Remember this next time you think about eating fast food

Image: www.ugru.uaeu.ac.ae

I know we’re kind of not the norm, but our family doesn’t eat fast food. My kids don’t feel like they’re missing out on anything … because they’re not. Well, maybe they’re missing out on excessive sodium and saturated fat. They still get plenty of treats and “kid food,” just not from the standard fast food joints.

We’re far from perfect and could definitely stand to improve our eating habits even more, but I’m doing my best to help them resist the marketing that is impossible to avoid seeing. The number of TV ads for food and drinks that kids view per year, shared at 2:28, is out of control. Our kids deserve better.

Instead of eating fast food, try these 8 great tips to eat healthy on a budget

Are you ready to take some real action? Here are some ways of getting involved in your community to help bring about food freedom: http://www.naturalcuresnotmedicine.com/FoodFreedom

Source: Raw For Beauty

Using Solar Energy To Turn Ocean Water into Drinking Water

“Projects ‘for the 90%’ mostly fall somewhere between two extremes: charity and business,” designer Gabriele Diamanti tells Co.Design. “Neither was my inspiration!” Instead, spurred on by his own extensive travel and friends’ involvement in NGOs, he developed a fascination with global water scarcity as a graduate student at Milan Polytechnic in 2005; he recently decided to pursue his interest again and the result is Eliodomestico, an open-source variation on a solar still.

It functions by filling the black boiler with salty sea water in the morning, then tightening the cap. As the temperature and pressure grows, steam is forced downwards through a connection pipe and collects in the lid, which acts as a condenser, turning the steam into fresh water. Once Diamanti established the fundamentals were sound, he experimented with a series of concepts for the aesthetic of the object. “My goal was to design something friendly and recognizable for the users,” he explains. “The process developed quite naturally to determine the current shape; every detail is there for a reason, so the form, as well as production techniques, represent a compromise between technical and traditional.”

Primary field studies in sub-Saharan Africa revealed the habit of carrying goods on the head–also a common practice in other areas around the world–and this was integrated into Eliodomestico’s plan. And while solar stills aren’t a totally new concept, Diamanti says it’s rare to find them in a domestic context rather than in missions or hospitals, or as large plants overseen by qualified personnel that serve entire communities. “I tried to make something for a real household that could be operated directly by the families,” he says.

The project recently won a Core77 Design Award for Social Impact; already, Diamanti has received international feedback, and hopes to see locals adapt and modify the design to take advantage of their own readily available materials and native environments. “The idea is that instructions for the project can be delivered to craftsmen” with the help of NGOs, he says, then a micro-credit program could be established to finance small-scale start-ups specializing in production. “So the NGO is the spark, micro-credit is the fuse, the local craftsmen are the bomb!”

Source: Prevent Disease

Nuclear power plant shut down after radiation leak found at one of the largest nuclear facilities in the U.S.

Image: wikipedia.org

A reactor at one of the nation’s largest nuclear power plants has been taken offline due to a radioactive leak within a containment building.

“Out of an abundance of caution,” service was temporarily removed from Unit 1 at the Oconee Nuclear Station in western South Carolina early Monday, according to ONS spokeswoman B.J. Gatten.

A robot was used to confirm the leak over the weekend after it was first suspected Friday night inside Unit 1’s containment facility, Gatten said.

Less than one tenth of a gallon of radioactive material is leaking per minute, though it is not yet known how long the leak has existed, she said, according to WYFF.

The leak remains solely inside the containment building, a steel-lined, airtight area with concrete walls several
feet thick. No one works inside the containment building, Gatten said.

The leak is subject to ongoing repairs and analysis, though there is no estimate for when it will go back online.

Gatten claims the leak will not put any employees or the public in danger, nor will it affect service.
The leak has been reported to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, she said. A Commission report said Unit 1 was running at full power Friday.

Unit 2 at ONS was offline already for routine refueling, leaving one reactor – Unit 3 – online Monday.
ONS is run by Duke Energy, and began operation in 1973 with an initial expiration date in 2013, per 40-year regulatory standards. However, its license was extended for an additional 20 years – only the second reactor to earn such a renewal – and is now scheduled to expire in 2033.

The power plant is located on Lake Keowee near Seneca, South Carolina. Its energy output is over 2,500 megawatts – enough electricity to power 1.9 million homes, according to Duke Energy.

Source: RT.com via rawforbeauty.com

How to turn one bicycle into an electric generator, water pump, grinder and blender

This is a DIY Maya Pedal multiuse bike machine.

Its functions include:


-knife sharpener, to maintain farming equipment

-grinder, for grinding coffee, grain, spices, or to make animal feed

-corn degrainer to simplify and accelerate a necessary but time consuming task in processing corn

-electric generator for off the grid lighting

-blender to improve nutrition and add enable home based micro industry

-water pump, capable of moving 5 gallons per minute

The tools are mounted on tables which attach to a simple 3 point mounting system. The tool tables can be switched easily using only one tool. Changing attachments usually takes under 5 minutes.

The design is simple yet versatile and I am still working on developing more attachments.

Similar pedal powered machines have proved to be very useful to subsistence farmers in rural Guatemala. My design combines these 6 machines into one simple design, to streamline production and lower costs. While it is unlikely any one user will want all 6 tools, the machine provides more utility at a lower cost.

All of the parts are locally available and it can be built and maintained with a minimal number of tools. (source)

So how do you make this you ask? It's going to take a bit of experimentation because the there are no instructions to build this specific model. However, here's how to make the 4 basic versions of the Maya Pedal bike, you'll have to combine them if you want to make the wonder bike from the video above:

Pedal Powered Blender

Pedal Powered Corn Mill

Step by step guide to build a pedal powered water pump

Pedal powered electric generator which we wrote about before. The bike generator in this video isn't a Maya Pedal model but similar



For more info and to support please visit mayapedal.org

Here is a professional promotional video in Spanish about Maya Pedal