The Green Children Foundation

Deadwood: 30 Scary, Creepy & Bizarre Trees

thegreenchildrenfoundation — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:00:22 +0000

[ By Steve in History & Trivia, Home & Garden, Nature & Ecosystems. ]

As the most majestic members of the plant kingdom, trees loom large in human history, culture and psychology. They also can be quite frightening, whether standing proudly alone or massed limb to limb in damp, gloomy forests. The 30 scary, creepy & bizarre trees presented here show nature’s other, darker side… and you’d better hope their bark is worse than their bite!

A Face Only A Mother Woodpecker Could Love

(images via: Johnny & Aggy, Behind The Bins, Cmifbpics and Dawn Ulmer)

“If you go down in the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise…” and a Teddy Bear’s Picnic would be more than welcome after coming face to face with any one of these trees. Though merely the products of natural growth and decay or action by birds and animals, these distressingly anthropomorphic trees look much more sinister than that.

(images via: Brothergrimm, Digital Fibers and Campaigning For Health)

This spooky screaming tree (above, left) found guarding a trail in Hither Hills State Park near Montauk, New York, is unamused by your shenanigans… or anything else, it seems.

(image via: Digital Photography School)

It appears the weatherbeaten old woodsman above suddenly popped into the picture like the photobomb squirrel. Of course, the tree hasn’t “popped” anywhere all through its long existence beside a road in rural Ontario, Canada.

It’s Alive… And Hungry!

(images via: S Kessler)

Trees have the uncanny ability to “absorb” most any solid object that they may come in contact with. How long would it take for a tree to grow around a tombstone like the one above, found in a Quebec, Canada, graveyard has done? Figure on the better part of 200 years if one takes the early 19th century dates on this and other nearby gravestones into consideration.

(image via: Oddee)

The bamboo or banyan tree above appears to be protectively safeguarding a stone head of Buddha. The head formerly graced a temple in the cosmopolitan Thai city of Ayutthaya but was shifted to its current location in 1767, when the city was attacked and nearly completely destroyed by an invading Burmese army.

Where Is Your God Now?

(image via: IMAC Education)

In this Tree vs Temple cage match, the winner is obvious – and having a name like Strangler Fig doesn’t hurt the Arboreal Avenger’s cause one bit. Many of these trees above are over 400 years old while the temple complex at Angkor Wat in Cambodia is over 1,000 years old. The trees continue to grow while the temple… not so much.

(images via: IMAC Education)

The spooky doorway above might look familiar to moviegoers as it was featured in one of the Lara Croft movies.

Twisted Trunks, Blanched Branches

(images via: Sandra’s Scribbles, Lizette Fitzpatrick, Castleworks Inc. and Rob McMillan)

Sometimes trees don’t need any supporting context to look scary, they do just fine all by themselves. he examples above owe their contorted, some might even say tortured appearance to a combination of age, weather and disease. Nothing evil or satanic here… hey, where did everyone go?

(image via: Magic Surf Bus)

The gnarled and gnarly specimen above lords over all and sundry in the Vale Royal Woods, Northwich, England – a frightening location if there ever was. If there’s a North Witch in Northwich, this is probably where she hangs out.

Strange Fruit

(images via: Pigeon Has Pants, Parody Files and US Election Atlas)

Maybe some of our unease in the presence of scary trees lies not in history as a whole, but in one’s personal journey from child to adult – a journey fraught with thrills and chills more often than not Made In Hollywood. Take that childhood favorite, The Wizard Of Oz… and the frightening forest of angry apple trees.

(image via: CoverUps)

If you tell your kids “we’re going apple picking!” one bright, clear autumn day and they look away fearfully, now you know why.

They’re Here…

(images via: Topless Robot and KH Pinson)

It’s quite a jump from 1939′s special effects to 1982, the year the movie Poltergeist grabbed pop culture with a dead man’s grip… sort of like the way the Evil Tree in the Freeling’s backyard gripped young Robbie.

(images via: Paranormaland and AMC TV)

Well, it was better than being stuck in the bedroom with the Evil Clown, amiright?

Sleepy Hollow’s “Tree Of The Dead”

(images via: Eclectric Dragonfly, Your Daily Tree and For The Love Of Movies)

As creepy as the apple trees from The Wizard Of Oz were, they don’t hold a candle to the strikingly scary Tree Of The Dead from Tim Burton’s inspired take on Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleep Hollow”, written in 1819. In Burton’s 1999 redux simply titled Sleepy Hollow, Johnny Depp plays Ichabod Crane, a naive yet dedicated police constable sent from New York to solve a spate of grisly murders in the small upstate village of Sleepy Hollow. Solve them he does, though not without a near-fatal encounter with the Tree Of The Dead.

(image via: Cheezburger.com)

Even without the Headless Horseman (played by the inimitable Christopher Walken) or his gruesome hoard of disembodied heads, the Tree Of The Dead evokes shock and horror on a number of levels. And no, this is one case where NO more cowbell is required. Oddly enough (or maybe not, if you know Tim Burton’s style), a very similar scary tree makes an appearance in Burton’s remake of Alice In Wonderland.

Jumpin’ Juniper!

(image via: Paludario)

Even Tim Burton would stand in awe before the time-blasted tree above… though not too close, just in case. Bleached by scabrous moonlight and bent by decades of shrieking, frigid mountain winds, the ancient juniper above struggles to live on – perhaps in hopes of gaining some revenge.

Little Photoshop of Horrors

(images via: Paludario)

The photoartist Paludario has a gift for twisting visual reality ever so slightly, just enough to scare the willies out of us!

(image via: Paludario)

Looking like some gigantic robot crayfish from Hell, the above symmetrical rendering brings out a truly monstrous side to what originally appeared to be merely and old tree that had lost its leaves… aha, but that’s just what it WANTED you to think!

Who Was That Masked Mangrove?

(images via: Mouseplanet and The Fun Times Guide)

You say your neatly manicured, lushly landscaped, archetypical suburban front yard needs a little scarification? Tree Faces are a cool way to, uh, put a face on your tree – or trees, if you’ve got more than one. If you’ve ever worked a Mr. Potato Head, then Tree Faces are a cinch. Just make sure the tree you’re working on doesn’t already HAVE a face… talk about awkward.

(image via: The Fun Times Guide)

Most of the DIY scary tree faces you tend to see around Halloween time are of the Disney-scary variety – that is, somewhat frightening but mainly family friendly. The tree face above bends the rule just a little, though, because some folks like a little Capital H Horror with their horror.

(image via: Zuza Fun)

Whether you did or did not enjoy watching these freaky trees, at least some comfort can be taken in the fact that they can’t watch you back. Don’t, er, quote me on that.

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Finding a Bright Spot

thegreenchildrenfoundation — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:49:24 +0000

Forced positivity has always made me deeply uncomfortable. “Smile!” “Just look on the bright side!” “It’s not that bad.”

Unfortunately, when you are feeling badly, those apparently well-meaning phrases can feel like a jab in your side. Not only do you feel down, but now you feel guilty for feeling down!

For me, I appreciate practical approaches to feeling positive. One lesson I’ve learned over the years is finding bright spots, literally and figuratively.

Literally speaking, finding a bright spot means getting outdoors and being in the sunlight. Being outside is a natural mood lifter. A friend of mine swears by this simple technique: look up. Look up into the sky for a moment or two. He believes it “opens up your mind and frees your spirit. It reminds you that your problems are small in relation to the vastness of the sky.”

Figuratively, finding a bright spot means noticing the smallest of things that lifts your spirits. Today, I saw a mimosa tree in bloom. The pink was so vibrant and eye-catching. Staring at it for a moment was like looking at a work of art.

Or perhaps its a positive interaction, albeit brief, with a person throughout your day; like a cashier or a passerby who smiles. If you take that moment in, for all it’s worth, you’ll be surprised at how much power a simple and seemingly meaningless interaction holds.

So find some bright spots today. They aren’t hard to find - they’re everywhere. But more importantly, take one moment to recognize that it lifted your spirits, even slightly.

by Beth Mann

Tekapo, NZ - a village among the stars

Beth

Floating Cities: 15 Last-Hope Homes for a Watery World

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:00:08 +0000

[ By Steph in Art & Design, Geography & Travel, Nature & Ecosystems. ]

With so many visions of humanity’s future involving the devastating effects of climate change, architects are looking toward a life without land: entire self-contained cities purposefully built on water complete with housing, schools, hospitals, restaurants and shops. These floating city concepts range from recycled oil rigs to what could be the largest structure ever built (if we ever discover a material strong enough to bear the weight, that is.)

Embassy of Drowned Nations

(images via: oculus)

As sea levels rise, it seems that some nations will inevitably sink beneath the depths, leaving behind thousands or perhaps millions of displaced residents. We may hope that the Embassy of Drowned Nations is never actually needed, but time will tell. The artificial island, conceived by Australian design firm Oculus, would temporarily house climate change refugees.

Drowned London, Rebuilt on Oil Rigs

(images via: io9)

If London, too, falls victim to climate change, where will everyone go? Perhaps they’d evacuate to abandoned oil rigs and recycled ship hulls, as in this concept by Anthony Lau. Says the designer, “By utilising the flooded landscape, a floating city of offshore communities, mobile infrastructure and aquatic transport will allow the city to reconfigure through fluid urban planning. Wave, tidal and wind energy will be ideal for this offshore city and the inhabitants will live alongside the natural cycles of nature and the rhythms of the river and tides.”

New Orleans Arcology Habitat

(images via: greener ideal)

Five years later, New Orleans is just beginning to feel like its old pre-Katrina self again – but that could change all too quickly if another major hurricane happened to hit the city. Perhaps residents should aim for a solution that works with rather than against the water they’re surrounded by – like this concept for a ‘New Orleans Arcology Habitat’, a floating metropolis in the Mississippi River. It’s not just a last-ditch emergency shelter: with housing, hotels, cultural facilities, a school system and even casinos, it’s a self-contained community for everyday living.

Boston Arcology

(images via: ahearn schopfer)

Boston may not be living under the constant threat of flooding like New Orleans, but rising seas could still be a problem for this bustling coastal city. Designer Kevin Schopfer would bring 15,000 Boston residents out into the harbor with the BOA development, a floating pedestrian-only city with all the amenities one would expect in any urban setting.

Seasteading San Francisco

(images via: seasteading.org)

For some libertarians, no government is good government – and that’s why they’d like to find a way to live in self-contained, self-sustainable floating cities located in international waters. The Seasteading Institute imagines “homesteading on the high seas” on mobile platforms. The group’s first project may be ‘ClubStead’, a 200-person resort seastead in the San Francisco Bay.

Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid

(image via: wikimedia commons)

If you’re interested in futuristic architecture concepts on the opposite end of the spectrum from the “tiny house movement”, look no further than Japanese firm Shimizu, which has come up with all manner of mega-projects ranging from electricity-collecting belts for the moon to this “Mega-City Pyramid”, which if built would be the largest building ever constructed. A self-contained city for one million people situated on a river delta, the 1.25-mile-high structure isn’t technically possible yet because no known material can support that kind of weight.

Green Float – Lilypad Skyscraper City

(images via: shimizu)

Another big idea from Shimizu is “Green Float”, which is just as much a sky city as a floating city, given that it places housing in tall skyscrapers perched on lilypad-like platforms. Each skyscraper is insanely tall at one mile high each, and would house 1 million residents, with the ‘stem’ of each tower containing vertical gardens.

Disney’s 1984 Sea City of the Future

(image via: paleofuture)

In 1984, Walt Disney had some interesting ideas of what agriculture would be like in farming areas near the sea by the year 2050. Published in a book called ‘The Future World of Agriculture’, this image was accompanied by the following text: “Robots tend crops that grow on floating platforms around a sea city of the future. Water from the ocean would evaporate, rise to the base of the platforms (leaving the salt behind), and feed the crops.”

1968 Sea City

(image via: darkroastedblend)

Dark Roasted Blend bemoaned the fact that, when it comes to visions of futuristic architecture, “the future’s gotten too damned small.” But that’s definitely not the case with those Shimizu projects, or with this mysterious concept, which the blog identifies as “Sea-City, 1968 – architect Hal Moggridge for Pilkington Glass Company.” The design is sadly bereft of further information but it’s certainly a striking image with its illuminated strip of buildings forming an artificial harbor.

Freedom Ship: City at Sea

(images via: freedomship.com)

Aesthetically speaking, the Freedom Ship isn’t quite on the level of most other floating city designs – but that may actually make it easier to achieve. An amazing mile long, this mega-stretched-out cruise ship could house over 50,000 people with living quarters, work space, retail, education and health care. It has its own full-size airstrip on the roof as well as a giant port for smaller leisure boats and visiting vessels.

Shanghai Expo’s Floating City

(images via: treehugger)

It never did materialize, but if this 2007 vision for a floating city had really been constructed, it certainly would have been the most innovative and eye-catching display at the 2010 Shanghai Expo. Dutch designers envisioned an eco-friendly series of honeycomb semi-spheres floating on the Shanghai River, packed with a 3D cinema, pubs, a shopping mall and a restaurant.

Ark City from ‘Brink’

(images via: io9)

The stunning “seagoing eco-city gone wrong” that serves as the setting for the game Brink was inspired by the writings of Geoff Manaugh, founder of BLDGBlog, and by concepts like the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid. “It was familiar enough to draw on zeitgeist-ish current concerns, but distant enough in time and space that players wouldn’t have seen it before,” wrote Brink developer Ed Stern.

Buckminster Fuller’s Triton City

(images via: a place to stand)

From WebUrbanist’s ‘Retro-Futurism: 13 Failed Urban Design Ideas‘ – “If not for a certain tell-tale 1960s aesthetic, Buckminster Fuller’s ‘Triton City’ could easily fit among today’s designs for floating eco-friendly cities. The futurist, architect and inventor was ahead of his time as usual when he imagined this tetrahedronal metropolis for Tokyo Bay, a seastead for up to 6,000 residents. Fuller wrote about the possibility of desalinating and recirculating seawater ‘in many useful and non-polluting ways’ and using materials from obsolete buildings on land, which were hardly popular ideas at the time.”

The Gyre: Floating Oceanic Skyscraper

(images via: zigloo.ca)

From WebEcoist’s ‘Underwater Cities: 12 Sci-Fi Visions & Real Design Ideas’ – “Technically, the Gyre isn’t a floating skyscraper – it’s more like a seafloor-scraper. Rather than reaching high into the air, the tip of the Gyre descends 400 meters under the ocean’s surface from a floating platform with four arms that buoy the building and create harbors for massive ships. The Gyre, powered by the solar, wind and wave energy, would house a research station and a resort complete with shops, restaurants, gardens, parks and entertainment.”

Sea City 2000

(image via: futuresavvy)

FutureSavvy.net scanned this unidentified article about ‘Sea City 2000′, a concept based on the ideas of both Buckminster Fuller and Paolo Soleri, which features a pyramid-shaped building covered in solar panels on a floating platform. The pyramid contains apartments, shops, gardens and schools while the equipment underneath it would support jobs like fish farming and “mining the sea bed for minerals – sure to be an important activity in the 21st century.”

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Social Entrepreneurship key to Middle East’s Youth

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 03:36:50 +0000

The Vice President of Ashoka Arab World, stresses the importance of investment in the region’s education, and the ongoing and empowerment of women — and why the private sector needs to play a strong role in championing these causes.

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Paying it Forward at Trader Joe’s

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:55:34 +0000

It all started with a trip to Trader Joe’s. Jenni Ware had just rung up her groceries, which came to a total of $207. But as she reached into her purse, she discovered that she’d left her wallet at home.

Ware was about to go home grocery-less when she received a kind offer from the stranger in line behind her, a woman named Carolee Hazard. Hazard offered to pay Ware’s entire bill, simply asking her to send her a check to cover the cost.

The next day, Hazard received a check for $300—$93 more than she’d lent to Ware.

“I didn’t know what to do with the money,” Hazard told USA Today. “I’d thought to mail a check back to Jenni, but in the day and age of Facebook, I turned to my friends to decide what to do with the money instead,”

A friend suggested donating the cash to charity. Hazard thought that was a great idea, and selected the Second Harvest Food Bank, matching the $93 with an additional $93 of her own.

Several of Hazard’s friends were so inspired by her actions that they decided to make their own $93 donations. Soon, their friends were following suit. The group of philanthropists created “the 93 Dollar Club,” and a Facebook page to go along with it. A year since that fateful day at Trader Joe’s, the club has raised more than $100,000 to fight hunger in America.

Now that their story is getting so much attention, Hazard has a bold new goal: doubling donations to $200,000. Want to help? Check out the Facebook page for more info.

Source: Gimundo

Beth

For the Birds: 15 Awesome Avian Home Designs

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:00:24 +0000

[ By Steph in Animals & Habitats, Art & Design, Home & Garden. ]

No garden is complete without a house or two for our feathered friends, but why stick to boring boxes when you could have sculptural works of art, modern flat-pack steel worthy of urban design enthusiasts, and even posh bird abodes complete with swimming pools? These 15 clever and creative bird house designs – many of which are recycled or even solar-powered – provide fashionable homes for birds year-round.

Heart for the Birds

(image via: mocoloco)

When the Toronto Botanical Garden called for entries in a birdhouse design competition, they received some incredible works of art – but none quite so unusual and sculptural as this piece by Josh Coulas. Entitled ‘Heart for the Birds’, the gallery-worthy design takes human love for our feathered friends to an almost gruesomely literal level.

Spontaneous Bird City

(image via: london field works)

Bird houses tend to be lonely little structures, located far from their neighbors. Why not build an entire bird metropolis? This ‘spontaneous city’ was created by London Fieldworks, a collaboration between artists Bruce Gilchrist and Jo Joelson.

CCTV Bird House

(image via: gizmodo)

That’s not a camera watching your every move – it’s the beady little eyes of a bird. But from far away, this clever and creative birdhouse design might just fool a criminal scoping out your neighborhood.

Posh Bird House with a Pool

(image via: posh living)

Who’s to say that birds don’t love a little luxury every now and then? The lucky birds that find this home first will get a rooftop swimming pool in addition to their modern, vaguely Scandinavian cabana.

Solar-Powered Illuminated Bird House

(image via: oooms.nl)

Given that the need for an illuminated bird house is questionable at best, a solar-powered bird house may seem less than eco. But aside from how cool it looks when lit up at night, the little perch on this birdhouse attracts bugs, giving birds an easy snack.

Giving Birds the Boot

(image via: great green goods)

Luxurious? Hardly – but green? Definitely. It may seem cruel to ask your friendly backyard birds to roost in somebody’s stanky old work boot, but these tough and dependable castoffs could actually be quite cozy for small species like wrens and chickadees, and they save shoes from the dump.

Folding Modern Bird House

(image via: grass roots modern)

On the other end of the spectrum, for urbanists who won’t accept anything less than chic modern design, there are bird houses like this: ultra-modern, super-simple, flat-pack and made of steel.

Modern Bird House with a Green Roof

(image via: workshopped)

Vertical gardening and green roofs aren’t just for people. Artist Donald Corey incorporated the best green design practices into this commission, keeping the most important needs of his ‘clients’ in mind. “Using a natural green roof to protect the ‘clients’ from heat and rain, they get the extra benefit of having a good place to look for food that is very close. The house’s walls are created from salvaged wood and the front and back are made of recyclable stainless steel.”

Airstream Bird House

(image via: chrome dome studio)

For nomads, vagabonds and people who just like the look, Airstreams are a sleek and lovably retro alternative to sticks and bricks. So doesn’t it follow that migrating birds who love to be on the move might want a portable home, as well? Maybe this awesome Airstream birdhouse can’t migrate with its avian inhabitants, but it certainly captures the spirit of travel.

Bird Turf Hanging Bird House

(image via: design sponge)

Pairs of shoes hanging listlessly from power lines are a common sight in urban areas, but why not use that same concept to take back the space for wildlife? This design, with twin black and white cylindrical wooden houses hanging by a cord, creates a habitat in a place where birds often congregate.

Ephemeral Paper Bird House

(image via: design boom)

The remains of old auction catalogs fold up nicely into a sort of origami-like modern birdhouse, albeit one that won’t last long in the wind and rain. But designer Michael Young admittedly didn’t create this as a functional place for birds to nest; it’s a work of art.

CD Case Bird House

(image via: craftster)

It makes for a somewhat geeky, very cool looking birdhouse – but this DIY recycled creation, made with CD jewel cases, does have its downsides. “Now, as long as the plastic cases don’t focus the sunlight like a magnifying glass and fry any potential occupants, we will be doing OK,” writes the artist on Craftster.

Coffee Can Bird House

(image via: ignacio pilotto)

Industrial designer Ignacio Pilotto came up with an awesome and surprisingly nice-looking way to reuse coffee cans: turning them into avian abodes with a couple hooks and a modified lid, fitted with a little perch and a round entrance.

Cinder Block Bird House

(image via: design related)

Who knew that cinder blocks could be such fashionable modular bird houses? Sure, they’re a bit heavy – strong chains would be a must – but this design by Mathew Zurlinden makes great use of a common waste material and can easily stack into apartment buildings for birds.

Flowerpot Bird House

(image via: digsdigs)

So you’ve got one good branch in your yard from which to hang something pretty, but you can’t decide between a hanging pot of colorful flowers and a birdhouse. This unusual concept called ‘O_Nest_O’ by De Castelli gives you the best of both worlds with a hollow area under the plant’s soil in which birds can make a home.

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Social Entrepreneurship and Constructive Competitveness

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:04:51 +0000

Understanding doing business in the 21st century - Social Entrepreneurship, and on one of the elements to overcome competition in businesses Join facebook group to follow on this topic and other tips www.facebook.com For details on upcoming programs and personal/group consultations with professionals in business, Email to shineadasta@gmail.com.

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Positive Quote Wednesday - On Laziness

thegreenchildrenfoundation — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:16:26 +0000

Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired. ~Jules Renard

I like the word “indolence.” It makes my laziness seem classy. ~Bern Williams

All of the biggest technological inventions created by man - the airplane, the automobile, the computer - says little about his intelligence, but speaks volumes about his laziness. ~Mark Kennedy

Efficiency is intelligent laziness. ~David Dunham

People who throw kisses are mighty hopelessly lazy. ~Bob Hope

Tomorrow is the only day in the year that appeals to a lazy man. ~Jimmy Lyons

It’s true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance? ~Ronald Reagan

What is right is often forgotten by what is convenient. ~Bodie Thoene, Warsaw Requiem

There is no cure for laziness but a large family helps. ~Herbert Prochnov

Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy. ~Charlie McCarthy

We have produced a world of contented bodies and discontented minds. ~Adam Clayton Powell, Keep the Faith, Baby!, 1967

The time will come when winter will ask you what you were doing all summer. ~Henry Clay

How can a society that exists on instant mashed potatoes, packaged cake mixes, frozen dinners, and instant cameras teach patience to its young? ~Paul Sweeney

The present generation, wearied by its chimerical efforts, relapses into complete indolence. Its condition is that of a man who has only fallen asleep towards morning: first of all come great dreams, then a feeling of laziness, and finally a witty or clever excuse for remaining in bed. ~Søren Kierkegaard

Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.
Sam Keen

Beth