Entrepreneurs across the globe are now fully embracing the green revolution. From air-purifying roof tiles to eco-concrete, these individuals are hard at work trying to find new renewable energy solutions to help ease the earth’s climate crisis.
If you have a passion for eco-friendless and also just so happen to have an entrepreneurial streak coursing through your veins, be an environmental entrepreneur could very well be your calling in life.
For advice on what you can do to get yourself started on this route to success, be sure to read on.
Live the life
First and foremost, you cannot be an environmental entrepreneur if you don’t live a sustainable lifestyle. For one, not living the life will make investors wonder whether or not you are fully committed to the cause, and that may make them consider pulling their funding from you. It’s important, then, that you embrace the green lifestyle and that everything you do on a day-to-day basis is done with the environment in mind.
One way to prove just how seriously you take climate change is to have solar panels fitted on your roof. Should they ever visit your home, this will prove to investors that you are willing to go the extra mile to harvest your own source or renewable energy. Of course, having such technology installed atop of your home will also bring you a host of other benefits, including reduced energy usage, no noise pollution, and little to no ongoing maintenance. Click here for more information on solar panels and the specific rewards you stand to reap from embracing their usage.
Hone in on a niche
To stand out in the ever-growing field of environmental entrepreneurs, you’re going to have to hone in on a niche that makes you unique.
Stuck for ideas on what you can do to make a name for yourself in the field of renewable energy? If so, be sure to take inspiration from the eco-technologies listed below:
Cooling pavement
Plastic roads
Smog-eating buildings
Organic solar film
Clothing made of waste milk
Wooden computer chips
Devise your business plan
To provide yourself with goals to work towards and a strategy for success that you can use to sell yourself to potential investors, you must devise your very own business plan. When it comes to developing this strategy, it’s important that you conduct some initial market research. Take a look at other eco-friendly businesses, both those in your specific market and those in the industry as a whole, and see what has and hasn’t worked for them. Doing so will help you to hone in on a target market and it will assist you in finding valuable material suppliers and partners.
There’s nothing wrong with making a bit of money out of your passion for renewable energy. And you never know by taking on the challenge of being an environmental entrepreneur, you might very well go on to create a piece of technology that saves the planet from climate change once and for all.
The need for electricity cannot be taken for granted. With the advances in technology, electricity has been made a necessity of life.Electricity monster business electricity is the electricity provider that provides electricity at very reasonable and affordable prices. You can contact any electricity provider to take the electricity connection.
If you run a business or you are an entrepreneur, then you need electricity access. To run a business, a continuous supply of electricity is required. Electricity providers also provide the business electricity connection to the persons running either short business or long business. But before taking the electricity connection, there are some points that you need to consider:
Long Term Electricity:
The business electricity provider should be able to provide your electricity supply for the long term. It is the requirement of any business to keep going with electricity. If you have a short business that runs mostly in homes or short offices require electricity to switch on the lights, laptop, and fans. For a big business like industry or factory, the electricity supply need is much higher, and they cannot afford the load-shedding even for a minute.
Choose such an electricity provider that ensures the long term and continuous supply of electricity. Otherwise, you have to suffer from the loss of money and other consequences. The long term energy supply ensures the continuous working of machines and product development. The stoppage of electricity during the processing can cause damage to matches or even f or even failure of the whole operation.
Reliable Electricity Source:
The electricity provider should be a reliable and trustworthy one. Before selecting the one electricity provider, check different electricity providers. Check the facilities or features that every business electricity provider is providing then make a comparison. Fall for the one that has more pros than the cons. Reliability comes first. You cannot take the risk of this much loss just to save a small amount of money.
Reliability matters a lot. If you start a business and take an electricity connection from the electricity provider without the investigation, then you have to bear the consequences. The unreliable electricity connection can cause you a loss of money. If the electricity quality is not good or load shedding occurs, then the processing of the industry stops down. The sudden stoppage or irregular electricity harms the machines as well.
Cheap Electricity Connection:
It is very necessary to compare electricity rates from different business electricity providers. The little change in amount per unit causes a huge alteration in the final price of the electricity bill of a month. There are many electric providers that provide electricity connection at cheaper rates. You can find such a business electricity provider online. Search the cheapest business electricity providers, and you will get a list to choose from.
Accept nearby facilities of electricity providers. The nearby business electricity provider provides electricity of the great quality and at lower prices than the electricity providers which are located far away. There are business energy tariffs whose costs also include in the final amount. This should also be assessed before taking the electricity connection.
Iceland’s Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir is green. She is green and dresses green. Do you like the association or is it too obvious?
The design itself is quite a broad term, right? Design of what? A website? A house? Or just a picture for promoting a specific product?
In order to truly determine the power of color, we need to determine what we will be applying this color to in the first place. Let’s go with websites in this case as they’re some of the most commonly designed “products” these days and can be done by pretty much everybody.
It’s much easier to implement design patterns on a website than on a home, right?
Let’s choose only three colors in this case, as mentioned every one of them would be a bit too long for a small educational article.
Blue
Blue has always been perceived as a very calming color no matter where it’s used. In most cases, it’s associated with something such as the sky or the ocean, which tends to bring this better connection to nature than anything else can.
This is one of the reasons that people started calling Blue as the warmest color there is, as it leaves a very neutral emotion among those that interact with it.
It’s most definitely not the most “action-heavy” color to use for a business that’s dependant on customer action too much, but it could be a great color choice for a product that hasn’t been seen in the past.
Why? Because it helps the visitor calm down by the sight of the color and perceive the new product as something less threatening.
For example, whenever the product is based on subjective belief such as claiming your free psychic reading online, some kind of additional comforting content needs to be provided.
Why would subjective belief cause such issues? Well, let’s take a look at the words used. Free and psychic. For most people, the first word triggers a sense of alert as they believe they’re walking into a scam, while the second word triggers a sense of disbelief as not everybody is into psychic stuff.
There’s very little that the service provider can add to their content to ensure its trustworthiness besides lowering the reader’s anxiety as much as possible, and the color blue, or any variations of it is enough to do so.
Red
The color red is very seldom used on websites that have nothing to do with food. To be honest, red is quite an aggressive color and manages to distract the user from the product itself as the human consciousness is more drawn towards bright colors rather than the more dim colors that could be present in the product that the website is trying to sell.
Furthermore, it has been confirmed that the color red alongside a hint of yellow triggers a sense of hunger or a desire to eat something in people. It’s quite a bizarre phenomenon, but we’ve all experienced it while passing a McDonald’s or a food place that uses similar colors.
However, let’s focus on the website more than the product. The use of red is generally accepted in most design patterns, but only if it is paired up with other colors and is not the dominant one.
Should red be dominant on all of the pages, it’s very likely to instigate an aggressive or inhospitable vibe to your visitors, thus increasing the bounce rate (the rate at which people leave the website).
Black is usually the perfect contrast to the color red, as it dims the brightness and makes it a bit easier for the eyes to adjust.
Green
And finally, we’ve arrived at the color green which is a direct representation of peace of mind. However, this color is mostly present on online stores and simple blogs which have something to do with plants, but that’s too obvious, right?
Why would you want to use the color green on your website then? Well, we need to choose different shades of green.
Brighter green colors are often used in therapy websites. Yes, that’s right, some psychiatrists and therapists even go to lengths for designing their offices with as many things colored green as possible.
It helps relax their clients and feel a peace of mind, which then allows the therapists to get as much information from them as possible.
Slightly darker shades of green are often ignored completely. Even if the color manages to stand out on the website, any other element that is colored black will overpower the pallet. Therefore, it’s highly recommended that if you are choosing green, then go for a brighter version as darker green such as “swamp green” tends to get lost and not leave any impact at all.
That’s about it
Although there are more than enough colors to talk about for website design, these three are some of the most dominant colors you will find across the internet.
The only other color that can be brought to mind is orange, which is slowly but surely starting to represent creativity and fun, but that’s a rising trend at this point and still needs to garner some support as a trend.
Every year, as many as 15-20 million mattresses are thrown away, filling landfills. And millions more mattresses are manufactured to take their place, consuming resources and potentially adding more toxic chemicals into the environment.
Many mattress manufacturers have started to recognize the impact of their business on the environment, though, and have begun taking steps to reduce their impact. From the materials they use to their manufacturing processes to policies regarding recycling, modern mattress companies are doing more to support the environment than ever before.
Changing Manufacturing Processes and Materials
Many mattress manufacturers have committed to reducing their carbon footprint in all aspects of their business, from the materials they use to how they ship their products. For example, some of the common manufacturing initiatives include:
Using recycled steel for inner springs and box spring components
Using bamboo and organic cotton for coverings
Eliminating harmful chemicals, including PBDE flame retardants, phthalates, and CFCs, as well as heavy metals like lead and mercury, from their mattress products and using natural flame retardants instead to meet safety standards.
Using wood from sustainable forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council
Changing manufacturing processes to “just in time” to reduce energy usage and the need for excess warehouse space
Reducing packaging
Shifting to high-efficiency equipment and introducing maintenance and recycling initiatives to reduce energy usage and waste
Although these initiatives may not reduce all of the environmental impact of the mattress manufacturing process, it is making a difference. In fact, one area where mattress makers are making great strides is developing organic and eco-friendly mattresses. Although the foams and materials used in mattresses have come a long way, they still often use man-made components derived from petroleum or other products, albeit in much lower quantities than in the past. The best organic mattresses, however, are made primarily from naturally-derived, sustainable latex. Latex comes from rubber trees, and is naturally antimicrobial and durable. This durability is important, as it allows latex mattresses to last longer, ultimately keeping more mattresses out of landfills.
Mattress Recycling Programs
Because of the amount of space they take up in landfills (a single mattress uses 23 cubic feet of space) and the difficulty inherent in crushing and processing them, many local and regional landfills have either banned mattresses altogether, or made it unattractive for consumers to leave mattresses by increasing tipping fees. Instead, most landfills are requiring mattresses be recycled instead, and to help support that effort, a number of mattress manufacturers have built, or supported the development of dedicated mattress recycling centers. In most cases, 90 percent or more of the components of a mattress can be recycled and used for other products, keeping most of the materials out of landfills.
Some of these recycling programs are required by law. Connecticut led the way by enacting “extended producer responsibility” laws for mattresses. Under these laws, which have extended to several states, consumers pay a fee when they purchase a new mattress to cover the collection, recycling, and refurbishment of old mattresses. In the states with EPR laws (currently Connecticut, Rhode Island, and California), mattress manufacturers have come together to form the Mattress Recycling Council, a nonprofit organization that handles all aspects of mattress disposal.
Unfortunately, not all states have eco-friendly mattress disposal programs. In some cases, because of laws regarding the sale of mattresses and health standards, mattresses returned by consumers are destroyed and sent to the landfill. However, with the growing popularity of bed in a box and direct to consumer sales for mattresses, that process is becoming somewhat less common. Most companies that sell mattresses directly to consumers have a recycling or donation program for mattresses that consumers return. For instance, Casper has donated more than 70,000 mattresses to various charitable organizations worldwide. Customers are still responsible for arranging for recycling when they want to replace their mattresses after a few years, but these policies still keep a fair number of mattresses out of landfills.
Environmental Programs
Some mattress manufacturers are going beyond manufacturing and shipping changes, and using their products as a means to give back and support the environment. For example, Nolah manufactures their mattresses using AirFoam, a material that doesn’t contain viscoelastic foam like other brands. Their eco-consciousness doesn’t stop there, though. For every mattress purchased, the buyer has the opportunity to “adopt” an endangered animal, with the company donating profits to the Defenders of Wildlife. Other companies that support environmental causes include Brentwood Home, which donates three trees for every mattress purchased to the National Forest Foundation, and Avocado which manufactures green and vegan mattresses and donates a portion of their profits to environmental organizations each month.
Mattress companies have come a long way in recent years in their efforts to become more sustainable and environmentally friendly. As new technologies for manufacturing develop, and recycling programs expand, the industry as a whole will reduce its impact on the planet while still giving us a comfortable place to sleep.
Today, people are living longer than at any other time in the history of the human race. There are many products on the market that are supposed to extend your life such as essential oils, drugs, protein supplements, vitamins and many other healthy gimmicks. But truly a definite way to extend your life is to develop healthy eating habits. Below are a few:
Don’t Stuff Yourself Ever
Among animals there is a direct correlation between reduced calorie intake and longer life. Remember, this is among animals not humans. The research indicates that when animals had a reduction of calorie intake by 10-50% may increase their lifespans. Studies among human populations showed a correlation between lower calorie intake and longer lifespans. Another benefit was the reduction of diseases attacking these human populations. But this must be kept in balance because if people reduce too many calories from their diets-people cannot maintain this type of diet, they become hungry, and have lower body temperatures. But lower calorie intake will help to reduce weight and belly fat which are related to having a shorter lifespan.
Nuts, Nuts, Nuts
The more nuts you eat the longer you will be around. It is a proven fact that people who eat nuts three times a week increase their chances by 39% of living longer and not dying young. Furthermore, in a review, of 350,000 people it was shown that those who ate nuts had an increased chance-4-27%-of not dying during the time of the study. Those who ate nuts daily had an even greater chance of not dying during the time of the study. It is conceivable the study lasted for years.
Nuts will expand the lifespan because they contain several vitamins and minerals including magnesium, copper, potassium, folate, niacin, and vitamins B6 and E. Nuts will help with heart disease, inflammation, high blood pressure, diabetes, lowering belly fat levels, metabolic syndrome, and some forms of cancer.
People who eat 2 handfuls of nuts daily may live to be 100-years-old or longer. A 30-year Harvard study revealed that those who ate nuts had a 20 percent lower mortality rate than those who don’t eat nuts. Other studies showed that eating nuts lowered the “bad” cholesterol levels in people who consumed them on a daily basis.
Add Some Turmeric to Your Diet
Live a little longer by taking some turmeric because it contains turmeric which is a great element to put into the body. It contains anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that will help brain, heart, and liver function which will surely prolong a life. It is said that curcumin extended the lifespans of insects and mice.
Jack LaLanne
He was the one of the original exercise gurus who ate a healthy diet and lived to be 96-years-old dying in 2011. He was born in 1914 and at one time he beat a 21-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger in an exercise competition. At the time Jack was 54-years-old. He obviously did something right to live so long.
Eating Habits of People Living over 100 years-old
A team divided where these people lived into “Blue Zones” in the world. They shared their eating habits that have allowed them to live over 100-years-old and this was a typical age to reach for these people.
Plant-Based Foods
These people suggest that your diet should consist of 95% plant-based foods. The best of the foods that will keep you alive longer are leafy greens. In Ikaria—A Greek island in the Aegean Sea– where people live very long lives. Vegetables grow like weeds on this island. A study found that middle-aged people who consume a cup of cooked greens daily; will have a much better chance of living in the next 4 years than those who don’t.
Spare the Meat
Eat meat sparingly or about 2 times a week. The amount should be 2 ounces (smaller than a deck of cards) 5 times a month. People in the blue zones eat meat once in a while to supplement the main dishes. People in the blue zones eat meat from animals who freely graze in the grasslands. Supposedly, this meat contains Omega 3 fatty acids.
Eat Plenty of Sea Life
It is recommended that you eat fish at least once a day because fish are supposed to help people live longer. A study has followed 96,000 people since 2002, who ate fish everyday were reported to live longer. In the Blue Zones, they eat middle-of-the-chain fish like anchovies, sardines, and cod. Fish are supposed to help with brain function which always helps people to live longer.
Cut the Dairy Products
It is suggested that if people want to live longer they reduce their consumption of dairy products. It is suggested that cow’s milk is not the best product for the human digestive system. It is heavy in fat and sugar. It is not easily digested by the digestive system. The Blue zone people eat a lot of goat milk and yogurt which is supposed to extend their lives. They seem to thrive on these types of dairy products.
Egg It
Usually, it would be smart to eat one egg at a time up to 3 times a week which will really help to extend your life. You can fry an egg and fold it into a tortilla or boil one egg in soup. A good baking recipe is: 1/4 cup of applesauce, 1/4 cup of mashed potatoes or a small banana to sub in for one egg. Eggs are high in protein which will help to keep body healthy for years. Proteins are important to include in people’s diets.
It must be noted that certain foods in certain combinations can be eaten on a daily basis to give people longer lives. But the foods must be consumed in moderation, especially, ones that are not the healthiest to be consuming on a daily basis. Other foods which are beneficial should be eaten in greater amounts.
Beans Eat Beans
Eat soybeans, lentils, and garbanzo and white beans, to help you enjoy a longer lifespan. A lot of sources say to eat beans to extend your life. Beans are made of 21 percent protein and 77 percent carbohydrates. One benefit is they contain very little fat. They are a pure energy food. They are a staple in diets of people who want to live long lives. A ½ cup of beans a day will supply all the minerals and vitamins you will need.
Whole Wheat and Sourdough Bread
It is recommended that you switch from white bread to whole wheat or sourdough bread. Breads made with 100 percent whole grains such wheat, rye, and barley. Each type of these breads offer a wide range of nutrients and high levels of fibers. Supposedly, white bread is made with bacteria that eliminates the glutens and starches while the bread rises. This process also creates acid which gives sourdough its sour flavor.
Cut the Sugar
If you want to enjoy long life then cut out your consumption of processed sugar. Generally, people who live to be 100 years or more put honey in their tea instead of sugar. They only eat desserts at celebrations which will reduce their consumption of sugar by quite a bit. Add only 4 teaspoons of sugar to your drinks and reduce eating donuts, cakes, sweet foods to a few times a week. And stay away from processed foods with sugars listed in their ingredient lists. Apparently, consuming too much candy, cakes, etc. can shorten your lifespan. So reduce your intake of these types of foods and you will feel healthier and live longer.
Whole Foods the Way to Go
Eat foods that are whole like oranges with the pulp and eggs with the yolks and try and avoid foods with ingredients lists that are a mile long. In other words, stay away from unnatural processed foods. You can add some years to your lifespan. If you migrate toward a more natural diet or organic diet you can extend your lifespan considerably.
Science is discovering that plant foods work synergistically–When something is synergistic, it means various parts are working together to produce an enhanced result. If you’ve just heard a synergistic symphony, the musicians must have played very well together. You’ve probably heard the phrase “more than the sum of its parts—to bring about ultimate health.
Take a Swim
It is recommended that people drink 7 glasses of water a day to keep their bodies. This way it lessens the chance of blood clots developing. Blood clots could be fatal so drink plenty of water to keep the blood clear.
Drink Green
If you drink tea you may consider drinking green tea because it may lower the risk of heart disease and many cancers. Green Tea can help you to lose weight as well.
Here you have a list of healthy eating habits you can incorporate into your lifestyle. These eating habits will prevent people from experiencing premature deaths and it will extend their lifespans. Eat healthy, drink healthy, and enjoy a longer life.
Every one of us has a problem that somehow just doesn’t fit inside the lines or numbers 1, 2 or 3. Companies need to enable better communication in this era of enhanced information. But how can they truly get to know their customers?I trace most of the problems to automated call centers back to “smart” CEOs that had tricks for shaving costs of human resources off the bottom line. People are expensive, they are messy and they don’t always make sense in the world of business and the industrial mindset. But working with more people in your business rather than less can help you learn a lot more about your customers. If love and loyalty is what you are after, offer personal service. Today things like a hand-signed postcard and a person who answers the phone before a robot will set you far above the competition. Most companies today cling on to outdated processes and fail to get to know their customer needs. Customers are your biggest friends in today’s social media world where advertisements are shut off thanks to streaming TV and downloads. A picture on Instagram is worth a million words of praise as well as a happy customer on Facebook. When I first bought a computer back in the days I was then even struck by a hand-signed letter from Steve Jobs. Who did that sort of thing back then? About every few months I would get a letter from Apple as though I was part of the family, or an elite club and over the years I still clung to that feeling even as the company became one of the most powerful tech companies. Mac advocates one by one made Apple a success. We liked that they were “alternative” and different, even diffident in a way by not playing mainstream with other tech companies. So let’s say you have a company that’s social impact or environmental or plain old, just wanting to do better. What are some tips that could make them happy? Phone center. If you can’t find the resources to man your call center 24 hours (and do provide a phone number and easy to reach email address) try working with an outsourcing company that gets customer service. Zendesk is a great low-cost alternative and they usually offer a personal touch. They have managed to solve most of my customer service related problems over the last few years. Tech-savvy customer support experts advise looking into voice synthesis alternatives to ElevenLabs in order to set up a 24/7 automated desk that combines human-like empathy with lower operational overhead. The ones that have become industry favorites in 2026 is due to their ultra-low latency, which ensures your customers aren’t left waiting through awkward silences during a critical support call. By integrating these responsive tools, you can maintain the high-quality, personal touch that keeps clients loyal without needing a massive in-house team to man the phones. Do something old fashioned. When you go out of your way to give something, even something small to a customer, they might remember you forever. How about a handwritten postcard? The ability for your customers to meet you in a live Q&A? A birthday gift on their birthday or a special thanks in a newsletter or Facebook post? Plant a tree in each of your customers names. This is great for carbon offsetting too! Small tokens go a long way. Always listen to the complainers. What I have learned in my life is that the complainers will always outweigh the satisfied customers. But for every complainer who bothers to reach out, chances are that another 100 people or more have the same problem. Listen to their complaints because they often offer solvable solutions as to why the email form is not working on Chrome browsers, or why their product was not shipped enough.Look up to the creative customers. Companies like Reformation have amazing marketing and public relations for their clothes that are sourced from recycled materials or dead stock. They make “saving the environment” sexy and fun, with a slogan: Being naked is the most sustainable option, we are #2. Their products are sent in biodegradable packaging, and being a customer there makes you feel like you are part of a group of people that are making a difference in the polluting clothing industry. Reformation makes sustainable clothes from deadstockChoosing companies and products that match your values and customer service needs. Buy less, buy better quality products and clothes, share and swap more. Keep travel simple, your food organic and healthy and all will be well with the world.
In a region where it feels like everything under the sun has been worshipped and discovered, yet another ancient city, 5,000 years old has been uncovered. They are calling it the Bronze Age New York City.
According to excavation directors this was among the first cosmopolitan and planned cities where thousands of people lived.
Massive excavations were started by the National Transport Infrastructure Company Ltd, who were laying the groundwork for a new interchange.
Whenever new infrastructure is built in Israel and in its cities, Antiquities has to come in first to make sure nothing underground is waiting to be uncovered. The Near Middle East is a vast archeology site as its among the oldest inhabited areas of the world. Below the 5,000 year old city an even more ancient town was found, about 7,000 years old.
The sites without names are located in the Ein Iron area of northern Hasharon, which is north of Tel Aviv. About 6,000 people were once thought to live in an area covering several hundred acres and it includes a fortification wall, with residential and public areas, streets and alleys.
Ancient city of “New York” built on ancient water springs
The city was built upon two abundant springs originating in the area in antiquity were a site of attraction throughout the period.
According to dig directors Itai Elad, Dr. Yitzhak Paz and Dr. Dina Shalem, directors there is no doubt that this site dramatically changes what we know about the character of the period and the beginning of urbanization in Israel.
These are the first steps in the country of Canaanite culture consolidating its identity in newly established urban sites; hence the immense importance of the ancient city exposed in northern Hasharon; the tools brought to Israel from Egypt found at the site, and its seal impressions are proof of this.
This is a huge city – a megalopolis in relation to the Early Bronze Age, where thousands of inhabitants, who made their living from agriculture, lived and traded with different regions and even with different cultures and kingdoms in the area.
They unearthed a facility containing burnt animal bones – evidence of sacrificial offerings – as well as rare figurines, including a human head with the seal impression of a man hands lifted and next to him the figure of an animal, were uncovered inside the temple.
The inhabitants most likely earned a living from agriculture thanks to the nearby springs, and the land used for crops.
The archaeological ruins are documented using advanced means; they will be covered in a controlled manner, studied and investigated by Israel Antiquity researchers, and the new interchange will be built high above these ruins, to permit its preservation for future generations.
Floods in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Sometimes there is too much water, then most of the time there is not enough!
Both stormwater control and stream restoration are proven ways to reduce erosion along water channels and they are important to manage in cities (Tel Aviv will flood again!). Often, though, each method is managed by a different urban land-management department, measuring different success values. Efforts are rarely coordinated due to funding and other constraints.
Rod Lammers and his colleagues at the University of Georgia looked at some computerized models to see if coordinating these land management practices with common goals might have a greater positive impact on erosion. We know that erosion is a big problem in sea-facing areas of the Levant, Mediterranean and Middle East. The good news? It does.
First, let’s take a look at why stormwater management systems are necessary. In nature, precipitation falls onto forests, prairies and other soil-based areas. The water is soaked into the soil, down into the water table, and out into water bodies. Eventually, through evaporation, that water gets back into the atmosphere – until the next precipitation event.
In cities, though, pavement, rooftops, and other structures break the water cycle. City managers and engineers develop stormwater management systems to collect and move water in long tunnels, under buildings, and out to waterways. The more impermeable structures and the larger the area, the more complex the system must be.
No matter the system, the water must go somewhere. After all, we don’t want it in our basement or parking garage.
Because this stormwater hasn’t been able to take advantage of soils’ natural ability to clean water, the water can be filled with sediment, and undesirable nutrients. These can take a toll on the stream habitats and harm sensitive ecosystems downstream. In addition, the larger runoff volumes and higher and more frequent peak flows can lead to stream bank erosion. The UGA study only looked at sediments and nutrients coming from the soil eroded in the channels.
Lammers and his team looked at newer stormwater management approaches, called green infrastructure. These types of structures attempt to allow more water to soak into the soil like a natural system. “We are essentially trying to ‘restore’ the city to a more natural water cycle,” says Lammers.
Each combination of stormwater controls and restoration projects results in its own improvements. However, “piecemeal approaches to stormwater management and stream restoration miss synergistic benefits,” says Lammers. “They make restoration projects more prone to failure, wasting valuable resources for pollutant reduction.”
Stormwater management programs often focus on peak flow rates of large, less frequent storms. They also attempt to removed suspended solids, as well and nitrogen and phosphorus.
Lammers’ team developed computerized models to predict the effects of three different stream restoration scenarios and three different stormwater treatment scenarios. Thus, there were scenarios with a combination of restoration and treatment techniques. Such an “experiment” in the field would take a long time and involve a lot of expense.
“Computer modeling is a powerful tool. We can test the relative success of different management approaches, over years or even decades,” says Lammers. “These results can then be used by agencies to help with their planning. Of course, modeling has its limitations. Monitoring the actual performance of stormwater practices and stream restoration is essential. They also have to adapt management approaches based on observed successes and failures.”
“Our results suggest that watershed-scale implementation of stormwater controls that reduce runoff volume is essential,” says Lammers. “The controls need to address a spectrum of storm sizes. This is a more effective approach for reducing channel erosion than stream restoration. Aggressive, early implementation may have resulted in even less pollution by avoiding erosion early on. Much like investing early in life leads to greater financial returns, early implementation of stormwater controls and restoration can result in greater water quality and channel stability benefits.”
“Stream restoration can complement effective stormwater treatment to reduce erosion and pollutant loading,” says Lammers. “However, these approaches should be coordinated to achieve the best results. In addition, stormwater controls have a much greater potential to reduce stream erosion than channel restoration. Cities need to address the root cause of erosion – the altered urban water cycle. That is more effective than only treating the symptoms by stabilizing the channel itself.”
Since this study was done in Colorado, future research could be done to apply similar approaches in different climates. Different rainfall patterns might result in different effectiveness of stormwater controls. Also, looking at different restoration strategies, like floodplain reconnection to reduce the velocity and erosive power of floods, would be interesting. Similarly, it would be useful to compare different stormwater control strategies, to see which perform best in different scenarios.
دبي هي مكان جميل للعيش و يعود ذلك الى وجود رفاهية كبيرة ووجود شركات تنظيف تقدم مجموعة كبيرة من الخدمات المنزلية
تشهد دبي دخول المزيد من الشركات في هذا القطاع وهو شركات التنظيف
تشهد هذه الصناعة منافسة كبيرة بين كل شركة تنظيف على حدا ويكون المقوم الرئيسي لهذه المنافسة هو السعر و الجودة المقدمة في النهاية الجودة هي الشيء الاكثر أهمية حقا
من المهم الانتباه الى أن هناك العديد من الشركات التي تقدم الخدمات المنزلية في دبي ولكن تبقى خدمات تنظيف البيوت في دبي في الدرجة الاولى فهى تحظى بشعبية كبيرة بالاضافة الى أهميتيها المتزايدة في مدينة أعمال مثل دبي
تحظى شركات التنظيف بقيمة متزايدة عندما تقوم بقديم خدمة جيدة و بتأمين طلبات عملائها في كل مناطق دبي
بالاضافة الى خدمات التنظيف التي تقدم في دبي هناك خدمات الصيانة التي تحظى بأهمية متزايدة أيضا بسبب تقديمها للخدمات ببراعة متناهية و تغطيتها لمختلف مناطق دبي بالاضافة الى تلبيتها لمختلف متطلبات العملاء
ثم لديك أيضًا خدمة تركيب السقوف والبستنة والعديد من الخدمات الأخرى التي يحتاجها سكان دبي. والحقيقة هي أن لديك خدمات إلى حد كبير لأي شيء هنا ، وهذا دليل على القيمة العالية والجودة التي يمكن توفيرها بواسطة هذا النوع من الأشياء. إنها تجربة مميزة وقوية للغاية ، والتي لديها القدرة على أن تؤتي ثمارها جيدًا
ومع ذلك ، فإن إنشاء شركة في هذه الخدمات أمر صعب بعض الشيء لأن الكثير من المنافسين قد يصعب عليهم دخول هذا المجال . ولكن كما نعلم ، كل هذا يرجع إلى مدى جودة خدمتك حقًا. إذا كنت تعمل بجد وتلتزم بالنتائج ، فستكون أكثر من موفق. الفكرة هي معرفة ما ستدخل إليه ، وقد تكون النتائج هي الافضل في كل مرة
مع المساعدة من الخدمات المنزلية في دبي ، يمكنك الاعتناء بمنزلك دون أن تكون هناك طوال الوقت. هذا مهم للغاية لأن لا أحد يريد إضاعة الوقت لوحده في أداء هذه الأشياء. إن إنجاز مثل هذه المهام مع المهنيين الذين تم فحصهم أمر أفضل وأسهل في معظم الأوقات. نعم ، يمكن أن يختلف التسعير ولكن في معظم الأحيان لا يزال بإمكانك الحصول على قيمة جيدة مقابل المال وهذا هو النهج الأفضل
بشكل عام ، وجدنا أن الخدمات المنزلية في دبي تتكيف دائمًا مع متطلبات العملاء وتتزايد. نعم ، إنها صناعة مزدحمة إلى حد ما لأن الكثير من الشركات ترغب في الحصول على أكبر عدد ممكن من العملاء. ولكن هذا أمر رائع اذا حققت بعض النتائج غير العادية والعائد على الاستثمار دائمًا لا يعلى عليه. لهذا السبب يجب عليك التحقق من ذلك تمامًا وتجربته ، لأنها طريقة رائعة لرعاية منزلك!
In 2019, the court in Istanbul found Bulent Sik guilty of “disclosing classified information”—a verdict described as a “travesty of justice” by Amnesty International. Sik is a Turkish food engineer, environmental and human rights activist and a whistleblower. He was convicted after disclosing the results from a government study on environmental pollution and carcinogens.
Sik last year in 2018 revealed the results of a study carried out with other scientists for the Ministry of Health between 2011 and 2015 linking the toxicity in soil, water and food to high rates of cancer in several western provinces.
He wrote articles in the Cumhuriyet newspaper after realising the government was not acting on the study’s findings. The study “clearly revealed the extent to which water resources were contaminated by toxic materials,” Sik told reporters after the verdict.
Brothers Ahmet Sik and Bulent Sik fight the Turkish system
“The court ruling shows that the results of a study that directly concerns public health can be hidden. This is unacceptable,” he added.
Sik remained free on Thursday pending appeal. In 2021 he was acquitted but in an interesting turn of affairs his brother, a human rights journalist, went to jail for continuing to reporting on human rights abuses to Kurdish nationals. After serving 14 months he was released.
Pen.org offers more on Ahmet Sik’s story: “Sik is an investigative journalist and writer dedicated to reporting on human rights abuses and government actions in Turkey. He was charged on December 30, 2016, with disseminating terrorist propaganda and denigrating the Turkish Republic in news articles and tweets. The trial of Ahmet Sik, as well as of 17 other writers and administrators associated with the paper Cumhuriyet, began on July 24.
On March 9, 2018 an Istanbul court issued a report releasing Ahmet Şık on bail. In September 2019, Turkey’s Court of Cassation ruled that the Cumhuriyet journalists should be acquitted, with the exception of Şık, who would be tried on separate charges. On November 21, 2019, however, a court reversed that ruling and upheld the conviction of Ahmet Şık and eleven other former Cumhuriyet journalists. Sik has been sentenced to seven years, six months’ imprisonment but has continued to appeal the conviction and is free while the appeal is ongoing. On November 24, 2020, the European Court on Human Rights ruled that Şık’s treatment in the Cumhuriyet trial was a violation of his rights to liberty, security, and freedom of expression.
Talking out against pesticides and children
Bulent Sik, Ahmet’s brother has been outspoken about the effect of toxic pesticides used in agriculture. He told a Turkish newspaper, “The pesticide named chlorpyrifos, which is still a very serious problem in our country in our country, severely harms the development of the nervous system, constitutes a critical example. In other words, this poison has a negative effect on children 6 times longer than an adult. Therefore, the focus of food safety studies is I think it is necessary to put the protection of child health at the top of the list,” he said.
Pollution from the industrial zone of Dilovasi, around 60 miles from Istanbul and home to many chemical and metallurgy factories, was singled out in the report for having cancer rates well above the international average.
“The case against Bulent Sik has been, from the start, a travesty of justice,” Amnesty’s Turkey researcher Andrew Gardner told AFP. “Instead of pursuing a whistleblower through the court, the Turkish authorities should be investigating this important public health issue.”
Turkey has seen a wide-ranging crackdown on many aspects of free speech, especially since a failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016.
Bulent Sik had faced up to 12 years in prison, but the court found him not guilty of “obtaining classified information”.
Journalist Ahmet Sik was released from prison after 425 days in Turkey. But the charges against him haven’t been dropped. He’ll be back in court next week so keep showing solidarity with him & all those jailed in #Turkey. #FreeTurkeyMedia
As of 2022 he has been free but appeal after appeal suggests he could face up to a dozen years in jail for doing the right thing.
Human rights violations in Turkey should not go unreported. If we can’t stop them physically we need to stop supporting Turkish tourism, exports or buying food products from countries that punish people for doing the conscionable thing.
According to the news many people in some parts of the world are getting richer, the 1%, and they own most of the world’s economy while the rest of the world, the other 99% divides it among ourselves. Whether you inherited your money in a trust, earned it by growing a startup and cashing out at 27, or just won the financially lottery, then hats off to you. One of the problems with having a lot of money is making choices. When you can hire a private helicopter to take you from one city to the next for dinner the last thing you might be thinking about is how to travel more lightly on the earth.
Solar Impulse, a Swiss-run venture uses solar power to fly around the world – showing it can be done.
First off you can make sure you buy carbon offsets every time you fly, or estimate for the year and purchase credits once a month or once a year like when you do your accounting. It’s okay to tell your cousin to go plant a few hundred trees in your estate in Colorado, but being part of a scheme helps you quantify and report and may even help you qualify for tax credits.
Speaking of which, wealthy eco heros are welcome to earn tax credits. Whenever you donate to a US-registered NGO or charity registered in your country, you can earn valuable tax credits which reduces your tax burden.
Carbon can be offset by planting trees, creating renewable energy.
A few charities off the cuff, is the Sierra Club (for Nature Lovers), Charity: Water for those who care about water. GreenPeace, links below, also has international groups that can help with tax receipts if you live in the Middle East.
Taking a deeper dive for those who want to put some big money into the environment (maybe you won the jackpot on online slots 918Kiss-malaysia.net – well hell, yeah. Bring that money back into a cycle of healing and goodness.
If you are based in the Middle East, The Emirates Environmental Group (EEG) is dedicated to environmental protection and responsible waste management through education, community engagement and action projects. They sponsor a lot of fun and educational activities in a region where community life can be dull thanks to terrible urban planning in towers. Founded in 1991, and the first environmental NGO in the world to be accredited with the ISO 14001 certification, EEG has made a positive contribution to sustainable development in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.
The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy based in the United States protects ecologically important lands and waters around the world with the help of more than 500 staff scientists. It spends over 70% of its operating budget on preservation programs that address climate change, fresh water, forests, invasive species, and marine ecosystems. We can get behind that!
Recognized as the world’s largest NGO, Greenpeace has campaigned since 1971 to address environmental threats faced by our planet. These include protecting our oceans and ancient forests, working towards disarmament and peace and – the greatest risk – climate change. Today Greenpeace is active in 40 nations.
Travel
More and more places around the world offer experiential travel. While your hands may not be the most helpful if you have only flown into a country for a week or two, what you can do is to connect with a local NGO where you are travelling and offer them business advice, or fundraising advice, or help them run their instagram account.
There are a great number of bridges you can form without “using” the locals – in that I mean taking selfies with a poor kid from China, Africa, Latin America – making you look like the hero and them look like the one being saved. We all need saved from something, sometimes even ourselves. Look deep and apply the skills you have to make this great world even better. With the confidence of money behind you you have nothing to lose.
Want to get a job in the environmental field? Get your English up to speed
So if you are like most people in the world who speak English – it’s your second language. But what if you need certification to work as a tour guide or study to get your master’s degree in ocean ecology or to get hired as an engineer at the best electric car company in the world? What if you need to ace that test? The majority of IELTS test-takers believe it’s almost impossible to get the band score 9 on the “English as a second language test” based on some false assumptions that only native speakers are the one who can reach this level. In fact, you would be surprised to know that even native speakers like me may even do poorly in some areas like grammar which I never studied formally. But we say it’s completely normal and we are going to show you how to get 9 score in IELTS by following some simple tips.
IELTS listening tips
The listening test needs practice and listening to as many dialogues as you can, because with time you develop and strengthen your ability to comprehend faster therefore answering properly in addition to the fact that the recordings in an IELTS test are either by British or Australian accents depending on the center you’re taking the test in. So there you go, one additional reason for you to listen to more sample recordings so that you’re familiar with the language and tone of the speaker. Also you need to keep in mind that you’ll get a chance to listen to the audio module only once, so you have to clear your mind and listen carefully to the audio.
When you’re answering the questions it’s preferable to use a pencil to avoid any spelling mistakes because you might answer the question right but have spelled it wrong which might make you lose points in the test. You can get one more step closer to get 9 score in an IELTS by investing an extra 10 minutes at the end of the test in case you’ve missed any answers.
IELTS reading tips
To get a 9 score in IELTS you need to develop an important skill in the reading test which is skimming and scanning and by doing that you will easily grasp the general idea of the given passage. Skimming and scanning doesn’t necessarily mean to fully understand the passage rather than developing a sense of what the topic is about which will make it a lot easier for you to connect the dots and answer the questions efficiently and fast.
You’re not supposed to take more than 3 minutes in scanning the passage and it’s recommended that you highlight or underline the keywords you think are important. Acing the reading test requires you to answer fast because there’s a time limit and that wouldn’t be an issue if you skimmed the passage efficiently and were able to locate the answers of the questions carefully.
Pay attention to grammar when you’re answering a summary question as might answer correctly but get a wrong answer due to a grammatical error so definitely practicing your grammar is a key point for getting a 9 score IELTS in reading.
IELTS writing tips
You need to make sure of one thing first when it comes to the writing test which is never write words less than the number given in the task. The second thing is you need to know how many words on average you usually write in one line and by doing that you’ll save plenty of time counting the words while you’re writing.
People usually get surprised by their low unexpected grade in writing when claiming they’ve done great in writing, but the thing is that there is a great chance you wrote off the topic so you need to take your time before start writing and fully understand the question before starting to write.
A good writer uses a variety of phrases structures so make sure to do that as the examiner will get an idea of how your grammar and writing sense is well built, which is something all band score niners have in common.
IELTS speaking tips
While most people consider this the hardest IELTS test, we guarantee you that it’s not as normal as the other parts of the tests. Make sure to speak fluently without any form of resistance as if you’re just talking to a friend or someone you know.
Don’t speak too quickly to avoid mispronouncing and sending some of your words to the land of lost words.
If you didn’t understand the question or you need something to be clarified don’t hesitate to ask the examiner to repeat or elaborate more.
There is mixed emotions with your speech as if you’re talking about the topic to someone who is close to you and that shows how confident you are and definitely will bring you a lot closer to the 9 score in IELTS.
Getting a 9 score in IELTS is not as difficult as many people think and just by good practice and following these useful tips you’ll actually enjoy taking the test and expect 9 score before getting your results back.
Barnea, suri, kalamata? Your supermarket or farmer’s market usually offers a good variety of olives. Juicy green, black, brown or purple olives glistening in their own oil. Olives seasoned with chilies, lemons and herbs; olives pitted and left empty; olives stuffed with red pimentos; olives in brine or in wine marinade – enough olives to make your senses reel.
And like grape varieties for wine, there are more kinds of olives in the world than you’ll ever know. Every region where olives are grown yields a particular variety, each with its unique shape, size, and flavor.
What Are Olives, Exactly?
Are olives a fruit or a vegetable? Technically, an olive is a fruit. Well, a drupe to be specific. A drupe is a fruit that has a pit in the middle. In addition to olives, other drupe fruits include cherries, plums, and apricots.
Olives grow on trees, and unlike some other drupe fruit counterparts (like the cherry) raw olives picked right off the tree are not very tasty. This is because raw olives contain a phenolic compound known as oleuropein, which is very bitter. The fermentation or curing process is what makes olives so yummy and edible.
Also noteworthy – black and green olives are not different types of olives. They are the same, but their change in colors and flavors is based on the time they are harvested (black olives are riper than green ones). Now the next time the question, “What are olives?” comes up in a casual conversation, you’re ultra-equipped to wow your friends with your impressive knowledge about these beautiful morsels.
How Many Types of Olives Are There?
Considering olives have been cultivated for over 6,000 years, you might assume there are a lot of different types of olives. If so, you’ve assumed rightly. But how many types of olives are there? According to the International Olive Council (yes, there is such a thing, thank goodness!), there are about 139 types of olives, and they are grown in every continent save one (Antarctica). From kalamata to koroneiki, you’re bound to find the perfect olive that suits your fancy. The only trouble is – with so many olives from which to choose, how do you know which ones to pick? Read further for more details on all types of olives and varieties.
You should also know that it gets confusing to list the names of the olives grown even in relatively small cultivating areas, because one variety may be known by different local names, or different olives may go by the same name. To add to the confusion, some olives are grown for oil, some for the table, and some are sold to be consumed either way. An attempt is being made to sort out olive varieties via DNA identification.
Black olives are those that were allowed to ripen before harvest. In other words, all olives start out green, and grow darker as they ripen. Different varieties will mature into blue, red, brown, purple, or black. The flavor of the same olive will change the longer it stays on the tree. How it’s fermented and seasoned after the harvest changes its flavor too, and there are infinite ways to treat an olive, subject only to the imagination and local resources of the producer.
But buyer beware: all that’s olive is not gold. Canned black California olives are green olives that have been cured in a lye solution then treated with oxygen and ferrous gluconate to fix the black color. Harmless, but bland. Olives treated with lye cure quickly but have lost much of their original flavor.
Here are a few of the best-known olives, and one or two particularly popular in the Middle East.
Kalamata
A distinctive flavor from the kalamata region. Tastes like wine.
Kalamatas are the best-known Greek olive. Its color is deep purple and is often preserved in red wine. Sometimes you can find black or red Kalamatas. Check ingredient links on the black olives of any variety. Sometimes they have added ingredients that are purely for coloring them.
Castelvetrano Olives
Castelvetrano, an Italian olive, said to be the country’s favorite snacking olive. It’s light green, meaty, and mild.
Manzanilla
Manzanilla or in Spanish “little apple.” Eaten green or black. One of Spain’s most popular varieties and often with a pimento inside. Since Spain is still the world’s largest olive exporter, it’s likely you’ve eaten Manzanilla olives, and can find them easily in the supermarket.
Beldi
Intense. Yummy. Chewy.
Beldi is the Moroccan olive dry-cured in salt. Black, shriveled, chewy, and with an intense flavor. The texture is comparable to that of sun-dried tomatoes. Salty, salty, salty! Pair Beldi olives with mild cheeses, fruit, and white or rose wines. Very good on pizza, although a pain to pit. They are salty and delicious. Look at the labels before you buy to make sure they aren’t colored with artificial ingredients which may not be healthy.
Gordal
The Gordal olive is the Queen of all olives.
Gordal often called “jumbo olives.” Gordals come from Sevillia, Spain, and are cured while green. They’re handy for stuffing with cheese, almonds, cured meat, capers… anything you think will taste well inside these huge olives.
Picholine
Small, nutty picholine olives from France.
Picholine. Small, green, and with a nutty flavor, picholine olives originated in France but are now grown all over the world.
Suri olives
Suri olive from Lebanon. A favorite in the Levant region.
Suri olives originated in Lebanon and considered to be one of the oldest varieties. It’s harvested green and produces a peppery oil.
Barnea
Barnea olives are a favorite in Israel
Barnea is an olive variety claimed by Israel. Nowadays the Barnea is grown in Argentina and Australia too. Grown mostly for its mild, fruity oil.
Gaeta
Gaeta olives come from Italy. They’re small and oval-shaped. Black Gaetas are salt-cured, which gives them a wrinkled texture. Brine-cured Gaetas are smooth and dark violet color. After curing, Gaetas are stored in olive oil.
Leccino
Leccino olive trees, are drought tolerant olives that came from Tuscany, although today Leccinos are cultivated around the world. They have a light brown skin and a unique sweet/spicy flavor.
Mission Olives
Mission olives are the only American variety recognized by the International Olive Council. Tradition has it that Franciscan missionaries from Spain brought the trees to California in the late 1700s. The fruit is small, harvested while green, and considered an endangered heritage variety by the Slow Food movement.
Cerignola
Named after the town in Italy from which they are harvested, the Cerignola is a green jewel that is mild and makes a perfect parcel for stuffing. Gently remove the pit and stuff with primo partners such as cheese, capers, garlic, or anchovies. Because of their mild yet complex taste, they blend well with bold flavors so they make a great feature in antipasti or cheese platters.
Nyon
Dry cured and then aged in brine, these wrinkly, flavorful gems are growing in the south of France. They have a slightly bitter taste that works well when tossed into salads. You can also cook with Nyon olives, which bring out a heady aroma in comfort food dishes such as casseroles or roasty veggies.
Niçoise
These dark beauties are born in the Provence area of France, and are best known for their leading role in Niçoise salad, which is a freshy-fresh French tuna salad. The Niçoise olive is also commonly found in tapenade because its flavor can stand tall yet also blend, especially when mixed with fine olive oil, anchovies, and capers. These types of olives possess a bold flavor, but not so bold as to overpower.
Liguria
Whether cooked or uncooked, the Liguria is a versatile olive with a rich, deep flavor. This type of olive is typically cured with intoxicating aromatics such as rosemary, bay, and thyme. These olives come from the northwestern region of Italy and they come in both green and black varieties. Because they are so versatile, you can concoct a variety of culinary feats with them. Top them on your pizza for a lightly piquant flavor or toss them in your pasta dishes or salads. These olives are also great companions for poultry and fish accents.
Alfonso
Lovingly cultivated in the foothills of La Yarda mountains in Chile, the Alfonso is a purple pearl in the olive family. These babies are big, beautiful, and a bit bitter. Their acerbic taste is attributed to the brine-curing process that involves submersion in either vinegar or wine. Because they can be a bit puckery in taste, these types of olives are mostly used as a flavor enhancer in soups, stews, or other cooked comfort foods.
Amfissa
Hailing from the ancient, prophetic hills of Delphi, the Amfissa olive is a treasure to the Greek population. Thankfully, these glories are imported, so we can all savor these mild, fragrant, melty, juicy flavor bombs. Picked at the peak of ripeness, these black and green olives are a perky addition to cheese plates and charcuteries. The Amifissa olive has a bright flavor that is scrumptious on its own, but it can also be used to flavor stews, casseroles, or soups.
What Is The Most Common Type of Olive?
Hands down, the kalamata olive (and all its varieties) is the most commonly recognized olive. Their popularity is mostly due to their versatility because they are used for a buffet of different culinary specialties. From the topping on your pizza to Mediterranean salads or as an accent for drool-worthy Italian dishes – the kalamata is a royal champion in the olive world.
Perhaps the kalamata’s fame is due to its rich, smokey, lively flavor. Or maybe it’s because the Greeks have cultivated, cured, and preserved these olives with a standard of excellence that is beyond reproach. You be the judge. Try them in your next tapenade or appetizer plate before cocktails. Serve them in a salad, or top them on your next pita bread sensation. You’ll quickly understand why these are top on the leaderboard as olive fan favorites.
What Are the Best Type of Olives to Eat?
Where do we begin with this question? If you ask us, all olives are worth savoring. However, there are some that are more inclined toward tastebud pleasures than others – depending upon your end-purpose. For example, if you want the best health benefits of olives, choose kalamatas. Aside from the fact that kalamatas are delicious, their health benefits are one of the main reasons these olives are so popular around the world. To explain, the kalamata is like having vitamin B12 supplements in your back pocket, because these beauties are packed with this vitamin more than many of their counterparts.
In terms of flavor, the best type of olives to eat are the ones that suit your epicurean fancy. For instance, you might want to grab a jar of Manzanilla olives. These are typically stuffed (usually with pimentos), but they have a sharp, bitey flavor that is undeniably delicious when paired with a bloody mary or spiced homestyle dishes such as paella.
However, if you’re a purist, you might want to lean towards the Castelvetrano olive. This is an ace olive as a stand-alone due to its tart, scintillating flavor for snacking. It’s also a winner as a fine-dining accent.
What sort of health benefits do olives offer?
If you know about the benefits of olive oil, then the same applies to olive (the fruit) health benefits. Olives are cram-packed with vital nutrients such as vitamin E, A, calcium, and iron. Olives are also high in antioxidants. Studies on Mediterranean diets have revealed that the nutritional value of olives supports health in various ways, such as improving heart health, preventing diabetes, and even reducing the risk of some cancers. While olives are clearly beneficial to our health (and tasty), you should consult your physician or nutritionist to get the full scoop on how olives can improve your health.
Which country produces the best olives?
We don’t want to ignite a worldwide debate here, but common opinion seems to lean towards Spain as the country that produces the best olives. This is likely due to the country’s ideal climate conditions that nurture olives to sublime perfection. Of course, you’ll have your own opinion about the best source of olives. To wit, Greece and France are arguably some of the best purveyors of some of the most pristine olives (and olive oil) on the face of the planet. The best way to answer this question is to sample different olives from different countries and judge for yourself!
Which olives are buttery?
If you’re not sure about the best-tasting, buttery olive, then grab some Castelvetrano or Cerignola olives. These are by far the most melt-in-your-mouth, delectable choices for that rich, toothsome awesomeness you crave from olives. If you can’t locate these two particular buttery olives, you can always lean on the popular favorite – kalamata. It will provide you with the salty, soft, sensual flavor you can depend upon in a well-cured olive, and yes, it’s buttery too!
What is the sweetest olive?
When you think of olives, you might not think of sweetness. However, certain olives have a milder, more fruity, or sweet tinge in their taste that is worthy of recognition. While every taste preference is different, the International Olive Council deems the Cerignola as top-notch in terms of sweetness. You might also want to sample the Portuguese Galega olive, which is a sweet, juicy, rich, and resonant olive that is arguably a tasty treat on any table.
Which Olives Have the Strongest Taste?
There is not much debate about this – the strongest-tasting olives are typically of the green variety. Because they are plucked during their early development, green olives have a tangy, tart, titillating taste-twinge that can’t be denied. Having said that, you may find kalamata (which are black) to have a pinchy, strong flavor because they are preserved in puckery solutions such as vinegar or wine. Nevertheless, we still hold firm on our opinion that greenies such as the Castelvetranos olive grown in Sicily have that punch of bitey flavor if you’re looking for a strong sensation on the tongue.
Make your own olive marinade
Make your own tasty marinade, no matter what olives you have at home.
Want to make your own marinated olives, like the ones pictured above? Here’s a recipe.
Marinated Olives Recipe
Ingredients:
2 cups olives, either one variety or an assortment of different colors and sizes
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Peel of 1 large lemon
2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 large bay leaf, broken up, or 2 small whole bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon crushed, dried thyme, or rosemary, or oregano, or za’atar
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Optional: 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon chili pepper flakes, or to taste
If using black olives, rinse them separately to prevent discoloring the rest of the olives.
Drain all olives; place them in a large bowl.
Smash the coriander seeds in a mortar once or twice. Don’t pulverize them. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, wrap the seeds in a kitchen towel and bang them with the bottom of an empty bottle or jar a few times.
Toast the coriander seeds in a dry pan for 2 minutes, or until the fragrance rises. Remove from the heat.
Combine the oil, coriander seeds and the rest of the seasonings, except for the vinegar, in the pan. Heat this seasoned oil over low heat for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow it to cool.
Pour the marinade over the olives. Drizzle the vinegar in. Mix gently.
Cover the olives and allow them to marinate at least a couple of hours at room temperature, turning them over twice. But they’ll taste better after a week in the refrigerator, and will keep for up to a month there, the flavors improving as they mature. Take the olives out of the fridge an hour before serving, to let the solidified olive oil thaw.
Even if you take the most low key eco holiday, like at this off-grid hut in Sinai, you still need to be smart and think about insurance should something go wrong.
Travels are exhilarating and scary in different conditions. If you want to avoid financial stress during a trip, you will need the best travel insurance. Spending some money on travel insurance can protect you from numerous unexpected events.
Cost of a vacation may vary between hundreds and thousands of dollars. By purchasing an insurance plan, you can protect this investment. It can be tricky to choose the best travel insurance; therefore, compare different deals. iSelect makes it easy for you to compare & save on travel insurance policies.
Types of Travel Insurance Plans
For a safe journey, you will need different kinds of covers. Here are some popular types of travel insurance policies.
Trip Cancellation Insurance
With this insurance, you can cover the cost of a trip if any party finds it necessary to cancel. If a cruise line or tour company goes out of order before departure, you will get a refund amount of this trip. Moreover, if a person in your group is injured or sick during a trip, insurance will cover you. Remember, exact circumstances for return are specific to a policy. Carefully read an insurance policy to understand the precise situation your insurance covers.
Insurance for Baggage
Damaged, stolen, and lost luggage is unavoidable during a vacation. These events can be costly and unhappy. To avoid inconvenience, you must have baggage insurance or personal effects insurance. It will cover your luggage in case of mishaps.
Tour operators and airlines may cover a particular portion for lost baggage. A homeowner insurance policy will offer a partial cover for your trips. This plan can cover a small percentage of damage or theft. Carefully understand the terms and conditions of an insurance provider before purchasing luggage insurance.
Medical Assistance
Medical assistance is necessary to cover the expenses of health care. If you are seriously ill or injured on vacation, this insurance plan will help you to save money. To cover emergencies, you will need emergency medical insurance.
Remember, personal health insurance can cover particular costs for you. For this reason, you can’t depend on this cover. Contact a service provider to find out specifications of an insurance plan. You must have sufficient medical assistance for emergencies.
Death Insurance (Accidental)
Accidental death insurance plans are common in different cases. You may get this cover under different policies, including life insurance. Before getting this cover, check other policies to ensure the availability of this benefit. With an accidental death insurance plan, you can protect your family. If you expire during traveling, your family will get financial support.
Medical Evacuation
Before traveling in a region or a remote area without medical facilities, it is essential for purchasing an evacuation insurance plan. A travel policy may offer this coverage. Under this policy, you will get emergency transportation to a clinic or hospital. Moreover, you will get suitable services for injury or illness. Remember, you can’t risk your health to save a few pounds. Buy an appropriate plan to receive medical assistance in case of emergencies.
Hassan Fathy’s off-grid living and architecture inspired generations of architects in the Middle East and beyond.
There is something romantic about living off the grid and off our own devices. Every summer I go to Northern Canada with my kids and experiment with off-grid living ideas and applications. While we own 200 acres and the last home on the grid for miles and miles, it is tempting to cut off from the polluting power industry and power our own needs from the sun and Mother Earth.
Maybe you have been reading the books about Hassan Fathy (and his vision for vernacular architecture in the Middle East – the opposite of what we see in Abu Dhabi and Dubai today)or are following people who want independence from the rat race, like this English woman who built an off-grid home in Turkey for less than $4000.
Some of my off-grid friends use solar panels. Some have been too ambitious and too inexperienced and ended up wasting $20,000 on solar energy systems when they didn’t drain the batteries correctly in the winter when they weren’t using them. If you are planning on generating clean energy and then selling it back to the grid because you are still on it and want to make the system better, make sure you do a lot of research first. Look for companies like this Texas-based First Choice Power. Not all electric companies are transparent and not all will agree to buy back your power. This is important to know if storing it is a limitation for you.
Ancient windmills in Nashtifan, Iran.
Using Off-grid Wind Power
If you live in area that is close to a large lake, sea or open space, home wind turbines might be an option for you. I have seen small installations on rooftops in cities like Tel Aviv, and even in dense urban areas there is still energy worth collecting. Maybe it’s enough to power a lightbulb, but like turning off the tap when you are not brushing your teeth, every drop counts.
Wind turbines can be pretty and when collected in little bits the wind energy can be meaningful.
Using Off-Grid Solar Energy
As much as I’ve learned up until now, home solar panels require quite a bit of electrical know how. So try to find a local handyman or woman who can help you if you can’t install or operate the system yourself. Running home solar panels (systems running as low as a few hundred dollars to several thousand) does require a constant state of awareness especially if you have a small system and can expect cloudy or rainy days in your future. A friend of mine was stumped as to why her battery kept draining. By the end of the day she didn’t have enough power to light lights in her living room. By chance we stumbled on a light left on in one of her cottages! That was after she did a thorough electrical overview with her specialist friend.
Grampa Gnome taught people about the “good energy” that comes from going solar. In the beginning he taped down the light switches before he switched over to solar.
But as much as work as it might be and the hassles that come with it, even when you make mistakes, you learn something from it. A friend of mine once said that energy from the sun and energy we collect from nature is the best vibrational energy out there we can collect. Why not? It’s made just for us. To think about us damming rivers, burning coal, burning oil and even natural gas — all limited resources, it just doesn’t make sense. A small leap and investment can take you to a new way of life and will certainly make your neighbors very curious.
