In two weeks, a team of international athletes will attempt a world first by swimming across the Dead Sea, one of the saltiest bodies of water on earth, at the planet’s lowest point. The sea, which is technically a lake, resonates with deep historical and spiritual significance that partners perfectly with environmental activism. This risky swim aims to rehabilitate what Israeli entrepreneur and swimmer Oded Rahav calls our region’s reverse “Himilaya”.
Swimmers risk death to save the Dead Sea
5 cheap ways to build an eco-friendly house
“Green” building has become not just a trend in recent years, but a legal requirement in some countries. In the US and UK LEED is the standard. In the Middle East there is Estidama and the Pearl system. Of course, large building firms have budgets to cope with such changes in the law, but you can change your home to a greener, more eco friendly house cheaply enough.
Here are five cheap and easy ways to green your home all by yourself:
1. Invest in good insulation
You can begin this in small ways, by adding draught excluders on doors (which can easily be homemade), placing heat reflective aluminium foil behind radiators, and making sure loft or roof insulation is intact. In addition to this, insulating your hot water tank is a wise move to save money and prevent energy loss. If you live in the Middle East, paint the top of your roof white, versus the tarry black to heat deflect heat in the summer. If you need financing for renovations visit Miami title loans.
2. Choose energy efficient equipment
Smart light bulbs are a good example, which can be controlled by an app on your mobile phone or tablet are an excellent way to save money on electricity and give yourself added functionality, such as dimming, colour changes and scheduling the time on/off.
3. Keeping blinds or curtains drawn in colder and very hot weather
In cold weather this can help insulate the window from draughts and cold air on the pane. In hotter weather it can reduce the amount of sunlight striking the interior, reducing the need for air conditioning. Web Blinds have a number of options on their website and they are giving away some excellent coupons and promo codes for their products.
4. Recycling
This can be made a whole lot easier by having different bins for different recycling categories and labelling them so that nobody is in any doubt. Having a bin specifically for empty cartons of milk, water bottles and juice containers will simplify the process for all the family. Recycling garden waste with composting allows you to get rid of waste without burning and give you some fertilizer at the end of the process. If you don’t have options for recycling near you then approach your city or town council.
5. Get a barrel to collect rainwater
The water supply is sometimes taken for granted. Collecting rainwater will give you a source of water to use for tasks that don’t require tap standard water, such as washing a car or bike or watering plants in a garden. In addition, this could be seen as a backup supply if the water supply via the mains is cut off for whatever reason.
There are a myriad of other things you could do to make energy consumption more efficient and lessen the impact on the environment but the most important thing for the individual and family is to develop healthy building renovation routines that support an eco friendly house.
Eco-bloggers explore native ads as survival mechanism for online marketing
Ever since Buzzfeed-style link-baiting articles took Facebook readers attention the style and quality of online reporting has changed drastically. It’s hard to compete with momentary distraction of kittens and what she did last summer. One way around keeping readers on your web property without linking them out elsewhere is native ads.
Though the payment isn’t typically high, reciprocating links inside native advertising sites tends to create more overall traffic health. Native ads are the “read more” articles that pop up after you’ve scrolled through an article or slideshow. When done well, the selected content matches a reader’s interests and priorities. Keeping traffic on your site is the priority.
As the world and climate of eco blogging evolves (are we even called bloggers or eco anymore?) –– what about impact generators? –– we need to expand our publisher tool kits to manage and collect resources. Readers tend to look up to us for moral higher ground and for that making the right choices on who should advertise on your site can be a big question.
Is it okay to promote links to online gaming sites, if the revenues pay for articles that educate on global warming? These are some of the questions we have. The jury is in that native ads can be a good way to share ad revenue and traffic between like-minded websites.
How to choose a virtual reality gaming PC
One of the biggest industries in the world is video games and for most people finding the right equipment for their hobby is a top priority. Especially when you are eco-conscious and want to buy things that will last long, stay relevant, and which will consume less energy. The world of computer video games is very popular and intense and it can let you fulfill fantasies and build realities without having to drive in a car or rack up air miles and greenhouses gases in a plane.
Of course getting out is good for your health but and in order to have a great balance, we can help you find the right computer.
Price is Very Important
The first factor you have to consider when trying to find the right desktop for your video games is the price. For most people, working on a budget is necessary and finding a desktop for your video games should be a top priority. By having a firm budget set before you go out shopping for a new computer, you can avoid spending too much on your purchase. You need to make sure you let the salesman helping you know about your budgetary restraints so they can narrow down what they show you. Write down what you are willing to pay, put it in your pocket and to not stray!
Type of Games You Play
The next thing you need to think about when trying to get the right computer is they type of games you will be playing on it. Are you building new worlds in SIM city? Planting eco gardens on some virtual apartment building? The more you are able to find out about the particular graphic cards and other particulars you need, the easier you will find it to get the right machine. Be sure to do some research to find out what your options on in regards to the computers out there. The last thing you want to do is choose a new computer in hasted due to the danger of you getting the wrong thing.
Stay cool!
Another very important factor to consider when trying to get the right computer for your gaming needs is the level of cooling it has. In most cases, gamers will play their favorite online games for many hours on end. This means that the computer will usually get quite hot and will need quite a bit of cooling to maintain performance. The new Macbook Pro hardly ever gets hot, but consider this. You don’t want a meltdown in the middle of saving the world.
تعرفوا على يوغ شاه: المحارب البيئي الصغير في دبي
تعرفوا على يوغ شاه ذو التسع سنوات. الذي آذاه منظر القمامة على الأرض في دبي، فقرر أن يصنع صنيعا
في غضون أسبوعين، استطاع يوغ أن يجمع ما قدره 526 كيلوغرام من النفايات القابلة للتدوير – أو ما يعادل 18 ضعف وزنه
إهتمام الطفل ببيئته جاء مدعوما من مؤسسات أكبر منه بكثير، كالصندوق العالمي للطبيعة و مجموعة عمل الإمارات للبيئة، اللذان يتعاونان مع المدارس المحلية لا لتعليم النشئ عن الاستدامة فحسب، بل لتشجيعهم على العمل الفعال أيضا في الحفاظ على بيئة مجتمعهم
و يوغ، تلميذ الصف الخامس في مدرستنا العليا الخاصة في الورقاء في دبي، ليس بجديد على فعاليات الحفاظ على البيئة، فقد كان أن شارك من قبل في يوم الأرض و ساعة الأرض في المدينة. و لما تعرف على مشروع “التدوير في الحي” الذي تنظمه مجموعة عمل الإمارات للبيئة، تبنى المشروع على الفور و بكل اجتهاد و أخذ بتجنيد أهله و أصدقائة و جيرانه لمساعدته في جمع النفايات لتدويرها. و في غضون أسبوعين، كانت المهمة فعلا قد تمت، و قام بنقل الدفعة أخيرا إلى مقر المجموعة للتدوير
و في لقاء معه لجريدة خليج تايمز، قال يوغ: يجب علينا جميعا أن نعمل سوية لتوعية المجتمع لتصبح البيئة جزءا من اهتماماته
و توصف مجموعة عمل الإمارات للبيئة برنامجها بأنه يُوفر المنصة الضرورية لجميع الأفراد للقيام بواجبهم تجاه مجتمعهم و بيئته، و يُشجع الأطفال منذ الصغر على جمع البطاريات و الهواتف النقالة القديمة و الأوراق و البلاستيكيات و غيرها من النفايات القابلة للتدوير
يوغ شاه شخص مفيد للمجتمع. كن مثل يوغ شاه
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English version of the post here
Meet Dubai’s eco-warrior…who’s just 9 years old!
Green Prophet was bowled over by the teen rapper whose environmentalism got him a ticket to COP21, now an even younger eco-warrior has gotten our attention. A nine year old Dubai boy, annoyed by streetside litter, decided to pick up some trash. A good deed, that. But it’s where he took that action that makes this child a stand-out for planetary stewardship.
Refugee architecture earns an exhibit in a NYC museum
New York City’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is hosting an exhibition on refugee shelters to kickstart dialogue on the design challenges caused by humanitarian crises. Entitled “Insecurities: Tracing Displacement and Shelter”, the show looks at emergency housing in contemporary crisis zones. It is the first time a major museum has explored the plight of the world’s homeless.
40 infectious photos of wildlife comedians!
(Photo by Artyom Krivosheev/Barcroft Images/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2016)
Anyone with a Facebook account knows people love pictures of adorable animals. Photographers Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam are tapping into that animal magnetism to boost support of wildlife conservation. Their second annual Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards is inciting “conservation through competition”, helped by heaps of belly laughs, and the unbelievable images are real. (Green Prophet brings you a sampler, visit the awards website to see the full portfolio.)
(Photo by Gil Gofer/Barcroft Images/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2016)
It’s an upbeat photo competition about wildlife doing funny things that puts a high-beam on how much we humans truly love animals, while steering attention to how our choices put wildlife at risk. The organizers point out that nobody is perfect. We hop planes, drive cars, cook food, and use products that likely contribute to the warming of our planet. Not a stretch to see how this indirectly impacts earth’s animals, damaging habitat and affecting food chains.
(Photo by Carolin Tout/Barcroft Images/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2016)
The competition gives everyone a chance to do a bit for conservation, in gentle yet persuasive ways. How? The images are infectious and scream to be shared. They might spark some chat about conservation, and lead self-starters to check out the competition’s chosen charity, Born Free.
(Photo by Angela Bohlke/Barcroft Images/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2016)
This year’s competition featured six categories plus a special video-clip group, each focused on a specific genre – as example creatures of the air, and creatures of the sea. More than 2200 hilarious entries came in from around the world including a face-planting baby elephant, seemingly headless penguins, and a bear sprouting wings, The gorgeous images capture perfect comic timing and convey a powerful message that we must protect their subjects.
(Photo by Tom Stables/Barcroft Images/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2016)
Judges revealed their shortlist of the 40 best photographs, you can see the full portfolio on the competition website. You can also sign up on that website to receive alerts on how and when to enter the 2017 competition. The winner will be announced by the end of October. Prizes include photography equipment from Nikon and a chance to join a one-week Kenyan photo-safari.
(Photo by Brigitta Moser/Barcroft Images/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2016)
Joynson-Hicks and Sullam each have two young sons. They say they are “extremely keen that they can experience the wild world in the same way as we have and our parents have before us. For this to happen we all have to do something; nothing mad and crazy and life changing (although that would be awesome) but a little bit here and there.” And one thing is to visit the Born Free Foundation’s website to check out what they are doing and how you can help.
Born Free Foundation is an international wildlife charity founded by Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers and their eldest son following Bill and Virginia’s starring roles in the classic film Born Free. The Foundation promotes wild animal welfare and compassionate conservation, working to save animal lives, stop suffering, and protect rare species. They also work to end captive animal exploitation, phase out zoos and keep wildlife in the wild.
The White House Garden gets support to endure from Burpee seed company
Michelle Obama has made America’s gardening great and she’s now laying down roots so the gardening tradition will continue even after her family leaves the White House this January. Obama created the garden in 2009, and made sure to expand it twice so it will be hard to plow under by the next family. She’s expanding and improving it so it will endure, along with the American values of gardening to discourage obesity, and get kids outdoors.
The garden started at 1100 square feet to more than double in size at 2800 square feet. It has walkways, wooden tables and benches. A stone reads: “White House Kitchen Garden, established in 2009 by First Lady Michelle Obama with the hopes of growing a healthier nation for our children.”
A new endowment by the seed and home gardening company, W. Atlee Burpee Company, and The Burpee Foundation will keep Obama’s dream alive. While there is no White House law that must keep the garden alive, Burpee’s latest $2.5 million donation will ensure that it is tended to and thrives into the future, as Michelle has intended as a legacy to her husband’s time in Office.
Burpee Seeds, officially W. Atlee Burpee & Co., is a seed company that was founded by Washington Atlee Burpee in 1876.
According to Venelin Dimitrov, a senior manager at Burpee, regardless of who moves into the White House, Michelle’s garden can live on: “The idea is to preserve the legacy left by First Lady Michelle Obama,” he tells Green Prophet.
Dimitrov, a specialist in flowers, helped create the special seed blends that were donated for distribution at U.S. national parks.
Honey bees are on a swift decline, and Monarch butterflies are now considered endangered. By encouraging people to plant flowering plants, we can ensure that pollinator food such as fruits and many vegetables that will continue to feed us into the future.
Dimitrov says that it’s also about historical preservation to have a garden in the White House: “Most of the Founding Fathers were farmers and gardeners and it’s a neat idea to have a garden in the White House similar to President Jefferson’s garden in Monticello” where he grew more than 300 varieties of plants.
“If we had established it 100 years ago, every president could have left their mark. Now it has been started by Mrs. Obama and can be there for every Administration after the Obamas. It would be neat to see, 100 years from now, how the garden evolves,” he says.
The mission is to get people up, moving and gardening; but Dimitrov holds off giving us the list of what the White House Kitchen Garden is growing, saying we shouldn’t try to mimic what’s being grown there, since every region and state has different species and varieties that work best locally.
The point is that if our leaders set an example, the people will follow.
There is diabesity and obesity and “from a gardening point of view we would like to see people broaden their horizons by getting outdoors and growing plants.”
What’s exciting to grow? Dimitrov says that exotic fruits such as figs are becoming popular with Americans, as are jujubes and goji berries. There are lots of new fruit that are grown in tough climates around the world. These work well in the US as they are used to drought and do not require a lot of maintenance.
There are traditional vegetables that are high yield and low maintenance, such as cucumbers and melons. Urban farmers with little space should try their hands at vining plants such as peas, pole beans, and tomatoes.
Do garden Jujitsu
Dimitrov says: “It’s like garden Jujitsu. Use plans to fight the elements to your advantage. Use plants for shade if you are exposed to heat — there are excellent tomato species, such as ‘Heatwave II’.
“Morning Glory flowers provide plenty of shade, helping to cut down on energy bills. Even hyacinth bean; let them climb up, creating beauty to your porch, patio or roof, and an impact on your air conditioning use.”
Dimitrov says Burpee cultivates varieties of seeds that grow well in small spaces to give you great output with little requirements in terms of water and attention.
Want to know what to plant? “Bush bean, ‘Beananza’ in your balcony box, tomato, ‘Patio Princess’, cucumber, ‘Spacemaster’ or small okra, like ‘Baby Bubba’, may look tiny, but they can really bring a lot of food to the table,” Dimitrov adds.
Go to Burpee.com to cultivate your next meal and family project.
Chefs’ dream garden grows in the middle of Manhattan at Farm.One
Local, real food (#realfood) is more than a rage. It’s the new everything in food. After decades of eating shipped-in waxy veggies, greens and fruits, consumers and chefs are demanding a new kind of food. Vegetables and fruits that are local, and full of flavor. We want food with high oil and vitamin content that looks out of this world. Food that is pesticide-free.
The problem with these demands is checking all the boxes. How in the world do you grow local, fresh, tasty and diverse foods in cities like New York City where good food is more than in demand, it’s a way of life?
Going big by growing small
Farm.One a new urban farm startup located inside the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan, has a bold new idea. Instead of going “big” as its predecessors have done, this vertical farming company has done the opposite by growing small.
Farm.One CEO and founder Rob Laing (pictured below, and very top) came from the startup world “merry-go-round”. After founding a successful VC-backed startup, he wanted to change gears. While taking chefs classes in LA Laing discovered on outings to the farmer’s markets that new flavors are transitory. No chef in the world can build a menu around a herb, spice, flower or microgreen that has a season of only 2 weeks: Laing’s idea? Build chefs dream gardens near their restaurants so unique, fresh food can be available year round.
How do they do it? With technology: Farm.One uses a special space age cultivation technique called hydroponics to grow unusual fresh herbs and plants indoors, using highly controlled processes to perfect flavors and indulge what their local chef customers desire. The company is working with a dozen local restaurants already on private orders, and offers home chefs a weekly herb and flower discovery box for only $15 a week.
Hydroponics means growing plants on water, with added nutrients and lighting. It’s also called controlled environment agriculture, greenhouse ag, or vertical or urban farming. There are lots of ways you can do it, with larger farms like Brightfarms, Gotham Greens, Farmed Here, and Aerofarms gaining notoriety for their plant factories that grow monocrops like lettuce or spinach.
Farm.One takes another angle: “we want to grow interesting crops, stuff you can’t get anywhere else –- for chefs,” Laing says.
He explains: “If you’re a farmer and you’ve got something good like a unique herb that you grow for 2 weeks of the year, you can’t share it with chefs because they build menus around special ingredients and recipe development. Sometimes chefs take months perfecting a texture and flavor.
“New York has a crazy climate and then it’s hot. Its lack of local farmland and dense population means chefs end up buying basil from Israel, which is crazy. I decided that there could be an interesting niche. I don’t want to be the biggest and I don’t want to buy commodity crops.”
How does Farm.One work?
Like renting server space on a server farm: chefs work with Farm.One to determine what they want on the menu, and pay a set fee for regular deliveries, always within a hyper local 15-minute bike ride to their restaurant. Or direct orders can be placed via the website where 150 herbs, greens and flowers, some rare, can be grown to order.
Laing wants every chef in Manhattan to have a kitchen garden (like the White House!), but most “probably don’t have space or expertise on how to grow themselves. They can rent space with us and we will manage the garden for them,” he tells Green Prophet.
Yield and variety will be determined by the restaurant.
“Some chefs,” Laing notes, “want to have secrecy and I am happy to go down that route. We can keep it ninja for these chefs. We could grow something unique to them, in a particular size or in a particular flavor. And introduce new tastes to people, like wasabi arugula,” he points out.
If you want in on the new flavors, but are still an aspiring chef (at home) Farm.One also has a fresh herb subscription box which will provide you weekly flavors of pesticide-free herbs and greens –– among 150 varieties grown. All cycled to your Manhattan-based home.
While most of us don’t have a Manhattan zip code and can’t enjoy the benefits of Farm.One, we can be inspired and start growing our own at home. A trip to the local hydroponics shop for growing equipment and some heirloom seeds should satisfy some basic urges.
For more inspiration on what New York chefs want? Look to Farm.One’s catalog.
Laing’s top 7 pics of new herbs and plants for chefs to grow are:
1. Papalo – Central Mexican herb, used in sandwiches known as cemitas in central Mexico.
2. Bronze fennel – At a young age has a sweetness to it. Not rubbery or chewy.
3. Purple Ruffles Basil – Ruffled and jagged purple leaves, with a strong aroma of anise.
4. Nepitella – a Tuscan herb which has disappeared from a lot of recipes. Has beautiful tiny pink flowers.
5. Sheep’s sorrel – Sour and intriguing herb, very hard to find
6. Minutina (Erba Stella) – Italian salad leaf, shaped like grass but succulent and crunchy.
7. Pluto Basil – small, highly-fragrant leaves, perfect for garnish
Check out subscription options at Farm.One
البوركيني في فرنسا و أولى من قطر
بينما ما زال البوركيني يشغل بعض السلطات في فرنسا، جاء رد أمينة أحمدي و هيا الغانم معاكسا من قطر
أولى للألبسة الرياضية، هو اسم الشركة التي أنشأتاها أمينة و هيا لتوفير ما تحتاجهن النساء اللواتي يرغبن بممارسة الرياضة في الهواء الطلق، مع الحفاظ على عاداتهن التقليدية في الملبس. و جاء الإلهام للشريكتين و هما في صعود إلى قمة جبل كيليمينجارو، بعد أن أدركتا صعوبة التدريب في الخارج بملابس غير مخصصة لذلك
بعدها قررتا أن شركتهما ستُصمم و تنتج ألبسة رياضية عملية و فضفاضة – تتكون من أقمشة تسمح للجلد بالتنفس، و مضادة للمياه و سريعة الجفاف. و طبعا، شريطة أن تكون التصاميم متماهية مع ما تسلتزمه معتقداتهما من غطاء للرأس و الجسد. و بطبيعة الحال، لم تنسيا الفتاتين إضفاء لمسة فنية على تصاميمهما
و إذ بأولى. فقد بدأت الشركة حملة تمويل جماعي بهدف الوصول إلى مبلغ $15,000، و نجحت في جمع أكثر من $6,000 حتى هذه اللحظة
أما عن رؤية أولى، فهي ببساطة تشجيع نمط حياة أكثر صحية بين أولئك اللاواتي يرغبن بممارسة الرياضة في الخارج، دون أن يتخلين عن اختياراتهن في الملبس. و تؤمن أولى بأن كل امرأة قادرة على تحقيق أهدافها التي طالما بدت بعيدة، و أنها قادرة على تحدي -بل و تخطي- الصعوبات التي قد تواجهها – ملهمة بذلك جميع أفراد المجتمع من حولها
و لعل بعض السلطات في فرنسا تتعلم
إدعموا أولى هنا
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF3mu5rQq1c
Climb Mount Kilimanjaro with Oola’s modesty-wear for Muslims
Amid news of France’s overturned ban of the full-body “burkini” swimsuit, Playboy and Women’s Running magazines featuring women in hijab for the first time the hijab is turning heads and making headlines. The hijab or face-covering for Muslim women needs to be comfortable and sport-relevant says Qatar-based founders of Oola Sportswear. They just launched an Indiegogo campaign that not only celebrates modest activewear such as comfortable head coverings and workout suites, but they bring much-needed athletic wear technology to the segment.
The Oola team launched a campaign Oola Sportswear: Activewear That’s Got You Covered on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo on Sunday morning (the start of the week in Qatar, where the team is based). With a goal of $15,000, the campaign offers elegant, functional, loose-fitting activewear and sports hijabs that finally make outdoor sports accessible to women who prefer coverage with their workout gear.
Most women’s sportswear is tight, short, low-cut, or designed in short-sleeved-only options. For women who value modesty out of personal values or religious practice — such as those of the Islamic, Orthodox Judaic, Coptic Christian, or other faiths — finding athletic wear that performs and comes in desired styles is a tiring hunt.
Good activewear, depending on the sport, is quick-drying, breathable, and/or water-repellent. Coming across attire that is made of suitable sports fabrics and enables a woman to stay covered fashionably in comfort is all too uncommon.
Experiencing this struggle themselves, Oola co-founders Haya Al Ghanim and Amina Ahmadi decided to design activewear that has all of the above. “While we were training for a Mount Kilimanjaro hike, we really wanted to train outside, but we were really struggling to find something to wear that was appropriate for training outdoors,” says co-founder Amina. “We knew at that point that we wanted to do something about it, but it was the experience of Kili itself that brought Oola to life. We made up our mind that we were going to go back home and do something about it.”
More about Oola Sportswear
Oola Sportswear is a modesty-inspired fashion brand that provides loose-fitting, contemporary activewear for women who prefer more coverage for outdoor activities. Our vision is to promote a healthy lifestyle by making outdoor sports accessible for our clients.
Oola believes that every woman possesses the strength to push boundaries, redefine limits, and overcome challenges. Equipped with the right tools, a woman can unlock her potential, achieving goals that may have seemed unreachable, enjoying experiences that seemed limited, and inspiring communities around them. Oola provides activewear that will enable women to push their fitness goals and challenge their limits. To plant a seed of empowerment is all it takes to lose one’s inhibitions. Oola is that seed.
City mapping for refugees locked in a concrete jungle
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have been living in a concrete jungle for decades. Unlike the tents and temporary conditions of Syrian refugees in Jordan, Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have put down roots. More than 400,000 refugees live in a labyrinth of concrete structures, built one on top of the other.
It’s a mess, but volunteers now plan on making some “green” sense out of the madness.
Claudia Martinez Mansell has launched Citizen science in a refugee camp on Kickstarter to collect funds to help her create maps of the Bourj Al Shamali refugee camp.
We’ve participated in balloon mapping projects in the West Bank. The notion goes like this: how can we save or better a situation or environment if we don’t know what’s there? A low-cost to build accurate maps is by sending weather balloons up above the city, with an always on camera taking photos from multiple directions. These images can later be sewn together to create a comprehensive map.
We take maps of our towns and cities for granted, and applications like Google Maps has made us more aware and curious about locations far away.
But such maps don’t provide the resolution needed to give answers like: where should we build an urban garden? A playground for children? Recycling centers? How is power and water distributed through the city, if at all?
Mansell, who’s been connected to the refugees for 2 decades reasons that when the citizens can make where they live, they can analyse, improve, green, and take charge of their environment.
The Kickstarter campaign is looking to raise $12,500 for:
1. The completion and production of the map of the camp, building on several months of self-funded balloon-mapping that have already been carried out.
2. Funding the remaining transportation costs associated with bringing a few mappers to speak about this project at events in the United States.
We like the idea, especially because we already see urban farms dotting the horizons of the refugee camps. Support the campaign here on Kickstarter. We did.
Algae returns as fuel for our future
Researchers at Tel Aviv University have revealed how microalgae produce hydrogen, a clean fuel of the future, and suggest a possible mechanism to jumpstart mass production of this environmentally-friendly energy source. Their results have been published in back-to-back studies in Plant Physiology and Biotechnology for Biofuels.
The research was led by Dr. Iftach Yacoby, head of TAU’s renewable energy laboratory, and Rinat Semyatich, Haviva Eisenberg, Iddo Weiner and Oded Liran, his students at the School of Plant Sciences and Food Securityat TAU’s Faculty of Life Sciences.
Researchers in the past believed that algae only produce hydrogen in the course of a single microburst at dawn lasting just a few minutes. But Dr. Yacoby and his team used highly sensitive technology to discover that algaeproduce hydrogen from photosynthesis all day long. Armed with this discovery, the team harnessed genetic engineering to increase algae‘s production of this clean energy source 400 percent.
Increasing algae‘s output of hydrogen
Laboratory tests revealed that algae create hydrogen with the assistance of the enzyme hydrogenase, which breaks down when oxygen is present. The researchers discovered effective mechanisms to remove oxygen so hydrogenase can keep producing hydrogen.
“The discovery of the mechanisms makes it clear that algae have a huge underutilized potential for the production of hydrogen fuel,” said Dr. Yacoby. “The next question is how to beef up production for industrial purposes — to get the algae to overproduce the enzyme.”
Some 99% of the hydrogen produced in the US comes from natural gas. But the methods used to draw hydrogen from natural gas are toxic — and wasteful.
Answering the need for clean energy
“I grew up on a farm, dreaming of hydrogen,” said Dr. Yacoby. “Since the beginning of time, we have been using agriculture to make our own food. But when it comes to energy, we are still hunter-gatherers. Cultivating energy from agriculture is really the next revolution. There may be other ways to produce hydrogen, but this is the greenest and the only agricultural one.
“The world burns in just one year energy it took the earth over a million years to produce,” Dr. Yacoby continued. “We must stop being hunters and gatherers of energy. We must start producing clean energy — for our children and for our children’s children.”
Dr. Yacoby is now researching synthetic enzymes capable of increasing hydrogen production from microalgae to industrial levels.
Surf rising sea levels in a WaterNest home?
Remember that quirky Yael Mer inflatable dress that could save your life when disaster strikes? These floating homes go to the next level: Hurricane Matthew is bearing down on the Caribbean. Would the damage be less devastating if you lived in a floating home? Perhaps, but you’ll have to serve up more than pretty renderings to lure me aboard.
Italian architect Giancarlo Zema has designed an eco-friendly floating dwelling called the WaterNest 100. The 100 square meter units are made of up to 98% recycled materials including its aluminum frame and laminated timber cladding. Sixty square meters of rooftop photovoltaic panels provide about 4 kWp of clean electricity, enough to power the needs of a one-bedroom dwelling or office function.
The interior of WaterNest 100 can accommodate a bedroom, bathroom, living room, dining area and kitchen. It can also be configured as an exhibition space or workspace. Large windows and skylights provide ample daylighting, and open air balconies maximize waterfront views while also allowing for an efficient system of natural micro-ventilation, minimizing the need for mechanically conditioned air. So far so good, if this was This is the Architecture 101, the basics of decent residential design
The units are available through EcoFloLife, a London-based business specializing in the design and construction of eco-friendly floating homes. Their website states, “The world around us is becoming increasingly chaotic and conformist…ongoing climate changes and the resulting sea- and river-level rises force us to ponder on the eco-sustainability of our housing choices.” Fair enough, but how do these floating homes actually work?
The 12 meter diameter units can be positioned along rivers, lakes, bays, atolls and calm sea areas. The EcoFloLife catalogue provides top-design eco-friendly furnishings that complement the design and meet most contemporary needs.
The world around us is becoming increasingly chaotic and conformist, requiring fully eco-friendly and recyclable housing units, which allow us to live in complete independence and in harmony with nature, while respecting and admiring it. The ongoing climate changes and the resulting sea- and river-level rises force us to ponder on the eco-sustainability of our housing choices. EcoFloLife is committed on the topic of environmental sustainability with its floating and eco-friendly residential units.
Images via EcoFloLife website