Nandu Green Earth Friendly Living

25 Best Ways to Green Your Green

"Going eco-friendly…..doesn’t that cost extra?"

Tired of hearing that line? So are we. So let’s bury this assumption once and for all! Here’s how to save a ton of cash.

1. Change to Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs.

LED lightbulbs will be greener, but right now they’re pricey – while CFLs are usually less than $2 each. And it’s a field of constant innovation.Between $15 and $50 per bulb over 5 years.

2. Buy a Solar Oven

Red-hot innovation. Remember burning holes in paper with a magnifying glass? These appliances focus the sun’s rays onto your food and cook it as thoroughly as a traditional oven – without using a spark of electricity. So simple you can even make them yourself.

These replace the standard convection ovens which use around $0.10 of electricity an hour – and then there’s gas.

3. Stop Using Washing Powder

There are mineral-salt-powered equivalents to washing powder, like the Ecoballs "flying saucers". And yes, they work. $200-$400 per 1000 washes.

4. Use a Programmable Thermostat

Over half of American homes don’t have them: that’s a lot of homes being heated when they don’t need to be. Install one today (say, a Ventstar Flat Stat) and watch your heating bills plummet.

Calculate your exact saving here (Microsoft Excel spreadsheet).

5. Avoid Gas-powered Lawnmowers

They’re wasteful and polluting – and avoidable. Use one of the newer brand of push reel mower - or, if you have some money to invest, solar-convert! With a gas-powered lawnmower, an hour’s grass-cutting is around 100 miles in your car.

UPDATE: While any gas savings are money in your pocket, the above statement refers to the pollution created by an hour’s grass-cutting  – here’s Science Daily on this.

6. Walk or Cycle to the Shops

You use the most fuel at low speeds and when you start your car. So short trips really aren’t worth it – cycle or walk instead. Give yourself longer to shop (you can cut down on gym time to balance things) – and carry less by shopping more often. With rising fuel prices, you can expect any fuel economy savings to grow and grow.

7. Only Start Your Car When You’re Ready to Drive It

Make sure everyone’s in before turning the key. And waiting for someone for more than 60 seconds? Kill the engine. You’re more likely to consume more fuel idling than restarting. It’s been estimated that idling Burger King customers waste 16 million gallons of gas a year.

8. Pack a Lunch

Prepacked sandwiches: all that plastic, and how much money? So make your own: it’s vastly cheaper and more fun (you get to choose the fillings). Personal estimate: Making my own – $15 /wk. Shop-bought – $30-50/wk.

9. Clothes: Let the Wind Do It for You

Tumble-drying needs huge amounts of energy (see below). So go for a combination of an eco-friendly spin dryer for when it’s raining, and washing lines (standard or fancy) for when the sun’s shining.

Tumble dryers use around 2.5 kwH of electricity per hour. Compared with the rest of your appliances, that’s huge. Dry naturally, and you’ll save $100s a year. Oh, and millions of tons of CO2.

10.  Kill the Lights

If your room’s a bit gloomy, don’t just reach for the lightswitch. Think about how to get more daylight into your room – whether simply by moving furniture around, or guiding the light in with sunpipes or mirrors. Banishing the lights for the night will have a significant impact on your electricity bill. Even turning them on an hour later than before will make a difference.

11. Harvest the Rain

Catch rainwater in water butts or more sophisticated arrangements, and you have a ready supply of water for anything except drinking (you’d need fairly expensive filtration to make it safe).

Up to half your water bill.

12. Grow Your Own

We want to see the return of Victory Gardens, using every neglected square inch of everyone’s back yard to grow vegetables. Food miles turn into food inches, and the results taste better than you could have imagined if you’re been eating the mass-produced variety. Also, buy locally produced food – it’s just other people’s Victory Gardens! Huge savings on grocery bills.

13. Unplug When You Go

There’s a great deal of concern about energy being invisibly wasted, particularly with modern devices that have a "standby" setting. So when you’ve finished with the electronic marvel of your choice – unplug it. Anything from $50 a year upwards per household is spent on keeping those little red LEDs glowing.

14. Heat Your Water through the Ground

It’s cutting-edge, so it’s certainly not cheap – but ground source heat pumps are the next big thing in eco-friendly house design. They run some of your water supply through the ground where it picks up natural geothermal energy. Result: toasty-hot water for free! Your central heating bill will evaporate.

15. A/C Is Better than Heating

If you can find an alternative to using your electric A/C unit, use it – but remember that it’s much less eco-hostile to cool the house down than it is to heat it up. So when the house gets cold, think layers layers layers. See it as a challenge – to make your Winter electricity bill lower than the summer one!

UPDATE: Thanks to Dougal for pointing out that despite news reports to the contrary, the claim that air-conditioning is more cost-effective than heating has been repudiated by RealClimate.

16. Wash Colder

As Allison noted a while back, 90% of the energy used to wash clothes goes into heating the water. Wash on a cooler setting, and you save energy…

…and that saves you money on your bill. Couldn’t be easier.

17. Eat Less Meat

Meat is the most expensive item on the average food bill. It’s therefore ironic that we eat too much of it – and no, I’m not vegetarian (although that’s an excellent argument against meat as well). Meat is a delicacy, not a staple – so don’t be afraid of having a few no-meat days during the week.

500g T-bone steak – $20. Just sayin’.

18. Waste Not, Spend Not

If you’re the average American, you buy four bags of groceries, and you throw one of them straight in the trash. No, really. So learn to make the most of the food you buy: soups, stews, freezing, composting, you name it. One quarter (or more specifically, 27%) of your food bill, right there.

19. When It Comes to Technology, Newest Usually Means Most Expensive

With technology, everyone loves shiny and new things – particularly us men (a genetic flaw, perhaps). But if there’s a second-hand, perfectly functioning alternative, we should go with it. So become a retrophiliac, and always try to buy last year’s technology, first- or second-hand. Regarding full retail price, look at what happened with the iPhone.

20. Make Fashion Fit You

There’s no cutting corners on quality clothing – except when a professional tailor is doing it for you. If you want to look fabulous on a budget, trawl your city’s second-hand options and find items that are near your size – then have them adjusted. A guy’s perspective: in this manner I saved $200 on a suit last year.

21. Work in the 21st Century

The Information Revolution has changed the way we work. Telecommuting is a much cheaper option to spending 3 hours in traffic. Videoconferencing beats the real thing in bucks. So find ways to avoid those costly long hauls to and from work. (Even if the company’s paying!). Or are you saying that your own time isn’t valuable to you?

22. Shop in the 21st Century

Always support your local traders – they’re where you’ll most likely to get the best-quality goods. But when it comes to the harder-to-get items…shop online. You save on packaging and (depending on the items) you save on gas, because it’s delivered to your door by someone who was on the road anyway.

And yes, shopping online is almost always cheaper – if not quite as tactile and fun!

23. Carry a Tote Bag

It prevents urban tumbleweed. It’s stylish. And it’s tougher than those flimsy supermarket  bags…

…which you’re increasingly being asked to pay for (by companies that lack the nerve to ban them altogether).

24. Clean the House with Cents, not Dollars

Household cleaners are expensive. So don’t buy them. Go for the natural, non-polluting options that are just as effective, available everywhere and cost next to nothing. Miracle cleaners miraculously wipe out your budget. Lemons, on the other hand, are cheap.

and finally…

25. Go Green.

In the bad old days, you paid extra for an eco-conscious lifestyle. Now, eco-friendliness is the norm – and in more and more cases, not choosing green is the way to overspend. Choose green, save money, help the planet. There is no catch.

Courtesy: EcoSalon

Standing Rib Roast

Although this recipe is suggested for a holiday event, I prepared it for a family dinner. It is delicious and I wanted to share it with all my readers. Please post your comments, suggestions or favorite recipe.

We all like to try new things, so let us know your favorites.

Christmas Standing Rib Roast

Thanksgiving is a holiday in which turkey really shines. Many of you would rather not deal with another turkey just four weeks after Thanksgiving. Some of you might still have some frozen leftovers. The Christmas meal is a celebratory meal, and as such, celebration food is a natural at the Christmas dinner table. Enter, the standing rib roast.

Unsurprisingly, the standing rib roast is cut from the rib section of the animal. More specifically, it comprises 7 ribs - ribs 6-12. If you were to cut the meat apart into steaks, you would have rib-eye steak. You can purchase rib roast in sizes ranging from two ribs up to all seven, although for more even roasting, you’ll want to purchase at least a three to four bone roast.

When deciding how large a roast you’ll need (how many ribs), figure on 1 rib per every two to three people. For example, if you’ll be serving eight people, you will want to purchase a 4-rib roast to ensure generous servings. If you will be serving other meats at the dinner, you could purchase a 3-rib roast.

Meat Grades

Get the best piece of meat you can find and afford. Prime is the most expensive but will have the most marbling and therefore flavor. Marbled meat has the thin lines of intramuscular fat running throughout the meat. This may turn some people off, but this fat gives the beef extra flavor. Only 2% of all beef produced in the US is grated prime so it is hard to find and like I said, very expensive.

Your next choice is Choice. Most of your higher end supermarkets and places like Costco sell Choice but be sure to look on the label to be sure. I recommend you avoid Select grade.

Dry Aged Beef

If you can find dry-aged meat and want to spend the bucks, you may want to give it a try. It has a distinctive taste that not everyone enjoys so I would recommend you try dry-aged beef for the first time on a small cut of beef and decide for yourself. Since some bacterial action has started to break down the tissues, the meat will be very tender. The flavor will also be concentrated because some water will have evaporated from the meat.

Prepping the Roast

Do not do much, if any, extra trimming to the roast. You’ll want at least 1/4 to 1/2 fat cap covering the top of the meat. The idea is that the sear will happen to the fat and bone, leaving nothing but luscious, juicy medium-rare meat inside. Too much trimming will result in well-done meat near the surface, and you may as well have bought a less expensive piece of meat.

Roasting Standing Rib Roast

There are many schools of thought when it comes to roasting a standing rib roast. Some people like to start low and finish high. Some like to start high and finish low. Still others will instruct you to roast at an extremely low temperature for an extremely long period of time. You choose the method that works for you. I like the British method of starting in a relatively high oven and finishing at a relatively low temperature.

A standing rib roast has a wonderful flavor all its own. It certainly doesn’t need a lot of heavy spicing or marinades. Your roast will benefit from just a simple rub with salt and pepper to enhance, not hide, the flavor of the meat.

Standing Rib Roast

Ingredients

1 bone-in rib roast

Canola oil

Sea salt

Freshly ground pepper

Take the meat out of the refrigerator at least one hour -two would be better - before roasting.

Position the oven rack in the bottom third of the oven. Preheat oven to 425° F.

Rub the meat all over, including the bones, with a thin coating of canola or other neutral oil. Liberally coat the meat - fat, bones and all - with kosher salt and black pepper. Insert a probe thermometer into the thickest part of the meat, making sure it is not touching the bone.

Place the meat, fat side up, on an oiled rack in a shallow roasting pan. Roast at 425° F for 20 minutes. Without removing the roast, reduce the oven temperature to 325° F.

Continue roasting until the internal temperature of the roast reaches 120° F. Remove the roast from the oven, loosely tent it with foil, and let the meat rest for at least 15 minutes. The temperature will continue to rise, and the final temperature will be about 130° F. This will result in a nice medium-rare roast.

If you like your meat more towards medium, remove the roast when it reaches an internal temperature of 130-135° F. Again, let the meat rest for at least 15 minutes. This allows for carryover cooking and the redistribution of the juices and will result in a moist roast.

The larger your roast, the more carryover cooking will occur. In a smaller roast, the temperature may only rise 5 degrees. With a larger roast, you could get as much as 10-15 degrees in carryover cooking, so plan accordingly when setting your target temperatures.

Courtesy: Reluctant Gourmet

Join A Voyage To Antarctica

Quark Expeditions is searching for an Official Blogger to join a voyage to Antarctica. Participate in our competition for your chance to win an expedition for two to the Antarctic Peninsula aboard Lyubov Orlova, from February 20 to March 3, 2010. The package, which includes airfare from your nearest international gateway, is worth USD$20,000! 

To earn your chance to win, post your entry, and convince the world that you have the right stuff to be Quark's Official Blogger. If your entry earns the greatest number of votes, you and a traveling companion could be off for the adventure of a lifetime. We are looking for raw talent, with natural enthusiasm that pops out when their post is read. A keen sense of observation is required but blogging experience is not necessary. 

Good luck. We look forward to reading your entry. 

The Quark Expeditions Team 

HINT: You are welcome to campaign for your submission. Share your entry with your friends and encourage them to vote for you. 

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QUARK EXPEDITIONS 
47 Water Street, Norwalk, CT, USA, 06854
Tel: +1 (203) 852 5580 Fax: +1 (203) 857 0427
Toll free from anywhere in North America: 1-800-356-5699 

Gardening Tips

Spring has arrived in Montana and I am busy working on my flower beds and garden. Please comment and share your gardening advice and tips - it is fun to learn from each other. Happy Gardening!

Tips on Growing Flowers:

1. The best time to transplant your Daylilies are in the springtime or early fall seasons.

2. The best time to fertilize your perennial flower beds are in the early spring.

3. To keep the pesky ants away from your house or flower bed use paprika, chili pepper and even coffee grounds to deter those little critters.
4. The best deterrent to the weed problem, is to weed your garden on a regular basis so they don’t buildup and cause harm to your young plants. Use mulch to help control the weed problems.
5. If you buy your Annuals flowers in compartmentalized plastic flats, their roots are usually bound in the pot.  So when you plant them be sure to loosen and untangle their roots.  But be sure not to break the soil ball.
6. When you prune any tall and or spindly plants be sure to prune them to ½ of their original height in order for them to be more productive and beautiful by having more flowers.
7. Be sure to spend quality time preparing your soil bed for your perennials.  Remember that your perennial beds must be tilled or spaded 6” in depth at least 2 weeks before you begin planting.
8. You should fertilize your flower beds before planting or at the planting time and be sure to repeat the process each month for healthier flower beds and better flower production.
9. Before you plant your garden, be sure to take the time to properly design the details of your garden.  It’s helpful to write it all down on paper, including the types of flowers you are going to plant.  Make a diagram and then follow it.

Tips on Growing Your Vegetables:

1. If you want to plant tomatoes, when you go to the nursery look for plants in 4 “ pots that look stocky and that are about six to eight weeks old.  Be sure the plants have no flowers or fruit on them.

2. To take the bitter taste out of the cucumbers cut a small piece off both ends and rub that piece against each end.  That should do it for you.
3. Take the stem of a tomato plant and bury it and you will find that the stem will sprout a bunch of new roots which will help your tomato plant grow tall and healthy.
4. Do not over feed your tomato plants. If you put too much nitrogen in the soil you will produce a large lush tomato plant but it will hardly have any tomatoes.
5. Be sure to pick off the very first tomato plant’s flowers.  This will allow the plant to finish forming its root system first, and then it will produce great fruit for you.

Tips on Your Trees and Shrubs:

1. If you plant your trees in soil that has good drainage, you should soak the trees 2 to 4 hours twice a week for the first 2 or 3 months’ and then on a weekly basis for the rest of the first year.  This will help your tress establish their root system and help them not to dry out.

2. Be sure to fertilize your trees at planting.  This will maintain their health and help establish their root system.  Be sure to use fertilizers high in phosphorous.
3. Be sure to use stakes for trees taller than 3 feet. 
4. Keep you trees staked for the first 2-3 years.
5. Prune your trees as often as you can. It helps maintain  their shape and their health.
6. Be sure to select the type of tree that best suits your garden and backward.  Choose smaller tress for smaller areas and space. 
7. Do not plant your trees too shallow; otherwise their root system may rise to the surface.
8. Do no plant tress close to patios, concrete slabs or your house as it may interfere with your foundation and water pipes.

Remember to ask questions if you are unsure how best to proceed.  Ask your local gardener supplier or your nursery person.  They just love gardening and will love to help you.

Courtesy: Back Yard Garden

A Keeper

A Keeper 

Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away. I can see them now, Dad in trousers, work shirt and a hat; and Mom in a house dress, lawn mower in one hand, and dish-towel in the other.  It was the time for fixing things: a curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress. Things we keep. 

It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy.  All that re-fixing, re-heating leftovers, renewing; I wanted just once to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there'd always be more. 

But when my mother died, and I was standing in that clear morning light, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any more. 

Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away...never to return. So... While we have it, it's best we love it... And care for it... And fix it when it's broken... And heal it when it's sick. 

This is true: For family and friends and marriage... And old cars... And children with bad report cards... Dogs and cats with bad hips... And aging parents... And grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it. Some things we keep, like a best friend that moved away or a classmate we grew up with. 

There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special... And so, we keep them close! 

I received this from someone who thinks I am a 'keeper,' so I'm sharing it with the people I think of in the same way. Good friends are like stars... You don't always see them, but you know they are always there 

Trail to Machu Picchu

For several years it has been my dream to trave to Machu Picchu - I was delighted to find this very informative and insightful post and share it with you. Have you hiked the Inca Trail? If so, your comments and observations would be appreciated.

Peru Trekking: Inca Trail to Mach Picchu

I just returned to the United States from one of our new trips launched this year, Trekking in Peru. The lost city of Machu Picchu is by far the most famous travel destination in Peru and the four-day Inca Trail is known worldwide as one of the greatest adventure travel experiences on the globe.

This was an Exploratory Adventure for Zephyr, which means we were contracting with a local outfit and, although we spent many hours researching the destination and working with the local outfitter to create a fantastic trip, I had not actually been on the Inca Trail before myself. I must admit I was a bit leery of the popularity of the Inca Trail and what that would do to the experience. In fact, I had already scheduled to spend extra time after the trip to research a new, alternative trek.

Our group of 17 met in Lima, took a flight as a group to Cusco, and immediately ventured into the Sacred Valley of the Incas which runs along the Urubamba River between Cusco and Machu Picchu. We spent several days in the valley, visiting Incan ruins, taking short hikes, and eating way too much Peruvian food. The real goal, however, for these two days is to acclimatize to the high altitude of the Peruvian highlands in preparation for our trek on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

The Peruvians realize they have a tourism gem in Machu Picchu and an adventure travel gem in the Inca Trail. While there are thousands of miles of Incan trails in Peru, to step onto the “Inca Trail” which runs from the Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu requires a permit. The government limits permits to 500 per day.

500 per day sounds like a huge number to me and was the chief cause of my concern that the Inca Trail was over-hyped and over-visited. I envisioned massive numbers of people tripping over themselves on the trail, competing for limited camping spots at night, and generally ruining the experience.

It wasn’t that way at all.

All trekkers are now required to be with a local guide, which is not only great for local employment but an excellent way to make sure trekkers have as little impact on the local environment as possible. In addition, most everyone follows the system of “luxury trekking” with porters, cooks, and camp staff. The upshot is that of the 500 permits per day, perhaps only 220 actually go to trekkers.

Our group had two guides (Juan and Santiago), a cook, assistant cook, camp assistant, and over 20 porters! This was indeed luxury camping, with a cooking tent, dining tent, tea in the morning delivered to our tent doors, hot water to wash each afternoon, and delicious meals served three times per day. I think all of us were wowed by this, including those who trekked with Zephyr in Tibet (this was even more luxurious) but especially those who were new to camping.

We in the Zephyr office spent a lot of time finding the right local partner for our Peru trip and we ended up with one of the best around. Our local operator is small, run by a great guy who treats our groups with priority importance, and has a few practices that are simply superior to other local companies. Among my favorite was this: Each morning on the trail, while the other trekkers left early to seemingly compete for first place, our group took our time, enjoyed breakfast, and was almost always the last to leave the designated campsite. This meant the large number of trekkers was at the worst of times not an issue and for most of the trip invisible to our group.

That left the Inca Trail practically to ourselves. The Trail presents its main challenge on Day 2, rising up to Dead Woman Pass at almost 14,000 feet in elevation. This was daunting to some and a challenge for many. After that, it passes ruin after ruin, each somewhat unique and always fascinating. Juan and Santiago took us through each ruin and we learned about the Inca’s life, culture, and architecture. The views throughout were incredible and the trail itself is amazing, a combination of local dirt paths and the fitted stonework of the Inca masons. Camp life was fun, consisting of great meals one would never expect in the middle of the wild and stimulating conversations among our group and with our guides. No words I write here or photos I can post will do justice to the experience.

By the fourth day, everyone was a little sore, a little tired, and ready for a shower and bed. We made a push up one last hill through the Sun Gate for our first view of Machu Picchu. Hanging out above the lost city for over an hour, we took in the view of this amazing place. To be honest, however, I think many of our group felt as if Machu Picchu was the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae, nice but not necessary. I felt that way myself.

We had just spent four days on the Inca Trail. We had strained and perspired, enjoyed wonderful views and explored amazing ruins, bonded with each other, and in essence lived the highs and lows not just of the trail but of life itself. We had lived the Inca Trail for four days and I, for one, thought of it not anymore as a great adventure travel destination but as a means to understanding the Incas and Peru itself.

We did visit Machu Picchu the next day and then spent time in wonderful Cusco but the experience of the trail remained with us as the highlight of the trip. The Inca Trail is difficult and not for everyone but any concerns I had about it being overcrowded or past its adventure prime vanished in the mists of the Andean mountains. The Inca Trail is indeed one of the great adventures on earth. We’ll be back next year. (Thanks to Janet Hoffman for the first photo.)

Courtesy: Zepher Trekking

10 Popular Tourism Attractions About to Vanish!

For those of us who live in the Northwest, it is very troubling to realize that the Kootenai River is still considered on a list of endangered destinations. We all need to become involved to save this pristine eco-system. Please enter your comments or suggestions.

10 Popular Tourism Attractions About to Vanish!

By Tourism-Review.Com

Published February 24, 2009

Several natural as well as cultural and architectonic treasures might disappear. Now Frommers—a professional travel portal—has made a collection of destinations one should see quickly before they vanish. These ten sites, Tourism-review.com reports, make up a carefully chosen list of destinations for eco-conscious travelers to enjoy.

1. Babylon, Iraq

There is not much left of the once gorgeous city of Babylon–barely a mound of broken mud-brick buildings and debris in the fertile Mesopotamian plain in Iraq. One of the biblical cities of great religious importance for the Christian part of the world has been damaged by war on one hand and rush economical and architectonical development on the other.

2. Fenway Park, USA

Fenway Park, a name almost entirely unknown in Europe, is the home stadium of the Boston Red Sox baseball team. It has served as such since its opening in 1912 and is thus the oldest stadium in the Major League Baseball. The club officials have one or two times thought about moving the club to a more modern ballpark, yet the fans have always put an end to these thoughts by expressing their disapproval. Yet a stadium with wooden seats and hand-operated score board will probably not last long and massive reconstructions are foreseen.

3. Gu Gong (The Forbidden City), China

This vast complex located in the middle of Beijing is more than half a millennium old. More than seven million visitors long to see the architectonical gem every year, most of them the Chinese in search for their history and identity. The government, who likes their nation to care for their past, cannot afford to close the whole area for the much needed reconstruction. Section by section gets closed so that at least the necessary problems can be fixed.

4. Kootenai River, USA

Kootenai River is a tributary to Columbia River, flowing from British Columbia to Montana and Idaho. A number of dams built on the river has severely damaged the wetlands in Idaho, an important stop for many vagrant birds like geese. Except for the construction of dams, agriculture has also left deep scars in the local nature. Recently, things have been getting a little bit better though: the Nature Conservancy in cooperation with local companies and volunteers have started a hopefully successful restoration of the wetlands.

5. Little Green Street, UK

”Little” is the most significant part of this London street’s name; there are only eight 18th century houses on one side of it and two on the other. The street that has survived both world wars unchanged is now endangered by the unwise decision of the local authority. As in many other cities–also in London–developers are trying to fill every free square centimetre of space by a block of flats, a parking lot or a shopping mall. Here, the construction would not endanger the house itself, but rather the 2.5 metre wide street as a whole; all the hard machinery would have to drive through here to get to the parking lot-to-be.

6. Lord Howe Island, Australia

Lord Howe Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean 600 kilometres east from Australia. It is a distinct terrestrial eco-region, known as the Lord Howe Island sub-tropical forests, where many endemic species of animals, especially birds, used to live. Since humans arrived on the island in 1788, more than half of the originally recorded bird species and sub-species are extinct. Either due to reckless hunting or due to illnesses and predators brought to the island by the first “colonists”. Nowadays, the island’s 350 residents are trying to keep it as clean as possible, the worst threats being oil and chemical sea and air pollution.

7. Michoacan Monarch Biosphere Reserve, Mexico

Monarch butterflies are extremely sensitive to air pollution, cold and wet conditions. That is why they need a stable stop over on their long migration from cold winters in Canada to warm Mexican weather. Michocan is one of their most favourite places to rest on their way, yet it is being destroyed slowly; mainly by poor Mexicans who burn down the local forests and denude the countryside to get more soil to earn their living from.

8. Taj Mahal, India

Taj Mahal is one of India’s most popular tourist attractions. It welcomes  between two million and four million visitors annually, more than 200,000 of them from overseas. All air polluting vehicles are nowadays prohibited from the area and tourists can either walk to the monument or use an electric bus. Yet the huge amounts of people breathing, sweating and touching things they are not supposed to touch have left the building damaged and the limitations of their number seems to be the only way for the palace to recover.

9. The Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

Galapagos is an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, near the equator. It was here that Charles Darwin made major progress in his theory of evolution of species. Discovering this tropical paradise may have been good for humanity, yet considerably worse for the local fauna and flora, that suffered serious damages by crowds of inconsiderate tourist. Due to growing population of the islands and many evasive species brought by them from overseas, the local wildlife is in constant danger.

10. The Pyramids of Giza

The pyramids of Giza are probably the best-known monuments worldwide. Many people have visited them and almost everyone has at least heard of them. Popularity has its pros as well as its cons though. Too many tourists, the unstoppable, confused and constant growth of the nearby Cairo have brought air pollution, tons of garbage and armies of the poor trying to steal a piece of the monuments and sell it later. All these contribute to the slow and unnoticed breakdown of the pyramids.

** Little Green Street picture by Nigel Cox CC License 2.0

A “Spherical Tree House”

A “Spherical Tree House”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The “Spherical Tree House” concept borrows heavily from sailboat construction and rigging practice. It’s a marriage of tree house and sailboat technology. Wooden spheres are built much like a cedar strip canoe or kayak. Suspension points are similar to the chain plate attachments on a sailboat. Stairways hang from a tree much like a sailboat shroud hangs from the mast.

Spherical architecture has many unconventional features. Conventional buildings separate walls, ceiling and floor with hard lines. In a sphere the walls and ceiling merge into one. The function changes but the form remains the same. It is a unified structure with one continuous wall. I call this uniwall construction. There are only 2 sides to a sphere, inside and outside.

Bio-Mimicry

In bio-mimicry fashion, the nut like shape attaches to a web of rope. The web connects to which ever strong points are available. This replaces the foundation of a conventional building. A tree house sphere uses the forest for its foundation. The occupants have a vested interest in the health of the grove. The supporting web also mirrors our connectedness to our eco-system. Each sphere has four attachments on top and another four anchor points on the boom. Each attachment is strong enough to carry the entire sphere and contents.

A suspended sphere is tethered by 3 nearly vertical ropes to each of 3 separate trees. This distributes the load evenly over the 3 trees and results in a stable hang. Like an inverted three-legged stool, there will be almost equal tension in each of the three suspension ropes. The sphere resides in the center of the triangle formed by the 3 trees. It can be slung from 5 to 100′ off the ground, depending on the size of the trees. The triangle formed by 3 old trees was called a sacred grove in the druids tradition. Each grove was influenced by the type and age of the trees. I’ve found that to be my experience as well. The flavour of a grove changes considerably with the type of trees.

A sphere is accessed by a spiral stairway and short suspension bridge. The two lower back suspension points of the sphere are tied horizontally to the two back trees, to keep the suspension bridge from sagging when it is walked on. The door faces the “door tree” and the suspension bridge connects the two. A helical stairway spirals up or down from the suspension bridge to the ground or next level.

Externally the spherical shape is well adapted to life in the forest. A hazard of life in the forest is trees and branches falling in a strong wind or ice storm. A sphere distributes any impact stress throughout the skin and resists puncture or cracking. Like a ping pong ball or a nut, it’s light with a tough skin. The suspension ropes which stretch also absorb some of the force.

The suspension concept is also bio-mimicry. The idea is to have the sphere and web function naturally in its environment. If something really big, like a tree, falls through the web then some strands will break and let it pass through. The sphere remains suspended by the remaining strands. A major disaster like that is not likely, but possible. Everything including spiral stairways and suspension bridges are hung from ropes. Trees are protected where the spiral stairways hug the trees and ropes pass around the trees. The spheres are well adapted to life in a large mature forest.

More detailed photos of the interior feature of both wooden and fiberglass spheres can be viewed at:

Free Spirit Spheres

More Photos

Watch Out For Chiggers

Chiggers are one of the most annoying, itchy and painful critters that I have ever encountered in nature. Some people say they were invented by the Devil himself; I believe it!  

Tiny, almost invisible, chiggers are more than annoying. The six-legged tiny chigger larvae attack prospectors, picnickers, hikers, fishermen and hunters. They are normally encountered in low damp areas, but often inhabit higher ground.

Spring, summer and fall are chigger season, so if you spend time in the outdoors you are most likely familiar with chiggers. They are almost impossible to see and one does not feel the bite so you do know that they are on your skin until the nasty red bumps appear. The bumps do not appear for several hours, often as long as twenty four hours after exposure. 

Once on your skin they seek out folds in the skin or places where the skin is thin, like wrists and ankles. They will also stop traveling when they reach a clothing barrier, so often the horribly itchy bumps show up around your collar or cuffs. They really do not bite, rather they attach themselves to the skin and then inject saliva that contains a digestive enzyme that breaks down the skin cells which the chigger drinks. Yuck!

The best way to deal with chiggers is to avoid them if possible by wearing long sleeved clothing, long pants and socks and boots. They will live on the skin for several days, but will wash off, so it's a good idea to take a soapy shower after spending time in the woods or tall grass or weeds. Bug spray helps some but is not always effective in repelling chiggers, so be aware.

Facts On Chiggers

More Chigger Facts

Avoid Ticks That May Carry Lyme Disease

Now that Spring has finally arrived in the high country, my thoughts have turned to my plans for a summer of gold prospecting and metal detecting in the mountains of Montana.

As I gather my gear, repair and ready my equipment, I am thinking of a woman I know, Stacy, my sister's best friend. Stacy will not be enjoying the outdoors this summer. Stacy is fighting a courageous up-hill battle with Lyme Disease. Lyme disease is a very serious bacterial infection caused by a tick and it affects animals and humans. It's symptoms are awful, chills, fever, muscle pain and a whole array of nasty events.

Eighteen months ago, Stacy, a vivacious, slender and energetic woman in her early 40's, loved to trap shoot, camp and explore; today she can not comb her own hair, feed herself or stand or sit for any length of time. She is tethered to her home by a continuous IV-drip, antibiotics to fight the Lyme Disease that is withering her body, sapping her energy and breaking her spirit.

Lyme Disease (tick-borne borreliosis, Lyme arthritis)

Other Tick Borne Diseases

Tick Borne Rickettsial Diseases

Spring and early summer are prime tick seasons; I am making my summer plans with a sad, special awareness of the risk of Lyme Disease. I also want to avoid the other overly-friendly insects such as mosquitos, gnats, flies, centipedes and scorpions; both outdoors and in my home.

I do everything possible to live a green lifestyle; so no toxins or chemicals. I have found cedar, citronella or eucalyptus essential oils to be great deterrents. Cedar oil sprayed around window and door frames repels spiders, mosquitos, flies and termites. I have also found that if tansy is allowed to grow around the house, the bugs seem to stay away.

I encourage all our readers to take every precaution against this devastating disease. Avoid ticks and plan ahead. Please post your comments, prevention suggestions and remedies.

WHAT PRECAUTIONS CAN I TAKE?

Educate yourself about Lyme disease, and try not to get bitten by ticks. More specifically:

• Avoid wooded, brushy, and grassy areas, especially in May, June, and July. (Contact the local health department or park/extension service for information on the prevalence of ticks in specific areas).
• Wear light-colored clothing so that you can see ticks that get
  on you.
• Wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts.
• Wear shoes that cover the entire foot.
• Tuck pant legs into socks or shoes, and tuck shirts into pants.
• Wear a hat for extra protection.
• Spray insect repellent containing DEET on clothes and exposed skin other than the face, or treat clothes with permethrin, which kills ticks on contact.
• Walk in the center of trails to avoid brush and grass.
• Remove your clothing, and wash and dry them at high temperatures after being outdoors.
• Do a careful body check for ticks after outdoor activities. 

Top Five Tips to Avoid Deer Tick Bites That Can Cause Lyme Disease By: Heather Flournoy It's spring in New England and New York, the leaves are finally out, the songbirds are back, people are out walking in the mornings and the garden shops and farmer's markets are open again. But along with the beauty of spring comes a danger that keeps many people from walking the trails, and should give others pause. Deer ticks, the common carrier of borrelia bacteria which causes Lyme disease, abound in May and June in the Northeast, and now is the most common time for bites from infected nymph stage ticks because of their small size. I once had Lyme disease, which took nearly a year to recover from. I consider myself lucky not to have ongoing symptoms like my neighbor suffers with. Every time I step outside I consider the risk of getting a tick bite. But it doesn't stop me from going out, it just makes me more cautious, and has inspired me to try out different methods for prevention. Prevention is the best method. Here are my top five tips to prevent deer tick bites, based on what has worked for me. The vigilant use of these methods seems to have effectively eliminated tick bites for myself and my family. 1) Garlic. I take garlic in the morning during tick season. I even use a powdered form for my horse and the number of ticks I find on him has decreased significantly. I used to find several ticks per day, and now I find several per week. For me, I find that fresh garlic works best. I make a dressing in the morning out of yogurt, lemon juice, 1 clove fresh garlic and salt, and put it on my scrambled eggs. If I have to meet with clients in the morning and am worried about the garlic smell, I take Kyolic aged garlic capsules instead. I also read once that garlic breath is caused by 'missing' some of the garlic when you brush, so after eating it I floss, brush and use a tongue scraper to get the smell out. 2) Cats and Dogs. Studies show pet owners are more at risk for tick bites and contracting infectious tick borne diseases. As soon as my cat comes back with his first tick of the spring, I move him outdoors, since he is extremely unhappy being locked indoors all summer. I know it sounds a bit harsh, but I can't risk my family's health for my cat's comfort. I have a vestibule where he can come in for shelter from the wind and rain, and I put food and water out and a bed. I have not found any full-proof way of keeping ticks off of him. Even the harsh chemicals that keep ticks from actually biting him, don't stop him from carrying a tick on the end of his hair and dropping it in the house. 3) Use the Dryer: When I come back from a walk, I strip and put my clothes immediately into the dryer on high heat for a full cycle. Studies have shown that ticks can survive washing but that high heat drying will kill them. While this is definitely not a eco-friendly choice, I haven't yet found an alternative. 4) Repellents: During tick season I use a combination of various products. I am very concerned about the adverse health effects of using DEET or other chemically-based repellents, so have been experimenting with alternatives to find the most effective. If I will be headed outdoors for the day, I use soybean oil after my morning shower as an all-over body moisturizer that also helps deter insect bites. Certain essential oils are very effective against ticks and studies show that catnip, rose geranium, and lemon eucalyptus oil are very effective against both ticks and mosquitoes. I sometimes make my own formulas, but since last fall have started using Buzz Away Extreme, which has worked well. Just be aware that while it repels mosquitoes for up to 8 hours, it needs to be reapplied after 2.5 hours for ticks. If headed into the deep woods, I will also spray my shoes, socks, pant legs, hat and hair. 5) Guinea hens. Guinea hens are the best thing I've found for keeping our yard clear of ticks. I know everyone can't do this, so I've listed it last. If you live in a rural area, get guinea hens. Since our hens grew up, our tick population has decreased significantly. Our hens roam free, eat ticks and other insects all day, and take care of themselves. The drawback is that they are a bit noisy, so don't get them if you aren't used to the sounds of farm animals.

Raising Guinea Fowl

Tick Eating Guinea Hen Weapon Against Lyme Disease

In addition you should do a thorough tick check every night. Check behind ears, back of head and neck, armpits and groin area. Set up a full length mirror in the bathroom, provide bright lighting and check your backside. Heather Flournoy is a writer, grassroots marketer and natural health expert who resides in Katonah, NY. Read her blog at http://www.KatonahGreen.com Article Source: Ezine Articles