Locabal

After our class discussion on glocalization, I happened to be walking by a bulletin board in the library. There I stumbled upon a flyer for Locabal. This is another unique combination of local and global business. Locabal is a website for connecting producers of quality hand crafted goods with buyers locally and globally. The website ( http://www.locabal.com ) is focused on building community and small businesses.

Locabal was started in Lincoln, NE by Neema Bahramzad. Bahramzad simply wanted to find well made goods by artisans. Caitlin Bales joined the picture to help as well as students from the Raikes School of Computer Science and Management at UNL.

The site allows you to sell the handcrafted items you can make out of your store. They take a small percent of your profits, but there are not monthly fees and no expiration dates. They have catagories for art, clothing and accessories, food and drink, home and living, and gifts. There are also a bunch of subcatagories, but they haven't been posted in yet.

The site is pretty new, but it definitely has some value and I think it will only continue to grow. Be one of the first to use it!

Urban Agriculture: Detroit

The Skype lecture in class about resilience and urban agriculture was of really great interest to me.  It got me thinking about all the unused and vacant lots found in many big cities today, and how farming and community gardens could really help to clean up those areas.  The city that really stuck out for me was Detroit. 

Detroit emerged as a booming metropolitan area in the 1950’s and continued to grow with a population of over 1.8 million at its peak.  Between 2000 and 2010 the cities population continued to drop.  In 2010 the city had a population of 713,177, which is a 60% drop in 50 years.  With the failing economy and outsourcing of most jobs Detroit’s economic strength is in constant decline.  Most of the population has now moved out of the downtown area into suburbs or other states, and whole neighborhoods have become vacant blocks.  With all the land now being unused many of the community members and even outside organizations are looking to Detroit for urban agriculture.  One company has even ventured to Detroit in search of helping the community and even making a business out of it.  While I hope they will not take advantage of the people of the city this company seems to have good intentions while still being profitable. 

Seen in the video, Hantz Farms has purchased land from the city of Detroit to turn into a farm.  Just the cleaning of the land alone has helped improve the neighborhood.  The residences of this area seem to be on board with the idea of turning these vacant lots into something they can take pride in and to clean up the area in which they call home.  I hope that in the future city lawmakers, citizens, and land owners can rally together to make urban agriculture a sustainable way of life for the cities of America and across the world!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B36rrj1zc0&feature=player_embedded

Madison Hergenrader

Electricity Generation and Kites

High-Altitude Wind Energy from Kites

http://www.ted.com/talks/saul_griffith_on_kites_as_the_future_of_renewable_energy.html

           
             I found this video on the TED website and found it to be quite astounding. Instead of using large, tri-blade, mono-pole design turbines, a simple kite-like design could be possible and quite beneficial. It's a brilliant idea because you can have a larger swept area and you can utilize the faster, higher altitude winds, which carry far more energy. The total power in the wind is related to the swept area, the velocity of the wind, and the air density (W=1/2pAV^3). So if the swept area and the velocity of the wind are increased, you are able to receive greater energy.
             The graph on the lower left shows just how drastically power in the wind increases with altitude, and the y-axis only goes up to 150 feet. The graph on the lower right shows the cubic relationship between wind power and wind speed. I wish the video would have covered a little more of the technical aspects of the electricity generation itself, but all in all it was really interesting to see a childhood toy being used in place of a wind turbine.

*Graphs and equation taken from ENSC 220 lecture notes

Forests are more than trees...

           I recently read an article about just how important the world's forests are to us. I thought it was pretty ridiculous how much we depend on them, and how ridiculous it is that we are destroying them the way we are when we need them this badly. It's not just the natives that need the forests, without them the whole world would be crippled. We depend on them for so much. For our water, food, timber and even medicines. They also consume harmful carbon dioxide and release oxygen, so they are vital for the atmosphere. The world depends on them to provide so many resources, but I feel that the people of the world are deforesting these vital contributors without even knowing it. Perhaps they do not realize just how important they are, or how much they are doing.
            Since the early 2000's, over thirteen million acres of forest have been destroyed per year. As of right now, over 30% of the worlds forests have been leveled or thinned appreciably. People just don't know what they are doing. Environmentalists need to inform the public of just how much forests provide us and find a way, as a people, to help stop and restore the forests already destroyed. Small acts like those of Wangari Maathai, who helped Kenya repopulate it's forests, are what this world needs to turn the tables on deforestation. We just all need to do our own part to help or we will all feel its affects. 

Go Enjoy the Outdoors

A recent study in Scotland showed that people were less stressed when they went for a walk in a park rather than a shopping district or a busy commercial district. The study monitored brain activity in 12 healthy young adults and discovered the ones that went for a walk in a park were the least stressed and frustrated. I think this study is very important to remind people that natural settings can do so much more for you then being stuck in an urban setting. A walk in a park is not only good exercise, but it's a great way to take a much needed break from a busy lifestyle. If you'd like to read this study for yourself, the article's link is listed below or can be found on treehugger.com.

With dead week and finals approaching, don't forget to go outside and enjoy a nice walk or go relax in a park. We can easily get caught up with the amount of things we need to get done rather than enjoying the beautiful weather outside. So remember, go enjoy the outdoors! It may help with your stress levels and attention span and who knows, it might even help you with your finals.

http://www.treehugger.com/health/study-shows-walk-park-fixes-fuzzy-brain.html

I am doing a persuasive speech for my communications class about why we should go green and actually care about the environment a little bit. I was looking into the consequences of not recycling and it is simply shocking how much material goes to waste just because people do not take the time or the effort to simply throw something in a different bin. However I can understand the excuse of "it's not convenient" because in some towns it can cost extra to recycle. Another problem is if you are out in the country where you burn all your garbage and never bother to recycle. These things need to be stopped before we run ourselves into the ground. I mean come on people! It doesnt take that much effort! I'm hoping to show some pretty straight forward pictures to my class when I give my speech that will hopefully change their minds on recycling. It's time to take it seriously!

Solar Panels Catch Up in Energy Use

A long time apprehension towards solar panels may finally be laid to rest. Solar panels have often been ignored as a viable energy alternative because it is believed that they take more energy to make than they actually produce--this being because the industry was growing so rapidly. This setback, however, was only until around 2010. According to a new Stanford University study that includes production processes from home panels to solar farms, it is estimated that by the year 2020 the solar panel industry will have compensated for all the energy used and exceed that amount to create new energy.

This news means great things for clean energy. With the previous hesitation towards solar power gone, the world can move forward more rapidly in establishing efficient alternative energy sources. Not only are solar powers exceeding their energy demand, but they are becoming more effective in that they are finding new ways to use less waste, less silicon, and more affordable materials. Solar panels represent an exciting door to a realm of energy possibilities. 

More information can be found here: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/27Zxki/:1mv$sN2@$:I_gp7U1F/www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-04/solar-panels-now-make-more-electricity-they-use/