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101 Uses for Dirty Diapers
As the father of a toddler, I am an expert on dirty diapers. I know exactly what to do with them: throw them out! But along comes a New York waste company and a town in California who want me to do something else with my dirty diapers. Like cover...
Design Your Saving Energy Plan
At least once in a while and most likely when the utility bills are delivered people seriously consider finding a good energy plan that might be helpful in assisting them with implementing some techniques that will result efficient in what concerns...
Get rid of that clutter
Why is it that clutter seems to build up so easily in our homes? No sooner do you have a clearout than it seems to start creeping back in – one pile appears in the hallway and before you know it, it has spawned other piles that go down the hall and...
Growing Plants with LED's
In some dictionaries life is defined, as a power that demonstrates a purpose to feed, process matter into energy, grow, and reproduce. Life means existence, a state of being. No matter how we look at the definitions, one thing is clear: life is the...
The Simple Truth
What fills your car? Petrol. What fills your fax machine? Paper. Who fills the third planet from the sun? We do, meaning us! Your probably wondering what im going on about aren’t you? I’ve got a question I want to ask you. What would you do to...
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Schreiber, Johansson Build A 'Bridge' To A Classic
Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson are starring in a widely praised revival of Arthur Miller's <em>A View From The Bridge</em>. They tell reporter Jeff Lunden that as in all great tragedies, this one's clashes and catastrophes have something of the inevitable about them.
Stargazing At The Opera
The Hayden Planetarium in New York takes opera to the moon with a new production of <em>Il Mondo Della Luna.</em> Diane Paulus and Philip Bussmann talk about merging cosmos footage with music, how science can enhance the arts and the future of technology and theater.
Obama 'The Musical' Opens In Germany
A new theater production <em>Hope: The Obama Musical Story</em> opened this week in Frankfurt, Germany. It tells the story, in song and dance, of America's first black president. It is likely to be a big success in a country where President Obama is still immensely popular.
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Sustainability Today
Sustainability Today
Achieving a sustainable lifestyle today is of paramount
importance for the health of future generations. The devastation
of our natural environment by individuals and corporations who
carelessly pollute the water and air, clearcut forests, and
destroy topsoil and natural habitats is in many cases
irreversible. Those of us living an urban or suburban lifestyle
may just be beginning to feel the repercussions of our
industrial lifestyle in the form of climate change. However, the
perpetuation of anti-environment practices is sure to cause
consequences that we cannot even imagine.
The world in which we live is a system in which all elements
interrelate and coexist in a harmonious balance of creation and
destruction. Nothing exists or functions in isolation.
Everything is interconnected and every act affects the future of
countless other elements. This concept, also known as systems
thinking, is easy to see when observing an ecosystem, especially
when the harmony of that ecosystem is disrupted. The extinction
or reduction of one species rebounds through the entire food
chain, causing havoc on the lives of the rest of the species.
A sustainable lifestyle is one that seeks to harmonize with the
elements of the natural world. We can use the forces of nature
to our advantage, without abusing them and causing as little
disturbance to the natural environment as possible. One such
example is harnessing the energy of the sun. Solar energy can be
captured in a variety of ways. The most basic way, passive solar
energy, refers to the type of construction
Stroke Victims Think, Robotic Arm Acts
Reporting in <em>Nature,</em> researchers write that two individuals, both paralyzed by stroke, made reach-and-grasp movements using a thought-controlled robotic arm. One participant was even able to a sip a drink by herself. Neuroengineer Dr. Leigh Hochberg discusses the paper and the ongoing trial.
Limitless Energy
As with many Americans, I believe that I may have detected a flaw in the Bush energy plan. It seems that oil resources are vulnerable to weather that can shut down by a little bit of rain. Well, okay, a lot of rain. And when you are dependent on one...
materials used and
their placement. For example, a house designed to face the south
allows the heat of the sun to warm the house all day long. Add
to that other passive solar features such as thermal mass and
the house is already well on its way to energy-independence.
Industrialism and the Information Age have provided our society
with the tools it needs to reverse our current path of
environmental degradation. Solar panel technology and the
multitude of other inventions for collecting the energy of the
sun are constantly improving and becoming more affordable. We
may also gather energy from the wind, water, ground and even our
own waste products.
The key to becoming sustainable as individuals and as a society
is our own willingness to change and to be creative.
Permaculture is a design system that guides us to build and
manage sustainable living and working environments in which all
of the elements overlap and interrelate to create a functioning
whole. Combining our knowledge of ecological principles with our
earth-friendly technology we have only to succeed in achieving a
more sustainable lifestyle today, and a brighter future for our
children and grandchildren.
About the author:
Dayna Schueth works as a permac
ultural design consultant in Boulder Colorado and South
America.
She teaches people how to become sustainable and create
sustainable gardens that can feed entire families.
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