From Subway Cars to Coral Reefs
For a little over a decade now, the New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has been practicing an interesting and unbelievable idea to help rebuild an ecosystem. This idea involves turning old, and broken down subway cars into brand new coral reefs in the ocean. Instead of refurbishing the cars, they’re taken apart and dropped into different areas to promote coral reef growth. Surprisingly enough, the fish and other organisms in the ocean adapt to this new and unique addition to their environment quite well. Eventually, it becomes a thriving new underwater habitat for hundreds of creatures.
This idea is actually very similar to another that some of you may recall. In an earlier post I wrote about how EcoReefs is working to rebuild coral reef habitats that have been destroyed or killed. The MTA’s idea is very similar to what EcoReefs is doing in terms of their end goal. For both the MTA and the EcoReefs team, they’ve made it a goal to help rebuild an important aspect of the ocean’s environment and biodiversity that will also promote the overall health of the species in the surrounding area.
Below are a few of the images I’ve found that show the process that the subway cars are put through before they’re finally plunged into the ocean.
A few emptied subway cars
A crane dumping the cars into the Atlantic Ocean
The new coral reef
Automatic Beehives
As ridiculous as the title probably sounds to you, this is actually an extremely new interesting and an improved method for anyone that runs a beehive so they can more easily harvest their honey. With this method using the new flow hives, the bees are all able to do their work and go where they want, with very little disturbance from any people. While the bees are working, the honey is funneled down through the honeycombs. It then is able to drip out of tube(s) that come out from the bottom of the hive where it can be collected and eaten fresh. This also eliminates almost all human disturbance of the hive which gives the bees a safer place to live and work and promotes a healthier beehive.
Watch this video to see how the flow hive works.
Through the old method of harvesting honey, it could take a group of beekeepers hours to get the amount of honey that these flow hives can produce. On top of that, the old method involved a lot of physical handling for the beekeepers which also disturbed the bees within the hive. In order to get to the honey, beekeepers would be required to wear large suits to protect themselves from bee stings. Any bees that do try to protect their hive by stinging a beekeeper would eventually end up dying. Other bees that are in the hive would have to be temporarily put to sleep with a smoker so people can lift out pieces of the hive. Bees are even likely to be hurt or killed during this part of the process. When the individual parts of the hive are being taken out to be sent to a processor they come with some wax and dead bees (no thank you). Obviously that’s eventually filtered out of the honey before being sent off to the grocery store, but why bother with all these tedious steps when flow hives are easier and safer?
The team of people that are working on the flow hive project need help spreading their amazing idea so they can eventually build up a larger group of beekeepers that will use this method. Right now, more and more beekeepers around the world are testing this out and seeing how easy it is. You can like their Facebook page here, and find out more about what they’re working on.
Watch the video below to see how beekeepers are reacting to these new flow hives.
Click here to contribute to their project or to even buy your own to assemble in your backyard.
DIY #1: Coffee Sugar Scrub
Since I haven’t really had enough time or the right materials in order to do any big DIY projects yet, I thought I’d try to start off with something smaller. This week I was digging around on some other websites and reading a few articles to see what projects I could do on my own within a short period of time. Thankfully, I found this recipe for a DIY coffee sugar scrub that I just tried out for myself (and it smells amazing). It only takes about 5 minutes, and you probably already have the ingredients in your kitchen.
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons of coffee grounds (used or not)
2 tablespoons of coconut or olive oil
1 tablespoon of brown or regular sugar
1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract*
*This is optional. I added it to mine because I think it smells better.
Below I’ve listed just a few of the ways that these ingredients in the scrub can be good for your skin’s health.
The coffee grounds in it can help to:
- reduce puffiness around your eyes.
- be an effective (yet gentle) method of exfoliation.
- reduce cellulite, but note that this will only be temporary, so scrub regularly!
On top of that, the olive oil that you can put in this scrub is great for:
- moisturizing any extremely dry areas of skin (elbows, hands, feet, etc.)
- keeping your skin soft and smooth
- increasing and maintaining the elasticity of skin (which means fewer stretchmarks)
If you use coconut oil instead, your benefits would include:
- skin that looks and feels smoother and healthier
- decreased red areas
- cleaner pores
Once you have all of these ingredients picked out, you’re ready to make your very own scrub!
Click the ‘continue reading’ link to see the pictures I took and a step-by-step guide of the process I just went through to make this scrub.
LED vs. Florescent Lights
One of the easiest and cheapest changes you can make inside your home is to the lights you’re using. LED and florescent lights are the two kinds that most people have to choose from at the store. Often times people will choose the florescent bulbs without first weighing the pros and cons of either bulb, or considering how long the bulb will last in comparison to the prices.
With florescent tubes (pictured below) and/or bulbs (CFLs) you can expect to find a lower price (in comparison to LEDs) when you’re at the store. However, these lights also have a shorter lifespan and will consume a larger amount of energy. Florescents also take a bit of time to reach their full brightness once a knob is turned or a button is pushed to turn it on. They’ll also make a clicking, popping, and/or buzzing noise the entire time that they’re in use. These tubes and bulbs could also be a potential danger to any curious children due to the heat it generates while it’s on. There’s also has a high risk of breakage because of the fragile glass that the tubes and bulbs it’s made of. If one of these were to break, it would release the gas within it.
However, if you were to buy LED lights instead (pictured below), you could spend a little bit of extra money to get a longer-lasting bulb with a lower rate of energy consumption. With a light that doesn’t burn out or break as often and that takes in less energy, you won’t have to replace them as quickly, and you’ll pay less on your electricity bill. On top of that, LED lights will be at full brightness right when you turn them on. These lights also won’t make any noises like florescents. The best part is that these lights are much safer because they don’t get hot like florescent lights, so nobody would be burned if they touched it. They’re also more durable, but even if they were to break, they don’t contain any of the dangerous materials that are found in florescent lights.
You can find a variety of styles of LED lights from places like Walmart, Target, or even Ace Hardware.
How can you help the environment today? 
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