Friday, May 4th, 2012
The relationship between plastic and the environment is one that starts bad and ends worse.
To begin with, plastic is manufactured from petroleum, a non-renewable resource and major contributor to global warming. Billions of plastic bags crowd the world’s landfills and nearly 80 percent of plastic water bottles are never recycled. They also end up in the landfill by the billions according to the Smithsonian. The effects of plastic in the environment are far reaching – in some of the most remote parts of the earth’s oceans the water contains more plastic than plankton.
Many types of plastic are recyclable. If you’re not already recycling, check with your local waste management company to learn more about recycling in your area. As important as recycling is, the first action required to help ease the heavy load modern life takes on the environment is reducing our use of resources. There are many ways to reduce the amount of plastic we use on a daily basis; it’s as simple as forming a few new habits.
Ban the Bottle
Bottled water may be a necessity for people living in regions of the world where clean drinking water isn’t available, but thankfully that’s a small percentage of us. For those who want to have water with them all the time, there are other ways of having water readily available. If you’re headed to the gym or traveling with small children and need some water on hand, invest in a reusable metal water bottle thermos.
If you’re concerned about the quality of water that comes out of your tap, install a water filter in your sink or replace that old refrigerator with an energy efficient model that comes with a water filter. For example, a GE refrigerator water filter provides clean, cool water at a fraction of the cost of bottled water. Using a home filtration system saves you money while saving the environment.
Ban the Bag
Think of all the places plastic bags show up: at the grocery story, the mall and the dry cleaner – even the farmer’s market. Get in the habit of carrying cloth or canvas bags with you and you’ll always be prepared for a quick stop at the market or drug store. Say no to plastic bags when they really aren’t necessary, like to hold a container of milk or a single item you could easily carry. Do you really need that plastic bag over your dry cleaning? Ask the cleaner to skip it or bring your own cloth garment bag for regular use.
Grande or Venti?
Whether you prefer your favorite coffee shop drink hot or cold, soy or full fat, it’ll taste even better when sipped out of a reusable container. You can completely eliminate your need for one-use plastic cups by using reusable cups instead.
Quickfire Tips
Here’s a list of little ways to reduce your plastic use every day:
- Skip the plastic trash bag and dump your waste directly into the trashcan.
- Choose products with the least amount of packaging.
- Don’t take plastic utensils from the take-out joint if you don’t need them. Wash and reuse them if you do.
- Use foil and reusable containers for packing lunch instead of plastic bags.
- Ask the paperboy to skip the plastic bag on your daily paper.
- Buy beverages in glass or cans, not plastic bottles.
- Buy laundry detergent packaged in a cardboard box, not a plastic bottle. Same for milk.
- Don’t use straws.
- Use canning jars to store leftovers.
- Shred and save junk mail to use in place of peanuts or bubble wrap for packaging.
- Give pets cloth toys instead of plastic.
- Use cloth diapers instead of disposable.
Cultivating some new environmentally friendly habits can be hard to do, but as with any new habit, repetition is the key to success. Start with the changes that are easiest and you’ll be taking a big step to ensure the story of plastic and the environment has a happy ending.
Jessica is interested in organization and DIY projects. She enjoys reading and spending time outdoors.
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Friday, April 20th, 2012
Although people have theorized that plants benefit from soothing music, there is some pretty interesting scientific evidence that shows that there may really be some substance to the concept. In addition to this scientific data, another controlled study also offers insight into how plants react to different types of music and why this might be a worthwhile pursuit. The use of music may even make it possible to eliminate the use of chemical weed killers and fertilizers in home gardens.
Joel Sternheimer
Andy Coghlan first disclosed the science regarding the impact of sound on plant growth in a 1994 article in New Scientist. His subject was French physicist and musician Joel Sternheimer, who made a discovery that plants grew better because of musical sequences he wrote. Sternheimer then applied for a patent to protect his concept.
Sternheimer’s melodies were carefully constructed, with each note corresponding to an amino acid in a protein, and the entire sequence corresponded to the entire protein. When plants heard the appropriate tunes, they produced more of the desired protein. But Sternheimer went a step further: he also composed tunes to inhibit protein synthesis. By doing this, he was able to inhibit the growth of undesirable plants like weeds.
Dorothy Retallack
Dorothy Retallack published a book entitled The Sound of Music and Plants in 1973. Her book discussed the experiments she performed with plants at Colorado Women’s College, in which she used three Biotronic Control Chambers. Retallack conducted several experiments; for the one described in her book, she used two chambers and placed identical plants and radios in each chamber. One chamber’s radio was set to a local rock music station while the other chamber’s radio played more soothing music.
By the end of two weeks, plants that heard soothing music were lush, green and equal in size. Their stems leaned 15 to 20 degrees towards the radio. Plants that heard rock music were tall and spindly, they drooped, their blooms had faded, and they leaned away from the radio. Two days later, almost all of the plants that were subjected to rock music were dead, but those that listened to soothing music were growing magnificently, and every plant was alive.
Benefits of Music to Plants
There are several ways by which plants can benefit from both positive and unsavory music:
• One way to use unpleasant music to your benefit is by playing it to kill weeds. This will only work if the weeds aren’t growing close to the area where your beloved plants are.
• By playing positive music for plants, you may be able to eliminate the need to use chemical fertilizers.
• Music can be used anywhere in the world, regardless of climate or terrain.
• Playing music for vegetable and edible crops can increase the size and flavor of these foods, as it did in some of Sternheimer’s experiments with tomatoes.
• Sternheimer also used note sequences to inhibit enzymes of the tomato mosaic virus to stop the virus from killing his plants.
How to Use Music to Benefit Plant Growth
• For specific plants, Niles Audio offers speaker pots, or speakers that look like a windowbox, that can fit well into your garden or patio décor.
• For larger areas, consider placing waterproof rock loudspeakers throughout the backyard. This is great for times when you’re entertaining or out working in the yard because you can also enjoy the music.
• Place rock speakers in places where you want to get rid of invasive plants, provided there aren’t desirable plants in the same area.
• Bring a portable all-weather radio outside and turn it to a station with soothing music.
• Open your windows and allow your plants to hear music from within the house.
Sternheimer and Retallack were able to prove that there is a correlation between soothing music and thriving vegetation. Playing music for plants in the garden while working outside may also reduce stress and help you be more productive in their outdoor chores, making this a win-win situation for you and your garden. So what are you waiting for? Crank it up!
Jessica is interested in gardening and growing her own vegetables and herbs. She enjoys spending time outside and tending to her garden.
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Thursday, March 29th, 2012
There is no doubt that society is finally waking up to our impact on the world and becoming more environmentally-aware. As individuals, we’re recycling, reducing waste, thinking about our carbon footprints and seeing to re-use and recycle. As organisations and community groups, we’re putting pressure on damaging business practices, lobbying for supportive government policy and coming together to create sustainable community initiatives.
For businesses, there are as many opportunities in the green sector as there are threats. ‘Older’ businesses are waking up to the pressure and benefits of adopting green strategies and CSR approaches in their operations. And newer businesses are launching straight into the burgeoning sector to ride the tide of change and be at the forefront of it.
Opportunities for Individuals
As with any new sector, there are great gains available for the people who get in early on. The number of specialist green jobs is increasing greatly, with government money still available for grants and large-scale construction and building projects that tie in with long-term sustainable policies. This means an increase in alternative-energy work, such as wind jobs, hydro-power engineers, nuclear physicists and the like. It opens up research positions for biofuel and food-production scientists and it also offers great opportunities for start-ups and entrepreneurs who can offer business consultancy, accreditations and other services in the green sector.
The Benefits of Working in the Green Sector This societal shift reflects a more fundamental change in the work force. People no longer wish to work every hour of the day simply to earn large sums of money and foist more consumerism on to society. Generation Y is a strong example of people seeking balance and meaning in their work. Rather than working to damage our world, we now see people wanting to put their energies and intelligence into finding ways to preserve it and grow sustainably.
More than Intrinsic Rewards
And yet, green jobs do pay well! In fact, initial research has found that jobs in the green sector actually pay between 10-20% more than those in other sectors and there are plenty more roles available than just specialist engineering, scientific and research positions too. For every engineering project or green-energy plant build, there needs to be a team of administrators, general managers, communications specialists, financial experts and trainers. There are roles in education and youth work, in sustainable small businesses, in small consultancies and even in events and community work. Green business initiatives have seen ‘grass roots’ businesses such as small food producers and local markets also find valuable opportunities in local activity.
Seek Out Opportunity
So the potential for employment is good, whether you’re an advanced scientist or a kitchen-table entrepreneur thinking of setting up a food-box delivery scheme with a local farm. Look into the industry, research its potential and get in now while it’s growing. Get accredited and trained up – you don’t need to go back to college or university as you can train online – and carve out your niche in this rewarding and exciting new growth sector.
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Monday, September 26th, 2011
The Tibetans have done it finally! With Tibet emerging as the new sun saga for the world, it is interesting to note how the lives of many Tibetans have changed after they have started mass worshiping the enormous potential of the sun. The things have changed after the Tibetan Autonomous Region Government took a firm step towards a greener, cleaner and wealthier future.
If we include the Chinese development statics as a whole, it has been an exponential change after facing an accusation of being a high carbon contributor to the global ecological environment. The shift has been drastic and the attitude of China’s mass populace towards this change has been worth a standing ovation. Almost every large construction facility in the Chinese region is now equipped with solar converters. As for Tibet, the change is not new, in fact, it is amongst the leaders to implement the solar concept on the Chinese national front.
Tibet, has one of the largest exposures to the Sun’s direct rays, and is the most appropriate place which can adopt a complete shift from conventional energy to solar aid. Under normal days, Tibet receives about 3000 hours of sunlight annually, this statistic is enough to enable to produce huge amount of energy to thrive on for the Tibetan population.
The Autonomous Government of Tibet has continuously blown in huge investments into the realization of this concept, which is still only a concept in many parts of the world. As of now, 13 percent of the total energy usage in Tibet, which would boil down to a numerical 9 MW, is derived from solar energy. Future plans are equally bright, since huge investments are yet in the pipeline. 220 million Yuan have been put into a solar facility which is supposed to blaze out a good 10 MW. The list does not stop here! Two more megaprojects, of capacity 30 MW and 2000KW are already in process.
Bigger projects apart, facilities like passive solar buildings have already seen their actualization. These buildings have the capacity to heat up the inner temperatures, with a potential difference of 10 degree Celsius as compared to the outer environment in winter, all by using solar energy. The same buildings can reflect back sunlight, thus reducing the heat inside the walls during summers. The arrangement heavily reduces the need for air conditioners for temperature adjustments. Of course the role of air conditioners for air circulation cannot be excluded. It seems like the Government has truly bucked up its lions to give a shoot to its fame as a potent contributor to the global scenario, of course, covering all aspect. Tibet, also acclaimed as the Buddha haven, has seen a drastic alteration in the lifestyle of its residents, all because of the application of solar energy. While the place was highly dependent on conventional energy sources in the past, it has become equally independent on the derivations from the earth’s crust. They (Tibetans) have looked up to the sky and have got just what they wanted, a pure, blissful life in the lap of Mother Nature.
This move should serve as a torch holder for the rest of the world, where the reason as to why is it taking such long time for the idea of mass application of the solar concept is taking such a huge lot of time, still remains only a guess. As for me, I have thoroughly enjoyed the process of how Tibet, being a holy, religious, pious place known throughout the world for lamas and monks, popularly called the land of Buddha has gone ahead of the rest of human civilization and proven itself to be the superior land, not only from the religious point of view but also as a well wisher of human race as a whole.
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About the author: Alia haley is a blogger who is very fond of gadgets. She enjoys hacking from
software modification point of view. She is always into buying new gadgets upcoming in the market and
currently planning to buy an android tablet. These days she is busy in writing on eco friendly gadgets and recycled materials.
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Wednesday, May 25th, 2011
Various occasions every year would come and some family gatherings are held into our home. I have a very closely knitted family and we spend a great deal of time during weekends on our yards doing some cooking and bonding. It was the main reason why I was able to purchase the best light source for our yard. I was really worried about the rising cost of electricity and had second thoughts of permanently install yard lights. Another compelling reason that I had was to achieve effective home security without splurging too much into the electrical bills.
I came across outdoor solar lights when I can and thought of doing some research through the internet. I am really worried about how effective it is to be used on our own yard. My wife has a really creative mind and she does a lot of landscaping in our yard. What she did was dig deeper if there are available yard lights powered by the solar power technology so that we can still incorporate it into the theme and design of our home.
I installed the solar powered yard lights at home to go with the holidays and events the entire year. We use a lot of various solar lights at home for Halloween, Christmas and even 4th of July. Other family gatherings were a constant favorite to be held on our yard.
Other homeowners in the community village that I live in are awed by how beautiful our yard looks like during the night. Because of these a lot of people went through utilizing solar energy technology at their own homes.Think of the convenience and the bucks you save for using solar panels!
Another good reason for using solar yard lights is its convenience and easy installation. You practically no need to worry of wirings from the main source at home and the lawn light source. All you have to do is identify the spot where you want to illuminate and accentuate when night time falls.
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Wednesday, August 25th, 2010
in order to overcome global warming, we should have a good plan to make a save house, save house means house that had low consumption on electricity and so many other, check the picture below for green house art sample,
Posted in design, family, gadget, green | 1 Comment »
Saturday, June 5th, 2010
Cell phone concept designs are often crazy yet cool. When concept phones are also eco-friendly, then their awesomeness rocks the charts. These 15 futuristic green gadgets are creatively cool concept cell phones and accessories that we’d love to see developed and on the mainstream market soon.
Wearable Solar-Powered Leaf Phone Charges on the Go
Designers Seungkyun Woo and Junyi Heo were inspired by photosynthesis. The Leaf cell phone is a wearable bracelet phone that accumulates power from solar cells on its front panel. As a backup, it also can be recharged with electricity. The Leaf offers high-tech fashion and function, however its main objective is to “remind people that they can contribute to energy efficiency.” (more…)
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Sunday, March 28th, 2010
Here is tips to make our heat pump work efficiently. With snow possible accumulating in your town, you see people shoveling out their cars and sidewalks, but here’s an efficiency tip for you – don’t neglect your heat pump.
Be sure to clear an area around your heat pump so that it can ‘breathe’.
Just like we told you back in the fall to clear the leaves from out and around your unit, don’t forget to shovel a path around it during wintry weather.
As temps rise during the day, snow begins to melt but will refreeze at night to ice. This ice can build up inside and prohibit the fan from running. Heat pumps will go through an automatic defrost cycle but be sure to inspect them for ice buildup.
There are also heat pump deflectors, but once again, don’t place too close to the heat pump as to restrict the air flow it needs.
sources : http://e-conserve.blogspot.com/2010/02/another-heat-pump-efficiency-tip.html
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Saturday, March 27th, 2010
Everywhere you turn in Indonesia there is evidence that society in general has lost touch with its roots. The pursuit of temporal wealth by the rich coupled with the pursuit of a living wage by the poor has devastated our environment. There is little recognition that our very survival depends on mutual and communal action.
The needs of the community at large are rarely, if ever, addressed. These have nothing to do with sectarian interests, be they along religious or political fault lines because myopic greed recognises no demarcation. Cities lack parks, those essential green lungs for our physical well-being whilst their replacements, air-conditioned malls, contribute to global warming, increased flooding, traffic woes and mental malaise. And there is no co-ordinated public transport system, at any level. The devastation of forests along the shores and in the hinterlands has resulted in increased slaughter from the elements. Mangroves no longer impede erosion or tsunamis and tropical forests no longer provide clean water or safe havens for protected species. Landslips and floods kill hundreds every year.
The plundering of irreplaceable natural resources puts communities at risk – think Freeport and Sidoarjo.
As Jakartass, I’ve commented on various issues, given links where appropriate and offered moral support. Other bloggers, such as Indcoup, Greenstump and Yosef Ardi, have occasionally touched on environmental issues. We all have a personal perspective on life here so it is rare that we’ve found an issue we can simultaneously blog. There is only so much an individual can do.
In my researches of various posts about the environment in Indonesia I have come to realise that there is a wealth of information, skills and wisdom on tap, but these taps need to be turned on.
Discussions with a number of online colleagues have shown that there is scope for collective consciousness raising. As regular contributors to hyperspace, aware of its power to network, we have registered the domain greenindonesia.net . This is intended to be a wiki-type blog, albeit with a WordPress template.
There are a number of issues which need to be addressed, such as:
Transport
Recycling
Fair Trade
Food Issues
Urbanisation
Eco Tourism
Nuclear Power
Marine ecology
Rain Forest Action
Parks and Playspaces …..
No one person or organisation can address all of these issues. For that reason, we invite interested individuals and organisations to co-ordinate and edit sections of this blog.
Posts could focus on issues, news, individuals or whatever seems to be relevant. It is our hope that in publishing the collective writings focussed on what we believe constitute a sane future for Indonesia, we may be able to encourage society to actually work towards that future.
Will you join us?
Please visit green indonesia official website at www.greenindonesia.net
Jakartass jakartass@greenindonesia.net
Rambler rambler@greenindonesia.net
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Saturday, March 27th, 2010
Another day, another unnecessary loss of lives: 24 people killed and 10 still missing in floods and landslides on the small island of Tahuna off Indonesia’s Sulawesi. The date is January 12, 2007.
At an alarming rate, Indonesia is replacing Bangladesh and India as the most disaster-prone nation on earth. Whenever the word Indonesia appears on the list of headlines on Yahoo News, chances are that another enormous – and often unnecessary – tragedy has occurred on one of the islands of this sprawling archipelago.
Airplanes are disappearing or sliding off the runways, ferries are sinking or simply decomposing on the high seas, trains crash or get derailed on the average of one per week Illegal garbage dumps bury desperate communities of scavengers under their stinking contents. Landslides are taking carton-like houses into ravines; earthquakes and tidal waves are swallowing up coastal cities and villages. Forest fires from Sumatra are choking huge areas of Southeast Asia.
The scope of disasters is on a scale so vast that they cannot be discounted simply as the nation’s bad luck or as the wrath of gods or nature. Corruption, incompetence and gross indifference on the part of ruling elites and government officials are to blame. Poverty, in combination with a dearth of sound public projects as well as kleptomania, is taking the lives of hundreds of thousands of desperate Indonesian men, women and children.
Since the 1965 U.S.-sponsored military coup that deposed Sukarno and installed the military regime of staunchly anti-communist and corrupt pro-market dictator Suharto, Indonesia has escaped serious scrutiny by the international media and governments. After Suharto was forced to step down in 1998, Indonesia has been hailed by the international media as an emerging and increasingly tolerant democracy: yet the only political parties allowed to compete in elections are those that are staunchly pro-business. (more…)
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