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A southeast Kansas school already has a rain forest, and now it has added a wind turbine. The new addition at Greenbush stands 60 feet tall. On Wednesday, a new wind turbine was erected at Southeast
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Three area men have filed a federal lawsuit against a Spanish wind turbine manufacturer, saying that they were illegally replaced by younger workers. The three also claim the company gave Spanish workers preferential treatment.
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A windmill in Hornslet near Aarhus broke its brakes and a storm made it break.

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VVH-TV News Special
Organic Farming: Can It Feed Us? Part 2

Karl Grossman Chief Investigative Reporter examines Organic Farming on Eastern Long Island.

What is organic farming?
Organic farming can be defined as an approach to agriculture where the aim is to create integrated, humane, environmentally and economically sustainable agricultural production systems. Maximum reliance is placed on locally or farm-derived renewable resources and the management of self-regulating ecological and biological processes and interactions in order to provide acceptable levels of crop, livestock and human nutrition, protection from pests and diseases, and an appropriate return to the human and other resources employed. Reliance on external inputs, whether chemical or organic, is reduced as far as possible. In many European countries, organic agriculture is known as ecological agriculture, reflecting this reliance on ecosystem management rather than external inputs.

The objective of sustainability lies at the heart of organic farming and is one of the major factors determining the acceptability or otherwise of specific production practices. The term ’sustainable’ is used in its widest sense, to encompass not just conservation of non-renewable resources (soil, energy, minerals) but also issues of environmental, economic and social sustainability. The term ‘organic’ is best thought of as referring to the concept of the farm as an organism, in which all the component parts - the soil minerals, organic matter, micro-organisms, insects, plants, animals and humans - interact to create a coherent and stable whole.

The key characteristics of organic farming include:

protecting the long term fertility of soils by maintaining organic matter levels, encouraging soil biological activity, and careful mechanical intervention;

providing crop nutrients indirectly using relatively insoluble nutrient sources which are made available to the plant by the action of soil micro-organisms;

nitrogen self-sufficiency through the use of legumes and biological nitrogen fixation, as well as effective recycling of organic materials including crop residues and livestock manures;

weed, disease and pest control relying primarily on crop rotations, natural predators, diversity, organic manuring, resistant varieties and limited (preferably minimal) thermal, biological and chemical intervention;

the extensive management of livestock, paying full regard to their evolutionary adaptations, behavioural needs and animal welfare issues with respect to nutrition, housing, health, breeding and rearing;

careful attention to the impact of the farming system on the wider environment and the conservation of wildlife and natural habitats.

(c) WVVH-TV 2007 all rights reserved

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Technorati Tags: farming, Hamptons, healthy, Lifestyle, Medical, Oprah, Organic, Research, Schimizzi, VVH-TV

tvdaijiworld

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Technorati Tags: agriculture, farmer, farming, fields, green, leaves, Organic, trees, Vegetables

Visit with organic clothes designers Karen Stewart and Howard Brown in segment from the TV series It’s Easy Being Green.

Duration : 0:5:38

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Technorati Tags: Being, Brown, Clothing, Distillery, Easy, eco-friendly, green, It's, Organic, Pictures, Stewart

High street shops are falling over themselves to stock organic cotton clothes, from M&S and Topshop to Dorothy Perkins and Primark. But why exactly is organic cotton so important? Newconsumer.tv caught up with shoppers, campaigners and fashion legend Katharine Hamnett to find out.

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Technorati Tags: Cotton, designer, ejf, ethical, hamnett, katharine, lfw, Organic, pan

Cassop Primary School won an Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy in 2006. To find out more visit http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners/cassop and check out the Ashden Awards Blog http://ashdenawards.blogspot.com

Cassop Primary School has been extremely successful in making use of sustainable energy technology within the school premises, and integrating the understanding gained into the curriculum and ethos of the school.

The school was built in 1912 and internally modernised in the 1970s. A programme to make its use of energy more sustainable started in 1995, when light bulbs were replaced with compact fluorescents. This was followed by a recycling drive and the installation of cavity wall insulation. In 1998, the school took up an invitation from Durham County Council to have a 50 kW wind turbine installed in its grounds, which generates about 50 MWh of electricity per year. Overall, this meets the electricity demand of the school, although much of the output is generated out of school hours and is therefore exported to the grid. In 2003, the old oil boiler was replaced with an automated wood-pellet boiler, which burns pellets produced locally from recycled waste wood. Suspended ceilings in classrooms were then replaced, and more efficient lighting provided. A photovoltaic (PV) array was installed on a south-facing roof in 2005, with safety rail and stairs to allow access for visitors.

The use of sustainable energy is integrated into the curriculum of Cassop School, within a broader focus on social responsibility. An interactive display in a corridor shows where the current energy demand lies and how it is being supplied, and Year 6 pupils can confidently explain what is happening, and give presentations to other classes and to visitors. This display was started when the wind turbine was installed, and pupils monitor readings from the wind turbine and keep the display up-to-date. Maths is taught using energy data from the wind turbine, and sustainable energy posters are designed in art. An inter-school network to improve the writing skills of boys has included writing instructions and leaflets about the renewable energy installations.

This focus on education for sustainability extends beyond the school boundaries. About six other schools visit Cassop School each term to take part in energy and environmental activities, which use classroom demonstration equipment as well as the full-scale renewable energy systems. Cassop also has links with schools in other European countries and in Kenya, which focus on energy and the environment, and exchange visits have been made. Pupils give confident presentations and tours to visitors, and have also given external talks, including one to a full session of the County Council.

Many people have contributed to the achievements of Cassop school. Jim McManners, the Head Teacher, has led the programme on sustainable energy, but teachers, governors and the caretaker all play key roles. The wind turbine installation involved a community consultation carried out by the children, and showed 98% support for the project. Any major changes to the school property have to be carried out with the agreement of Durham County Council as the Local Education Authority, and they have provided considerable support for both the wind turbine and the biomass boiler installations.

The excellent examples of practical sustainable energy systems which Cassop have installed might be beyond the means of many schools. What is most replicable, and at the core of their success, is the ethos of caring for the environment, and using energy resources wisely.

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Technorati Tags: ashden, awards, Cassop, energy, Primary, School, schools, sustainable