The following is an amazing video of a group of people in Seattle experimenting with reviving sailboats for commerce within Puget Sound. Prior to powered boats, there was zillions of sail powered ships ferrying stuff back and forth across Puget Sound, but today there are highways and trucks and large ferry boats and bridges and other paraphernalia of the modern transportation infrastructure.

However, those of us who know about Peak Oil etc know that it's likely in the not-too-distant-future that those highways and trucks will be useless. Hence, sailing ships could well become important again.

Sail Power Reborn - Transporting Local Goods by Boat - Peak Moment 208: "We are revitalizing an ancient form of transportation using just the power of the wind and the tides to move goods and people," says skipper Fulvio Casali.  In their CSA (community supported agriculture), the Salish Sea Trading Cooperative uses nearly no petroleum to transport organic produce and other goods from the north Olympic Peninsula to northwest Seattle.  By sea they use community volunteer sailboats, and by land an electric delivery truck. Come on board with cofounders Casali, Kathy Pelish, and Alex Tokar, who are patiently redeveloping the skills and infrastructure for the return of "a whole fleet of sailboats blanketing Puget Sound" in the post-petroleum era. [www.salishseatrading.com]

Audio and transcript of this show at http://www.peakmoment.tv/conversations/?p=477

Arsenic found in baby formula? Grow your own food!

I saw the interesting juxtaposition of tweets below that appeared side-by-side in my twitter machine.  The first tweet is a "Food Safety" concern.  Generally, finding poisons like Arsenic in food is a big concern, that is currently known as "Food Safety", which has to do with various chemicals that find their way into the food we eat.  The second tweet is a simple reminder that gardening season is starting.  It may not be obvious, but the second (gardening, and growing your own food) is a solution to the first (food safety concerns like arsenic).

How?  To my mind the issue with food safety is the industrialization of the food system.  Maybe a food processing factory is having to spread arsenic to kill rats and the like, and then the arsenic finds its way into the food being processed in that facility.  On the other hand, when growing your you control what goes into that food.  Of course the gardening supply store does have a selection of poisons whose niceified name is "pesticide", so even growing your own food you can pour various -cide's (a.k.a. poisons) on the garden.  Doing so is your choice, and alternatively its your choice to use organic gardening practices.  The thing about industrialized food is you don't have any choice, because the choices are made by businesses who don't have your best interest in mind.

Let's remember some history.  The Food and Drug Administration came into being because of food safety scandals over 100 years ago.  Businesses at that time proved over and over they were willing to sell poisonous crap food to people, while paying off inspectors to stamp the food as safe even when it wasn't.

What isn't clear from the "Arsenic" article linked below is the amount of Arsenic found in food.  Is the amount well below the level the FDA considers to be safe?  That is, for all these extra bits finding their way into food, the FDA has safe levels.  Scientists have found that, supposedly, small amounts of poison are safe to eat, while large amounts are not.  It of course varies on the poison in question.

Even so, there are doubts over the actual safety of the levels the FDA considers safe.  Chemicals have a way of bioaccumulating, not just in our own bodies but in the environment.  If we eat foods laced with tiny amounts of poison, some of the chemicals bioaccumulate over time to build up to a dangerous amount.  The bioaccumulation occurs in the environment, as chemicals find their way into rivers or lakes, are eaten by the animals there, who in turn are eaten, each time the chemicals laced into this animals bioaccumulate to dangerous amounts.

@mauitable Jenna Haugaard
Maui

Arsenic found in baby formula, baby food, energy bars and more. Its found in rice syrup! Demand safe food. http://t.co/hYgWs5eE

Thu Mar 01 16:31:37 +0000 2012

@Transition_Town Transition_Town_News
http://www.transitiontown.info/

: It's grow time!It's grow time! http://t.co/UXo0Z3m5

Thu Mar 01 17:13:05 +0000 2012

The mysterious rash of tree murders sweeping our nation

A rash of tree murders have popped up in my neighborhood. Trees, 6 feet or so tall, primarily of pine ethnicity, cut down in the prime of life, reportedly the corpses are put on display for bizarre rituals while the tree carcasses are still fresh, and then the dead trees are dumped unceremoniously on the street where cleanup crews have to work extra shifts to clean up the carnage.

We hear reports these murders are going on not just in our town, but around the country, and perhaps, if reports are correct, around the world.

Who knows why these tree murders are happening? It's a puzzling mystery that is now several years old. Looking back in the records we see similar flurries of tree murders every year. It's not clear even how long this has happened or even what the real purpose is.

What we do know is that, if our numbers are accurate, and we hope they aren't, the slaughter numbers in the millions every year. How can so many trees be brutally slain every year and nobody says a peep?

Best Rocket Stove Design Ever - UPDATE

Another Rocket Stove video, this time with a little design tweak.

The best rocket stove design just got better! Airflow was an issue with the original #10 can rocket stove design. I cut some two inch wide "flaps" and pushed them over the top of the rocket stove. This helps keep the top on and allows great airflow. Now the rocket stove is really rockin'.

How to Make a 16 Brick Rocket Stove

Here's another Rocket Stove video, this time showing how to make one with bricks rather than used coffee cans.

Dr. Larry Winiarski makes a clean burning rocket stove using 16 adobe bricks at the Rotary International-sponsored Integrated Cooking Workshop in Tlautla, Mexico

How to Build A Rocket Stove, Step-By-Step

I'm not sure what a Rocket Stove is or what is their advantage.  I understand that it has something to do with efficient fuel usage.  In any case the following video is interesting.

Build a Rocket Stove Step-by-Step. Building a rocket stove is quick and easy. You will need one #10 can and four small cans (soup, corn, beans, etc.). Seeing how to build a rocket stove is much easier then explaining the process in writing. I recommend watching the video and commenting if you have any questions. This is a great alternative heat source and cooking option for camping, emergency preparedness and to cook your food storage on. If you can cook it on a stove you can cook it on a rocket stove.

One way to have a drought resistant lawn

Out here in the Western U.S. we have an issue with little amounts of rain.  In Northern California we kind of ignore the real effect of the lack of rain, and continue growing lawns with grass as if we lived out east where it rains all the time.  Regular grass just doesn't make ecological sense here because we don't get rain for most of the year.  Most years the rain starts around November and ends in March and the rest of the year it's blue skies and no rain, except the last couple years the rain hasn't been starting until February (can you say "global warming"?). 

This morning on my walk I saw this:-

In case it's not clear - this yard is full of rocks.  Specifically the smooth rocks often called "river rock". 

Rocks don't need to be watered, meaning that this part of this family's yard does not require any expenditure of water, meaning that it's drought friendly.  Right?

There are other ways to do "drought friendly" of course.  Such as choosing plants that make sense in the local climate, rather than importing plants that make sense for other climates.  I would rather that this yard have drought friendly plants than rocks, because having more plants in the world helps the atmosphere, but at least they're doing their part to have drought friendly landscaping.

By the way the house across the street had a different take on "drought friendly".  Bare dirt.  No grass or other plants, means the yard doesn't require watering, but it's rather sub-optimal.  The yard next to that one had yet another take -- mulch that suppresses plant growth.  Again, a nice way to avoid having to water the lawn but sub-optimal to the preferential method of planting drought friendly plants.