background preloader

Method That Turns Wastelands Green Wins 2010 Buckminster Fuller Challenge

Method That Turns Wastelands Green Wins 2010 Buckminster Fuller Challenge
Today, the Buckminster Fuller Institute announced the winner of its 2010 Challenge: Allan Savory, who has spent the last 50 years refining and evangelizing for a method of reversing desertification that he calls "holistic management." The African Center for Holistic Management International, an NGO he helped found, will take home a $100,000 grant. The Buckminster Fuller Challenge is meant to award big, sweeping solutions to seemingly intractable problems. Savory's work fits the bill. But Savory's prescription seems shockingly simple--and it's taken him 50 years of work to convince others that he's not crazy. Surprisingly, that flies in the face of modern wisdom about land management--the typical response is to rest land completely, and livestock are often named as the chief culprits in desertification. As for the Buckminster Fuller Challenge, this is the third time the award has been given, as part of a five year trial run funded by an anonymous donor.

FREE Online Rhyming Dictionary Old School – Self Reliance 101 » Blog Archive » DIY–free, easy, clever Today’s Old School lesson is a hands-on project: how to install a pour spout on a canning jar–great for dry cooking ingredients like sugar. This is the sort of DIY project Grandma could have really gotten into. It’s freeIt uses up things that would otherwise be thrown awayIt’s usefulIt’s easy and only takes a few minutes For this project, all you need is an empty salt carton, a mason canning jar with a screw band, and a sharp knife. Take an empty salt carton. CAREFULLY cut around the top of the carton by inserting a sharp knife straight down and moving around the top. The cut doesn’t need to be perfect and smooth…just do the best you can without drawing blood. Fill a canning jar with some dry, pourable substance like sugar. If you want to use a regular-mouth canning jar, use its lid (not the screwband) to trace a cutting circle onto the top of the salt carton. The Damsel is pretty excited about using this, since she keeps her sugar in a huge bin in the pantry.

The $300 House: A Hands-On Lab for Reverse Innovation? - Vijay Govindarajan by Vijay Govindarajan | 12:07 PM August 26, 2010 Editor’s note: This post was written with Christian Sarkar, a marketing consultant who also works on environmental issues. David A. Smith, the founder of the Affordable Housing Institute (AHI) tells us that “markets alone will never satisfactorily house a nation’s poorest citizens…whether people buy or rent, housing is typically affordable to only half of the population.” The result? We started discussing the issue, examining the subject through the lens of reverse innovation. Here are five questions Christian and I asked ourselves: How can organic, self-built slums be turned into livable housing? Livable Housing. Look and Feel. In effect, the house is really a one-room shed designed around the family ecosystem, a lego-like aggregation of useful products that “bring good things to life” for the poor. World-Class Design. The Reverse Innovation Payoff. A House of One’s Own: Affordability. Of course, the idea we present here is an experiment.

HOW TO WRITE GOOD Caveat emptor. Carpe diem. O si villi, si ergo, fortibus es in ero. Et tu, brute. by Frank L. My several years in the word game have learnt me several rules: Avoid alliteration. The Vertical Farm Project - Agriculture for the 21st Century and Beyond | www.verticalfarm.com The Problem By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the earth's population will reside in urban centers. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human population will increase by about 3 billion people during the interim. An estimated 109 hectares of new land (about 20% more land than is represented by the country of Brazil) will be needed to grow enough food to feed them, if traditional farming practices continue as they are practiced today. At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use (sources: FAO and NASA). Historically, some 15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices. A Potential Solution: Farm Vertically The concept of indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of tomatoes, a wide variety of herbs, and other produce has been in vogue for some time. It took humans 10,000 years to learn how to grow most of the crops we now take for granted. Advantages of Vertical Farming

A Sea Change in Ocean Conservation | Conservation International Blog A ship sailing near Alor, Indonesia. (© CI/ Photo by Sterling Zumbrunn) In my 36 years of work in conservation, I have never before witnessed as much attention and concern being paid to the deteriorating health of our oceans, and the resulting consequences of that deterioration for people everywhere. Ocean issues have grown from being a concern of environmental organizations to an urgent topic in corporate boardrooms and the offices of heads of state — an important shift in attitude that gives me reason for hope. From the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos in January to The Economist’s World Oceans Summit I attended last month in Singapore, the concerns are palpable. With the world’s population expected to grow to 9 billion people by 2050 — doubling the demand for food, energy and water — corporations and governments are looking to the oceans for answers. President Anote Tong of Kiribati and CI CEO Peter Seligmann at The Economist's World Oceans Summit in Singapore.

Perception puzzles, Visual Perception, Optical illusions and Paradoxes This page illustrates that our visual perception cannot always be trusted. The components of an object can distort the perception of the complete object. Our mind is the final arbiter of truth. The Parthenon Optical illusions have been studied for millenia. Perpetually ascending staircase. The red squares are the same color in the upper part and in the lower part of the "X" The diagonal lines are parallel. There are no gray spots at the corners of the squares. Stairway between corners of a flat square. You can go from corner A to corner B by climbing the stairs or by going around a level plane. The rows of black and white squares are all parallel. Children's Activity Project Color the elephant with crayons or colored pencils making sure to stay within the lines. Click the image to display it in a new page for printing. Impossible triangle. The radiating lines influence our perception of the parallel lines. The center circles are both the same size. The Vertical lines are both the same length.

Career Opportunities - Conservation International I certify that all information provided in this application and any attachments are true. I understand any false statement made herein is sufficient reason for rejection of my application or termination of subsequent employment. I authorize Conservation International, or its agents, to investigate all statements made in this application or attachments; to contact any of my former employers, educational institutions, or any other person or organization that may have information relevant to my employment; to obtain records concerning my past work, character, education, or military background; to obtain a “consumer report” and/or “investigative consumer report” as defined by the Fair Credit Reporting act; to obtain driving records; to obtain any records pertaining to prior felony or misdemeanor convictions or pending felony or misdemeanor charges.

100+ Google Tricks That Will Save You Time in School – Eternal Code [via onlinecolleges.net] With classes, homework, and projects–not to mention your social life–time is truly at a premium for you, so why not latch onto the wide world that Google has to offer? From super-effective search tricks to Google hacks specifically for education to tricks and tips for using Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Calendar, these tricks will surely save you some precious time. Search Tricks These search tricks can save you time when researching online for your next project or just to find out what time it is across the world, so start using these right away. Convert units. Google Specifically for Education From Google Scholar that returns only results from scholarly literature to learning more about computer science, these Google items will help you at school. Google Scholar. Google Docs Google Docs is a great replacement for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, so learn how to use this product even more efficiently. Use premade templates. Gmail Use the Tasks as a to-do list.

Related: