The Yellow Pages approached Pacific Environments Architects Ltd. Of New Zealand to construct a magical treehouse that brought all those fairy tales alive and the architects made a splendid effort in giving the company what they wanted: a Yellow Treehouse Restaurant.

Yellow Pages wanted to build the treehouse in order to promote its own business ventures and what has come out of it is an exceptional example of green architecture, where like in many other cases, architects have taken inspiration from Mother Nature herself.

The Yellow Treehouse Restaurant was built 40 feet up the trunk of a giant red wood tree and overlooks a stunning panorama which includes the stream and dense woods. Modeled on nature’s most sound design when it comes to protection, it’s built from natural material, local products and designed to provide great natural ventilation.

It looks a lot like a cocoon that helps a butterfly stay secure in its early stages, or the shell that protects sea creatures, preserving the flavor inside.

You might still have doubts about affiliating with Yellow Pages after this as there are enough yellow pages in USA alone that fill up to 5% of landfills each year. That might not be all that green, but it there is surely no questioning this eighteen seat cafe with brilliant green design. – via Inhabitat

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There is one lesson in history that really man should look closely at and that is the story of the dinosaurs and their extinction. The fact that we as a race are as dominant today as the mighty creatures were once on the planet and they were indeed wiped out in a flash is something to keep in mind. The mighty Jurassic era might be gone, but there are a few left overs that still roam this planet. Don’t get too excited though as we are only talking about the Tuatara.

The Tuatara is a 32-inch long reptile that resembles a mini-dinosaur and apparently is the last living relative of the once dominant creatures. Its breeding ground was recently stumbled upon by staff at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in the capital Wellington.

While species are spread over few parts of New Zealand they were almost extinct at a point in 1700s as they were hunted down by species that were not native to the islands and introduced by settlers. A population of 70 Tuataras was established at the Karori Sanctuary in 2005 and another 130 were established in 2007.

The eggs that this little creature lays (Up to 10) are the size of a ping-pong ball, and were found and covered up with vegetation to enable incubation. The little reptiles which were once on the blink of extinction seem to have made a good comeback, with all the new nests signifying that breeding continues.

Source: the Independent

Because scientists think (know) more than half of New Zealand’s greenhouse gases are from massive amounts of methane produced from sheep, cattle and deer farts, those same scientists decided to turn off the gas valve genetically.

So they did. The Kiwis have managed to map the genome causing those animal belches and gas. Meaning, they have the cure for cow farts? Maybe.

“Our agricultural research organisation just last week was able to map the genome … that causes methane in ruminant animals and we believe we can vaccinate against flatulent emissions” said Phil Goff, New Zealand’s trade minister.

Though I’m not sure if the government numbers are right, New Zealand’s 45 million sheep and 10 million cattle may have farted and burped contributing more than 90-percent of the country’s methane emissions. This is huge, not to mention the environmental problems it may be causing.

We’ll have to see what the Kiwis will do to the animals to stop them from doing their needs. Cow pills, cow psychologists or a plug maybe ?

Original image at skinnyde