Planetary geologists are guessing that valleys on Mars came from gushes of water resulting from past rainfall or groundwater springs. Theorize, believe, speculate … they all have the same meaning when it comes right down to it. Scientists so much want to believe that life, as we know it, existed elsewhere that they will jump to any conclusion.

And jump they do I think.

They have no evidence. They only believe. What’s the difference between believing conditions existed for life as we know it despite having no concrete evidence and believing, say that the universe, as we know it, is the product of some all powerful designer? Both are guesses, no?

I hope we never need to find another home far away from the home where we live now. I don’t anticipate that happening in my lifetime either. But, if we don’t become better stewards of this planet with which we have been entrusted, we may be doing more than wishing life could be sustained on Mars, we may be desperately hoping it can.

What do you think?

source

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe for updates to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting and please do come back!

Remember the salmon skin bikini? If not, you should. I’ve been on the look out for one of these for some time now. Well, there’s a guy in China, 71-years old, who thinks he’s found a way to stay cool. Following through on an idea that he had more than 30 years ago, the man has started making shirts out of fish scales.

When his son caught a fish with thumb-nail-sized scales, he remembered the original idea. So…he spent 15 months attaching 14,000 fish scales to one of his shirts. FWIW, it would take me 15 months to count to 14,000. The result, the man says, is cool comfort in the oppressive summer heat. That, he says, made it worth the effort.

I don’t care how cheap labor in China is, if it takes 15 months and enough fish to supply 14,000 scales, I won’t be able to afford one.

This man’s effort reminds me of another Chinese dude who was able to do something with beer bottles that large companies everywhere and scientists are racking their brains to try and do. Solar energy from beer bottles? Okay, then…a shirt made from fish scales.

Twenty six years ago, I was 26-years younger (duh!) and didn’t mind the hassle of handling baby diapers. Now, there’s a new baby in the house. Right, a 26-year old and a 5-month year old. You can stop laughing now.

Image by Lance McCord

Messing around with cloth diapers is a pain, and with all the water used I am not sure it’s the best alternative anyway. But, disposable diapers don’t sit well with us. And, we can’t let the baby run around with her bottom out. What to do?

NaturalPath has a list of four green options for disposable diapers.

1. “Tushies brand diapers are gel free and made with non-chlorine bleached woodpulp and conventional cotton for natural high absorbency.” I explained that to Mia (my little girl) and she responded with a “I like the name” smile.

2. “Seventh Generation’s diapers and training pants are extremely absorbant and chlorine-free (chlorine bleaching, used in most mainstream diapers, produces the pollutant dioxin).” Mia asked, “Papa, what generation am I?” She didn’t like the name.

3. “The Swedish-based Nature Boy and Girl diapers feature a GMO-free cornstarch cover, rather than the typical plastic (making them compostable in municipal facilities). Mia’s response was “Huh?!”

4. “Tendercare diapers are made by Tushies in the US, but contain SAP and woodpulp, rather than cotton.” Not so absorbent say moms but they are thin and easy to get around in. Yeah, how would the mom’s know unless they … okay, I don’t want to think about that.

Honey! Let’s see if any of these green options work on Mia. Hmm … price?

Read more at NaturalPath.

Is it possible that a gas station, gas pump, filling station, service station (take your pick) be green? GP hardly thinks so. But, Treehugger proves us wrong. Sure enough, if a station, this one looks like a Shell station (we can really read the hell out of it), is left alone long enough it will turn green.

Is that kind of like when we die and our bodies return to ashes?

Electric cars like the i-MIEV, G-Wiz and Vectrix are where it’s at for several reasons.

1. 1% of all car journeys are over 100 miles.
2. Less than 1% of all cars on the road at any one time need a filling station
3. Just 10,000 filling stations are catering to the world’s 27 million cars rolling about
4. Electric cars can be refueled at home
5. Electric cars are sufficient for 70% of the people 99% of the time.

These figures may be good for Europe but I am not as confident that they would apply to the gas hog America. One hundred miles of driving a day has to be more than 1%. One hundred miles at a time? That’s different.

And, who pays the electric bill when these things are recharging anyway? I get the part where the cars are less polluting, but somebody somewhere is producing electricity, from coal maybe? Isn’t there a trade off here? Has anyone done the calculating?

In any event, I’m for not letting the gasoline stations turn green. Let’s rip them out if they aren’t in use instead of becoming eyesores. But then again, maybe in 20 years my little girl will point at one of these moldy old service stations and ask “Papa, what’s that?”

“Sweetie, when I was a kid we used to….”

Chicago is reputed to be one of the top 10 greenest cities in the United States. The windy city, not famous for wind power, does have another idea … a green bridge.

So here’s what we know about it. The bridge:

1. has a price tag of $1 billion
2. will be used as a breakwater
3. will use wind turbines to line the bridge and create an alternate source of power for the city (did I say something about not using wind power?)
4. will be built on a foundation of slag - a permeable byproduct of steel that is aquatic wildlife friendly
5. will be a tourist attraction
6. will be a shot in the arm for Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid
7. is designed by Adrian Smith of Burj Dubai world’s tallest building fame

Chicago will add this ambitious effort to its Green Roof Project and Green Alley Project. They’ve planted some 500,000 trees since 1989 and received a platinum rating for its green design and operation in the meanwhile.

If the city can raise the $1B, it might get a green bridge and the 2016 Olympics, too.

source

Japanese policemen will be saving us from bad guys and saving the planet’s resources at the same time. Well, at least they will be doing the second. The truth is, Japanese police have never been too good at catching the bad guys.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will supply new vehicles, the Mitsubishi MiEV, to Japanese in Kanagawa prefecture, home to Yokohama. The electric car has a top speed of 130 kph and can travel 160km on a charge.

The mini patrol car won’t need much speed, however, because it will be used to track illegally parked cars. How fast do you need to go to do that?

source

Honey! Get the baby, I think we can really clean her up.

In this day and age it’s not enough to just bathe a baby, the baby needs to be kept safe from all sorts of chemicals, many found in cleaning products.

What’s up with that? Chemicals found in household cleaners and air fresheners, for example, have been linked to childhood asthma and asthma-like conditions, among other things.

Honey!!!

Here a few references if you want a safe and healthy baby.

1. Homemade cleaning solutions - Safe alternatives to things with pretty labels on shelves in store. A great start to your cleaning repertoire is distilled white vinegar, baking soda, and tea tree oil.

2. Grist’s Green Guide - a wealth of information for those wishing to clean green. “Just because a product says it’s natural doesn’t mean it’s nontoxic,” says Jeffrey Hollender, CEO of Seventh Generation, which produces genuinely eco-friendly cleaning supplies and household products.

3. The Safe Shopper’s Bible provides much good advice for selecting truly green, effective products and prevents “greenwashing.”

Here’s where you get your answers for Can your hair coloring cause breast cancer? - Is this brand of apple juice safe for babies? - Will the additives in this salad dressing harm you? - Which shampoo won’t sting your eyes?

4. Naturally Clean: The Seventh Generation Guide to Safe and Healthy, Non-Toxic Cleaning- invaluable tips for minimizing your — and your children’s — exposure to hazardous household products and insightful tips on keeping a clean, green nursery.

5. Green Nursery Tips - finally, 10 ways to ready your home for your new baby.

Honey! Get the baby, we got to make some changes.

People in Paris can now stay informed on the air quality they are breathing.

A company called Aérophile has built a giant tethered helium balloon, the AERO30NG Aérophile 5500 model, that will display real-time reports of ambient air quality and air pollution produced by auto emissions using an innovative lighting system, which can be seen from more than 20 km (12.4 miles) away.

Located in the Parc Andre Citroën and filled with 6,000 cubic meters of helium, the balloon will definitely become a tourist attraction considering that it will provide non-polluting rides for up to 30 passengers at a time.

The Aérophile balloon gathers data from several sensors installed by Airparif - an organization that measures air quality in France and will signal the ambient air quality in colors. It using three projectors located inside of the balloon and a high-powered rotating laser at the base sweeps across the lower half of the balloon.

Red signifies highly polluted air, orange for polluted, yellow for moderate, light green for clean, and green for very clean. Do you think we’ll ever get to see it green? At least for now, I doubt it!

“Flight aboard a tethered gas balloon AERO30NG is a unique experience full of sensations for the passengers.

Silent and without vibration, the gondola is open to the air, allowing passengers to experience the sensation of being on a flying balcony 150 m in the sky.

A 360° panorama unfolds before them, and in a single gaze they can take in the whole landscape.”

Aérophile is a company specialized in manufacturing tethered gas balloons for tourist and cultural attractions so you may want to believe them in doing a great job with the Air de Paris balloon.

Another great place where I think tourists would enjoy seeing such a balloon would be in Beijing for the Olympics. It could be mainly red, though.

Japan is not always first out of the gate. Okay, not usually first out of the gate but they do know how to take an idea and run with it, make it better and make it more expensive, too.

Enter the eco-coffin and if you need 5 reasons to buy an eco-coffin in Hong Kong … and anywhere else let me know. You may also be interested in eco-funerals if they are green enough for you.

Japan is just now making the idea her own. Tri-Wall K. K. is challenging funeral convention in Japan and asking customers to make a final statement, to think outside the box. Instead of expensive wooden boxes, how about one made from cardboard…an ecoffin. Good word, eh?

The ecoffin uses half the wood of a conventional coffin and requires half the energy for combustion.

What’s more, the company plants ten red pine trees in Mongolia for each coffin that is used in a carbon offset mechanism.

99% of Japanese are cremated. Japanese laws do not require crematoriums to report levels of CO2 emissions either. And everyone in Japan is going to die sooner or later.

Japan’s Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has given guidelines to crematoriums requiring them to improve their incinerators and reduce emissions.

The part I don’t get is Tri-Wall’s ecoffin is more costly than a regular pine box. Um, why not just use a refrigerator box? Seriously. And what about recycling the boxes? I guess I can’t see that happening.

source

If trees in Tokyo could speak, at least one would say, “This is my space. Get out, or I’ll eat you up.” The problem, of course, is in the digestion. What’s the tree going to do with the waste product? Okay, that might be a little bit too graphic to think about. Still…

The Japanese says in the box at the top right “The tree ate the guardrail? The city is famous for this? What’s up with that? A kind of wrapped sushi?”

The text - “Complete, eh? The tree is all the way around the guard rail.”

Yeah, what if the living things on our planets all fought back against our invasion like this?

source