Organic Products Safety Called into Question

According to an article found at the NYTimes.com, organic products may not be safer than their conventional counterparts.

Organic products are generally purchased who think they are healthier and taste better than their conventional counterparts. But with the recent outbreak of salmonella in organic peanut butter, many organic buyers are beginning to have their doubts.

“Because there are some increased health benefits with organics, people extrapolate that it’s safer in terms of pathogens,” said Urvashi Rangan, a senior scientist and policy analyst with Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. “I wouldn’t necessarily assume it is safer.”

However, organic certification processes do not include testing for safety, just health inspections and pest-management plans.

The Department of Agriculture has given permission to use the green and white “certified organic” seal to certain parties, but they aren’t directly testing for food safety standards.

Now, in light of the recent salmonella outbreak, Barbara C. Robinson, acting director of the agriculture department’s National Organic Program is sending directions to ensure that investigators look beyond pesticide levels and crop management techniques and report things like finding rodents and droppings to the proper agency.

“For example, while we do not expect organic inspectors to be able to detect salmonella or other pathogens,” Ms. Robinson wrote, “their potential sources should be obvious from such evidence as bird, rodent and other animal feces or other pest infestations.”

Organic foods and suppliers have long been in need of stricter regulations and it seems as though the recent outbreak of salmonella might prove a catalyst, as conventional brands are declared safe and organic brands remain ambiguous.

To learn more about the recent salmonella outbreak in peanut butter, as well as the possible changes in organic food regulation, read the original article here.

Help Timothy Leary Live In Cyberspace!

Before 1960's counter-cultural icon Timothy Leary died in 1996, he knew that one of the tools that could keep him immortal to future generations was computer technology, or more specifically, the internet. It's a little over a decade later and it looks like his dream may come to fruition in a way that could make him even more influential than he ever was in life.

The Timothy Leary estate is currently seeking donations to have his archives completely digitized and uploaded to the world wide web. With over 500,000 typed documents, including hundreds of letters from luminaries such as Allan Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Aldous Huxley and Abbie Hoffman, as well as documents from his Harvard research and hundreds of hours worth of audio and video footage, the project is proving to be a huge undertaking, and probably the first of its kind. Not only will it please Leary fans who wish to know every possible known facet of his life, it would provide the history of the entire psychedelic movement.

According to the estate, the newly planned site would be completely searchable and indexed, and that "Dr. Leary had this dream before most people even knew what the internet was, or how important it would become."

Despite being known as a distinctly 60's figure, Leary was a leading proponent in moving people towards the future with technology. In a 1995 interview posted on EcoMall.com, Leary said, "In the 1980's, of course, an incredible event happened which changed American culture--a new media developed. Radio developed as a new media in the twenties and created the jazz age and a changed America and of course television changed America by bringing the world into our living room. But it was all passive. The problem with the sixties, the problem with television watching, is it's passive consumption... But in the 1980's an incredible technological advance happened in media--computers--YOU could change what's on your screen."

As the internet developed and became more mainstream in 90's, Leary took to it immediately, and may have even been one of the first bloggers as he documented his declining health nearly daily.

The amount of bandwidth needed for a massive Timothy Leary archive isn't cheap; however, and donations can be made here to actualize the groundbreaking project.

NASA To Seek Life On Other Planets

NASA recently announced that the biggest camera to ever be launched into outer space will soon scour the Milky Way galaxy for warm, rocky, "Earth-like" planets that may host life. The Kepler spacecraft is scheduled to spend 3 1/2 years looking at more than 100,000 stars similar to our sun, with the rest of us hoping that some Star Wars-like universes actually exist.

"Kepler will push back the boundaries of the unknown in our patch of the Milky Way galaxy. And its discoveries may fundamentally alter humanity's view of itself," Jon Morse, director of NASA's astrophysics division, told reporters.

The spaceship will cruise around the "habitable" zones of stars--areas where a planet wouldn't be so close as to be burnt to a crisp, and not so far away as to be frozen. But to give some perspective on this issue, 300 some planets have been discovered orbiting stars other than our sun since 1995, but most are large gas planets unlikely able to host life. William Borucki of NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in California remains optimistic; however, with Reuters reporting that he estimated Kepler could find as much as 50 rocky and water-containing planets.

Of course, nothing is guaranteed, and scientists could spend the next 3 1/2 years looking at grainy video images of barren planets instead. The mission starts March 5, and NASA says it will cost $591 million--let's hope it finds some needy extraterrestrials because there's plenty of life forms here on earth that could use such funds right now.

Dogs Help Fight Cancer and Other Deadly Diseases

According to an article found at Health.com, the future of cancer prevention may be in the nasal passages of canines.

The Pine Street Foundation, a cancer education and research center in San Anselmo, Calif., is training dogs to literally sniff out early stage ovarian cancer. The Foundation now holds success in training dogs to identify patients with lung and breast cancer, but only in the late stages of the diseases.

Nicholas Broffman, executive director of the foundation, gave the following quote:

“Is there something about the breath of people with cancer that is different in people who do not have cancer?” Broffman wants to know. “Our goal is to identify what collection of molecules in the breath are unique to ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, and lung cancer, and develop a test to find those.”

The use of animals in disease detection is not new, and other animals have been used to detect disease.

Scientists are likely years from identifying exactly what the dogs detect in the difference between the breath of those with cancer and those without. Eventually, scientists hope to discover the type of cancer a patient suffers from and even use a mechanical device to do so.

“It would be great to have a Breathalyzer-type machine that could do this,” Broffman says. “Our goal is to identify what collection of molecules are unique to ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, or lung cancer, and can we develop a test to find those. Scientifically, this is very difficult.”

Dogs are able to detect nuances in scents that scientific devices cannot, allowing them to be the at the forefront of cancer prevention.

To read more about dogs and other animals used to fight disease, read the original article at Health.com.

Name A Cow, Get More Milk

An article found on Discovery News describes a new study, published in January in the journal Anthrozoos that has found that cows with names produce more milk.

Call a cow by any name and it will be more productive according to cattle behaviorist Catherine Douglas, of Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. Cows like to feel good and not like they are just any cow.

Cows with names have more relaxed behavior, and previous studies have shown that elevated stress hormones like cortisol reduce milk production by interfering with the milk-boosting hormone oxytocin. Anxiety also makes cows more difficult to milk because they stomp and kick.

"If you call a cow by name, it indicates that perhaps you talk to her more, perhaps you consider her more of an individual, perhaps you have more of a one-to-one relationship," said Douglas, who has seen firsthand the consequences of stress in a cow. "Personally, I have had a black eye and broken ribs from milking."

For the study, Douglas and colleague Peter Rowlinson surveyed 500 farmers around the UK about their feelings on cows--both their own and others.

Of those surveyed, almost half of the farms named their cow. Of the named cows, they were reported to produce an average of 258 more liters of milk over the 10-month milking season, or about an extra liter a day than cows without names.

Although dairy cows don’t produce milk until their second year, the study also found that cows that were treated well between the ages of six months and 15 months produced more milk later on.

The study reflects findings of how other animals respond to stress and fear and also has implications about how farmers treat their animals, even as farming becomes increasingly industrialized.

Company Provides Memorial Space Flights

It was considered eccentric and almost impossible to fathom when counter-cultural icon Timothy Leary did it, but now it's a service available to all. Celestis is a company that provides memorial funeral services for those who want their cremated remains to orbit in outer space--and it's even somewhat affordable.

Celestis, Inc. is an affiliate company of Space Services, Inc., a Houston, Texas-based aerospace company who helped popularize the notion of public participation space flights. They were responsible for launching Leary's ashes, and have since done the same for Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in 1997, and most recently his wife Majel Barrett Roddenberry is scheduled for next year. But now the company offers various services for the entire public.

Ranging from $695 to $12,500, customers have the options to send their loved ones just above the earth and back, into Earth's orbit, into the lunar orbit or surface, or even into deep space.

Give the website a glance and see if somebody you knew could finally have a dream fulfilled.

Mike Duke: Man with a Green Plan

Multi-billion corporation Wal-Mart has suddenly seemed to have grown a conscience. Wal-Mart, Inc. has vowed its new leadership plan to "expand efforts to reduce waste, use renewable energy and push suppliers to clean up their act," the company's incoming chief executive officer said Monday.

Mike Duke will become the company's new boss on the first of February, and claims he wants to "accelerate" Wal-Marts efforts in sustainability. The "Sustainability Milestone Meeting," which was broadcast over the Internet, was used to set the mood for the company to turn a new leaf. Duke says his plans are non-negotiable. "I am very serious about it. It's not something of the past. This is all about the future," he proclaimed.

Efforts to reduce waste by using renewable energy have been a strategy in improving Wal-Mart's reputation since 2005. The company is now holding more energy-efficient products, as well as selling only concentrated laundry detergent by eliminating phosphate in the product.

Phosphate compounds are "a water pollutant that can damage aquatic ecosystems by stimulating the growth of algae," (Nicole Maestri, Reuters) which decreases oxygen for fish and plants. Phosphates are believed to be the main contributor to phosphate-based water pollution. The company is looking to eliminate the chemical entirely from detergent in the near future.

Duke's Wal-Mart will also cut back on packaging by 5 percent by the end of 2013 in American regions, which include stores in Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Central America, Brazil and Argentina. There are 2,300 store locations within the region.

Duke wishes to crack down on unacceptable products made in supplying countries such as China, and hold them to stricter regulations, including environmental ones. He reiterated the need for employees not to put these issues on "the backburner."

Wal-Mart's shares went up 10 cents at $48.45 on the New York Stock Exchange after the meeting took place.

People Can’t Help Smiling

In an article by Jeanna Bryner of LiveScience.com, she describes the findings of a new study that shows facial expressions are in genes.

By comparing the facial expressions from more than 4,800 photographs of sighted and blind judo athletes at the 2004 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games, researchers were able to determine that sighted and sightless form the same “social smile” when faced with the same social context--in this case, winning a medal.

Social smiles use only the mouth muscles, while true smiles, known as Duchenne smiles, cause the eyes to twinkle and narrow and the cheeks to rise.

Both sighted and sightless athletes in the photographs used social smiles during the medal ceremonies.

"Losers pushed their lower lip up as if to control the emotion on their face, and many produced social smiles," said researcher David Matsumoto, a psychologist at San Francisco State University.

The athletes also exhibited the same expressions when exhibiting sadness, which Matsumoto says is shown by a downturned mouth and the raising of the inner eyebrows.

One idea behind the study had been that people worldwide learn how to match facial configurations with certain emotional states by watching others. Using photos of the blind athletes disproved this theory, as they could not watch others making faces.

"Individuals blind from birth could not have learned to control their emotions in this way through visual learning, so there must be another mechanism," Matsumoto said. "It could be that our emotions, and the systems to regulate them, are vestiges of our evolutionary ancestry. It's possible that in response to negative emotions, humans have developed a system that closes the mouth so that they are prevented from yelling, biting or throwing insults."

The study is published in the January 2009 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Peace Games

In an effort to combat violence with a “get ‘em while they’re young” strategy, Peace Games offers to teach children to resolve conflicts without violence.

Found at PeaceGames.org, Peace Games offers programs through elementary schools, families and volunteers, to help children grow and live in a safe, conflict-free environment.

Peace Games has many goals that they want to meet in their quest for peace at a childhood level, including building children’s knowledge, relationships and opportunities to be peacmakers, while involving the community at large. The other goals include inspiring new generations of educators and activists as well as removing the stigma of the connection between violence and youth.

For this last goal, Peace Games strives to show that youths are not just victims of violence, but also peacemakers. Not all young people are bullies or bullied, nor are all children likely to commit gun-related incidents in schools. Many children try to help others and avoid conflict and Peace Games want to help build that up through their various partnerships.

Since 1992, when Peace Games was founded by Dr. Francelia Butler, Peace Games has grown to be a national organization, with programs found in nearly every major city in the nation. The program model for Peace Games begins at the school level and then goes on to incorporate more people that can help make a positive impact. From the students, the program grows to include school staff, families, volunteers and eventually the community that supports the school.

If you are interested in becoming a part of Peace Games, the organization offers training programs to help teach and promote peace in a violence-free atmosphere.

Many talk about the need for social change and doing something about the schools, but Peace Games seems to really be getting involved and making peace a reality.

For more information, visit PeaceGames.org.

Continental Airlines Takes Flight with Biofuel

Continental Flight No. 9990 recently became the first by a U.S. commercial airliner to test biofuel in flight.

"Nothing has been modified," Erik Bachelet, president of engine manufacturer CFM International, told Discovery News. "The aircraft is expected to resume its normal daily service after the operation."

During a two-hour flight, the aircraft burned a fuel made of algae and jatropha, a plant that grows in arid lands. The test flight, designed to find how the airplane performs with one of its engines burning a fuel that is 50 percent petroleum-based and 50 percent derived from plants, required special licensing from the FAA and had no passengers aboard.

"We're looking to see that the biofuel performs the same as traditional fuel," said Continental spokeswoman Susannah Thurston.

The biofuel was blended with standard airplane fuel to meet density requirements for optimal jet engine performance.

Jennifer Holmgren, general manager at UOP, a Honeywell company that develops and licenses technology to refineries explained that while it possible to meet the rigorous standards using just biofuel, it is still to expensive. The cost is expected to drop with growing demand.

UOP focused on using algae as alternative fuel so as not to interfere with land space that is used to grow food.

Holgrem says that biofuel licensing should happen later this year and that it may be used primarily within the next 10 to 15 years.

The pilots on the test reported that there was no discernible difference in the performance of biofuel from their regularly used jet fuel and that they actually used less biofuel than jet fuel when landing, an added bonus.

Continental Airlines follows on the heels of similar biofuel tests conducted by Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand and Japan Airlines is to conduct a biofuel test at the end of the month.

New Creatures Discovered in the Australian Deep

In a recent search of unexplored Australian water, scientists have discovered several previously unknown species of marine life. In a joint US-Australian research project off the coast of the southern island of Tasmania, the team, led by lead researcher Ron Thresher, "search for life deeper than any previous voyage in Australian waters." A submerged robot named Jason was used to explore a rift in the earth's crust known as the Tasman Fracture Zone, a sheer two kilometer (1.24 mile) drop to 4,000 meters (13,200 feet) below the ocean's surface.

"Our sampling documented the deepest known Australian fauna, including a bizarre carnivorous sea squirt, sea spiders and giant sponges, and previously unknown marine communities dominated by gooseneck barnacles and millions of round, purple-spotted sea anemones," Thresher said.

The sea squirt, also known as an ascidian, stands 50 centimeters tall on the sea floor at a depth of just over 4,000 meters. It traps prey in its funnel-like front section if they touch it when they swim past. On ship blogger, Adam Subhas, described the sea squirt as "basically an underwater Venus fly trap, but much bigger."

They found not only new species, but also new evidence of global warming’s threat to sea life. Ancient coral fields, dating back more than 10,000 years, as well as modern-day deep-water coral reefs were found, and Thresher said samples taken would provide ancient climate data for use in global warming projections. Although more testing is needed, it is suspected that ocean acidification is behind the change.

"If our analysis identifies this phenomenon as the cause of the reef system's demise, then the impact we are seeing now below 1,300 meters might extend to the shallower portions of the deep-reefs over the next 50 years, threatening this entire community," Thresher said.

The rise of temperatures in the world’s oceans are blamed on global warming, which is caused by the build-up in the atmosphere of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. This is also blamed for higher acidity in seawater.

Climate change will also be responsible for the death of the Great Barrier Reef within decades if global warming is not stopped.

Paper Homes Provide New Hopes

Weighing less than a Volkswagen Golf and designed as angular and modern deco as anything you'd find in the Hollywood Hills, the new paper house is an eco-friendly solution for the Third World's shantytowns, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them turn up in America eventually.

Invented by Gerd Niemoeller under the Swiss-based company The Wall AG, the 36 square meter home retails for roughly $5,000 and is made almost entirely out of paper--resin-soaked cellulose recovered from recycled cardboard and newspapers to be exact. The material is surprisingly durable and constructed in a way to provide excellent insulation. Each home comes with eight built-in single and double beds, book shelves, a kitchen table with benches, as well as a veranda and a sealed-off area housing a shower and a lavatory.

The 58-year-old engineer who invented the house designed it with refugees and the poorest people in mind. "People don't want to flee their countries, they've been driven to leave their homes out of the need to survive," he told Time Magazine. "The number of migrants, refugees living in improvised housing, is going to grow with climate change, and we offer an alternative." The alternative will provide a more affordable and environmentally conscious substitute to the iron sheds often seen in the slums of the developing world. Some are even excited by the aesthetics the paper homes will offer.

According to Time, more than 2,000 units have already been ordered by a Nigerian company, and inquiries have also been coming in from Angola, Zimbabwe, and South America. Interestingly enough, several Americans are leaving comments on the news site's message board asking how they can purchase the homes for themselves, even though Niemoeller is advertising them by claiming the home "has been designed so that a family can slaughter an animal on the veranda, wash it in the shower and hang it, along with fish, on an integrated washing line."

Rising Sea Levels Claim California Beaches

Rising sea levels are probably three of the scariest words having to do with global warming, and according to the Los Angeles Times, California is now forced to pay attention to them. New research shows that Malibu's Broad Beach is shrinking at a faster rate than originally thought, and coastal development isn't helping matters either.

The LA Times writes:

Sandwiched between the advancing sea and coastal armor built to protect multimillion-dollar homes, the strip of sand is being swept away by waves and tides. Soon, oceanographers and coastal engineers contend, the rising ocean will eclipse the clash between the beach-going public and the private property owners: There will be no dry sand left to fight over.

"If the latest projections of sea level rise are right, you can kiss goodbye the idea of a white sandy beach," said Bill Patzert, a climatologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge. "You are going to be jumping off the sea wall onto the rocks below."

The rise of sea levels, which have swelled about eight inches in the last century, are projected to accelerate with global warming.

Depending on the slope of the beach, every inch of sea-level rise claims an average of 50 inches of land. Currently scientists among the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change are predicting that sea levels could expect to rise anywhere from two to four feet over the next century, making the prospects of California beaches all the more questionable.

Coastal development is also making it more difficult for the beaches to replenish their natural sand. Rivers and streams that ordinarily deposit sediment to the beaches are being continually dammed and channeled through concrete to send flooding waters safely out to sea.

As far as finding any hope in the situation, scientists are proposing that residential and commercial development retreat landward so waves and tides can naturally gnaw away at the back-beach dunes and hillsides as they have for millenniums, thus creating the beaches of the future.

Trying to tell Malibu home owners they'll have to give up their ocean-front views is a story for another day, however.


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Dubai Gets A Synthetic Beach

Cool sand and gentle breezes will always be available in Dubai, but vacationers will have to pay extra. The renowned fashion house, Versace, is to create the world's first refrigerated beach in a plan that has environmentalists up in arms.

According to Times Online:

The beach will be next to the the new Palazzo Versace hotel which is being built in Dubai where summer temperatures average 40C and can reach 50C.

The beach will have a network of pipes beneath the sand containing a coolant that will absorb heat from the surface.

The swimming pool will be refrigerated and there are also proposals to install giant blowers to waft a gentle breeze over the beach.

The problem with the synthetic beach, however is that it's likely to draw on a lot of energy, which means a great deal of greenhouse gas emissions. Times Online quoted Rachel Noble of Tourism Concern, an organization catered to sustainable tourism:

"Dubai is like a bubble world where the things that are worrying the rest of the world, like climate change, are simply ignored so that people can continue their destructive lifestyles."

Dubai, which attracts roughly 800,000 British tourists a year, is competitive market place for businesses catering to the wealthy. Versace hopes its innovative beach will keep them on the cutting edge of luxury lifestyles, and believes it can even make it sustainable. While plans on how to do that, exactly, are vague, the company is hiring Hyder Consulting, a British construction consultancy, to oversee the engineering of the project.


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Happy Holidays Everyone!

Melamine Detection Program Launched

In an effort to prevent contaminated milk products from China from harming American consumers, a new melamine detection program is being launched.

Melamine is toxic chemical used in plastics, and it is believed that it was deliberately placed in milk products to falsely increase protein levels. The tainted milk caused illness in over 50,000 infants, reaching the international marketplace and still may not be fully contained.

Humans and animals are unable to process melamine in their systems. It can lead to kidney stones, damage the reproductive system and cause cancer, and it also lead to the death of some infants in the recent contamination incident. Melamine has been found in eggs, chickens, produce and pet chow, in addition to the recent milk and formula products.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. recently launched a program that assists governments and companies in the detection of melamine in food products imported from China. Through a form of biochemical analysis known as liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry or TSQ Quantum LC-MS/MS System for short, the company plans to aid countries in detecting melamine in incoming products from China. Similar technologies are already being used to detect melamine in China.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. provides an array of scientific instruments and testing equipment to companies and governments in need of their services.

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Global Warming Adaptation Plans Begin

Global warming is happening, and we better start preparing for it--so says new reports from the World Bank and Oxfam International. According to the World Bank study that was published in the journal Climatic Change, countries like Vietnam, Egypt, and the Bahamas are just some of the countries likely to face the most catastrophic results of rising sea levels.

The Bank says that a one-meter rise in seal level would flood more than 7% of Vietnam's agricultural land, and wreck nearly 30% of its wetlands--causing living and economic chaos. To make matters even more frightening, many climate experts think a one-meter rise by the year 2100 is a conservative estimate, and perhaps several more are to be expected at current levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

The study which also highlights how a one-meter rise could destroy more than a tenth of the Bahamas, as well as 13 percent of Egypt's Agricultural land, is part of a 50-page document published by the Bank last year. It's currently being used to support Oxfam International's request for at least $50 billion a year to be channeled from international carbon trading schemes into adaptation efforts.

The Guardian quoted Heather Coleman, a senior climate change policy adviser with Oxfam:

"Helping vulnerable people cope with the effects of climate change is desperately needed today because they already face increasingly severe and ever-worsening climate change impacts...

"With a global financial crisis unfolding, these mechanisms could raise enough money from polluters without governments having to dip into national treasuries," Coleman says. "Many negotiators agree that this is one of the more practical approaches. Billions of dollars can be raised and invested to prevent future climate change and to help poor people adapt to the negative impacts of global warming."

Oxfam suggests these countries could prepare themselves with upgraded national flood early-warning systems, plant mangrove "bio-shields," along coasts to diffuse storm waves, and grow drought-tolerant crops. The charity argues that there is little evidence that the international community has seriously considered the implications of sea level rise for population location and infrastructure planning in many developing countries. And since many of these countries cannot afford to fully help themselves, it should be a responsibility of rich countries to avoid catastrophic losses of life.


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Gifts for Guns

Since 2005, Gifts for Guns has allowed residents of especially violent areas to trade in guns for gift cards, but this year, the most popular cards were for grocery stores, not retail stores, like in prior events.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department allows residents to anonymously relinquish firearms in return for $100 gift cards for Ralphs supermarkets, Target department stores or Best Buy electronics stores. Assault rifles double the amount

The event took place in a grocery store parking lot in the Compton neighborhood of Los Angeles, an area with a long and notorious history of violence and gang-related incidents. Although in the past, most guns were turned in for gift cards to Target and Best Buy, this year the cards of choice were to Ralphs. Sheriff's Sgt. Byron Woods explained, "People just don't have the money to buy the food these days.” "One guy said he had just got laid off from his job," Woods said. "He turned in five guns and said it would really help him to put food on the family's table."

About 1,000 weapons were expected to be collected and 590 guns and two hand grenades were handed in during the last weekend in November, more than the total collected in any year and eclipsing last year's 387 guns. The event also turns up antique weapons and one man brought in a Soviet-era semiautomatic carbine.

The drive was started after an increase in killings in 2005, which has since tapered off. After first checking to see if any weapons were used to commit crimes, the firearms were destroyed.

Similar events are held in New York and San Francisco.


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Look for a Green Gift at the Eco Gift Festival

The Eco Gift Festival is the largest environmentally conscious consumer gift show in the world. Sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, this year’s event, held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, will bring together more than 15,000 consumers and 200 environmentally conscious vendors under one roof from Dec. 12th- 14th from 11 am - 8 pm.

The Eco Gift Festival includes an array of eco-conscious gift options as well as live entertainment, socially conscious speakers, an organic food court and on-site eco gift-wrapping and shipping.

Notable speakers at this year’s event include Arianna Huffington, Shallom Berkman of the Urth Caffe in Los Angeles, Seane Corn, the "National Yoga Ambassador" for YouthAIDS as well as a multitude of other experts on sustainable and socially-conscious living. Exhibitors at the event are all companies and businesses with green or organic practices and range from cosmetics companies to coffee to clothing to companies with a message or green interest.

The event strives to be a zero-emissions event and employs green event experts to continue to achieve their goal. A percentage of the profits received goes to various charities.

Although the event is currently only held in Los Angeles, there are hopes to expand it so that similar events are held internationally, as early as next year.

Tickets are $10 per day/$20 per weekend pass and free for children under 12 and seniors over 65. More information about the unique event can be found at www.ecogift.com.



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Paralyzed Guitarist Gets Bionic Hand

When guitarist Dorian Cox lost the feeling of his right arm, one of his first thoughts turned out to be the most crushing: "I might not be able to play anymore." The UK musician suffered from a stroke this previous summer, and when his body became partially paralyzed, it forced his band, the Long Blondes, to break-up.

Cox is about to rise again, however with the help of a new glove that works and resembles something like a "bionic hand." Made by the PhysioFunction center in York, England, the SaeboFlex glove is entirely mechanical and uses springs and levers instead of electricity. It works out the weakened muscles in the wrist, hand, and fingers--spurring Cox to remark, "It's almost like a gym for my hand."

While the musician still lacks the strength to play guitar at the moment, the glove is helping him regain the ability to grasp and release objects again. "I know things might never be the same again and nobody can give me a definite answer about whether I'll play guitar again but I'm getting back on track," Cox told the Guardian.

The Long Blondes were an up-and-coming band from England, who built a loyal fan base over the course of two albums. Cox's stroke came entirely unexpectedly, causing a major upset amongst indie rock fans across the globe. But hopefully, not for much longer.


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Hawaii Prepares For Electric Car Future

Hawaii--when we hear the state mentioned, we tend to think of luaus, clear blue oceans, tropical plants, and hay skirts. But the state also wants electric cars to become a part of it's global image. Governor Linda Lingle unveiled a plan for the island to create an entire electric car network by the year 2012, in effect battling global warming and ending the state's heavy reliance on foreign oil.

Daily Tech writes:

Electric car company Better Place will be the company responsible for building the electric car network that will cost an estimated $200 million to $250 million in construction. Better Place has not signed any investors for the project, but will intensify its search in the immediate future...

Consumers who purchase or lease electric cars will be able to visit Better Place supply recharging service locations to switch out their lithium ion car battery for a full-charged new one. Better Place will then recharge the new battery during off-peak electricity hours.

I can't help but think of Hawaii as the ultimate island paradise when the plan is in full effect. Noisy, exhaust-spilling engines would be replaced by the quiet hum of electric vehicles, allowing the ocean waves to be heard from almost anywhere in the state. Any smog in the air would clear up, and instead of getting out of the car to pump gas, an assistant would come over and install a new battery instead.

Better Place anticipates it will build somewhere around 50,000 to 100,000 charge spots across Hawaii by 2011, with Governor Lingle hoping to cut at least 70 percent of the state's fossil fuel use by 2030. With Hawaii stepping up to be the U.S. pioneers of the green revolution, we may expect other electric car networks to start trickling their away across the rest of the states.


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