CustomEarthPromos - Eco Blog US

It has now gone viral that Brazil's rainforest is burning to bits. Last week, Custom Earth Promos brought you good news about biodiversity, writing about how Wales is trying to bring the fish back to Aberyswyth. Unfortunately, a loss of the Amazon Rainforest means a loss of some of the largest land biodiversity anywhere on the planet. If this scares, saddens, angers, or moves you in any way, you may be able to help. But, can you save the rainforest from your desk? A spike in downloads for a search engine that's contributing profits to planting trees shows that people are looking for ways to help as the fires rage. Experts say that while these efforts won't hurt, there are better ways to contribute. Ecosia, the aforementioned search engine, founded in 2009, works with about 20 tree-planting organizations around the world. They hope to have a billion trees planted by 2020. The company, based in Berlin, Germany, has pledged to plant an additional 2 million trees in Brazil in response to the fires. Using Microsoft Bing's search engine technology, Ecosia sells ads, like many other tech companies. But, instead of awarding shareholders, the company claims to use 80% of the profits for tree-planting efforts and only keeps a small portion for itself. They estimate 1 tree can be planted for every 45 searches. Other companies, and even celebrities, are taking action in response to this crisis. Apple has pledged aid, although they didn't release many details. Leonardo DiCaprio's foundation has pledged $5 million dollars. Can the average person, however, help simply by switching search engines or supporting specific companies?You can help by switching to recycled paper and bamboo bags instead of single-use plastic. While switching to Ecosia "might make a difference" and requires little effort, the best way to help the rainforest is to give directly to a charity that specializes in a cause and spends donations wisely. This advice comes from Pace University marketing professor Larry Chiagouris. Art Markman, professor of psychology and marketing at the University of Texas, stated that disaster relief tends to be reactive, driven by the news cycle. Charitable organizations can capitalize on this by making it easy to donate. "Generally speaking, doing something is better than doing nothing. We tend to do things that are easy."Professor of Psychology and Marketing at the University of Texas Art Markman Nonprofit B Lab has certified Ecosia as a for-profit company with a social mission. Ecosia's bigger goal is to combat climate change. It works with groups such as The Nature Conservancy and Eden Reforestation Projects. These groups are both nonprofits. Although Ecosia can be accessed from any standard web browser, you can download an extension to make it your default search engine. There is also an app for iPhones, iPads, and Android. Since the flames began, Ecosia has seen a tenfold spike in both app and extension spikes. This has ...

This summer, Dr. Ally Evans has been hard at work pasting a variety of misshapen concrete tiles to breakwaters along Great Britain's Welsh coast. However similar to standard construction work it may look, this is no straightforward coastal repair. Evans is a postdoctoral researcher at Aberystwyth University in Wales. Along with a team of researchers across her home country and Ireland, her efforts are part of the potentially groundbreaking "Eco Structure" project. While coastal tiling does not immediately bring to mind the development of biodiversity, the aim of this project is to do exactly that. By conducting long term, field-based research, the Eco Structure project hopes to determine what materials and shapes, when affixed to coastal defense structures, renewable energy infrastructure, and other marine-based construction, will be best to revive ecologically dying coastal areas. The team is trying to address a fundamental challenge in coastal areas. Research has shown that shorelines filled with artificial structures have 45 percent fewer species that natural ones in similar areas. In a period of rising sea levels, plummeting marine biodiversity, and growing human populations, whether or not man-made structures are a good habitat for marine life is a serious issue. As coastal cities grow, their shorelines become harder. More than 50 percent of the coastline is made up completely of artificial structures such as piers and seawalls in major coastal urban areas such as New York, Hong Kong, and Sydney. Up to one billion people are likely to be at risk of coastal flooding by the year 2030, which means that many other areas will become hardened as well to protect them.Ensure quality marine marine life habitats by switching out your single-use bags and bottles for reusable ones. Get yours from Custom Earth Promos today. Evans and her team are researching ways to eco-engineer these structures so that they both look and act more natural. The working theory is that by mimicking rocky coastlines, more biodiversity will be attracted to the area. As Evans puts it, "complexity will attract diversity of life." "What we are hoping is that the extra layer of topography we are adding will attract more diverse communities more like what we might see on a natural habitat."Aberystwyth University Postdoctoral Researcher Dr. Ally Evans Evans says that many of the ecological problems posed by traditional coastal structures are the result of the materials they are made out of. For example, "Rock surfaces on a breakwater tend to be quite smooth compared to natural rocky habitats, which makes it much harder for marine life to take hold."Aberystwyth University Postdoctoral Researcher Dr. Ally Evans It is also becoming apparent that hard structures place in places that normally don't have them cause further ecological damage. A growing body of research points to hard features built on sandy shorelines as stepping stones for the introduction of ...

The Indiana University—Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Urban Gardens' expansion will be almost a third of space. Located on the southwest corner of campus, the gardens will introduce new produce, including vined fruit and gourds, such as watermelons, pumpkins, and cantaloupes. The new 1,408 square foot patch is on a hill. To combat erosion, the new plants will act as a mat that will hold the soil together. "We'll be putting down straw to prevent erosion as things grow. We already have multiple classes wanting to help plant and get this established."Office of Sustainability Director Jessica Davis The gardens are expected to yield other new produce, including corn, squash, and honey. This food will eventually show up at IUPUI's student-run food pantry, Paw's Pantry, IUPUI's monthly Fresh Produce Market, and in your food at the dining hall.Bring a reusable bag the next time you go to buy fresh produce. Get yours today from Custom Earth Promos. The tilling of the expansion also marked the debut of new equipment for the Office of Campus Faculty Services. A collaboration with the sustainability office and a $12,000 grant allowed IUPUI grounds members to implement an arsenal of new, electric equipment—two tillers, nine leaf blowers, nine weed trimmers, five chainsaws, two pole saws, and two gasoline free push mowers. They came from Greenworks Commercial and were received early this summer. Along with being greener, the tools are much quieter and don't vibrate as much. Grounds program manger, Jesse Beck, quickly realized that these tools allows him his team more freedom to do their job. The electric equipment has a volume of less than 85 decibels. This is easier on the staff hearing and lets them work both early in the morning and late at night if needed. The zero-emissions equipment also allows the crew to work on Knozone Action Days. Knozone is an initiative to make Central Indiana one of the Midwest's most sustainable, livable regions. "All of the research buildings are 100 percent fresh air intake. Now, when you're walking around the buildings working, you're not putting gas fumes into the building." Grounds Program Manager Jesse Beck Grounds services manager, Clay Collins, also loves the Greenworks equipment. That he said it works so great that his office is considering purchasing two of their electric riding mowers. "They perform just as well as gas-powered equipment." Grounds Services Manager Clay Collins Another team-up between the Office of Sustainability and the Office of Campus Faculty Services is coming. More than 4,000 square feet of land will be excavated for a pollinator garden. On September 10 and 11th, volunteers will plant native flowering species with the goal of attracting bees and butterflies, among other pollinators.Attract pollinators to your own garden by using seed paper to help get it started. This project is partly funded by $3,000 sponsorship from Rolls-Royce. This initiative will ...

Summer may be coming to a close in Florida, but the sun doesn't stop shining in the sunshine state. And, summer is just beginning for the other side of the world. A team of international scientists has found an environmentally friendly way of producing potential sunscreens by using cashew shells, which are normally thrown out.The next time you go to the beach, make sure you take your supplies in a reusable bag from Custom Earth Promos. Make sure that you don't go thirsty in the hot sun by having your reusable water bottle. The team of "green chemists" from the University of Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, South Africa, along with colleagues from universities in Germany, Malawi, and Tanzania, have been working on techniques to produce useful compound from fast growing, non-edible plant waste. This process is known as is xylochemistry, more commonly known as wood chemistry. By using the shells from cashews, the team has produced new aromatic compounds that show good absorption of both UVA and UVB. This may be applied to the protection of humans from the sun's harmful rays as well as polymers or coatings. Their research was featured on the cover of the European Journal of Organic Chemistry. While it leads to sunburn, premature aging, and the development of potentially deadly skin cancer in both humans and animals, UV rays are also damaging to most materials. The effects to discoloration of dyes and pigments, weathering, the yellowing of plastics, the loss of gloss, and the loss of mechanical properties.An umbrella made from sustainable materials can help shield you from UV rays and fight off sun damage. To lessen UV damage, sun shields should display a high absorption of both UVA and UVB rays. But one important family of molecules for absorption are derived from phenols. They contain a molecule which is important for the transformation of the absorbed energy from one type to another. An organic compound, for example, known as oxybenzone is a common ingredient added to plastics to reduce UV breakdown. Unfortunately, its petrochemical origin, which means it comes from petroleum or natural gas, has major effects on aquatic ecosystems. These are associated with poor biodegradeability. Due to this, stricter regulations are being placed on sun filtering products. "With the current concerns over the the use of fossil resources for chemical synthesis of functional molecules and the effect of current UV absorbers in sunscreens on the ecosystems, we aimed to find a way to produce new UV absorbers from cashew nut shell liquid as a non-edible, bio renewable carbon resource. Cashew nut shells are a waste product in the cashew-farming community, especially in Tanzania, so finding a useful, sustainable way to use these waste products can lead to completely new, environmentally friendly ways of doing things."Wits School of Chemistry Professor and Principal Author of the paper Charles de Koning ...

Plant geneticist Wes Jackson founded The Land Institute near Salina, Kansas about 40 years ago. He was concerned that modern farming was ruining native grasslands and asked the question that came to define his entire life: How can we harness the inherent strengths of the prairie ecosystem, the natural resistance of native plants to insects and weeds, the ability of these plants to grow perennially, and their evolved resistance to cold and drought, and marry those traits to the task of growing domesticated crops for food? Armed with his 1992 "MacArthur Genius Grant," Jackson set out to create a new kind of farming. He called it "natural systems agriculture." It has the "ecological stability of the prairie and a grain and grain and seed yield comparable to that from annual crops." The institute has finally introduced its first commercial grain after four decades of breathing and testing. They have trademarked this variety Kernza, a type of intermediate wheatgrass with a long, slender head that resembles wheat seeds. Describe sweet and nutty, Cascadian Farms is creating a cereal called Honey Toasted Kernza. Kernza has also been brewed into beers by Patagonia Provisions, an offshoot of the clothing company Patagonia. Both items are now being produced in limited runs. The development of Kernza is being offered as a prime example of a new way of doing agriculture that borrows from the perennial prairie. "The goal is to mitigate a lot of the problems inherent in annual grain farming systems.Research Director at The Land Institute Tim Crews Crews noted that, "farmers laid off 50 percent of their fertilizer as not taken up by the crop." In 2017, Jackson put it this way: "We are trying to get agriculture away from the extractive economy and into the renewable economy."Wes Jackson via Modern Farmer magazine There is a growing movement for farming reform, from grain farming on the prairie, to agroforestry, to raising livestock more sustainably. Reform has been largely propelled by the fact that farming is one of the most ecologically destructive things that humans do. Soil is a good example. Putting large fields removes a huge amount of topsoil the erosion removes, on , 30 tons of soil per hectare per year, according to a study. Other examples are just as devastating. Runoff with high nitrogen content spills into bodies of water such as the Gulf of Mexico and the Baltic Sea. This creates huge dead zones. Crews noted that these dead zones are now forming the mouths of 400 across the planet. The popular pesticide Roundup has been implicated as a carcinogen. Aquifers across the United States are being depleted. Monoculture crops and subject to diseases that can wipe them out. For example, the fungus Tropical race 4 has destroyed the global Cavendish banana crop, the kind we eat. This is largely because of the fact that they are a genetically identical plant grown on vast one-crop plantations. Every time a field is plowed ...

Imagine a zoo where the humans are caged and the animals are watching our every move. This is where Architect Bill Bensley's mind wandered when a Chinese client asked him to build a resort in the southeastern province of Guangdong. He was given a space of three square miles that would include a sanctuary for worldwide animal rescues. The client specified he wanted a zoo for the Maoming site. This city's beachfront, which faces the South China Sea, will contain multiple hotels. Sixty-year-old Bensley, a lifelong environmentalist, hates zoos; especially after seeing the overcrowding and mistreatment common in Chinese zoos. So, he decided to flip the idea. "I thought, 'Let's take this land and dedicate 95 percent for animals to run free, and 5 percent as jails for people." Architect Bill Bensley After receiving the green light last month, after an eight-hour pitch to investors, Bensley told his 120-person team to get down to business. He wants to have the first of the site's seven hotels open within the next three years. Multiple major hotel chains have expressed interest, including Hilton, Hyatt, Four Seasons, and JW Marriott. "There is more interest than we have room for hotels." Architect Bill Bensley In October, Bensley will be in Hong Kong to speak at the Global Wellness Summit, an international gathering of industry leaders. Topics will range from sustainability, architecture, and design; to mental wellness, physical activity, healthy eating, and even dying well. He is a designer who rarely fails to surprise. He convinced the Four Seasons to take a chance on "glamping." Now, good luck getting a room at the chain's safari inspired, frequently booked, $3,000 a night, tented Camp Golden Triangle. This hotel opened in 2006 in Chiang Rai, Thailand. He followed this up with something similar in Laos. Opened in March of 2018, guests at Luang Prabang's Rosewood Hotel can cuddle under canvas by a waterfall in the forest, or they can stay in a treehouse. And, deep in the Cambodian jungle, guests of the Shinta Mani Wild conservation camp, which opened in December 2018, are invited to arrive Tarzan style, swinging in by zip line. If this sounds like an adventure novel written for young boys, it's due to Bensley's channeling of his own childhood. He grew up in Southern California. His family grew their own food and camped in a homemade trailer built by his dad. "Every weekend we'd pile in, all five of us, and go out into the wilderness. I would get up at 6 AM and wouldn't come back till sundown, exploring the forest, fishing, and catching frogs. Really, being in the wild has always been part of my life." Architect Bill Bensley While a high schooler, Bensley decided to become a landscape architect, or, as he put it, a "protector of Mother Earth." He had no idea resorts would be involved, but he eventually enrolled at the Harvard University Graduate School of ...

Shortly before the recent El Paso, Texas shooting that left 22 murdered and more than two dozen others injured, Patrick Crusius declared he was trying to stop a "Hispanic invasion of Texas" on the imageboard website 8chan. But, there was a distinctly environmental message to his speech; part of a lesser-known far-right group known as "eco-fascists." Crusius named his manifesto "An Inconvenient Truth," most likely inspired by former Vice President Al Gore's 2006 documentary on climate change. "The decimation of the environment is creating a massive burden for future generations. Corporations are heading the destruction of our environment by shamelessly over-harvesting resources. If we can get rid of enough people, then our way of life can be more sustainable." El Paso Shooter Patrick Crusius He also directly blamed America's consumer culture. "Fresh water is being polluted from farming and oil drilling operations. Consumer culture is creating thousands of tons of unnecessary plastic waste and electronic waste, and recycling to help slow this down is almost non-existent. Urban sprawl creates inefficient cities which unnecessarily destroys millions of acres of land. We even use god knows how many trees worth of paper towels just to wipe water off our hands. Everything I have seen and heard in my short life has led me to believe that the average American isn't willing to change their lifestyle, even if the changes only cause a slight inconvenience."El Paso Shooter Patrick Crusius He also claimed to have been inspired by the shooter in Christchurch, New Zealand, who killed 51 people at two mosques. He referred to himself as an eco-fascist in his own rambling manifesto, where he described immigration as a "environmental warfare," and claimed "there is no nationalism without environmentalism." Both of these shootings are the latest examples of a new kind of eco-terrorism. According to the FBI, eco-terrorism is "the use or threatened use of violence of a criminal nature against innocent victims or property by an environmentally-oriented, subnational group for environmental-political reasons, or aimed at an audience beyond the target, often of a symbolic nature." For many, coming up with a simplified example of this definition calls to mind tree-huggers with bolt cutters, such as the Animal Liberation Front, which began breaking into animal testing labs in the 1980s and releasing testing subjects and destroying equipment. This is likely the image that White House advisor Kellyanne Conway was trying to bring up when she told Fox News viewers to read the Christchurch shooter's manifesto. "He said he's not a conservative, he's not a Nazi, I think he referred to himself as an eco-naturalist or eco-fascist."White House Advisor Kellyanne Conway Eco-fascism, however, is not the "fringe hippie movement" normally associated with eco-terrorism. It is much more dangerous. Eco-fascism is ...

Eco-poetry is a style of poetry that is less about simply describing nature and more about becoming one with it. That's, at least, how poet Pam Davenport writes hers. She teaches eco-poetry workshops in outdoor settings. She encourages writing from the perspective of plants, animals, seasons; nature itself. Her next workshop, for any Custom Earth Promos blog fans local to the area, is in September at the Flagstaff Arboretum. This is where Arizona public radio station KNAU recorded yesterday's "Poetry Friday" segment. One thing Davenport has always loved doing is gathering people together and writing as a group, especially in a place like The Arboretum, a location described as an incredibly beautiful and peaceful setting. The group can also draw in each other's creative energy. Davenport now has such a lofty idea with the notion of eco-poetry that she believes consciousness can be changed.Change your consciousness by thinking about the damage single use-plastic does to the planet and replace it with reusable plastic. "If you think about it, we human beings came on the scene just recently, like, maybe a minute ago if we consider all of living history. So why not put the elephants, the otters, the trees, the lettuce, you know , in the center. So, that's one thing that's been very helpful to me."Flagstaff, Arizona, Poet Pam Davenport When Davenport holds a workshop, she looks at what other people have done and how they have done it. She believes that something magical happens when the group then steps outside. The write where they have inspiration, not only from their surroundings but from what they've been reading together and talking about. People may be drawn to express gratitude or write from the perspective of another creature, plant, or animal. This could really change someone's thinking. Yesterday, her husband asked her, "What would the elephant story be as opposed to the hunter's?" She found that to be very interesting. Davenport then read KNAU a poem written in California. She was talking to an oak tree, which she is becoming increasingly convinced is a sensible thing to do. While she was having this conversation, she was thinking about an oak tree behind her own home. Davenport said that this just sort of happened. She isn't saying that eco-poetry is a higher level of thinking but that it does take her to a place where she is not only able to have this experience but also go deeper into these ideas. It goes beyond the description. "Can we talk?I wonder if my mindless chatter matters,makes you rather not,talk I mean. I wonder at my mindless mindreading a sign may be you lived hundreds of years,the number makes my works whir.I wonder do you know I've sat for daysoutside my door with your kin?Can you help me and there it is, my problem, not yours,with your curvy branches reaching more out than up,and I a passing thought but I wonder still,do you think my chatter mind weighs her ...

On Monday, international human rights group Global Witness revealed that the fight to protect land, homes, livelihoods, and wildlife from destructive, pollution causing industries turned deadly for over 160 environmental defenders in 2018. Organizers campaigning against the destruction of the environment face governments, contract killers, and private security firms trying to stop them—sometimes even together! In total, 164 people were murdered last year while battling forces such as mining, logging, and agribusiness. They were trying to prevent them from taking over ancestral lands, communities, and natural habitats.Campaign against single use plastic by switching to reusable bags and water bottles. Get your items from Custom Earth Promos today. The number reported in Global Witness' new report, "Enemies of the State," averages out to the death of three eco-defenders per week! The group notes that because many of these deaths go unreported, the study represents a "sizable underestimate!" "These are ordinary people trying to protect their homes and livelihoods, and standing up for the health of our planet. Often their land is violently grabbed to produce goods used and consumed across the world every day, from food, to mobile phones, to jewelry."Global Witness The Philippines was the deadliest country, with 30 people killed for trying to protect the land and environment. The island of Negros saw nine victims when gunmen shot sugarcane farmers occupying a plot of land covered by President Rodrigo Duterte's land reform program that had not been distributed to the farmers. At the time, the National Federation of Sugar Workers said that the government has not created an effective land distribution program. Instead, it "red baits those who assert their rights to the land." This links the farmers to communist guerrillas. A common tactic used by state forces and corporations to discredit organizers, defend aggressive actions against environmental campaigns, and deter others from joining the fight against damaging industries is criminalizing eco-defenders reports Global Witness. "It is a brutal irony that while judicial systems routinely allow the killers of defenders to walk free, they are also being used to brand the activists themselves as terrorists, spies, or dangerous criminals. Both tactics send a clear message to other activists: the stakes for defending their rights are punishingly high for them, their families, and their communities."Global Witness Senior Campaigner Alice Harrison Filipino, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the United Nations Special Reporter on the rights of indigenous people told Global Witness about her recent, personal experience with being labeled a criminal by her country's government. "In March 2018, The Philippines government declared me a terrorist. This was in retaliation for me speaking out against indigenous rights violations in my home country. For months, I lived under threat, and could not ...

At their workshop in a suburb of Kampala, the largest city in Uganda, East Africa, Lawrence Okettayot and his business partner, both in their mid-20s, drilled holes and screws into a wooden, steel-lined box designed to dry out food in an eco-friendly way. Their invention, a low-tech thermal dehydrator, can be used to process fruits and vegetables , including mango, banana, and pineapple; okra and eggplant. This will stop them from spoiling. The dehydrator gets its heat from briquettes made from discarded paper, among other natural material, including garden waste.Put your discarded paper to good use by turning it into flowers. Food waste is a big problem for Africa. About half of their crops are lost due to poor harvesting techniques and handling afterwards, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Okettayot had his light bulb moment back in 2016. Out of frustration, his uncle quit farming over his produce going to waste because he could not find a ready market. Having grown up in northern Uganda, where an active two-decade long revolution by a brutal rebel group caused widespread food shortages, Okettayot had to think hard for a solution. After earning degrees in mechanical engineering, Okettayot and a childhood friend of his embarked on making their first dehydrator. It worked well and was, according to Okettayot, a "good inspiration." Since then, 43 dehydrators have been produced and sold to individual farmers across Uganda, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, and Burkina Faso. They now have plans to ship some of their products to the Central African Republic and Mauritius. The "spark dryer" has a steel-lined chamber which is insulated with a thick layer of wool, designed to reduce heating loss, and a fan on top allows air to flow into the heating chamber so that few briquettes need to be burned. The heat is then transferred to the drying zone, where the sliced food is stacked on shelves. There is also a catalytic converter to prevent harmful gasses from escaping. This reduces toxic byproducts, such as carbon monoxide from smokeless briquettes. This also enables the dryer to operate with zero planet-warming emissions.Stop harmful gasses from escaping into the planet by replacing your single-use plastic for reusable bags and water bottles. Two kilograms (about 4.4 lbs) of briquettes are needed to dry out ten kilograms (about 22 pounds) of mangoes in five hours. In Uganda, 30 percent of crops are lots every year after harvesting. Fruits and grains are the most affected, says Spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture Solomon Kalema. This East African country has few food processing hubs. Kalema said that government plans to install them at a regional level had not been implemented due to limited funds. Usually, farmers prefer to sun-dry their leafy vegetables. They contain little moisture and are quick drying, noted Kalema. Fruit, however, takes much longer out in the open, especially during the wet season, so most ...