Diego Stocco – Music From A Tree from Diego Stocco on Vimeo.
Diego was so kind to e-mail me this video of himself playing a tree like it’s a musical instrument. When I first read his e-mail, I have to admit I was a little skeptical, thinking I’d click over to the video and it would just be some guy hitting a tree with a stick or something. Wow. I was so wrong, and I’m so glad I watched. It’s weird and wonderful and as soon as I post this I’m going to watch it all over again.
Please welcome back today’s poster, Mickey.
Two days ago, rambling with a friend along a rocky ridge way off trail in Grand Teton National Park, I had the opportunity, for the second time, to peer down into the upper reaches of Leigh Canyon, a wild place if ever there was one. Though the mouth of the canyon, which pours out into the air-clear waters of Leigh Lake on the floor of Jackson Hole, is only a few miles from the tourist beehive of Jenny Lake, the upper canyon is a place only glimpsed by marmots, adventurous ravens and, rarely, misguided off-duty park rangers.
Photo credit: vegitecture.blogspot.com
Wouldn’t it be great if you could walk through the downtown area of a big city and see a little green instead of just concrete and buildings? Wouldn’t it be even better if a little extra urban vegetation could also lessen air pollution and aid in public health?
The idea is not so far-fetched — a growing number of cities are adopting “vegitecture,” or vertical gardens, to add a little green to their atmospheres. For example, the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris has an 8,600 square foot vertical garden featuring more than 170 different plant species. Not only does vegitecture make for beautiful sights, it is also an environmentally friendly way to literally add life to a city.
The walls use a combination of sunshades, solar panels, and ventilation to catch water, making them self-sustaining ecosystems. The benefits aren’t just aesthetic — the walls reduce noise and provide natural cooling for the surrounding buildings because they soak up noise and heat, whereas concrete just reflects those things. Architects imagine people one day being able to grow and harvest food from vertical gardens.
The technology required to create and sustain a vertical garden is rather complex, but considering it can reintroduce biodiversity to urban areas and even cut down on air conditioning and air purification costs, developers may consider adding vegitecture to their upcoming projects. What do you think of this idea?
It’s been chilly around here lately, and I’ve been busy working on my novel. We’re in week three of our CSA. It’s mostly lettuce right now, but it’s so very good. I miss fresh, local veggies so much over the winter.
My garden has more weeds than I’d like, but it looks like we’ll get a fair amount of peppers and tomatoes. And these beautiful pink poppies have sprung up everywhere.
Here’s a rundown of interesting posts from some of my favorite greenies:
The Buck for Charity program was a success! Check out Twilight Earth’s wrap up post.
Organic Needle asks “How Green is Your Body?” parts 1 and 2.
Crazy Sexy Life is crazy about composting.
The Daily Green says maybe phthalates aren’t so bad.
The Good Human talks about bad chemicals.
Enviroblog says there may be flame retardants on your apples.
EarthFirst says Bill O’Reilly believes in global warming. (In other news, hell freezing over totally negates all global warming effects.)
What’s going on with you?
Please welcome back today’s poster, Dianne of Dianne’s Dishes.
In the summer it is so easy to eat healthy, local, fresh produce! Some of us don’t have the luxury of being able to have fresh, local produce year round, so we really enjoy it when we do! But if you’re like me after the initial thrill of having a vine ripe tomato all by itself, or fresh cucumbers sliced for a snack, or any other variety of summer garden goody right from the garden/farmer’s market all by themselves has worn off you want to do something else with the natural bounty.
For years I’ve wanted to make some gazpacho, but I always get side tracked. (And in all honesty try…How is it possible that I had never had gazpacho before now?) Gazpacho is the perfect summer time treat! By taking a few simple ingredients and about 10 minutes you’ve got dinner in no time! It’s cool (which is fabulous on a hot summer day), it’s no cook so you don’t have to heat up your house to eat (also great on a hot summer day), there are no animal products or by products (making the dish vegan, for those of us trying to eat less meat and thus reduce our overall impact) and it’s a delicious, not to mention healthy, way to have a filling meal, without eating anything that is too heavy. Overall it’s a very earth friendly recipe and that is always a plus.
Recently, I discovered that the first season of Eco Trip is available to watch instantly on Netflix. Last night, I stayed up way too late learning about chocolate, gold and cotton.
I found the information in the cotton episode particularly appalling. Cotton is, apparently, classified as a textile, so it isn’t regulated as a food, and the pesticides used in conventional cotton are approved for textile use, but not necessairly food use. But then parts of the cotton are used to feed livestock and as food additives, so this crop that is grown as a textile actually becomes a part of our food cycle. Yikes!
Watch this clip, and if you have Netflix, check out the first season of Eco Trip (even better, if you get the Sundance Channel, check out the current season of Eco Trip). I went into watching the show thinking it wouldn’t teach me anything I didn’t already know, but I was so wrong. Eco Trip takes a really focused in-depth look at the processes involved in manufacturing simple things we use or eat in every day life. It’s fantastic. I’ll probably be up way too late tonight learning about paper napkins, light bulbs, and bottled water.
Please welcome today’s guest poster, Carolyn, who blogs at The Daily Tannenbaum.
Hi everyone! I’m Carolyn, aka Noelle Tannenbaum of the Daily Tannenbaum. By trade, I’m a financial adviser, and by day and night I’m passionate about conservation and sustainability, because what’s the point of getting people to plan for retirement if we don’t even make it that long?
I’m starting off this post today with an assumption that we all agree vegetarian diets are more sustainable than meat-based diets. (Time magazine agrees.) I’ve been a “vegetarian” for almost 12 years now, and I put that word in quotes because I believe everyone’s definition of that word is different. For me it means about 90% of my diet is plant-based. I make some exceptions, and I don’t begrudge other people what they do. For instance, when it’s really worth it, I eat seafood because I love anything that swims. Also, once a year I indulge in a meat-based food, just to make sure I’m not missing out. And yes, I eat dairy and honey, and occasionally wear leather, but I think it’s best not to get caught up in labeling myself as this or that as long as I do my best to eat plant-based and locally grown foods, which are more sustainable (do you even know how much water it takes to grow a cow?), more healthy, easy to get at local farmers markets, more ethical, and most importantly CHEAPER!
For every climate policy cultivated by different governments around the world, there seems to be endless debate surrounding them. Is the policy effective? How much does it cost the taxpayers? Could it do a better job of reducing the amount of pollutants that go into the air every day? There is no magic bullet for keeping our planet viable, but one group of academics has an idea regarding climate change policies: Scrap them all and start over.
Please welcome today’s guest poster, Nancy Pearl Wannabe, who is a school librarian.
Much like Stefanie last week, I was both flattered and a little surprised when Allie and Courtney asked me to whip up a post about eco-friendly schools and technology. I mean, I love saving the Earth as much as the next girl but I will admit, I had some doubts about my qualifications. Don’t I need an EPA certification or something to write about this stuff? Apparently not, because here I am! And while I might not be an expert on going green I do think that my career choice as a middle school librarian has given me a unique perspective into the types of problems facing many school districts attempting to move into this increasingly environmentally-concerned age.
Pete Alcorn posits that declining population will lead to a bright future in 2200. How do you feel about population and our current state of affairs?
Do you think Alcorn is right about the correlation between a smaller population and a better quality of life? Do you think there should be a push to control population to get to this point sooner? If so, what methods of population control do you think are okay? Education? Tax incentives? Legislation? If not, what are your objections to population control?
It’s a touchy subject, isn’t it?
I promise to do a real garden update next week. Well, I don’t promise, but I’ll try to. In the meantime, I will give you a quick idea of what’s going on. Bunnies. Eating. Everything.
“But, Allie,” you say, “don’t you have a big, hulking, wolf-like dog? Doesn’t he scare off the bunnies?”
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