What Would a Down-to-Earth Economy Look Like? (Photo: Thomas Hawk)With proper care and respect, Earth can provide a high quality of life for all people in perpetuity. Yet we devastate productive lands and waters for a quick profit, a few temporary jobs, or a one-time resource fix. Our current expansion of tar sands oil extraction, deep-sea oil drilling, hydraulic fracturing natural gas extraction, and mountaintop-removal coal mining are but examples of this insanity. These highly profitable choices deepen our economic dependence on rapidly diminishing, nonrenewable fossil-energy reserves, disrupt the generative capacity of Earth’s living systems, and accelerate climate disruption. A global economy dependent on this nonsense is already failing and its ultimate collapse is only a matter of time. Our Original Instructions Some indigenous people speak of the “original instructions.” “Our instructions, and I’m talking about for all human beings, are to get along … with [nature’s] laws, and support them and work with them.
Novel Study Reports Marijuana Users Have Better Blood Sugar Control Printer friendly version Share 14 May 2013 Elsevier Current Marijuana Users Have 16% Lower Fasting Insulin Levels Compared to Non-Users, According to The American Journal of Medicine Regular marijuana use is associated with favorable indices related to diabetic control, say investigators. They found that current marijuana users had significantly lower fasting insulin and were less likely to be insulin resistant, even after excluding patients with a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. Marijuana ( Cannabis sativa) has been used for centuries to relieve pain, improve mood, and increase appetite. A multicenter research team analyzed data obtained during the National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) between 2005 and 2010. Participants who reported using marijuana in the past month had lower levels of fasting insulin and HOMA-IR and higher levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Large waist circumference is linked to diabetes risk. Editor-in-Chief Joseph S.
Organogram - Download Now Explore the ‘ultimate game’ and begin to understand how we will be bringing together the worlds of gaming, dance culture, reality television and film to create a new universe. Become a fictionary, player or observer and start answering the real question of whatisfiction… Click on Image to Download PDF version. TEDxIIT - Tom Tresser - The Gift Economy 1 million trees raised in 5 districts In a silent afforestation campaign, a private company has successfully raised more than a million trees on private lands in five districts in the State and recorded a survival rate of 90 per cent. Giving details to The Hindu about the successful planting of saplings and raising them to trees, A. Joseph Rexon, Director, TIST Tree Planting India programme, said it was started in Kancheepuram district with six farmers in 2003. The company approached local panchayat heads to identify farmers owning unproductive lands, where agriculture was not possible. Thanks to the carbon revenues, the company paid farmers at the rate of Rs 2 per tree till they keep the trees alive. Explaining the carbon credit system, Mr Rexon said the credit was arrived at by conducting a field and data verification by a team of auditors from Environmental Services Inc. – a USA-based company. Mr.
Washington State Medical Marijuana Availability Could Jinx Recreational Pot Market By Jonathan Kaminsky OLYMPIA, Washington, May 15 (Reuters) - Key officials helping to create Washington state's potentially lucrative recreational pot market say its success may hinge on preventing consumers from choosing to get high on readily available medical cannabis because of low and sometimes nonexistent taxes on it. The officials say it may be necessary to raise taxes or impose more stringent rules on medical pot to avoid undercutting the new recreational market and the tax dollars it is expected to inject into state coffers. The idea of changing the rules for medical marijuana alarms some patients and providers of the drug as medicine. Under current state law, a range of medical professionals, including naturopaths and even some nurses can recommend marijuana for health problems ranging from cancer to persistent pain. On Thursday, Washington state is set to release proposed rules on who can grow, process and sell the drug, and on how to obtain licenses. Brian E. Also on HuffPost:
Google Glass is creepy, but augmented reality doesn’t have to be “Creepy” is a word that often gets thrown around when we’re talking about Google Glass, somewhat rightfully, and somewhat not. Creepy, however, is mostly an emotional appeal; like Justice Potter Stewart’s views on pornography, while it’s tough to describe what “creepy” is, most of know it when we see it. And right now, Glass is pretty creepy (and, no, Robert Scoble isn’t helping.) But does Glass have to be creepy? Judging from the basics of how Google is advertising it — as a camera that you have strapped to you face all day, recording everything and everyone — I’d say the creepiness is unavoidable. It’s going to be a long time before people don’t automatically flinch when someone wearing Glass looks their way. But while Glass seems doomed to the world of the creepy, augmented reality glasses themselves don’t have to be. Moverio, on the other hand, was designed with its killer app in mind: workforce training. This video gives you a good idea of how such a system would look.
Freedom and Abundance with Permaculture: Veronica Santo at TEDxFloyd ‘Net-zero’ school pays off - Bowling Green Daily News: Local News There’s no big smokestack. You also don’t see a bunch of workers scurrying around in hard hats. Rest assured though, Warren County Public Schools has a power plant. The district received a check for $37,227.31 this year. An online service is needed to view this article in its entirety. Login Or, use your linked account: Need an account? The check is tangible evidence that net-zero pays for itself and then some. “It has exceeded expectations. In talking this past week with officials from the nation’s capital to the Pacific Northwest, they agree Richardsville Elementary is still the only major school building in the United States that is not only net-zero, but that also actually earns money from its electricity generation. “That’s net-positive,” said Paul Hutton of Hutton Architecture Studio, a member of Cuningham Group Architecture Inc. in Denver. Hutton has worked with “green schools” since 1982. “That opens up some eyes,” Stanfield said. For example, the old T.C.