inkbluesky

You may already be familiar with many of these tips, but then again there might be one or two you haven’t heard before, 50 Ways to Help the Planet. If most of us stopped running the faucet while brushing your teeth that could save the U.S. the total amount of water that New York City uses in a year. Plant a tree – I planted a few trees with relatives when I was a kid. There is something incredibly gratifying about seeing the tree you planted grow as you grow up. One of them was a weeping willow that is huge now.

aspen blues

China farms the world to feed a ravenous economy

Laos’ communist regime touts rubber as a miracle crop that will help lift the country from the ranks of the world’s poorest nations. China is expected to consume a third of the world’s rubber by 2020, become its largest car market and put 200 million vehicles on the road.

In Inner Mongolia, Pushing Architecture’s Outer Limits

Not long ago, residents of this region 350 miles west of Beijing lived in elaborate tents called yurts. Now, with a population of 1.5 million, many live in homes that would make New Yorkers jealous. According to Bao Chongming, the regional vice-mayor, they have the second highest per-capita income in China (trailing only Shanghai, the country’s financial capital) and an annual economic growth rate of 40 percent.

Ordos officials decided that the old urban center, Dongsheng, was too crowded, and set out a few years ago to build a new one, Kangbashi, 20 miles away; its population is projected to reach 100,000 by the end of 2008 and five times that number by 2010. And it is sprouting satellite developments, including Mr. Cai’s cultural district.

I was tempted to steal one of the photos (desert by Doug Kanter) from the slideshow to this story. Generally people think of deserts as being lifeless,but they’re a unique biome. Though it is true that deserts are distinguished by their lack of rainfall, so that leaves routing water to these new insta-cities from somewhere else.

A couple years ago there was a lot of buzz including one of Sin City’s directors Robert Rodriguez about how everyone could now be a film maker because of the software available for composting and other effects and digital hardware. So far that doesn’t seem to have panned out ( stupid pet tricks on YouTube don’t count), but in case you’re still trying to make a career in film and pay your rent, Getting Paid: Sites that Help Filmmakers and Video Producers Make Money

On the other hand go to one of the Ivy league schools. Go to work as an executive at one of the oil companies. You gave to be able to answer the phone and read a spread sheet, but you’ll never break a sweat – Exxon posts $10.9 billion profit

The oil giant earned $10.9 billion in profits, up 17 percent from the previous year. The amount was short of the all-time record Exxon set the previous quarter but high enough to put it on the defensive amid consumer ire and congressional indignation.

framed surf