Clipmarks | urbanlife's Pops

R4R - Resources for Rethinking

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:15:08 GMT

clipped by: egsnyder
clipper's remarks: Nice collection of useful resources... not just useful for teachers.

Clip Source: www.resources4rethinking.ca

The Resources for Rethinking database provides teachers with access to materials that integrate ecological, social and economic spheres through active, relevant, interdisciplinary learning.

Tags: environment, rethinking

climate change and poverty

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 02:35:49 GMT

clipped by: rachaelkeriwilliams
clipper's remarks: A tool for understanding the impacts of climate change on low-income and minority communities.
How do you preach the importance of preventive measures to increasingly drastic change in weather patterns, that results in action, when you are working with people who are dealing with constant crisis not clearly linked with the environment?

Clip Source: www.policylink.org

Understanding Climate Change: An Equitable Framework

When the hurricanes hit in 2005, more than 1,500 people died in NewOrleans alone. There is no doubt that better disaster management practices will be needed to respond to the impacts of climate change, including increased flooding, drought, wildfires, and stronger hurricanes. The destruction wrought by these storms reveals how the interaction of forces—energy use, environmental degradation, climate change and financial vulnerability—puts low-income communities of color at greatest risk.

As the world grapples with other effects of climate change and global warming, the need to understand the embedded issues associated with these complex ecological transformations becomes clear. Understanding Climate Change: An Equitable Framework (pdf) contributes to a deeper understanding of the issues, and considers the equity consequences and implications associated with global warming.

Tags: poverty, climate change, global warming, low-income, empower, environment, education

Former Schoolhouse to be Auctioned

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 05:08:49 GMT

clipped by: presohio

Clip Source: www.cantonrep.com

Historic schoolhouse on auction block

MARLBORO TWP. The death of John T. Abell this summer has put his unique home on the auction block.

The 138-year-old building on state Route 44 was a two-room schoolhouse, then a Grange hall before becoming Abell's home.

Catherine J. Mungo of Medina reminisced about her first cousin, now that his home of 30-some years is being auctioned off.

"It is sad (the house isn't going to someone in the family), but I know we have to move on. He is giving the money to a good cause."

Built as a two-room schoolhouse in New Baltimore in 1870, the brick building served as the Marlboro Grange No. 1401 for several years, beginning in 1894.

It became known as the Abell schoolhouse in the early 1970s, after he bought the 3,586-square foot building on 11⁄2 acres and converted it into a family home with the help of well-known historic decorator, Nancy Kalin, who has since died.

Tags: preservation, school, auction

30 Best Eco Sites on the Web

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 10:20:14 GMT

clipped by: hitchhiker08

Clip Source: www.modernecohomes.com

The 30 Best Eco Sites on the Web

Treehugger.com – Treehugger.com is the leading media channel devoted to bringing sustainability to the masses. Treehugger is a one-stop shop for green news, solutions, and product information. I visit often!

Ecofabulous.com

Ecofriend.org

Inhabitat.com

Groovygreen.com –

Eco-chick.com – Eco-chick is an environmental weblog with a woman’s perspective.

Ecorazzi.com

Greenoptions.com

Jetsongreen.com

Thedailygreen.com

Dwell.com

Greenmonk.net

Idealbite.com

Ecogeek.org

Ecoflip.org

Gogreentube.com

Gengreenlife.com

alternativeenergyblog -

greenisthenewred.com

green.tv

hautenature.blogspot.com -

freegreen.com

carbonplanet.com

goodtravelcompany.com

greengirlsglobal.com

goodmagazine.com

environmentalgraffiti.com

ecolabelfundraising.com

mocoloco.com

Tags: best, websites, eco-friendly, green

Oceans, Reefs, Forests Increasingly Threatened

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:47:29 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: I think we may have gone too far to recover...

Clip Source: community.livejournal.com

Ocean ‘dead zones’ spread, fish more at risk: study. “The number of polluted 'dead zones' in the world's oceans is rising fast and coastal fish stocks are more vulnerable to collapse than previously feared, scientists said on Monday. The spread of 'dead zones' -- areas of oxygen-starved water -- 'is emerging as a major threat to coastal ecosystems globally,' the scientists wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”

Pollution killing world’s coral reefs. “Coral reefs like Chitales, near the northern tip of a Caribbean reef chain stretching from Mexico to Honduras, are dying around the world as people and cities put more stress on the environment.”

Amazon deforestation rises dramatically. “Amazon destruction jumped 228 percent in August when compared to the same month a year ago, according to a report from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research. Some 756 square kilometers (292 square miles) of Amazon was destroyed last month…”

Homeless start settling in fuchsia 'Nickelsville'

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:02:59 GMT

clipped by: deadcowkid
clipper's remarks: Advocates for the homeless set up about 150 fuchsia tents near the Duwamish River on Monday to draw attention to the needs of homeless people while taking a swipe at Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.

Clip Source: seattlepi.nwsource.com

Advocates for the homeless set up about 150 fuchsia tents near the Duwamish River on Monday to draw attention to the needs of homeless people while taking a swipe at Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. Randy, who has been homeless for seven years, works on putting a space blanket around his tent to help keep it warmer. Randy didn't want to give his last name.

Homeless start settling in fuchsia 'Nickelsville'

Advocates for the homeless erected about 150 fuchsia-colored tents on public land Monday to draw attention to the needs of homeless people while taking a swipe at Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.

Dubbed "Nickelsville," the encampment is supposed to reflect a modern-day Hooverville, the Depression-era shantytowns whose inhabitants blamed their economic woes on President Hoover.

Homeless advocates criticize Nickels for the city's policy of clearing homeless encampments and want more shelter beds and social services. They set up camp shortly after 4 a.m.

Tags: homeless, poverty, human rights

The sapphire mines of Madagascar

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:53:24 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman
clipper's remarks: The Big Picture from The Boston Globe

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Sapphires of various colors are shown, lined up at a local precious stone business in the Ilakaka, Madagascar

The tiny village of Ilakaka, Madagascar had barely 40 residents before 1998. Then, a large deposit of sapphires was discovered along a nearby riverbed, and caught the eye of some Thai businessmen in the gem trade. Word got out, and Ilakaka swelled to tens of thousands of residents - the center of a sapphire boom, today the source of nearly 50% of all the sapphires in the world. Illegal miners mixed with large-scale operations, all operating under little or no regulation, in a wild-west atmosphere of potential fortunes, lawlesness, violence and hardship. In the years since, the easily-mined sapphire fields have been picked clean, and the remaining miners often work in deep holes, climbing far underground. Mining is also a family effort

Atlas of the Real World

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:08:51 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Land area

The Atlas of the Real World uses software to depict the nations of the world, not by their physical size, but by their demographic importance on a range of subjects. Here, we select a series of travel- and news-related maps.

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Wealth in the year 1

The size of each territory shows the GDP, adjusted for local purchasing power, of the equivalent territory in 1 AD. The Americas appear small, partly because fewer people lived there in year 1 AD.

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Wealth in the year 1900

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Projected wealth in the year 2015

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Housing prices

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

HIV prevalence

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Alcohol consumption

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Nuclear weapons

2002

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Armed forces at war 1945-2004

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

War deaths 1945-2002

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Increase in emissions of carbon dioxide

Between 1980 and 2000, nearly three-quarters of all territories saw an increase in carbon dioxide emissions, with China, the United States and India leading the way.

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Decrease in emissions of carbon dioxide

1980 and 2000

Affordable Cooperative Housing in Toronto

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:09:04 GMT

clipped by: rachaelkeriwilliams
clipper's remarks: Innstead would probably be a great group to contact for support during the development process here in Buffalo.

Clip Source: innstead.org

Innstead Co-operative Inc.

Cooperative Affordable Housing

Our History

Innstead is 31 years old this year. In 1976, a group of friends, who had connected through the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto and Hart House at the University of Toronto, were completing their coursework and beginning to leave school for work and family. They decided to relocate to the same area in the city to maintain these connections.

There was tremendous commitment and energy as Innstead began to grow. Many of the renovations to properties were volunteer- and community-driven events.

Innstead today maintains its strong commitment to community and social justice.

Clip Source: innstead.org

Co-operative Living

Why Live in a Housing cooperative?

Innstead provides housing that is:

Safe and Secure

Well-kept

Affordable

Part of a Community

Tags: cooperative housing, co-op, toronto, canada, affordable.housing, low-income

Smell of success in bid to 'build nose'

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:23:46 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: Maybe they have trouble quantifying the way our imaginations are triggered by smell, and the value of the associations it can create, with past memories.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Development of an "artificial nose" is a step closer after US scientists reported finding a way to mass-produce smell receptors in a laboratory.

Scratch and sniff: researchers have found a way to make olfactory receptors in a laboratory

The associate director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Centre for Biomedical Engineering says smell remains a "tantalising enigma".

"Smell is perhaps one of the oldest and most primitive senses, but nobody really understands how it works," Zhang says.

Until now, efforts to understand the molecular basis of smell have been stymied by the difficulty in working with the proteins that detect odours, known as olfactory receptors.

"The main barrier to studying smell is that we haven't been able to make enough receptors and purify them to homogeneity," says co-researcher and MIT doctoral student Brian Cook.

"Now, it's finally available as a raw material for people to utilise, and should enable many new studies into smell research."

Bayer Pesticide Chemicals Linked to Devastating Collapse of Honeybee Populations

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 03:18:28 GMT

clipped by: Geshizar
clipper's remarks: Another pesticide bites the dust.

Clip Source: www.prisonplanet.com

German government researchers have concluded that a bestselling Bayer pesticide is responsible for the recent massive die-off of honeybees across the country’s Baden-Württemberg region. In response, the government has banned an entire family of pesticides, fueling accusations that pesticides may be responsible for the current worldwide epidemic of honeybee die-offs.

Researchers found buildup of the pesticide clothianidin in the tissues of 99 percent of dead bees in Baden-Württemberg state. The German Research Center for Cultivated Plants concluded that nearly 97 percent of honeybee deaths had been caused directly by contact with the insecticide.

“It can unequivocally be concluded that a poisoning of the bees is due to the rub-off of the pesticide ingredient clothianidin from corn seeds,” said the federal agricultural research agency, the Julius Kuehn Institute.

Tags: bees, pesticide, environment

Public Participation GIS

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:09:11 GMT

clipped by: rachaelkeriwilliams
clipper's remarks: This approach to development of the city and surrounding areas is exactly what we need. The people must be empowered with the information that is typically held by the government, development organizations, and those with developed computer skills and high-speed internet access. PPGIS will facilitate the participation of marginalized members of society in the creation of the ecocity. It can be integrated with accessibility software and accessed from libraries, computing centers, and other designated points in the neighborhood, and should be integrated with a user-friendly interface —such as google maps, rather than the more technologically and geographically -oriented interface employed in typical online GIS sites.

Clip Source: www.iapad.org

by Doug Aberley and Renee Sieber

Public Participation GIS …

Is an interdisciplinary research, community development and environmental stewardship tool grounded in value and ethical frameworks that promote social justice, ecological sustainability, improvement of quality of life, redistributive justice, nurturing of civil society, etc;

Enables public access to cultural, economic and biophysical data generated by governments, private sector organizations and academic institutions;

Is about sharing the challenges and opportunities of place and situation in a transparent and celebratory manner.

Is best applied via partnerships developed between individuals, communities, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, religious or faith-based institutions, governments and the private sector;
Endeavors to always include a strong capacity building dimension in its application;

Tags: gis, participatory development, ppgis, development, empower, marginalized groups, technology, internet, opensource, mapping

Colourful Caterpillars - 24 of nature's most beautiful!

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:39:57 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.colourlovers.com

These voracious leave eaters whose movements are graceful and fluid have six times as many muscles as a human and can be very harmful to humans. Some color inspiration is harmless, so here are 24 caterpillar inspired palettes.

Caterpillar hair has been known to be a cause of human health problems. Caterpillar hairs sometimes have venoms in them and species from approximately 12 families of moths or butterflies worldwide can inflict serious human injuries

Home Brewing Baby

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:38:10 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

Ladies, fire up your brew pots and polish those carboys. Your pint glasses are waiting.

Women have recently become more visible in the home-brewing world as novice and veteran home-brewing aficionadas are joining online forums, networking, entering competitions, even starting their own women-only home brew clubs.

Throughout the Middle Ages, English and Scottish women routinely brewed beer. Some opened public ale houses, although by the late 18th century, alewives were replaced by brewers at monasteries and commercial beer houses.

"It's a natural progression from appreciating beer to making it," says Fahrendorf, who brewed her first batch in 1984 at age 25. "We've got this generation of women who developed a taste for craft beers at a young age. Once you taste a dark stout or a sour cherry beer, it's like good food and cooking -- you want to make it yourself."

Oct 2nd: Mahatma Gandi's Birthday - Gandhi Jayanti (India)

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:39:51 GMT

clipped by: egsnyder
clipper's remarks: He is officially honoured in India as the Father of the Nation; his birthday, 2 October, is commemorated there as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and world-wide as the International Day of Non-Violence.

Clip Source: multiculturalcalendar.com

Gandhi's Birthday

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is the National Father of India who adopted 'non-violence' in fighting for freedom of the country. 1869-1948

Gandhi's Birthday
India

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી, IPA: [moɦən̪d̪äs kəɾəmʧən̪d̪ gän̪d̪ʱi]) (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was a major political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement. He was the pioneer of Satyagraha—resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, firmly founded upon ahimsa or total non-violence—which led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. He is commonly known around the world as Mahatma Gandhi (Sanskrit: महात्मा mahātmā or "Great Soul", an honorific first applied to him by Rabindranath Tagore) and in India also as Bapu (Gujarati: બાપુ bāpu or "Father").

Tags: calendarwallah, diversity, multiculturalism

Clipmarks | urbanlife's Pops

R4R - Resources for Rethinking

climate change and poverty

Former Schoolhouse to be Auctioned

30 Best Eco Sites on the Web

The 30 Best Eco Sites on the Web

Oceans, Reefs, Forests Increasingly Threatened

Homeless start settling in fuchsia 'Nickelsville'

Homeless start settling in fuchsia 'Nickelsville'

The sapphire mines of Madagascar

Atlas of the Real World

Land area

International immigrants

Tourist destinations

Net incoming tourism

Aircraft travel

Rail travel

Mopeds and motorcycles

Wealth in the year 1

Wealth in the year 1900

Projected wealth in the year 2015

Housing prices

HIV prevalence

Alcohol consumption

Nuclear weapons

Armed forces at war 1945-2004

War deaths 1945-2002

Increase in emissions of carbon dioxide

Decrease in emissions of carbon dioxide

Affordable Cooperative Housing in Toronto

Innstead Co-operative Inc.

Cooperative Affordable Housing

Our History

Co-operative Living

Smell of success in bid to 'build nose'

Bayer Pesticide Chemicals Linked to Devastating Collapse of Honeybee Populations

Public Participation GIS

Colourful Caterpillars - 24 of nature's most beautiful!

Home Brewing Baby

Oct 2nd: Mahatma Gandi's Birthday - Gandhi Jayanti (India)