Lovely Things Pedaled To A Place Near You

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trailhead650

Several contributors to this site descend from a man from the mountains north of Sparta, who sailed from Greece to New York City more than a century ago, and had a pushcart that earned him enough money to return to his village and become a prosperous olive farmer.

Good things come in, and from, pushcarts. We like the bike design as much as anything else in the photo above, and speaking of aesthetics the last photo below will help understand why we absolutely had to post this. As for pedal-powered treats on wheels, we will do something to extend the reach of 51 in Fort Kochi, so stay tuned… Thanks to Ecowatch.com for this:

Riding your bike to work is gaining momentum as more cities adopt or expand bike-sharing programs, but what about ordering your morning latte or lunch from a bike? With more and more food bikes popping up in cities across the country, finding more meals on wheels (without the truck) might soon be an option. Continue reading →

Sustainable Cities Index 2015

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We have not had as many posts on sustainable cities as we should, but aim to begin making up for that with this link to the current state of the art:

…The purpose of this report, our first Sustainable Cities Index, is to take 50 of the world’s most prominent cities and look at how viable they are as places to live, their environmental impact, their financial stability, and how these elements complement one another. All 50 of these brilliantly different cities – many of which I have been fortunate enough to visit – are in various stages of evolution – some being further along the sustainability journey than others. Each possesses its own geolocation and cultural distinctions but shares common urban challenges in the areas of job creation, mobility, resiliency and improving the quality of life of its residents.

Continue reading →

Dismal Dominance

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The Rise of the Economists: Interest in what economists have to say rises and falls with the economy. Measured by mentions in The New York Times, other professions aren’t as notable.

As a blog that features lots of history and literature, but little from the dismal science, this catches our attention.  Why so little economic reference at Raxa Collective? Wrong question. The economics of sustainable development are the foundation for all that we do, day in and day out, and those economics are embedded in many, if not most, of the stories we share on this blog. For that reason and more, this essay is worth a read and a ponder:

THE DISMAL SCIENCE

How Economists Came to Dominate the Conversation

Have we reached peak economist?

Two hundred years ago, the field of economics barely existed. Today, it is arguably the queen of the social sciences.

These are the conclusions I draw from a deep dive into The New York Times archives first suggested to me by a Twitter follower. While the idea of measuring influence through newspaper mentions will elicit howls of protest from tweed-clad boffins sprawled across faculty lounges around the country, the results are fascinating. And not only because they fit my preconceived biases. Continue reading →

Heroic Termites

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Termite on a fragment of its nest. Credit: Photo by Robert Pringle, Princeton University Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Termite on a fragment of its nest. Credit: Photo by Robert Pringle, Princeton University Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Conservation, on hiatus while they rethink their approach to a constantly rapid-fire changing media landscape, still provides the daily summaries of important environmental news to which we have become accustomed:

TERMITES EMERGE AS UNLIKELY CLIMATE HEROES

In the past several years, designers have looked to termite nests, earthen mounds that dot grasslands throughout the tropics, as a model for energy-efficient dwellings. Now, a study suggests that these mounds may also make their own landscapes more resilient to climate change, preventing savannas from turning into deserts during periods of drought. Continue reading →

We Will Cheer This Until Completion

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The proposed marine reserves around the South Sandwich Islands, Ascension and Pitcairn Islands would protect rare and threatened marine life. Photograph: Matthias Graben/Alamy

We write about marine reserves whenever we hear of a new initiative, and try to keep up with the progress of those as we can. The Guardian is reporting here on a new one; if Helena is in, we are in to support this as we can, and will post updates as available:

Conservationists call for UK to create world’s largest marine reserve

Three proposed reserves in UK waters around the Pitcairn Islands in the Pacific, and Ascension Island and South Sandwich Islands in the Atlantic, would more than double the size of the world’s existing marine protected areas

Pressure is mounting on the UK government and opposition parties to commit to creating at least one massive marine reserve in the Pacific or Atlantic to protect rare and threatened whales, sharks, fish and corals ahead of the general election.

Continue reading →

Museums, Birds, Natural History–A Few Of Our Favorite Things

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Photograph by Jim Harrison Hornbills, including the Malaysian state bird, Buceros rhinoceros (right)

Photograph by Jim Harrison
Hornbills, including the Malaysian state bird, Buceros rhinoceros (right)

If you happen to be in Boston, and are one of our many bird-motivated readers, you may want to visit a place where birds have helped a great institution become greater:

THE GREAT MAMMAL HALL has been emblematic of the Harvard Museum of Natural History for decades. Traditionalists will be glad to know that the gorilla tirelessly pounding on his chest, the placid okapi, and the room-long whale skeleton are still in place, and birds still fill cases on the balconies that run all around the hall. But the birds are no longer solely the “Birds of North America,” as has been the case for ages. Like the University that houses them, they have become more cosmopolitan and are now “Birds of the World.”

“I’m staggered by their diversity,” said Maude Baldwin, a doctoral student

Continue reading →

Marine Reserves, Unexpected Effects

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Marine reserves have been of interest since the first months of this blog in 2011 and are still a mainstay of our incoming and outgoing newsfeeds. Much of our recent interest in the intersection between marine biology and conservation has been focused on invasive species since 2013, due to the super series penned by Phil Karp, most recently added to last week. Thanks to Jason G. Goldman and Conservation for this summary of a special topic within this intersection:

Most marine reserves are optimized for reef fish. These are fish that are born, live, reproduce, and ultimately die in a small area – sometimes on just a single reef. Where there is connectivity across a large area, it’s usually while the fish is in its larval stage. Once it matures, it stays put.

It’s a fitting strategy for conserving fish that live on coral reefs, rocky reefs, or in kelp forests, but does it do much to help those species that are more migratory? These are animals, like the Gulf of Mexico’s gag grouper, that spend their childhoods in one place, a nursery habitat like a mangrove, estuary, or kelp forest, and then migrate to live out their adult years in an adult habitat, like a reef or along the continental shelf. Continue reading →

Making The Most Of The Golden Years

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Carmen Herrera, painter, 99, in her Manhattan studio. Herrera sold her first painting at age 89. Today her work is in the permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art and the Tate Modern.

Carmen Herrera, painter, 99, in her Manhattan studio. Herrera sold her first painting at age 89. Today her work is in the permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art and the Tate Modern.

David Bowie sang of golden years, but we did not think of those this way. Many of us are already there, and all of us are on our way there, to the golden years; the question is what we make of those years. Thanks to Lewis Lapham for his inspirational report in the New York Times:

…The portraits here are of men and women in their 80s and 90s, rich in the rewards of substantial and celebrated careers, and although I know none of them except by name and reputation, I’m asked why their love’s labor is not lost but still to be found. Why do they persist, the old masters? To what end the unceasing effort to discover or create something new? Why not rest on the laurels and the oars? Continue reading →

Fixed-Dome Bio Gas

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Bio-

Bio-Gas Plant

In my opinion sustainable tourism/practices, if done correctly and efficiently, will both benefit the environment and a company or individual. Although today, we are still trying to accomplish the previous with as much at hand as possible. Ideally, sustainability will come hand in hand with positive environmental outcomes and social and economic benefits.
However, some practices are more beneficial (in both instances) than others. Take recycling paper for example: the margin in producing new paper vs. recycling is much lower so incentives are likely lower. Aluminum cans on the other hand are much more cost effective to recycle, bringing higher benefits to both the producer (by reusing material) and for the environment (aluminum has a longer decomposition time). Continue reading →

Lighting Up Language

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Malayalam Project at Kochi Biennale

Malayalam Project at Kochi Biennale

As a language, Malayalam is a perfect example of form as function: its “loopy” forms seem to roll off the speaker’s tongue. The word itself is even a palindrome, reading forward and backward in a never-ending loop. The high literacy rate in Kerala is evident in the newspapers found in tea stalls at every corner, not to mention the ubiquitous walls painted with verbal signage in both urban and rural settings, and those signs often feel more like murals due to the graphic nature of the language itself. The Kochi-Muziris Biennale ’14 is the perfect platform to express this concept:

Among the various internationally-acclaimed installations at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale ’14 is Malayalam Project that strives to draw the world’s attention towards the regional language and script.

A partner project at the Biennale, Malayalam Project is a collaborative forum that experiments with Malayalam letterform and typography. Kochi-based firms Thought Factory Design and Viakerala have put together this typography cum graphic design exhibition in collaboration with Riyas Komu, secretary of the Kochi Biennale.

“In the digital era, where imagery is used to communicate ideas, words become canvas of graphic. We are looking at how Malayalam, which is either a sound or a text enters the visual age we live in,” said the creative director Theresa Joseph George.

Pointing out that her firms have done lot of research into the field of Malayalam typography, Theresa, who is also a graphic designer, says, “Malayalam script with its loopy curves provides immense scope for experimentation.” Continue reading →

Jamaican Columbids

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Cockpit Country from “the Alps”

In rural Jamaica there appears to be a traditional pastime of hunting pigeons and doves (scientifically known as the family Columbidae). There are a total of twelve species on the island, of which seven or eight can be expected in Cockpit Country.

So far we’ve seen six of those species, and although we’d like a closer look at some like the Crested Quail-dove, we’re pretty satisfied with our luck so far. Continue reading →

Beach activities at Marari Pearl

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IMG_1492Team spirit is at an all time high at Marari Pearl! Recently, beach volleyball has become a ritual here, and high spirits are flaring. I have been interning here 3 weeks now and I have seen a great improvement in the skill level (including my own) of the sport. Guests have also been joining in and having a wonderful time. The excitement of the game has not only brought spectators from the resort, but also other people passing by who cannot help but join in on the fun. Continue reading →

Beer, Craftily Crafted

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Water samples at the Clean Water Services brewing competition last year used to compare their high-purity water to other local sources of water. /Courtesy of Clean Water Services

Water samples at the Clean Water Services brewing competition last year used to compare their high-purity water to other local sources of water.
/Courtesy of Clean Water Services

When we previously wrote about artisanal beer and it’s most precious ingredient, water, we thought that the New Belgium Brewery was an outlier of alchemy. But thanks to the NPR team at the Salt, we hear this forward thinking form of recycling is more common than we thought.

Clean Water Services of Hillsboro says it has an advanced treatment process that can turn sewage into drinking water. The company, which runs four wastewater treatment plants in the Portland metro area, wants to show off its “high-purity” system by turning recycled wastewater into beer.

Clean Water Services has asked the state for permission to give its water to a group of home brewers. The Oregon Brew Crew would make small batches of beer to be served at events – not sold at a brewery.

But as of now, the state of Oregon doesn’t technically allow anyone to drink wastewater, no matter how pure it is.

The Oregon Health Authority has approved the company’s request for the beer project. But the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission will also have to sign off on it before anyone serves a beer made from recycled sewage.

Continue reading →