tagged w/ Forum of Tools to Change the World
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WHAT I PERPOSE ENGENERING IS :
A GREEN TECKNOLEDGY UNIVERSITY
CREATING MICRO INDUSTRIES AND TECKNOLEDGY
THAT ENRICH THE HUMAN EXPERIANCE
I AM MINDSTORM / GENT JIM/ THE TRAVELER
WHAT I PERPOSE ENGENERING IS :
A GREEN TECKNOLEDGY UNIVERSITY... more
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Can't wait until innovation like this hits our shelves.
Energy from water (not a fuel cell)Can't wait until innovation like this hits our shelves.
Energy from water (not... more
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Researchers have combined the efforts of two kinds of bacteria to produce hydrogen in a bioreactor, with the product from one providing food for the other. According to an article in the August issue of Microbiology Today, this technology has an added bonus: leftover enzymes can be used to scavenge precious metals from spent automotive catalysts to help make fuel cells that convert hydrogen into energy.
Researchers have combined the efforts of two kinds of bacteria to produce hydrogen in... more
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In 27-year-old Chris Becker's cramped New York City apartment building, neighbors rarely greeted one another beyond a head nod or a grunt.
Mr. Becker, a chef, spent 2 ½ hours commuting every day and worked up to 80 hours a week in a restaurant where chicken with sage, sangiovese, schiacciata and carrots went for $90.
Now he's given it all up to harvest vegetables in the hot Texas sun – without pay.
Mr. Becker and his wife, Amanda Becker, 28, are spending the summer on an organic farm near Waco run by World Hunger Relief, a nonprofit that provides free dormlike housing and food to young volunteers in exchange for their labor.
And it's not just the Beckers. Twenty-somethings across the country are fleeing the cities and suburbs to volunteer on organic farms.
World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms-USA, one of the best-known organizations matching volunteers with organic farms, quintupled its membership between 2003 and 2007. Last year, it had 2,643 volunteers, including 59 from Texas.
Now, not only does Mr. Becker know all of his neighbors, he shares hand-harvested meals with them nearly every day. He showers with rainwater collected from his roof. He can milk a goat. And he knows that "pushing the poop down the chute" means knocking down the build-up in the latrines when they get too full.
"Part of understanding food and how to cook it is understanding where it comes from," Mr. Becker said, explaining why he left New York.
Some volunteers work for a week, others a year or more. But all in all, this new generation of farmers is frustrated with mainstream consumer culture, disturbed by the corporatization of farming and aching for a break from stressful, fast-paced lives.
Plus, the fresh-off-the-vine tomatoes are really that good.
"It's definitely a trend. It's kind of like the cool thing to do," farm manager David Cole, 27, said about the influx of young volunteers over the past few years. "Most of the people that seem to be really going after it are people that have no farm experience at all."
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Sounds like a good experience for a young person to give them some perspective on life as well as getting back to nature.
In 27-year-old Chris Becker's cramped New York City apartment building,... more
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An underwater turbine that generates electricity from tidal streams was plugged into the UK's national grid today. It marks the first time a commercial-scale underwater turbine has fed power into the network and the start of a new source of renewable energy for the UK.
Tidal streams are seen by many as a plentiful and predictable supply of clean energy. The most conservative estimates suggest there is at least five gigawatts of power in tidal flows around the country, but there could be as much as 15GW.
The trial at Strangford Lough, in Northern Ireland, uses a device called SeaGen and generates power at 150kW. However, engineers have plans to increase power to 300kW by the end of the summer. When it is eventually running at full power SeaGen will have an output of 1,200 kW, enough for about 1,000 homes.
Tidal generators harvest the energy of these moving streams with the added advantage that the resource is, unlike wind, predictable.
After SeaGen starts operating at full capacity, MCT plans to build a farm of turbines before 2011. "Our next site will be off the coast of Anglesey, the initial farm is about 10.5MW," said Wright. "The resource up there is around 350MW."
The Pentland Firth, the Channel Islands and the Severn estuary are also potential hotspots for tidal energy.
Wright said: "I hope it makes people believe that tidal power isn't 20 to 30 years away and a dream, but it is something that, if we get the right resources around it, could become a significant reality and contributor much quicker than that."
An underwater turbine that generates electricity from tidal streams was plugged into... more
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A PERFECT DESIGN,
IS A DESIGN
THAT RETURNS TO
IT'S SELF TO RENEW
IT'S SELF ,
THE ONE .
I AM MINDSTORM,I AM ONE A PERFECT DESIGN,... more
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I think that we HAVE to come up with alternatives like this in order to change our thinking. This is a great start! We need to investigate this more and as Americans DEMAND that things like this come to pass....
We depend on oil WAY to much and this would be a way to beat the BIG oil!
::X::I think that we HAVE to come up with alternatives like this in order to change our... more
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X_MAN
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added this
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3 years ago
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I recorded this video for the Courage Campaign http://couragecampaign.org because I believe we can solve the climate crisis, and every other problem facing our nation, if we begin by transforming America's priorities on education. I hope you will speak out today by webcam or text by posting a short video or written response to my video. And please ask your friends to chime in with a response on Current as well. Your voice, and the voices of your friends, can change the conversation in California and across the country. I recorded this video for the Courage Campaign http://couragecampaign.org because I... more
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algore
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added this
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4 years ago
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Lots of gossip is good for society and helps people to trust each other and to be more charitable, according to a study published this week, reports the Telegraph.
Work by game theorists has shown that reputation is the reason that (unlike so many other creatures) humans help strangers and unrelated people.
Reputation is important for the evolution of human cooperation, through a process called "indirect reciprocity", summed up by 'I help you and somebody else helps me'.
A team of researchers in the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany wanted to find out how much gossip can be relied on as a good guide to reputation and how much it can be abused to destroy a reputation.
They found, in experimental games in which students could write comments about other people (a form of gossip) that the ability to tarnish others is diminished, the more gossip there is.
The games involved giving money to other players to test how players trusted each other to cooperate. Scientists then studied the effects of gossip on the reputation of potential receivers and the resulting donations.
People cooperated more often with cooperators than with defectors; people wrote more positive gossip about cooperators than about defectors; and people cooperated more with people about whom they read positive gossip than with people about whom they read negative gossip.
So positivity breeds positivity! That's nice to know. But does good gossip breed good gossip in your workplace or social group? Is gossip really good for us in the real world, or does it breed all kinds of problems and worries? Has gossip ever got you into trouble?
Lots of gossip is good for society and helps people to trust each other and to be more... more
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This article is a little old (from March) but piggybacks the discussion about energy following my coal vs. nuclear post-
"After three years of clandestine development, a Georgia company is now going public with a simple, natural way to convert anything that grows out of the Earth into oil.
J.C. Bell, an agricultural researcher and CEO of Bell Bio-Energy, Inc., says he's isolated and modified specific bacteria that will, on a very large scale, naturally change plant material – including the leftovers from food – into hydrocarbons to fuel cars and trucks.
"What we're doing is taking the trash like corn stalks, corn husks, corn cobs – even grass from the yard that goes to the dump – that's what we can turn into oil," Bell told WND. "I'm not going to make asphalt, we're only going to make the things we need. We're going to make gasoline for driving, diesel for our big trucks."
"Through genetic manipulation, we've changed the naturally occurring bacteria, so they eat and consume biomass a little more efficiently," he said. "It works. There's not even any debate that it works. It really is an all-natural, simple process that cows use on a daily basis."
Naturally occurring bacteria used to convert biomass into hydrocarbons.
But does he think it will make environmentalists happy?
"They love this. We had one totally recognizable environmentalist from Hollywood say this is everything they ever had hoped for," Bell said. "This could be considered the ultimate recycling of carbon. We are using the energy of the sun through the plant. We're not introducing any new carbon [to the environment]."
The research has received strong support from the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture and committees in both chambers of Congress, and Bell plans further discussions in Washington, D.C., next week.
He expects to have the first pilot plant for the process running within two to three months, and will operate it for a year to collect engineering data to design full-scale production facilities. He thinks the larger facilities will be producing oil "inside the next two years."
And just how much oil is in Bell's bio-forecast?
"With minor changes in the agricultural and forestry products, we could create two to two and a half billion tons of biomass a year, and you're looking at 5 billion barrels of oil per year. That would be about two-thirds of what we use now."
Turning some of nature's produce into energy has been done for years, especially when it comes to the conversion of corn and cellulose-based products into ethanol, used to extend gasoline volume and boost octane.
The Energy Information Administration says in 2005, total U.S. ethanol production was 3.9 billion gallons, or 2.9 percent of the total gasoline pool.
Bell admits his bacterial breakthrough has been kept under wraps until now, but he plans to explain it all once his website is fully operational.
Bell Bio-Energy, Inc., aims to use modified bacteria like this to convert biomass into oil and gasoline within two years.
"We're actually gonna tell people how we do it, with streaming video. We're to the point now with our patent that we can say more and we fully intend to.
"We want to develop public support so they can understand what we're doing; to develop political support, because this is a combination of making the United States more independent from foreign oil sources; make [the country] healthier from an economic point of view; and it goes a long way to solving the environmental problems a lot of people are concerned about."
When asked why he thought no one else has patented this process, Bell answered, "It literally is because it's too simple. Everyone was looking for a real complicated mechanism. We looked at how it occurs naturally. But it's now going to develop in a hurry."
This article is a little old (from March) but piggybacks the discussion about energy... more
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'Oregon has given permitting approval to what will become the world’s largest onshore wind farm: the Shepherd’s Flat Wind Farm. Developed by the Sacramento, California firm Caithness Shepherds Flat LLC, the planned facility will consist of 303 wind turbines with a combined installed capacity of 909 megawatts. It will be located on private land five miles southeast of Arlington. No word on when construction is scheduled to begin or when the wind farm may come online.
While individually still a drop in the vast bucket of overall U.S. electrical demand, this development is of such a scale—the Shepherd’s Flat Wind Farm would slightly more than double Oregon’s wind capacity—that the phrase ‘world’s largest’ doesn’t seem ridiculous.''Oregon has given permitting approval to what will become the world’s... more
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"Professor Martin Schreibman says our oceans have been overfished beyond repair. If we're going to keep eating fish and chips, tuna tartare, and all those omega-3 fatty acids, we may have to rely on aquaculture. Schreibman is working to bring those fish farms into the city. Urban aquaculture? We'll bite."
(End of excerpt)
Video by Lindsay Utz, Morgan Currie, Michael Schaubach, Danielle Flug, Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman, MacKenzie Fegan, Supermarché, Eric Winkowski, Jake Yuzna// GOOD Magazine
http://www.goodmagazine.com/section/Features/urban_aquaculture
Work is licensed by GOOD Magazine under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Generic
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/
"Professor Martin Schreibman says our oceans have been overfished beyond repair.... more
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After reading another report on how our planet is heating up these crazy and beautiful buildings are looking better by the moment.After reading another report on how our planet is heating up these crazy and beautiful... more
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Chemical company Ineos develops technology to make bioethanol from waste.
With soaring oil prices and government policy drives to run car fleets on cleaner energy sources that emit fewer greenhouse gases, biofuels are growing in popularity. But with land being used to grow biofuel rather than food crops the shine has come off their green credentials.
Chemicals company Ineos thinks it has cracked the fuel v food debate with new technology that produces bioethanol from waste. Chemical company Ineos develops technology to make bioethanol from waste.
With... more
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"Trash is no longer just an environmental liability. It is becoming a financial asset. And it is everywhere.""Trash is no longer just an environmental liability. It is becoming a financial... more
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Here is a guide to green events taking place across the United States in the coming months. Enjoy!
Build It Green green building trainings, various dates & cities in California
Build It Green is a non-profit membership organization whose mission is to promote healthy, energy- and resource-efficient building practices in California. Build It Green offers trainings for green building professionals, green home tours, and more. Click here to learn more about events, locations and dates. **Note they have trainings at the end of July and early August, so check quickly!
Slow Food Nation Festival, San Francisco, CA Aug. 29-Sept. 1
The inaugural Slow Food Nation event will be held on Labor Day Weekend 2008, at Fort Mason and San Francisco City Hall. The world’s most pressing questions regarding health, culture, the environment, education, social justice and the global economy are all deeply connected to the food we eat and how it is produced. Slow Food Nation is an event at the center of a movement with national impact and global implications. It will engage tens of thousands of attendees in learning how everyday choices affect our wellbeing, our culture and the health of the planet, and will bring hundreds of farmers and food artisans from across the country to present an extraordinary range of foods and preparation techniques. It will offer activities for all ages, including food, music, talks, forums, workshops, films and exhibits.
Rethinking Food, Health, and the Environment: Making Learning Connections New York City, Aug. 9-13
Numerous teams of teachers from schools across the United States have already applied for the Center for Ecoliteracy’s Summer Institute, “Rethinking Food, Health, and the Environment: Making Learning Connections.” The five-day residential institute, put on by Ecoliteracy, is co-sponsored with Teachers College Columbia University.
West Coast Green, San Jose, CA Sept. 25-27
West Coast Green is the premier green home expo, in its third successful year. Exhibitors include builders, architects, home materials manufacturers, and much more. It is a great place to learn what you can do to have a more green home and lifestyle and to see all the latest and greatest in materials advances. It’s such an important event that Al Gore is giving the keynote addres!!! To be held at the San Jose Convention Center.
** Your Low Impact Living friends will be exhibiting, so come by and say hello!
2008 Ohio Green Living Fayre, Johnstown, OH Sept. 1
Workshops and vendors focus on four main areas of interest: Alternative Building & Energy; Healthy Food & Agriculture Practices; Sustainable Living & Lifestyles; and Wellness & Healing. At the Flying J Organic Farm in Johnstown, just east of Columbus.
Going Green Expo Portland, Maine, Sept. 13 & 14
At the Howard’s Sports Arena. Green Energy, Green Building, Appliances & Decor, Green Advocates, Green Kids Zone, Green Food Court, Eco-Fashion Show, Green Book & Film Festival, Green Bazaar - Gifts & Products, Green Jobs & Degrees Fair, Green Transport Test Track, Energy & Living Workshops” and more.
Here is a guide to green events taking place across the United States in the coming... more
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IT'S A TRUCK , IT'S A BUS, IT'S A VAN, NO, IT'S VEGETABLE OIL.....
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