It has been a good long time since I've posted (and rightly so, maybe more on that at some future time). Things have been quite crazy "out there", but that's what was expected and should most certainly come as no surprise. Between the now admitted triple meltdown at the Fukushima nuke plant, the record breaking floods that currently threaten one or possibly two nuclear plants here in the US and the raging wild fires currently threatening the Los Alamos nuclear storage containers in New Mexico, there definitely appears to be a "running theme" developing. Then there's the continuing "GlobalRev" uprisings around the world along with the failed attempts to hijack the movements by TPTB, the continuing economic collapse playing out like a slow motion train wreck and the incredible weather anomalies that are only now being recognized as "incredible" by the MSM. Again, maybe more on these at a future time.
See, that's not what this post is about. I'm not interested in posting an "update" on the news, nor an editorial opinion piece...nor even a "how to" type article about RVing or growing a container garden in a campground somewhere in Florida.
If you're not already "up-to-date", you're simply doing it wrong.
If you're more interested in what I have to say than what an expert has to say, I thank you but please do check out the expert first - we can chat later about what he/she says.
If you haven't been greedily consuming everything you can find on the net about "how to" this or that, you are not only wasting valuable time but you most likely deserve the ignorance you currently possess on your particular "this or that".
No - this "post" is a sort of reminder of what should be considered sustainable. This post is here to help clarify some very false and potentially lethal misinformation that's out there (and has been out there), and hopefully help guide the misguided toward a more rational middle path (both in a physical, practical sense and in a more "spiritual path" or "way of life" kind of way).
And to top it all off, I'm not even going to write a "proper post". I'm going to simply embed a video you should watch, in which an actual expert talks about this, and leave it at that. So here's that video:
Showing posts with label green. Show all posts
Showing posts with label green. Show all posts
2.03.2011
When Natural Ain't So Natural - GMO Taking Over
Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, BASF...the list goes on. These companies develop genetically modified crops, such as Monsanto's pervasive line of "Round-Up Ready" crops that includes corn, sugar beets, soybeans, and now even alfalfa. The studies done on these GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) should be already on the FRONT of your mind any time you're buying food.
But did you know that so-called "natural food" retailers, like Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley and Stoneyfield Farm, are selling you these GMOs? You see, though products and foods labeled "organic" are not supposed to, and generally don't, have any GMO crop ingredients in them, those labeled "natural" have no such regulation...and according to this article in the Huffington Post, two-thirds of Whole Foods' annual $9 billion in sales is from products contaminated with GMO ingredients.
Repeat: "Natural foods" are contaminated with GMO!
Currently, combined "organic" and "natural" food purchases result in sales of around $80 billion dollars annually, which is approximately 12% of all grocery store sales. Obviously, nobody wants to eat these "frankenfoods"! One manufacturer of GMO crops is even on the record, stating: "If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it." Now we find out that they've been sneaking this crap it into what many Americans had trusted was safe!
So how much of the food out there is GMO? As of 2010, the reports are that 95% of sugar beets, 86% of corn, and 93% of soybeans, cotton and canola (rapeseed) grown in the US are GMO. Up to 80% of processed foods sold in the US contain GMO ingredients and, with the revelation that even so called "natural foods" are contaminated, that percentage may be about to go way up.
It's time that everyone learn to identify both edible and medicinal plants. Start growing non-hybrid and heirloom vegetables in your back yards. The little bit of money you will save can then be used to buy more honest, organic foods when you visit the supermarket. That's a major win all around, not only helping deprive the big business, unsustainable modern agriculture of your hard earned money, but also ensuring the food you eat is truly safe and helping preserve genetic diversity for future generations.
"Natural" isn't natural anymore, and ignoring this problem isn't going to make it go away.
But did you know that so-called "natural food" retailers, like Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley and Stoneyfield Farm, are selling you these GMOs? You see, though products and foods labeled "organic" are not supposed to, and generally don't, have any GMO crop ingredients in them, those labeled "natural" have no such regulation...and according to this article in the Huffington Post, two-thirds of Whole Foods' annual $9 billion in sales is from products contaminated with GMO ingredients.
Repeat: "Natural foods" are contaminated with GMO!
Currently, combined "organic" and "natural" food purchases result in sales of around $80 billion dollars annually, which is approximately 12% of all grocery store sales. Obviously, nobody wants to eat these "frankenfoods"! One manufacturer of GMO crops is even on the record, stating: "If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it." Now we find out that they've been sneaking this crap it into what many Americans had trusted was safe!
So how much of the food out there is GMO? As of 2010, the reports are that 95% of sugar beets, 86% of corn, and 93% of soybeans, cotton and canola (rapeseed) grown in the US are GMO. Up to 80% of processed foods sold in the US contain GMO ingredients and, with the revelation that even so called "natural foods" are contaminated, that percentage may be about to go way up.
It's time that everyone learn to identify both edible and medicinal plants. Start growing non-hybrid and heirloom vegetables in your back yards. The little bit of money you will save can then be used to buy more honest, organic foods when you visit the supermarket. That's a major win all around, not only helping deprive the big business, unsustainable modern agriculture of your hard earned money, but also ensuring the food you eat is truly safe and helping preserve genetic diversity for future generations.
"Natural" isn't natural anymore, and ignoring this problem isn't going to make it go away.
1.31.2011
Simple Solar Heating for RVs
Having lived full-time in an RV for several years now, my "green" side tends to run wild at times yielding some interesting results. With the economy just totally sucking the way it does, and so many people ending up living in campers "not by choice", some of these quirky projects from my past may be invaluable. This will be the first of a series of posts where I share some of these projects.
For those of you living in a location that receives cold winters, this project might prove invaluable. It saved me hundreds of dollars in heating costs while living in central New Hampshire, and only cost less than $50 to set up!
Firstly, here's an animated gif that demonstrates simple passive solar heating. With just a basic understanding of how this works, you'll probably find yourself coming up with some pretty cool ideas on how to harness the power of the sun. Keep in mind that the amount of heat generated when sunlight hits black collector plates is substantial - up to 800 or even 1200 BTUs per square foot! That easily translated to air temperatures of 50 to 100 degrees warmer coming out of the heater than the air that goes in.
I tried various ideas, from what I called a "solar curtain" hung in my kitchen window to various simple window collectors made from old cardboard boxes spray painted black. They certainly worked, and worked well, but I knew I could do better. Plus, all the projects I had been trying would just recycle the stale indoor air. You see, I smoke cigarettes and absolutely refuse to "smoke outside" in the middle of a New Hampshire winter. I wanted a way to pipe in heated fresh air from outside.
The solution was to set up some solar collectors on the outside of my camper, one on each south-facing window. To ensure the temperature of the air coming in to the camper was good and hot, I used 12V computer fans (hooked into my RV's 12V system of course) to blow the air in through the window when a thermostat registers high enough temperatures.
The "collector plates" were simply thin sheets of wood, painted black and taped to the side of my camper. I used 1x2 lumber to create a simple frame for securing the clear plastic (.7 mil). The cold outside air entered through the bottom of the collector and heated up against the black collector plates. The heated air naturally rose to the top of the collector, where it was then blown inside by a computer fan.
Outside air temperatures were around 30 degrees on the day I took these photos. By 3:30pm, the temperatures inside the collector were over 110 degrees and the temperature of the air blowing into the camper was about 87 degrees.
A cheap programmable thermostat, set to the "cool" mode, monitored the air temperature inside the collector. When the temp was above my setting of 80 degrees, it sent power, as though it were turning on the AC, to the computer fans. When the air inside the collector cooled down, either because the sun was beginning to set or it had gone behind clouds, the thermostat stopped sending power and the fans shut off.
Like I said, this system saved me hundreds of dollars in heating costs over the course of that one winter, and the total cost to set it up was less than $50. There were problems with the system, of course: on windy nights, cold air would often sneak through creating drafts. Overall, though, this system was a huge success.
Watch for my post about a makeshift "sun room" made from plastic and electrical conduit that ended up saving me over a thousand dollars AND provided fresh greens all winter!
For those of you living in a location that receives cold winters, this project might prove invaluable. It saved me hundreds of dollars in heating costs while living in central New Hampshire, and only cost less than $50 to set up!
Firstly, here's an animated gif that demonstrates simple passive solar heating. With just a basic understanding of how this works, you'll probably find yourself coming up with some pretty cool ideas on how to harness the power of the sun. Keep in mind that the amount of heat generated when sunlight hits black collector plates is substantial - up to 800 or even 1200 BTUs per square foot! That easily translated to air temperatures of 50 to 100 degrees warmer coming out of the heater than the air that goes in.
I tried various ideas, from what I called a "solar curtain" hung in my kitchen window to various simple window collectors made from old cardboard boxes spray painted black. They certainly worked, and worked well, but I knew I could do better. Plus, all the projects I had been trying would just recycle the stale indoor air. You see, I smoke cigarettes and absolutely refuse to "smoke outside" in the middle of a New Hampshire winter. I wanted a way to pipe in heated fresh air from outside.
The "collector plates" were simply thin sheets of wood, painted black and taped to the side of my camper. I used 1x2 lumber to create a simple frame for securing the clear plastic (.7 mil). The cold outside air entered through the bottom of the collector and heated up against the black collector plates. The heated air naturally rose to the top of the collector, where it was then blown inside by a computer fan.
Outside air temperatures were around 30 degrees on the day I took these photos. By 3:30pm, the temperatures inside the collector were over 110 degrees and the temperature of the air blowing into the camper was about 87 degrees.
 |  |
| Kitchen window collector Fan is not in operation (note plastic flap) | Bedroom window collector Fan in operation |
 |  |
| Thermostat in operation At 80* and above, the thermostat sends 12V power to the fans | Air temperatures in operation Numbers top to bottom: temp of air blowing in, temp inside the collector and humidity |
A cheap programmable thermostat, set to the "cool" mode, monitored the air temperature inside the collector. When the temp was above my setting of 80 degrees, it sent power, as though it were turning on the AC, to the computer fans. When the air inside the collector cooled down, either because the sun was beginning to set or it had gone behind clouds, the thermostat stopped sending power and the fans shut off.
Like I said, this system saved me hundreds of dollars in heating costs over the course of that one winter, and the total cost to set it up was less than $50. There were problems with the system, of course: on windy nights, cold air would often sneak through creating drafts. Overall, though, this system was a huge success.
Watch for my post about a makeshift "sun room" made from plastic and electrical conduit that ended up saving me over a thousand dollars AND provided fresh greens all winter!
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