The Self-Sufficiency Handbook, a Complete Guide to Greener Living

The Self-Sufficiency Handbook, a Complete Guide to Greener Living

Anyone considering a shift to a greener way of living must get this inspirational and practical guide, written by Alan and Gill Bridgewater.

With easy-to-read layouts and simple text, it runs the full ecological gamut, from geothermal heating to crop rotation to soap making. The Bridgewaters, well-regarded garden writers, help readers answer questions such as how much land they really require, whether or not to depend entirely on natural forms of energy, and which farm animals will best meet their needs. There’s practical information on building an insulated flue-pipe chimney, identifying edible wild plants, and composting with worms. In addition to recipes for jams, rhubarb wine, and other delicious foods, three A-Z sections offer planting and harvesting instructions for vegetables and salad crops, fruits, and herbs.

Alan and Gill Bridgewater began their adventure in self-sufficient living in the 1960s and have been gaining wisdom and experience in the field ever since. They are now considered international experts on the subject.

$12.95 Paperback / 192 pages / 6 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ / September 2007
ISBN13: 9781602391635 / Skyhorse Publishing

 

Google’s next frontier: Renewable energy

Google’s next frontier: Renewable energy

Google, the Internet company with a seemingly limitless source of revenue, plans to get into the business of finding limitless sources of energy.

The company, based in Mountain View, California, announced Tuesday that it intended to develop and help stimulate the creation of renewable energy technologies that are cheaper than coal-generated power.

Google said it would spend hundreds of millions of dollars, part of that to hire engineers and energy experts to investigate alternative energies like solar, geothermal and wind power. The effort is aimed at reducing Google’s own mounting energy costs to run its vast data centers, while also fighting climate change and helping to reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels.

“We see technologies we think can mature into very capable industries that can generate electricity cheaper than coal,” said Larry Page, a Google founder and president of products, “and we don’t see people talking about that as much as we would like.”

Biofuel: Tomorrow´s Fuel

Biofuel: Tomorrow´s Fuel

Biofuel can be broadly defined as solid, liquid, or gas fuel consisting of, or derived from biomass. The definition used here is narrower: biofuel is defined as liquid or gas transportation fuel derived from biomass. Biomass can also be used directly for heating or power. One type of biomass is wood, which is frequently used in industry, either by itself to create energy or with other combustible matter (such as coal) to burn and create heat.
Other renewable energy sources, biomass can be converted directly into liquid fuels, called “biofuels,” to help meet transportation fuel needs. The two most common types of biofuels are ethanol and biodiesel.
Ethanol is an alcohol, the same as in beer and wine (although ethanol used as a fuel is modified to make it undrinkable). It is made by fermenting any biomass high in carbohydrates through a process similar to beer brewing. Today, ethanol is made from starches and sugars, scientists are developing technology to allow it to be made from cellulose and hemicellulose, the fibrous material that makes up the bulk of most plant matter. Ethanol is mostly used as blending agent with gasoline to increase octane and cut down carbon monoxide and other smog-causing emissions.

Dog owners go barking mad for fancy dress

 

 

LONDON (Reuters) – Darth Labrador. Dogzilla. Elvis the hound dog. No outfit is too outrageous for man’s best friend.

The British do love a party animal — they have gone crazy dressing up their dogs for costume parties.

Sales soared by 300 percent over Halloween. Now costumiers have lined up a festive big seller — the one-size-fits-all Santa pet hat for the dog determined to have a great Christmas.

“Some cynics would say the British love their dogs more than they do other people,” said Benjamin Webb, spokesman for Angels Fancy Dress who have been supplying costumes for humans since 1840 and are now on a canine winning streak.

“It’s an American tradition that the British have made their own. In Britain, the quiet man in accounts comes to a party dressed as Superman whereas the Americans go for crazy costumes.

“The British are so quiet and reserved. That is why it’s more like wishful thinking,” he told Reuters.

The costumes range in price from 10 to 20 pounds. Humans can hire outfits, canines are not allowed to. “Dogs can’t put down a deposit,” Webb explained. Continued…

23AndMe Will Decode Your DNA for $1,000. Welcome to the Age of Genomics

23AndMe Will Decode Your DNA for $1,000. Welcome to the Age of Genomics

At the age of 65, my grandfather the manager of a leather tannery in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, suffered a severe heart attack. He had chest pains and was rushed to the hospital. But that was in 1945, before open heart surgery, and he died a few hours later. By the time my father reached 65, he was watching his diet and exercising regularly. That regimen seemed fine until a couple of years later, when he developed chest pains during exercise, a symptom of severe arteriolosclerosis. A checkup revealed that his blood vessels were clogged with arterial plaque. Within two days he had a triple bypass. Fifteen years later (15 years that he considers a gift), he’s had no heart trouble to speak of.

I won’t reach 65 till 2033, but I have long assumed that, as regards heart disease, my time will come. My genes have predetermined it. To avoid my father’s surgery, or my grandfather’s fate, I try to eat healthier than most, exercise more than most, and never even consider smoking. This, I figure, is what it will take for me to live past 65.

Co-Founder of Greenpeace Envisions a Nuclear Future

Co-Founder of Greenpeace Envisions a Nuclear Future

Nuclear power presents the ultimate catch-22 for environmentalists. It doesn’t generate a lot of greenhouse gases, but it does produce long-lasting toxic waste.

No one is more familiar with this tough trade-off than Dr. Patrick Moore, a co-founder of Greenpeace International turned nuclear power booster. He left Greenpeace in the 1980s over ideological differences and now is the co-chairman, along with former EPA administrator Christie Todd Whitman, of the Nuclear Energy Institute’s new Clean and Safe Energy Coalition.

Fossil fuels, nuclear power and hydroelectric power generate 99 percent of the electricity in the United States. Fossil fuels are dirty, and hydroelectric power is tapped out. That leaves nuclear power as a leading alternative. As electricity demand continues to increase, and with wind and solar technologies generating less than 1 percent of our country’s electricity, some activists are turning to once anathema energy sources in the war on global warming.

Kittens ‘adopted’ by pet rabbit

 

Kittens ‘adopted’ by pet rabbit

Six abandoned kittens have found an unexpected new mother figure – a pet rabbit.

Veterinary nurse Melanie Humble took the three-week-old kittens to her Aberdeen home.

The kittens seemed to think Summer the rabbit was their mother and began to climb all over her and try to feed from her.

Efforts will be made to find the four males and two females permanent homes in the coming weeks.

Melanie, 29, told the BBC Scotland news website: “The abandoned kittens were handed in when they were about three weeks old and I took them home.

“Summer the rabbit was taken inside on Bonfire Night because of the fireworks and the kittens seemed to really like her and thought she was their mother.”

The Water Baby

The water baby: Amazing pictures that capture the moment a dolphin joins the world

It is one of the rarest and most magical sights in the natural world.A bottlenose dolphin goes into labour . . . then a calf emerges, tail first. Mother guides baby gently to the surface, where they swim together for the first time.

Very few dolphin births have been captured on film in such astonishing detail.

Mother nose best: Moments after the birth, she helps the calf towards the surface

Happily swimming side by side with its mother the baby dolphin is instantly at home in the sea

Meet George, AKA The Incredible Hog

Meet George, AKA The Incredible Hog (cragglenews)

Prick on someone your own size: Gigantic George dwarfs two normal-sized hedgehogs

A hedgehog has grown so fat that he has been placed on a crash diet after he was handed in to a wildlife sanctuary.

At an incredible 2.2kg (4lb 13oz), George is the size of a football and weighs the same as a small baby.

The tame creature piled on the pounds by scoffing anything he could lay his hands on in the garden where he lived.

Cat’s daily routine baffles owner

Cat’s daily routine baffles owner (cragglenews)

Sgt Podge is collected between 0800 and 0815 GMT every day Podge’s daily ride

A cat is baffling his owner by wandering off at night before expecting to be collected by car every morning at exactly the same time and place. Sgt Podge, a Norwegian Forest Cat, disappears from his owner’s home in Talbot Woods, Bournemouth, every night.

The next morning, the 12-year-old cat can always be found in exactly the same place, on a pavement about one and a half miles (2.4km) away.

His owner, Liz Bullard, takes her son to school before collecting Sgt Podge.

Owner Liz Bullard thinks Sgt Podge crosses a golf course every night