Tomáš Moravec modified a standard pallet to ride it on the tram tracks of Bratislava in Slovakia. Nothing beats the efficiency of a human powered vehicle on rails. Previously: Handcarts on rails. Thanks to Adriana Parra & Alice Prouvé.
Animals as the Answer to Recycling Food waste
July 7, 2014 by Filed Under: Animal power, Composting, Farming, Food, Low-tech solutions, Meat, Random, Recycling, Trash
Mountains of food scraps end up in landfills every day. While northern countries glorify attempts to facilitate this trash-to-treasure process using state-of-the-art technologies, Bobbili, a town in Northeast India, adopts a tech-free solution – a park using animals for solid waste management.
Livestock at waste management park in Bobbili, India
Why Solar Roadways are a Silly Idea
May 26, 2014 by Filed Under: Ecotech Myths, Roads, Solar
“There’s currently a virtually endless supply of places you could install solar panels that DON’T have cars driving over them.” Read more at Equities and check out the comments at Slashdot.
Lost Crops of Africa
May 24, 2014 by Filed Under: Books & Reference, Farming, Food, Random
“Like Asia and the Americas, the continent of Africa is blessed with a rich tropical flora. Many of the 50,000 or so plants that evolved within its forests and savannas ripen fruits to tempt the myriad wild creatures into spreading their seeds. Speaking generally, Africa has as many of these tasty morsels as tropical Asia or America.
This fact, however, is something one would never guess by looking in produce markets or college textbooks. Today, American and Asian species dominate tropical fruit production worldwide, including within Africa itself.
For this, there is good reason. Africa’s fruits have not, by and large, been brought up to their potential in terms of quality, production, and availability. Geographically speaking, few have moved beyond Africa’s shores; horticulturally speaking, most remain poorly known. Thus, the vast continental landmass lying between Mauritania and Mauritius contains a cornucopia of horticultural, nutritional, and rural-development jewels still waiting to be cut and polished.”
- Lost Crops of Africa: Volume 1: Grains (1996)
- Lost Crops of Africa: Volume 2: Vegetables (2006)
- Lost Crops of Africa: Volume 3: Fruits (2008)
The three volumes can be consulted online at The National Academic Press. Previously: Lost crops of the Incas. Via Avantgardens.
Older Buildings Increase Urban Vitality
May 22, 2014 by Filed Under: Architecture, Buildings, Cities, Economy
“All across America, blocks of older, smaller buildings are quietly contributing to robust local economies and distinctive livable communities. This groundbreaking study demonstrates the unique and valuable role that older, smaller buildings play in the development of sustainable cities.
Building on statistical analysis of the built fabric of three major American cities [San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.], the research demonstrates that established neighborhoods with a mix of older, smaller buildings perform better than districts with larger, newer structures when tested against a range of economic, social, and environmental outcome measures.”
“Older, Smaller, Better. Measuring how the character of buildings and blocks influences urban vitality“, National Trust for Historic Preservation, May 2014. Via Lloyd Alter.
Precolumbian Causeways and Canals
Detail of an engineered landscape in the Bolivian Amazon. Artwork by Clark Erickson.
“In contrast to the Western obsession to drain what are considered marginal wetlands for agriculture, farmers in the Bolivian Amazon may have intentionally expanded wetlands and wetland productivity through earthwork construction, which impedes, rather than enhances, drainage.
The precolumbian farmers did not use causeways as dikes to prevent inundation of fields and settlements, but rather to expand and enhance inundation for agricultural production.
At the same time, impounding water with well-placed causeways and the creation of canals improved and extended the season of transportation by canoe across the landscape. The grid-like structure also permanently marked land tenure in a highly visible manner.” [Read more…]
