Biomimicry: Michael Pawlyn-- TedTalk

The topic of this TedTalk was about biomimicry, which is this idea of looking at nature for answers on how to build and utilize it effectively. Michael Pawlyn uses the example of spider silk and how strong it is compared to manmade materials. There is nothing compared to its durability but the closest we have come to silk is this fiber that requires extreme temperatures, toxic chemicals and a ton of energy to pressure treat it. This is what he calls a downfall by 10, 100, and even 1000 factor savings and resource efficiency. Instead we could mimic the way a spider uses water and dead flies to make the strongest fiber in the world while also taking away the inefficient aspect to our archaic system currently in place. Pawlyn goes on to state his mission of biomimicry:
 Radical increase in resource efficiency
 Linear turned into closed loop systems
 Fossil fuel economy to solar economy
These could transform architecture that would allow nature and man to live in harmony. He talked about a structure that was 1% the weight of another greenhouse of the same size by pressurized roof structures that allowed more sunlight in. After a successful first year, he said the entirety of the structure actually weighed less than the air inside of it. This is a great example of resource efficiency through nature by using it as a design tool. He continues to talk about closed loop systems. One example was this project called cardboard to caviar where a restaurant closed their loop of waste. When packaging would arrive at the restaurant, instead of sending it back to the landfill, the owner paid for it to be shredded and sent to an equestrian farm for horse bedding. When that was soiled, the owner paid for it to be gathered and taken to vermicompost where worms would break it down and eventually ended in higher worm count. Again, they paid for the worms to be transferred to Siberian catfish farms, which would be turned into caviar and then resold back to the restaurant. Essentially it turned a linear system into a closed loop while adding profit to all the pieces making this system work. In addition, turning an economy that is almost entirely dependent on fossil fuels over to solar dependency takes a lot of space for photovoltaic panels. Earth receives ten thousand times as much energy from sun than we use each year. Not only would panels be harnessing as much of that energy as possible but it would also enable crops that would not be able to grow under direct sunlight to do so under the panels shade. This project would begin in the Sahara desert because of its need for reforestation and climate control. This plan would restore living plants and ecosystems to a place that has been barren for hundreds of years (since Caesar logged most of the forest) and prevent the furthering of climate change in that region.

Preserving Marine Life Diversity in the Pacific Islands

A marine biologist named Greg Stone has had a huge influence in protecting the marine life of the Pacific Islands. He was blown away by his first expedition into the ocean surrounding the Republic of Kirbati in 2000 at the sight of such an abundance and diversity of the species located there. He claimed the area was "the last unexplored oceanic coral reef archipelago in the world." Upon going back to thank the president for allowing his visit, he learned that the island's primary (and basically only) source of income was allowing nations to fish there. Stone was not fond of the thought that over-fishing might occur, nor that Kirbati only made 5% income off of what nations were able to sell, so he proposed an idea where the island would be funded through protection services. While the process took years of planning and the banning of commercial fishing is only finally being put into effect this year, his help mad

e the Republic of Kirbati the largest marine life protected area

at the time the process was agreed upon and declared in 2006. Unfortunately, Kirbati is predicted to become the first country to completely disappear due to climate change, a process that will continue for the next 50-100 years.

The increasing temperature has already had an impact on the coral reefs located there, and they are what allows for such diversity as it is a coral reef ecosystem. A few years ago temperatures peaked and along with the abundance of sunlight in the area, it caused the reefs to be bleached. I researched this, and bleaching kills algae known as zooxanthellae. According to this website, "Zooxanthellae provide nutrients and oxygen to the coral through photosynthetic activities, allowing their host to direct more energy toward growth and constructing its calcium carbonate skeleton". As Stone mentions, the ecosystem in Kibati was fully restored after just six months because climate change is the only problem facing the region (as opposed to having a combination of problems such as over-fishing, toxin induced disease AND climate change), showing nature's own restorative power. This is a topic that we have discussed a lot in class and I found Greg Stone's mention of it very significant in why the reef has been able to thrive. I am very glad that Stone and his team researched the area before it was completely taken over by a money-hungry corporation, however it is really upsetting that despite the island being 700 miles away from the nearest airport, it is still impacted by our industrial habits.

Make Meadows, Not Lawns

A world without bees would be like a plate of food without nutrition. Dennis vanEngelsdorp is a Pennsylvanian apiarist who has been studying the behavior of worker bees also known as honeybees. Within the last three years, the worker bee population has dramatically dropped by 36% for two consecutive years. Now there are several major causes of massive population wipeouts across the world. One ongoing problem could be varroa destructors that are tiny mites that latch on to bees and then reproduce once inside the hive eventually overtaking and killing the

queen. However, the most prevalent reason for this widespread attack is known as colony collapse disorder (CCD). It's described as a flu that wipes bees out almost immediately and the effects can be largely attributed to pesticide use from nearby farms.

As daunting as this may seem, beekeepers across the world are getting more efficient and productive during the bee season. Now, qu

eens and hives can be sent around the world via mail allowing bees to get in the hands of people who normally wouldn’t be able to repopulate bee colonies. Dennis draws support to this practice by noting that ancient Egyptians were known to transport bees up and down the Nile when blights wiped out populations of bees. History shows how humankinds heavy dependence on worker bee’s and their ability to pollinate a vast amount of land.

Since one of three bites we eat is in some way or another pollinated by bees, we are selfishly dependent on worker bee’s survival. Our diets would diminish entirely of nutrition because bees pollinate almost all living plants that we rely on. Also, earth’s biodiversity would deplete drastically since bees alone make up more of the species richness than mammals and birds combined. Together, bees and bats make up the worlds largest and most influential pollinators. Unfortunately, both are at high risk of extinction but closely watched. Dennis describes a huge flaw in society (predominantly America) called nature deficit disorder (NDD) that creates this unknown barrier between nature and humankind. He goes on to accuse lawns of being the major proprietor of pesticide use and destruction of what could be meadows. Meadows would invite wildlife into the backyards of people who shiver when a spider crosses their path. This would also create a beneficial habitat for worker bees and would cut back on the 5% of greenhouse gas emissions each year that are attributed to lawn care. In addition, 11% of all pesticide use in America would be alleviated from yards and the amount of water wasted on treating lawns would be utilized more effectively as well. Dennis argues a meadow, as opposed to a lawn, transforms your life by bringing aromatic fragrances and wildlife into the community we inhabit. In conclusion, we as a community need to reach out to nature in an attempt to break free of our unnatural nature deficit disorder. By cultivating meadows from our lawns, we can both reestablish a connection with nature while rekindling a livable environment for bees.

Watch the TedTalk here

http://www.ted.com/talks/dennis_vanengelsdorp_a_plea_for_bees.html

Vandana Shiva - The fight for equality

Dr. Vandana Shiva was born on November 5, 1952 in Dehradun, India  to a father who was the conservator of forests and a farmer mother with a love for nature. She was educated at St Mary's School in Nainital, and at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Dehradun. After receiving her bachelors degree in physics, she pursued a M.A. in the philosophy of science at the University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada), with a thesis entitled "Changes in the concept of periodicity of light". In 1979, she completed and received her Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario.

In 1982, she founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, which led to the creation of Navdanya in 1991, a national movement to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources, especially native seed, the promotion of organic farming and fair trade. For last two decades Navdanya has worked with many local communities and organizations serving many men and women farmers. Navdanya’s efforts have resulted in conservation of more than 2000 rice varieties from all over the country and have established 34 seed banks in 13 states across the country. More than 70,000 farmers are primary members of Navdanya. In 2004 Dr Shiva started Bija Vidyapeeth, an international college for sustainable living in Doon Valley, in collaboration with Schumacher College, U.K.

Dr. Shiva also works with many Governments to establish more nature and farmer freindly food systems. Among these countries she has worked with is Italy, India, Spain and many, many others around the Globe. Jigme Thinley, advising the Government on how to achieve their objective of becoming an Organic Sovereign country (the first fully 100% organic country).

Here willingness to work with many organizations and Governments has led to a great deal of accolades and appreciation from every corner of the Earth. Time Magazine identified Dr. Shiva as an environmental “hero” in 2003 and Asia Week has called her one of the five most powerful communicators of Asia.

Vandana Shiva is currently working on a 3 year project with the Government of Bhutan, at the invitation of the Prime Minister

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Dr. Shiva has also published numerous books and publications. Below is a list of her works.
1981, Social Economic and Ecological Impact of Social Forestry Kolar
1988, Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Survival in India
1991, Ecology and the Politics of Survival: Conflicts Over Natural Resources in India
1992, The Violence of the Green Revolution: Ecological degradation and political conflict in Punjab
1992, Biodiversity: Social and Ecological Perspectives (editor)
1993, Women, Ecology and Health: Rebuilding Connections (editor)
1993, Monocultures of the Mind: Biodiversity, Biotechnology and Agriculture
1993, Ecofeminism, Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva
1994, Close to Home: Women Reconnect Ecology, Health and Development Worldwide
1995, Biopolitics (with Ingunn Moser)
1997, Biopiracy: the Plunder of Nature and Knowledge, South End Press
2000, Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply, South End Press
2000, Tomorrow's Biodiversity
2001, Patents, Myths and Reality
2002, Water Wars; Privatization, Pollution, and Profit
2005, India Divided2005, Globalization's New Wars: Seed, Water and Life Forms Women Unlimited
2005, Breakfast of Biodiversity: the Political Ecology of Rain Forest Destruction
2005, Earth Democracy; Justice, Sustainability, and Peace
2007, Manifestos on the Future of Food and Seed, editor
2008, Soil Not Oil
2010, Staying Alive
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A few of her Awards

1993: "Global 500 Roll of Honour", by UNEP
1995: "Pride of the Doon" Award from Doon Citizen Council
1997: The Golden Plant Award (International Award of Ecology), Denmark
1998: Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic from the International Scientific Committee of the Pio Manzu Centre at Rimini
2009: inducted into the Public Intellectual Service & Advocacy (PISA) Society

2011: "Calgary Peace Prize" from the Consortium for Peace Studies at the University of Calgarynamed a "Citizen of the Next Century" by Future-ish

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Her drive for gender, food and commercial equality is a very unique social approach to the adverse conditions around the Globe. She feels that relying on the rich business interests for food is very misguided. Companies such as Monsantos are among the Global companies thet Dr. Shiva fights. She feels that the monopoly of food is killing the land, degrading the farmer and poisoning the food. Her efforts through her many organizations and educational outlets offer the World with a genuine opportunity to change their system on the topic of overall equality. Although she is most known for her fight for food, she has been extreemyl vital in the fight for gender equality in her home country of India among many other countries around the globe.

Ask Your State Legislators to Introduce Bills to Label GMO Foods

National polls show that the vast majority of consumers want foods that contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to be clearly labeled. For more than 10 years, conscientious Senators and Members of Congress have introduced federal legislation for mandatory GMO labels, but the issue has never been voted on in Congress.

It's time to take the movement for truth-in-labeling and consumers' right-to-know to state legislatures and local governments, to grocery stores, restaurants, schools and hospitals and demand that they put labels on GMO foods now!

Please use this form to write to your state legislators, asking them to introduce legislation making GMO labels mandatory in your state.
Learn more: http://www.MillionsAgainstMonsanto.org

Here is a link to let your State Reps. know you want Genetically Engineered Food labeled. It takes 10-15 seconds. I Just did it, super easy. You have to copy and paste the link cause i cant figure out how to make it an actual link:

http://www.capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=22063501&type%20=ST

The town of Sedgwick, Maine, population 1,012 (according to the 2000 census), has become the first town in the United States to pass a Food Sovereignty ordinance. In doing so, the town declared their right to produce and sell local foods of their choosing, without the oversight of State or federal regulation.

What does this mean? In the debate over raw milk, for example, the law opens the gate for consumer and producer to enter a purchasing agreement without interference from state or federal health regulators. According to the Mayo Clinic, a 1987 FDA regulation required that all milk be pasteurized to kill pathogens such as salmonella and E. coli. The Sedgwick ordinance declares that:

Producers or processors of local foods in the Town of Sedgwick are exempt from licensure and inspection provided that the transaction is only between the producer or processor and a patron when the food is sold for home consumption. This includes any producer or processor who sells his or her products at farmers’ markets or roadside stands; sells his or her products through farm-based sales directly to a patron; or delivers his or her products directly to patrons.

In short, the ordinance allows buyer and seller to enter their own agreement which overrides the regulation of government when dealing with transactions involving local foods.

This four page ordinance, which can be read in its entirety here, is revolutionary in that it relies on the consumer to educate themselves on the risk of consuming products (such as raw milks, cheeses, meats and vegetables), and shifts the power away from regulation, which prevents people from eating food of their choosing.

How does the ordinance accomplish this? It references three key documents:

1. The United States Constitution, which declares that the government derives its power from the consent of the governed (in this case, the governed want their raw milk and local meat!)
2. The Maine Constitution, and in particular Article I, § 2, which declares that all power of government is inherent in the people, who may alter, change or reform it if their happiness requires (again, raw milk = happy people!) and;
3. The Maine Revised Statutes and in particular §3001 of Title 30-A which grants municipalities the right to regulate health, safety, and welfare (which will sound familiar to urban planners) and §211 of Title 7 which states “it is the policy of the State to encourage food self-sufficiency for the State.”

This is huge news, and Grown in the City will be tracking the story in various ways in the coming weeks. Be sure to subscribe to Grown in the City so you don’t miss a thing.

Update: Be sure to check out the Interactive Food Sovereignty Map to track the spread of the food sovereignty movement across the US.

'The Zoetrope': A Do-It-Yourself Wind Turbine

I found this article online the other day and thought to share, very interesting peice.

From EarthTechling's Caleb Denison:

If you live in an area that sees a fair amount of wind and you'd like to reduce your utility bill by harnessing some of that wind power, a wind turbine might be a good idea. The trouble with most commercially made home wind turbines, though, is that they're fairly expensive, extremely tall and, if you have neighbors, they might not appreciate the new addition to the neighborhood.

Washington state resident Mike Marohn commissioned an inventive alternative. It's called The Zoetrope and it's a vertical-axis wind turbine made out of easily attainable parts and, according to this article, it can be assembled by just about anyone.

Applied Sciences, which did the work, notes that the intention of this product was to provide supplemental water heating. The result is this wind turbine made of materials that you can find at Home Depot and online. Applied Sciences provides what you need to know to build one yourself, including some videos of the turbine and its parts in action and some other valuable resources that will help hopefully get the turbine connected to your home and operating.

During testing, the turbine was witnessed outputting approximately 150-200 watts of power in a windy period with gusts reaching up to 20 MPH. Under its current design, the actual average output is difficult to gauge. This is because certain parts in this turbine were tailored to withstand gusts of up to 60 MPH, conditions which are common here in the Northwest and likely to burn out more sensitive parts.

To encourage others to get involved in the development process, Applied Sciences decided to make the design of The Zoetrope "open source" so that anyone interested and industrious enough can help to refine the design and/or customize it for use in different geographical areas with differing wind conditions. The idea is appealing simply as a interesting science project, but the potential to save money and generate renewable energy in the backyard is rather compelling.

An End to Nuclear Power in Vermont?

With the biggest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl continuing on in Japan, there is an understandable amount of concern raising over whether or not nuclear power plants are worth the risk of something going wrong. While efforts to shut down Vermont Yankee are nothing new, long-time activists have a renewed vigor to at least have the plant properly checked out. A tsunami is not exactly a threat, but other occurrences such as a flood, terrorist attack, or human error could expose similar flaws in the design of Vermont Yankee as that of Fukushima. It is particularly worrisome due to the age of Vermont Yankee. Since it has been around for more than thirty-seven years now, it has about three times more nuclear waste on the top floor than Fukushima. If something were to go wrong, the consequences could very well be devastating.

This article (scroll down to "An End to Nuclear Power in Vermont?") also tells of the three accidents that have occurred at Vermont Yankee over just the last six years, as well as some of the lies that the owners have been documented as saying. There has been a fire, cooling tower collapse, and a tritium leak all within that time period. On top of that, Entergy claimed that there was no chance of underground pipes attached to the plant containing radioactive material, when in fact there was, and just three months after this claim was made a pipe burst and strontium, caesium, tritium and maganese, and cobalt 60 were all leaked. It seems very obvious that the Vermont Yankee has not been seriously examined and that the owners are just assuming that nothing will go wrong. The Vermont Yankee website makes a point to claim of how "safe, clean and reliable" the plant is, but how trustworthy is that considering all that has happened within just the last few years?

It isn't an exactly similar situation, but I recently read an article on an elementary school in the city of Okawa, Japan that was hit hard by the tsunami. The teachers and students knew exactly what they were supposed to do when the city's alarm went off, but they all just assumed that nothing would actually happen to them. One teacher spoke up and encouraged that they should all head to the top of a hill nearby, but only one child listened to what he had to say and went with him. They are just about the only members of the school who survived the tsunami. It is very much in our societal human nature to feel like bad things only happen to other people and will never happen to us, but unfortunately there is no way of actually knowing what is going to happen, so why take the risk? What has happened and continues to happen in Japan is heart-breaking and was unpredictable, so why allow Vermont Yankee to cross their fingers and just hope that nothing goes wrong?

The Vermont State Senate voted overwhelmingly to deny the company the permission it needs to operate after Entergy's license expires in one year from now. Entergy, however, plans to take on the challenge to renew their licence and have the plant continue to operate in the same manor anyways. It is really quite discouraging how much power big companies have, and that they tend to not be too concerned of the hazards of their productions. Most large companies seem to be focused on making as much money as they can with very little regard for how it's currently affecting consumers and the environment or could do so in the future. If Entergy/the NRC were to win that battle, I would find it extremely disturbing that a company has more power than the state government, but I think (or hope) that just wont happen.

There are definitely some good aspects to Vermont Yankee. It provides a large portion of Vermont's power as well as a large number of jobs. So if Vermont Yankee did get shut down, I'm wondering what exactly the plan would be to provide all of the power that it does? Also, what would they do with the thirty year supply of nuclear waste? That is quite a lot to just store in barrels somewhere, and there are other harmful situations that it could lead to if a disaster occurred near the storage site. Maybe the plant will just be examined for potentially flawed design, but while that is better than completely disregarding what the plant is doing, I don't know if there is a fool-proof way to make a nuclear power plant harmless. Really, a full fledged nuclear disaster leading to deadly radiation flowing through the air basically sounds like one of the most terrifying things that could happen, since we all know that radiation has the power to cause a vast array of horrific side effects. I am not sure what the best way to handle Vermont Yankee is, but I am thankful that it is such a huge controversy and hope that measures will be taken to improve it and remove untrustworthy people from owning it.

The Future of Space: Mining!

Space is open for business. After over 100years of extracting natural resources from earth, it looks as though the Planet cannot manage to sustain. Many people have put thought into how best to solve this problem, and many people have concluded that the Moon may hold the answer. Helium-3 is a dust ejected from the sun and brought to the moon from solar winds, since the moon has no atmosphere to reject such particles. Helium-3 happens to be a very potent form of energy, one which scientists say could sustain our energy needs here on Earth for thousands of years. Many companies have begun cost analyses to begin transporting the resources back home from depths in space, including the moon and mars. There is propositions to make the moon safe for mining crews and livable, and no this just isn’t a pipe dream from some rich business men, this is coming, it may already be here. NASA has started a program called the “Constellation program” whose main goal is to have a human outpost on the moon by 2020. This reversion into pillaging for natural resources will likely be carried out on other celestial bodies. One Russian company is built around the idea of fulfilling their goal to procure the helium-3 deposits from the moon and becoming filthy rich off of the product. The downside of such operations to the moon is the pollution that the exhibitions cause.

Say a lunar rocket explodes in space, the material left behind from the explosion will become an inanimate object and stay floating, obstructing what’s behind it for generations to come. This is because of the lack of gravitational pull, the same force of nature that allows our satellites to roam free. All of the materials we leave in space are there forever, there is no natural cycle to their decomposition in an oxygen free, atmosphere free environment. This presents a very problematic case for the scientists and businessmen, who must realize that any debris left in space will be there forever, and could potentially forever inhibit our exhibitions in space in the first place. This permanent problem could change our course for the rest of eternity, more so then our pollution of Earth, which has natural cycles of disposing of harmful waste and debris.

Although this sounds like an exotic idea, I suggest you listen to the TED talk given by Burt Rutan (which I have included in this post) and imagine ways in which we can and will one day venture and utilize space to our needs to sustain on Earth. I have also included in this post a very comprehensive BBC documentary entitled “Moon for Sale” which talks about the growing interest in space commodities.

TED Talk with Burt Rutan

BBC Documentary "Moon for Sale"

Solar Energy - Viablilty as Alternative Energy

For as long as most can remember, we've heard about solar panels and their ability to capture the sun's rays as harnessable energy. Many support its expansion because of this clean, zero-emission concept, but is it the whole truth? Is solar energy an effiicient, harnessable source of energy that could one day replace fossil fuels? And if so, why hasnt a push been made to harness this power source?

The process of directly converting sunlight into electrical energy is known as photovoitiacs. This is often done by exposing certain materials, such as silicon, to sunlight. These materials reactively release electrons that are able to be harnessed as electrical energies. Layers of these materials are wired together on the surface of the panels, and contained in protective shielding to prevent damage from the elements and outside sources.

Technically known as Photovaitaic Arrays, the efficiency of most panels, even with the latest advancements in the technology, is around 19% for consumer-available versions, with around 27% for more advance, commercial panels. Other issues factor in as well, ranging from maintainence, costly additions to optimize production, to simpler things such as power loss in shading. Trackers that follow the movement of the sun and tilt the panel appropraitely are often very expensive, and when even small sections of the panel fall out of direct light, the power output drops sharply from the electrons backtracking the unused circuits.

But how much power does that actually produce, aside from the obvious deficiencies? And would that still meet our needs? For the last few decades, the estimated rate of consumption in the US has been steady at around 98,443 kwh (Kilowatthours) per year per person. This is roughly three to four times that of the rest of the world, which makes it a good focus group.

A standard solar panel in the United states can generally expect to harness about 1 kwh/m^2/day (kilowatthour per square foot per day) in favorable conditions. Taking into account the average usage of energy per person, every person would require approximately 270 kwh/day, or a minimun of 270 square feet per person. This is not accounting for unfavorable conditions where a surplus would be necessary, so an approximate double (by my opinion) would viably be needed for each person, equivalent to 540 square feet of solar panel coverage. For the entirety of the United States population, this would require 167,951,085,120 square feet to provide and compensate. That is more than half the size of Vermont!

Another barring to the use of solar energy is the very high cost of the panels as compared to normal hydrocarbon fuels. A typical array costs about $95 per square foot, when factored into the amount needed per person, would add up to around $25,000, before maintainance and upkeep. All together, it would cost $15,955,353,086,400 to construct the array that would be needed to support the Unites States population, more than the current total national deficit.

All in all, while solar energy is hailed as a clean, alternative form of energy, it is largely outside of a single citizen's ability to implement in their home, and well above the ability of the government to endorse.

The lichen microcosm

Lichen is a fascinating example of successful symbiotic relationships between a fungus and algae. It is also a perfect illustration for endosymbiotic theory, a theory Lynn Margulis greatly contributed to. In this mutualistic relationship, both fungus and algae benefit: fungus obtains energy from the algae that conduct the photosynthesis process while algae are provided with a "home." From an evolutionary perspective, Margulis would argue that lichen is an adaptation that is the result of symbiogenesis (the merging of organisms into new collectives) rather than genetic mutation.
While lichen is made of a fungus and algae, it also provides a habitat for hundreds of bacteria and functions like a micro-ecosystem. Like Margulis, the mycologists interviewed find the micro-ecosystems to be very similar to the eco-systems of the Earth.
While lichen is one of the first organisms to grow in the course of primary succession and requires minimal resources, it appears to be vulnerable to human-made pollution. In Cambridge (MA) lichen has almost disapperead from the old cemeteries. I think lichen disappearance is a clear sign that our urban environment is not fit for human beings either. I also wonder what the evolutionary response to human pollution could possibly be, that is, how microorganisms might be able to cooperate and recombine for increased resilience...

Listen to the story on Lichen from Living on Earth!

A Vision For Sustainable Restaurants

Arthur Potts Dawson, founder and owner of multiple green businesses gives us some insight into his sustainable visions for restaurants. Because the restaurant industry is undoubtedly the most wasteful industry in the world, Dawson has opened a handful of restaurants that exclusively employ green practices. For example, the first restaurant he opened is constructed of floors and chairs that are not only recyclable, but that are made from recycled materials. Furthermore, the entire restaurant is powered by sustainable energy- wind power. Perhaps one of his most brilliant ideas, although not part of the physical design of sustainability, is that he created a menu in which the customers are free to choose their portion size. Finally, in the restaurant there is some form of a dehydrating apparatus that breaks down and turns food into inner material that can be stored and composted at a later time.
Dawson’s most recent business enterprise is a project that is extremely necessary in order to foster sustainable practices in the average person’s life. It is called “The People’s Supermarket” and is a non-profit social cooperative project that was created to serve as a food bridge between urban settings and the rural communities in which their food is grown and harvested. Dawson’s goal is to make this the most “sustainable supermarket in the world” by committing to a zero food waste policy. Although Dawson has spent the majority of his work in the realm of sustainable restaurant practices, he understands the importance of launching something like “The People’s Supermarket” because it transfers that restaurant model of sustainable awareness and participation into the very core of our communities. Generally speaking, the working class probably won’t seek out to eat at a green restaurant, but with something like “The People’s Supermarket” everyone, on some level is able to make informed decisions when going to purchase food.
Within his work in the restaurant business, Dawson’s initiative that gives customers the choice in determining their portion sizes is truly revolutionary. In an industry that accumulates so much waste, reshaping the customer’s relationship to food, and giving them a role of responsibility in the restaurant is crucial if we as a society are going to adapt to more sustainable methods concerning food. As Dawson states, it is not about eliminating waste, it’s about minimizing it.”

Canopy Living in Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a special place. The dense Rainforest climate and untainted landscapes provide visitors and residents alike with a pure and uninhabited experience. Over the past 100 years, vast deforestation and environmental mishaps have forever altered how many places in this region function and thrive, Costa Rica is trying to change this. As a country, Costa Rica has made a commitment to becoming a sustainable and environmentally viable place to live, learn and love.

Many social programs and initiatives have taken place to bring the country to a stable and sustainable level, my favorite of which is within Canopy studies. I watched a TED talk given by Nalini Nadkarni about the topic of Canopies. Nalini is an advocate, author and educator who spent her life devoted to the appreciation and understanding of our need and use of trees and more specifically, Canopy growth. I focused not only on her talk, but on a community named Finca Bellavista on the island. Finca is a tree house community which is built within the canopies of Costa Rica. They are commited to being 100% self sufficient and off the grid, all while having a very comfortable and enjoyable living experience. They use zip lines as transportation, rainwater as hydration and nature as it’s cradle. I have posted a promotional video that Finca Bellavista has posted for our viewing pleasure.

Community Waste Management Environmental Educational Socio-Green(Up)Building Activism!




In Grenades Guatemala, elementary students learned about green building, the environment, waste management, and build themselves a school in the process all with the help of Laura Kutner. While serving in the Peace Corps Kutner was helping out at one of the local elementary schools. She was asked to help raise funds for the completion of two classrooms that had already been framed. She obliged and noticed the frame was the width of the plastic soda bottle in her hand and thought immediately of a fellow volunteer who was constructing building blocks out of plastic bottles stuffed with inorganic trash called Eco-Bricks. She thought this building method might be a cost efficient approach to finishing the classrooms.
With the help of neighboring students and littering citizens, the elementary school collected 8000 Eco-Bricks. At about one pound per Eco-Brick, that's 8000 pounds of garbage picked up off the ground and put into a wall, a wall that is even more flexible in earthquake territory than cement blocks.

Kutner knows that its not just the new classrooms that are important, nor the six new "bottle schools" recently built that are important but it's the underlying educational aspect of the project that is important as she states here: "The real long-term goal of these projects is the educational aspect to it, because this is not a long-term solution to trash management in any way, but just the educational aspect in learning how long it takes trash to decompose and what you can do with trash, and how much we produce. We produce enough trash to build buildings with it. And also, bringing communities together...it's in every sense of the word, a win-win."

I said it before and I'll say it again, us humans are good are creating waste, now we need to be creative with our waste. Waste management and recycling are going to be crucial survival skills for future generations. This building method and grassroots community organizing helps teach students to be conscience of their environment and more aware of their effect on it, while producing a positive outcome for themselves and their community. In an area where there was no conventional system set in place to recycle, the people created a way to recycle. This instills in the students the very essence of recycling at its most basic form. This is also a testament the volunteers of the Peace Corps, who can make the best of what they are given, a notion that is at heart, sustainability.


Link to Podcast: http://www.loe.org/shows/shows.htm?programID=11-P13-00006#feature6
Link to Bottle Schools website: http://hugitforward.com/

Are mushrooms the new plastic?

Eben Bayer, is a co-inventor of mycobond, an organic adhesive that turns agriwaste into a foam material for packaging and insulation. Eben Bayer says he has a new organic recipe for a packaging material that protects fragile things from being damaged while in the box. A new age, 100 percent compostable Styrofoam. It is not made up of all the chemicals that Styrofoam is, or the "toxic white stuff", as Bayer puts it.

Eben Bayer took the hard facts of how bad Styrofoam is for the earth and all its habitants. He states that twenty billion dollars is spent every year on making things out of Styrofoam, from surf boards, coffee cups, to table tops, packaging material for just about everything we buy that comes in a box. According to the EPA, Styrofoam eats up about 25% of all landfills. Styrofoam does not go away, it will be around for thousands of years after use. It may be broken down into tiny microscopic pieces, so we cant see it, but we are breathing it.

He helped invent a new type of packaging. This packaging is made from mushrooms. It is completely compostable, does not cost any more to make it then Styrofoam, and only uses 10 percent of the energy to make than that of Styrofoam. The process of making this new packaging material takes about 5 days, but the mushrooms do most of the work. Mycobond is created by using natural growth process of fungus call mycelium. It is produced from crop waste like seed husks, seed husks and mushroom roots, (which bind the food scraps as they eat them). Again the foam is organic and compostable.

Material can be used as:

-fire retardants

-Insulation

-packaging components

Although the Internet dubs it to be catching on quickly, I feel as though its not quickly enough. If this new material is not toxic, completely compostable and cost as much to make as regular Styrofoam, then someone should start spreading the word and making it mandatory for companies to use this new mushroom packaging.

Green Schools in Indonesia

I had the pleasure of watching a clip about a green school in Bali Indonesia by CO founder John Hardy. This Idea put into motion is giving students a relevant, holistic and green education in the most amazing environment on the planet.

Their classrooms are made of bamboo, in which have no walls, so the students feel the breeze as it passes through. The black board are made of bamboo, this school is nested on 20 plus acres of rolling gardens. There is a community built around this school, houses in which are also green houses. All food in this village is organic, are picked and harvested by the children themselves. This school also has, Compost toilets. This beautiful school is all built by hand.

I think this is the best idea I have seen so far in building a greener future, by shaping the minds of our future. Giving children a new way of thinking, we are on our way to a cleaner more greener, sustainable future.

http://www.ted.com/talks/john_hardy_my_green_school_dream.html

POO-GLOOS, Where does your waste water go?

Gresham, Wisconsin, a small town of 600 is experimenting with their wastewater. Right now all of the wastewater is drained off into a "lagoon where there's bacteria, or bugs if you want to call 'em, that eat at the waste and they take and turn that into oxygen and get rid of all the sludge and heavier materials." Says Art Bahr, the Town Administrator.
The problem is that in the cold winter the bacteria in the lagoon doesn't work as fast at breaking down heavier materials. So the folks of Gresham have been experimenting with a Poo-Gloo. The Poo-Gloo or Biome is made up of seven small domes (figure 1) inside one big dome. Between them is a plastic material thats a fixed film technology. This basically increased the surface area in a warmer environment (biome) for bacteria to thrive and convert waste. The wastewater enters through the bottom, and after the bacteria remove harmful materials, the water drains out the top.
The town currently has one Poo-Gloo that is in an experimental phase. According to Bahr, the town will need thirty four of these Poo-Gloos dispersed between two ponds to handle the towns 275 utility consumers. At five thousand dollars a Poo-Gloo thats around $325,000 with installation and technology updates.
But whether it is cost effective or not, the Department of Natureal Resources is very interested in Gresham's experiment and how it can be used through out the midwest.



Figure 1

We generate a lot of waste as humans, especially modern American humans. I think small towns taking the initiative to find a better solution to pollution is 100% American Awesomeness. The cost of these little crap-shacks is 5000$ a piece. I don't know how long they last but the podcast said that, if they are maintained they should last for "many years." well for those kinda clams you'd wanna get your money out of it. I don't know if the 325,000$ start up cost for 275 utility costumers is reasonable or not. there are a lot of other questions this brings to mind. Who flips that bill? What is the alternative to Cold Weather Biome Lagoons? septic systems? How clean is the water that comes out the top? Can one household have their own biome lagoon? is a biome lagoon system better than septic? Are community wastewater treatment systems better than a residential system? how can we reduce waste altogether?

Waste is not going away, Waste is an integral part of American society, American as McDonalds apple pie. Waste is a product of humanity, and how we make it, deal with it, through it out, flush it down, is connected to our daily behavior and practices. HOW CAN HUMANS KEEP UP WITH THE WASTE WE GENERATE?

To check the podcast out yourself go to: http://www.loe.org/shows/shows.htm?programID=11-P13-00005#feature6

Is a grassroots movement enough to change the conventional food system?

Our conventional industrialized US food system is at the core of pressing issues such as food access/security, obesity, and widespread pollution. It is simply unsustainable.
The locavore movement is an attempt to transform our current food system by promoting urban farming for the most part. Here are a few examples:

• Detroit, which has lost a third of its population, could be home to 10,000 acres of arable land in deserted urban neighborhoods, and create up to 35,000 jobs connected to the food economy.
• West Oakland CA lost access to fresh food as white residents moved out and the neighborhood became predominantly black; as a result, the rate of child obesity rose. Today, there is urban gardening, a food coop, and farmers markets thanks to grassroot efforts.
• Re-think, a New Orleans group led by engaged students, has vowed to change food in public schools. As a result of their efforts, school gardens have been established and sustainable practices have been introduced in the kitchens and cafeterias.

Food is political and our food system clearly reflects our values as a society. Shifting our entire system towards a more sustainable model entails profound changes in our society. While all these projects are encouraging, I think they are almost anecdotal. Change from the bottom-up might take a very long time to reach a critical mass. But we are facing pressing issues such as food security and obesity that, it seems to me, require immediate attention and action. I don't believe that regulatory changes at the federal level would be effective, but perhaps at the state level where there could be less partisanship and more focus on problems to solve. I am thinking about the Farm-to-Plate initiative in Vermont as a model to drive change. Maybe I am a bit naive though...

*Post is a response to Going Locavore show*