dutch marginal

did you ever read any book of jules verne, or do you just know the stories from childhood? anyway, i decided to read the two books on captain nemo, travelling 20,000 miles under sea. i had difficulties finding the motivation to read through the first half of the first book, but then i got caught by the verne fever. the books are filled with future, considering they have been written in the 19th century. they remind me of the drawings and sketchings of leonardo da vinci. and, what a coincidence. i just read an article in the newspaper on plagues of jellyfish, while verne already predicts that plagues will occur in the future due to the overfishing of other fishes and whales for example. the balance will become disturbed and so it is. how can we ever say now, that we did not realize the consequences of our fishing and hunting, if even more than 100 years ago it was already predicted.

ever heard of it? fairchain, radically good coffee. moyee. it is delicious, absolutely worth the extra price only by taste already. and than knowing that you support the fairchain of coffee, it gives you a good feeling. try it too. and probably you will want more. click the logo if you are curious.

at the canals in my home town you can find a lot of lime trees (tilia). beautiful trees with healthy fruits to use for tea and flowers that bees make delicious honey from. but as i was biking under the trees this week, my tires got stuck to the street a bit. i remembered the car being parked under it would turn into an dirty old car, as if parked there for a long time, in a few days. so i decided to exactly find out if the sticky street and dirty cars came from insects in the trees or from the trees itself. it seems that in particular, aphids are attracted by the rich supply of sap of the leaves. in turn, they are "farmed" by ants for the production of the sap which the ants collect for their own use. the result, a dripping of excess sap (honeydew) onto the lower branches and leaves, streets and cars. and as this honeydew is often covered with a black mould, a black sticky layer is the result. happily enough this sticky layer is only annoying to us while the trees do not ...

around this time, you wonder why the sweet chestnuts are delicious and the horse chestnuts, that almost look alike, should not be eaten. i promised my daughter to find out, so now i understand that sweet chestnuts come from the castanea family of trees while the horse chestnut comes from a totally different aesculus family. the horse chestnut is very bitter to us humans and even poisonous, while squirrels and deers love them. the horse chestnut tree is beautiful though, while flowering and during autumn. and the chestnuts we can use in crafting, like making a spiderweb, while eating the delicious sweet lookalikes. both chestnuts have medicinal properties. maybe in a next post more on that topic or just google yourself if you are curious.

did you already notice the new project from greenpeace:  GREENBEES sign the petition if you feel like we really have to help the bees adopt a bee perhaps ( this link for dutch people) use organic seeds, buy organic food and make your balcony or garden bee-friendly guide to make a bees paradise (in dutch):  bees paradise and more tips (in english):  happy bees

i was wondering if all the little pieces of fabric i finally throw away after reusing as much as possible could serve a purpose. see above. quite some challenge. inspiration came from  this website .

microsoft is producing smart chips by building a datacenter besides greenhouses. the datacenter needs to be cooled and the greenhouses need to be warmed. bell pepper growers work with energy from cogeneration. the datacenter uses the extra cogenerated energy for cooling and gives its residual heat to the pepper growers. chips with pepper and tomato  (in Dutch)

worried about the smog that is taking over the sun in crowded places? check out this project by a Dutch artist and his partners: studio roosegaarde but rather then need an ion cannon for some clean air in parks, prevent the uprising smog, by cycling as much as possible and living sustainable. force industry around you to be as clean as can be.

more and more you read about companies reusing trash (from the oceans too) pharell williams will work with Adidas on a new collections, using his bionic yarn, from ocean plastic: to the bionic yarn website willeke nugteren is starting up 'bali plastik recycling'. at more and more beaches they collect old nets you can reap and put there to be reused. be sure to use as less plastic bottles as possible and otherwise reuse them and then let them be recycled. some ideas: urban vertical garden and many more ideas

an informative website regarding living more green, fair and fine. in dutch though:  www.hetkanWel.net nice articles like the change that everyone picking up one piece of litter everyday would make. or all kind of recipes for using old bread.

most people love to drink coffee. but how sustainable is that in these times. here  you will find an article on it. it supports me in investing in more expensive coffee. to drink, but: arabica, organic, rainforestfriendly, birdfriendly, fair trade. it is investing in plant earth and still enjoying the moment.

op de ranglijst van duurzame energieleveranciers, samengesteld door o.a. Greenpeace staan de kleine leveranciers Raedthuys en Windunie bovenaan. Eneco is met de vierde plaats de beste grote duurzame energieleverancier. Iets om te onthouden als je weer mooie aanbiedingen voorbij ziet komen. Greenpeace artikel over de ranglijst

also worried about the plastic problem in the ocean? fortunately, experts are busy with solving the problem. did you already hear about this project of Boyan Slat?: THE OCEAN CLEANUP knowing that problems like this are being investigated to be solved makes you more positive for the future ea rth, don't you think so?

ever wondered which mobile phone to buy for a sustainable world? maybe thought about the block phone? be a sustainable mobile user, use the old ones in your drawer, not so smart in use, but, by now, smart in look. producing a phone (or fridge, or whatever electric device) takes so much energy and resources that using an existing one, although less 'green', is still the greenest thing to do.

coffee grounds can be used in many ways after you made a delicious cup of coffee of course. 5 of the reuses. 1. hand scrub: mix a spoonful of warm coffee grounds into your hands with some soap and scrub your hands soft and clean. your face and body will also like this exfoliant. it can even diminish cellulite. i love to wash myself in the morning with a mixture of sugar, coffee, olive oil and vanilla essential oil. you will not need any body lotion afterwards. 2. mulch: throw the coffee grounds at the trees and plants in your garden or at your balcony (especially a good food for acidloving plants. it contains a lot of nitrogen and other nutrients). 3. hand deodorizer: dry the coffee grounds to rub in your hands when they smell from preparing onions, fish etc. 4. insect repellant: ants do not like coffee grounds and also snails and slugs could be chased away. 5. dye: solve it in water and dye fabrics, paper or easter eggs with it.

we all know the energy savings tips, but sometimes it is nice to read them again, just to reconsider our behaviour: besparen doet u zo! by Eneco, in Dutch

almost never thought about the amount of water needed to produce our daily needs, like bread, fruit, rice and the like. thus we seem to use more than 2.5 times more water than is sustainably available. a start for more agriculture in wet areas and more simple food like water from the tap instead of juices, milk, coffee and lemonade. www.voetafdruk.org (in several languages but mainly english)