IAASP: Information & Articles About Saving our Planet

Somehow everything seems better when you don’t have to pay for it. Thanks to a proliferation of “Freecycle Groups,” not only do you get to get something for nothing, but you also have the added bonus of knowing how you’ve aided the earth in the fight against global warming.

Freecycling is the practice of reusing unwanted stuff. By finding a freecycle group in your town, you can not only keep an estimated 300 tons of waste out of landfills every day, according to a University of Iowa study, but also get rid of junk you no longer want crowding your space and pass it on to someone who does want it.

Freecycle groups are conducted online and are so popular that you can even discover them at Yahoo! http://green.yahoo.com/earth-day/find-a-group.html. Once you are a member, you can make contact with other freecyclers and let the carbon reducing begin. According to Yahoo!, there are over 5,000 reuse groups in the world, so one of them is bound to be near your community. Each group has its own etiquette to help the reusing go smoothly and as environmentally friendly as possible.

Some basic freecycling guidelines may include: making sure everything really is free and posted clearly, whether you are giving or interested in receiving; and being sure to arrange an exact time for pick-up to make sure that a bunch of carbon emitting vehicles aren’t making a mad dash to be “first come, first served,” defeating the premise of the program.

Freecycling is a great way to save money and energy as well as meet like-minded people in your community.

The WeEarth Network is a global social and environmental network enabling us to explore our connectedness with each other and with our changing world. Find more information about socially and environmentally responsible living at WeEarth.com.

One of the practices in China and in other parts of Asia that must be stopped is bear farming. Bear farming started out for a good reason. It’s original purpose was to reduce the number of bears poached from the wild. However, wild-life researchers are now concerned over its danger to bears overall.

What happened? The bear farming industry has been around for some time. It was used by traditional Chinese medicine practitioners to gather the bile of bears to produce medicinal goods. During the early 1980s, the practice was even intensified when it was commercialized. Now, there is an estimated 7,000 bears held captive in China and some more in other neighboring Asian countries.

The Plight of Bears – Farmed bears are practically in living hell. First, let’s talk about the bears’ living space – or the lack of it. The bears are confined in crush cages, which are hardly bigger than the animal. Oftentimes, they are rusted shut. There is no form of sanitation and the bears do not have continuous access to water. The bears suffer from injuries, worm, peritonitis and other parasites. There is not much space for movement. As a result, their muscles weaken and waste away. They almost cannot stand or move. Their diet is no better. It consists of grain mash or porridge because it’s the only thing the bears can handle. This is because the bear’s canine teeth and claws are taken off to prevent injuries to the farmers. And I haven’t even gotten to the worst part yet.

Extraction of Bile – The prime purpose for farming of bears is bile extraction. It causes extreme pain and agony to poor bears. I, myself could not even describe the process without grimacing. It is a sick and crude method.

The Biling Process – Most of the time, untrained and unskilled technicians are the ones conducting the procedure. Again, there is no sanitation to the process. During the process, the bears gnash their teeth, bite the bars, twitch and utter distress calls. And afterwards, they are seen curling up, shivering, and holding their paws to their stomach. And this goes on for the rest of their lives. Bile is taken repeatedly over the bear’s whole life. As a result, they suffer from liver cancer due to chronic infection and inflammation of the liver and gall bladder.

All these, the insufficient and inhuman habitat, the repeated torture, add up to cause real suffering and agony for the bears. Their health depreciates very quickly and their life span is only 4 years.

Why It’s Unnecessary Today – And all this, the torture of bile extraction, is for nothing. The use of bile is obsolete. There is no need for the bears to undergo such confinement and suffering for something that is not even needed. There are at least 75 alternatives to using bear bile. Synthetic bile is available, which contains the active ingredient found in bear bile. Demand for bile is decreasing, and right now, the farmers have an oversupply.

Find out more regarding stricter punishment for animal cruelty. Find out more regarding bear bile farming and other animal abuse.

A rise in food prices have affected the entire world, especially third world countries like Egypt and Haiti, where the high cost of food has already lead to rioting and voilence.

A variety of factors have been blamed for the global food crisis, including the rise in fuel and energy prices and increased demand in countries with suddenly booming economies, like India and China, as well as climate changes wreaking havoc on crops. A lot of farmers have changed their crops from food to fuel, speculating on the interest in alternative fuels. The solution, then would be a crop that is not being used as an alternative fuel, like the potato. To focus attention on this, the United Nations named 2008 the International Year of the Potato, calling the vegetable a “hidden treasure.”

Potatoes are native to Peru, and can be grown at almost any elevation or climate: from the slopes of the Andes Mountains to the tropical flatlands of Asia. They require very little water, mature in as little as 50 days, and can yield between two and four times more food per hectare than wheat or rice. The potato is less expensive than wheat or rice and provides excellent nutrition in the hungry world.

Some discount potatoes for being carb-heavy, but they have an abundance of nutrition, including being just 110 calories. Potatoes have nearly half of the Daily Value of vitamin C and are one of the best sources of potassium and fiber. Potatoes also have more protein than corn and nearly twice the calcium when boiled.

Interest in alternative fuel sources has led many of the world’s farmers to speculate on their crops, using their fields for biofuel crops like corn and wheat, rather than food crops, which has been part of the food crisis. The potato is now being investigated to help with food security.

In Peru, the government has instituted a program encouraging bakers to use potato flour, rather than wheat flour in an effort to bypass the high cost of wheat. Potato bread is being used to feed everyone from school children to prisoners and the military in the hope the trend will catch on.

Although potatoes originated in Peru, Peruvians eat significantly lessless potatoes than European countries. The developing world is where most new potato crops are being planted, and as consumption rises, poor farmers have a chance to earn more money.

Potatoes do not have a lot of speculative interest in the global economy because they are difficult to transport without getting blight. But thanks to experiments in German engineering, virus-free potatoes are on the way, making transport and the sale of potatoes on the global food market a real possibility and a potential solution to the problems the food crisis has brought about.

The WeEarth Network is an environmental social network enabling us to explore our connectedness with each other and with our changing world. Find more information about socially and environmentally responsible living at WeEarth.com.

To begin with, cooking is the act of preparing food for eating by the application of heat. It encompasses a vast range of methods, tools and combinations of ingredients to alter the flavor or digestibility of food.

It is the general preparation process of selecting, measuring and combining of ingredients in an ordered procedure in an effort to achieve the desired result. Factors affecting the final outcome include the variability of ingredients, ambient conditions, tools, and the skill of the individual doing the actual cooking.

The diversity of cooking worldwide is a reflection of the myriad nutritional, aesthetic, agricultural, economic, cultural, social and religious considerations that impact upon it.

Asian food has an incredible range of flavors and styles. Asian food has become familiar in the Western world, with Asian restaurants on virtually every corner. Now it’s easier than ever to bring that Asian flavor into your own kitchen, even if it’s 9000 miles away from China.

Also, the Mediterranean is a world unto its own when it comes to cuisine. From the oils, sauces and pastas of the Italians to the olives and complicated masterpieces of the Greeks to the exotic grains and intense flavors of the Moroccans, this region of the world covers a lot of ground. No pun intended. So let’s begin our whirlwind tour of the tastes of the Mediterranean.
On the other hand, no ethnic cuisine has penetrated American culture like Mexican food has.

From fast food joints to truly authentic Mexican restaurants, it’s everywhere. But few stop to think how Mexican cuisine originated from the blending of two cultures. During the Spanish conquests in the Americas, typical European food (rice, olive oil, beef and garlic) combined with native Aztec ingredients and became today’s Mexican cuisine that we all know and love.

However, Suddenly food has become too expensive. The shadow of “a new hunger” that has made food too expensive for millions is the result of a sudden and dramatic surge in food prices around the world.

Rising prices for the world’s crucial cereal crops and growing fears of scarcity are careening through international markets, creating turmoil.

Rice is a staple food for half the world’s population. But the sudden surge in prices and restrictions on exports come at a time when stockpiles of rice are at their lowest level in decades.

Egypt decided to suspend rice exports for six months to meet domestic demand and to try to limit price increases.

Egypt’s move was matched by Vietnam, the world’s second largest rice exporter after Thailand, which cut exports by 25 percent and ordered officials not to sign any more export contracts this year.

In the Philippines, officials are raiding warehouses in Manila looking for unscrupulous traders hoarding rice, while in South Korea, panicked housewives recently stripped grocery-store shelves of food when the cost of ramen, an instant noodle made from wheat, suddenly rose.

India and Cambodia also rushed to curb their exports in order to have enough supplies to feed their own people.
At the moment, world rice inventories are said to stand at a mere 72 million metric tonnes about 17 percent of what the world consumes annually.

Additionally, with crude oil soaring above US$100 a barrel, higher fuel prices have driven up the cost of production and increased transportation costs for all foods.

All together, millions of people in China and India have suddenly become relatively wealthy and are changing their eating habits, consuming more meat and chicken, which places a huge demand on cereal stocks.
In China, per-capita meat consumption has increased 150% since the 1980s. But producing more meat requires more feed to raise more animals.

Also influencing the food crisis is the move in North America and Europe to biofuel in an effort to ease global warming and reduce reliance on imported energy.
Biofuel is any fuel that derives from biomass recently living organisms or their metabolic byproducts, such as manure from cows. It is a renewable energy source, unlike other natural resources such as petroleum, coal and nuclear fuels.

Agricultural products specifically grown for use as biofuels include corn and soybeans, primarily in the United States, as well as flaxseed and rapeseed, primarily in Europe. Waste from industry, agriculture, forestry, and households can also be used to produce bioenergy; examples include straw, lumber, manure, sewage, garbage and food leftovers.

Most biofuel is burned to release its stored chemical energy. The largest advantage of biofuel in comparison to most other fuel types is that the energy within the biomass can be stored for an indefinite time-period and without any danger.

A surge in demand for biofuel has resulted in a sharp decline in agricultural land planted for food crops. About 16% of U.S. agricultural land formerly planted with soybeans and wheat is now growing corn for biofuel.

Experts predict world food markets will be locked into an inflationary spiral for at least four years, but some say the crisis could linger for a decade or more.

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Vail Resorts in Vail Colorado operates one of the largest recycling programs of any ski resort in North America and their on-mountain recycling program is the largest of its kind in North America.

Vail Resorts consists of five mountain resorts. Each resort receives monetary contributions of $1 from each skier per season pass, online lift ticket transaction and night spent at the resort in the Colorado and California locations.

Since the program began, Vail has received more than $550,000 in guest contributions. The National Forest Foundation (NFF) has matched the contributions by more than $275,000. All funds are used for projects that aim to restore, improve and protect Vails neighboring National Forests.

The effort put forth by Vail Resorts owners, employees and skiers alike gives a glimpse into the number of skiers who are concerned about the environment. The preservation of National Forests is a major factor in the success of not only Vail Resorts but other ski resorts worldwide. The environment skiers are helping protect is the same environment that attracts them to Vail Resorts to begin with.

Vails five major resorts are some of the most visited and most family friendly resorts in North America.

Families can learn very valuable lessons about wildlife preservation, recycling and environmental issues. Currently, Vails recycling program recycles about 70 percent of on-mountain waste. The amount of waste recycled equals nearly one pound per guest, and about 100 tons of material per month are recycled during an average ski season.

Some of the most notably environment friendly parts of the resorts are:

* Beaver Creeks Spruce Saddle Lodge. The lodge is the first ski resort restaurant to become a Certified Green Restaurant by the Green Restaurant Association. The GRA is a national non-profit organization that dedicates its time to setting sustainable environmental standards within the restaurant industry.

Spruce Saddle Lodge is one of the first resort restaurants to be recognized by the GRA for multiple environmental breakthroughs. The restaurant uses recycled, tree-free, biodegradable and organic products throughout the lodge. It also maintains impressive water efficiency, energy and conservation levels and recycling and composting programs.

* Keystone Composting at Keystone Ranch Restaurant. Keystones composting program began in 2002 and has grown immensely over the years. More than 500 pounds of kitchen waste per week is being diverted from the landfill.

Combined with efforts from the Keystone Conference Center, food scraps and wood shavings create the soil used in landscaping throughout the resort. Similar composting programs are being established by other resorts.

* Heavenly Waste Reduction, in partnership with Californias El Dorado County, diverts about 482 tons of recyclable waste from landfills each year.

Surrounding communities are also encouraged to keep yard wastes out of local landfills. An annual event, Compost Your Combustibles, educates and encourages citizens to participate in recycling and composting efforts.

* Vail Resorts and RockResorts. Recycling programs are in place for all employees and guests of any Vail Resorts or RockResorts.

They promote water conservation to guests by promoting the reuse of towels and linens for multi-night stays.

Restaurants on the resorts use biodegradable, compostable and recycled food and beverage containers and flatware. The resorts recycle beverage and food containers and paper items used in all resort operations.

All areas of the resorts use environment-friendly cleaning products that are not only safer for the environment, but for guests and employees as well.

Resorts worldwide are becoming more environmentally aware and passing their knowledge on to their guests. With the help of their guests, they are able to conserve more water and recycle and compost more waste in a broader range of areas of resort operations.

The efforts put forth by these resorts and others around the world help protect the environment and wildlife that attracts their visitors.

About the Author (text)

Tribune Properties produce a ski travel internet site at http://www.yourandorra.com

Colorado