i-eclectica.org

A study released by Newcastle University (Great Britain) might deliver incontrovertible proof of the benefits of organics.

The largest ever study into organics has found that organic food is more nutritious. The Newcastle University study found that organic vegetable crops contained up to 40% more beneficial compounds and organic milk contained over 90% more nutrients than conventionally produced milk.

The research was conducted at a 725-acre farm in Newcastle upon Tyne in a four year, A$30M experiment funded by the European Union. Researchers from Newcastle University created two identical farms; one managed using conventional farming practices and the other managed organically. 33 academic centres across Europe participated in this four year project. The resounding conclusion was that the organic produce contained higher levels of compounds thought to boost health and combat disease.

Professor Carlo Leifert, the co-ordinator of the European-funded project said in a Sunday Times article that the differences were so marked that organic produce would help to increase the nutrient intake of people not eating the recommended five portions a day of fruit and vegetables. He was quoted as saying, “If you have just 20% more antioxidants and you can’t get your kids to do five a day, then you might just be okay with four a day.”

While the study did find that some conventional crops contained larger quantities of some vitamins, the research has confirmed that the overall trend is that organic fruit, vegetables and milk are more likely to have beneficial compounds.

Andre Leu, the Chair of the Organic Federation of Australia says, “It’s official that organic food is healthier and this report lends credibility to what we have been saying all along. This study adds to the 83 peer reviewed public reports that say that on average, organic food has a higher nutrient content. The exciting thing about this is that it involved 33 academic institutions across Europe led by Newcastle University, and as a result, it has enormous scientific credibility. The significant increase in cancer fighting compounds shows that investing in organics is excellent value for consumers.”

[To read the Times article, please visit timesonline. For more information on organic food see also The Organics Directory and OTACNet Organic Traders’ & Consumers’ Network.]

WorldCoolers/Gristmill have produced a long list of articles on “How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic,” a series by Coby Beck containing responses to the most common skeptical arguments on global warming. There are four separate taxonomies; arguments are divided by:

• Stages of Denial,
• Scientific Topics,
• Types of Argument, and
• Levels of Sophistication.

Individual articles will appear under multiple headings and may even appear in multiple subcategories in the same heading. An excellent resource dealing with many aspects of climate change.

—————-
Now playing: Fujiya & Miyagi - Transparent Things
via FoxyTunes

German magazine Der Spiegel reports on an interesting European initiative: to rid cities of traffic signs. While some anally fixated law abiders might cry out in horror in the face of envisioned anarchy, traffic psychologists have proposed for years now that traffic regulations are counter-intuitive to expressing a natural instinct to care for others. The arguments goes that rules strip us of responsibility and the ability to be considerate; we have lost our sense of social responsibility.

Germany has 648 valid traffic symbols. Like here in Australia, cities have become a jungle of coloured metal; apparently some 20 million traffic signs have already been set up all over the country. And, of course, the forest of signs is growing more dense. Such exaggerated regulation seems senseless. It is not surprising that 70 percent of traffic signs are ignored by drivers. What’s more, the glut of prohibitions is tantamount to treating the driver like a child, which foments resentment. He or she may stop in front of the crosswalk, but that only makes him/her feel justified in preventing pedestrians from crossing the street on every other occasion. Every traffic light baits them with the promise of making it over the crossing while the light is still yellow. People develop a kind of tunnel vision: they’re constantly in search of their own advantage, and their good manners go out the window.

The alternative is a world in which drivers are trusted to be responsible. And in such a world, where situations are unclear, they will feel forced to drive more carefully and cautiously. “Unsafe is safe” is the motto of a new breed of traffic planners. Materially, all of this translates into a world of cobble stone paved roads, like in medieval times - with no stop or directive signs, no parking meters (those municipalities must have found other revenue raising strategies!) and not even lines painted onto streets. Makkinga, in the Dutch province of Western Frisia has only one sign -at the entrance to the small town (population 1,000) - it reads “Verkeersbordvrij” - “free of traffic signs. In terms of traffic, drivers and pedestrians blend into a colorful and peaceful traffic stream.

Makkinga is not the only town attempting to try something new. The dream of streets free of rules and directives is currently trialled by seven cities and regions, in a project implemented by the European Union. The aim is to encourage drivers and pedestrians to interact in a free and humane way - by means of friendly gestures, nods of the head and eye contact, without the harassment of prohibitions, restrictions and warning signs. Ejby, in Denmark, is participating in the experiment, as are Ipswich in England and the Belgian town of Ostende. In the German town of Bohmte in Lower Saxony ( population 13,500), the main road will be re-furbished in early 2007, using EU funds. “The sidewalks are going to go, and the asphalt too. Everything will be covered in cobblestones,” Klaus Goedejohann, the mayor, explains. “We’re getting rid of the division between cars and pedestrians.”

The plans derive inspiration and motivation from a large-scale experiment in the town of Drachten in the Netherlands, which has 45,000 inhabitants. There, cars have already been driving over red natural stone for years. Cyclists dutifully raise their arm when they want to make a turn, and drivers communicate by hand signs, nods and waving. “More than half of our signs have already been scrapped,” says traffic planner Koop Kerkstra. “Only two out of our original 18 traffic light crossings are left, and we’ve converted them to roundabouts.” Now traffic is regulated by only two rules in Drachten: “Yield to the right” and “Get in someone’s way and you’ll be towed.”

Strange as it may seem, the number of accidents has declined dramatically. Experts from Argentina and the United States have visited Drachten. Even London has expressed an interest in this new example of automobile anarchy. And the model is being tested in the British capital’s Kensington neighborhood. I wish Australia’s traffic planners would show interest too.

—————-
Now playing: Public Enemy - Where There’s Smoke; The Herbaliser - Hero No. 7 - Keeping It Real?; Grossstadtgeflüster - Meine Freundin die Maschine; Tiga - Burning Down The House; Dead Prez & Outlawz - Can’t Sell Dope Forever; The Spill Canvas - Dutch Courage; LCD Soundsystem - North American Scum - via FoxyTunes

TechRepublic has a photo gallery on tree houses, which is quite informative and also features some quite unreal looking looking designs that actually are inhabited - as primary residences, vacation getaways and meditation retreats.

Tree houses seem to come in two forms: those perched on or attached to a tree (the environmentally friendly ones), and those being a living tree (the ones that ARE the environment). The latter are particularly intriguing, given that they create a house that lives and breathes and constantly changes. The challenge here would not just be that you might have to forever prune your house but also that you have to have pretty flexible and adaptable building materials - I don’t think standard window glass would cope particularly well with a tree-branch-frame that is constantly in growth mode. Another issue would be the growth rate of the tree, which could easily either rearrange your dwelling too fast or make you wait forever to move in (see top) .

But, as the second image from the top shows, such building also have nice advantages, such a structure being both nourished and nourishing its natural surroundings. Elements in this case include walls woven from vines, soy-based plastic windows, rammed earth and tile flooring, and radiant solar hot water heating. In theory, a household living in such a structure could use its wastewater and compost to feed the roots of trees, helping the walls and roof to grow. Health benefits include fresh air from the oxygen given off by the trees, which absorb carbon generated by the household.

[Check out also the Japanese tree house]

Dell is another company that made a green announcement last week - by committing itself to neutralise its carbon emissions and become carbon neutral by the end of 2008, chairman and CEO Michael Dell announced last Wednesday. In June, the company set the goal of becoming “the greenest technology on the planet.”

Dell (where is Apple?) is the first major computer manufacturer to announce its intention to balance its carbon emissions with activities that reduce carbon in the atmosphere. During a speech in Washington D.C., Dell acknowledged that companies have a responsibility to care for the environment. “There’s been a time in history of business where it’s more important for organisations of all sizes to partner together to positively impact the Earth that well all share,” Dell said. “It’s not enough for Dell to be an environmental leader. We also need to partner with our customers … to dramatically improve our own customers’ environmental impacts.”

To reduce its net carbon emissions, Dell will focus on implementing a number of strategies. Creating more energy-efficient products is one of them, purchasing more energy-efficient electrical power is another, and so is pushing its major suppliers to report and reduce their carbon emissions. If a supplier’s carbon emissions are excessive, the company may penalise the supplier, although Dell didn’t offer details about the penalties.

Dell has also expanded its Plant a Tree for Me program, which allows individual customers to pay a small amount to plant a tree as a way to offset the energy consumption of the laptops or PCs they purchase from the company. Dell has announced a Plant a Forest for Me program, partnering with companies including Salesforce.com, Ask.com, and Advanced Micro Devices in a reforesting program intended to offset carbon emissions.

Tree planting of course is not the only way to reduce carbon emissions. Companies can purchase energy-efficient IT equipment, consolidate servers through virtualisation, and use software to turn off computers and monitors after employees go home, Dell said. And he acknowledged that customers are exerting pressure on vendors to move away from the old price/performance ratio to a new “performance per watt” one. “Thinking about IT in terms of performance per watt forces businesses like ours to rethink the way products are designed and the way they’re used,” Dell said.

Business though is always hesitant to give something for nothing, and one of the usual candidates footing the bill is of course government. It can play a role in encouraging companies to protect the environment, Dell added, for example by giving research credits to companies to improve energy efficiency and providing other [financial, no doubt] incentives for companies to encourage green policies such as telecommuting. If government does chip in, the planet could win of course; a recent Consumer Electronics Association report calculated that the 3.9 million telecommuters in the United States saved 840 million gallons of petrol in a year. Nevertheless, it is interesting how business loves leverage. In the past they wanted incentives that led to polluting the planet, now they want incentives to clean up their mess.

Dell will continue to work with other tech vendors on environmental issues, Michael Dell said. “While we vigorously compete in many areas in our business, when it comes to the environment, there actually are not competitors, only partners,” he said. Although Dan Burton, senior vice president for global public policy at Salesforce.com, hasn’t got the message yet. In praising Dell’s speech, he said: “Dell is really redefining what is corporate philanthropy”. So, again, it’s not about corporate responsibility after having contributed for decades to the environmental pressures - instead it’s about corporate generosity. Burton seems to have some way to go in learning his lesson on corporate spin.

[source on the ‘Dell announcement’ facts: InfoWorld]