In today’s high-tech society, what would it look like to rediscover the simple but ancient wisdom of using only the sun for our heating needs? Knowledge and use of passive solar design to heat buildings has been around since ancient times. Greek, Roman, and Native American structures, as well as many others, were designed to maximize the use of the sun for heating. With the advent of technology and modern eras of cheap energy, the importance of passive solar design became obsolete and the knowledge was all but lost in U.S. building design. However, with present energy crises and uncertainty of future energy sources, passive solar design is being revived as a way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and dependence on foreign oil.

Specifically, local food production is one area that stands much to gain from passive solar design. Especially in areas with more extreme winters, greenhouses serve to lengthen both ends (spring and fall) of the growing season, as well as offering a greater measure of control over growing conditions. This can dramatically increase yields and provide more food and profit for growers. The community also benefits from the availability of more fresh, locally grown, and possibly organic food. However, the only way conventional greenhouses can offer these benefits is with the input of expensive fossil fuel energy. Conventional greenhouses use the sun’s light while ignoring its heat contributions and often require additional heating on cold nights and on cloudy winter days or a mechanism of cooling on sunny winter days. This extra energy is typically supplied by using fossil fuels such as natural gas or propane and electricity. While this may have been cost effective in times of cheap energy, rising fuel prices are rendering most conventional greenhouses uneconomical to operate, and virtually eliminating the possibility of year-round use in some regions. Enter: a resurrection of this ancient knowledge of passive solar design to help combat the modern world’s problems of fuel, carbon dioxide emissions, and food production through the work of SunCatcher Design Group.

read more at motherearthnews.com

Currently, the well-known thoroughfare Sharia Al-Mu’izz Li-Din Allah as well as other parts of downtown are already “daytime pedestrian zones.” Witnessing their success, Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif drove a process of expanding these pedestrian zones and asked the country’s housing ministry to launch an international design competition that could generate a plan for remaking downtown for pedestrians. “Plans include building multi-story underground garages outside of the center city so people can ‘park and ride’ into downtown on streetcars, encouraging the establishment of open-air restaurants and other venues, and turning old government buildings into museums, hotels, and art galleries.” Fast Company adds that long-term revitalization plans also include “landscaping [...] and forcing people to walk or take public transit into the city center.”

The areas targeted for improved street design may benefit tourists more than local residents though. TreeHugger writes: “Some concerns have been expressed that the focus on creating a historical tourist area full of restaurants and museums could lead to downtown becoming the exclusive province of wealthy Egyptians and foreigners.” Local blogger The Boursa Exchange also said: “We hope the redevelopment plan, when implemented, creates an open space accessible to all of Cairo’s residents. While we enjoy al-Azhar Park (see an earlier post on the park), we sometimes rue the fact that it is almost exclusively the preserve of foreigners, relatively well-to-do locals and groups of schoolchildren on field trips. We also hope that the new downtown is developed with an eye toward easing pollution, not just by banning cars but also through the creation of an ‘urban lung.’”

Fast Company says car-free central plazas aren’t new phenonema. ”Plenty of streets in Copenhagen restrict vehicles. Same story in Siena, Italy, and Freiburg, Germany.” In the United States, Times Square recently became a pedestrian mall (see earlier post). However, these cases still seem rare (or at least we aren’t hearing about them). Also, as Fast Company notes, the pedestrian zone will ban cars, but there is no broader plan yet to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) throughout the city so local air pollution levels and the climate impact of cars are expected to remain at high levels.

Cairo Downtown. Image credit: Al-Masry Al-Youm

Read more at:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/06/downtown-cairo-to-go-car-free-eventually.php?campaign=th_rss

Just days after the Afghan War became the longest war in US history – 104 months, surpassing the 103-month American engagement in Vietnam – the New York Times, quoting top US government officials, reported the discovery of near $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan.

In addition to huge finds of iron, copper, cobalt and gold, Afghanistan could potentially rival Bolivia as the world’s largest source of lithium, a key material for green technologies, including batteries for electric vehicles. In fact, the NYT cites an internal Pentagon memo stating that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.”

The report quotes US officials who claim that these mineral deposits have the potential to “fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself ,” but also notes that “the Obama administration is hungry for some positive news to come out of Afghanistan.”

from greenprophet.com:

http://www.greenprophet.com/2010/06/15/22740/lithium-afghanistan-mine/

Afghanistan’s desolate Ghazni Province may hold the world’s largest deposits of lithium. (Image: Tyler Hicks/The New York Times)

ice plant, peppermint, strawberries, sugar snap peas and lettuce

I started some small planters on the balcony off the dining room today. I have a condominium in West Los Angeles, no yard, no land – just the balconies. I have a few goals with this project: 1) Reduce the amount of food I need form the grocery store, 2) Teach my son about growing our own food 3) Recycle materials that would otherwise go to the trash or in the recycling bin for transport and 4) Maybe use some greywater for the plants and reuse water in a condominium/apartment situation.

This is a really great option for anyone who lives in a similar situation and has one or more of these goals I outline above. An interesting point is that most people live in this type of situation.

From the Holiday season, we had plenty of cardboard from gifts we received. I did not want to throw it all away. So we cut it up into flat panels. My plan here is to line the bottom of the small planters with the cardboard. This will serve as a base for the planters, something to absorb water and hold it for the plants and I get to recycled a decent amount of cardboard.

food planters on our balcony

The ‘small planters’ are really very inexpensive plastic bins. I had one leftover from holiday wrapping paper that we used up and purchased two more. We went to our local gardening store and got a lot of edible plants. On the list are: Two kinds of strawberries (Quinalt’ Everbearing and Junebearing), three kinds of lettuce (Lettuce Pablo, Swiss Chard, Great Lakes), Sugar Snap Peas, Peppermint, and Rosemary. We also got an nice little Ice plant and Speedwell ground cover. It will be great to able to pick the lettuce, make salad and eat it right there. This would be ‘living’ food and is much better than anything else. My son will be able to learn so much from this and appreciate the value in growing our own food.

Its going to be very exciting growing our own food. I’ve only just begun. We have a lot more room for more plants and vegetables. Next steps are to actually connect the sink drain to the planters, make the planters bigger – and getting the permission from the Board of Directors for the condo complex and the city. Will keep this blog posted on our progress.

One goal is to grow ALL of our vegetables here, at home in our condo. Can we do it? I know one way to find out! 

strawberries

On the holidays we get together, we celebrate each other and give thanks, we give gifts, we give to those who have less than we do.  We grow up, we learn to do this on certain days.

I don’t like the holidays. Everyone is rushing, everyone travels, everyone has elevated levels of aggravation. Everyone consumes. Buy, buy, buy. Consume, consume, consume. Then we throw all that trash away, all that paper, plastic, packaging. Just think of all the food that is wasted.

There are two main reasons why I don’t like the holidays. The first is because they are all centered around fairy tales, silly stories that we repeatedly tell each other. The second is because through celebrating on certain days, we give ourselves the permission to treat each other ourselves and the planet with such disrespect the rest of the days. I would much rather celebrate each other and give to each other all throughout the year. I find great frustration ‘dealing’ with these holidays with respect to raising my son. I do not want to continue the fairy tales and silly stories.

I love the holidays. I love the food, the festivities. My favorites thing about all the holidays is giving to people, giving gifts. The happiness, the smiles this brings to people. Its my favorite thing in the world, seeing people happy.

Happy Holidays!