Finding Balance

Posts Tagged ‘Eco-Friendly’

Are you one of those people who have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep? Many new technologies are being introduced to try and reduce or eliminate this problem. Recently, there was a trade show in Las Vegas that introduced some of the advances.

A homeopathic mattress with essential oils like lavender, chamomile, rose and calendula (long popular in Europe) was shown at the trade show. These are natural relaxing scents and some have anti-bacterial properties. When you lie down on the mattress, some of the micro capsules break down releasing the fragrance.

Organic bedding can help people with allergies. Eco-friendly wool, cotton, solid wood and natural rubber latex are also available. Some beds are available with iPod docking stations.

Sleep tips from the National Sleep Foundation include:

*Use a supple, comforting mattress rather than one that’s too firm.

*Don’t sleep with animals. Let them have a bed nearby.

*Our biological clocks are influenced by light. Keep the bedroom dark.

*Sleep on the “cool” side rather than the “warm” side (body temperatures drop at night so a cool room is better.)

*Get rid of annoying noises . Using “white noise” is not a problem.

source: The Associated Press

This summer has been sizzling weather wise and we’ve had more sunny days than in past years. If people used solar kits to harness the sun’s energy it would be very effective both cost-wise and energy-wise. Samlex Solar Charging Kits have everything to start the process including a solar panel, solar charge controller, cables, connectors and mountain hardware.  They have 3 solar kits and an expansion kit. These   provide an eco-friendly way to continually keep batteries fully charged.

For centuries, people have expected our natural resources to be available and as we’ve found out, they are  quickly being depleted.  Solar energy systems are one way that people can help conserve energy in an effective, inexpensive way. What will it take to realize that we’re running out of time and that as a nation we need to start being pro-active?

 Algae fuel is the hottest topic going in an eco-friendly world. It’s also called algal fuel, oilgae, algaeoleum and third-generation bio fuel. Algae and other organisms capture carbon dioxide and sunlight and convert it into oxygen and biomass (photosynthesis).

Approximately 99% of the carbon dioxide can be converted. This was shown in 1992 by Weissman and Tillett in large open-pond systems. As of 2008, this type of fuel is still too expensive to replace commercial fuels. However, several companies and government agencies are funding efforts to reduce operating costs and make the production of algae oil viable.

Due to the economic problems in the world, high oil prices and other bio fuel sources, interest has grown in farming algae (algaculture). Fresh water sources are not affected: it can be produced by using ocean and waste water and are highly biodegradable and relatively harmless to the environment.

Oil comes from millions of years of buildup from algae and other natural residues and is buried, compressed and drilled. It is figured that this supply will be depleted on 300 years so alternative forms of energy have to be looked at. Research has shown that algae could supply enough fuel to meet all of America’s transportation needs in the form of biodiesel using only 0.2% of the nations land.

Algae, often called “pond scum” is the ultimate in renewal energy and 20 patents are held by Glen Kertz, a plant physiologist and entrepreneur. The U.S. Department of Energy studies using algae as an alternative fuel from 1978 to 1996 but it was decided that algae oil could never complete economically with fossil fuels

 The Pink Dolphin, also known as botos is a friendly animal whose only enemy is human. They live in the rivers of the Amazon. Their brain capacity is more than 40% greater than humans, but they still get hurt and killed by them and are now an endangered species because of this. Their pink color comes from the water it lives in, the food it eats and capillaries close to the surface of the skin. The rain forests where the Pink Dolphins live are endangered because of human destruction and chemical dumping in rivers. Pink Dolphins are also caught in fishing nets. To try and help stop the decline in their numbers, many captive breeding programs have been started.

The dolphins have a long beak to get prey and small eyes which help them see well in the water. Pink Dolphins can swim at a speed of up to 20 mph. They have very little to protect themselves. They might use their flippers (also used for mating) and their long beaks. Their best protection is staying in a pod or group. When in danger, the dolphins can make squeaking sounds to call to it’s pod. Pink Dolphins eat large quantities of food every day. Not liking to eat alone, they’ll make a loud sound to call the rest of their pod. They enjoy crustaceans, catfish and small water fish. At night, they search for zooplankton.

The dolphins are similar to grey dolphins but have some differences. It doesn’t have a dorsal fin. Instead it has a hump on it’s back. The Pink Dolphin’s tail is bigger and it has two flippers that look like leaves. The neck is long and there is a little hump in the forehead and it has the ability to turn it’s head 180 degrees.

Feng  shui is an ancient art and science developed over 3,000 years ago in China that believes in using the laws of Heaven and Earth to improve one’s life by receiving positive “qi”. It deals with how to balance the energies of any given space to assure health and good fortune for people inhabiting the space. Feng means wind and garden wind chimes are used today to help find that balance. The Chinese also use gongs outdoors, in their operas and in their temples for that purpose as well as the tones that are derived. Qi (pronounced chee) is a moveable negative or postive life force that plays an essential role in feng shui. Qi traditionally related to a structure, the direction it faced, it’s age and it’s interaction with the surrounding environment (slope of the land, vegetation etc.).  At Hong Kong Disneyland, the main gate was shifted by 12 degrees as the builders understood the importance of feng shui to the Chinese culture.

Shui means water and many people have an indoor fountain as their symbol to improve the energy in their homes. Symbols are important in feng shui for their history and their meaning, The usual ones are Chinese dragon coins tied with a red string and three legged toads. Today, interior decoration plays an important part in the Western world’s practice of feng shui to help people live prosperous and healthy lives.

The environment is important in feng shui and arbors and trellises play an part in supporting an eco-system. The environment is in a delicate balance and it can be harmed by planting “lucky bamboo” in an area that can not support it. Many believe that feng shui and the eco-system are used for healing purposes and block negative energies that might otherwise have bad effects. There are many ways to improve the energy both inside a home and outside to help in finding balance.

Is climate change affecting wind turbines, a source of power? Wind, a power source of the green energy movement, seems to be dying down across the United States. and the cause may be global warming.

Sandra Pryor, an atmospheric scientist at Indiana University says there’s been a jump in the number of low or no wind days in the Midwest and wind measurements show wind speeds falling along/east of the Mississippi River. Texas and parts of the Northern Plains don’ t show as much slowing. Northern Maine, western Montana, Michigan and Georgia show some of the biggest drops in wind speed.

One of the things Pryor said that can slow wind speeds are changing conditions such as growing trees or buildings being erected near the wind gauges. These can skew data.

Several other experts agree that there are signs of decreasing wind speeds and that global warming is probably the cause.

Joan Baez is of Mexican, English and Scottish descent. Her professional career began at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival. Joan is a song writer/singer and her traditional folk ballads and blues are usually sung to her own accompaniment on guitar. She introduced Bob Dylan (who was less well know) to her audiences.

Joan focused her attention on the Viet Nam War and the Civil Rights Movement and combined her music and activism. She appeared at the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival in upstate New York which increased her national and international fame. Baez was always an advocate for the things she believed in and one of the things she was aware of was ecology and global warming in the early 1980’s. The words to her song ‘Warriors of the Sun” (which she wrote and performed) speaks clearly of this awareness. I would urge you to listen to her musical version of the following song which is more powerful than just reading her words.

We are the Warriors of the Sun
We are the Warriors of the Sun

If it’s true about no more water but the fire next time
Will the children of the eighties be ashes or live to their prime
If we don’t heed reasonable people and their warnings of days to come
We’ll all be incinerated Warriors of the Sun

We’ll be there to feed the hungry and to tend to the sick
We’ll be there when the night gets black and the going gets thick
We’ll be there to carry your feeble, your hopeless and your weary ones
We are the Warriors of the Sun

The black angel of Memphis is by our side
He walked and he talked in truth until the day that he died
He said, “It ain’t what you can do for me, ah, but what can I do for thee?”
And he took us to the mountaintop and he set us free

We are the Warriors of the Sun
We may be crazy
And it may be our final run
We are the Warriors of the Sun

Everybody knows that the whale is smarter than we
Probably that’s why we call him the king of the sea
We’re killing everything on dry land, why don’t we just let the fishes be
Some of us are Greenpeace Warriors of the Sea

We are the Warriors of the Sun
We are the Warriors of the Sun
We are the Warriors of the Sun
We are the Warriors of the Sun