A poignant and articulate video by my friend and colleague, Pat McArdle.
I am proud to have been a part of a number of these solar cooking efforts in Africa!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
How to Travel Outside your Comfort Zone
Does travel always equal going outside your comfort zone?
Particularly among those of us who travel extensively, there’s a temptation to draw the equivalence. While travel can present opportunities to escape the familiar, to experiment with new behaviors, and to subject yourself to vulnerability and emotional risk, it does not mean that once the backpack is strapped on, you have automatically departed your comfort zone.
We are not referring to Amazing Race-like stunts, or bungee jumping, skydiving or other extreme thrill-seeking travel feats. Instead, we are referring to the comfort zone of the cultural and interpersonal variety and the sorts of uncelebrated travel achievements of human interaction that push mental boundaries. This comfort zone is about overcoming fears of people and cultures different than our own – by doing more than just visiting ruins, churches and temples, mixing it up with the front desk staff of the hostel, and staring out the window of a spiffy tour bus while making grand philosophical projections about the life streaming by outside.
It’s about getting lost – sometimes physically, often times emotionally – and placing yourself in situations whose challenges spit you out on the other side – altered, slightly different, and just possibly a better person.
We’ve met travelers who would like to push themselves beyond the limits of what they know and understand, but they don’t know how to get started. We offer a few ideas on how to begin.
After this, you’re on your own. That’s when the real fun happens.
See the entire article here, on Uncornered Market.
Uncornered Market: Filed Under: Personal Growth, Travel by Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Solar Ovens: Hey, Hey Good Lookin', Whatcha Got Cooking?
Consumers increasingly seek greener energy sources while dreading the costs associated with special roof panels or windmills. Solar ovens represent one of the cheapest and easiest ways to go green. Box cookers, also known as solar ovens, often present no greater investment in time or money than a cardboard box, an old window, aluminum foil and a can of black paint.
History
In 1767, French-Swiss scientist Horace de Saussure created a solar box cooker that achieved temperatures of almost 190 degree Fahrenheit, according to a history of solar cookers compiled by the University of Vermont. Over the next 200 years, scientists and amateur inventors continued to make innovations on the design. In the 1970s, interest in the solar cookers reignited, especially after solar cooking advocates Barbara Kerr and Sherry Cole developed an easily-made version which could be constructed from simple household materials. Today, charitable organizations like Solar Cookers International work with Third World countries to promote solar cooking and to establish the practice in refugee camps and impoverished regions.
Solar Power Systems Find A Professional Solar Energy Installer For Any Type Of System www.CleanEnergyAuthority.com
Function
The simplest solar cookers feature a shallow, medium-sized wooden or cardboard box and a transparent covering. The oven works best if painted black on its exterior, because black best absorbs and retains the sun's rays. A reflective material, such as aluminum foil, lines the inside of the box to capture more sunlight, while the exterior works best if insulated. A box-within-a-box system can provide insulation, especially if you stuff the gap between the two boxes with newspaper. For optimum heat retention, some solar cookers are insulated with non-toxic materials and filled with air pockets, while others use angled reflective flaps to direct more sunlight to the solar oven.
Benefits
SCI points out that solar ovens preserve nutrients due to the lower cooking temperatures. Food rarely burns or dries out in the solar ovens, because their temperatures don't exceed 195 degrees Fahrenheit. Additionally, solar ovens help users conserve electricity, gas, wood or charcoal by forgoing the stove, oven, microwave or grill. SCI considers solar cookers safer than campfire or grills, because they eliminate the danger of structure fires or cooking, as well as the possibility of smoke irritating the eyes or lungs. At their most basic, solar cookers are relatively inexpensive, especially if self-assembled. Because of their low cost and simplicity, third-world countries increasingly utilize the cookers, which can pasteurize water and safely cook food. Finally, during days or months of adequate sunlight, solar cookers can be utilized during power outages.
Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/133034-information-solar-ovens/#ixzz0syaz73Ys
Last updated on: 05/27/10
History
In 1767, French-Swiss scientist Horace de Saussure created a solar box cooker that achieved temperatures of almost 190 degree Fahrenheit, according to a history of solar cookers compiled by the University of Vermont. Over the next 200 years, scientists and amateur inventors continued to make innovations on the design. In the 1970s, interest in the solar cookers reignited, especially after solar cooking advocates Barbara Kerr and Sherry Cole developed an easily-made version which could be constructed from simple household materials. Today, charitable organizations like Solar Cookers International work with Third World countries to promote solar cooking and to establish the practice in refugee camps and impoverished regions.
Solar Power Systems Find A Professional Solar Energy Installer For Any Type Of System www.CleanEnergyAuthority.com
Function
The simplest solar cookers feature a shallow, medium-sized wooden or cardboard box and a transparent covering. The oven works best if painted black on its exterior, because black best absorbs and retains the sun's rays. A reflective material, such as aluminum foil, lines the inside of the box to capture more sunlight, while the exterior works best if insulated. A box-within-a-box system can provide insulation, especially if you stuff the gap between the two boxes with newspaper. For optimum heat retention, some solar cookers are insulated with non-toxic materials and filled with air pockets, while others use angled reflective flaps to direct more sunlight to the solar oven.
Benefits
SCI points out that solar ovens preserve nutrients due to the lower cooking temperatures. Food rarely burns or dries out in the solar ovens, because their temperatures don't exceed 195 degrees Fahrenheit. Additionally, solar ovens help users conserve electricity, gas, wood or charcoal by forgoing the stove, oven, microwave or grill. SCI considers solar cookers safer than campfire or grills, because they eliminate the danger of structure fires or cooking, as well as the possibility of smoke irritating the eyes or lungs. At their most basic, solar cookers are relatively inexpensive, especially if self-assembled. Because of their low cost and simplicity, third-world countries increasingly utilize the cookers, which can pasteurize water and safely cook food. Finally, during days or months of adequate sunlight, solar cookers can be utilized during power outages.
Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/133034-information-solar-ovens/#ixzz0syaz73Ys
About this Author
Melissa Jordan-Reilly has been a writer for 20 years, both as a newspaper reporter and as an editor of nonprofit newsletters. Among the publications in which she has published are, "The Winsted Journal," "Taconic" and "Compass Magazine." A graduate of the University of Connecticut, Jordan-Reilly also pursues sustainable agriculture techniques and tends a market garden at her Northwestern Connecticut home.Article reviewed by Tad Cronn
Last updated on: 05/27/10
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Simple Solutions to Global Hunger: GRA's Global Awareness Festival in Ojai: July 24th, 2010
Global Resource Alliance (GRA), a small So Cal nonprofit dedicated to bringing sustainable solutions to the Mara region of Tanzania, puts on an awareness festival in Ojai, CA at the end of July, promoting the debut of their upcoming documentary:
To be released in its entirety at the festival at the end of July, From the Mara Soil, is a documentary about simple solutions to global hunger, poverty and disease produced by Steve Schrenzel and Global Resource Alliance. Don't miss the debut screening, live music and delicious vegan tamale dinner on July 24th at Meditation Mount in Ojai, Ca! Event details to come.
I have worked on solar cooking projects with GRA in northern TZ, and have been impressed by the dedication and tenacity of their employees, members and volunteers.
Go to www.globalresourcealliance.org for more information.
To be released in its entirety at the festival at the end of July, From the Mara Soil, is a documentary about simple solutions to global hunger, poverty and disease produced by Steve Schrenzel and Global Resource Alliance. Don't miss the debut screening, live music and delicious vegan tamale dinner on July 24th at Meditation Mount in Ojai, Ca! Event details to come.
I have worked on solar cooking projects with GRA in northern TZ, and have been impressed by the dedication and tenacity of their employees, members and volunteers.
Go to www.globalresourcealliance.org for more information.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Solafrica Gets the World Cup to Africa's Slums With Solar Energy
Swiss-based, non-profit organization, Solafrica, brought the 2010 World Cup to Nairobi's largest slum by donating a portable solar station, and some much-needed technology.
Kibera--Africa's largest slum with a population of a million--is as manic about World Cup Football as the rest of the continent. But without electricity, not to mention television, watching any of the games has been out of the question.
That is, until Solafrica's latest contribution.
Working closely with the Kibera Community Youth Program and Greenpeace, Solafrica donated the solar power station, along with a television set, to bring people together to celebrate sport. A similar set-up was done in Jericho.
The power station is compact, easy to use, with minimal wiring, and is set up in a public hall that can house up to 1,000 people.
Read more of this story here.
By Harry Tournemille on June 22, 2010
Solar Energy: www.energyboom.com
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Vote for Pat McArdle's book "Farishta" by 6/2/10 !!
Vote for solar cooking advocate Pat McArdle's new book "Farishta" on the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (under General Fiction) by June 2nd.
Pat says:
Amazon and Penguin Books announced on May 25 that my novel Farishta (Dari for 'angel') is one of three finalists out of 5000 entries in the General Fiction category of their annual writing competition.
I need as many votes as possible on the website below before 11:29 pm on June 2 to win a publishing contract for my novel Farishta. It was inspired by the year I spent with a British Army unit in northern Afghanistan. The main character is a mid-career Foreign Service officer, who has never recovered psychologically from the loss of her husband in the ‘83 Beirut embassy bombing. Her career is in free-fall and her last chance at promotion is an assignment to Afghanistan, which she is reluctant to accept.
Pat says:
Amazon and Penguin Books announced on May 25 that my novel Farishta (Dari for 'angel') is one of three finalists out of 5000 entries in the General Fiction category of their annual writing competition.
I need as many votes as possible on the website below before 11:29 pm on June 2 to win a publishing contract for my novel Farishta. It was inspired by the year I spent with a British Army unit in northern Afghanistan. The main character is a mid-career Foreign Service officer, who has never recovered psychologically from the loss of her husband in the ‘83 Beirut embassy bombing. Her career is in free-fall and her last chance at promotion is an assignment to Afghanistan, which she is reluctant to accept.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
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