MooPig Community Chest Department :: "A Community Garden"

Folks, we need Planet Saver Tactics...
Mixed Martial Articles by Pat Darnell  |  Dec 13, 2014  |  Bryan TX

[Picture LINK]

In 1979 a magazine called Mother Earth News published extensively about self-sufficiency on a five acre plot. It was my mantra. But five acres in those days in Chicago ... well, even back then that would have cost about $900,000 just for the land, and that is very conservative.

Any type of wetland conservation idea is needed now. We over-build into our natural water ways, until we start to experience floods and mud-slides. Architecture that is designed to augment the natural ways of things on planet earth should be "built" as designed. Community gardens would be included in the land development master plans. If it were not for "bottom-line" developers, we might have such places in our communities.

Most good ideas that would make the earth a less hostile environment are "deep six'd" in the final financial analysis, land has to be paid for. Watershed imbalance today is confounding communities all over the world.

The article we include today says to invite all people who are interested in community gardening, is the first step to:

10 Steps to Starting a Community Garden | American Community Garden Association: "The following steps are adapted from the American Community Garden Association’s guidelines for launching a successful community garden in your neighborhood."
'via Blog this'





______________________Reference
https://communitygarden.org/resources/10-steps-to-starting-a-community-garden/
file:///D:/mendemo/dcd/001/001-008-01.htm
http://www.designrulz.com/architecture/2011/12/8-suggestions-for-spectacular-roof-gardens/

Organizations Helping Out

Don't be a Drive-By Rubber-necker
by Pat Darnell | Jan 13, 2013 | Bryan TX

If you can send the word out that yesterday was the three year anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti, it is appreciated.  Maybe folks who were able to donate in 2010 will ask the right questions of the leadership in Haiti and in the USA. MooPig has published numerous articles on Haiti disaster, and that is its contribution. We were shocked to realize there is still almost a 100,000 people living in squalor, in tent cities in Port au Prince, after three years.

Below you will find web sites of organizations that provide relief for disasters all over the world.

SOURCE   ::  Supporting Haiti – How a Bionic Beauty can help…:

'via Blog this'

Each of the following organizations have fund raising efforts in place to earmark donations for Haitian relief. The main page of their websites provides details.

• Haiti Relief Fund www.haitirelieffund.org
• Haiti Action www.haitiaction.net
• Lamp for Haiti www.lampforhaiti.org
• Habitat for Humanity www.habitat.org 
• UNICEF www.unicef.org 
• Red Cross www.redcross.org 
• Salvation Army www.salvationarmy.org 
• AmeriCares www.americcares.org
• Doctors Without Borders www.doctorswithoutborders.org
• Mercy Corps www.mercycorps.org
• Oxfam www.oxfam.org
• Worldvision www.worldvision.org

Example: [Slideshow from Jan 2010]
Paul McMaster, a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) surgeon, describes what he and his team have seen and done since they arrived in Port-au-Prince to bring emergency medical care to earthquake survivors on January 15. (doctors without borders. JANUARY 20, 2010. HERE)








__________________Reference
http://www.haitirelieffund.org/
http://www.haitiaction.net/
http://www.americares.org/
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/aboutus/
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/photogallery/gallery.cfm?id=4180
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/article.cfm?id=4190&cat=video
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/article.cfm?id=4188&cat=voice-from-the-field
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/allcontent.cfm?id=208

MooPig's Tech Coroner :: "China's Rare Earths"

Retrieved by Pat Darnell | June 20, 2012 | Bryan TX

[Picture LINK] China controls 95% of the global rare earths market, with 45% of the global supply coming from China’s Baiyun Obo mine in Inner Mongolia. In recent years, the Chinese government has shuttered a number of other rare earth mining operations and imposed a range of export restrictions on rare earths, with the aim of ensuring domestic supply is sufficient to meet expected domestic demand (or for monopolistic control- you decide).

China warns its rare earth reserves are declining:
"After more than 50 years of excessive mining, China's rare earth reserves have kept declining and the years of guaranteed rare earth supply have been reducing," China's cabinet said in the paper on the rare earth industry published by the official Xinhua news agency.

EXCERPT | " ... the United States, the European Union and Japan jointly filed a case in March at the World Trade Organization that challenged China’s restrictions on rare earth exports, which were imposed in 2006 and have been repeatedly tightened since then. The W.T.O. case argues that the export quotas and tariffs violate free trade rules by putting pressure on companies to move their factories to China if they want to tap China’s vast supply of rare earths..."

" ... We're willing to cooperate with the parties involved to solve the dispute as soon as possible. At the same time, we will actively use WTO rules to defend China's legitimate rights and interests” (KEITH BRADSHER. Published: June 20, 2012) ... "

Gao Yunhu  Rare Earth Office
What are 'rare earths' used for?
The term rare earth refers to a group of 17 elements that are used to make a range of hi-tech gadgets.

These elements are used in products ranging from MP3 players to mobile phones, flatscreen TVs and hybrid batteries.

With those products becoming increasingly popular, the demand for rare earths has been rising.

There are quite a few production sites being developed at the moment, for example, in Australia, Canada, South Africa and Greenland. Unfortunately, most of them will not be able to ramp up output until 3-4 years from now, and significant environmental, technological and financing concerns may yet keep production costs high and supply outside China uncertain. According to Roskill, this new supply will become available just in time, as by 2012 China’s own elevated demand due to the growth in high-tech industries will have outstripped local supply. (January 19th, 2010)

_________________Reference
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18516461
http://slopeofhope.com/2010/10/rare-earth-a-long-term-investment.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/business/global/china-vows-tighter-controls-over-rare-earth-mining.html
http://indiumsamplesblog.com/2010/01/19/rare-earths-in-china-cornering-the-market-or-a-victim-of-its-own-success/

Ask your Asparagus

Part 1 of 3. Famous gardener Ruth Stout shows her coveted secrets, and interesting stories of her life. Having never followed society's conformities, her gardening techniques are likewise very unique. Quite possibly the simplest way to garden, with no digging, composting, tilling or fertilizing. A video both entertaining and informative. [Click youTube SOURCE]

Asparagus, a long-lived perennial vegetable crop, is enjoyed by many gardeners, because Asparagus grows in most any soil. Get your bucolic on...

MooPig "I Don't Want to Skeer ya' Now..." Department:

Your Lawn-Care Big-Foot Print

Retrieved by Pat Darnell and the Sasquatch Family Hoard

Can we actually figure out how to transcend human destruction of Nature, and Nature's propensity to cleanse itself with extinction level events? In this era?

*[CLICK] MooPig Example: Texas = 42 mows per year\a quarter acre = 11000 Square feet +\- and 5 acres = 217,800 Sq ft
The Clean Air Lawn Care Web site even has a calculator to show how much you can reduce your carbon footprint by using this green service. ...Just select "lawn calculator" at the bottom left of the home page... [HERE]

Green Gardening: A new green choice for lawn lovers
By ANN LOVEJOY | SPECIAL TO THE P-I
It's a sunny Saturday morning. A soft spring breeze mingles birdsong with the roaring of mowers as millions of Americans prepare to attack their lawns.
[ ... ]
During the coming mowing season, about 800 million gallons of gas will burn to trim American lawns. According to EPA estimates, lawn equipment produces as much as 10 percent of all air pollution. That's a huge amount.
[ ... ]
In Washington and across the country, every major waterway is contaminated with almost two-dozen toxins, about half of which comes from lawn and garden products. Again, the lawn and garden contribution is enormous.
[ ... ]
Commercial services can use even deadlier toxins than those available at your local garden center.
[ ... ] Clean Air Lawn Care also buys certified renewable energy credits to offset the emissions of their trucks. The Clean Air Lawn Care Web site even has a calculator to show how much you can reduce your carbon footprint by using this green service. (Just select "lawn calculator" at the bottom left of the home page.)
[ ... ]
Ladd Smith, co-owner of In Harmony, said, [ ... ]"The Street of Dreams was a catalyst for change," he says. "We believe that educating the public and providing them with solutions is the way to get people to convert to a greener way of thinking."
[Ann Lovejoy is the author of many gardening books. She can be reached via mail at: 8959 Battlepoint Drive N.E., Bainbridge Island, WA 98110.]
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*MooPig Example Results: TX 42 mows, for gas powered lawn equipment... 1/4 acre at 11,000 Sq ft
Annual Pounds of Air Pollution = 301.70 pounds
Comparable Annual Vehicle Miles = 9240.0 miles

*Second Example Results: TX 42 mows, for gas powered.. 5 acres at 217,800 Sq ft
Annual lbs of air pollution = 5973.75 lbs
Comparable Annual Vehicle miles = 182,952.0 miles