“Green Building” is a broad term used to describe the design and construction of sustainable and environmentally conscious buildings.

The driving force behind this is to lower our negative impact on the environment and, at the same time, make the buildings we live and work in safer and healthier for us.

According to the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) statistics, buildings are responsible for all of the following:

• 39% of US carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions
• 70% of US electricity consumption
• 15 trillion gallons of water consumption

Even though there is still some controversy over the effect of greenhouse gases on the environment, the last two statistics are very important for those of us living in urban areas experiencing continuous growth, especially the American Southwest. With our population expansion, aging water and electrical infrastructure, and shrinking landfills, designing and constructing green and sustainable buildings makes practical sense from a utilitarian perspective.

In fact, USGBC data shows that green buildings use 36% less energy, require fewer raw materials, and divert less waste to our landfills. Furthermore, the “increased” cost of green building is only one or two percent more expensive than a conventional building. This minute difference exemplifies the tangible and long-term benefits of sustainable design, primarily due to the fact that green buildings conserve water and electricity. Thus, while they are more expensive to build, green structures will save money by conserving more energy over time.

Another push towards the green build movement is by local governments. More and more municipalities are adopting the USGBC LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) guidelines for new and renovated buildings. In 2006, at the USGBC Greenbuild expo, the Mayor of Denver challenged other major cities to see who can have the most LEED® certified green buildings. They are accomplishing this by offering tax breaks to private corporations and mandating sustainable construction for city-financed projects.

This has led to a dramatic increase in the number of sustainable projects built by LEED® Certified general contractors. However, this growth has not come without challenges. Currently, the following issues are restricting the number of green projects being built:

• Increased demand for green products has lead to long lead times
• New and unspecified materials are labeled “green” products which are not necessarily certified
• Building officials are struggling with a steep learning curve on how to evaluate these new products and sustainable building techniques

Despite these difficulties, the USGBC, sustainability advocates, and green building construction management firms are meeting to overcome these challenges.

The LEED® process is constantly under review and continues to adopt the latest codes and products. This includes Standard 189, a new minimum standard for green building. The USGBC is currently developing LEED® 3.0 and working with national code writers to include new products and techniques.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has even rolled out a new initiative called “Sustainability 2030,” which at its roots, is looking to design all buildings by the year 2030 as carbon neutral. The USGBC has even initiated the Green Advantage Builders Certification for contractors to certify their knowledge in green building techniques.

So what does green building mean at the end of the day? It\’s simple yet profound: Do the right thing for you, the environment, and the next generation. While most companies are concerned with their bottom line, they ought to embrace the idea that energy and water conservation, green building, and the use of “green materials” in construction stands to increase their savings over time while positioning them as a leader in environmental stewardship.

According to the USGBC, we spend 90% of our time indoors. Due to this fact, scientists have identified an increase in allergies, asthma, absenteeism from school, and even work. There have been numerous studies done on post occupancy productivity levels, which have increased within “green” built facilities. Not only does green adaptation result in less sick days taken, but also shows an increase in productivity, job
satisfaction, and in the case of schools, better grades.

So, as we positively affect the environment around us with sustainable green construction, we eventually create better health for ourselves.

Interested in learning more about the green building trend? A good place to start is the USGBC website or the Adolfson & Peterson library of resources on green construction management.

Matthew Hancock is a LEED® accredited professional, a Green Advantage Certified Builder and a member
of the Dallas chapter of the USGBC. He is a project manager for the Dallas office of Adolfson and Peterson Construction and a proponent of the sustainable and green building movements.

Adolfson & Peterson Construction is a 61-year-old company with offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Denver, Colorado; Phoenix, Arizona; and Dallas, Texas. A&P provides construction management, design/build, general contracting, LEED® construction capability, Green Advantage® certified personnel, facilities maintenance, and building information modeling for public and private clients.

Global warming is heating up, and the pressure is on businesses of all sizes to be more environmentally friendly.

And unfortunately, business travel is a huge contributor to carbon dioxide pollution. Did you know that a single flight from London to New York creates an average 1.2 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions?

Or that a gas-fueled car traveling 500 miles per week creates an average 9 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year?

All of this adds up to nearly 6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emitted by the U.S. alone.

So what can your small business do to help save the earth without risking productivity? Or worse, your bottom line.

The answer is simple. Your small business can take advantage of the cost savings, convenience, and environmentally-friendly video web conferencing software to get your business done.

And it\’s not as difficult or expensive as you might think.

Here are 6 tips to get you started making your conferences green:

1) Have your employees telecommute a couple days a week if possible. Annually, a worker with a one way commute of 22 miles can save up to 81,000 MJ of energy by telecommuting. That\’s about 50% of the annual electricity consumption of an average household!

2) Instead of having meeting attendees each take their own notes, use a web conferencing whiteboard slide where everyone can contribute. Every ton of paper you don\’t use saves 38 gallons of oil and 17 trees.

3) When you\’re in a face to face meeting, use the hibernate or standby function on your computer to cut energy consumption by up to 80%.

4) Use video conferencing instead of traveling overseas. A trip from New York to London creates 1.2 tons of CO2 emissions.

5) Instead of printing out conference call information, download all of your conference call information into your mobile device.

6) Work from home, if you can. On average, a five-day commuting work week releases 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year, per employee.

So whether you conduct your meetings face-to-face, on the phone, or on the web, there are many ways to make your meetings greener. And your children and grandchildren will some day thank you for using web conferencing to reduce carbon dioxide pollution.

Sonja Mishek is a Sales & Marketing Director at VideoLive Conferences. (http://www.videoliveconferences.com)

Try Web Based Video Conferencing for FREE…plus get 2 FREE web cameras when you subscribe…yours to keep - even if you decide to cancel.

Calcite, the main cause of scale, is the most common form of calcium carbonate and occurs naturally as a natural ingredient of chalk, limestone and marble. Water passing over and permeating through such rocks dissolves calcite when this water subsequently flows through a water system the calcite precipitates out to form a very hard scale on surfaces.When hard water is heated, or evaporation takes place, the problems are exacerbated. Calcite forms ever growing layers of rock-like deposits until eventually pipes, jets and equipment become totally blocked. The problem increases as the water gets hotter. Water containing 145 ppm of calcite, flowing at 3.5 litres per minute, produces in one year 4.8 kilograms of scale at 60ºC. At 80ºC this rises dramatically to a massive 29.9 kilograms! Scale wastes both energy and financial resources just one eighth of an inch of scale reduces heating efficiency by 25%. It is also very expensive to remove, de-scaling pipes and boilers alone costs British Industry over £800M each year.

Hard water substantially increases energy consumption, necessitates equipment downtime for cleaning and results in the early renewal of capital equipment. Executives involved in running a business, local government department or institution are under increasing pressure to cut costs and become more efficient. However this must be carried out with due regard to increasing environmental legislation.

Scalewatcher is a unique, efficient, energy-saving device better than the water softener or a magnet. It is designed to eliminate the problems of hard water, whilst retaining the natural benefits. This is achieved by changing the size of the particles of precipitated compounds, by aiding the ability of crystals to form their shape, and by altering the solubility of compounds within liquid. Scalewatcher takes the process of induced ionisation to its ultimate stage. The principles of Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) are applied by passing scalewatcher’s patented signal through a coil wrapped around the pipe to be treated. The signal consists of a frequency modulated (FM) wave form within the audio frequency (AF) bandwidth. This inaudible sonic frequency signal sets up a dynamic field around and through the coil, pipe and water, and modifies the calcium carbonate crystal nuclei. The nuclei upon which the crystals start growing are minute in size and have charged surfaces in their natural condition within the water. When they pass through the field, these naturally charged nuclei encounter considerable forces as the field interacts with them. The field acts at the surfaces of the nuclei and modifies the nature of the electrical charges and this ionisation effect thus alters the growth rate and pattern of the crystals in general and on specific planes.

The principle of magnetic water treatment is not new. The first patent was granted around 1900. Scalewatcher takes this knowledge into the 21st century. The electronic device treats the water by inducing magnetic AND electric fields with a continuous changing frequency. This forces the dissolved minerals such as Calcium and Magnesium to crystallize in the water before the ions settle (hard scale) at walls of piping, bathroom or heating elements of dishwasher and washing machine. This action stops any further build up of hard scale by preventing the settlement of dissolved mineral ions on whatever surface.

Advances in micro-electronics have enabled scalewatcher to produce a system which
is so compact that it can be installed in small or normally inexcessable spaces. It is ideal
for commercial applications such as laundries, hotels, garages, dentists, correctional
centers, restaurants and bakeries. Easily fitted and requiring no plumbing, chemicals or maintenance. Scalewatcher benefits include : increased life for capital equipment, lower energy bills, short term payback, reduced mechanical damage and failure environmentally friendly and hazard free.

The capability of the water to dissolve minerals will also be increased and this is the reason why hard scale layers will be softened, will slowly enter into the water stream, and will disappear down the drain.

Idalia Luczak

Scalewatcher is a unique, efficient, energy-saving device better than the water softener or a magnet.

An often overlooked aspect of balance is living in harmony with the environment. In celebration of Earth Day on April 22, many communities sponsor activities to heighten awareness of the environment and the role each of us play in preserving it. Each Spring, my family and I participate in a town-wide clean-up effort. We don heavy gardening gloves and set out with buckets and trash bags to clean up a nearby portion of state forest that borders a busy street. This quarter mile stretch seems to be a magnet for bottles, cans, cigarette butts and fast food wrappings. We are always amazed by how much we accumulate in a short time. We sort the trash into rubbish, which we throw away, and recyclables, which we clean and bring to the recycling area of our public works department. (We collect far more than what would fit in our curbside recycling bins.) Afterwards, it is so rewarding to admire the pristine woods.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t stay clean for long. Within a few days, I often spot several new cans and wrappers as I walk or jog by, and I’ll come home with another handful of trash. This makes me realize that it’s not enough to do an annual clean-up blitz on Earth Day. To really make a difference, we need to think of every day as Earth Day. Here are some practices we can adopt to contribute to a greener planet:

REDUCE

If you’ve recently gone for a walk or a drive on a trash collection day, I think you’ll agree that we produce a staggering amount of garbage. There’s a disposable version of most consumer goods: contacts lenses, razors, grocery bags, paper plates, plastic utensils, juice boxes, and now even disposable cutting boards. Consider using cloth napkins, canvas bags for your groceries, reusable plastic containers for sandwiches, and refillable bottles for water and juice. Single serving packages may be convenient but they create more waste than buying in bulk. See how much you can cut back on what you throw away.

REUSE

Before you throw something out, think if there is someone else who could use the item. There are many organizations that welcome donations of clothes, shoes, furniture, household items, computers, books, toys, bikes, and even cars! One man’s trash can be another man’s treasure.

RECYCLE

Educate yourself about what’s recyclable in your area and take full advantage of curbside and town recycling. Bottles, cans, plastic milk containers, paper-including newspaper, magazines and junk mail all belong in the recycling bin, not the trash. From my observations, many people don’t realize that cardboard boxes, pizza boxes, egg cartons, and even cereal boxes can also be recycled. You may have to take some items to designated recycling bins at a local dump or public works department.

DETOX

Pollutants are taking a toll on our air, water, soil, and health. There are environmentally friendly lawn and garden products that can be just as effective as pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Using compost as a mulch and leaving nitrogen-rich grass clippings on your lawn are just two natural landscaping strategies. Inside the home, you can choose non-toxic cleaning supplies. On the Internet you can find many recipes using common pantry staples like vinegar, salt, and baking soda to replace many household cleaners. Also, learn what items, such as computer and TV’s with their cathode ray tubes, oil-based paint, motor oil, mercury thermometers, and some batteries are considered hazardous waste, and find out how to properly dispose of them.

COMPOST

Ever noticed how quickly a banana peel turns brown? Compost happens! Purchase a compost bin or encircle a compost pile with chicken wire, and regularly toss in layers of: your non-meat and non-dairy food scraps–fruit and vegetable rinds, peels, eggshells, coffee filters and grounds, grass clippings, pulled weeds, leaves, pet hair and in a few months you will have what gardeners refer to as “black gold.” You can speed up the process by turning the compost, keeping it as moist as a damp-sponge, and adding a few layers of finished compost and/or manure to the mix.

PURCHASE WISELY

With every dollar you spend on organic foods or items made of recycled material (fleece, which is made from recycled plastic, is my favorite) it’s like casting a vote for the environment. Look for the recycling symbol, the triangle of three arrows, and select items that can be recycled or are made from post-recycled materials.

CONSERVE

Given our abundant spring rains, they probably won’t impose a water ban in our area this summer. Even so, it’s important to conserve our limited natural resources. Installing low flow shower heads, toilet dams, using a rain barrel, and not over watering lawns (anything over 1 inch per week is excessive) are some ways to save water. You can a substantial amount of electricity and money by replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact florescent bulbs. You can also save gas by carpooling, using public transportation, consolidating errands, and buying buy fuel-efficient vehicles.

CLEAN UP

We all share this planet. If we all pick up after ourselves, our children, and our pets it will make a difference. Go the extra mile and pick up after others, too. Bring a plastic bag with you on your next walk or hike, and collect some litter. Eventually, it may catch on.

In the coming weeks, if you see someone bending down by the side of the road, don’t panic, it’s probably me or an inspired reader picking up trash. Wish us well, and if you are able, join us!

Grace Durfee is a Professional Certified Coach, trainer, and speaker who works with busy professionals, small business owners and career changers who want to achieve professional success while enjoying more balanced lives. She is also the author of the forthcoming Balance with Grace: Celebrate the Kaleidoscope of Life. To learn more and read her blog visit http://www.balancewithgrace.com

Manufacturing water purifier and filtration systems has become a huge business in the industrialized countries of our planet. Companies manufacturing water purifier and filtration systems in the U.S. ship them to developing countries. Foreign companies manufacturing water purifier and filtration systems ship them to the U.S.

Some of these water purifier and filtration systems are intended for municipal water treatment, while others are manufactured for home use. All must adhere minimally to the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Companies manufacturing water purifier and filtration systems for use in the U.S. must adhere to EPA and FDA regulations as well.

U.S. government standards from the EPA require two different levels of water “cleaning” for purifier and filtration systems.

* Filtration Systems: Any type of water filtration system must remove at least 99.99% of bacteria, chemicals, and other contaminants. Filtration systems must also remove lead and other harmful metals and minerals. This is considered “4 Log” or simple filtration.

* Purifier Systems: All water purifier systems must provide “7 Log” reduction of contaminants. If you have “7 Log” contaminant reduction, your purifier has removed 99.99999% of bacteria, chemicals, and other contaminants.

What This Means to You

If you are directly involved in manufacturing water purifier and filtration systems, this means your products all must be of high quality, and will require constant testing to be sure they conform to government standards. Your filtration systems must all remove the proper percentage of contaminants, as must your purifiers. You cannot sell a filtration system and make claims that it purifies water. All must meet EPA requirements.

If you are not directly involved in manufacturing water purifier and filtration systems, the difference between purifiers and filtration systems may seem minimal. It may seem as though it doesn’t matter whether you purchase a purifier or a water filtration system. At a glance, removal of 99.99% or 99.99999% of contaminants may not look like a huge difference.

What it means, however, is that a purifier must be one thousand times (1000x) as effective as a filtration system! To put it another way, you have a choice as to how clean you want your water. Are you content to remove just “1 bug” from your water glass, and leave 999 bugs in there? Or would you rather remove “1000 bugs” from your glass of water? Drinking water purifiers must give you super-clean water in even the most highly contaminated and dangerous circumstances.

Challenge to Manufacturers

Our challenge to manufacturers is to make clean water available to all who need it. Manufacturers should be working to reduce the costs of manufacturing water purifier and filtration systems so that they are more readily available in remote areas and undeveloped countries. People in those countries urgently need filtration systems, whereas we in developed countries have very potable water flowing from our municipal water supply. Those in need often cannot afford clean water, though, given the current costs of manufacturing water purifier and filtration systems.

Manufacturers need to couple their desire for profit to humanitarian compassion, and create ways to provide purifiers, or at least filtration systems, at much lower cost.

©2007, Anna Hart. Anna Hart invites you to read more of her articles about water purifiers and filtration systems at http://www.healthydrinkingwaterblog.com Anna has also posted information on that site about solar purifiers. If you want to learn about inexpensive solar drinking water purifiers, you won’t want to miss her article on that subject.

Asian Elephants

Asian elephants are sometimes known as Indian elephants. They are one of the three living species of elephant. Asian elephants are found mostly in India, Indochina, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. Asian elephants are smaller than African elephants and Asian elephants also have smaller ears. This is one of the best ways to tell Asian elephants apart from African elephants. The height of an Asian elephant ranges from 7-12 feet and they weigh approximately 3.25 to 5.5 tons. There are other physical characteristics that separate Asian elephants from their African counterparts. They have a more arched back and also have more nails on the feet. While both male and female African elephants have tusks, female Asian elephants usually do not have these tusks. Females that do have tusks often have tusks that are small and hard to see.

Behavior of Asian Elephants

Elephants travel in migratory routes that are seasonal in nature. These routes often take the Asian elephants through wet and dry zones. The oldest member of the herd is the elephant charged with remembering where the routes lead. Asian elephants live for about 60 years when they are in the wild and 80 years when they are in zoos and other captive environments. The females live in small groups that are led by the oldest female in the group. The herd that elephants travel in consists of relative elephants. Male elephants are called bull elephants. They like to travel alone and often become involved in conflicts over female elephants during the mating season.

Domestic Use of Asian Elephants

Asian elephants have been domesticated for many purposes. In Southern and Southeast Asia, elephants have been used for forestry purposes because their tusks and large size make it easy for them to knock down small trees and brush. Asian elephants have also been used during ceremonies for many centuries. Some areas charge money to tourists to see Asian elephants in the wild, but it is difficult to do this because elephants may damage property.

Danger of Asian Elephants

Because of their size, Asian elephants are rather dangerous. They have tusks and large bodies that can be used to destroy property and cause harm to humans and other animals. Adult males are particularly aggressive because of the surge in testosterone they experience after they go through puberty. This aggression gives them the ability to cause a lot of damage in a short amount of time.

Subspecies of Asian Elephants

There are four subspecies of Asian elephants. The Indian elephant (E. m. indicus) lives in southern India, northwest India, and the foothills of the Himalayans. This subspecies has males that usually have tusks. The Sri Lankan elephant (E. m. maximus) only lives in Sri Lanka. Most of the elephants do not have tusks whether they are male or female. The Sumatran elephant (E. m. sumatrensis) lives in Sumatra. This elephant is sometimes known as the pocket elephant because of its small size. The Borneo elephant (E. m. borneensis) is the smallest subspecies and lives in north Borneo. Even though this is the smallest subspecies, it has the biggest ears.

Visit our website to read more about the Recycled Paper products we sell and various Asian Elephants Gifts made from poo!

Organizing Your Recyclables

If you want to start recycling some of the items you commonly have cluttering up your house, you’ll need to come up with an organizational system that you can stick to no matter what. The organizational system will help to keep your house from getting cluttered with recyclables, but it will also help you to keep everything organized so that having your recyclables picked up or dropping them off at a recycling center is not a hassle at all. Organizing your recyclables starts with setting up your system and then maintaining it each and every week for the best results.

Developing a System

You’ll need to sort your recyclables to keep them organized, so you may want to buy several large bins or heavy duty trash cans so you can sort your recyclables each day instead of doing them all at once in a session that may take hours. You’ll need to buy your containers and then mark them if you have other family members who need reminding about what recyclables go where.

Preparing Your Items for Recycling

You need to follow the instructions given by your community recycling center or municipal pickup group so you can be sure that all of your items are accepted. Cans should be rinsed out and put in their own separate bin. Bottle should also be rinsed out. Any caps or safety seals should be removed from bottles before putting them in your bottle container. Newspapers need to be bundled together so they’re not escaping all over the place and causing a mess. Magazines may also have to be bundled together so that they are in neat stacks and don’t cause a mess. Plastic bottles should be rinsed out and have the lids removed before you place them in the bin designated for plastic. Once you start your system, keep up with it every time by washing out bottles and cans each time you use them and keeping the newspapers and magazines in manageable stacks.

Having Your Recyclables Picked Up

If you are going to have your recyclables picked up by your community or your municipal trash hauling company, you need to find out when pickups are and how your recyclables need to be packaged in order for them to be picked up. Some companies require that your recyclables be in specially-marked bags. Others require that you use large plastic trash cans that they can empty when they arrive at your house and place on our property when they are empty. Be sure to remember when pickup day is or you may be stuck with cans and bottles piling up while you wait until the next week for another pickup.

Dropping Off Recyclables

You can also drop off your recyclables at your local community center if it offers a recycling program. Again, ask ahead of time to find out how you need to bundle newspapers and magazines and how you should pack cans and bottles.

Having your organizational system in place will help you to keep your home free of clutter and help you remember when recycling day is in your town.

Visit our website to read more about the Recycled Paper products we sell and various Elephant Gifts made from poo.

There’s been a lot of hype recently about the effects of global warming and the impact of mankind on our environment. Living in Chamonix I have witnessed the worst winter I can remember in terms of snow levels. It was a very slow start to the season with Christmas holiday makers only just getting a dusting of snow over the festive break to keep them entertained with just the odd flurry from then on for the next month. The expected snow falls that kept appearing on the local weather guides failed to arrive and there was just the occasional dump through out the season to appease the powder hungry skiers and snowboarders.

When the heavens finally opened in February the usual low temperatures were not apparent and what snow had been there previously was being washed away by rain falling as high as 200m. Thankfully Chamonix is surrounded by the highest peaks in Western Europe so the more adventurous of the snow seekers were able to enjoy fantastic snow off the top of the Aiguille du Midi and top bin of the Grands Montets. Things haven’t got any better and in Mid April it looks like I will be hanging up my snowboard boots for the season whereas last year I was riding through the middle of may.

So is this poor season to be blamed on the effects of Global warming or is this just the natural cycle of temperature throwing us a particularly warm winter?

Not that I’m complaining – I’ve managed to dust off the mountain bike and this weekend saw the official start of BBQ season! Super U must have enjoyed record sales for charcoal for an April weekend! It could even be warm enough to hook out the swimmers and take a trip to the lakes in Passy!

PARIS - The heat wave sweeping Europe is a direct consequence of the warming of the earth’s atmosphere, experts say. “We are observing and suffering the first effects of global warming,” Hervé Le Treut, meteorologist at the French Centre for Scientific Research told IPS.

“The emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, are leading to higher temperatures all over the world, but these are observed in an irregular manner across the continents,” he said. “The global weather is clearly disturbed.”

Shopfitters

Thanks to decades of dedication by teachers who have brought environmental topics into the classroom, today’s students are more educated about ecology and the natural world than ever before. And now, thanks to Hurricane Katrina, the hurricane and resulting flood that devastated a large part of the Gulf Coast in the summer of 2005, environmental issues have hit the front pages of newspapers and prime time TV newscasts. The environment is big news. And for a lot of kids, it’s scary news.

Global warming; polar bears facing extinction; colonies of bees dying all over the U.S.: these and other stories on TV have the potential of upsetting school-aged children. For teachers, this can be a big problem, or it can be an opportunity to engage children, to inform them of the problems and their possible solutions, and to excite children about scientific topics and procedures.

Luckily, written and video material abounds that teaches children about science and the natural world. Books, magazines, and DVDs are available that cover every conceivable topic. Teacher’s guides are available for many of the periodicals, offering suggestions for incorporating the material into the class curriculum. Much of this material is geared toward current environmental concerns.

Yes, the environment is a big, scary news story right now. But with the right material and a creative approach, teachers can redirect their students’ fears to learning, to scientific knowledge and to developing an activist approach to the world that may send some of these young people into the direction of solving many of these serious worldwide problems.

Aldene Fredenburg is a freelance writer living in southwestern New Hampshire. She has written numerous articles for local and regional newspapers and for a number of Internet websites, including Tips and Topics.

http://www.cobblestonepub.com/books/

Much of the farmland throughout the world is no longer nutrient rich due to years of farming and in many cases planting three crops per year with no breaks. The soil does not have time to regenerate or recharge and it does not have the nutrients it needs and therefore the food that we grow upon these lands is not fit for human consumption. Oh sure you can eat it but it will not do your body very much good.

What can we do about this? You see, in many areas that have extremely good topsoil, these regions did not come by this by accident. During times of floods rivers would overflow and bring nutrients onto the land. As humankind spreads out its civilizations through sprawling suburbs and large urban areas we are redirecting the water flows and preventing the periodic floods which recharge the land.

We are also putting out fires and those ashes also help the soil. Many things we do so that our civilizations and societies run smoothly are making things tougher and tougher on the soil that we use to grow our food. The Online Think Tank has been considering these very important issues. Recently one of our members came up with the theory of erosion migration techniques to reinvigorate depleted farmland soil.

His plan was to periodically allow river water during peak seasons to flood the areas where the soil was depleted. This would be done by digging trenches in a triangle design from the river, which would be the point or apex of the triangle. Then a series of arcs in the form of ditches would be cut between the sides and more ditches would be cut straight to the baseline.

This pattern would be similar to the way that deltas are formed at the mouth of rivers when they hit the ocean. And we know from studying soil samples and looking at the topsoil that these are some of the most fertile lands in the world. By creating mini-delta type over-lapping areas near rivers, we can replenish the soil. Of course in doing this, it also means that we will not be able to farm on it for a least one season. If you’d like more information on this study contact the online think tank.

L. Winslow is an Agricultural Advisor to the Online Think Tank, a Futurist and retired entrepreneur. Currently he is planning a bicycle ride across the US to raise money for charity and is sponsored by http://www.Calling-Plans.com and all the proceeds will go to various charities who sign up.