Green

Obama to reveal plan to combat climate change, aide says #green

How Ancient Roman cement outlasts today's best via @blakegraham

The whole trip is really made possible through the work of Dr. Steven Kress. He is the guy who had the idea to restore Puffins to Maine. The birds were eliminated from the state through hunting and egg collecting back in 1885 or something like that. Dr. Kress had the idea to take a few Puffin chicks from Newfoundland and put them on a rock island in Maine and hand feed them to see if they would come back to breed. That was back in the 1970's. The birds did come back to the island (after 7 years at sea). And now there are about 600 Puffins in Maine breeding successfully. He also works on other islands restoring gulls and terns and other sea birds too. Well, he doesn't actually work on the islands - he has interns to do that now. One of the islands that he manages is Ross Island. We took a field trip there and actually went onto the island to see gull nests. That doesn't seem like a big deal, but apparently the gulls are in trouble up in Maine and need help. Check out these photos. The first photo shows our method of arrival. The rocks were covered with seaweed and VERY slippery. We had to hold onto each other to climb up to the dry rocks.Once we were on the rock, Dr. Kress gave us the lecture about the gulls and terns. He is a master at giving the talk and getting people to care. Of course, I couldn't paying close attention when there were so many birds to photograph :-)Dr. Kress addressing the groupThe gulls are not exotic - just Great Black-backed and Herring gulls which are the same gulls that we see at the shore. Great Black-backed GullHerring GullIt was pretty neat to see their nests and eggs. Then the strangest thing happened - Dr. Kress walked over to a nest and picked up one of the eggs. I couldn't believe my eyes! It has been drilled into us since we were little kids to never go near a nest let alone pick up an egg, but here was the famous bird guy doing it. Then he proceeded to show us that the baby bird was trying to get out of the egg - it was pecking it's way out. Then, as if that weren't enough, he put the egg up to everyone's ear so that they could hear the chick pecking and cooing! Great Black-backed Gull egg - hole on right sideBird Nerds listening to the eggAmazingGet ready to have your mind blown here because mine sure was. After we all listened to the egg, Dr. Kress put it back in the nest and proceeded to grab 2 Herring gull chicks out of another nest and pass them around! I swear, I almost had a cow. Barbara and chickLinda and chickLori and chickTara and chickThese two chicks made the rounds and were returned to the nest. The one that Tara and I had was really chirping. I felt bad for him but he was no worse for wear.Herring Gull chicks in the nestMom seemed happy to have her brood back too. She waddled back over to the nest and promptly settled in. Herring Gull - Mom and ChicksAnyway, you might not think that was unusual but I sure did. It was the best field trip of the entire week.

Designer Chris Hough created this set of biodegradable, portable speakers using only waste and reclaimed materials. Made up of a combination of nutshells and waste newspaper, the speakers are strong, light and tactile. Connected through a 3.5 millimeter audio cable, the product is intended for amplifying the sound on mobile phones and laptops. Each speaker is handcrafted using a two part cast mold and can be endlessly replicated. + Chris Hough The article above was submitted to us by an Inhabitat reader. Want to see your story on Inhabitat? Send us a tip by following this link. Remember to follow our instructions carefully to boost your chances of being chosen for publishing! Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: all natural speakers, Biodegradable speakers, Chris Hough, diy speakers, Nutshells, Portable Speakers, Reclaimed Newspaper, speakers

A possible biofuel breakthrough, via the leafcutter ant #green

I drove up to  Palo Duro Reservoir in Hansford County yesterday for a change of pace.  I’ve been hitting the same spots around Hutchinson County for a while and I was getting a little bored with the same places.  Palo Duro  is about an hour’s drive northeast of where I live and is formed by an earth dam just north of where Palo Duro Creek and Horse Creek converge.  It’s not a large lake but they had gotten some good rains on their watershed last week and the water level was up several feet.  There’s a little campground and picnic area on the north side of the lake with a small pond and creek overhung by cottonwoods.  On the south side of the dam is the lake.  I took photos on both sides of the dam. I stopped by Spring Canyon before I drove across the Lake Meredith dam on the way to Palo Duro and photographed these Northern Rough-winged Swallows taking a break from hunting for breakfast and this female Painted Bunting that scolded me for interrupting her morning bath. As you drive north from Lake Meredith you gradually trade the pastures and arroyos of the Canadian River breaks for the farmland of the northeastern edge of the Llano Estacado.  I saw this Dickcissel on a fence overlooking an irrigated cornfield north of Spearman.   Most of the farmland in the Texas Panhandle is irrigated with water from the Ogallala aquifer as we only get about 20 or so inches of rain a year; less when we are in a drought, like we have been for most of the last several decades.  Here’s an interesting time lapse of satellite images showing how much the water levels at Lake Meredith have dropped since the early 80s. Mississippi Kite Red-winged Blackbird female Eastern Kingbird Palo Duro Reservoir is home to a colony about 30-40 nesting Double-crested Cormorants.  This one is keeping an eye on a trio of Western Grebes.  The grebes are a little unusual for this time of year.  Late migrants, I guess. Great Blue Heron Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Black-crowned Night-Heron More photos in the galleries at the top of the page.

Sweden's metro stations inspire good design via @zacharysm

There was a short break in the weather – about 2 hours. So I decided to go downtown and look for the falcons. There appears to be at least one that is “ready to go”. She was on the ledge of the very top of the One Cap Building doing some serious wing stretching ….. […]

Climbing Mount Everest, aka "the top of the world," is no small feat. Those who complete the harrowing expedition see and experience the awesome gift of nature that few of us can imagine. Photographer Elia Saikaly knows—he's completed the journey to the top of Mount Everest several times. During a recent ascent, he attempted to document the challenging feat in words and images, which he used to create a stunning time-lapse video of Mount Everest at night. The result of his documentation is an insight into just what it means to be a dedicated explorer. In a blog entry, he recounts just how close he came to abandoning his quest: It’s 9 p.m. on May 20th and we’ve been in the death zone, the world above 8000M, for just over five hours. Life is not meant to exist here. In the death zone, we are all transient beings. I lay in my sleeping bag with a new oxygen mask strapped to my head, devouring each artificial breath of life as though it were my last. Something is wrong. My heart is racing, my palms are sweating and I’m coughing up green phlegm uncontrollably. You see, last night my oxygen mask failed at camp 3 and while all others slept with the gift of artificial o’s, I froze and drifted in and out of consciousness. This is not the way to begin an attempt on the highest mountain on Earth! Certainly not when you are the only cameraman and are 100 percent responsible for a 1M dollar reality television series. He goes on to talk about the sub-zero temperatures and harsh conditions he (and his crew) endured en route to the top of the Himalayas. The challenges are so many, you almost wonder why anyone would put themselves through such the test of climbing Mount Everest. But then you watch Saikaly's video—comprised of thousands of photographs—and it all becomes clear. And if there was still any doubt, the adventurer himself sums it up beautifully: I undertook the challenge of scaling the world's tallest peak to inspire you to take on challenges in your own lives. The purpose was for each of you to realize the capacity within yourselves to reach incredible heights. That doesn't mean you need to aspire to climb Mt. Everest, but rather the Mt. Everest that exists in your own lives. Think about it. What challenges in your life could you take on to reach a new level? Join us in exploring and protecting the GOOD Outdoors. To participate in our exploration challenge, simply click here to say you'll Do It and we will keep you updated by email on the actions we can all take to to preserve and protect places that mean so much to us. Image via Elia Saikaly

How can design help make guns uncool for teenagers? Students and faculty at Art Center College of Design, internationally recognized for its cutting-edge social impact design department, Designmatters, worked with the Los Angeles Unified School District to create a powerful new multimedia resource for middle school classrooms called Where’s Daryl?. The winner of an Ideas That Matter award from Sappi Fine Paper North America, Where's Daryl? helps kids focus on the long-term and abstract consequences of gun violence. It asks them to imagine what happened to Daryl, a fictional middle-school student whose life has been brought to a standstill because he got involved with guns. Through eight freestanding lesson plans using imagination, humor, and narrative voices as tools, students are asked to reflect on what Daryl did, why he did what he did, what he's missing out on, and what he could've done to prevent getting involved with guns. Most importantly, the campaign empowers students to foster their own actionable language as well as to identify their trusted network of support. Health teacher Michele Levin recently taught the Where’s Daryl? curriculum to her students at Vista Middle School in Panorama City. “This neighborhood has a lot of gun violence,” she said. “There was a shooting in the mini mall across the street, a fatality, just a few weeks ago.” Levin’s 7th graders laughed at the video featuring the cut-out of Daryl. A 23-year teaching veteran with LAUSD, Levin said every one of her classes understands that “he’s missing out on his life, and his friends are mad because he’s not there any more—they all get it.” Levin thinks others teachers will like it too. “It’s easy to implement,” she says. “It’s not a huge time commitment, and the resources that come with it are really nice. The kids like how things look and the teachers really like that they get everything they need.” Working closely with LAUSD Health Education Programs, Art Center students conducted youth focus groups and consulted experts in at risk youth to develop the campaign. Together with Designmatters, Art Center alumna Maria Moon collaborated closely with teachers and curriculum experts to refine the materials for classroom use. As part of a pilot program, the Where’s Daryl? educational package, fully aligned with California state standards for health curricula, is now reaching more than a thousand students in ten middle school health classrooms across the LAUSD system. Uncool: The Anti-Gun Violence Project is supported by the Nathan Cummings Foundation and was developed by Art Center’s Designmatters Department over the course of several academic terms. Through research, advocacy and action, the Designmatters program engages, empowers and leads an ongoing exploration of art and design. The ‘Uncool’ initiative being piloted in Los Angeles offers a potent course of action that we hope will contribute to reducing gun violence—one middle school classroom at a time. Image courtesy of Designmatters at Art Center College of Design Have your own idea for a nonprofit design project? Apply for funding from Sappi's Ideas that Matter program.