Feilden, science editor Today Programme

Analysis

The leechbook is one of the earliest examples of what might loosely be called a medical textbook

It seems Anglo-Saxon physicians may actually have practiced something pretty close to the modern scientific method, with its emphasis on observation and experimentation.

Bald’s Leechbook could hold some important lessons for our modern day battle with anti-microbial resistance.

In each case, they tested the individual ingredients against the bacteria, as well as the remedy and a control solution.

They found the remedy killed up to 90% of MRSA bacteria and believe it is the effect of the recipe rather than one single ingredient.

Dr Freya Harrison said the team thought the eye salve might show a “small amount of antibiotic activity”.

“But we were absolutely blown away by just how effective the combination of ingredients was,” she said.

Dr Lee said there are many similar medieval books with treatments for what appear to be bacterial infections.

She said this could suggest people were carrying out detailed scientific studies centuries before bacteria were discovered.

The team’s findings will be presented at the Annual Conference of the Society for General Microbiology, in Birmingham.

Bald’s eye salve

Equal amounts of garlic and another allium (onion or leek), finely chopped and crushed in a mortar for two minutes.

Add 25ml (0.87 fl oz) of English wine – taken from a historic vineyard near Glastonbury.

Dissolve bovine salts in distilled water, add and then keep chilled for nine days at 4C.

How Mushrooms Could Hold the Key to Our Long-Term Survival as a Species

March 30, 2015 by Marc Angelo Coppola

The collapse of our planet’s natural ecosystem is accelerating, but it turns out nature may have already developed the technology to save us. And it’s right under our feet.

Mycelium is the vast, cotton-like underground fungal network that mushrooms grow from-more than 2,000 acres of the stuff forms the largest known organism on Earth. Omnipresent in all soils the planet over, it holds together and literally makes soil through its power to decompose organic and inorganic compounds into nutrients. It has incredible powers to break up pollutants, filter water, and even treat disease, and it’s the star of a film called Fantastic Fungi that’s currently raising funds to bring awareness to how we can wield its many properties to save the world.

“Mycelium offers the best solutions for carbon sequestration, for preserving biodiversity, for reducing pollutants, and for offering us many of the medicines that we need today, both human and ecological,” says famed mycologist Paul Stamets, who’s the main voice of the film.

A regular keynote speakerat major think-a-thons like TED, Stamets has authored several seminal books on fungi, and done groundbreaking research on the medicinal, environmental, and ecological power of fungus with the likes of the Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency, and Centers for Disease Control. He’s also filed more patents and research papers than you can shake a mushroom stick at-not to mention that his signature hat is made of fungus.

“Fungi, I think, hold the greatest potential solutions for overcoming the calamities that we face,” he says.

The apparent intelligence of mycelium lead Stamets call it “nature’s internet.” If a plant is harmed, mycelium tied up with its roots transmits the warning to other connected plants (turns out most plant life is part fungus). It’s responsive, reacting immediately to disruptions in its environment to find a way to make it into food for itself and, thus, everything around it. Mycelium can also learn to consume compounds it’s never encountered before, breaking them down into nutrients for countless other organisms, and sharing the knowledge throughout its network.

This adaptive power can be applied in amazing ways. Stamets and co. showed the critical role mycelium plays in mitigating bee colony collapse and filtering bacteria like H1N1 out of water. When removed of spores, certain strains become potent attractors for termites and other pests. A side-by-side comparison showed that oyster mushrooms were superior for breaking down pollutant hydrocarbons into basic nutrients that in turn fed foraging insects and animals, a process called mycoremediation. Mycelium was also literally trained to eat VX, the nerve agent used by Saddam Hussein against the Kurds in 1988.

All this speaks to a wide range of critical roles fungus has played in our past, and how it may be essential to our future if we choose to embrace it.

Conversations about them inevitably drift toward psilocybin and its mind-expanding properties. While it’s also being researched for uses in less cosmic concerns like breaking addiction and treating cancer, psilocybin’s third-eye-opening properties aren’t superficial. Some theories argue that modern human intelligence itself was borne of consumption of the stuff. Magic mushrooms are something about which Stamets is (naturally) an expert, having written the book on the topic, even identifying four new species. It’s something he largely credits for his own mycological insights.

“I’ve never been an apologist for this, but in my younger days I consumed a fair quantity of psilocybin mushrooms,” he says. “My experiences using those mushrooms opened up my mind’s eye to nature, and frankly I think it’s rewired my brain and made me a lot more intelligent than before.”

Ultimately it’s just such a perspectival shift that may be necessary to steer our fate away from a world in which nature as we’ve known it is just a memory. This isn’t a call to wandering into the forest and trip on mushrooms (although I’m certainly not saying you shouldn’t). Stamets’s proposed solutions are actually quite practical, centering on fostering the health of mycelial networks so that they are better able to equalize out ecosystems and provide us the benefits like those listed above. Encouraging people to garden and grow mushrooms (which spread mycelium), or halting the practice of forest burns and the removal of dead wood, both of which rob essential nutrients for mycelium, are among other examples. Utilizing mycelium in these ways will also require a wider understanding of its nature, which is why Stamets suggests making mycology a mandatory part of primary education, with funding more equivalent to the computer sciences.

“The good news is these things can be put into practice very very quickly,” Stamets says. “Mycelium reacts quickly. I’m an impatient person, so mycelium and me are perfect partners.”

It Was Warmer in Antarctica Than in New York City Last Week – and That’s Not Even the Bad News | VICE News

March 30, 2015 by Marc Angelo Coppola

If you lived in the many parts of the United States and Europe last week and were in need of a reprieve from persistent, frigid temperatures, you would have found relief in the most unlikely of places.

Part of Antarctica hit a record high of 63.5 degrees Fahrenheit last Tuesday, the hottest ever reported, according to the climate monitor OGIMET.

By comparison, Washington DC was 46 degrees, New York City reached 45 degrees, and the temperature in London topped 50 degrees.

While scientists warn not to draw conclusions from a single weather event, the temps hue closely to more alarming, long-term trends in the southern continent.

Antarctica’s floating ice shelves have recently decreased by as much as 18 percent in some spots over the last 18 years, says a new study, published in the journal Science. As the oceans have warmed, they’ve spurred more of the frozen mass to become water, researcher Fernando Paolo told VICE News.

“There is evidence that the amount of warm ocean water reaching the ice shelves has increased, so more warm water under these is causing the melt,” Paolo, a PhD candidate with UC San Diego’s Scripps Institute of Oceanography, told VICE News. “And there is a lag in the response time of the environment. So, even if conditions changed now, 20 years from now the environment will still be reacting this way.”

And the findings indicate that sea levels are certain to continue rising, Doug Martinson, a professor with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, told VICE News.

“You could stop global warming tomorrow but that doesn’t matter from this perspective because there’s already so much heat stored in the ocean, it’ll keep coming up and melting the ice,” Martinson, who was not involved in Paolo’s study, told VICE News.

The study, which advanced previous research on Antarctica’s ice mass, compiled 18 years of continuous data starting in 1994, and found that the bulk of melt occurred between 2003 and 2012, Paolo noted.

“We could see there was an acceleration of loss,” Paolo said of the ice mass. “Another important thing we were able to see was that some of the ice shelves have a large fluctuation of gain and loss in volume over time. So, if you look at a shorter period, you won’t see the trend.”

Air temperatures on the Antarctic Peninsula – where the record high was documented last week – have been found to further affect ice melt there, Paolo said, so such steamy weather could certainly cause more reason for concern.

“On the Antarctic Peninsula we have a weather station so we know the weather is responsible for changes,” Paolo said.

Still, one or two extremely hot days cannot be directly attributed to global warming, said Hugh Ducklow, also a professor with Lamont-Doherty. He warned of drawing too many conclusions from the 63.5-degree weather.

“I don’t believe that you can attribute any isolated event to global warming. This is just like saying the next 100-degree day or next hurricane in NYC is due to global warming,” Ducklow told VICE News. “A warmer climate could increase the likelihood of occurrence of hot days, but the individual events are not ’caused’ by global warming.”

And regardless of the air temperature, the ocean’s conditions actually have a far stronger impact on the melting ice and rising sea levels, Martinson explained.

“The heat contained in water is thousands of times stronger than the heat of the atmosphere,” Martinson said of the sea’s ability to dissolve Antarctic ice.

Follow Meredith Hoffman on Twitter: @merhoffman

“Heat is absorbed in the ocean like a sponge, and a good amount of that heat is coming up. Where it comes up it melts underside of the ice shelves,” Martinson said, warning that the phenomenon could push the sea level dangerously high. “I don’t like to say ‘doomsday scenario’ but this is sort of pointing toward it.”

Chevron CEO Doesn’t Deserve “Distinguished Citizen Award”

April 2, 2015March 30, 2015 by Adam Zuckerman

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to speak with Marc [Youtube, iTunes, and Podbean] about how sustainability activists in the Global North can support indigenous peoples who are protecting the Amazon rainforest and our climate. Indigenous peoples make up four percent of the world’s population, but their territories encompass 80% of our planet’s biodiversity. Last year the World Resources Institute released a comprehensive study supporting Amazon Watch’s strategy of empowering indigenous peoples and other local communities as the best way to protect the rainforest.

Unfortunately, those forest guardians are facing increasing threats from governments and companies looking to exploit their resources and violate their rights. Nina Gualinga, a youth leader from the Kichwa of Sarayaku, a community that defended its territory from the incursion of multiple oil companies and won a landmark case against the Ecuadorian government, speaks about our collective responsibility to keep the oil in the ground. Last month we released the Slimy Seventeen, the seventeen oil companies that are most destructive for the Amazon and the communities that call it home.

One of those companies is Chevron, a corporation that lost a $9.5 billion lawsuit for poisoning 30,000 indigenous peoples and campesinos in the Ecuadorian Amazon. While Texaco, the company’s subsidiary, has admitted to deliberately dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste water into unlined open pits, Chevron is now refusing to pay. Instead, it has tried to sue the indigenous people it poisoned, their lawyers, its own shareholders, and even NGOs like Amazon Watch that dare to call it out for its abuses. That’s why, as my colleague Paul Paz y Miño wrote:

We were surprised to learn that the Commonwealth Club of California – the “nation’s oldest and largest public affairs forum” – plans to honor Chevron CEO John Watson as a “distinguished global citizen” who has “given back” to the global community. They’re actually going to honor Watson’s ability to abuse his power, wealth and corporate connections to evade accountability for the wide range of environmental and human rights crimes he has overseen as head of Chevron since 2010? WHAT?!

There are a myriad of reasons why presenting such an award to Watson is outrageous. Massive pollution and health crises in Ecuador, death and destruction in Nigeria, lying to shareholders, abuse of the justice system, trampling free speech in the U.S., dumping millions into local elections to undermine democracy…the list of Chevron’s violations goes on and on. Watson has either overseen or has taken a personal role in advancing strategies that attack Chevron’s critics and has gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid accepting responsibility for Chevron’s well documented actions of harming both people and the planet. It took less than a day to find almost 40 human rights and environmental organizations ready and willing to denounce this decision. If we had taken a week it would easily have been well over 100.

How is it then that none of this leaves a sour taste in the mouths of the Board of Governors at the Commonwealth Club?

Yes, this is all clearly a way for the Commonwealth Club to have a very successful fundraising gala. You present a symbolic award to someone like Watson and all his friends and colleagues come to dine and celebrate, donating thousands to the Club and paying exorbitant amounts for dinner and drinks at the Ritz Carlton. But just how far does someone need to go before it becomes in bad taste to “honor” them, despite how much money it may bring in? Would Bill Cosby be invited to the dinner alongside Jennifer Siebel Newsom as she talks about her work and film project on behalf of women and girls? I think not.

Yet Watson and Chevron’s acts to criminalize free speech and attack their critics were recently condemned by the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Amnesty International and a host of other respected groups. Chevron famously lost in its effort to buy the elections in Richmond, hoping to completely undermine the democratic process. Why? Because their new puppets in Richmond would then drop the city’s lawsuit for the deadly refinery fire of 2012.

When Watson took over Chevron in 2010 his company’s handling of its Ecuador disaster took a very different and distinctly aggressive tone. Watson had been one of the architects of Chevron’s merger with Texaco years before. He was there when Amazon Watch warned Chevron not to proceed because of the enormous liability in Ecuador. He knew that Texaco admitted to deliberately dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into the pristine inhabited rainforest. He knew Texaco documents were uncovered proving the company’s policy of hiding leaks and not reporting spills during its operations. Apparently, just as the Texaco executives decided that it was worth the human and environmental toll to save $3 per barrel by dumping the waste for decades instead of lining their open toxic waste pits, Watson decided the merger with Texaco was worth the cost. He literally agreed to own Texaco’s mess.

When Watson took over from David O’Reilly in 2010, he had a choice. He could have ushered in a new era for the company. He could have apologized to the people of Ecuador. He could have negotiated a settlement and agreed to clean up the Amazon wasteland his company had created. True – to do so would have cost a tremendous amount of money. But in addition to being the right thing to do, and stemming the wave of deaths from cancer, it would have also been fiscally responsible. And it would have earned Watson a legitimate reason to be recognized by a group like the Commonwealth Club.

For in the end, Chevron has spent over a billion dollars already just fighting to avoid its responsibility. Lawyers have built careers (and billed more than the affected communities in Ecuador make in a lifetime) providing legal defense for Chevron. When all is said and done, and Chevron finally pays for the clean-up, when it realizes that the resolve of the affected communities and their many global allies in supporters is stronger, then it will have paid twice over for its acts in Ecuador. Thousands more will have died from cancer, however. They are suffering and dying at this very moment.

Will Watson or anyone at the Commonwealth Club gala give a moment’s thought to them on April 2nd?

We could all shrug our shoulders and write this whole event off as just more of the rich patting themselves on the back and move on. But there is a real danger here. The danger is that this isn’t just a pro-oil company lobby group celebrating Watson’s acts to thwart renewable energy programs. This is an institution founded for debate and discussion on the issues of the day granting legitimacy to a known corporate criminal who is free from accountability only because he and his company are rich enough to hire 60 law firms and over 2000 legal professionals to drag on the legal saga for ages in hopes that the affected communities will literally die out and their supporters will exhaust the resources to assist them any more. That act must be protested. The standard that allows Watson to stand next to people acknowledged for actually trying to better the world must always be condemned. That is why we register our outrage. It is on behalf of those sick and dying in Richmond, Nigeria, Ecuador and elsewhere, who John Watson could have assisted – and didn’t.

It probably won’t be until the day Chevron finally pays the Ecuadorian judgment when the reckoning comes for Watson. Perhaps only when the bill at long last arrives, when Chevron’s assets are seized and Watson can’t hide that he’s cost shareholders billions of wasted dollars, that organizations like the Commonwealth Club will keep the name of Watson off the list. At that point it would just be in bad taste.

Nebraska Farmer Makes Fracking Supporters Go Silent With Just A Glass Of Water (VIDEO)

March 29, 2015 by Marc Angelo Coppola

Sometimes all the talk in the world can’t prepare you for cold, hard reality. At a Nebraska Oil & Gas Conservation committee hearing, an oil and gas commission was left in utter silence when a farmer brought in three cups of fracking water and offered each of them to take a sip.

It’s a brilliant visual reminder that what’s at stake when we talk about the dangers of fracking isn’t dollars and cents, but something much simpler: Security in knowing that one of the most basic necessities of life, access to clean drinking water, is safe from harmful pollutants.

Nebraskan James Osborne appeared at the hearing to discuss an oil company’s application to ship out-of-state fracking wastewater into Nebraska to be dumped into a “disposal well” in Sioux County. According to a Fox Business report on the proposal, the waste would be coming from states like Wyoming and Colorado, but dumped in Nebraska because nobody else wants anything to do with it:

The commission heard 2½ hours of public comment Tuesday at its Sidney headquarters before convening a specific hearing on the proposal from Terex Energy Corp. The Broomfield, Colorado-based company wants to truck salty groundwater and chemical-laden fracking wastewater that result from oil searches and production in Wyoming, Colorado and, eventually, Nebraska, to a ranch north of Mitchell, Nebraska. As much as 10,000 barrels a day of the water would be injected into an old oil well on the ranch.

Lest people think Osborne is a bleeding heart tree-hugger, he notes that he’s worked in the oil industry and still even has family who work in fracking. However, his background can’t stand in the way of the troubling facts about what fracking does to the environment, particularly to a farming and livestock intensive state like Nebraska which relies heavily on its water reserves to function.

On a table, Osborne sets down three water cups, filling each with some purified water. There is no question that anyone would feel comfortable drinking that water. But in the event of fracking wastewater leaking into the streams and rivers of Nebraska, residents shouldn’t expect their taps to remain safe. Instead, Osborne dumps in the kind of yellow-brown sludge common in fracking runoff water. This is what the water would look like. The audience gasps.

“So you told me this morning that you would drink this water,” Osborne tells the commission. “So would you drink it? Yes or no?”

The group stares silently at the display. After an awkward pause, one says he won’t answer any questions.

“Oh, you can’t answer any questions? Well my answer would be no. I don’t want this in the water that will travel entirely across this state in three days,” Osborne says. “There is no doubt there will be contamination. There will be spills.”

So far the commission hasn’t made a ruling on the controversial proposal. They chose to delay a ruling to think it over more carefully. In the meantime, environmental group Bold Nebraska has launched a petition to get public support against the fracking dumpsite.

Author: Jameson Parker I cover US politics, social justice issues, and other current events which aren’t getting the attention they deserve. Feel free to follow or drop me a line on twitter.

Let’s Turn Suburbia Into A Local Food Mecca

March 29, 2015 by Yannick

Let’s Turn Suburbia Into A Local Food Mecca

These days anybody who has a Netflix account has likely seen the numerous documentaries about our food problems. The ‘Why’, shouldn’t be hard to understand for many of you, you already see there needs to be change.

If you’re not familiar with such documentaries as Forks Over Knives, The Beautiful Truth, Food Inc., and The Future Of Food, then keep reading to understand.

The root cause of our food problem is our mistreatment of the soil. We haven’t understood the importance it plays to our health. As Dr. Max Gerson discovered in the early 20th century, the soil is our external metabolism, and therefore it plays a huge role in our overall health.

Today, conventional agriculture mistreats the soil by growing monocultures and depleting the soil of it’s essence, it’s life giving minerals and nutrients. The soil is so dead in fact that farmers have to inject chemical fertilizers just to get it to grow anything.

The main fertilizers they use consist of 3 nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. So how many nutrients make up healthy soil? There are 52 minerals needed for optimum soil health, and consequently human health. For more on this read here.

Another major problem is that our food travels too far to reach our plate.

So why does it matter how far away our food travels? Besides the effects on the climate, the food is just not as nutritious. That’s right. Food that is being grown to ship long distances is picked before it has actually ripened. This is so the fruit or vegetable isn’t spoiled by the end of it’s long journey. They’re also often treated with chemical gasses to delay the ripening process even further. Why does this matter? Studies have shown that fruits and vegetables are most nutritious when they’re allowed to fully ripen on the vine.

These are not the only 2 problems with our current food system, but they are arguably the most troublesome.

Why Suburbia?

Suburbia is arguably the greatest misallocation of human resources. It’s tried to provide the benefits of living in the country and living in the city, but instead has given us the disadvantages of both. For more on this topic, read The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America’s Man-Made Landscape by James Howard Kunstler or watch the documentary “End Of Suburbia“.

So we have these huge sprawling suburban areas that have backyards full of something that is grown almost entirely for aesthetic purposes: grass.

It’s already bad enough that we’re utilizing the rainfall to grow grass instead of food. To top it all off however, homeowners will actually water their grass, wasting even more of our very limited, very precious resource: water

There are a growing number of homeowners that understand the problems, and want to be a part of the solution but they’re too busy with work and their families.

What to do!?

Become A ‘Natural Urban Farmer’

Many believe organic farming to be more difficult and less productive than conventional farming. You don’t get to use chemicals and earth polluting machinery after all right?

This just isn’t the case if you understand ‘ natural farming ‘ principles or ‘do-nothing farming’ as it’s also called.

This method of farming was pioneered by Masanobu Fukuoka of Japan. He was able to produce just as much rice as conventional rice farms by challenging everything about the way conventional farming is undertaken. You can learn more about Masanobu Fukuoka by watching this short documentary.

Natural Farming is a very efficient way to grow healthy soil and healthy crops. Mr. Fukuoka discovered that by working with nature, instead of against it, you can achieve much greater results with much less effort.

Growing in this manner has many benefits, including the following:

Decaying organic matter becomes valuable ground cover that helps the soil to retain moisture, stay cool and serves to prevent erosion.
When employing proper no-till growing methods, weeds have trouble ever getting started, thus drastically reducing any work load related to weed removal.
Returning organic matter to the soil helps to naturally fertilize the ground by adding nitrogen.

Natural Farming How To

Here’s a simple video showing how to create your own ‘no dig’ or ‘no-till’ garden. There’s a bunch of awesome videos on Youtube if you just search “natural farming, no till farming or no digg farming”.

Here are the steps I’ve taken for my own garden beds.

Step 1: Cardboard

After you’ve decided where you’d like to put your first bed, the next step is to kill off the grass and weeds in that spot. A popular way of doing this is by using cardboard. Make sure you’ve removed any staples or tape from the cardboard. Then lay it down, overlapping slightly.

Wet the cardboard thoroughly before continuing to the next step.

Step 2: Pile on the soil/compost/organic material

As shown in this video, ideally you want to use a combination of brown/dried organic material and green. If you don’t have this, you can start with compost or organic potting soil.

You can usually find cheap soil/compost from local small farms or by looking on craigslist.

Make sure to water the layers as you add them.

Step 3: Worms

You can find these red digger worms at most local nurseries. Worm castings are invaluable for your garden due to it being a highly nutritious fertilizer. The worms themselves also help to keep the soil loose and aerated.

Step 4: Mulch

The last layer of grass or hay will serve as mulch. Again, mulch is important for a few reasons. It helps to bring fertility back to the soil, protect from soil erosion, and helps soil to retain moisture by protecting it from the hard sun.

It’s important not to use grass treated with lawn chemicals.

Step 5: Seed/Transplant

Depending on which route you take, now it’s time to plant your seeds or transplant seedlings you started indoors. You’ll want to find your counties planting calendar to know what crops your region supports and when you should plant them. It takes a lot of the guess work out of it.

Step 6: Water

Unless you live in a desert, or experiencing a drought, you shouldn’t need to do much watering. That’s the beauty of the mulch.

If you live in a desert like myself, you should still keep watering to a minimum so as to encourage deep root growth.

This new smartphone app called Edyn can help you take a more analytic approach to keeping tabs on soil moisture.

That’s It!

Knowing how to turn your corner of suburbia into a local food mecca can increase the health and vitality of your family, your neighbors, and yourself. You just need to do it!

Start small, and don’t burn yourself out. Start with one or two garden beds this upcoming grow season. Find out what kinds of crops grow well in your region of the world, and just start with a couple.

Once you have mastered ‘no-till’ gardening, simply offer to help your neighbors to do the same in their backyard. If they don’t have enough time on their hands to do it themselves, offer to do it for them in return for a percentage of the harvest or just because you want to make a difference in your community. It’s up to you!

What are you to do with extra produce? You could sell it at the farmer’s market. Or you could just give it as a gift to your family and friends. In return, I’m confident they’ll express their gratitude by gifting back in due time. This is what community is for. It’s time to disrupt this poisonous food chain and create the community we want to live in. Be the change we want to see in this world.

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GMO Advocate Says Monsanto Weed Killer Safe To Drink, Then Runs Away When Offered Some

March 29, 2015March 29, 2015 by simonthehuman

This is not very good PR for agricultural company Monsanto.

While being filmed by French cable channel Canal+, GMO advocate Dr. Patrick Moore claimed that the chemical in the company’s Roundup weed killer is safe for humans to consume and “won’t hurt you.”

He then refused to drink it when offered a glass by the interviewing journalist.

Dr. Moore was insisting that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide, was not increasing the rate of cancer in Argentina.

According to EcoWatch, Moore used to be a member of Greenpeace before becoming a GMO advocate.

Editor’s Note:ALSO ON HUFFPOST: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Dr. Patrick Moore is a lobbyist for Monsanto. A statement from Monsanto says that Dr. Moore is not and has never been a paid lobbyist for their company. This version has been corrected.

Green Roofed Paris Shelter Offers WiFi and City Guides

March 28, 2015 by Marc Angelo Coppola

June 29, 2012 by Robin Plaskoff Horton

Who isn’t looking for a small peaceful urban haven at which to chill out, check email, figure out what’s next?

For an urban development project commissioned by the city of Paris, JCDecaux, inventor of the “street furniture” concept of outdoor advertising, collaborated with designer Mathieu Lehanneur to create Escale Numérique, a green roofed wifi connected corner of respite on the busy Rond Point des Champs-Elysées. Lehanneur is no stranger to eco-friendly designs-he’s the designer of the acclaimed living air filter.

“Like the Wallace fountains, which since the end of the 19 ^th century have offered Parisian the free drinking water circulating beneath their feet,” expained Lehanneur, “Escale Numérique allows everyone to benefit from a high-speed wifi connection by raising it from beneath the ground.” Paris offers free wifi in almost all its public parks.

Lehanneur’s protected shelter with a green roof is like “a garden placed on a few tree trunks,” designed to be as attractive when viewed from the ground as from a balcony. The hard-wearing concrete swivel seats, equipped with electrical outlets, have mini tables attached where one can rest an elbow, book, or laptop.

A large touch screen, above, provides updated information about city services: guides, news and augmented reality for tourists and visitors who are not online. The designer considers Escale Numérique “a forerunner for a new range of urban architecture where virtual reality dictates the shape of what is real in order to live with even greater fluidity.”

Photos: Felipe Ribon

15 Primitive Houses You Can Build Yourself

March 28, 2015 by Marc Angelo Coppola

Imagine having a home that is truly yours, with no monthly rent or a mortgage payment. If you’re willing to live like our ancestors did, it can be done!

Whether you need to improves a shelter after a disaster, or just want to run away to the wilderness, these primitive houses may be the answer you need.

Here you’ll see how people from around the globe have built their own homes throughout history.

Tipis are cone-shaped shelters used by the Plains tribes of North America. They are made from wooden frames covered in buffalo hide. Early versions of these structures measured as much as 12 feet high.

Lavvu

The Lavvuu is wider than a tipi and can withstand high winds. Used as a temporary dwelling by the Sami people of Scandinavia, the lavuu was originally crafted with wooden poles covered in reindeer hide.

Wigwam

Wigwams are associated with the Algonquian Indian tribe. They consist of arched wooden framing poles, which are then covered with anything from bark and brush to animal hide. Wigwams may be triangular or dome-like in appearance.

Hogan

The Navajo people first construct the hogans, which come in many shapes and sizes. They can be erected without interior posts and may feature walls made of wood or stone. The roofs consist of either packed earth or bark.

Burdei

A burdei sits partially underground and has a history that reaches back 6,000 years. They could originally be found in the Carpathian Mountains in Eastern Europe. During the late 19th century, the burdei was also used North America.

Barabara

Barabara were the homes of the Alutiiq and Aleuts of the Aleutian Islands. The base of the barabara is positioned underground, creating a barrier from the powerful winds that routinely sweep over this region.

Clochán

The clochán is a hut-like structure made from overlapping pieces of stone. It is constructed without mortar and remains in tact due to compressional forces, a method called dry-stone. These dwellings were common in southwestern Ireland.

Log cabin

Log cabins are made from logs with notches cut into both ends, allowing for a tight fit once the logs are laid on top of one another. A family could construct a log cabin in a matter of days, and the finished structure could remain standing for years.

Longhouse

Longhouses are usually associated with the Iroquois tribes of North America. The longhouse is constructed with pole frames covered in bark, and measure up to 200 feet long. Smaller longhouses could shelter one or more families, while larger longhouses could accommodate 60 people.

Bamboo house

Because the strong, lightweight and fast-growing bamboo is readily available in some regions of the world, including Asia and parts of Central and South America, it is a considered an excellent (and sustainable) source of construction material.

Pueblo

Pueblos share their name with the Native American tribe that first built them. Pueblos are multi-family homes built with bricks made from a mixture of straw and clay called adobe. Pueblos could shelter a whole clan, with each family residing in its own space.

Earthen house

It’s the surrounding earth that creates the walls on three or four sides of this structure, which is covered by a roof. These kinds of shelters provide excellent protection from wind and cold.

Igloo

Igloos are made of snow and are commonly associated with the Eskimos in Northern Canada. They are crafted from large blocks of ice that are secured with snow to create the dome roof. An occupied igloo, warmed only by body heat, can reach temperatures as high as 60 degrees, even when it’s below freezing outside.

Yurt

Portable and easy to erect, the yurt stayed popular with nomadic people residing in Central Asia for about 3,000 years. Yurts feature expandable circle-shaped frames that are covered in felt. A yurt can be set up in about two hours.

Walipini

The walipini can be constructed for about $300, and use the surrounding earth as its walls. A greenhouse sits approximately six feet below ground level, allowing for year-round gardening, and the walls hold heat generated from daytime solar radiation.

Leafy Green Machine is a complete urban farm system in a shipping container

March 28, 2015 by Marc Angelo Coppola

These shipping container growing units from Freight Farms feature high-density vegetable & herb production, and include everything needed to go from seed to table, year-round, in a fraction of the space as a conventional greenhouse.Ideas for methods of growing more produce in and around urban areas, close to where the food will be consumed, come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but one shape in particular keeps popping up in urban agriculture, especially when it comes to year-round growing and cold climates. Shipping containers (also known as intermodal freight containers), while probably not the first thing to come to mind when it comes to growing vegetables, are a great choice for upcycling and repurposing for urban farms, because they’re affordable, readily available, and built to last for decades, and with some extensive retrofitting, can be used as climate-controlled indoor farms.

I recently covered the CropBox, which boasts of being a ” farm in a box,” but long before that shipping container farm made the news, Freight Farms was building their own high-density growing units inside cargo containers, thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign run in 2011. Since then, Freight Farms has continued to develop and improve its urban farm units, dubbed the Leafy Green Machine (LGM), which uses high-efficiency LED lighting, vertical hydroponic growing towers, and an automated climate-control and irrigation system to grow thousands of plants inside a single 320 square foot container.

The Freight Farms design is based on a conventional insulated shipping container measuring 40′ x 8′ (~12.2m x 2.4m), but are extensively retrofitted to serve as a micro-farm that can grow some 4,500 plants at a time. The rows of plants are grown vertically, with the LED lighting strips between them delivering “the optimal wavelengths for uniform plant growth” and the hydroponic system supplying the nutrients that the plants need, directly to their roots, using 90% less water than conventional growing does.

And not only do the units grow mature crops, but the LGM also integrates a dedicated germination and seedling station (also using LED lighting and hydroponic irrigation) that can handle up to 2500 plant starts, which then get planted into the growing towers a few weeks after sprouting. This aspect of the LGM is probably one of the most essential elements for a production farm, and one that isn’t so obvious to non-farmers, as it enables the growers to start seeds and continuously feed those seedlings into the system for regular harvests, all within the walls of the shipping container.

According to the Freight Farms website, these “smart farms” (so-called because they can be controlled via smartphone) also offer another advantage over outdoor growing and other open systems, because the use of a sealed container for growing can “eliminate the need for herbicides/pesticides.” The LGM system is also considered to be modular and scalable, as the shipping containers can be securely stacked on top of each other for increased production in the same physical footprint as a single unit.

By enabling year-round growing, even in cold climates, each of these 320 square foot containers are said to be able to produce an acre’s worth of food each year, and could be a viable option for the urban farm entrepreneur. The cost of a unit isn’t cheap ($76,000), and there are other costs associated with operating one (estimated to be about $13,000 per year for electricity, water, and various growing and packaging supplies), but considering that the LGMs are considered to be capable of producing yields of locally-grown produce “at commercial-scale in any climate and any season,” they might be a great business investment for the prospective urban farmer.

Find out more at Freight Farms.

VIPP Introduces a Problematic Prefab

March 28, 2015 by Marc Angelo Coppola

Oscar Wilde wrote in The Picture of Dorian Gray: “Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” I use that phrase a lot when people complain about the price of everything from furniture to tiny houses; short production runs and quality materials mean higher costs. But even I choke occasionally, such as with this visually stunning new prefab from VIPP, a Danish company that has been working with steel since 1939, starting with an iconic wastebasket that’s now in the Museum of Modern Art.

The VIPP shelter is a beautiful object, all glass and steel, 50,000 pounds of superior workmanship and design. 592 square feet of felt-lined modern living. It gives new definition to the word “turnkey”- there are no options whatsoever. It’s “a plug and play getaway.”

Indeed, they have chosen everything from the bedsheets to the toilet brush, it is all included. The specifications are top of the line, from the VIPP kitchen to the electric radiant concrete floors to the 10 inches of insulation. It is indeed a stunning minimalist modern object of desire.

And then it all begins to fall apart, perhaps in this interview with designer Morten Bo Jensen, who says:

The biggest difference between this getaway compared to anything else on the market is the fact that I am not an architect. The shelter is conceived more like a product than a piece of architecture that melds seamlessly with its surrounding. We didn’t start with a piece of land on which we customized a house taking into consideration the natural surroundings. There is plenty of amazing architecture out there, but we wanted to conceive something different; an escape in the form of an object designed down to last detail, where the only choice left to the customer, is where to put it.

But architecture doesn’t work like that. You cannot design a building with a wall of glass and claim that it will work “in the darkest forest or the brightest desert”; put this object in full sun, with no shading and that wall of glass and black steel and it will be uninhabitable.

The loft will be an oven, even with the one opening window. But nobody will use it anyway; just try spending one night where you have to climb a steep ladder and then crawl up from the bottom of the bed. You will sleep downstairs on the second night.

Then there is the small matter of cost, which I usually downplay, but $US 585,000 is a lot of money for 592 square feet, for 50,000 pounds of glass and steel. That is actually the same price per pound as a BMW Series 2 Coupe; you can do your own price per square foot calculation. That also does not include land, delivery, crane rental, or site services like septic or electricity. And add 12% for US east coast delivery.

On another design website they title their post The Vipp Shelter is a plug-and-play prefab home that can be placed just about anywhere. If only it were. However you cannot call something “plug and play” if there are no plugs. So you may not have to buy a toilet brush but you have to buy infrastructure, which is surprisingly expensive and difficult.

Perhaps I am just bitter, because I spent two years trying to sell a high end minihome and ran into all these problems of connections and zoning bylaws and lofts and costs. I just look at this and see every problem that I had writ large. There are a dozen reasons that this kind of building cannot be placed just about anywhere; perhaps it will work in a nice Scandinavian climate with lots of shade and hopefully no mosquitoes.

I shouldn’t be so critical, it is a beautiful thing and I hope they sell like VIPP wastebaskets, also overpriced iconic objects of desire. But at least a wastebasket really can go anywhere and doesn’t have to be plugged in. Lots more beautiful documentation and photographs at VIPP.

8 Scientifically Proven Reasons To Spend Way More Time Outside

March 28, 2015 by Marc Angelo Coppola

Novelist Jane Austen said, “To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.” And who could argue with her? I know I can’t. Appreciating the magnificence of trees, inhaling salty ocean air, or marveling at the sumptuous colors of a field of flowers always fills me with a sense of wonder and renews my spirit.

There’s good reason so many artists and poets have found inspiration in the beauty of creation. Research has shown that spending time in nature can benefit you both mentally and physically, in a variety of surprising ways.

If you feel like taking a walk outside in the middle of the day is necessary for your well-being, you’re probably right. Read on for eight compelling reasons to spend more time enjoying the great outdoors!

1. Spending time in nature increases your sense of vitality.

A series of studies examined the effects of nature on participants’ self-reported levels of vitality. The results showed that spending time in nature (and even looking at pictures of it or visualizing nature scenes) increased participants’ energy. It’s no surprise: when you’re outside, you awaken your senses. Surrounded by the colors, smells and sounds of all the living beings in nature, you literally feel life all around you. And as a result, you feel more alive.

2. Exposure to nature makes you more resilient to stress.

In one study, participants were shown a traumatic video (of workplace accidents, in case you’re curious) followed by a video that showed either outdoor scenes of nature or urban environments. Researchers found that the individuals who viewed the nature scenes showed faster physical recovery from the effects of stress than the subjects who viewed urban scenes. Going outdoors may just be the most natural remedy there is for all different kinds of healing.

3. Exercising in nature boosts your mood.

We all know that exercise produces endorphins and boosts your mood. So add nature to the equation and we’ve got a whole new level of natural mood-boosting. A review of several studies showed that exercising outdoors improved participants’ moods and self-esteem after just five minutes. Interestingly, having water in the outdoor environment was found to be particularly beneficial.

4. Spending time in nature helps you focus.

Research has shown that when people spend time in nature, it can help their ability to concentrate. For example, one study found that children with ADHD showed significantly better concentration after taking a 20-minute walk in nature, compared to a walk in an urban setting.

Another study showed that taking a walk in the park (or even just looking at green space) helped to ease brain fatigue and increase participants’ abilities to concentrate. Spending time outside makes us feel connected to a bigger picture of life. We feel tuned into the rhythms of nature, and as a result, less distracted by the little stressors of the every day. Who knew the smell of grass could be an elixir for concentration?!

5. Living near green space can improve your mental health.

One study that followed participants over five years found that moving to an area that has more green space increased participants’ sense of well-being. And this effect lasted for three years! Let’s all wake up and smell the roses!

6. Spending time in nature can boost your immune system.

Researchers have found that spending time in nature increases your sense of awe (e.g. that feeling of wonder you get as a result of being overwhelmed by the beauty of a sunset or the vastness of the ocean). Who doesn’t want to feel awe? There’s no reason your life shouldn’t feel awesome. Not only does awe make you more aware of the present moment and increase your life satisfaction, awe is also linked to lower levels ofcytokines, which are markers of inflammation. In other words, science says that you’ll be healthier and more inclined to own your awesome if you get out into nature more often.

7. Living near green space may even increase your life span.

A five-year study of Japanese senior citizens indicated that living near areas with walkable green spaces was associated with a lower probability of dying during the study. This relationship was found even after controlling for variables like income, age, sex, marital status, and other relevant factors. The time is now to get outside!

8. Can’t get outside? Having indoor plants can positively affect your health.

If time (or the weather) doesn’t permit you to go outdoors, bringing nature inside can also benefit you. For example, a study of hospital patients recovering from surgery found that individuals who were randomly assigned to rooms that had plants showed lower blood pressure and heart rate, lower ratings of pain, anxiety, and fatigue, and took fewer doses of pain medication compared to patients who did not have plants.

The moral of the story? Naturalist John Muir said it best, “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.”

Amazon Watch – Bringing Dishonor Upon an Honorary Award

March 27, 2015 by Adam Zuckerman

We just found out that the Commonwealth Club of California – the “nation’s oldest and largest public affairs forum” – plans to honor Chevron CEO John Watson as a “distinguished global citizen” who has “given back” to the global community. They’re actually going to honor Watson’s ability to abuse his power, wealth and corporate connections to evade accountability for the wide range of environmental and human rights crimes he has overseen as head of Chevron since 2010? WHAT?!

There are a myriad of reasons why presenting such an award to Watson is outrageous. Massive pollution and health crises in Ecuador, death and destruction in Nigeria, lying to shareholders, abuse of the justice system, trampling free speech in the U.S., dumping millions into local elections to undermine democracy… the list of Chevron’s violations goes on and on. Watson has either overseen or has taken a personal role in advancing strategies that attack Chevron’s critics and has gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid accepting responsibility for Chevron’s well documented actions of harming both people and the planet. It took less than a day to find almost 40 human rights and environmental organizations ready and willing to denounce this decision. If we had taken a week it would easily have been well over 100.

How is it then that none of this leaves a sour taste in the mouths of the Board of Governors at the Commonwealth Club?

When Watson took over Chevron in 2010 his company’s handling of its Ecuador disaster took a very different and distinctly aggressive tone. Watson had been one of the architects of Chevron’s merger with Texaco years before. He was there when Amazon Watch warned Chevron not to proceed because of the enormous liability in Ecuador. He knew that Texaco admitted to deliberately dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into the pristine inhabited rainforest. He knew Texaco documents were uncovered proving the company’s policy of hiding leaks and not reporting spills during its operations. Apparently, just as the Texaco executives decided that it was worth the human and environmental toll to save $3 per barrel by dumping the waste for decades instead of lining their open toxic waste pits, Watson decided the merger with Texaco was worth the cost. He literally agreed to own Texaco’s mess.

When Watson took over from David O’Reilly in 2010, he had a choice. He could have ushered in a new era for the company. He could have apologized to the people of Ecuador. He could have negotiated a settlement and agreed to clean up the Amazon wasteland his company had created. True – to do so would have cost a tremendous amount of money. But in addition to being the right thing to do, and stemming the wave of deaths from cancer, it would have also been fiscally responsible. And it would have earned Watson a legitimate reason to be recognized by a group like the Commonwealth Club.

Will Watson or anyone at the Commonwealth Club gala give a moment’s thought to them on April 2nd?

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