Bringing Farming & Fresh Foods to Urban Neighborhoods
A fantastic story about Will Allen, from YesMagazine:
He was a high school All-American in basketball, played for the University of Miami, and played pro ball with the American Basketball Association in Europe. At a towering 6 feet 7 inches, with Schwarzenegger-size biceps, and chiseled features, Allen looks ready to step back onto the court.
Since 1993, Allen has focused on developing Growing Power’s urban agriculture project, which grows vegetables and fruit in its greenhouses, raises goats, ducks, bees, turkeys, and—in an aquaponics system designed by Allen—tilapia and Great Lakes Perch—altogether, 159 varieties of food.
Power Your Home with Bottled Water?
Interesting idea. Add a cobalt-based catalyst to a bottle of water, connect it to a photovoltaic array, and energy from the sun splits the water into oxygen and hydrogen. Voila! A fuel cell.
Dan Nocera, a chemist at MIT and founder of Sun Catalytix, describes the process as artificial photosynthesis. Scientific American has additional details and a short video.
Engineers, Buildings and Earthquakes
Can buildings be designed to reduce the tragic loss of life that accompanies earthquakes? In a word, yes. Via CNN:
In Chile, an 8.8-magnitude earthquake on Saturday has so far killed more than 700 people. On January 12, a less powerful earthquake, one measuring 7.0, killed more than 200,000 in Haiti.
The difference in those death tolls comes from building construction and technology, scientists and engineers have said. In Haiti, buildings were constructed quickly and cheaply. Chile, a richer and more industrialized nation, adheres to more stringent building codes.
Sensory Superpowers: Painting by Touch
Another fantastic story, this time about how blindness allows the “visual brain” to enhance the sense of touch. From PsychologyToday:
John Bramblitt didn’t start painting until he lost his sight. It was a difficult time. Bramblitt was in his late 20’s and unaware that his sight was seriously degrading until he was sideswiped by an unseen car…
These days John Bramblitt is a much happier person. He has married a fellow artist and has a young child. His art is selling well… He gets great pleasure from sharing his techniques and experience with others, and plans to get a masters degree to teach art at the college level. And he continues to get tremendous satisfaction from the eight hours a day he devotes to his unique style of painting.
EcoVision 2010: Palermo, Italy
The 2010 International Festival of Environment and Cinema will take place this June in Palermo, Italy. Deadline for submissions is March 15. For details, visit the EcoVision website.
