Natural Thangs

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Recycled Weapons Calls For Peace After Long War

After more than 30 years of civil war, ending in 1998, the Cambodian government has collected and destroyed more than 160,000 weapons across the country.

In the name of peace some of those weapons were donated to the PAPC. The PAPC (Peace Art Project Cambodia) is a project that was created in November of 2003 by British artist Sasha Constable and Neil Wilford, small weapons specialist with the European Union.

In the name of peace the weapons were recycled (sculpted, forged or welded) into amazing works of art such as: chairs, tables, bikes, animals and various other sculptures by student artists from the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh.

Isn't there something twisted about sitting on furniture made of guns? Or making art out of AK-47's? What do you think?

Personally I'd like to add the rocking chair made of guns to my list of favorite recycled chairs . It speaks volumes to me. Its dark cold metal eco-frame calls out to me, "Sit and relax!"

Is it comfortable? Maybe not, but I don't plan on sitting in it forever. I just want to get the feel of sitting on a piece of furniture made of parts once composed of a negative past now recycled into hope for a safer more peaceful future.

To find out more about the PAPC visit Sasha Constable's website .

Via Haute Nature

Source: InventorSpot

Friday, April 18, 2008

Below is taken from: Care2 Lawn and Gardens Blog

Adapted from Organic Style magazine (Rodale Press, April 2004).

You can have an organic lawn that is lush and lovely, and there are so many reasons to go natural. Pesticides and herbicides are linked to neurotoxicity, birth defects, cancers, organ damage and more.

Find out five easy steps to maintaining a gorgeous, healthy lawn without resorting to harmful chemicals:

1. Kick the fertilizer habit. Turf needs less nitrogen than people think. Try an organic lawn food blend such as Concern or Espoma, cottonseed meal, or dried poultry waste. Most of the nitrogen in these is water-insoluble; it stays put and is released over a month or more, providing nutrition to the plants in small doses.

2. Add clover and other grasses. If you are lucky, you already have some clover in your lawn. If not, it is easy to add it by overseeding, or planting on top of what is already there. Rough up the surface with a metal garden rake. Mix the clover seed with sand or finely screened compost. Sow 2 ounces clover seed per 1,000 square feet for moderate clover cover, or up to 8 ounces if you want clover to dominate the turf. After sowing, water your lawn deeply and keep the soil moist until clover germinates.

3. Water, but not too much. Watering, like fertilizing, calls for restraint. Deep watering every 2 weeks or so is preferable to shallow daily watering. If you grow the proper turf-grass for your area, you can probably get by without any watering.

4. Banish weeds and insects naturally. Mowing, feeding, and watering practices will reduce the weed population, and there are effective organic weed-control strategies. One of the best is corn gluten meal, which prevents crabgrass and other weeds from germinating, Apply it early in the season, before the soil reaches 55 degrees, at a rate of 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Do it again in late summer.

To eradicate grubs, try Milky Spore, a bacteria that is poisonous to grubs and only grubs, a favorite of organic gardeners for over 50 years. Apply only 4 ounces to 1,000 square feet in spring or summer.

5. Enhance your soil. Use a spreader to apply a quarter-inch deep (or less) of finely screened compost to the turf. Compost invigorates the soil and stirs up a slew of microorganisms as it sifts below the surface, improving drainage and reducing compaction along the way.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Our Environment

This blog is for those activists that are wanting to help save forests, our waters, plants, wildlife, our air and more - I always have petitions that need to be signed. Below is a new list of petitions that are in need of being signed.... You might not agree with all the issues/petitions - but please sign the ones that you do agree with.

Tell Congress to Help Protect Mountain Top Removal and Mining of the Appalachian Mountains

Tell Your Senators to Strengthen the Global Warming Bill

Help Cape Wind Move Forward

Improve Nuclear Power Safety

Take The Pledge: Don't Transport Firewood

Clean Water Act at the Crossroads

New Farm Bill Still in Doubt

Balance Management of Public Lands for Energy, Fish and Wildlife

Another Carbon Calculator a friend of mine introduced me too: Friends of the Forest: Carbon Caculator - I'm passing it along for those interested.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Chocolate

Chocolate! I love chocolate... that melt in your mouth creamy rich and smooth flavor of chocolate! An interesting story from the web today and a couple of petitions that came in my email inspired today's blog.

I have a problem, a big problem, with unfair trade practices. Unfair trade means low wages for farmers and big money for corporations. Unfair trade promotes child labor as well.

The world needs to wake up - and eat better chocolates!

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A cool story - but I do not know yet if the scientists tested on animals in order to develop the new chocolates for the military or if they paid slave wages for the coco to make the new chocolates: Here's the story:

Durable, healthy chocolate developed

Australian Army scientists have invented a vitamin-packed chocolate that will not melt in high temperatures and last for years.

Scientists at the Defense Science and Technology Organization (DSTO) at Scottsdale near Launceston are working on the super chocolate for army ration packs using in harsh environments in countries including Iraq and Afghanistan.

The chocolate will be distributed to soldiers within a few months.

DSTO food technologist Lan Bui said the new product is more granular and firmer but the flavour is still appealing: "DSTO is looking at product reformulation, including new fat compounds, to improve texture and flavour, without affecting the melting point."

Normal chocolate melts at 25^oC to 30^oC. The new version is expected to survive meltdown in temperatures up to 49^oC.

The secret to the chocolate is using fats that have a higher melting point. It is fortified with vitamins C, A and B1 (thiamine) and has added flavours to preserve taste for up to two years.

The breakthrough has a number of applications. Scientists are working with food experts on coating vitamins to keep out humidity, moisture and oxygen while allowing them to be slowly released into the body.

The DSTO is developing a milk chocolate version. Production of the prototype dark chocolate will begin within a year.

Source: Science Alert