Hopi are one of the oldest remaining ancient cultures in North America, known by many as Tibet of the West. Living in the arid Painted Desert where rainfall is minimum, the Hopi have perfected the art of creating thriving gardens known as dry farming. Their rich cultural traditions, dances, and spiritual practices give them a very special relationship with the finite resource of water. In 2006, Mexico City was hosting the World Water Forum, but it was being sponsored by corporations that aimed to profit off of the privatization and sale of bottled water. With waters from the around the world in gourds, the Hopi began a historic run from Northern Arizona to Mexico City as running is a traditional form of prayer for Hopi. The Hopi carried to the forum, the message that water is life and were met by indigenous chiefs from across Mexico in a historic gathering of North American indigenous people.
Continue reading... →Plastic bags are a global problem. Annually, some one trillion of them are used around the world, and fewer than 5 percent are actually recycled. This means a massive buildup of waste, litter, and chemical toxins in the environment. Material engineering professor Nicola Everitt, from The University of Nottingham in the U.K., thinks she might have the solution: Shrimp shells. For the past year, Everitt has been working to turn crushed up crustacean shells into biodegradable plastic bags so that they can be used in Egypt, a country with a severely inadequate waste disposal system. Right now, she and the team in Egypt are working to optimize the Chitosan extraction process, which takes about three days to complete. If the team is successful in Egypt, Everitt plans to explore production in other countries where there is a similar abundance of shrimp shell waste, like Thailand.
Continue reading... →Renewable energy is gaining ground. In some places, though, it may be gaining too much too fast. The infrastructure isn’t able to handle the large amounts of added energy from renewables, in countries like China and Germany. Providing adequate energy has always presented challenges. With the new technologies that are available today, new opportunities, as well as new difficulties, arise. Although the transition may seem problematic, the benefits are well worth it. Consumers can help move the transition forward by learning more about renewables and purchasing renewable energy when possible. As a country and a planet, we need to invest in new technologies, work to increase grid flexibility and be open to new ideas if we are to navigate the move to a more renewable energy generation mix smoothly.
Continue reading... →According to the National Phenology Network (NPN), a biological research organization that works with the US Geological Survey to track the cyclical behavior of plant life across the country, this year has been marked by an unusually warm winter, which has led plants to begin spring rhythms very early. With each new leaf index map the NPN releases, the region of the country that’s experiencing a premature spring has grown including Maryland and Virginia — spring is already here. On the most recent one, released, Monday, that region includes New York.
Continue reading... →Researchers developed a new way to extract uranium from seawater, bringing us closer to nuclear power that can sustain us for 10,000 years. Uranium makes up a teeny percentage of the particles in the ocean, about 3 parts per billion or roughly the equivalent of a grain of salt dissolved in a liter of water but the thing about the ocean is there’s a whole lot of it. Uranium exists in water bonded to two oxygen atoms in a molecule called uranyl. To capture the uranyl, long strands of plastic coated in a chemical with a negative charge called amidoxime were left underwater for a month, where they would passively soak up that uranium goodness
Continue reading... →Environmentalism has taken many different forms over the years. Recently, say the past decade or so, it’s been largely relaxed and passive. Now however, that’s changed in the U.S. as there’s a new administration in town that doesn’t have the same views on environmentalism and climate change as did the previous administration. No matter where you stand on politics, the last eight years were progress for our planet but they weren’t good enough. If you’re not sure where to begin to keep environmentalism alive in 2017, here are plenty of options.
Continue reading... →Sometimes, when I’m faced with a big decision, I want a sign from the Universe that I’m moving in the right direction. I’ve learned through the years that the Universe will give you answers when you ask for them. Here are five ways that the Universe sends us messages and speaks to us.
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