Vertical Gardening: Innovative Use of Space in the Urban Areas

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Space is difficult to come by especially in the urban areas. Many urban dwellers have only a few square meters available to them for other useful ventures like gardening vegetables. Vegetables are getting expensive nowadays, the reason why people are looking for ways to find cheaper alternatives or ways to produce their own vegetables to save on cost.

There is hope, however, to those people living in the urban areas who are eager to do something to improve their economic status through gardening even in the cramped spaces. If there is no horizontal space available in the urban areas, almost always there is space upwards or vertical space available. It is possible to start off a gardening venture using that available vertical space. A creative way of using that vertical space is by gardening using the principles of vertical gardening.

Vertical gardening is now popular in many urban places. The concept of vertical gardening originated from Patrick Blanc, a botanist who initially referred to the vertical garden as the living wall. This overrides the limitations imposed by horizontal space, as vertical space is virtually unlimited. Combined with natural farming, this approach can grow vegetables and other plants not only to provide healthy foods but also help filter pollutants. >>Read more...

Human Hair to Clean Up Oil Spill?

Ever heard that the human hair could be a very effective material to clean up an oil spill? In Madison, Alabama, a hairdresser named Philip McCrory originated the hair-as-an-oil-adsorbent concept in 1989. McCrory experimented with human hair to soak up a mock oil spill in his son's plastic pool. In just a few minutes, the water was clean.

Excited with his findings, McCrory approached NASA scientists in Alabama. The researchers obliged and experimented with an oil filter made up of human hair. They confirmed the findings of McCrory. Human hair effectively reduced the concentration of oil to just 17 parts per million or two drops of oil per 55 million gallons.

The discovery was applied to the Exxon Valdez oil spill which achieved great results. Human hair sponges of about 1.4 million pounds have soaked up and estimated 11 million gallons of oil.>>Read more...

Six Endemic Animals Endangered in Palawan

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Endemic Animals

Endemic animals are animals which are native or its distribution confined in only one place. The reason for their existence in only one location may be due to their specific feeding habits or those habitats provide the best condition for their survival. Because of this, the population of endemic animals are prone to disturbances occurring in their specific range.

Human Economic Activities

In many places, human economic activities and the hunt for food in places where endemic animals live could lead to reduction and even loss of population of these animals. Since their population is confined in only one locality, there is no chance that this population is replenished once the critical level of population to maintain the species is compromised.

Endemic Animals Endangered

Among those endemic animals endangered by human encroachment to their habitat as well as demand for their meat are the six mammals of Palawan. Palawan, located at the western section of the Philippines, is a long island where unique microclimates offer favorable habitat for the survival of these endemic species of mammals. Animals endangered towards probable extinction are the following: Balabac mouse deer, Palawan bearcat, Palawan tree shrew, Palawan porcupine, and the Palawan dwarf otter. >>Read more...

Plastics are Bad?

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Plastics are a common part of our life. Their use is very convenient to consumers because these are made up of light materials and do not corrode easily like metals. This is why millions of plastics bottles, sando bags, toys, among others are produced.

The problem is that many of these plastics are disposed of improperly when these no longer serve their purpose. You can see plastics strewn all over in many places without waste management systems in place. Plastics clog drains and canals that cause flooding in the cities. Plastics make their way in the food chain, accidentally ingested by sea turtles. The plastic bags taken wrongly as jellyfishes. Plastics pollute the environment.

Due to the pollution caused by plastics, many environmentalists advocate banning the use of plastics. But is this move justified? Both sides are presented in "Are Plastics Really That Bad?"

By the way, sando plastic bags can kill geckos. So what, you may say, but geckos can help you get rid of pests in your home. Geckos are known to feed on mice litter, cockroaches, termites, centipede, among others. Geckos are friendly reptiles.

Family Protected Coral Reef

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A family can be a strong advocate of resource protection. This is the case of a family of fishers in Honda Bay, Palawan, Philippines where the family, through the leadership of the father, took it upon themselves to protect a small patch of coral reef in front of their house. The area was once destroyed by the rampant illegal fishing activities in the area.

After more than a decade of successfully keeping the reef from harmful practices, the coral reef bounced back to life. The coral reef served as nursery and refuge area of fishes, and the coral colonies therein grew back and were revived. This attracted a lot of tourists that made the place all the more important to preserve.

Now, the reef is threatened with plans for development, and the future appears to be favoring the businessmen than the local folks who took the initiative to conserve a dwindling resource. More on this family's struggle on Family Protected Reef: A Unique Case of Natural Resource Conservation.

How Forests Provide Benefit to People

Forests are an important part of our planet. Forests provide us goods like timber, food, animals as food, medicine as well as ecological services such as watershed for water storage, erosion prevention, and removal of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

But do people really understand fully well how valuable the forests are? Chances are that many people do not fully understand how much this resource is really worth. This is the reason why people tend to disregard the forests and favor its conversion into something else that they think will benefit them. The benefit that people may have gained from converting forests into subdivisions, stripping it to extract the minerals, cutting down the trees in favor of golf courses or airports, among others appear to be greater than keeping the forests intact.

In reality, destroying the forest for other uses may be a great blunder for many planners and decision makers. The costs and benefits of forest conversion may not have been fully studied and accounted for. How then should forest value be determined? There is a way to do it. The article "How to Determine Forest Value" explains how. Forests are worth trillions of dollars and even more. Read and find out how forests could be worth this high.

Consequences of the Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico

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The on-going oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico caused so much uproar from many Americans because of the danger it poses to the beaches and wildlife inhabiting the wetlands along the gulf. The progress to prevent the oil spill from spreading appears to be slow. Despite the capping attempts of the oil spill using robots as well as forcing mud-like liquids through the leak, oil deep under the sea keeps on gushing out. Thousands of barrels of oil are lost in the sea threatening to bring oil price up.

Stopping the oil leak and cleaning off the oil spill is by far one of the most challenging jobs that many Americans are now preoccupied. Thousands of workers were employed to help clean up the mess that oil can do to the beaches, wildlife, and sea surface. The leak somehow has given unexpected jobs and added income to those involved in the clean up operations. To understand how benefits can arise from such a harmful incident, the article Positive and Negative Externalities of the Gulf Oil Spill explains how this could be possible. Crisis like this can become a window of opportunity for others.

The Endemic Scaly Anteater of Palawan: An Endangered Species?

Photo by Alejandro Bernardo, Jr.

Endemic animals in the province of Palawan in the Philippines are gradually being overtaken by the economic activities of man. Although many of the animals are meant to be consumed by people, their continued availability in the future appears to be threatened.

Among these mammals, the Palawan pangolin or scaly anteater (Manis culionensis), is in grave danger of being wiped out from their range because of the demand, not only for their exotic meat but also people's belief that it is an aphrodisiac. It is a pity that these animals are captured by burning their habitat. This animal capture practice has been used by hunters of the wild pig decades ago that led to the deforestation of much of the Visayan areas in the Philippine archipelago.

Why is the pangolin better left in the wild and why should it be conserved? The scaly anteater has a major role to play in the ecosystem where it thrives. The scaly anteater works like a natural pest control agent, preventing the proliferation of ants and termites.

More about interesting details of how this wonderful mammal looks and its ecological role can be found in Facts About the Endemic Palawan Pangolin or Scaly Anteater.