Moulding Growing Trees Into Furniture

Wooden furniture might not strike you as particularly unsustainable for the environment. But consider all the energy wasted by growing a tree for 60 years, chopping it down, and shipping it to a factory, where it will get further pulverized only to be re-shaped into a usable piece of furniture.

 Gavin Munro, a furniture designer based in Derbyshire, England, has found a way to cut out all the steps after the growing. His company, Full Grown(http://fullgrown.co.uk/), uses specially designed plastic frames and strategic grafting to mold young willow, oak, ash, and sycamore trees into a chair, table, mirror, or lamp.

The end result is a sturdy piece of furniture made of a single, continuous piece of wood without joints or the need for any assembly.

On a 2.5 acre farm in Wirksworth Munro, 39, tends and sculpts a furniture forest of 400 trees, divided by wood type and intended object.

Falling Fruit: Foraging for Free Food App

Two programmers Caleb Philips and Ethan Weltys have created an interactive  global foraging map that shows that allows you to find fruits, vegetables, nuts, berries and lots of other healthy edible plants in public parks, urban farming projects, lining city streets, and even hanging over fences (and, therefor, onto the public domain of sidewalks).

The project, dubbed "Falling Fruit" identifies more than a half-million locations across the globe where fruits and veggies are FREE for the taking.

In practice, the Falling Fruit maps look like a typical Google map with foraging locations represented by dots. Zoom in and click on one, and up pops a box with a description of what tree or bush you can find there. The description often includes information on the best season to pluck the produce, the quality and yield of the plant,

Link to the Website: Falling Fruit

The Documentary "Food Cartographers,” directed by Jamie Schutz, follows Ethan Welty and Caleb Phillips in their venture.

Fresh Prescription

Instead of pills, doctors prescribe fruits and vegetables through program that unites health care with local food systems

The typical idea of treating diseases in this country consists of seeing a doctor, who then prescribes medication, says Dr. Richard Bryce, a senior staff physician in the Department of Family Medicine at Henry Ford Hospital who works full time at CHASS.

With Health Rx, he has the option of telling patients, “Here are meds. These are good meds but there’s a lot of side effects that go along with them, and if we can fix this problem with just nutrition and exercise you’ll feel better and you’ll be helping your health in general overall.”

Connecticut-based nonprofit Wholesome Wave, founded by a James Beard award-winning chef in 2007, created the Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program that reached more than 5,000 low-income families between 2010 and 2014.

Health Rx, a partnership between the Ecology Center and CHASS, aims to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables as a way to manage chronic diseases. CHASS, which piloted the program last year, had 45 participants in 2013. This year, they have the capacity to reach 140 people who receive a total of $40, distributed through debit cards, to be used in $10 increments at the farmers market held every Thursday at CHASS.

Read the entire original article in Hour Detroit by DOROTHY HERNANDEZ in the link below..
Fresh Prescription - Hour Detroit

World’s First Vertical Forest Gets Introduced in Italy

World’s First Vertical Forest Gets Introduced in Italy (via greenliving4live.com)

See on Scoop.it – Green Living The Bosco Verticale is a system that optimizes, recuperates, and produces energy. Covered in plant life, the building aids in balancing the microclimate and in filtering the dust particles contained in the urban environment…

 

Ariel Sharon Park, A Revolution In Waste Management & Urban Planning

Ariel Sharon Park, A Revolution In Waste Management & Urban Planning (via Planetsave)

What do you do if you have a lot of trash, limited landfill space, problematic floodplains, and a growing population? It’s a common problem across the world, as the trends of population growth, wasteful consumption and an increasingly plastic, throwaway…

 

Bayou Corne: The biggest ongoing disaster in the United States you haven't heard of.

(Source: Mother Jones, Daily Kos)

One night in August 2012, after months of unexplained seismic activity and mysterious bubbling on the bayou, a sinkhole opened up on a plot of land leased by the petrochemical company Texas Brine, forcing an immediate evacuation of Bayou Corne's 350 residents—an exodus that still has no end in sight. Last week, Louisiana filed a lawsuit against the company and the principal landowner, Occidental Chemical Corporation, for damages stemming from the cavern collapse.

Texas Brine's operation sits atop a three-mile-wide, mile-plus-deep salt deposit known as the Napoleonville Dome, which is sheathed by a layer of oil and natural gas, a common feature of the salt domes prevalent in Gulf Coast states. The company specializes in a process known as injection mining, and it had sunk a series of wells deep into the salt dome, flushing them out with high-pressure streams of freshwater and pumping the resulting saltwater to the surface. From there, the brine is piped and trucked to refineries along the Mississippi River and broken down into sodium hydroxide and chlorine for use in manufacturing everything from paper to medical supplies.

Bayou Corne is the biggest ongoing disaster in the United States you haven't heard of. What happened in Bayou Corne, as near as anyone can tell, is that one of the salt caverns Texas Brine hollowed out—a mine dubbed Oxy3—collapsed. The sinkhole initially spanned about an acre. Today it covers more than 24 acres and is an estimated 750 feet deep. It subsists on a diet of swamp life and cypress trees, which it occasionally swallows whole. It celebrated its first birthday recently, and like most one-year-olds, it is both growing and prone to uncontrollable burps, in which a noxious brew of crude oil and rotten debris bubbles to the surface. But the biggest danger is invisible; the collapse unlocked tens of millions of cubic feet of explosive gases, which have seeped into the aquifer and wafted up to the community. The town blames the regulators. The regulators blame Texas Brine. Texas Brine blames some other company, or maybe the regulators, or maybe just God.

Phyto Kinetic: Green Roofs for City Buses and Improved Urban Ecosystem

Source: Urban Gardens
With his project, Phyto Kinetic, Marc Grañén aims to energize drab public buses with vibrant, gardened roofs that he hopes will contribute a bit to improving the urban ecosystem. Grañén utilizes a lightweight, 7-centimeter thick hydroponic foam which is much lighter than soil, thereby significantly reducing the overall weight of the Phyto Kinetic roof. The foam retains humidity and is extremely flexible, making it easy to install regardless of the shape of the bus roof. Read More..
Phyto Kinetic: Green Roofs for City Busesbr /and Improved Urban Ecosystem

Peru To Provide Free Solar Power To 2 Million Of Its Poorest Residents

Peru has initiated a new solar panel program that will provide electricity to more than 2 million of its poorest residents.

Currently, only 66% of Peru’s 24 million people has access to electricity, according to the country’s Energy and Mining Minister Jorge Merino. By 2016, the plan is to provide electricity to 95% of residents through The National Photovoltaic Household Electrification Program.

“This program is aimed at the poorest people, those who lack access to electric lighting and still use oil lamps, spending their own resources to pay for fuels that harm their health,” he said.  Read More..
http://www.the9billion.com/2013/07/18/peru-to-provide-free-solar-power-to-2-million-of-its-poorest-residents/

FreshWall Indoor Vertical Garden Purifies the Air While Growing Plants and Fresh Veggies

FreshWall is a vertical garden that redefines indoor agriculture while maximizing the air purification ability of plants. The innovative green wall combines high-end technology with Scandinavian design aesthetics to encourage a green and healthy lifestyle.

It is an affordable, automated green wall for the urban dwellers, which does not take too much of the floor space. FreshWall brings vertical gardening indoors and requires minimal maintenance. All you need to do is to put the plants into the pot, plug it to your FreshWall and add water to the reservoir. Plug in the cord and the FreshWall takes care of the rest.

Moreover, each plant in FreshWall purifies air as well as 100 normal plants. FreshWall combines the best of hydroponics and aeroponics to help you grow plants throughout the year. The integrated watering system delivers the right amount of water and nutrients to all the plants. As the air circulates through the plants root systems, plants grow healthier and faster. Currently the product is mainly for business use, but the team just launched an Indiegogo campaign with the goal of making it available to everyone.

Sweden’s Quest To Be The First Oil-Free Nation

Sweden’s Quest To Be The First Oil-Free Nation (via Clean Technica)

This post first appeared on Fuel Freedom By Zana Nesheiwat Famous for Volvo, Ikea and Absolut Vodka, Sweden is now on a new pursuit to become the first completely oil-free economy in the world by 2020. The oil crisis in the early 1970s forced Sweden to embark on a quest for alternative energy sources…

World’s First Algae-Powered Building by Splitterwerk Architects Opens This Month in Germany

(Source: Inhabitat)

We’ve all heard about buildings powered by solar or wind energy, but an algae-powered building? Splitterwerk Architects have designed just such a structure, dubbed BIQ, which will be the very first of its kind. Covered with a bio-adaptive façade of microalgae, the distinctive building has been designed for the International Building Exhibition in Hamburg and is slated to open this month!
Read more: World’s First Algae-Powered Building by Splitterwerk Architects Opens This Month in Germany

Megafactories Tesla Model S (English)- Video

National Geographic recently produced a 45-minute video on the Tesla Motors “megafactory” in Fremont, California. Of course, it’s also a video on Tesla as a whole, the Model S, Elon Musk, and a potential electric vehicle revolution. It’s worth a watch. Elon Musk the South African American entrepreneur and inventor is best known for founding SpaceX, and co-founding Tesla Motors and PayPal (initially known as X.com). The Tesla Model S is a full-sized electric four-door sedan produced by Tesla Motors.

Feldheim, Germany Generates 100% of its Energy From Renewable Sources!

Over the past decade, no country has embraced renewable energy with as much enthusiasm as Germany. Despite phasing out nuclear power, the country is exporting more energy than ever, thanks largely to its investment in renewable energy. One town in particular stands as a shining beacon of the potential that renewable energy holds: Feldheim, a small village located about 60 kilometers from Berlin that has its own energy grid and generates all of its power from wind, solar and biogas.

Read more: Feldheim, Germany Generates 100% of its Energy From Renewable Sources! | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building 

Acid Test: The Global Challenge of Ocean Acidification - Documentary

Acid Test: The Global Challenge of Ocean Acidification is a groundbreaking NRDC documentary, whcih explores the startling phenomenon of ocean acidification, which may soon challenge marine life on a scale not seen for tens of millions of years. The film, featuring Sigourney Weaver, originally aired on Discovery Planet Green.
Pollution from carbon dioxide is causing an increase in ocean acidity. In fact, our oceans have absorbed a quarter of all carbon dioxide emissions produced by burning fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution. As a result, our oceans’ acidity levels have increase by 30%. Conditions like these have not existed since the extinction of the dinosaurs.
What does this mean to us and the marine species that inhabit our oceans? Will ocean species be able to adapt? How can we stop the rise of ocean acidity? Acid Test explores these issues, then reveals how to take action today to stop the creation of an uninhabitable ocean.

Japan to turn into one giant roller coaster

 Courtesy: Pravda.Ru
 

Japanese engineers have developed a new type of transport that runs on gravity power. Engineers decided to use the idea inherent in roller coasters - a train car with passengers accelerating downhill and gathering energy for the next rise. These trains will have no engines and transmissions, which will greatly reduce their weight.

Japan has rather complex terrain, and is experiencing a significant power shortage, especially after the government decided to phase out the use of nuclear power plants. The combination of these two factors prompted a group of designers working under the guidance of the Mr. Yoshihiro Suda with the Institute of Industrial Research, University of Tokyo, to develop a commuter train that would be moved by the force of gravity (and weight of passengers). The new development will be cost-effective and fast. More...

Japan to turn into one giant roller coaster - English pravda.ru

Estonians on track for free public transport - Video

Estonians in the capital city of Talinn are soon to benefit from the arrival of free public transport.
It is the first EU capital to make the shift and is part of a green platform adopted by Talinn's mayor, Edgar Savisaar.
However, not everyone thinks the move will get cars off the road. The opposition fume that the idea is less about a clean environment and more about political opportunism.

Animals are already dissolving in Southern Ocean acid

In a small patch of the Southern Ocean, the shells of sea snails are dissolving. The finding is the first evidence that marine life is already suffering as a result of man-made ocean acidification. More..
Animals are already dissolving in Southern Ocean acid - environment - 25 November 2012 - New Scientist

U.S. Businessman Russ George Conducts Massive and ‘Illegal’ Ocean Fertilization Experiment Off Canada’s West Coast

U.S. Businessman Conducts Massive and ‘Illegal’ Ocean Fertilization Experiment Off Canada’s West Coast (via Planetsave)

[UPDATED: Oct. 18, 2012; see below] Geoengineering theories and  experiments have received much attention in recent years, with one recent experiment in “ocean (iron) fertilization” successfully conducted off the coast of Antarctica by a German scientific research team. Past experiments of this…

Sweden to Import Garbage as Trash Supplies Run Dry

Source: Stephen Messenger @ treehugger.com

As other nations throughout the world struggle to cut the amount of waste piling up in their landfills and marring the landscape, Sweden is facing an entirely different sort of challenge -- they've run out of trash. Now they're forced to import some more.

Swedes, you see, are among the planet's least wasteful people, on average recycling around 96 percent of the garbage they produce. And with what's left, they've found a way to use, having implemented a world-class waste-to-energy incineration program capable of providing electricity sufficient to power hundreds of thousands of homes.

But their hyper-efficiency has led to a unique problem: a trash shortage that could threaten the energy production capacity.

So, what is Sweden to do? Well, according to Swedish officials, the notoriously tidy nation will begin importing garbage from their neighbor Norway -- about 800,000 tons of it annually, in fact, to fulfill their energy needs.

Perhaps the best part of all is that, in solving their problem, Swedes actually stand to profit from this endeavor; the Norwegians are going to pay them to take their waste, proving quite succinctly that one nation's trash can truly be another's treasure trove.

http://www.treehugger.com/energy-efficiency/sweden-import-garbage-trash-supply-runs-dry.html

New Zealand Grants Rights of Personhood to Whanganui River

New Zealand made history only days ago by giving the rights of a person to the Whanganui River. Under the preliminary agreement, that means the river will be considered a legal entity and have a legal voice. While the river can’t exactly celebrate the win, we’re sure the Whanganui River iwi, an indigenous community who fought for the rights of the river and who will now have a legal say on its behalf, are ecstatic. More..
New Zealand Grants Rights of Personhood to Whanganui River