Image taken by New Horizons spacecraft.. Image Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI
Solution: Turning plastic bottles into thatched roofs
Image: reuseeverything.org
The previous post, “The ghosts of our consumption,” illustrates the scourge of plastic on sea life. Could plastic thatch roofs be a solution?
Betsy Teutsch writing in The Atlantic:
“David Saiia, a professor of strategic management and sustainability at Duquesne University, has come up with a brilliant alternative: plastic thatch from the huge amount of discarded plastic.”
“Saiia specializes in developing business solutions that will help people out of poverty while preserving habitats. On one of his many trips taking university students to the Ecuadoran nature preserve, Maqui Picuna, he challenged them to think of something useful to do with all the plastic bottles littering this scenic Andes cloud forest. Saiia’s sculpture, painting, and drawing skills kicked in; shortly a proverbial back-of-the-envelope drawing launched his business transforming bottles into thatch strips. The tops and bottoms are sliced off; the remaining body of the bottle is flattened and then cut into strips. (Saiia and Carnegie Mellon’s Engineers without Borders are now tweaking a human-powered machine to do this work.) Next, the strips are adhered to a cross-strip using ultrasonic sealing machines provided by Dukane. If you’ve ever sliced yourself wrestling with a device encased in clam-shell plastic, you know how effective ultrasonic sealing is.”
Replacing traditional thatch roofs with corrugated tin roofs creates homes trap heat and produce deafening noise when it rains. Plastic thatch roofs are a quieter, longer lasting solution.
Sources
“The ghosts of our consumption”
Image: Chris Jordan
“Albatross chicks eat what their parents feed them, plastic included.” Unfortunately, the ocean is now littered with plastics “including pieces of shotgun shells, paintbrushes, pump spray nozzles, toothpaste tube caps, clothespins, buckles, toys - just to name a few.” Their parents “mistake the trash for food as they forage the vast, polluted Pacific Ocean.”
Source: Gyre: The Plastic Ocean exhibit, Anchorage Museum, Alaska
Book: Gyre: The Plastic Ocean
Related
Success Stories: Jack Osbourne on the Paleo diet
Michael Buckner/Getty Images
"Jack, 28, has also credited the Paleo diet for his stunning 70-pound weight loss. The 5-foot-10 Jack, who has struggled with weight his entire life, slimmed down from 260 pounds to 190 pounds following the gluten-free eating plan. He said the Paleo diet helps him stay thin without experiencing chronic hunger and pro-inflammatory blood sugar spikes."
Source
Jack Osbourne does Paleo to manage MS: Ketogenic diet aided Sharon's weight lossRelated posts
80 Paleo recipes with ground beef from Rubies & Radishes
"Ground beef is a great way to include grass-fed beef in your diet. It’s nutritious and affordable. Grass-fed beef is higher in Omega-3s than it’s grain-fed counterparts. It is also one of the best dietary sources of Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). CLA is thought to protect against heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Plus, it tastes amazing! You can read more about the benefits of grass-fed beef here. – "
See more at Rubies & Radishes
Mouse model suggest possible benefit of probiotic therapy in autism
In a research study published in Cell in December 2013, investigators evaluated the effect of correcting abnormal gut permeability on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in mice.
Using a maternal immune activation mouse model, mice treated with Bacteroides fragilis showed correction of their gut permeability defect and improvement in autism-like behaviors including “communicative, stereotypic, anxiety-like and sensorimotor behaviors.”
The findings support the concept that gut bacteria can impact behavior and suggest that probiotics may be beneficial in ASD. The author’s conclusion:
“Taken together, these findings support a gut-microbiome-brain connection in a mouse model of ASD and identify a potential probiotic therapy for GI and particular behavioral symptoms in human neurodevelopmental disorders.”
Reference