Balloons!
Source: michaeleverett
The University of Maine - Cooperative Extension Publications - Bulletin #7219, Maine Home Energy: Passive Solar Heating
I think I’m going to start dumping all the useful passive solar design bits and bobs I find here to Tumblr. Might as well make use of this thing, right?
Energy Savers: Passive Solar Home Design
What’s this? The government with possibly useful information? Balderdash!
MIT researchers create super efficient ‘origami’ solar panels
Solar panels nowadays are flat, but folding them like origami could dramatically boost the amount of power they produce.
Woah.
Source: mothernaturenetwork
Highland Cattle, Scotland
Photograph by Patrick Kelley
While hiking in Scotland we encountered an ancient breed of highland cattle known as “kyloe.” They were stout and have adapted to grazing on plants that many other cattle avoid. Their long shaggy hair protects them from the cold winters and rainy weather. They curiously approached us because to them, I’m sure we were the unusual-looking visitors!
Source: nationalgeographicdaily
I found this amazing diagram in one of Mark Bittman’s NY Times Opinion columns. It was created by a Mainer (woot), the founder of Kitchen Gardeners International. The first diagram shows the layout of the White House vegetable garden, the second imagines the layout if it reflected the crops supported through federal farm subsidies.
If there is anyone here who still believes that our farm subsidy program is not hugely broken, perhaps this will help convince you.
(My opinion on the topic: We have so many problems related to food and food production in this country, ranging from food safety to school lunches to food deserts to pollution to children who actually cannot get enough to eat, I just do not think that our tax money is best spent supporting commodity crop agriculture. I do not even disagree that there is a place for farm subsidies, I just think they should go toward small and mid-sized farms that can demonstrate a need, that produce food that people eat, and that support the health of our communities.)
(via emer)
Source: The New York Times
Seattle corpse flower causing stink, promoting plant sex
It sends out a smell of rotting flesh to attract pollinating beetles.
Damn, I missed this by a few weeks!
Source: mothernaturenetwork
