30 Eco-Chic Houses Made of 10 Types of Recycled Materials
July 11, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Home & Garden. ]
Waste materials that are reclaimed for new structures can be as simple as a bunch of stacked tires or a boat that’s no longer seaworthy, or as complex as old stone bricks re-sculpted to look like new. They can be roughly cobbled together into rustic cabins, or masterfully incorporated into stunning modern residences along with new materials. Sometimes they’re left as-is, their signs of age providing a sense of history, and sometimes they’re processed into something that leaves no hint of their origins. These 10 recycled building materials were saved from the landfill and transformed into the following 30 green homes, and many more around the world.
Bottles & Cans
(images via: treehugger, inhabitat, green upgrader, beercanhouse.org)
To some, they’re junk, but to others, discarded bottles and cans can be the main materials of a recycled home. Flattened tomato tins were turned into protective exterior tiles on a mountain home in Patagonia, and one million brown and green beer bottles were formed into an absolutely breathtaking Buddhist temple in Thailand. The ‘Beer Can House’ in Houston, Texas was was crafted over 18 years out of 39,000 cans of beer. The cans were cut up and applied to just about every surface, used as siding, decorative trim and fencing. Plastic bottles were used to build a schoolhouse in San Pablo, Philippines, resulting in a structure that’s three times stronger than concrete.
Ships & Boats
(images via: strangebuildings.com, sea-fever.org, mr38)
Decommissioned ships and boats can be brought on land and transformed into unusual residences that become the talk of the town. While it’s looking a little worse for the wear, ‘The Ship House’ of Dalmatia, Croatia is certainly a creative example of a recycled house. The sight of ‘The Ship Residence’, top right, might just cause you to run your own boat aground as you stare. Located on South Bass Island in Lake Eerie at Put-in-Bay, Ohio, the home consists of a former Great Lakes Shipping Boat that was built by Henry Ford and saw 50 years of service before it was moved onto the lot. Or, you could just craft recycled wood into an amazing house that just looks like a ship.
Glass Panels & Windows
(images via: plentyofcolour, design squish, inhabitat)
Recycled glass windows, plexiglass panels and even waste glass are transformed into light-filled homes. Kolonihavehus by artist Tom Fruin may not be a functioning house, but it’s certainly a source of inspiration for people looking to build green reclaimed houses; it’s made entirely out of used plexiglass panels, which the artist colored to create a stained glass effect. Another home in Freetown Christiania, a commune in Copenhagen, was built in the ’60s using reclaimed windows – bet they’ve never had to turn on a light in the daytime. And finally, though it might not be pretty, the bottom house is an inexpensive modular home with a build time of less than a week that was made from processed waste glass.
Barns
(images via: scdlp.net, trendir.com)
With cities expanding ever outward, farms are fewer and farther between – but that doesn’t mean that big beautiful barns should just be torn down. Many barns have been turned into stunning, spacious private homes, whether by simply insulating them and adding utilities or by completely disassembling the wood and crafting it into something new. Belgium’s reclaimed barn house, top, maintains the traditional shape of the barn it was made from, with lots of new glass and a fully functioning shutter facade for natural light and ventilation. Below, the heavy beams of a dairy barn were separated to form slats that protect rippled glass walls, making a formerly dense structure seem light and airy.
Shipping Containers
(images via: containercity, astorideponti.it, dornob)
Compact, stackable and found in great abundance all over the world, shipping containers are an ideal material for building homes and other structures. While they used to sit abandoned in shipyards once their short 5 years in use were over, now they’re configured into houses small and large. Individual shipping containers with pre-cut openings are simply lifted by crane and dropped onto each other in a pre-determined design. There are lots of DIY used shipping container house plans for those interested in giving this cheap, eco-friendly building material a shot.
Grain Bins
(images via: dornob, natural home magazine, gruenhomesteadinn.com)
Strong and sturdy, grain silos form the basis of round houses, left rustic or given a contemporary touch. Two silos were joined by a hallway to form a home in the rural American Midwest; another forms the main internal structure for a home in Greensburg, Kansas. The silo has been disguised in the latter home, so you would never even guess that it’s there. At the Gruene Homestead Inn in Texas, a front porch gives a silo used as guest chambers a homey feel.
Tires
(images via: globalgiving.com, earthship.net, makingthishome)
Tires are the main building component of ecological houses known as ‘earthships’. These homes, common in the deserts of the United States, are also ideal as low-cost housing in third world countries. Tires are plentiful and, when packed with mud, provide thermal mass to regulate the building’s internal temperature. They are often plastered over with a mud mixture that resembles adobe, though sometimes, they’re left visible. The top image shows a school in construction in Guatemala; the second depicts a wall in a Virginia earthship. The third image illustrates how tires have been used to make strong, inexpensive houses in earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
Pallets
(images via: loftenberg, tinyfreehouse, inhabitat)
Did you know that shipping pallets are often made of hardwood? Once they’re used a few times to transport heavy loads, they’re cast aside, but this wood can make up the building blocks of a home. In Curacavi, Chile, a large modern home was given cladding made of pallets painted white, which provide natural cooling and ventilation, and let in light. Unmodified pallets could even be used to create quick and cheap disaster housing, used for everything from the front deck to the furniture inside. The modular Paletten Haus, designed by two students from the University of Vienna for a sustainable architecture competition, is modular and energy efficient; the students are working on smaller, similar designs that could be built for just $11 per square foot.
Reclaimed Wood
(images via: ethanhc, dornob, designmilk)
Reclaimed wood from various sources including demolished structures can add character and a sense of history to a home, whether it is used as an accent among more modern materials or as the main event. The ‘Treehouse of Hyeres’, top left, was made of wood and found objects and is clearly rustic in style; the reclaimed wood still retains the varying shades of tint and paint. Alternately, reclaimed wood makes up the core structure of a home which was finished with paler, newer wood for a beautiful contrast. The third home, also made of mixed new and used wood, achieves a similar effect.
Stone
(images via: feildenfowles.co.uk, dezeen, mauelribeiroarchitect.com)
Recycled scraps of slate from buildings no longer in use were reclaimed for both the roof and the north facade of the Ty Pren residence in South Wales (top). A crumbling stone villa in Portugal was rebuilt, the time-worn stone blocks juxtaposed with new wood and glass for a modern look, in a luxury country villa conversion by Manuel Ribeiro. The beauty of stone is that it can be carved back into new-looking bricks if an aged look is not desired. British architect John Pawson used reclaimed stone to create The House of Stone in Milan, which appears brand new.
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Mud Men: Scientists Find an Ocean of Rare Earths
July 5, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Steve in News & Politics & Science & Research & Technology & Gadgets. ]
I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah! A Japanese expedition has discovered a wealth – literally – of rare earth minerals in mud samples taken from the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Should the discovery pan out, the rewards could be richer than gold. Even better, refining the bounty involves much more environmentally friendly processes compared to those used in highly toxic traditional mining.
Trash to Treasure
(images via: Mining.com, Nature News and The Australian)
A stunning discovery by a Japanese research team could ripple the waters of science, technology and geopolitics for years to come… “ripple” being the key word as the report concerns samples of seafloor mud dredged from thousands of feet beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean.
(images via: Investors Insight and iOffer)
Mud, you say? Indeed, the gooey gloop that’s been accumulating for millions of years harbors an unseen but much desired treasure: rare earth minerals, said by some to be “21st-century gold” based on their rarity and value. These attributes are a function of demand, which has been on the rise due to the explosion of new, high-tech products and applications requiring these formerly uncommon elements.
(images via: DachaMetals, New Scientist and NewsWhip)
Now just to clarify, “uncommon” refers to concentrated deposits of rare earth minerals suitable for commercial mining. The elements themselves (the metals Scandium and Yttrium, plus 17 minerals in the Lanthanide series of the Periodic Table) are relatively common components of the earth’s crust – Cerium, for example, is about as common as Copper.
(images via: Qwiki and UCL Graduate School)
The three rare earth elements mentioned above are joined by Lanthanum, Praseodymium, Neodymium, Promethium, Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium and Lutetium. Their atomic numbers range from 57 through 71 inclusive, plus 21 for Scandium and 39 for Yttrium. Besides sharing similar properties, many of the rare earths have similar names derived from the Swedish village of Ytterby, where rare earths were first identified in the early 19th century.
Rare Earths, Abundant Uses
(image via: Allvoices)
Before we delve into the particulars of the Japanese ocean discovery, let’s take a look at the many uses of rare earths and why they’re so important today, as opposed to 100, 50 or even 10 years ago. Can you imagine living without your cellphone, MP3 player or other portable electronic devices? What would the modern world be like without hybrid vehicles, flat-screen TVs, night vision goggles, superconducting magnets or anything made by Apple?
(images via: Bloomberg, China Rare Earths and Hurriyet)
Pretty grim, huh? What’s even grimmer is knowing that 97 percent of the current supply of rare earth minerals is controlled by a single nation, China, and boy oh boy do they know it! Annoy China and you just might see your rare earth imports cut to the bone… and by “you”, we mean Japan.
(images via: Asiabizz, Euronews and East Asia Forum)
In November of 2010, an incident occurred in the East China Sea near the disputed Senkaku Islands (Japanese) or Diaoyu Islands (Chinese). While attempting to stop and arrest the captain of a Chinese fishing boat deemed to be trespassing, a Japanese Coast Guard vessel was rammed by the Chinese ship. Check out this video captured by a Japanese crewman and leaked without authorization:
Leaked China-Japan boat crash video sparks row, via RT
(images via: ChattahBox and Blogs/WSJ)
Amid the diplomatic fallout caused by Japan’s taking the Chinese trawler captain into custody, rare earth exports from China to Japan dropped precipitously and remained at lower than normal levels for months. As Japan is a major manufacturer of leading edge electronics and hybrid vehicles, shortages of rare earth elements would be expected to seriously affect these industries while those in China enjoyed unrestricted access to these crucial raw materials. Japanese companies have accelerated rare earth recycling programs but these worthwhile efforts are stopgaps at best. How did we arrive at such a situation?
China Crisis
(images via: Telegraph UK and Reuters)
When one considers mining for rare earths, the NIMBY factor comes into play in a big way. Put plainly, a rare earth mineral mine is about the last thing you’d want in your backyard. Separating the minerals from the waste products involves the use of toxic chemicals and produces particulate pollution on a massive scale. The waste itself is toxic – rare earths are often found in conjunction with radioactive elements such as Uranium and Thorium.
(images via: Latest China and Business Insider)
Voters in the United States and Australia – two nations with large reserves of rare earth minerals – simply won’t tolerate rare earth mining. China, on the other hand, has a totalitarian form of government that puts the needs of China as a whole before those of the “voters”. Even so, there have been rumblings from farmers and agricultural cooperatives in China’s rare earth mining and smelting regions whose crop yields have plummeted as a result of extensive pollution.
(images via: Straits Times and China Daily)
One of the stated reasons China has reduced its exports of rare earth minerals is due to these environmental concerns, though many China-watchers dismiss this as green-washing to hide the real issues: Chinese strategic control over rare earth minerals and the prices charged for them.
(images via: Treehugger and New York Times)
Some might say that rare earth importers have only themselves to blame for the current supply imbalance, and that may indeed be true. There’s the moral issue to consider as well: while we enjoy our iPhones and Prius’s (Prii?), millions of poor Chinese farmers suffer from ill health and reduced quality of life. Wouldn’t it be nice if somebody could find an abundant source of these essential minerals and a cheap, easy and non-polluting method of refining them?
Bounty From the Sea
(image via: CBC)
A recent announcement published in Nature Geoscience would seem too good to be true, which is perhaps why the researchers behind the story ensured that their testing was both vigorous and voluminous in scope before revealing their discovery. According to the researchers, led by Yasuhiro Kato of the University of Tokyo’s department of systems innovation, “Just one square kilometer (0.4 square mile) of (oceanic rare earth) deposits will be able to provide one-fifth of the current global annual consumption.”
(images via: Geeky Gadgets, SBS and Asahi News)
Professor Kato and his team tested over 2,000 sediment samples retrieved from the seafloor at 78 different sites in the central Pacific Ocean – in international waters, one might add. It gets even better: the oceanic rare earth deposits are nearly twice as concentrated as underground deposits in China and they boast a higher ratio of heavier to lighter rare earth elements. Serendipitously, heavier rare earths are more important than lighter minerals in manufacturing technology products.
(images via: Dawn, TCE Today and Geology.com)
Since the oceanic rare earths are suspended in viscous mud and not locked into solid rock, refining them would be a simpler process. No need for blast furnaces or the strong acids that have wreaked so much environmental havoc around land-based mines. Radioactivity from associated trace elements is not a concern as the Japanese researchers measured their occurrence at just 1/5 that of typical underground ores. What’s more, these rare earths are anything BUT rare. According to professor Kato, rare earths contained in the seafloor deposits could amount to 80 to 100 billion metric tons. Estimated global reserves confirmed by the USGS for all land-based sources including China only total 110 million tonnes. Investors may not be happy to hear this news but just about everyone else should be!
(images via: Nature Geoscience, 2Space and Canadian Mining Review)
The only fly in the ointment is bringing the rare earth-infused sea mud to the surface in quantity. The researchers’ samples were extracted from cores ranging from 11,500-20,000 ft (3,500 to 6,000 meters) below the ocean surface. Where there’s a will there’s a way, however, and necessity is the mother of invention after all. “Sea mud can be brought up to ships and we can extract rare earths right there using simple acid leaching,” stated professor Kato. “Within a few hours we can extract 80–90 percent of rare earths from the mud.” Sounds like a plan!
The possibility of cheap, abundant, pollution-free rare earth minerals is as exciting as the prospects of low-cost, sustainable and renewable solar power… though the latter still lurks somewhere in the future. At least there’s hope, both for consumers and for China’s long-suffering farmers and rural villagers. The day may come when, like the 1970s funk-rock band Rare Earth, we all can celebrate another day of living, another day of…LIFE!
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Princess Máxima explaining the World Bank micro loan third world enslavement con
May 23, 2011 by · View Comments
believersunderground on the World bank con: www.youtube.com Princess of The Netherlands Máxima Zorreguieta (UN special advisor on micro finance), dressed in UN blue for the occasion, explaining the new con of the World Bank: micro loans for the ‘Third world’ (January 2010). She’s married to the son of Queen Beatrix. Current Queen Beatrix (together with Queen Elizabeth) is the major stockholder in Shell Corp. and daughter of Bilderberg group founder Prince Bernhard, a German Nazi, and betrayer of the Dutch people in WW2 (there was a plan of becoming the head of the ‘Dutch province’ within the Third Reich) Máxima Zorreguieta’s father was a junior minister of Agriculture in the Argentinian fascist Videla regime. Mr. Zorreguieta shared the same extreme ideology that was put into practice with dictatorships in several Latin American countries (Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru etc), with the support of the United States and the West, coordinated by several intelligence services. “Operation Condor” was carried on by which all those opposed to these ideas were ELIMINATED (by being tortured to death or by being drugged and dropped into the ocean by planes/heli’s) She is notorious for stating that “the Dutch culture does not exist.” I only watched once, that’s more than I can take. Copyright by Radio Netherlands Worldwide Fair Use bla bla bla
Social Entrepreneurship: How Everyone Can be a Changemaker | The New School
May 21, 2011 by · View Comments
Social Entrepreneurship: How Everyone Can be a Changemaker THE NEW SCHOOL | www.newschool.edu Join us in the launch of an exciting new partnership between The New School and Ashoka, a global association of the worlds leading social entrepreneurs. Bruce Nussbaum, faculty member at Parsons the New School for Design and BusinessWeek editor, will moderate a discussion with leading social entrepreneurs tackling diverse global challenges from poverty to climate change. Featured speakers include Paul Polak, founder of International Development Enterprises and D-Rev Design for the other 90%; and Billy Parish, founder of Energy Action Coalition; as well as other extraordinary social entrepreneurs. The Ashoka Changemaker Campus Initiative is a unique partnership opportunity between Ashoka and a group of universities across the United States that aspires to improve teaching, research, and engagement opportunities in social entrepreneurship - both on campus and in the local and global communities in which we work. This event celebrating Ashokas partnership with The New School will include the participation ofMilano the New School for Management and Urban Policy, Parson The New School for Design, The New School for General Studies, and Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts. PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN | www.newschool.edu THE NEW SCHOOL FOR GENERAL STUDIES | www.newschool.edu EUGENE LANG COLLEGE THE NEW SCHOOL FOR LIBERAL ARTS | www.newschool.edu THE NEW SCHOOL FOR …
Lost Civilizations: 12 Societies that Vanished in Mystery
May 2, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Steph in History & Trivia & Science & Research. ]
Why would a flourishing civilization, advanced for its time, suddenly cease to exist, its inhabitants gone and its architecture abandoned? Conspiracy theorists offer all manner of offbeat explanations including alien abduction, but in the case of these 12 societies, the causes were likely more mundane: natural disasters, climate change, invasions and economic irrelevance. Still, we don’t know – and likely never will – exactly what happened to bring about the end of the Khmer Empire of Cambodia, the Minoan society of Crete or two ancient civilizations right here in the United States.
The Indus Valley Civilization, Pakistan
(images via: national geographic)
Home to one of the greatest man-made architectural wonders of the ancient world, the Indus Valley Civilization (known at the height of its influence as the Harappan Civilization) was among the largest early urban settlements on any continent. Located in modern-day Pakistan, the Indus Valley Civilization thrived 4,500 years ago and was then forgotten but for local legends until ruins were excavated in the 1920s. Sophisticated and technologically advanced, this civilization, including the famous Mohenjo Daro, featured the world’s first urban sanitation systems as well as evidence of surprising proficiency in mathematics, engineering and even proto-dentistry. By the year 1500 BCE, the Indus Valley Civilization was virtually abandoned, possibly after invasion by Indo-European tribes or a collapse in agriculture due to climate change.
The Khmer Empire, Cambodia
(images via: tourism object, christian haugen, christoph rooms)
Once one of the most powerful empires of Southeast Asia, the Khmer civilization spread from modern-day Cambodia out into Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Malaysia and is best known today for Angkor, its capital city. The empire dates back to 802 CE. Other than stone inscriptions, no written records survive, so our knowledge of the civilization is pieced together from archaeological investigations, reliefs in temple walls and the reports of outsiders including the Chinese. The Khmers practiced both Hinduism and Buddhism and built intricate temples, towers and other structures including Angkor Wat, dedicated to the god Vishnu. Attacks from outsiders, deaths from the plague, water management issues affecting the rice crops and conflicts over power among the royal families likely led to the end of this empire, which finally fell to the Thai people in 1431 CE.
The Anasazi, New Mexico, United States
(images via: erik anestad, national geographic, puroticorico)
‘Anasazi’ is the modern name for the ancient Pueblo Peoples who inhabited the ‘Four Corners’ area of the southwestern United States at the junction of the states of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. Their civilization emerged around the 12th century BCE, and remains best known for stone and adobe structures built along cliff walls including Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde National Park, the White House Ruins and Pueblo Bonito at the northern rim of Chaco Canyon. This architecture evolved into amazing multi-story dwellings that were often only accessible by rope or ladder.
The ancient Puebloans did not necessarily “vanish”; they did, however, abandon their homeland for reasons unknown in the 12th and 13th centuries CE. Many experts as well as modern Puebloans, who claim the ancient Puebloans as their ancestors, believe that deforestation and droughts caused internal conflict and warfare, causing these ancient people to disseminate.
The Olmec Civilization, Mexico
(images via: wikimedia commons, bernt rostad)
In what is now Veracruz and Tabasco in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico was once a grand Pre-Columbian civilization that constructed incredible ‘colossal heads’, practiced bloodletting and human sacrifice, invented the concept of the number zero and essentially laid the foundation for every Mesoamerican culture that was to follow. The Olmec civilization might even have been the first civilization in the Western hemisphere to develop a writing system, and possibly invented the compass and the Mesoamerican calendar. Dating to around 1500 BCE, the Olmec civilization wasn’t ‘discovered’ by historians until the mid-19th century. Its decline is blamed on environmental changes caused by volcanic eruptions, earthquakes or possibly damaging agricultural practices.
The Aksumite Empire, Ethiopia
(images via: wikimedia commons)
A major participant in trade with the Roman Empire and Ancient India, the Aksumite Empire – also known as the Kingdom of Aksum or Axum – ruled over northeastern Africa including Ethiopia starting in the 4th century BCE. Theorized to be the home of the Queen of Sheba, the Aksumite Empire was likely an indigenous African development that grew to encompass most of present-day Eritrea, northern Ethiopia, Yemen, southern Saudi Arabia and northern Sudan. The empire had its own alphabet and erected enormous obelisks including the Obelisk of Axum, which still stands. It was the first major empire to convert to Christianity. Axum’s decline has been variously blamed on economic isolation due to the expansion of the Islamic Empire, invasions, or climate change which altered the flood pattern of the Nile.
The Minoans, Crete
(images via: wikimedia commons)
Named after the mythical king Minos, the Minoan civilization of Crete wasn’t rediscovered until early in the 20th century, but since then we have uncovered fascinating puzzle pieces of an ancient civilization that began flourishing over 7,000 years ago, hitting its zenith around 1600 BCE. Centers of commerce appeared around 2700 BCE, and as the civilization advanced, palaces of greater and greater complexity were built and rebuilt following series of disasters – likely earthquakes and eruptions of the Thera volcano. One of these palaces was Knossos, the ‘labyrinth’ associated with the legend of Minos, which is now a major archaeological site and tourist attraction. But sometime around 1450 BCE, there was an unknown disaster that the Minoans apparently weren’t able to recover from, and the civilization met its downfall. In moved the Mycenaeans – who would later join the Minoans in the void of vanished empires. Fun fact: the Minoan script, known as Linear A, remains undeciphered.
The Cucuteni-Trypillians, Ukraine & Romania
(images via: wikimedia commons, germanici)
The largest settlements in Neolithic Europe were built by the Cucuteni-Trypillians of modern-day Ukraine, Romania and Moldova. This mysterious civilization, which flourished between 5500 BCE and 2750 BCE, is characterized by its uniquely patterned pottery and by its bizarre habit of burning its own villages to the ground every 60 to 80 years. The villages were rebuilt again and again, on top of the ashes of the old ones. About 3,000 Cucuteni-Trypillian archaeological sites have been identified including what may be the world’s oldest saltworks. Like so many other civilizations, the Cucuteni-Trypillians may have been wiped out by climate change, but other theories suggest that they gradually blended with other groups until their own culture was lost.
The Nabateans, Jordan
(images via: wikimedia commons)
The ancient Nabatean civilization occupied southern Jordan, Canaan and northern Arabia starting in the sixth century BCE, when the Aramaic-speaking Nabatean nomads began gradually migrating from Arabia. Their legacy is epitomized by the breathtaking city of Petra, carved into the solid sandstone rock of Jordan’s mountains, and they are remembered for their skill in water engineering, managing a complex system of dams, canals and reservoirs which helped them expand and thrive in an arid desert region. Little is known of their culture and no written literature survives. They were overtaken by the Romans in 65 BCE, who took full control by 106 CE, renaming the kingdom Arabia Petrea. Sometime around the 4th century CE, the Nabateans left Petra for unknown reasons. It’s believed that, after centuries of foreign rule, the Nabatean civilization was reduced to disparate groups of Greek-writing peasants who were eventually converted to Christianity before their lands were seized altogether by Arab invaders.
Cahokia, Illinois, United States
(images via: wikimedia commons)
Few Americans realize that we have the remains of a lost ancient civilization right here in the United States – in Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. The Cahokia Mounds Historic Site is all that is left of an indigenous civilization of the Mississippian culture, settled around 600 CE. The inhabitants of Cahokia did not seem to keep written records, but preserved at this World Heritage Site are a series of grass-covered man-made ‘mounds’ as well as pottery and other artifacts. Cahokia was once the largest urban center north of the great Mesoamerican cities of Mexico and may have once been home to as many as 40,000 people – greater, in the year 1250 CE, than the population of London, England, or that of any American city that was to come until Philadelphia around the year 1800. Cahokia was abandoned around 100 years before Europeans arrived in North America, possibly due to environmental factors or invasion of outside peoples.
The Mycenaean Civilization, Greece
(images via: clairity, wikimedia commons)
Unlike the Minoans before them, the Mycenae didn’t flourish by trade alone – they set out to conquer, and expanded into an empire that overtook much of Greece. Hitting its peak right around the time the Minoans disappeared, the Mycenaean civilization enjoyed five centuries of domination before vanishing sometime around 1100 BCE. Hellenic legend holds that the Mycenae defeated the possibly mythological Troy, and the empire’s artifacts have been found as far away as Ireland. In fact, this culturally and economically wealthy civilization has left behind a wealth of art, architecture and artifacts. What happened to the Mycenae? Natural disasters are possible, but most experts believe that it was either foreign invaders or internal conflict that brought about the end to this once-great empire.
Moche Civilization, Peru
(images via: national geographic, inkanatura)
More of a collection of peoples that shared a similar culture than an empire, the Moche civilization developed an agriculturally-based society complete with palaces, pyramids and complex irrigation canals on the north coast of Peru between about 100 and 800 CE. While they had no predominant written language, leaving us few clues as to their history, they were an extraordinarily artistic and expressive people who left behind incredibly detailed pottery and monumental architecture. In 2006, a Moche chamber was discovered that was apparently used for human sacrifice, containing the remains of human offerings. There are many theories as to why the Moche disappeared, but the most prevalent explanation is the effect of El Nino, a pattern of extreme weather characterized by alternating periods of flooding and extreme droughts. Perhaps this explains the Moche’s bloody efforts to appease the gods.
Clovis Culture, North America
(images via: clovis in the southeast, wikimedia commons)
Very little is known about the Clovis culture, a prehistoric Paleo-Indian people that were thought to have been the first human inhabitants of North America. Archaeologists have tentatively dated artifacts found at an archaeological site near Clovis, New Mexico at 11,500 RCYBP (radiocarbon years before present), equal to about 13,500 calendar years, but dating beyond 10,000 years is considered unreliable. The artifacts, bone and stone blades known as Clovis points, are among the only clues we have that this group – technically not a civilization – ever existed. In the last thirty years, remains of possibly older human activity have been discovered, calling the Clovis’ status into question, but whether or not they were first, they did disappear rather abruptly. Some speculate that the Clovis overhunted, compromising their own food supply, or that climate change, disease and predators took their toll. Others believe that the Clovis didn’t disappear at all, but simply dispersed into the beginnings of early Native American tribes.
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Bark At The Moon: A History Of Soviet Space Dogs
April 5, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Steve in Animals & Habitats & History & Trivia & Science & Research. ]
Among the many noteworthy achievements of the Soviet Union’s space program was the first launch of an animal – a dog named Laika – into earth orbit on the world’s second successful satellite. “Muttnik” wasn’t the only dog star: over 50 canine cosmonauts helped set the stage for the USSR‘s side of the great Space Race. This is their story.
Cold War, Hot Dogs
(image via: Telstar Logistics)
World War II had ended and the Cold War had just begun – and both the United States and the Soviet Union worked feverishly to establish viable ballistic missile and manned space programs with the help of captured German rocket scientists. While the Americans used captured V2 rockets to launch fruit flies, a monkey and a mouse into suborbital space between 1947 and the summer of 1950, the USSR decided dogs would be the ideal space-pioneering animals.
(images via: Spacebooks, Wikipedia, All Experts and Want It All)
Dogs could be trained to deal with long periods of inactivity required in preparation for a launch and would also tolerate wearing a cumbersome space suit in a small confined space. As well, stray dogs were chosen for their perceived hardiness and females were preferred due to simpler sanitation solutions.
(images via: Alaxanda Hulme and Russian Wikipedia)
In early 1951, two dogs named Tsygan (above, top) and Dezik rode a Soviet-built copy of the V2 rocket 110 km (68.35 miles) into space. The pressurized capsule containing the dogs parachuted back to Earth and both Dezik and Tsygan were none the worse for wear. At least, for the moment: Dezik did not survive his next mission later that year. Both dogs can be seen today, stuffed and mounted, at the Cosmonaut Memorial Museum in Moscow.
Giant Leaps For Mankind
(images via: Aerospace Medical Association and Cali1Socal)
The officially recognized border between the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space is 100 km, or about 62 miles, and between 1951 and 1956 the Soviet Union conducted 15 launches with 9 different dogs to at least that altitude. Another 11 launches to 200 km (124 miles) took place between 1957 and 1960. In 1958, three intrepid dog-monauts soared to 450 km (280 miles). Not all the canine crewmen survived these suborbital flights but the vast majority did, paving the way for the manned missions of the 1960s.
(images via: TIME, JWZ and Soviet Space Dogs)
Not only did Soviet space dogs succeed superbly in pushing the envelope of early space exploration by making suborbital space flights in the 1950s, many of them ascended in pairs such as Lisa and Ryzhik, Smelaya and Malyshka, and Bolik and ZIB. That odd last name is an acronym for “Zamena ischeznuvshemu Boliku” or “Substitute for Missing Bolik.” It seems the real Bolik ran away just days before his scheduled flight and a local stray was drafted as an instant replacement.
(image via: Realmagick)
Nearly 30 missions over a 10-year period may seem a lot for the Soviets, whose reputation for risk-taking and less than thorough testing is perhaps overstated. Consider that the United States launched a chimpanzee named Ham into space on January 31, 1961. Ham’s mission was followed a mere 3 months later by the first launch of an American astronaut, Alan Shepard, and both missions were suborbital.
Laika Rock(et)
(images via: NLM, Novareinna and The Siren Sound)
The October 1957 launch into orbit of Sputnik 1 shocked the world in general and the United States in particular – the Space Race was on! It wouldn’t be until January 31 of 1958 that the USA was able to place their first satellite, Explorer 1, into Earth orbit. The success of Explorer 1 was somewhat overshadowed by the startling success of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 2 which launched on November 3, 1957. Not only did the rather large satellite achieve orbit, it carried a passenger: Laika (Russian for “Barker”), a 6 kg (13 lb) female stray with distinctive floppy ears.
(images via: Niki McCretton Presents, Niqqi’s Blog, First Second Books and Libraridan)
The American press had a field day with Laika’s successful launch, dubbing both the dog and capsule “Muttnik”. The embarrassing first attempt by the USA to launch a satellite – the televised launch pad explosion of Vanguard TV3 in December of 1957 – was ridiculed as Flopnik, Oopsnik and Kaputnik to name a few.
(images via: Aaron George Bailey and The Student Room)
Laika’s mission was intended to last 10 days but unfortunately, the heat shielding on Sputnik 2′s exterior was damaged during the launch phase and temperatures inside the capsule soared to 40 °C (104 °F). Though telemetry received at mission control indicated that Laika had calmed down somewhat from the stress of the launch and was eating food, by 5 to 7 hours into the flight life signs were no longer being received.
(images via: Tedstrong, Manoakua and ICA)
Laika’s fate was not fully disclosed until October of 2002, almost 45 years after the mission and over a decade after the USSR itself ceased to exist. At the time, fledgling animal rights groups protested the concept of sending a dog into space with no thought of retrieval. It seems even the scientists who planned Laika’s mission had qualms over it. In 1998 one of these scientists, Oleg Gazenko, expressed his regret by stating “Work with animals is a source of suffering to all of us. We treat them like babies who cannot speak. The more time passes, the more I’m sorry about it. We shouldn’t have done it… We did not learn enough from this mission to justify the death of the dog.” Today, Laika’s heroic yet tragic life has made her both a symbol of courage and a figure of sadness.
Dog Stars
(images via: EnglishRussia and Nuclear_Art)
Belka (“Squirrel”) and Strelka (“Arrow”) have also made the leap to pop culture, though their tail, er, tale lacks the tragic component of Laika’s short but vivid life. Belka and Strelka’s adventure began on August 19, 1960, securely seated inside Sputnik 5) along with 1 rabbit, 2 rats, 42 mice, an unknown number of flies, plus some plants and fungi.
(image via: Blog Serius)
The launch was uneventful and the capsule orbited the Earth for one day before safely parachuting down to the welcoming steppes of Soviet Central Asia. Belka, Strelka, and their fellow biota were the first creatures to orbit the Earth and return alive. Preserved for prosperity in Russia are the taxidermised Belka and Strelka along with their dented but undaunted space capsule.
(images via: Foxunk, WN.com and The Beet Goes On)
Belka and Strelka star in not one, but TWO animated feature films. One is titled “The Real Adventures of Belka and Strelka”, a portion of which can be seen here:
The Real Adventures of Belka and Strelka, part1, via Belkaistrelkacom
The other boasts a higher caliber of animation (think Rango) and the wonders of 3D. Touted as “an epic space adventure across the third dimension”, Space Dogs 3D was released in 2010. You can check out the trailer here:
Space Dogs 3D – Movie Trailer, via Epicpicturesgroup
The Ruff Stuff
(images via: KenhSinh Vien and Visualrian)
Though Laika may be the best known of the nearly 60 Soviet space dogs and Belka & Strelka have been immortalized in film, others have also achieved a measure of fame. Last (literally) but certainly not least, are Veterok and Ugolyok. Launched on February 22, 1966, the pair spent 22 days orbiting the Earth orbit before landing safely on March 16: their endurance record would not be surpassed until June of 1973, by human astronauts aboard Skylab 2. Veterok and Ugolyok would be the last of a long line of Soviet space dogs going back over 16 years.
(image via: SFF Audio)
The USSR may have lost the Space Race but it was the fault of their hardware, not their “software”: loyal, hardworking cosmonauts both canine and human. Through their – dare I say it – dogged determination, the Soviet space dogs helped make the airless void above a safer place for their best friends… us.
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Red Tides: When Tiny, Toxic, Single-Celled Animals Attack!
March 29, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Steve in Animals & Habitats & Food & Health & Nature & Ecosystems. ]
Red tides kill huge schools of fish, poison oyster and shellfish beds, and leave swimmers’ skin itchy, irritated and inflamed. Is this fearful phenomenon a case of nature running amok, or is human activity at least partly to blame?
Roll Tide!
(images via: Water Babies, Alan Guisewite and Underwater Times)
Crimson tides are cool when you’re sitting in a stadium cheering on your team. In the ocean or the odd freshwater lake, not so much. Though they may appear exotic and beautiful – especially at night in some cases – red tides often mean bad news for sea creatures and those who consume them… like us.
(images via: Island Nature, Life In Freshwater and CNRS)
Let’s clear up a few misconceptions. Red tides aren’t tides per se, and their appearance bears no relation to the sea’s natural tidal cycle. The term “red tide” originated at a time when observers didn’t have the technology to look closer – MUCH closer – at what was tinting the water red.
(images via: Expateek and Worth1000)
Though it’s probable that red tides have been appearing for many thousands of years, if not longer. The toxic red tides that continue to plague Florida’s coasts in modern times were first documented in the ship’s logs of 16th century Spanish explorers. Speaking of plagues, the phenomenon may have been noted even earlier, in the Bible’s Old Testament. The first of the Ten Plagues inflicted upon the Egyptians was described in the Book of Exodus thusly: “… and all the waters that were in the river turned to blood. And the fish that were in the river died, and the water stank.”
Whip It, Whip It Good
(images via: Marine Science, Underwater Times and Pixdaus)
With the invention of the microscope, biologists were for the first time able to determine the nature of red tides and the type of tiny creatures that produce them. Turns out the culprits are dinoflagellates, a type of protist or single-celled creature that has characteristics of both plants and animals. The term “dinoflagellate” is derived from the Greek word dinos, meaning “whirling”, and the Latin word flagellum which translates to “whip.”
(images via: Coastal Care, Sir Francis Drake Highschool, Rashid’s Blog and Green Prophet/M.Godfrey)
Basically, these tiny creatures propel themselves through the water by whirling and whipping a threadlike extension of their bodies. Though some dinoflagellates are semi-transparent and colorless, others are tinted various shades including red. When the populations of dinoflagellates boom; or “bloom”, as is often stated, their abundance can change the hue of large expanses of ocean to red, pink, purple, orange, gold – and every hue in between. The spectacular red tide bloom just above was caused by dinoflagellates of the species Noctiluca Scintillans, and occurred just off the coast of New Zealand.
(image via: NASA Earth Observatory)
Red tides are often reddish but their color depends on both the concentration and the type of the responsible protists. Photosynthetic algae can burst into huge greenish blooms that can be seen from orbit. Red tides and other harmful algae blooms (HABs, for short) have also been spied by satellites, as the image above shows: check out Florida’s southwest coast.
(images via: Microbial Life, Growing Algae and NASA Earth Observatory)
Being the color of blood alone was enough to worry ancient mariners but the effects of red tides sealed their reputation as harbingers of death and destruction – to sea life, at least. Some (but not all) of the dinoflagellates responsible for red tides produce a potent neurotoxin that is released when they’re ingested. A single dinoflagellate pumps out a tiny amount of toxin, but multiply that by multi-billions and you’ve got poison in the poisson… pardon my French.
Selfish Shellfish
(images via: Slate, Smithsonian NMNH and FEIS)
Massive fish kills – at times numbering in the millions – are often associated with red tide events but it’s what lies beneath that concerns health-conscious seafood consumers. Commercial shellfish such as clams, scallops and oysters can survive red tides but in doing so, they concentrate the neurotoxins in their tissues.
(images via: Lonelee Planet and Serious Eats)
Eating contaminated shellfish (which aren’t red, by the way) can induce symptoms of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), the effects of which are similar to those induced by toxins ingested in poorly prepared Fugu (Puffer fish) at sushi restaurants.
(images via: Kleepet, The National Academies and LIFE)
Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) has been noted on both the east and west coasts of the United States and a range of dinoflagellate species have been implicated as the original source of the toxins – the species of dinoflagellate known as Alexandrium Fundyense is blamed for red tides in the American northeast coast and the Gulf of Maine.
(images via: Texas Parks and Wildlife, BC/CDC and Alaska Tsunami Papers)
It’s not even necessary to EAT contaminated seafood in order to be adversely affected by red tide toxins. The red tide organism Karenia Brevis, which blooms on a near-annual basis in the Gulf of Mexico, exudes a neurotoxin known as Brevitoxin. Winds blowing inshore can pick up the toxin as an airborne aerosol, causing people living up to several miles inland to suffer respiratory irritation, coughing, sneezing, and tearing. The aerosol can affect marine mammals such as seals, manatees and whales as well. The Humpback whale shown above right washed up on a Massachusetts beach after feeding in a red tide.
(images via: Coastal Care)
In response to the perceived dangers red tides can cause, both the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department regularly issue and update online status reports on red tides along their respective coastlines.
Don’t You Make My Red Tide Blue
(image via: The Jetpacker)
“Red tides at night, red tides at night, oh OH…” Can you see a red tide at night? Yes and no… the customary red hue is invisible by night but a different color is often easily and spectacularly evident: blue! many red tide organisms are also bioluminescent – that is, they produce and emit ghostly blue light through through a chemical reaction that occurs within their bodies.
(images via: The Olsons, Comcast Forums and Photoshelter)
Wave action, stormy weather and other sorts of disturbance will provoke these tiny creatures to pump out blue light, but swimmers should keep in mind light isn’t the only thing dinoflagellates can produce.
(image via: Panoramio/Joeyrigatoni)
Waves washing onto beaches can also bring dinoflagellates onto dry land. The tiny creatures can remain alive for some time on or in wave-soaked beach sand, and tales have been told of beachcombers leaving eerie blue footprints as they stroll along the seashore.
Red Tides, Dead Zones… Red Zones?
(image via: Harmful Algae)
Red tides and other algae blooms are prompted by a sudden influx of nutrients into lakes or oceans – yes, even lakes can experience red tides, as seen in the photo of an Italian alpine lake above.
(images via: WIRED and Mongabay)
Nitrate- and phosphate-rich agricultural runoff is one such nutrient source. Not only can runoff spark red tides, over a period of time the result can be a marine “dead zone” like the one in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
(images via: Esquire and Shorecrest)
Excess fertilizer, untreated sewage, farm waste and other organic material washed down the Mississippi river pour into the Gulf, cause massive algae blooms, and deoxygenate the water as billions of protists die and sink to the ocean floor. Similar scenes occur with regularity on the coasts of dense urban conglomerations such as Hong Kong (above).
(images via: Daily KOS, National Geographic and WN.com)
Nutrients aren’t always organic or farm-related, however. Scientists have established a distinct correlation between windblown dust from the Sahara Desert and algae blooms in coastal Florida waters: the iron oxide in the dust acts as a nutrient to certain types of algae.
(image via: National Geographic)
El Niño events and natural upwelling of nutrients caused by ocean currents also play a role in the formation of red tides but it can be stated that without human activity, there would be a corresponding reduction in the frequency and severity of many red tides and algae blooms.
I Sea Red
(images via: Coastsider, Harmful Algae and Daily Telegraph)
If red tides have one saving grace, it’s their redness: it acts as a giant, liquid STOP sign for those who would normally enjoy seafood and shellfish oblivious to any consequences. To that we can probably add their often quite astonishing beauty, as illustrated in the many striking images that accompany this article.
(images via: MSauder and North County Times)
Better red than dead? Absolutely – not a single human fatality has occurred over the long history of Florida’s frequent red tides so look, admire and enjoy nature’s colorful show… and don’t plan any clambakes.
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Cheap Green Travel: 14 Eco + Budget-Friendly Hostels
March 14, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Steph in Geography & Travel. ]
Somewhere between luxurious (and pricey) eco-resorts and the most basic of dirt-cheap beds-for-rent are eco-hostels: inexpensive lodgings that are also environmentally friendly and often offer a relaxing place to commune with nature, even in big cities like Berlin and Barcelona. These 14 green hostels around the world range from modern European bunk rooms to incredibly rustic nomad tents in Mongolia.
Jetpak Eco Lodge, Berlin
(image via: jetpak.de)
Berlin is one of Europe’s most modern cities, but just minutes from all of the steel architecture and bustling nightlife is a hostel hidden in the woods, powered with 100% renewable energy. With its large outdoor recreation area and access to trails, Jetpak Eco Lodge is the perfect place for people who love a balance between the frenetic action of the city and the quiet calm of the country. It features a modern CO2-neutral heating system, solar hot water, composting and bike rentals.
Deepdale Backpacker’s Hostel, England
(images via: deepdalefarm.co.uk)
The Deepdale Backpacker’s Hostel offers beautiful, eco-friendly lodgings on the Norfolk Coast – the perfect home base when exploring the region’s beaches and historic sites. Located on a farm, the award-winning hostel plants thousands of trees every year, provides havens for wildlife on the property and gets most of its power from the sun. The 17th century buildings have been restored back to traditional Norfolk style, but insulated to meet modern energy-efficiency standards. Groups of up to six can rent their own private multi-bed rooms.
Hedonisia Hawaii Eco Hostel, United States
(image via: hedonisiahawaii.com)
Who can say no to a sustainable rainforest retreat in Hawaii? Choose from rustic huts, tents or campers, with ocean views or in the woods, at the Hedonisia Hawaii Eco Hostel. 10 lodgings are spread out on 3.71 acres, and part of your room fee pays for all the produce you can pick from the gardens. There’s even a ‘pee garden’, which is exactly what it sounds like (an outdoor restroom). The land has been restored from past use as a junkyard and the owners go out of their way to reuse things as creatively as possible, like cutting up old tents and sewing them into new living structures.
Gyreum Eco-Lodge, Ireland
(images via: gyreum.com)
In the wilds of Northwest Ireland, there’s a 100-foot green wooden structure rising out of a valley that the owners describe as ‘plum pudding-shaped’. Serving as a venue for music, workshops, weddings and art residencies, The Gyreum also offers eco-friendly accommodations in the form of dorms and capsule-like tents and boasts geothermal heat, wind turbines, greywater filtering and an organic garden.
Cabinas Tina’s Casitas, Costa Rica
(images via: tinascasitas.de)
For many travelers, Costa Rica is already an incredibly affordable destination – but the hostel lodgings at Tina’s Casitas make it even easier on the pocket. A five minute walk from the center of Santa Elena in the Monteverde area, Tina’s offers four houses with 9 rustic lodgings in all including dorms and private rooms with your choice of shared or private bath. The wildlife-loving owners are in the midst of a reforestation project on the grounds of the hostel, hoping to give back as much habitat as possible after many acres were lost to deforestation.
Krumlov House, Czech Republic
(images via: krumlovhostel.com)
In a 17th-century building on the Vltava River, visitors to the medieval town of Cesky Krumlov find a charming artist’s haven with as much character as the town itself. Krumlov House has private lodgings for 25 (no dorms), is powered with solar energy and has a renovated interior partially built with reclaimed wood. Energy-saving appliances, air-dried laundry, compost bins and secondhand furnishings are just a few green features.
Reykjavik City Hostel, Iceland
(images via: hostels.com)
Right beside the geothermal swimming pools in Iceland’s capital city is the Reykjavik City Hostel, dorm-style lodgings just 10 minutes outside the downtown area. Fun and youthful with games, movie nights and special events, this hostel offers local and organic food and fair trade coffee and is also environmentally sensitive with energy monitoring and recycling programs.
Mellow Eco-Hostel Barcelona, Spain
(images via: hostelworld.com)
With stellar reviews across the board and beds starting at just 16 bucks a night, the Mellow Eco-Hostel is definitely an option to consider when staying in Barcelona, Spain. Fifteen minutes outside the city center, the Mellow Eco-Hostel lives up to its name, providing bright but relaxing rooms, colorful common areas, solar-heated water, natural ventilation and recycling facilities. The 24-hour front desk makes it easy to check in and out at odd hours for maximum convenience.
Kulturgarden Guest House, Sweden
(images via: kulturgarden.com)
Stay in a former children’s camp overlooking Lake Björkasjö in Southern Sweden, with private bedrooms, a traditional earth house shower, a large self-catering kitchen and a breakfast buffet brimming with local and organic foods. The Kulturgården Björkekullen hostel in Bråtadal Svartrå avoids disposable products whenever possible, recycles waste, uses a variety of renewable energy sources and fosters closeness with the environment through activities like swimming.
Centre Ecologic Llemena Hostel, Spain
(images via: cel.org.es)
“If it is only a bed you are looking for, don’t come,” say the owners of the CEL Hostel in the Girona area of Spain. Because what makes this hostel different from so many others is that it’s like a resort experience – at a serious discount. Whether you bunk or camp in the woods, you can enjoy “a calm place close to nature”, with organic products and a natural swimming pool, not to mention learning about sustainable permaculture projects.
Enigmata Treehouse Eco-Lodge, Philippines
(images via: camiguinecolodge.com)
Artists, travelers, environmentalists and nature lovers flock to the Enigmata Treehouse Eco-Lodge in Camiguin Island, Philippines. A hostel, cafe, gallery and sculpture garden, Enigmata’s main treehouse structure is built around a 100-year-old Mother Acacia tree and is full of relaxing spaces open to the fresh air. Dorms start at under U.S. $10, quite a steal for a tropical getaway 600 miles from the nearest highway.
Grampians YHA Eco-Hostel, Australia
(images via: yha.com)
Get a bed in a dorm or your own private room at this youth hostel in the heart of Australia’s Grampians National park. Standout green features include solar energy, solar hot water, rainwater collection, recycled greywater and waste recycling. Ogle kangaroos on the hostel lawn or venture further afield for some rock climbing, picnicking, bushwalking, bike riding or fishing.
Bigfoot Hostel, Nicaragua
(images via: bigfootnicaragua.com)
You’re in the middle of a lush tropical paradise, going on amazing adventures (volcano boarding!) and enjoying all that Nicaragua has to offer – and the $6 a night hostel you’re staying at will even do your laundry for you. Bigfoot Hostel has a pool, a bar, free internet, a guest kitchen and a hammock area in a renovated colonial home. The Pure Earth Cafe offers all-vegetarian organic and local foods, and the hostel donates $1 from every guest to the Pure Earth project, which works on conservation, reforestation and other local sustainability projects.
Anak Ranch, Mongolia
(images via: anakranch.com)
Rustic? Check. Culturally rich? Double check. Unique? Absolutely no doubt about it. Anak Ranch is a working family ranch in the steppe-taiga country of north-central Mongolia, hosting ‘adventurous guests’ who want to ride horses on the Mongolian range and experience what it’s really like to live on the edge of Siberia. The owners will escort you in a horse cart to your lodgings in a multi-bedded ‘ger’, or traditional nomad’s tent. For about $40 a night, you can take part in Buddhist rituals, practice archery, relax in the sauna, hike up the mountains, make Mongolian cheese and take part in dozens of other activities that you might never be able to do anywhere else.
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Furry Forecasters: 7 Amazing Weather-Predicting Animals
February 22, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Steve in 7 Wonders Series, Animals & Habitats, Nature & Ecosystems. ]
Animals have evolved to cope with changing weather conditions and in some cases, have learned to sense when these changes are imminent. These 7 amazing weather-predicting animals offer us more insight into weather’s whimsy than Phil Connors on a good day. Now for today’s fur-cast…
Groundhogs
(images via: Best Week Ever, Uncoverage and Daniel David Allen)
“Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don’t forget your booties ’cause it’s cooooold out there today.” How do we know? Because every February 2nd, Punxsutawney Phil, the world’s most famous groundhog weatherman, crawls out into the chill Pennsylvania air. If it’s sunny out and Phil sees his shadow, we’re in for 6 more weeks of winter.
(image via: Vondrook!)
Some people have a problem with this, most notably the character played by Bill Murray in the 1993 movie Groundhog Day. Says Phil (the weatherman, not the groundhog): “There is no way that this winter is *ever* going to end as long as this groundhog keeps seeing his shadow. I don’t see any other way out. He’s got to be stopped. And I have to stop him.”
(images via: Milk In The Clock, USA Today and Finding Dulcinea)
“Winter, slumbering in the open air, wears on its smiling face a dream of spring.” Indeed, spring always follows winter regardless of the prognostications of any number of representative rodents, but the tradition has ancient origins in European (especially Germanic) folklore. It should be noted that the National Climatic Data Center has measured the overall prediction accuracy rate of the featured groundhogs to be only 39%. Don’t blame the groundhogs, though, we just might be reading their predictions backwards.
Ladybugs
(images via: Animal World, Worlds Of Disney, eHow and MNN)
Ladybugs (or Ladybird beetles) are commonly found throughout out Eurasia and North America where they are susceptible to seasonal weather. Being cold-blooded creatures, ladybugs tend to swarm when temperatures reach approximately 12-13°C (55°F). A number of old proverbs concern the ladybug’s usefulness as a weather forecaster, one being “When ladybugs swarm, expect a day that’s warm.”
(image via: Sabrina School)
The advent of heated housing has allowed ladybugs to show another side of their weather forecasting ability. As autumn edges towards winter, ladybugs search for a warm and sheltered place to hibernate – such as your home. As the days lengthen and warm spring weather arrives, the ladybugs become active and begin to fly about, looking for an exit to the outdoors.
Cows
(images via: Wonder How To, Prafulla.net and Amazon)
Farmers are extremely cognizant about the need to be weather-wise – in the old days, the weather was literally a matter of life and death. Combine this need with close observation of domestic animals over thousands of years and you end up with the unlikely premise of weather-forecasting cows.
(images via: David Wall Photo, Corbis and Martin LaBar)
Cattle in pasture or on the range are social creatures but the extant of their gregariousness seems to be related to atmospheric conditions. Most obviously, a herd of cows sensing an oncoming storm tend to cluster together for warmth and security.
(image via: WN.com)
Cows exhibit other weather-related habits such as restlessness; a state of anxiety perhaps brought on by sudden changes in air pressure and/or a buildup of static electricity in the air. Cows have also been known to lie on the grass when rain is imminent: possibly they’re shading a dry spot that would be more comfortable during a rainy spell. Then again, these things may just reflect the prevailing bovine moood.
Frogs
(images via: Naturfoto-CZ, Dr. Oliver-David Louis Finch, Memegenerator and Rotholl)
Years ago in Germany, kids would catch a certain type of temperate zone tree frog called a Laubfrosch which had a habit of climbing up branches when the weather became warmer. Placing the frog in a glass jar with a tiny wooden ladder inside, the children would watch the frog climb or descend in conjunction with the changing weather. A ribbeting barometer, to be sure!
(image via: Mach Publishing)
Old & busted: Punxsutawney Phil. New hotness: Snohomish Slew! Yes indeed, Snohomish, WA’s resident “GroundFrog” has got the jump on the meteorological marmot in more ways than one, making his annual animal weather prediction every year for the past 6 years on the last Friday of January.
Ants
(images via: WN.com, Di Greenhaw and Able 2 Know)
Anyone who’s seen the 1998 movie A Bug’s Life knows that what for us is a gentle rain shower is, for ants, a catastrophe of biblical proportions. The fact that ants construct their nests underground with the entrance/exit opening at ground level would seem to be a recipe for disaster, yet ants are among the most abundant creatures on the planet.
(image via: Telegraph UK)
Ants have worked out a number of defenses against rainwater ingress but they all depend on one thing: foreknowledge of when rain is going to fall. Y’see, it takes time to build the anthill extra high and, in some cases, put a trapdoor or blocking pebble in place. Sort of like walking down the street when the sky opens up: by the time you buy yourself an umbrella, you’re soaked to the skin.
Sheep
(images via: Images82ask, Hill Shepherd and Mandi859)
Sheep are one of the earliest domesticated animals and shepherding one of the world’s oldest professions – and a family-friendly one at that. Over thousands of years of watching over their sheep, shepherds have noticed a thing or two about how the woolly wonders react to environmental stimuli like oncoming storms. This was (and is) important – one never wants to be accused of crying wolf, especially one wearing cheap clothing.
(image via: Corbis)
Like cows, sheep can sense minute differences in their environment and sudden changes in temperature, humidity and air pressure seem to invoke anxiety. Clustering together before a storm strikes helps keep sheep warm and prevents stragglers from drifting away. Hey, they don’t call it the Herd Instinct for nothing!
Woolly Bear Caterpillars
(images via: Tony the Misfit, Getty Images, That Guy With The Glasses and Jonclark2000)
Woolly Bear caterpillars are the larval stage of the Isabella Tiger Moth, found in the northeastern United States and parts of eastern Canada. These shaggy caterpillars are black on either end with a reddish-brown band in the middle. According to folklore, a wider brown band indicates a warm winter is on the way, while Woolly Bears that are predominantly black are harbingers of a colder, harsher winter.
(images via: The Chronicle Telegram, FOX8 Cleveland and Pixelate Photography and Design)
Not to be outdone by groundhogs and green frogs, the annual Woollybear Festival in downtown Vermilion, Ohio, has been held every autumn since 1973. By all accounts, the Woollybear Festival is a huge success and has grown is size and scope since local TV personality and WJW-TV weatherman Dick Goddard first floated the concept. Over 20 marching bands, 2,000 marchers, hundreds of animals and over 100,000 spectators participated in the 2006 parade, which has outgrown its original location in Birmingham and is now the largest one-day festival in the state.
(image via: A Simple Life)
Are much-maligned TV weathermen about to be replaced by, say, weather-sheep or weather-frogs? Not likely, though groundhogs would probably work for peanuts. That doesn’t mean we should shrug off behavioral manifestations that creatures have evolved over thousands, even millions of years. Besides, if you want a prediction about the weather on any day BUT February 2nd, you’re asking the wrong Phil. Now it’s time to go, gotta beat the weather. Chance of departure today: 100 percent!
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6 Unusual Plants And Monstrous Blooms
January 20, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ By Marc in Animals & Habitats, Home & Garden, Nature & Ecosystems. ]
Sometimes it seems like nature has stopped surprising, and every plant and animal has become as mundane and pedestrian as the next. It’s important to keep searching at the boundaries of the plant and animal kingdom in order to keep one’s love of nature as passionate as ever. Here are some unusual and rare plants that will give your enthusiasm a boost.
(Images via sarracenia, freerepublic)
Sundews are a large family of plants (with nearly 200 members) that are varied in appearance, but all carnivorous. They are known for their dew like drops at the end of tentacles that bristle across the plant. These serve a unique purpose: to trap insects so they can be digested by the plant.
(Images via myths-made-real, 2greenacres, myths-made-real)
Plants known as “Doll’s Eyes” are named for the disturbing berries that crop up once a year. These small white berries have small marks that appear like pupils, giving the plant an… interesting… appearance.
(Images via foyupdate, bbc, botanicalgarden)
Titun Arum plants are exceptional mostly for their incredible size. They have the largest inflorescence (shoot where flowers are formed) of any plant species. The flower is also known by the carrion smell it emits.
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Nightblooming Cereus flowers grow in deserts with incredibly low water levels, and because of this they can only afford to bloom at night, one or two nights a year.
(Images via indonesia-spots, amazingfacts, amazingfacts)
Rafflesia is a type of plant that parasitically attaches to the roots and vines of other plants, and is mainly visible because of its large flowers, which can weigh up to 22 pounds. These flowers are notable for looking and smelling like rotting flesh, which attracts pollinating flies.
(Images via moplants, coloradocarnivorousplantsociety)
The American Pitcher Plant populates the eastern seaboard of the United States and supplements its nutrition by trapping and digesting insects in its large, steep stem.
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