By Alyssa Danigelis

Noise from wind turbine blades, inadvertent bat and bird kills and even the way wind turbines look have made installing them anything but a breeze. New York design firm Atelier DNA has an alternative concept that ditches blades in favor of stalks. Resembling thin cattails, the Windstalks generate electricity when the wind sets them waving. The designers came up with the idea for the planned city Masdar, a 2.3-square-mile, automobile-free area being built outside of Abu Dhabi. Atelier DNA’s “Windstalk” project came in second in the Land Art Generator competition a contest sponsored by Madsar to identify the best work of art that generates renewable energy from a pool of international submissions.

The proposed design calls for 1,203 “stalks,” each 180-feet high with concrete bases that are between about 33- and 66-feet wide. The carbon-fiber stalks, reinforced with resin, are about a foot wide at the base tapering to about 2 inches at the top. Each stalk will contain alternating layers of electrodes and ceramic discs made from piezoelectric material, which generates a current when put under pressure. In the case of the stalks, the discs will compress as they sway in the wind, creating a charge.

“The idea came from trying to find kinetic models in nature that could be tapped to produce energy,” explained Atelier DNA founding partner Darío Núñez-Ameni.

In the proposal for Masdar, the Windstalk wind farm spans 280,000 square feet. Based on rough estimates, said Núñez-Ameni the output would be comparable to that of a conventional wind farm covering the same area.

“Our system is very efficient in that there is no friction loss associated with more mechanical systems such as conventional wind turbines,” he said.

Each base is slightly different, and is sloped so that rain will funnel into the areas between the concrete to help plants grow wild. These bases form a sort of public park space and serve a technological purpose. Each one contains a torque generator that converts the kinetic energy from the stalk into energy using shock absorber cylinders similar to the kind being developed by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Levant Power .

Wind isn’t constant, though, so Núñez-Ameni says two large chambers below the whole site will work like a battery to store energy. The idea is based on existing hydroelectric pumped storage systems. Water in the upper chamber will flow through turbines to the lower chamber, releasing stored energy until the wind starts up again.

The top of each tall stalk has an LED lamp that glows when the wind is blowing — more intensely during strong winds and not all when the air is still. The firm anticipates that the stalks will behave naturally, vibrating and fluttering in the air.

“Windstalk is completely silent, and the image associated with them is something we’re already used to seeing in a field of wheat or reeds in a marsh. Our hope is that people living close to them will like to walk through the field — especially at night — under their own, private sky of swarming stars,” said Núñez-Ameni.

After completion, a Windstalk should be able to produce as much electricity as a single wind turbine, with the advantage that output could be increased with a denser array of stalks. Density is not possible with conventional turbines, which need to be spaced about three times the rotor’s diameter in order to avoid air turbulence. But Windstalks work on chaos and turbulence so they can be installed much closer together, said Núñez-Ameni.

Núñez-Ameni also reports that the firm is currently working on taking the Windstalk idea underwater. Called Wavestalk, the whole system would be inverted to harness energy from the flow of ocean currents and waves. The firm’s long-term goal is to build a large system in the United States, either on land or in the water.

from our friends at Discovery News

Keep in mind that there’s a bit of stats tweaking going on here. ISAAA has calculated that total by adding together all areas of land cultivated with GM crops since their introduction in 1996. In 2009 current land under GM cultivation was 148 million hectares.

Brazil saw the fastest increase in GM crop adoption last year, but area under GM cultivation fell in Europe. Just joining the GM crowd in 2010 were Pakistan and Burma which both began planting GM cotton for the first time.

We’ve detailed pretty much every talking point on why GM crops aren’t the saviors of humanity that their manufacturers would like you to think they are dozens of times–from corporate control of crops, to subversion of millennia-old agricultural practice, to farmers suicides in developing nations, to the fact that crop yields aren’t nearly as good as claimed (often), to increased use of herbicides (more profit), potential health problems, etc etc etc.

by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY

from our allies at TreeHuggers.com

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
One of the most important political and economic thinkers of our time, this Canadian journalist and author (The Shock Doctrine and No Logo) penetrates the veils of corporate globalization to expose transnational capital’s most ruthless strategies yet to exploit catastrophe from Baghdad to New Orleans. She portrays her vision of how people’s movements can counter the disaster of disaster capitalism.

28mn

from our friends at Bioneers.org

You know who you are….

Thanks to www.jonathancoulton.com

Nature teaches us that no system is truly isolated and positive synergies are often at work. Yet the isolation of the various technological disciplines in our educational and industrial institutions has limited synergy in the human-built world. These walls are starting to break down.

A seminal He co-founded the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, and was formerly a professor of Community Health and Sustainability and of Plastics Engineering at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. Author of over 100 patents, papers and books including Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice, he serves on the board of the Green Chemistry Institute in Washington DC.

brought to us by our friends at Bioneers.org

The Visionary Activist – Dark of Moon, Dark of Oil Regime, Lifeboat Movement Goes Live

Caroline Casey_Michael Ruppert 061010

Caroline welcomes appropriately dire long-time prognosticator of peak oil industrial collapse, fellow presenter at Harmony Festival, Mike Ruppert. Critique and encouragement to build life-boats. “Localize or Die.”
http://www.collapsenet.com/

…the most rousing romp through dire information I have heard in quite some time !  Inspiring !!

TTMG

Mike Ruppert – Bio:

A leading Peak Oil theorist, author, and “a one man crusade trying to expose America’s bogus war on drugs.” He is also the publisher/editor of From the Wilderness, a newsletter read in more than 50 countries including more than sixty members of the U.S. Congress, professors at more than 40 universities around the world, and major business and economic leaders. Since 9/11 Mike has been in demand as a university lecturer and has spoken on Peak Oil and 9/11 in nine countries. Having concluded that the US government and markets will be useless in preparing American citizens for the coming crisis, Mike’s current focus is on individual and community preparedness for the coming challenges and the development of a reliable news service to quickly identify and track breaking developments around the world.

Mike is a former LAPD narcotics investigator and whistleblower. He received his degree in Political Science (with honors) from UCLA. In 1996, after 18 years of struggle, he finally achieved one of his deepest wishes: a face to face public encounter with then CIA Director John Deutch on national television. Washington sources later told Mike that Deutch’s mishandling of the encounter cost him a guaranteed appointment as Secretary of Defense.

From the Wilderness’ video, The Truth and Lies About 9-11, has sold more than 15,000 copies and includes special exclusive interviews with Representatives Ron Paul (R-TX), Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Professor Peter Dale Scott, (UC Berkeley), Professor John Metzger (Michigan State) and Catherine Austin Fitts (former Assistant Secretary of Housing and Managing Director, Dillon Read).

Mike’s book, Crossing The Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil, is one of the three best-selling books globally and in the U.S. about the attacks of 9/11. Rubicon is the only book to show that Vice President Richard Cheney, the U.S. government and Wall Street had a well-developed awareness of Peak Oil before the 9/11 attacks and that U.S. policy since then has been consistent with Peak Oil imperatives. In May, 2006, Crossing the Rubicon was added to the Harvard School of Business library.

from our friends at www.coyotenetworknews.com

less then 60 minutes.

BP Oilpocalypse Creates Underwater Nightmare

from our friends at Good Morning America

D.C. Douglas may have lost his gig as a voice over announcer on Geico commercials, but he’s found another use for his time and talent … making a tongue-in-cheek PSA warning people, “don’t drunk dial FreedomWorks.”

Douglas, also known as Lance Baxter, made headlines when he left a nasty message for the conservative organization which is closely aligned with the Tea Party. The message and a subsequent call from FreedomWorks back to Douglas were leaked, and Geico promptly fired him.

“What I did may have been entertaining, but it was also impetuous and not well thought out,” Douglas said in a statement released on Monday. “If I were to make that call today, I would use a more diaphragm-supported voice and ask very different questions.”

from our friends at www.huffingtonpost.com

The Visionary Activist -
All Oil is Spilled – Gulf Coast Cataclysm:
Convening the Council of Reverent Ingenuity

to animate our cultural leadership response to the Gulf Coast obscene oil cataclysm
Caroline Casey welcomes Dune Lankard, Atabaskan Eyak from Copper River Delta in Alaska, conservation economies derived from long-term unresolved impacts of Exxon Valdez disaster.
Followed by Darryl Hannah, actress-environmental advocate, voice for the earth, Ambassadress from the Sea, and David Blume, sane, reverent fuel advocate author of “Alcohol Can Be a Gas” to infuse sense into our collective that we may compost insidious fossil fueled economy.VisionaryActivist_050610
59 great minutes

From our friends at www.coyotenetworknews.com and KPFA.org

A 1 minute meme on derivative art.

>> a must see in full screen<<

less then 3 minutes

All Creative Work Is Derivative, by Nina Paley

Message: All Creative Work is Derivative.

Why: Copyright control extends not just to verbatim copies, but to “derivative works.” This has led to censorship on a grand scale. For example, the seminal German silent film “Nosferatu” was deemed a derivative work of “Dracula” and courts ordered all copies destroyed. Shortly before his death, author J.D. Salinger convinced U.S. courts to censor another author who transformed his characters. And so on.

The whole history of human culture evolves through copying, making tiny transformations (sometimes called “errors”) with each replication. Copying is the engine of cultural progress. It is not “stealing.” It is, in fact, quite beautiful, and leads to a cultural diversity that inspires awe.

from our friends at questioncopyright.org

William McDonough and Co. are THE leaders in a much better design for long term health of our Planet. Through working in corporate world they have had a major impact on creating recyclable technology and eco-friendly work places that use bio-and techno feedback loops were waste is either eliminated or significantly reduced, increasing profits and productivity as well.

The Hannover Principles

1.    Insist on rights of humanity and nature to co-exist in a healthy, supportive, diverse and sustainable condition.
2.    Recognize interdependence. The elements of human design interact with and depend upon the natural world, with broad and diverse implications at every scale. Expand design considerations to recognizing even distant effects.
3.    Respect relationships between spirit and matter. Consider all aspects of human settlement including community, dwelling, industry and trade in terms of existing and evolving connections between spiritual and material consciousness.
4.    Accept responsibility for the consequences of design decisions upon human well-being, the viability of natural systems and their right to co-exist.
5.    Create safe objects of long-term value. Do not burden future generations with requirements for maintenance or vigilant administration of potential danger due to the careless creation of products, processes or standards.
6.    Eliminate the concept of waste. Evaluate and optimize the full life-cycle of products and processes, to approach the state of natural systems, in which there is no waste.
7.    Rely on natural energy flows. Human designs should, like the living world, derive their creative forces from perpetual solar income. Incorporate this energy efficiently and safely for responsible use.
8.    Understand the limitations of design. No human creation lasts forever and design does not solve all problems. Those who create and plan should practice humility in the face of nature. Treat nature as a model and mentor, not as an inconvenience to be evaded or controlled.
9.    Seek constant improvement by the sharing of knowledge. Encourage direct and open communication between colleagues, patrons, manufacturers and users to link long term sustainable considerations with ethical responsibility, and re-establish the integral relationship between natural processes and human activity.
10.  The Hannover Principles should be seen as a living document committed to the transformation and growth in the understanding of our interdependence with nature, so that they may adapt as our knowledge of the world evolves.

the video brought to us by our friends at Standford University

Ron Cobb’s 1969 Ecology Flag

Earth Day is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in held on April 22, 1970.

Many communities celebrate Earth Week, an entire week of activities focused on environmental issues. The first Earth Week originated in Philadelphia in 1970 (starting April 16 and culminating on Earth Day, April 22.)
Earth Day Network, a group that wishes to become the coordinator of Earth Day globally, asserts that Earth Day is now observed on April 22 on virtually every country on Earth.

This is the only planet we have… !

An alternative end….