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BioEnergy Domes 14 y
This is very exciting! BioEnergy Domes use aquatic PLANTS to create energy, completely independent of the energy grid. Co2 is captured and fed back to the plants, as is waste water, creating a "truly sustainable energy" system.
From the Pacific Dome website: http://www.bioenergydomes.com
How it Works:
Specific aquatic plants, high in oil content, will be grown and harvested in a Pacific Domes Greenhouse dome utilizing wind power, generated by the aerodynamic dome, as an auxiliary power source. The plants will grow in multileveled trays that are harvested on a continuous basis. Drying equipment will continuously prepare the fast growing plants for combustion, utilizing the heat from the generator. After combustion, the emissions are cycled back into the water and fed to the plants.
BioEnergy ... read more Conserving Water 15 y
In California where I live in the suburbs, we are under mandatory conservation because of severe drought. I have cut this year's water usage by almost 19% from last year's water usage levels!
This spring, our community was mandated to cut back 6% of our water usage from our previous levels of 2004-2006. I had been conserving water for several years before the mandatory conservation, and wanted to see if I could further cut down my usage. I was pleased to see that my water bills covering May-October 2009 showed a 19% decrease in water usage for my household as compared with the same period in 2008!
I attribute most of the water conservation from the following:
1. water saving washing machine: bought a new front-loading machine; it uses 15 gallons of water per wash rather t ... read more Wind Power from Junk 15 y
"The extraordinary true story of a Malawian teenager who transformed his village by building electric windmills out of junk is the subject of a new book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8257153.stm
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Malawi windmill boy with big fans
By Jude Sheerin
BBC News
The extraordinary true story of a Malawian teenager who transformed his village by building electric windmills out of junk is the subject of a new book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.
Self-taught William Kamkwamba has been feted by climate change campaigners like Al Gore and business leaders the world over.
His against-all-odds achievements are all the more remarkable considering he was forced to quit school aged 14 because his family could no ... read more ReGrow Rainforests!! 15 y
By piecing together a complex ecological puzzle, biologist Willie Smits has found a way to re-grow clearcut rainforest in Borneo, saving local orangutans -- and creating a thrilling blueprint for restoring fragile ecosystems.
Willie Smits restores a rainforest! View video: http://www.ted.com/talks/willie_smits_restores_a_rainforest.html
Willie Smits has devoted his life to saving the forest habitat of orangutans, the ”thinkers of the jungle.” As towns, farms and wars encroach on native forests, Smits works to save what is left.
Willie Smits works at the complicated intersection of humankind, the animal world and our green planet. In his early work as a forester in Indonesia, he came to a deep understanding of that triple relationship, as he watched the growing population of Sulawesi move into (or bur ... read more Child Soldiers in Iraq 15 y
Child Soldiers from Liberia and West Africa are being recruited to fight in Iraq! Please post this article on your blogs to inform others of this travesty!
CounterPunch
http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=99057891832&h=BBAFv&u=I9679&ref=nf
April 6, 2009
Recruiting Ex-Child Soldiers and Ex-Combantants in West Africa for War in Iraq?
Blackwater in Liberia
By DEENA METZGER
A question of conscience. Who is now recruiting child soldiers and ex-combatants in Liberia and West Africa to fight in Iraq?
I am the Senior Advisor to a small NGO, everyday gandhis, based in Santa Barbara, documenting and supporting grass roots peacebuilding efforts in West Africa, particularly Liberia. The organization was established by Cynthia T ... read more Spring Sparrow Song 15 y
Welcome to Spring! Beautiful painting and poem by Roderick MacIver
Sparrow Song
Watercolor on Paper by Roderick MacIver
The Song Of The White-Throated Sparrow
The crystal clear notes
of a white-throated sparrow
floated down through the trees today.
And then a mile further up the trail, another.
The first songs to come my way
in the spring forest.
I like winter,
when white covers the earth.
I like summer
when the woods are green and warm.
But I love the wild forest
when things are changing.
Now, the first week of spring.
Still some patches of snow linger
in ... read more Photo:1/4Moon+Venus 15 y
Took this photo from my front yard. A spectacular quarter moon, "smiley face" up, with Venus clearly visible
Quarter Moon with Venus February 2009
Photo by Liora Leah visit the page Book:Rain of Gold 15 y
I was given this book, Rain of Gold, by a friend. I'm a slow reader, but read it in 3 days! Very much enjoyed it and recommend it--an easy read, enjoyable, and interesting!
Rain of Gold
by Victor Villasenor
NonFiction
Dell Publishing
copyright 1991
Although labeled as ”nonfiction” Rain of Gold reads like a grand and romantic saga. Based on interviews with his family members, the book is an accounting of author Villasenor’s family history focusing primarily on the stories of his Mexican immigrant grandmothers, mother and father. A theme of profound earth-based and heart-felt spirituality filtered through the lens of the Catholic church’s religiosity and ritual runs throughout the book. This fascinating and unique meld of indig ... read more Pray for Peace 15 y
Mideast Peace Prayer Foundation: Pray for Peace in the Middle East every day at 5:00pm. Set your cell phone alarm clock to remind you!
MidEast Peace Prayer Foundation
Please look at this website:
http://mideastpeaceprayer.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2&Itemid=3
”Each day at 5 pm local time, people worldwide will pause to spend a moment in silent prayer for peace in the Mideast. Since there are 24 basic time zones, waves and waves of prayer will wash over the Mideast every hour, every day, every week, every month, and every year until peace is at last achieved. Technology has created a climate wherein, for the first time in history, a project such as this can be accomplished. This project is ... read more Blessings for Peace 15 y
I received some feedback regarding my post (that I emailed to friends/relatives and posted elsewhere as well as on Curezone)titled "American Jewish Response to Gaza" and wanted to respond.
Dear All:
First, thank you to those of you who wrote expressing your opinions, even when they did not agree with me. I count my blessings that I live in the United States of America where we have freedom of the press and freedom of speech, without which this debate would never be possible.
Second, my intentions on the original post were to show the diversity of opinion among American Jews--we obviously are not ”one united front” when it comes to Middle Eastern foreign policy, despite the way the main stream press portrays us. Also, I feel it is very important to let President-elect ... read more Video-DreamingBear: Authenticity 15 y
Poet, peace activist, visionary DreamingBear Baraka Kanaan video: "Authenticity as the New Enlightenment". DreamingBear will be in California for his Lovevolution Tour...don't miss him!
Dreaming-Bear Baraka Kanaan has been called by many the ’Rumi or Hafiz of our time!’
He is an internationally renowned spoken word artist, author, and peace activist. He poetically blends quantum understandings of the universe with inner expressions of the heart, offering a fresh perspective on how to transform pain into beauty.
”Authenticity as the New Enlightenment”: http://www.thespiritualcenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=283&Itemid=46
Dreaming-Bear Kanaan, son of a Cherokee mother and a Palestinian father, speaks at the Separation Barrier between Israel ... read more AmJewish Response:Gaza 15 y
As a Pro-Peace American Jew, I have found the recent violence in Gaza abhorrent and painful. While I do not condone the launching of rockets by Hamas into Israel, I feel strongly that the Israeli response to the situation is heavy-handed to say the least; the loss of Palestinian civilian lives, in addition to the deteriorating living conditions and the lack of access to health care for sick, dying and wounded Palestinians, is unconscionable.
While the Bush Administration has sent Condoleezza Rice to the U.N. to try and negotiate some kind of ceasefire/peace accord ( http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090108/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_diplomacy ), I am dismayed and angered that the voices of the mainstream American Jewish community remain largely silent about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza that Israel is directly responsible for.
The article below was posted on the Huffington Post today, January 8, 2009, and addresses this issue. It is worth reading.
In Peace,
Liora
Related blogs: Blessings f ... read more Help Women & Enviro! 15 y
The Rainforest Site and Global Girlfriend have teamed up to Help Women and the Environment at the same time with this Organic cotton T-shirt SALE!
The Rainforest Site will preserve 1145.0 sq. ft. of land for each Organic Summer Scoop Tee purchased.
Organic T-shirts On sale! Was $24.00, now $12.95
http://shop.therainforestsite.com/store/item.do?siteId=221&itemId=32525&origin=44636
... read more Obama Welcomes Questions! 16 y
Pres-Elect Obama invites the public to post questions on his website Change.gov. The public is also invited to vote on questions others have already posted. GET INVOLVED! Go to the website and vote/post questions yourself!
go to: http://change.gov/openforquestions
”We recently launched a new feature on Change.gov called Open for Questions. Thousands of you responded, asking 10,000 questions and voting nearly a million times on questions from others.
Now that we’ve answered some of the most popular ones from the last round, we are open for questions again. Ask whatever you like, and vote up or down on the other questions to let us know which ones you most want the Transition to answer.
Get started now at http://change.gov/openforquestions ”
NOTE: You must have a user name and sign in to post ... read more Everyday Miracles 16 y
Beautiful quote on the miracles of nature
”The miraculous is not extraordinary but the common mode of existence. It is our daily bread. Whoever really has considered the lilies of the field or the birds of the air and pondered the improbability of their existence in this warm world within the cold and empty stellar distances will hardly balk at the turning of water into wine — which was, after all, a very small miracle. We forget the greater and still continuing miracle by which water (with soil and sunlight) is turned into grapes.”
— Wendell Berry, excerpted in Meditations on Nature, Meditations on Silence
Whenever I forg ... read more Playing Inner Child 16 y
My shamanic practitioner tells me my 4 year old child-within is feeling neglected by me--she wants to play more. This Chanukah I have been doing just that--I played around with some objects and had a lot of fun!
This is a double-sided square-based pyramid made out of 8” long plastic straws strung together. Energetically, the square base sits flat on the ground; one pyramid (representing the ”Seen”) rises up from the ground; the other pyramid is below the ground and points downwards (representing the ”Unseen”). Together, they form a crystal. I’ll probably cover at least part of the crystal with tissue paper to make it more ”artsy-fartsy”. Note the shadow on the wall looks like a Star of David.
Looking at the pyramid/crystal from a certain angle, you can see a Star of David more cl ... read more Poem:Morning Vision 16 y
I had a powerful dream this morning. After I wrote the dream down in my journal, I experienced a visceral energy burst and wrote the following:
Morning Vision
Standing on a mountain
with my head thrown back
a powerful sound bursts
from my core
up through my chest
and out of my mouth
--a great huge
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
My hair is dark and long
My dress is flowing and white
This is how I see myself
MySELF,
a powerful Shaman
singing to the Earth,
the Sky, the Winds,
the Waters, the Sun,
the Moon, the Stars
Singing myself into existence,
I sing to the Creator of All
I create MySelf
-- Liora Leah
12-27-2008
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