Researchers find nature’s backup plan for converting nitrogen into plant nutrients
hmmmm
Category: Science and Stuff,
The College Student Who Decoded the Data Hidden in Inca Knots
The College Student Who Decoded the Data Hidden in Inca Knots
An oldie but a super cool one
Elkhart Schools teams up with program to package unused food into take-home meals
“Mostly, we rescue food that’s been made but never served by catering companies, large food service businesses, like the school system,” said Jim Conklin, Cultivate. “You don’t always think of a school.”
It rescues the unused food.
…20 students will receive a backpack with eight individual frozen meals every Friday until the end of school.
Elkhart Schools teams up with program to package unused food into take-home meals | WSBT
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Kauai’s Waimea High School gets a taste of new farm-to-table menu
“It’s so important, I believe, for the people in the state of Hawaii to have food that’s locally grown, nutritious, delicious, and just easily accessible,” says First Lady of Hawaii Dawn Ige. “As an educator, I know how important a healthy meal is. If students have a healthy meal in their stomach, it just makes them feel better, so learning becomes a more natural and more exciting thing for them to do.”
Farm-to-school is one thing, but farm-to-state is an even bigger goal. Aside from the 100,000 meals that the Department of Education puts out a day, the prisons serve both the corrections officers and inmates. Senator Kouchi estimates that that’s another 13,000 meals, and points out that there’s also the state hospitals to take into consideration.
“If we hit this goal, we can more than double our food production here in Hawaii,” says Senator Kouchi.
Kauai’s Waimea High School gets a taste of new farm-to-table menu – HI Now
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Archaeologists Discover Ancient Native American Sites In Path Of Planned Highway
Greubel thinks this particular pit house was probably a center for ceremonies or gatherings for the Ancestral Puebloan people who lived here roughly 1,200 years ago. That was before they are believed to have migrated west to the Mesa Verde area and then south to become the ancestors of the Hopi, Zuni and various Pueblo tribes.
“When we were working down here, you kind of have a sense of peace and you feel like you’re accomplishing something good,” Greubel says. “I know not all people think that way, but we treated the site with respect and a sense of awe.”
…This pit house is about to be filled in and covered up by a highway, as are six other important ancient sites on this mesa.
…The new construction site will cross the outer boundaries of the tribe’s reservation.
But some Southern Ute citizens are still upset that the digs are happening at all, and they don’t feel empowered to stop them.
…”You know, those are my family’s bones in there,” Maez says. “We don’t have a ceremony to dig them up and put them somewhere else.”
He says projects like this have forced tribes to adapt to that process and create new rituals to remove and rebury remains.
…Local tribes didn’t have ultimate veto power to stop this highway project from moving forward.
…”It’s quite interesting to see how we lived, you know, and to compare in how we live today. But on the other hand, it’s very hurtful and sad too.”
Archaeologists Discover Ancient Native American Sites In Path Of Planned Highway : NPR
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Towns like Mammoth want control of Forest Service recreation
“The Forest Service is overwhelmed,” he said, by 21st century challenges its founders could never have imagined: climate change, budget cuts, electric mountain bikes.
…Called the Eastern Sierra Sustainable Recreation Partnership, the project would establish a new economic alliance among the Forest Service and the communities of Mammoth Lakes and Bishop and three counties — Inyo, Mono and Alpine. Local government agencies would take the lead in developing water systems and sewers, roads, campground services, restrooms, trails and signage in some of the Sierra’s most heavily visited corners.
The idea is popular in mountain towns that have struggled with economic development, but it worries some conservationists and local officials who want the region to retain its wild spaces and rustic personality.
Towns like Mammoth want control of Forest Service recreation – Los Angeles Times
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EPA to ease rules on waste from coal-fired power plants
The Trump administration’s proposals weaken rules dealing with the residue from burning coal, known as coal ash, as well as the residue rinsed off of filters installed on smoke stacks. Both are often mixed with water and stored in giant pits that could leach into groundwater or be released directly into local waterways.
The rollbacks, which were spurred by a court decision ordering EPA to overhaul the use of unlined ponds, target 2015 Obama administration rules that required power plants to invest in wastewater treatment technology and monitoring of coal ash ponds, measures they estimated would stop some 1.4 billion pounds of coal ash from entering rivers and streams.
sigh…
The Energy 202: ExxonMobil goes on trial over accusations it misled investors about climate change costs
When talking to investors, the company estimated that the regulatory cost per ton of carbon would rise to $80 per ton of carbon by 2040 in certain developed countries, according to New York’s complaint filed in October. But inside the company, when planners were deciding where to invest, they pegged that cost at just $40 per ton.
The Energy 202: ExxonMobil goes on trial over accusations it misled investors about climate change costs – The Washington Post
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Construction workers building a rotary in Massachusetts uncover remains of an ancient village
While working to dig out space for a new traffic roundabout, construction workers in the small Massachusetts town of Northampton made a surprising discovery.
Instead of dirt and rocks they found spearheads and stone tools dating as far back as 8,000 to 10,000 years, a period of North American history about which relatively little is known.
…Over the course of the two-year dig, the archaeologists made a number of promising discoveries. In addition to the stone tools and spearheads, they found knives, fire pits, and raspberry and acorn seeds, which had been preserved by charring.
Wild!
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