Designboom says…

the latro lamp by eindhoven-based designer mike thompson utilizes living algae as its power source.
the lamp design was inspired by a scientific breakthrough made earlier this year by scientists from
yansei and stanford university that allows a small electrical current to be drawn from algae during
photosynthesis. latro is hanging lamp that makes us of this discovering, drawing its energy from
a glass chamber of algae. the alga only needs sunlight, carbon dioxide (co2) and water to survive,
so placing the lamp outside and breathing into the lamp begins the energy production process.
the energy produced is subsequently stored in a battery ready to be called upon at night.

more info at http://www.miket.co.uk

Ideas & Submissions to greenjacker[at]riseup.net

Recommendations can be placed in comments (see below).

The Plastiki, a boat made from 12,000 plastic bottles (the same amount of bottles America consumes every 8.3 seconds), is currently sailing (or should that be ‘drifting’…) somewhere in the Pacific. Aboard is the founder of the Treehugger website, Graham Hill. Speaking on his website he makes some observations that ring true for a lot of people, even those who aren’t necessarily all that eco-minded…

I now understand viscerally how we got to this point. I can see how we’d not have been concerned about polluting our oceans. Why? Because they feel impossibly gigantic! It’s almost inconceivable to think that something so large and so deep could be affected by us humans. You can literally sail for days on end and not even see another boat and all this time it extends not only to the horizons but also hundreds or thousands of feet below you. Our oceans are the definition of massive.

So I don’t think we should beat ourselves up too much. It’s a terrible situation, certainly, but you can see how we got here, you can empathize with how we’ve played this. In short, we’ve just witnessed the jump of “Don’t *@## where you eat” from local to global.

Everyone has understood this saying on a small, local level for a long time. It just makes sense…where your living situation is compact, you don’t let the bad stuff contaminate the good. What changed in the last century is that we quadrupled our numbers while greatly increasing the power of our tools. Prior to this, we had the space, the resources, the leeway to pollute; nature would simply take it. Now, we don’t. It’s as if we were consuming and polluting in an expanding pattern around the globe and we just recently started bumping into ourselves. Suddenly, we are cluing in that the oceans are actually finite and that little ol’ us can indeed affect them, and unfortunately in a very significant manner.

Our task now? Truly internalize this lesson that has worked so well for so long on a small, local scale and then move quickly enough to create the legal and regulatory framework that will protect our oceans, an essential breadbasket of humanity. Because, we need the oceans…they are a non-negotiable item in the intricate formula that allows our species to survive on this planet. They are not a nice-to-have, they are a need-to-have. We simply can’t survive without them.

With me?

Start Here:

• a) Refuse single use plastics.
• b) Eat less, more sustainable seafood.
• c) Sign up for a newsletter at TreeHugger.com

A more in-depth Treehugger article relating to the oceans can be found by clicking here.

Anyone involved with anti-GMO protests in the late 90s/early noughties will remember the amount of ridicule we got for suggesting that the technology would lead to the evolution of  ‘superweeds’. We we hate to say we told you so, but Treehugger has just filed the following report…

Dear Monsanto, Thank You for the Superweeds

by Jeff Nield, Vancouver, British Columbia from Treehugger 05.17.10

Happy pigweed and lambsquarters enjoying themselves in a soybean field. Image by pawpaw67 via Flickr

The road to hell is paved with unintended consequences. I’m convinced that, if we don’t get our act together, this slight edit on the old adage about good intentions will be humanity’s downfall. Oops, we didn’t mean for BPA to do that! PCB and DDT are accumulating where?

Now, thanks to Monsanto’s corporate “genius” we have so-called superweeds. Click through for the view from the farm.

Superweeds are not a new consequence of genetically modified crops. A recent article in the New York Times tells us that the first glyphosate resistant weed was found in 2000 in a Delaware soybean field. In the past 10 years 10 more resistant species have been discovered in 22 states, mostly in corn, soy and cotton fields.

The Times sums up how superweeds came to be and what it might mean for farmers and for food prices.

Just as the heavy use of antibiotics contributed to the rise of drug-resistant supergerms, American farmers’ near-ubiquitous use of the weedkiller Roundup has led to the rapid growth of tenacious new superweeds.To fight them, Mr. Anderson and farmers throughout the East, Midwest and South are being forced to spray fields with more toxic herbicides, pull weeds by hand and return to more labor-intensive methods like regular plowing.

“We’re back to where we were 20 years ago,” said Mr. Anderson, who will plow about one-third of his 3,000 acres of soybean fields this spring, more than he has in years. “We’re trying to find out what works.”

Farm experts say that such efforts could lead to higher food prices, lower crop yields, rising farm costs and more pollution of land and water.

The silver lining in all of this is that Monsanto’s unbalanced dominance of the U.S. ag sector could be in danger as farmers and the public lose confidence in their products. Science and on farm experience are leading to the same conclusion that common sense already assumes. A food system with a foundation built on patented seeds that will withstand patented herbicides can only led to trouble.

Note: There’s a great supplement to this NYT story that has farmers and food system thinkers adding their two cents. Michael Pollan offers up this tidbit, “What a surprise! Roundup-resistant weeds have shown up in fields that have been doused with Roundup! Shocking!”

More on Monsanto
Study Finds Monsanto’s GMO Corn Causes Organ Damage in Rodents
The Fight Over the Future of Food: Monsanto, GMOs, and How to Feed the World
Monsanto “Seedless” Corn Sold To South African Farmers
Germany Bans Planting of Monsanto GM Corn
Out, Monsanto! No GMOs in National Wildlife Refuge, Says Federal Judge
Monsanto and Michael Pollan Talk About Creating a World That Can Feed Itself

And if Superweeds weren’t bad enough, here’s some of Roundup’s other claims to fame (Taken from Wikipedia where full annotation can be found)…

Human and mammalian health effects

Toxicity

By 2000, a review published in a Monsanto sponsored journal, conducted by Ian C. Munro (a member of the Cantox scientific and regulatory consulting firm whose role is defined as to “protect client interests while helping our clients achieve milestones and bring products to market”) concluded that “under present and expected conditions of new use, there is no potential for Roundup herbicide to pose a health risk to humans”. That study only reviewed experiments where glyphosate and POEA were used alone and not as a mixture as in Roundup. Monsanto uses that study as the main source to support Roundup safety for humans.

A 2008 scientific study has shown that Roundup formulations and metabolic products cause the death of human embryonic, placental, and umbilical cells in vitro, even at low concentrations. The effects were not proportional to the main active ingredient concentrations (glyphosate), but dependent on the nature of the adjuvants used in the Roundup formulation.

Deliberate ingestion of Roundup in quantities ranging from 85-200 ml has resulted in death within hours of ingestion, although it has also been ingested in quantities as large as 500ml with only mild or moderate symptoms following ingestion. There is a reasonable correlation between the amount of Roundup ingested and the likelihood of serious systemic sequelae or death. Ingestion of >85 mL of the concentrated formulation is likely to cause significant toxicity in adults. Gastrointestinal corrosive effects, with mouth, throat and epigastric pain and dysphagia are common. Renal and hepatic impairment are also frequent and usually reflect reduced organ perfusion. Respiratory distress, impaired consciousness, pulmonary oedema, infiltration on chest x-ray, shock, arrythmias, renal failure requiring haemodialysis, metabolic acidosis and hyperkalaemia may supervene in severe cases. Bradycardia and ventricular arrhythmias are often present pre-terminally. Dermal exposure to ready-to-use glyphosate formulations can cause irritation, and photo-contact dermatitis has been reported occasionally; these effects are probably due to the preservative Proxel (benzisothiazolin-3-one). Severe skin burns are very rare. Inhalation is a minor route of exposure, but spray mist may cause oral or nasal discomfort, an unpleasant taste in the mouth, tingling and throat irritation. Eye exposure may lead to mild conjunctivitis, and superficial corneal injury is possible if irrigation is delayed or inadequate.

Endocrine disruptor

A 2000 in vitro study on mouse MA-10 cells concluded that Roundup inhibited progesterone production by disrupting StAR protein expression.

A 2005 in vitro study on human placental JEG3 cells concluded that the glyphosate disruption of aromatase is facilitated by adjuvants of the Roundup formulation.

A 2009 in vitro experiment with glyphosate formulations on human liver HepG2 cells has observed endocrine disruption at sub-agricultural doses, where a Roundup formulation showed to be the most active formulation. The effects were more dependent on the formulation than on the glyphosate concentration.

A 2009 study on rats has found that Roundup is a potent endocrine disruptor causing disturbances in the reproductive development when the exposure was performed during the puberty period.

Genetic damage

A 1998 study on mice concluded that Roundup is able to cause genetic damage. The authors concluded that the damage was “not related to the active ingredient, but to another component of the herbicide mixture“.

A 2005 study raised concerns over the effects of Roundup in transcription.^[25]

A 2009 study on mice has found that a single intraperitoneal injection of Roundup in concentration of 25 mg/kg caused chromosomal aberrations and induction of micronuclei.

A 2009 in vitro experiment with glyphosate formulations on human liver cells has observed DNA damages at sub-agricultural doses, where a Roundup formulation showed to be the most active formulation. The effects were more dependent on the formulation than on the glyphosate concentration.

Ecologic effects

A 2000 review of the toxicological data on Roundup concluded that “for terrestrial uses of Roundup minimal acute and chronic risk was predicted for potentially exposed nontarget organisms”. It also concluded that there were some risks to aquatic organisms exposed to Roundup in shallow water.

Toxicity

A 2009 study has concluded that while physiological pH decreases glyphosate uptake in animal cells; Roundup formulation contains surfactants that increases membrane permeability allowing cellular uptake at physiological pH.

Aquatic effects

Fish and aquatic invertebrates are more sensitive to Roundup than terrestrial organisms. Glyphosate is generally less persistent in water than in soil, with 12 to 60 day persistence observed in Canadian pond water, yet persistence of over a year have been observed in the sediments of ponds in Michigan and Oregon.
The EU classifies Roundup as R51/53 Toxic to aquatic organisms, may cause long-term adverse effects in the aquatic environment.

Although Roundup is not registered for aquatic uses and studies of its effects on amphibians indicate it is toxic to them, scientists have found that it may wind up in small wetlands where tadpoles live, due to inadvertent spraying during its application. A recent study found that even at concentrations one-third of the maximum concentrations expected in nature, Roundup still killed up to 71 percent of tadpoles raised in outdoor tanks.

A 2010 study has found that long-term exposition to environmental relevant concentrations of a Roundup formulation causes metabolic disruption in leporinus obtusidens.

Environmental degradation and effects

When glyphosate comes into contact with the soil, it can be rapidly bound to soil particles and be inactivated. Unbound glyphosate can be degraded by bacteria. Glyphosphate has been shown to increase the infection rate of wheat by fusarium head blight in fields that have been treated with glyphosphate. A 2009 study using a RoundUp formulation has concluded that absorption into plants delays subsequent soil-degradation, and can increase glyphosate persistence in soil from two to six times.

In soils, half lives vary from as little as 3 days at a site in Texas, to as much as 141 days at a site in Iowa. In addition, the glyphosate metabolite aminomethylphosphonic acid was shown to persist up to 2 years in Swedish forest soils.

A recent study concluded that certain amphibians may be at risk from glyphosate use. One study has shown an effect on growth and survival of earthworms. The results of this study are in conflict with other data, and have been criticized on methodological grounds. In other studies, nitrogen fixing bacteria have been impaired, and also crop plant susceptibility to disease has been increased.

False advertising and scientific fraud

False advertising

In 1996, Monsanto was accused of false and misleading advertising of glyphosate products, prompting a law suit by the New York State attorney general. Monsanto had made claims that its spray-on glyphosate based herbicides, including Roundup, were safer than table salt and “practically non-toxic” to mammals, birds, and fish.

Environmental and consumer rights campaigners brought a case in France in 2001 for presenting Roundup as biodegradable and claiming that it left the soil clean after use; glyphosate, Roundup’s main ingredient, is classed by the European Union as “dangerous for the environment” and “toxic for aquatic organisms”. In January 2007, Monsanto was convicted of false advertising. The result was confirmed in 2009.

Scientific fraud

On two occasions, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has caught scientists deliberately falsifying test results at research laboratories hired by Monsanto to study glyphosate. In the first incident involving Industrial Biotest Laboratories, an EPA reviewer stated after finding “routine falsification of data” that it was “hard to believe the scientific integrity of the studies when they said they took specimens of the uterus from male rabbits”. In the second incident of falsifying test results in 1991, the owner of the lab (Craven Labs), and three employees were indicted on 20 felony counts, the owner was sentenced to 5 years in prison and fined 50,000 dollars, the lab was fined 15.5 million dollars and ordered to pay 3.7 million dollars in restitution. Craven laboratories performed studies for 262 pesticide companies including Monsanto.

Monsanto has stated that the studies have been repeated, and that Roundup’s EPA certification does not now use any studies from Craven Labs or IBT. Monsanto also said that the Craven Labs investigation was started by the EPA after a pesticide industry task force discovered irregularities.

Difference between regulatory registered and commercialized formulations

In November 2009, a French environment group (MDRGF) accused Monsanto of using chemicals in Roundup formulations not disclosed to the country’s regulatory bodies, and demanded the removal of those products from the market.

So Come On, It’s Time To Windup Roundup & Give Monsanto The Boot!

When I’m not too busy Greenjacking I like to unwind with a spot of Urban Exploration. This week I joined the Subterranean Tourist Board on a regular outing to the former Thorpe Marsh Power Station – I’m the one who’s smiling

There’s something very satisfying about areas that have been reclaimed by Mother Nature – especially if they were areas that once reaped extensive ecological damage upon our earth…

I’m also a keen Guerilla Gardener and I got to thinking that maybe we should start combining these two important, but fun, pastimes. Not on sites like Thorpe Marsh – anything that grows there is likely to be contaminated for years to come  – but it would be nice to make use of abandoned gardens and give neglected buildings a bit of a lift with a nice new window box.

A FREE packet of seeds goes to the person who comes up with the best name for this new hobby

*Photos taken by 0742: Creative Commons, Some rights reserved

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna are an incredible animal, but the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) affirmed in October 2009 that Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks are declining dramatically, by 72% in the Eastern Atlantic, and by 82% in the Western Atlantic. The reason for this is overfishing and the solution, of course, stop fishing for an endangered species!

This sounds like common sense – this is a species on the verge of extinction, so let’s stop killing it. But the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna is the foundation of one of the world’s most lucrative commercial fisheries. It’s popularity as part of the Japanese Sashimi Sushi trade means that it carries a high price – one specimen reached an incredible £80,000 at a Tokyo fish market. And where such high profits (and greedy scum) are involved common sense tends to be thrown out of the window.

So despite Monaco formally recommending Atlantic Bluefin Tuna for an international trade ban on October 16th, 2009 and European officials, led by the French ecology minister, increasing pressure to ban the commercial fishing of bluefin tuna internationally at the beginning of 2010; on March 18^th, 2010 – at the general assembly of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) – governments rejected any trade bans for Bluefin Tuna.

For a smart animal our leaders can be pretty dumb

Thankfully the Steve Irwin, flagship of the Sea Shepherd fleet is on the way to the Mediterranean to defend Bluefin Tuna colonies. Click here to find out how YOU can support this vital campaign.

Yes, it’s that time of year again. This Saturday (May 1st) will be the fourth annual International Sunflower Guerilla Gardening Day where people all over the world* plant sunflower seeds and generally party like a good ‘un

All you need are the seeds, something to poke a hole 2cm in the ground and a bit of imagination. Tips are available here: http://www.guerrillagardening.org/ggsunflower.html.

This day was launched by The Brussels’ Farmers in 2007
http://brussels-farmer.blogspot.com/ and is championed by http://www.GuerrillaGardening.org.

Contact richard[at]guerrillagardening.org for more details and don’t forget to join the Facebook group if you’re that way inclined;-)
*At this time of the year sunflowers are of course best suited for planting in the Northern Hemisphere, so if you’re down south go for something different or do this in November.

Not Just Pie in the Sky – Why Anarchists Should Help ‘Reclaim the Earth Centre!’

We’re bunched together eating a delicious home-made apple pie surrounded by some of the most cutting edge sustainable technology anywhere in Europe. The apples are windfalls which, if the local Doncaster bureaucrats had their way, would be left to rot along with the millions of pounds worth of incredible buildings and technology which make up the now abandoned ‘Earth Centre’.

Originally conceived in 1989 as a response to the World Commission on Environment and Development’s call for ‘vast campaigns of education, debate and public participation’ concerning sustainable development, the Earth Centre began to take shape on the site of the old Denaby Main/Cadeby collieries during the 1990s. Initially there was immense local interest and a lot of people from nearby Conisbrough and Denaby were building their own small-scale projects on the site – at one time we thought that we might have our very own Centre for Alternative Technology. Unfortunately – as the money started to roll in – the idea behind the Earth Centre went from ‘an exhibition of sustainable development practices and an international centre for related research and education’ to being a rather crappy theme park.

Following what the Guardian called “a roller coaster ride of false starts, wild hopes and dashed plans.” (and what locals called “cock ups”) the Earth Centre closed it’s doors for the last time in 2004.This wasn’t a surprise for Doncaster residents. The Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council (DMBC) is like any other bureaucracy; when your give a bunch of people a large sum of other people’s money and allow them to spend it without any form of accountability the inevitable consequence is RMS – Reverse Midas Syndrome. In other words everything they touch turns to shit! The bureaucrats milked the scheme for all it was worth and then abandoned it, even though visitor numbers were increasing throughout the last year that it was open.

The site is presently being used by a wargames company (ex-military teaching corporate types how to be ‘real men’) and as a film set for ITV’s post apocalypse TV series, ‘Survivors’. Not ideal uses for a facility which has ultra-quiet wind turbines, a solar canopy, advanced ‘living machine’ biological sanitation and water purification systems, immense underground galleries, extensive allotments, forest gardens and fishing lakes, and a dormitory to sleep over 100 people.

But back to the apple pie – did I mention that it was delicious?

While chatting we realised that we were quite a diverse bunch and that saving the Earth Centre is an important project for [people of all political persuasions]. There are the obvious environmental connotations surrounding one of the most ecologically sustainable developments in the world. But this is also a real opportunity to create something positive in the heart of one of England’s most economically deprived regions. Like most of Doncaster’s ex-mining towns the local community has been decimated; first by the miner’s strike, then by the subsequent pit closures and years of economic decline – here of course they had the added pressure of being shafted by the bureaucrats who were responsible for killing off the Earth Centre project. The Pixies who set Reclaim the Earth Centre! in motion have worked closely with the residents of Conisbrough and Denaby and have received almost 100% support locally; the only negative response was from a guy who said ‘it was a nice idea, but it would never happen’ – it’s up to you to prove him wrong!

The Earth Centre is next to Conisbrough train station which is on a direct rail line between Doncaster and Sheffield; it’s easily accessible for anarchists (and anyone else…) from all over Yorkshire (and beyond). Being an ex-industrial site its easy to reach by road too – if you’re into that kind of thing . The group meets at 1:30pm every Sunday – come along and get a free welcome hug!

If you would like to visit the Earth Centre please email Molly Mosschops on thereismore2lifefolks [at] yahoo.co.uk

Anyone living in my home-town of Doncaster may be interested in a new project that hopes to encourage Transition Town initiatives in the surrounding area. The group will work to encourage projects that enshrine the Transition Town principles set out in the TT primer. The proposed blog for the group can be found here and they can be contacted via transitiondoncaster[at]gmail.com. Let’s get this thing started and I’ll see you there

N.B. Transition Town has begun to really take off in Bentley, North Doncaster – more details here… http://good2grow.wordpress.com/

The 10:10 campaign officially launches this afternoon at London’s Tate Modern Gallery. Thousands of individuals, companies and institutions will commit to cutting their carbon emissions by 10% during the year 2010.

Groups committed to the 10:10 cause range from Tottenham Hotspur football club, online grocer Ocado, the Tate galleries and the Women’s Institute to dozens of schools, universities and NHS trusts.

10% may sound like a huge deal, but it’s really quite easy; it just involves being more thoughtful about the energy you consume. If, like many people, you currently live your life through windows – waking up in a centrally-heated/air-conditioned home, driving to a centrally-heated/air-conditioned office in your air-conditioned car, sitting in front of the widescreen window that is your energy wasting plasma TV to relax, etc. – then you’ll find that you can acheive a 10% cut without even trying too hard. Life’s also more fun if you walk more, talk more and share a bath!

Go on, give it a go. Sign up here. But it’s also worth keeping the words of No Right Turn in mind…

“This is not a substitute for government action, for strong policies to force industrial and agricultural polluters to take responsibility for and reduce their emissions. Instead, it is supposed to spur government action, by demonstrating that there is a significant constituency who care about the issue and will act on it, either directly or at the ballot box as need be. Its about putting the fear into the politicians.”

*CB lingo for the uninitiated…

• 10-4 = OK, message received
• 10-10 = Transmission completed, standing by