Tuesday 28 July 2009

Satellite Imagery use in eco-Farming to increase crop yields with minimum use of resources

On a micro level an individual farmer can learn which areas of his crops need water or a boost from nitrogen to help them grow properly or which are diseased. He may then increase yields by only using what effort, fuel, water, fertiliser and chemicals are needed!

Macro level satellite imagery is being used worldwide to identify crops, then to monitor growth, condition, spread of disease and to forecast harvest levels. Such ongoing detailed information must be made public through the Internet to help ensure farmers and the ecology benefit - not those who wish to restrict access to such information, seeking to profit from markets or by controlling supply and prices.

The technology is being used to monitor eco-criminal destruction of rain forests and damage to critical ecological environments - the results show no effective controls or policing are yet in place to stop it.

It can be used to identify the true extent of eco-criminal animal farming and its damage to the Earth's ecology.

I disagree with those that might argue for the privacy of any information obtained from agri-satellite imagery to identify and monitor drug crops, used to develop and plan strategic action to stop its harvest and future planting. . The need for privacy and secrecy is questionable, as there is often a real need for the public and media to police the police and government! Satellite imaging could also identify and map heat signatures from buildings, to police the industrial farming of drug crops.

Monday 27 July 2009

Vestas invested in Wind Turbine UK Market the British Government falsely promoted by not enabling it!

'Cool' is something elusive, idividual - to be observed, not copied.

There are the cool & green like Zero Carbonista and the un-green un-cool eco-knowledgeable, highly-paid, self-serving British Government.

The World Statesman Wannabee's lot, have this time been found to be falsely promoting a popular wind power alternative-energy initiative by ignoring the need for urgent enabling actions - including the fast-tracking of planning permissions for Wind Turbine Parks.

Weak government seems therefore to be in league with the selfish 'Nimby' voters. A problem these overpopulated islands do not share with the likes of Denmark and France.

So self-centred Politicians and the Nimby are seen to care little for the future of their progeny or the eco need - are they planning to sell-up and move away from Earth?

No10 & No11 are thought to have offered money to Vestas to keep open one of the largest green businesses in UK that manufactures wind turbine blades and so save some 600 jobs. Vestas we believe told them, that they did not want money as they had invested in a market that the British Government was falsely promoting by taking no action to enable it!

Friday 24 July 2009

Surprise, today's 'Hope For The PLANET' eco-award goes to the US Military!

War driven strategic requirements to deliver alternative-energy eco-technology with commercial applications is a hope for an eco-future.

U.S. Military development of alternative-Energy Technology may save countless lives and help US Ground Troops become superbly effective in Afghanistan. . . . .

DARPA’s growing investment in alternative-energy is aimed at freeing the majority of trained troops and equipment employed in delivering fuel supplies and to make the U.S. Front Line Brigades more mobile and effective.

It will also deliver the Department of Defence the secondary benefit of a huge reduction in the cost of fuel delivered to the War Front - from some hundreds if not tens of thousands of dollars per gallon!

A lasting achievement of the conflict in Afghanistan may now be advances in alternative-energy technologies created through military projects with near impossible success criteria!

Already battle ready versions of compact, sturdy fuel cells will soon power a soldier’s mobile devices for longer and be a tenth of the weight of the 25 lb batteries used now.

The press advise that the military contractors manufacturing the fuel cells are working on commercial versions for the police and recreational vehicles.

In the drive to create a viable alternative-energy future the U.S. military’s strategic 'Blue Sky' procurement needs make them a very serious eco-player and my today's HOPE for the PLANET...

May their alternative-energy technology budget of $ 100,000,000 have another digit added, making it one billion dollars......

Low global oil production leading to higher oil price levels at demand levels below 2008

The oil rig count is expected to increase as drill bit ordering rises, as the oil industry forecast an increase in oil prices with some high spikes!

Will this further fuel green business and the development of alternative-energy technology?

Thursday 23 July 2009

sweet tweet accolade from a fellow eco-cyclist after only 10 days a blogspot posting tweeter......


..... Thank You

ClimateRider

" Great blog site @stroudyonon - http://stroudyonon.blogspot.com "

I find writing a blog and generating a tweet cathartic. The views and solutions are my own and I do like to express them - I hope no one thinks they are extruded!

When a twit spams or bores me, so that I miss a Tweet or two from stephenfry, AnneliesePlace, TheGoGreenBlog, etc. I UNFOLLOW them!

Twitter is my best tool to pursue specific interests, garner information and research a particular subject. I also enjoy the continuous stream of Tweets from the humorous, the informed and the interesting to alert, update, inform, motivate and cheer me.

So I choose to FOLLOW new Twitters and UNFOLLOW others daily.

Twitter is not about
gratifying your ego through how many FOLLOWERS you have, although its nice when individuals choose to follow with real interest and friendship.

So lets enjoy RocknRoll honest comment and savour like minded humorous Tweets, whilst making this immensely powerful communication tool work for each of us in different ways.


My Blog Postings generate the majority of tweets via tweeterfeed and I intend to archive on my public Profile page and upload copy.

I either blog openly on a given subject and problem, or consult privately.

In Rural Africa bicycles empower education, health & income opportunities, especially for women! Near Affordable sustainable transport for


....people, crops, goods, students and health workers!

Making bikes available and affordable to rural communities is the work of small organisations such as Village Bicycle Project in Ghana and BEN Namibia run by Michael Linke. What is achieved through there efforts is amazing.....!

Is there a need for an African Bicycle, but not just a purpose designed, simple, robust bike with integral cargo frame, the gearing range and large strong wheels to ride over rough country tracks - cargo carrying bikes that can be easily repaired locally. No, we need this project to somehow drive the real need to make quality bikes available in a big African way!

So why not a high profile iconic bicycle and a project that involves the best: those that are doing it now; World famous designers and one of the biggest quality mountain bike manufacturers!

A designed for purpose bike specified in Rural Africa to meet an agreed Success Criteria That includes it being available in rural Africa at agreed Target Prices.

A Bike Supply Project to empower sub-Saharan Africa - its that big.

The bike, would not be something like the wonderful Bullitt fast cargo bikes you see in Copenhagen designed by Larry vs Harry, or the amazing long wheelbase Surly Big Dummy from North America.

No, what I am talking about is simply a bike specified for Africa and African Villagers by the Village Bicycle Project & BEN, yet designed for purpose by people or a designer like Andrew Ritchie of Brompton folding bike fame &/or the design team at Trek &/or one of the great French VTT designers - who have a track record of innovation, of meeting real market needs and delivering against a given success criteria.

Such a project, the bike and the aims would achieve a very high profile. The manufacture would fund design and production and it would trigger an increasing stream of direct aid funding and expanding all the projects throughout rural Africa.

The bike itself could be made in part in Vietnam or Cambodia by the company that makes all the bikes for GIANT and Specialised, with final assembly in Africa at Village Bicycle Projects in Africa in Ghana, the Bicycling Empowerment Network in Namibia etc

The brilliance of the iconic sturdy design and the cost of the bike would assure a ready market. It will look very much like any other bike accept the carrying frame will be a highly integrated part of the bike frame and it would use proven reliable tough component's.

Do you feel as strongly as me about getting this going?

Well this is what Michael Linke of Bicycling Empowerment Network says:-

"Numerous studies have demonstrated that bicycles are an appropriate technology for travelling short distances in developing countries, with the lowest operating costs of all available modes in sub-Saharan Africa.

A standard bicycle carries up to four times the weight, goes twice as far and travels twice as fast as a person walking.

Bicycles will:

  • Improve access to income generation opportunities.
  • Provide sustainable transportation for low-income earners.
  • Increase access to government services, including health care and education.
  • Mobilise home-based care volunteers to visit more people living with HIV.
  • Provide sporting opportunities for young athletes.
  • etc"
I wish to state again that the availability of bicycles also empowers Women!

Wednesday 22 July 2009

Stressed ecoWarrior? Depressive Tree ecoWorrier? AnxietyAttacked Bee&Frog Activist? ProcessedFoodSuicide no answer! ! ! !

The fate of every living thing and our progeny is under threat, if you're stressed by the lack of real action this article can only help by helping you fight on.. (I have started working on a series of blog posts regarding the need to ban processed foods - if you can wait these articles will give you pointers on how not to commit suicide by processed food!)

As we evolved, so did a short lived stress response that might have had us ready to run away, hide or fight. Today, this biological reaction switches in because of intense, ongoing stress and can be impossible to turn off!

Our responsibilities, needs and love anchor us in a mixed array of possibilities and situations, making it impossible to avoid others whose own issues and behaviour impact on us.

Our quality and enjoyment of life is impaired and we will likely carry on accepting stressful circumstances or some form of harassment, until we suffer mental and physical ill health. So beware this can kill you or at the very least shorten your lifespan - act decisively now!

If you have experiencing some of life's traumas, then your now highly susceptable to stress. When biological change in the brain kicks-in you cannot deal with any situation without a confusion of feelings.

So day after day, we will continue to be pulled in different and varied directions, with our reactions to situations and individuals creating yet more stress.

Then we start to experience real anxiety together with that mixed bag of feelings such as inferiority, uselessness, guilt, worthlessness etc We are sliding into a deep depression. Although at times we can maddened or driven to get our own back, such that we seethe with the desire for revenge, becoming unreasonable and socially dangerous.

So, stress and the brain's functioning lack of harmony has resulted in mental illness. Now also lacking self confidence we become highly sensitive to social issues and threats - a whirlpool of vicious circles drawing you down deeper and deeper. Ongoing biological change may now leave us knocked out, ceasing to function and living in helpless dread with thoughts of suicide! To be hospitalised or put on drugs for life.

Yet, if we act early enough, self treatment techniques hold a promise of our acting normally again.

To get better we also need to distance ourselves from the causes of stress, albeit a partner, work or life's challenges. Change, that may involve taking time away, divorce, a change of direction....

Self treatment can empower an individual to challenge depression without the use of drugs. This is reliant on your growing recognition of depressive thoughts and processes.

This toolbox of strategies is called 'Cognitive Behavioural Techniques', to retrain thought processes and help the brain come back into balance.

So take early action when suffering stress, seek a medical opinion, involve a Psychotherapist and get Friend's support.

Next, begin to make real Changes to your Life Style, consider Personal Transitions, chat to Friends daily, eat a healthy nutrient rich Real Food Diet and take Exercise - all these actions will help speed your recovery....


(Stroudy's Synopsis of the Self Help Guide to Cognitive Behavioural Techniques for Depression ISBN I-84119-125-6)

Low global oil production will lead to increased oil price levels even at demand levels below 2008.

The oil rig count is expected to increase as drill bits ordering rises, as the oil industry forecast an increase in oil prices with some high spikes!

Will this further fuel green business and the development of alternatve energy technology?

Is Zero Carbonista's faster than a Ferrari electric car testing revolutionary technologies to save our World?

Is Zero Carbonista's faster than a Ferrari electric car testing revolutionary technologies to save our World?

Perhaps it does not need a heavy battery because of a revolutionary generator that develops up to 5 times the electricity you input! Impossible! Probably?!

If it was true Stroud's green outlaw hero and eco-entrepreneur Vince Dale would already be actively establishing an even larger European network of home micro generators and microgrids whilst investing hugely in new Ecotricity's Wind Parks - Well, Vince is!?

Dreaming on, because if it worked and the first stage electric supply was from a wind turbine or solar energy, the only choice then would be to invest in eco micro-generation and gain income as an exporter of power to the grid!

So eco-warriors and eco-worriers, this is a dream that would allow us activists to concentrate all our efforts on the major criminal impact to the Earth's ecology, the farming and consumption of meat! Whilst leaving everything else to Zero Carbonista!

A proven Magniwork technology would also revolutionise the design of space vehicles and might help thaw the control over politicians that eco-criminal big business has... Wake up, stop dreaming and act!

Tuesday 21 July 2009

QUESTIONStoTWITBROOM

OKtoADDtoPROFILE TwitSPAMfedTWITBROOM ? SuggestionsHow? CanYouBrush and Sleep? IsTwitDeceitSpamCleaning a Calling? sheetWHAThaveIstartedTHIStime?

Twitter only gives you 140 character spaces and I thought it a shame not to use them to communicate fully?

If it gets popular, where will it go?

Sunday 19 July 2009

Wind driven

Zero Carbonista has done it, is doing it, is sponsoring it, is enjoying the ride and has both politicians and big business taking more care with those false green claims.

Now Stroud's own green hero and eco-entrepreneur tweets as zerocarbonista, blogs and talks on a hydrogen fuel monopoly, meat farming and consumers destroying our planet etc. etc. etc..

Vince Dale also started to plant an eco-forest where as a new age traveller he used to live in an old military vehicle. His being just a little less diplomatic and usually more casually dressed than our other local green hero Prince Charles is thought of as a very good thing by us Stroudies!

Saturday 18 July 2009

A bike for rural Africa


No, this is a long wheelbase Surly Big Dummy with its choice of slip-in bolt-on raised rear carrier systems has a 180 kg maximum loaded weight and a few have taken it off-road trekking?!

Xtracycle Inc also do bolt-on long wheelbase extensions for any full size bike that take the same seperate carrier systems. As I have previously said, you can find niche markets for some interesting bicycles in North America.

Now I have a re-geared GT Mountain Bike with standard front and rear panniers, that I toured France with this June with an all up load of 160 Kg - it gets you fit!

In Africa, you simply load up and then passengers climb on. So this long wheelbase Surly Big Dummy large rear carrier would invite a sagging bang-crash-wallop of a load!

The bike frame and drive are the key factors in producing an African Cargo Bike.

Through good design, a single sized, smaller, sturdier and much lighter frame incorporating the carrier, might easily carry a 50 odd kg sack on each side with at least one passenger on top, in addition to the weight of the bike and cyclist.

But don't you just want to race a Surly Big Dummy or a Kopenhagen Bullitt across America?

World Naked Bike Movement

Another fashionable, green and peaceful major bike advocacy movement is WNBR, so ride naked with others somewhere around the globe.

The Cycle Chic or Velo Chic bicycle culture...

is a growing Fashionista Bike Advocacy movement, that can mean almost anything to those that participate through choice and others who just do it naturally. Most often riding dress friendly classic and retro town bikes.

A free original international fashion show on two wheels that is best observed in bike friendly cities or if you wish on the web by visiting 'Cycle Chic from Copenhagen for The Original Streetstyle and Bike Advocacy in High Heels' and link worldwide.

The other fashionable, green and peaceful major bike advocacy movement is WNBR, which stands for the World Naked Bike Movement. To ride naked with others visit http://wiki.worldnakedbikeride.org/index.php?title=Links

I really should own up, well come out with it, well what I mean is.....‏

This is hard, how do you say it and why do it now, its not if anyone should care is it? Best to start with something different, perhaps leave it till tomorrow or another day.. Today I could just mention good stuff, like I gave up driving nearly three years ago and cycle everywhere; that I have really tried to leave the rocknroll erotic stuff alone for a little while saving it for the one I love and that I am succeeding.. So who cares if I am a Hash House Harrier, run in circles, drink beer in circles and sing rugby songs.. I might ride with the QUAFF and thecranks bashes, be setting the MTB / VTT singletrack trails for NashBash 2010 near Sherwood Forest.. this is the good stuff, Oh did I mention I am in love, yes I did and it was something I really should have told you at the start..

MTB / VTT Trail Riding Frustration

Our mountain bikes take a lot of hammering with the drive train being subject to catastrophic damage in the middle of nowhere. I and my friends have more chain drive problems and expense than anything else.

We know and accept the sport of mountain biking is expensive as are great mountain bikes.

Other than good maintenance, there exist exciting solutions that stop the frustration of drive train damage, add to our riding ability and the enjoyment of every trail!

I plan a series of blog postings on these solutions and the huge benefits a trail rider obtains, but now I am off on a testing test ride!

Friday 17 July 2009

God have mercy..

..save the Vulcan, a campaign to save the oldest pub in Cardiff has had their prayers answered with a three year extension.

Back on the first of April I mooted and reported a sound commercial and imaginative (of course) architectural engineering solution via the Brewery to the Developer.

The suggestion is and was to incorporate the Vulcan frontage into the new 20 storey building, but at least one floor up!

This would create huge visual impact! Whilst allowing the Vulcan public and service areas, plus current fittings, to be built into the building and remain the pub we love!

Everybody gains, nobody loses and Cardiff has an extraordinary architectural art piece - sorry no artists impression?

I did also contact Rachel Thomas of the campaign via facebook, who confirmed that: The Vulcan must stay where it is and that there is no reason at all why the developers can't incorporate it into their plans!

Mercy indeed, with a floating Vulcan high over the streets of Cardiff still possible - because Stroudy likes the Vulcan in Cardiff

Growing a following..

It will take me time, effort, care or fame to have the reward of a real Following of interested or amused Twitters.

Care particularly, as when launching yourself into the world of Twitter, early Follower relationships can start out by being not one of actual interest but possibly commercial interest; Or sadly a mutual ego trip contracted between two Twitters i.e. 'You follow me and I follow you.

The WORST Twitter relationships will be manufactured by web sites like AddFollowers who by deceit obtain control of your Twitter Account to promote themselves by Twittering on in your name and adding more sites to those you are already Following.... a service they seem to get paid for by over eager entrepreneurs or egotistic Twitters!

The BEST Twitter relationships will always be those based on a mutual interest or friendship.

Thursday 16 July 2009

What Nordic diet ?

Recently, the traditional Nordic Diet was found to be as good or better than the Mediterranean Diet. As climate change may mean Southern Europe sees desert and sea encroaching, with viable homelands disappearing. Studies of traditional foods grown in extreme temperatures and weather may have life saving relevance to those of us remaining in Britain reliant on wind/solar power and local produce . Whilst warring millions fight to find a home, food and potable water in what is left of Europe.

So lets ponder the diversity and difference in just two of the Worlds healthiest diets, whilst considering that it will be Global Warming that will decide if Northern Europe will eat a Nordic, Mediterranean or Saharan diet - as Europe gets hotter, homelands become lost and the World sinks towards unimaginable anarchy and banditry on a massive scale.


A recent Telegraph article discussed research by Elling Bere from the University of Agder, Norway, who found that native berries from northern Europe such as blueberries, cowberries and cloudberries contain as much unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids as cold water fish. These berries are very rich in antioxidants, which reduce the levels of harmful molecules that build up and damage cells, leading to diseases such as heart disease, stroke and cancer.

Scientists at the University of Copenhagen, in Denmark, have now set up a 13.3 million Euro project aimed at identifying, testing and undertaking trails with more regional to help create a "New Nordic Diet".

Rapeseed oil is a good alternative to olive oil and contains more omega-3 fatty acids as well as being a good source of vitamin E. Whilst being safer for your health when used in frying. I myself highly recommend Hillfarm extra virgin cold pressed rapeseed oil from Sussex and Sainsburys!

Cabbage and other brassica species such a kale and Brussels sprouts which thrive in cold-weather conditions, were found by scientists at the University of Oslo to contain some of the highest levels of antioxidants of any vegetable and to be a good source of vitamin K, important in blood coagulation.

Traditional Nordic diets are high in fish with particular preference for salmon, trout, cod and herring - cold water fish that will begin to disappear as fisheries become warmer.

Prof Astrup also believes that game meat from animals such as elk and reindeer, and birds such as grouse, should also form a greater part of people's diets as these meats tends to be leaner than farm-reared livestock (rabbit too). So meat eaters may get one meal of meat a month when we outlaw the farming and slaughter of billions of animals a year - that now criminally contributes the majority of damaging gases to the Earth's atmosphere.

Trina Hahnemann, a Danish chef who recently published The Scandinavian Cookbook, adds that in Scandinavia and Britain, traditional diets had been abandoned in favour of processed foods and southern European cuisine.

She believes that people have lost their food culture and forgotten about how foods suited to northern climates can be healthy. She points out that in Britain we have a lot of nutritious kale and that almost no one realises that you can eat it raw like lettuce.

Today we continue to allow the sale of nutritionally impoverished processed foods that are made to taste acceptable with additives, flavours, simple sugars and salt. Paying for it in lives and a grossly expensive health service? Should we call these industrial products poisons and outlaw them to?