ENN: Environmental News Network -- Know Your Environment

With the United Kingdom honoring Queen Elizabeth II’s 60 years on the throne this week, people all around the globe are becoming British for the week. The Diamond Jubilee has people from all over the world celebrating by canoeing on rivers, playing croquet, drinking tea and speaking as if they were in England. However, some real British citizens are celebrating their Queen’s anniversary the same way, except they are having iced tea.

British researchers at Halley Research Center on the southern continent of Antarctica are dealing with the icy and snowy conditions while still having the opportunity to celebrate a British holiday the only way they know how. The group of 14 staff members had their cup of afternoon tea in subzero temperatures after their work day was complete. The bonding experience for the British citizens, complete with homemade Union Jack flag Battenberg cake, was one that the scientists will remember

Image Credit: www.antarctica.ac.uk

for a long, long time. The scientists dressed up to a “Mad Hatter” theme where they dressed up like characters from the movie, Alice in Wonderland. They also decorated the science laboratory’s dining room with British flags and bunting.

After the costumed researchers finished their tea and crumpets, the team went outside into the Antarctic darkness. The scientists went out and played exemplary examples of British sport: cricket and croquet. This was no ordinary sporting match: the scientists played outside with no light and fought off 40 miles-per-hour winds where it reached a temperature below negative 35 degrees Celsius (negative 31 degrees Fahrenheit).

To me, this sounds like a very interesting way to honour one of the most ideal public figures of my generation. As the Queen would say, keep calm and carry on.

by Scott Sincoff

Reality television seems to be going downhill, at least in the United States anyway. Coming this summer, celebrity based shows like MTV’s “Snooki & JWoww”, and Fox’s “The Choice”, celebrate vanity and narcissism.  Fortunately, in other parts of the world celebrities are using their influence to spread knowledge on sustainability and farm management.

One example is “Shamba Shape – Up” (Shamba is Swahili for ‘small farm) is a reality show based in Kenya. Every episode the team visits a new farm in need and over 4 days,  remakes the farm to be more efficient and a more comfortable and healthier environment for those who work there. The show stars soap stars Tonny Njuguna and Naomi Kamau, and a team of experts that includes vetrinarians, soil analysists, and crop specialists. 

Based in Kenya, the reality show Shamba Shape-Up puts a new spin on reality television.

The show is not your typical makeover show where a makeover is done purely for the entertainment of the viewer, the advice given in the show can be applied to any shamba.  At the end of each episode, viewers can SMS their names and addresses to receive free leaflets on the topics covered in the show. The show is produced by Mediae, a ‘edutainment’ company, who develop media for education and development. The show also has numerous partners, including the Africa Soil Health Consortium, and many other organizations focused on developing business and innovation in Africa.

The show, which began airing in March, will end its first season in June. The show reaches about 4 million people in Kenya and hopes to expand  its viewership to Tanzania and Uganda. The show, which  is broadcast on Citizen TV, is receiving a positive response with up to 3,000 messages requesting information after each show each episode.

I watched the pilot episode, which is available on the “Shamba Shape - Up” website and Youtube, and found it very educational but also entertaining. Some of the issues addressed in the episode included : providing healthy food for cows during the dry season, creating sustainable stoves for indoor cooking, efficiently growing crops to create the best yield. As someone with a background in entomology, I found the pesticide free push-pull technique as means to prevent loss of crop to the maize stalk borer moth very interesting.

“Shamba Shape-Up” provides a much needed dialogue between agricultural researches and East African farmers.  The rural audience for television is rapidly growing and “Shamba Shape Up” is a show that not only satisfies the need for entertainment but also addresses issues that cna increase farm productivity and income .

Photo Via Shamba Shape-Up Website

by Maddie Perlman-Gabel

When people go to their local hospital for an MRI or something of that nature, I know I, like the average human being, cringes when the nurse comes out with the needle kit for their blood test. However, there is a new study out of the Israel Institute of Technology to eliminate the physical pain which usually comes with getting that little procedure.

This new health-related innovation will be loved by many people because it involves no needles and barely any blood. Israeli biomedical engineers have discovered a way to measure blood not through a blood test, but through a high-resolution image of the blood. The researchers said that this is done through a high-definition microscope which shines a light through the epidermis of the skin. This ground-breaking piece of medical technology is about the size of a small picnic basket and does not involve any dangerous dyes or skin punctures.

Image Credit: NoCamels.com

This new blood testing equipment is also very efficient. According to researcher Lior Golan, this new method can gather blood test results quicker than the average needle test by hours. This extra time allows doctors to see potential medical problems—such as counting white blood cells and measuring the diameter of blood cells—before the crises get out of control. Golan said that the new portable technology is able to capture the image of the blood coursing through a blood vessel.

Golan also said that the new imagery is produced through a new type of microscope technology. The new imagery is made through spectrally encoded confocal microscopy (SECM), which creates images by dividing a beam of light into its primary colors. She also said that during the process, a medical probe is pressed against the skin of an individual and the rainbow-like line of light is directed across a blood vessel near the surface of the skin. Golan said that when the blood cells come across the light, the SECM collect and analyze the data within the blood.

“An important feature of the technique is its reliance on reflected light from the flowing cells to form their images, thus avoiding the use of fluorescent dyes that could be toxic,” Golan says. “Since the blood cells are in constant motion, their appearance is distinctively different from the static tissue surrounding them.”

So the next time you go to your local emergency room and the nurse brings out the needle, don’t get upset. Just think to yourself, “Pretty soon, this will be replaced by a camera!” When that happens, going to the hospital will be SO much easier!

by Scott Sincoff

Like many Americans, the last food I cooked over a fire I was outside and cooking marshmallows for smores. Unfortunately 2.5 billion people worldwide depend on indoor fires fueled with wood, coal, or charcoal to cook their meals. Biomass fuel consumption by the rural poor accounts for approximately ¼ of global CO2 emissions. These fires are not only bad for the environment (deforestation, co2 and methane emissions) and  but they also pose serious health risks.

In many parts of the world the burden of taking care of the fire is the women’s responsibility. The time spent collecting wood (sometimes greater than 30 hours a week), and maintaining the fire can be extremely time consuming and dangerous. In one part of Kenya, women often walk 10 or more miles to gather wood in areas that put them at risk for attack or capture. When the women return they are then put at risk for respiratory illness and burns.

According to estimates by the World Health Organization more than 1.6 million people die a year from respiratory disease relating to indoor cooking smoke, most of them women and children. Indoor air pollution is also a risk factor for chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and possibly lung cancer. The reliance on biofuels like charcoal and wood for open fires is extremely inefficient and expensive (families can spend over 35% of their annual income), yet those who are poor do not have the resources to obtain cleaner or more efficient resources. Fortunately, in September 2010, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves was formed.

The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is a public-private initiative to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and combats climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions. The alliance includes a range of partners including country governments (including the United States), distributors, environmental and sustainability focused organizations, and innovators. The alliances current goal is to have 100 million homes adopt clean and efficient stoves/fuels by 2020.

BURN Design Lab is one of many innovative partners designing and producing efficient and affordable stoves. BURN Design Lab currently has projects in Kenya, Haiti, and the Democratic Congo. Though the organization is based out of Washington, the majority of the stoves are built in factories within the country of distribution. Each project’s stove is different and designed to best fit the cuisine and resources in available in the region. For example their stove designed for use in South America has a metal plate for cooking quesadillas and meat.

Though BURN Design Lab did not eliminate use of biomass fuels, it greatly reduces the amount needed to create the heat needed to cook. Most of the products reduce fuel consumption by 30 to 50%, which is a start. Added incentive is that after the cost of the stove, which is around $25 dollars, the owner can still save $150 a year on fuel costs.

Hopefully in the future stove usage among the poor will be widespread and the risks of indoor fires will be a thing of the past. Until then, engineers need to continue designing cheap and efficient stoves.

Indoor Cooking Fire via Shutterstock

by Maddie Perlman-Gabel

With the summer months approaching us faster than we think, most people want to head to the beach or at least somewhere they can cool down. Many people are much busier during the summer months: people are driving more and going on day trips, the kids are off from school, and Snooki (or many people trying to imitate her) is out and about on the Jersey Shore.

Everything that is going on means that people are eating fatty foods like zeppoles, cheesesteaks, and frozen custard and drinking cola, and other kinds of “beverages.” Instead of exercising, some people are sitting down in front of their couches or just tanning on the beach. It is this time of year where many people want to enjoy themselves, however, people should also be prepared for unexpected sickness that comes out of not doing your usual routine. Here are some tips to make your summer friendly towards your body:

Image Credit: wellsphere.com

• Keep Hydrated! According to the Mayo Clinic, men should drink roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day. The adequate intake for women is 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day. During the summer, it is extremely important to keep hydrated because heat and humidity are known to dry your body out without your consent!
• Bring your own food! During the summer months, many people are prone to eat what is available to them at theme parks or boardwalks, and that usually means fried, hand-held food. However in most “fun” locations, such as New York Yankees baseball games, you are allowed to bring your own food if it is in a clear plastic bag. That means you can raid your own refrigerators and bring whole-grains, fruits and veggies to wherever you and your family are for a fraction of the cost.
• Go Play! Summer is the perfect time of year to go out and play! Instead of catching the winners of your favorite reality show, cardiovascular activity is the way to go when the weather is nice. On 75-degree and sunny days, you can always find someone in the park to play some pick-up basketball or throw a Frisbee with. Be active this summer!

by Scott Sincoff