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May 17th, 2008

ponygirl72

11:48 am - Fast forward to... Meat Independence, Day Nine. This blog entry is from Tuesday, April 22. The chicks are now less than one week away from going outside to live in the chicken tractor, which is now completed (Finally!!). Here are some pictures. ( Clix for Chix Pix ) More Meat Independence news tomorrow!

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May 16th, 2008

ponygirl72

12:36 pm - New member with a mission Hello, all! ::waves:: I just found this place, and while I don't fit the "urban" part, I've been blogging for the past couple of months about something which I think will be of interest to this group-- becoming "meat independent." My family is in the process of dissociating itself from the practices of factory meat farming, and some of what we're doing could easily be done in a back yard. If people here are interested, I'm planning on posting my blog entries, one per day, until I'm caught up, and then cross-posting here from now on. Meat Independence, Day One ( Clix for Chix Pix )

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May 13th, 2008

aboni

01:01 am - Water treatment Hello to everybody I have necessity to mount a water treatment system in my 'garden', the idea is to power on the system using photovoltaic panels. For domestic waste water I have already mount a tank as degreaser and then a Imhoff tank as primary treatment, the idea is complete the process using plants for a secondary oxidation process. The problem is to treat the swimming pool water, I'm looking a system to depurate water in a way compatible with the environment, without use of aggressive product like chlorine. Is there anybody that has experience of water treatment using ozone? Here's some info that I get: ------------------------------------------------------ Ozone Ozone was first used as a water sanitizer in France in the early 1900s. It is the most popular method of treating drinking and pool water throughout Europe. Ozone is one of the strongest oxidizers available for treating swimming and spa water and is growing in popularity in the U.S.A. It kills bacteria and oxidizes organic compounds including chloramines, soaps, oils and bather wastes and does not alter the water's pH. Due to limitations of the amount of ozone that can be economically introduced to pool and spa water, algae growth is not eliminated and may possibly increase. Two systems have been developed for the production of ozone for pool and spa water. The most common European method - and the most expensive - is the Corona Discharge. This method generates ozone by exposing pressurized, dried air to high-voltage electricity. The ozone gas is then directed into the bottom of the pool and seen as very small bubbles rising to the surface. The ozone can be introduced into a separate chamber or directly to the pool. The Ultraviolet (LTV) or photo-chemical method of ozone production passes the pressurized, dried air next to a UV bulb within a chamber, where the UV rays bombard the oxygen molecules and produce ozone. A single LTV lamp is capable of treating approximately 10,000 gallons of water. The UV method is more common for spas or private small pools and is less expensive to operate. The LTV method cannot match the output of the Corona Discharge method. ----------------------------------------------------------- Any useful suggestion is welcome. Current Location: Spain Current Mood: okay

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May 9th, 2008

wolfsilveroak

11:35 am - After the storm... My poor Irises took a beating. Especially the Rites of Spring ones. Titan's Glory, Royal Knight, Celebration Song, Fire and Ice, and the lavender Naturalized ones all weathered last night's severe thunderstorms, high winds and torrential downpours quite well. Rites of Spring, with 13 open and nearly open blooms. BEFORE the storms. ( Continued.... )

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May 8th, 2008

wolfsilveroak

03:23 pm - In my garden... I've lost count of how many blooms the Rites of Spring German Bearded Iris has now. Somewhere upwards of 8 or 9, I believe. I just counted, there are TEN open flowers with at least half as many opening in the next few days. Got a cream colored one from my Mom in law in New Jersey,, correction, that would be my Fire and Ice Iris getting ready to open. Celebration Song is about to bloom, Royal Knight and Titan's Glory are both still going strong. The 'naturalized' light purple/lavender ones, also brought back from the InLaws in Jersey( Pine Barrens, no less), has also bloomed and is blooming still. And yet.. there are still numerous stalks and buds left. I am absolutely impressed with how well my Irises did this year. ( Continued... )

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April 25th, 2008

foolfaerie420

05:05 am - Cyanobacteria making cellulose and sugar (fuel) from sunlight Dr. R. Malcolm Brown (left) and Dr. David Nobles with one of the cyanobacterial strains that produces cellulose and glucose. Photo: Richard Santos Fifteen years ago when I was studying genetics, this was the great hope...and at last it has come to pass, the University of Texas at Austin has finally done it: They have surpassed the original dream of simply breaking down plant cellulose since their cyanobacteria uses only sunlight and PRODUCES cellulose and sugar. "The new cyanobacteria produce a relatively pure, gel-like form of cellulose that can be broken down easily into glucose. 'The problem with cellulose harvested from plants is that it's difficult to break down because it's highly crystalline and mixed with lignins [for structure] and other compounds,' Nobles says. He was surprised to discover that the cyanobacteria also secrete large amounts of glucose or sucrose, sugars that can be directly harvested from the organisms." This is neat news also for the reprap 3D printing CC crowd, since it produces a cellulose initially that may also work as chemical feedstock for plastic 3D printers, creating a non toxic biologic alternative to using food sources like corn (which is the current favorite) for composting plastics.

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April 23rd, 2008

wolfsilveroak

03:27 pm - Planted my [new] raised bed today... Since Nature decided to finally give us a break after 3 days of rain, I took advantage of the nice day to get my seedlings and more seeds in the ground. ( Read On.... ) Current Mood: accomplished

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April 14th, 2008

foolfaerie420

07:21 am - Repurpose, revision, realign... These are the words i seem to use the most lately when I talk about the next set of goals for the sustainability movement. Sometimes it is in relationship to the way the skins of our cities change, and of our suburbs as well. Once you re-think what human cities are and you think of them as human habitat structures that naturally change "skin" by great degree, then you can stop fretting over the amount of change you see and start considering the ways to direct that change and bring more coherence to the system. When you consider that humans are biological structures that create structures as part of their biological function then you can look into the potential for these structures to be more symbiotically linked into the local health and sustainability of many species and natural features. In the urban areas that means reclaiming our rivers and revitalizing them. They become re-puposed as not simply engineering projects, rather as greenbelt activity areas where the air can further be cleaned and where the urban environment can gain a park with biking and walking paths. A great example of this is http://www.theriverproject.org/ a Los Angeles group started by my pal Melanie Winters. Most recently they are working on extending the bike path so that it runs 56 miles from Canoga Park in the West Valley to Long Beach. One of the greatest effects this project has had, beyond the restored habitat and the actual rivers starting to be healthy again, is the revisioning of urban rivers. The overlap between urban and suburban has been shifting in to a wider and a wider zone for quite some time here in California. Areas which started out as suburbs of city centers become engulfed and the spread has been noted. Now in re-purposing existing suburbs it is often important that we revision the way we can salvage the positive aspects; like keeping connection to a skilled workforce. Cities need to be connected to areas of food production, they must have water and they need to make it possible for lots of different human societies to co-exist with lots of different types of plants and animals and minerals and our ability to co-exist is now very much part of our ability to provide food and fiber and fuel adjacent to our urban centers. My favorite examples of these sorts of urban projects in California are the Local Food project in Berkeley by Alice Waters of Chez Panisse, she managed to create a project that delivers local organic produce to schools, hospitals, and prisons. In Arctata California we have a model wetland project that has restored habitat while creating an economical solution for the cities sewage problem. Ecology is often just a question of fiscal responsibility. IN Los Angeles I love the Bike Kitchen and the neighborhood project attached to that effort. It really has revitalized an important urban area and also created a much needed center for artists and intellectuals of the digerati era to live and garden together while transforming a neighborhood. Another project that is a fantastic model is the Brazilian "Belo Horizonte" project. My favorite thing about this project which used urban centers to encourage rural food production, is that beyond serving the most wealthy with farmers market produce, they have managed to create community kitchens that deliver the produce to meals that are in the childrens schools, in the hospitals, and also available at low cost through community restaurants. These days they are working on sustainable bioenergy production, the next logical step once you have established public policies for food supplies in your city that are economically feasible and ecologically sustainable as they have. In addition there is a movement to integrate wastepickers to create a more sustainable waste system with more salvage potential and at the same time creating employment for the most indigent and suffering homeless populations.

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April 11th, 2008

gummibarengirl

01:54 am - Join Eco_Fabulous Hi everybody! This is my first post. I LOVE the idea of this group. Urban areas are the cause of a lot of environmental problems, but they are also the place where lots of awesome people get together and make changes! I want to invite you to join my community eco_fabulous. Basically its a place to share tips, resources and inspiration about how to live a little greener everyday. None of us can be experts at everything, so we have to share our knowledge with each other! :-) Thanks! Current Mood: chipper Current Music: "Get Lost" - Patrick Wolf

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April 7th, 2008

foolfaerie420

04:47 pm - RepRap GNU printer prints itself: Open Source 3D wonder ARNIE RepRaps first object: a shotglass. these components are for sale at Bits from bytes, a complete kit is 399 $L (soon!) RepRap.org:"Look at your computer setup and imagine that you hooked up a 3D printer. Instead of printing on bits of paper this 3D printer makes real, robust, mechanical parts. To give you an idea of how robust, think Lego bricks and you're in the right area. You could make lots of useful stuff, but interestingly you could also make most of the parts to make another 3D printer. That would be a machine that could copy itself." Computerworld explains the Open Source project, which is mind boggling in that it seeks to create printers that can print copies of themselves and of the improvements in themselves that evolve under constant study. "[RepRap] has been called the invention that will bring down global capitalism, start a second industrial revolution and save the environment..." - The front page of The Guardian, November 25, 2006.

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April 3rd, 2008

originalpuck

12:37 am - Introduction Time: Version 1.0 Hey there, everyone: My name's Morgan, and I've just joined this group after giving sustainable living some serious thought and discussion. I'm 21, and I live in a rented house in Michigan with my wife. I'm a vegetarian-going-vegan, and have decided on a sustainable lifestyle for various reasons (finances, personal responsability, etc). ( A little bit more about me, including a request. ) Nice to meet you all! _Morgan_ Current Mood: happy

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April 2nd, 2008

crankles

03:51 pm - 365 days of Trash http://365daysoftrash.blogspot.com/ This guy is trying to go for a year without throwing away trash.  He's keeping whatever he can't recycle, compost, etc.  This should be interesting to follow!

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March 20th, 2008

crankles

04:47 pm - Vermicomposting! I've got worms!  Vermicomposting worms, that is.  I've named them Chupacabra and they live in a little bait cooler, chowing down on my vegetable scraps.  They'll eventually produce rich compost that I can use in the garden. Do we have any successful vermicomposters here?  How often and how much do you feed your worms?  What kind of set-up do you have?

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March 6th, 2008

jaime88

04:30 pm - Garden Tools: Garden Knife Two years ago I bought Yarrowkat a Garden Knife based on the Japanese Hori-Hori. It wasn't long before I bought one for my garden, too. Those one's had a very LOUD orange handle. They are great, sturdy, good for cutting, digging, planting, probably a whole lot more.

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March 5th, 2008

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crankles

01:15 pm - Moderator nudge: post your questions and projects! Just a friendly reminder from your moderator: Ask your questions.  No question is stupid - you're not the only one wondering. Share your projects and ideas.  Let us learn with you! Post your thoughts about sustainability ideas in the news, in your community, etc.  I'll be posting about my vermicomposting experience soon.  How about you?

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crankles

01:12 pm - Urban Gardeners: What do you do? Urban Gardeners:  Please chime in with how you grow your own food in a small space.  What do you do?  Container gardening?  Community gardens? Squeeze an amazing amount of plants into a 3x5 space?   Something else unusual?

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February 8th, 2008

sheelangig

04:54 pm - Earth Hour This might be off topic for this community.  If so, I apologize. Global warming.  Climate change.  Pollution.  The ozone layer.  It's all pretty damn big.  Bigger than one person can do anything about.  It's scary, too. I don't care what your politics are or what your religious leanings are, I think we all want to do better on and for the planet.  I've signed up.  I'm pestering one of my city commissioners about getting my city behind it, too. It's one way to help.  It's easy.  It's free.  Click the link, read the page, make up your own mind.  But, please, do go look. http://www.earthhour.org/user/cXJV

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January 21st, 2008

layer

11:58 am - junkmail be gone? has anyone here used 41pounds.org to decrease their junk mail? i've been trying to find a service that will do the legwork for you since i just can't seem to find the time and they sound promising... (and hello again)

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January 20th, 2008

cherittfn

05:19 pm - Greenhouses I am currently woking on a plan for a small greenhouse. Probably about 14' X 20' ft or so. I have a concrete pad that with the removal of a couple of trees will have sunshine about 8 hours per day in the winter. I think I want to put it on the pad. any ideas of Pros & Cons for using this concrete. Current Mood: contemplative Current Music: NFL football

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