---

How would you like to find one of these lizards nosing around your tent in the morning?

Komodo dragons can grow to a length of ten feet, although they average around 8 feet. They are the world’s heaviest lizards at 200 lbs for the average male.

And they’re quick: they can climb trees as well as swim, and they regularly hunt down pigs and deer.




Fewer than 3,000 to 5,000 now exist in the wild, in a habitat restricted to the Lesser Sunda Islands of Rinca, Komodo, Flores, and the smaller islands of Gili, Montang, and Padar.

---

Over time we have featured various artists on the Green Man Blog. These artists have come from far-away places like Australia or England, but now we thought we'd feature one of our own from San Diego.





Though not a "Green Man" artist in the classic sense, Nina Robinson has a close connection with nature.

Much of her work celebrates the colors found in nature, and she brings out the varied hues and richness of nature's palette like few other artists.





Her paintings, seen live, seem to glow.

Nina has an interesting story behind her work, and it's best heard in her own words:

"I have been painting for seven years without any formal education in the arts. Nine years ago, when I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, I had to give up a very active lifestyle of hiking, swimming, biking and camping. I prayed and asked God to give me a new passion.

I believe that when God closes a door, He opens a window. A friend of mine believed I would be good at painting and gave me some canvas and oils and told me to go for it. I credit my success to God and call my painting ability 'Nina's Window'."





We see Green Man imagery in Nina's work, and we see it even in her paintings like Modern Myth. Stare hard at the painting and, to us at least, one can see and feel the clash and conflict of nature caught in the modern world.

In the short time Nina has been painting, she has accumulated an impressive list of awards and recognition.

Nina Robinson has an extensive collection of her work for sale on her Etsy site.

---

From artisanal mining.

This type of mining uses crude methods to extract precious metals such as gold.

Over 25% of the gold mined is from artisanal mines. Most artisanal mining is done in developing nations.

The miners use mercury to draw out the gold from silt. The mercury combines with the gold, then it is heated and evaporated, leaving the gold behind.

But the evaporated mercury settles back into the environment where is it absorbed by living organisms that make up the food chain.

And at the top of the food chain? All of us, of course.

By Jonathan Watts. A jailed Tibetan environmentalist used the opening of his trial today to accuse Chinese captors of beatings, sleep deprivation and other maltreatment, his wife told reporters.

Karma Samdrup – a prominent businessman and award-winning conservationist – issued a statement in court detailing the brutal interrogation methods, including drugs that made his ears bleed, used on him since his detention on 3 January.

"If not for his voice, I would not have recognised him," his wife Zhenga Cuomao told the Associated Press.

She said Samdrup appeared gaunt when he appeared at the Yangqi county courthouse in Xinjiang, the mountainous province neighbouring Tibet.

Prosecutor Kuang Ying denied violence had been used against Samdrup, who founded the Three Rivers Environmental Protection group and pushed for conservation of the source region for the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang (Mekong) rivers.

The wealthy Tibetan art collector is an unlikely political prisoner. His group has won several awards for its work, including the Earth Prize, which is jointly administered by Friends of the Earth Hong Kong and the Ford motor company.

In 2006, he was named philanthropist of the year by state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) for "creating harmony between men and nature".

He was arrested earlier this year and accused of robbing graves and stealing cultural artefacts. Supporters say these were old, trumped-up charges that were dismissed by police 12 years ago. If convicted, the maximum penalty is death or life in prison, though his lawyer says a more lenient sentence is likely.

His trial has been delayed for several weeks amid claims that he is being unfairly punished for lobbying the authorities for the release of his two brothers.

His siblings, Rinchen Samdrup and Jigme Namgyal, were arrested last August after their separate environmental protection group – Voluntary Environmental Protection Association of Kham Anchung Senggenamzong – sought to expose officials who hunted endangered animals. Namgyal is serving a 21-month re-education-through-labour sentence for "harming national security."

He is accused of illegally collecting information about the environment, natural resources and religion, organising petitions, and providing propaganda material for supporters of the Dalai Lama. Rinchen Samdrup is in custody but has not been tried.

According to the International Campaign for Tibet, this may be part of a new campaign against intellectuals.

The Washington-based group said last month that 31 Tibetans are now in prison "after reporting or expressing views, writing poetry or prose, or simply sharing information about Chinese government policies and their impact in Tibet today".

Accusations of police and prison guard brutality are commonplace in China. This month, Wu Lihong – an award-winning anti-pollution campaigner in Jiangsu province – told the Guardian he was beaten by guards during the three year jail sentence he has just completed.

"A state security official name Xie Lixin lashed me with a willow branch and burned me with a cigarette end. A guy name Wang Kewei bump my head against a wall, and another man surnamed Shen beat me to make me confess," he said. Wu – who is from the ethnic Han majority in China – was declared an Environmental Warrior by the National People's Congress in 2005 for tackling contamination in Lake Tai. He was later jailed on charges of blackmail.

---

July's Full Moon is called the Blessing Moon. At this time of year, corn and tomatoes are ripening, along with many vine plants such as squash and cucumbers. As we enjoy the early harvests of Mother Earth's abundance, we also reap our own personal first harvests. The energies of this Full Moon are those of success and appreciating our own accomplishments. This is the perfect time to look at all the good things we have and all that we have accomplished and to "count our blessings".

This moon is also known as the "Wort Moon" (from the Old English word "wyrt" meaning "plant"). Herbs have been growing in abundance over the past few months and those which flower have likely already done so. They are ready to be harvested. The herbs you harvest at this time can be dried to last through the winter months.

Other names for this moon are "Ripe Corn Moon", "Hay Moon", and "Meadow Moon". The corn and hay in the fields are ready to be harvested and the meadows are at their greatest point of growth.

---

I'm sure everyone has seen the Man in the Moon, but have you ever seen the Hare in the Moon?

There are many Eastern Asian and Mesoamerican legends about a rabbit living on the moon. I first heard about this from a friend whose mother is Japanese.

I couldn't see it for the longest time, but suddenly there it was! Sometimes I can't even see the man, only the rabbit.

Go outside and take a look!

---

Yesterday, Rob and I were hiking up Cowles Mountain. It's not a particularly imposing mountain, only 1,591 ft high.

But it's the highest point in San Diego, and every day hundreds of people hike up the many trails leading to the summit.

It's great exercise and one gets to recognize the regulars on the trail. Everybody shares at least the common bond of enjoying the outdoors and the exercise, and of enjoying a small patch of wilderness set aside from the urban landscape.

So it was sad to hear of the death of a fellow hiker the same day we were there. This hiker, 67 years old and named Raymond Newsom Mathias, Jr., was on his second or third trip up the mountain. He collapsed and died on the trail.

We never met him personally, but it's very likely we passed each other on the trails now and then.

We like to think a little bit of the adventure and spirit of the Green Man legend was in Raymond. Certainly, at age 67, he was still displaying a robust attitude to life.

We send our condolences to his friends and family. Rest in peace, Raymond.

The Cruel Moon

The cruel Moon hangs out of reach
Up above the shadowy beech.
Her face is stupid, but her eye
Is small and sharp and very sly.
Nurse says the Moon can drive you mad?
No, that's a silly story, lad!
Though she be angry, though she would
Destroy all England if she could,
Yet think, what damage can she do
Hanging there so far from you?
Don't heed what frightened nurses say:
Moons hang much too far away.

-from Fairies and Fusiliers by Robert Graves, 1918.

---

We’ve heard talk about bamboo fabrics and decided to look into it for ourselves. We discovered plenty about it, some true, some false, and we want to share that here.

First, the correct term is bamboo rayon, or rayon fabric made from bamboo. We don’t want to go all chemistry teacher here, but to say bamboo shirts are made from bamboo is technically incorrect.

To be more precise, “bamboo fabric” is made from rayon processed from bamboo cellulose. There isn’t any actual bamboo fiber in the finished product.

The process used to convert bamboo cellulose to rayon involves harsh chemicals like sodium hydroxide. These chemicals must be handled responsibly, or dangers to workers’ health and the environment develop.

The finished material runs the risk of residual chemical contamination.

So why sell bamboo t-shirts? Are there any green advantages?

Well, yes. Quite a few, actually.

Here are the reasons we like:

Some facts to consider about the greenness of bamboo would be:

• Bamboo is grown without any pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. Bamboo is naturally resistant to bacteria and fungus, making it simple to grow organically.

• Bamboo rarely needs replanting after harvesting because its vast root network continually sprouts new shoots, pulling in sunlight and greenhouse gases and converting them to new green growth. No re-planting means no petroleum-guzzling tractors.

• Bamboo grows incredibly fast and can be harvested in 3-5 years. Botanically categorized as a grass and not a tree, it is the fastest growing grass on Earth and can shoot up a yard or more a day.

• Bamboo is a critical element in the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Bamboo plantations are like large factories for photosynthesis, reducing greenhouse gases, and absorbing about 5 times the amount of carbon dioxide and producing 35% more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees.

• Bamboo is an excellent soil erosion inhibitor. Growing bamboo improves soil quality and helps rebuild eroded soil. The extensive root system of bamboo holds soil together, prevents soil erosion, and retains water in the watershed.

• Bamboo clothing is 100% biodegradable and completely decomposed in the soil by micro-organisms and sunlight without decomposing into any pollutants such as methane gas.


When we considered the overall pros and cons, we felt bamboo rayon t-shirts were a green positive, rather than a negative.

And we carefully considered our source. Our supplier, Continental, is famous for their environmental initiatives. Quite frankly, we trust them.

All their clothing products are certified to the OEKO Tex 100 standard for residual chemicals. This means their bamboo rayon fabric is free from residual chemicals used in the manufacturing process. Currently, the Oeko-Tex Standard is the most comprehensive certification process to insure that a garment is environmentally friendly and sustainable.

Continental is also a certified CarbonNeutral® Company.

So we made the decision to promote bamboo t-shirts. We think it’s the right one.

You’ll see that we talk about how smooth and great feeling the bamboo shirts are, and how they wick moisture away from the body, and how they make you feel cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Bamboo fabric is highly absorbent and wicks water away from the body 3 to 4 times faster than cotton. In warm, humid and sweaty weather, bamboo clothing helps keep the wearer drier, cooler and more comfortable and doesn’t stick to the skin.

Plus, they look outstanding. The shirts are blended with 70% bamboo rayon and 30% certified organic cotton, and you have to feel and wear them for yourself to see how soft and smooth they are. It’s like wearing silk, except our bamboo fabric breathes much better, is far less expensive, much more durable, and you can machine wash it.

Personally, we love our bamboo t-shirts. We think you will, too.

It was 41 years ago today that man first landed on the moon.

Command module pilot Michael Collin had these words to say: "I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance of 100,000 miles their outlook could be fundamentally changed. That all-important border would be invisible, that noisy argument silenced. The tiny globe would continue to turn, serenely ignoring its subdivisions, presenting a unified facade that would cry out for unified understanding, for homogeneous treatment. The Earth must become as it appears: blue and white, not capitalist or communist; blue and white, not rich or poor; blue and white, not envious or envied."

One of the key words Collins uses to describe Earth is "fragile" and he said that 40 years later it is still fragile "and growing more so."

"When we flew to the moon, our population was 3 billion; today it has more than doubled and is headed for 8 billion, the experts say. I do not think this growth is sustainable or healthy. The loss of habitat, the trashing of oceans, the accumulation of waste products - this is no way to treat a planet."

He's right, don’t you think?

---

---

---

The great folks at Threadless came to San Diego yesterday and of course we crashed the party, along with several hundred others at the Station Tavern and Grill, checking out t-shirts, drinking beer,and eating the famous awesome burgers and more. Threadless fans will no doubt recognize long time Threadless guru Charlie in the photo above. He's the one with the beard and graphic t-shirt. On the left.

Threadless, as everyone knows, is the leader in original graphic art t-shirts and they have set up a crew that tours around in a wicked silver Airstream trailer. We had a chance to meet and greet, and the Threadless guys couldn't have been more cool. What a gig, though, eh? Getting paid to travel the U.S. and talk graphic design and t-shirts....we can't imagine it gets too much better than that.




Being the notorious cheap bastards we're known for, we took a gander at winning free stuff by spinning the Threadless Wheel-o-Fortune. We won a copy of the new Threadless Book coming out later this summer, and it will feature the history of Threadless and the graphic work of hundreds of T designers from all over the world.

Those readers who have suffered through any of the GMTS video t-shirt reviews on YouTube might recognize some of the Threadless designers we've given shout outs to.

On the Threadless website they post a schedule of the tour; check it out to find when they'll be in your area.

---

We've written before about the Green Man archetype and how the image keeps re-appearing in so many different ways.

Well, here is another one.





You gotta admit, this doll has a certain style to it, doesn't it?

This doll (or pillow, really), and others, are handcrafted and sold by Mimi Kirchner.

She maintains a very extensive blog called Doll.

Like many talented craftspeople, Mimi sells her products on Etsy.

Her Etsy site can be reached here.

---

The Green Man Blog is written to spread environmental awareness and appreciation of the natural world around us. Thank you for visiting! Stay green, support the organic movement, and be sure to visit www.greenmantshirts.com for the best in organic cotton and bamboo t shirts!

---

---

---

October 24 saw another group of San Diego River Park Foundation volunteers cleaning up trash in the San Diego River.

This time the volunteers were partially made up by a group of Webster University alumni.

Led by San Diego Campus Director Madeleine Gervais, along with Campus Representative Susan Leach and Community Relations Coordinator Kristin Monteil, the Webster alumni helped clean the river and celebrated as the San Diego River Park Foundation marked a million pound milestone of trash collected.

The volunteers picked up plastic, old tires, batteries, containers of oil, rusty bicycles, mattresses, glass, - you name it, they found it.

The three hour event produced several thousand pounds of garbage which otherwise would have ended washed down into the ocean.

If you live in the San Diego area and enjoy the beaches, bay, and river, why not spend a morning sometime helping out?

The San Diego River Park Foundation can always use your help. Contact Field Operations Associate Shannon Quigley through the website at:
www.sandiegoriver.org/

---

Here’s a list of the top 5 worst oil spills in history:

1) 1991: 520 million gallons. During the first gulf war, the Iraqis intentionally dumped the oil from several oil tankers to slow down American troops. Reports claimed the oil slick covered 4,000 square miles and was 4 inches thick.

2) 1980: 100 million gallons. When an oil well exploded in Mexico, 30,000 gallons of oil spilled each day into the ocean for a full year.

3) 1979: 90 million gallons. A Greek oil tanker collided with another ship off the coast of Trinidad.

4) 1994: 84 million gallons. A Russian pipeline leaked oil for 8 months before the Russians got around to repairing it.

5) 1983: 80 million gallons. After an oil tanker collided with a Persian Gulf oil drilling platform, the well spilled oil for 7 months before being repaired.



In case you are wondering: the most famous oil spill in history, the Exxon Valdez spill, was only 11 million gallons.

---

Tonight is Samhain (pronounced SOW-in), the third and final harvest of the year. The dark half of the year starts tonight.

Samhain is one of the eight annual festivals, or Sabbats. In many Wiccan traditions, this is the beginning of the New Year, because as the end of a cycle, it is also the beginning. The seeds from the dying plants previously harvested lie in the Earth, waiting for new life to begin. For Wiccans, the God has died, or gone into the underworld, awaiting his own rebirth at Yule, when the light begins to return.

As the God has passed into the underworld, the Goddess becomes the Crone, stirring the cauldron of life, death and rebirth. The veil between the worlds is thin on this night, making it easier to communicate with those who have passed on. The mundane laws of time and space are temporarily suspended, allowing those in the spirit world to intermingle with the living. Many Samhain rituals involve paying respect to ancestors, loved ones, friends and pets who have died. The spirits of the departed may be invited to attend the festivities.

Since the veil is so thin, this is a good time for divination of all sorts. Tarot, runes, scrying and pendulums are just a few of the ways to look ahead into the future and see what the upcoming year may have in store.

The modern holiday of Halloween (which comes from the term "All Hallow's Eve") started out as the night before All Souls (or Saints) Day, the Roman Catholic Church's day of remembrance of the Saints and the dead. Many pagan practices were "Christianized". Trick or treating came about this way. Pagans would leave gifts of food and drink on the doorstep for the spirits who wandered that night to keep them from coming into the houses looking for food. In the Christian tradition, beggars could come to the door and ask for "All-Souls Cakes" in return for saying prayers for the recently deceased of the household. (Stinginess was rewarded with vandalism.) This has evolved into our modern tradition of going door to door and trick-or-treating for candy. In ancient times, people wore masks so that they would not be recognized by the wandering spirits. This became the custom of dressing up in costumes.

But the wandering spirits were not necessarily feared. In Celtic countries, food offerings were left on altars and doorsteps for departed loved ones. Single lit candles were left in a window to help guide their spirits home. Extra chairs were put at the table and a place set for the unseen guest. Apples were buried along roadsides for those spirits who were lost or had no descendents to return to.

Many Witches and Wiccans celebrate this holiday twice. The astrological date for Samhain occurs when the sun has reached 15 degrees Scorpio (usually around November 7). This is the astrological midpoint between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. You can celebrate the "party" aspect on October 31 and the "worship" aspect about a week later.

However you choose to celebrate, either partying, with solemn rituals and worship, or a combination of the two, be sure to take a moment to remember those loved ones who are no longer with us. Who knows - if you listen hard enough, you may hear them again.

---

No, I'm not talking about Team Edward vs. Team Jacob!

I'm talking moon phases here. The new moon occurs when the sun and moon are in conjuction, occupying the same part of the sky as viewed from the Earth's surface. At this time the moon doesn't reflect the light of the sun and so cannot be seen. The new moon phase is from the day of the new moon to three days after.

The new moon is the time of the Maiden Goddess and new beginnings. The appearance of the new crescent moon was celebrated in days of old as the moon coming back to life. This is a time of newness and growing energy. The moment of the new moon is the moment when the old passes away and the new is not yet here. It is a great time to make changes in your life, like ending bad habits or relationships, and for setting intentions for things you would like to create and manifest in your life. Job hunting, business ventures, love and romance, health - this a powerful time for starting something new.

---

Everyone knows about Monster.com, especially these days when so many are looking for jobs. As part of the annual Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) convention, held in San Diego this year, Monster hosted a mixer at the downtown, eclectic, underground Vin De Syrah wine bar.

We give Monster high marks for the party and their overall greenness of the event. Vin De Syrah is an unusual bar by itself, with walls covered in ivy, organic foods, and reachable only by a stair-cased descent under the street to a disguised door sheathed entirely in ivy. It takes a minute to find the door, but once inside the place is great.

The Greenman, pictured here on the right, is drinking an italian red and holding one of the "plantable coasters" Monster provided. These special coasters, if planted in a pot of soil, sprout wildflowers. Pretty cool, eh?

At the SHRM Convention itself the noted speaker was Al Gore. The irony of Mr. Gore speaking at a lecture hall filled with Human Resource people as he battles allegations of sexual harassment from a masseuse was not lost on too many. But people who attended his speech said it was interesting.

Monster provided two free drink tickets to each attendee, good for either wine or the vodka Tweetup special, but this wasn't a problem. By bullying the non-drinkers into giving up their tickets and scouring the floor for other tickets carelessly dropped, the Greenman was able to carry on in his usual fashion.

For those here in San Diego, or those thinking of visiting, the Vin De Syrah is an awful lot of fun. We posted their promotional video below if you'd like to see more. If anybody cares what a barful of inebriated HR professionals looks like, here is the link to the Monster pictures of the event

---

by Jason Burke. Indians have reacted with fury to President Barack Obama's tough stance against BP, accusing the US of double standards over industrial accidents after the failure to convict Americans involved in the Bhopal disaster of 1984 or to obtain what many view as adequate compensation for victims.

The anger goes beyond that of campaigners or activists with some of India's best-known writers and journalists weighing in.

"It looks like Indian children's lives are cheaper than [those of] fish," Chetan Bhagat, the country's best-selling writer, said. "Obama should bang his fist on the table. If he can do that for fish, how about our kids? Or are they only Indians?"

Continue reading "India fury over US 'double standards' on BP and Bhopal"

---

The drought that has affected the Murray-Darling basin in south-eastern Australia for several years has not only been a disaster for farming. The indigenous communities have also seen changes in the environment that endanger their ancestral customs, and though the rain has returned, concern for the future has taken hold.

In a documentary made by Aboriginal youths, trained to use a camera by director Carl Kuddell, the elders of the Ngarrindjeri indigenous community explain their fears for the survival of traditions that are deeply rooted in the land and its rivers.

Continue reading "Aboriginal culture threat from drought"

---

BP CEO Tony Hayward might be forgiven for his famous "I want my life back" line; after all, everyone says things they regret and Mr. Hayward knew immediately he gaffed and apologized profusely.

But still, it was an extraordinary thing to say. Especially given that the environmental tragedy was precipitated by the 11 tragic deaths of the oil rig workers aboard Deepwater Horizon.

Of all the comments, however, from all the experts, environmentalists, politicians, and others involved in this unbelievable event, the "I Want My Life Back" comment defines the tragedy is so many ways we had to memorialize it on one of our organic cotton t-shirts.

Energy sector responsible for over half of India's rise in emissions, says a new government report.

India's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions rose by 58 per cent between 1994 and 2007 with the energy sector contributing over half of the emissions, a new government report said.

But India's emissions per unit national wealth (or gross domestic product), a measure of GHG intensity, declined by 30 per cent during this period, the report showed.

Continue reading "India's greenhouse gas emissions rise by 58%"

---

If you tested fish from nearly 300 streams across the United States, how many would you think would test positive for mercury?

The answer: every single one.

That’s a bit scary, don’t you think? But that is what a U.S. Geological Survey Study released today stated about our streams, fish, and mercury.

Not only did every fish examined have some amount of mercury contamination, but 25% contained mercury levels exceeding the criterion for the protection of people who consume average amounts of fish.

Personally, I like fish. I’m sure I eat more than the average amount, whatever that is.

According to the report, the fish in streams located in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana contained the highest levels of mercury.

What’s odd is that those streams are in relatively undeveloped forested watersheds and wetlands. So where would the mercury be coming from?

Well, the biggest source of mercury is mercury that is emitted to the atmosphere and deposited onto watersheds by precipitation (coal-fired power plants are the largest source of mercury emissions in the United States).

However, as the report explained, contamination from atmospheric mercury alone is not the whole answer.

It seems that natural watershed features, like wetlands and forests, can enhance the conversion of mercury to the toxic form, methylmercury, which is easily taken up by aquatic organisms. The fish eat the aquatic organisms and become contaminated. And then we eat the fish.

The good news is that all 50 states have mercury-monitoring programs. The bad news is that, in 2006, 48 states issued fish-consumption advisories for mercury.

---

After World War Two, the United States tested dozens of ever-larger nuclear bombs in the South Pacific.

By the late 1970s, something had to be done with the radioactive debris left behind from all the explosions.
In the end, the government scraped up over 100,000 cubic yards of “dirty” soil and put it on Runit Island (part of the Marshal Islands).

Years earlier, a giant crater on that island had been blasted out by an 18-kiloton nuclear test code-named Cactus. The contaminated soil was used to fill that crater, and then the entire thing was concreted over.

The structure today is 18 inches thick and covers 11,000 square yards. Signs worn visitors away, but people visit anyway.

The picture below is from Google Earth, showing the concrete dome on the island.

---

The Green Man Blog is written to spread environmental awareness and appreciation of the natural world around us. Thank you for visiting! Stay green, support the organic movement, and be sure to visit www.greenmantshirts.com or www.robjuszak.com for the best in organic cotton and bamboo t shirts!

---

by Martin Wainwright. Warm as bathwater, the first gusher from Britain's new "underground central heating system" showered over a Pennine field today, while scientists and engineers applauded.

Tapped a kilometre down, hot reservoirs in granite fissures below Weardale are set to service a new "eco-village" in the valley, and provide the country's first naturally warm spa since the Romans at Bath.

Continue reading "Natural hot reservoirs harnessed by scientists to service Pennine eco-village"

---

In their book, Super Freakonomics, authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner highlight a conversation with the founder of Intellectual Ventures.

Intellectual Ventures is a think-tank company, and holder of over 20,000 patents of novel ideas such as using lasers to zap malaria carrying mosquitoes, and the Salter Sink, a device that floats on the ocean and re-circulates warm surface water to deeper, colder water, which, if placed in the path of an approaching hurricane would weaken its intensity.

Nathan Myhrvold is the founder of Intellectual Ventures, and he came originally from Microsoft. He has some ideas about curbing global warming: one of them is to build an 18 mile long flexible hose to spew sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere.

Why does he think this will work? According to Myhrvold, sulfur dioxide would absorb enough water vapor to form an aerosol cloud, blanketing the Earth and producing a cooling effect. He calls this cooling blanket Budyko’s Blanket, after the Russian scientist who first suggested the idea back in the mid 1970s.

How much sulfur dioxide are we talking about here?

About 34 gallons of sulfur dioxide per minute, discharged into the stratosphere, would be enough to effectively cool the entire Northern Hemisphere. Overall, it would take 100,000 tons of sulfur dioxide per year, a fraction of the 200 million tons that is already being discharged into the environment at ground levels.

Could this actually work? Myhrvold thinks so: he’d use helium balloons to raise the 18 mile long hose high into the sky, and small pumps spaced along its length would pump the sulfur dioxide along.

Critics say the plan is insane, and we need to concentrate on curbing emissions, not on “geoengineering.” Myhrvold counters that both approaches are needed; it is too late to think curbing emissions alone will be sufficient to reduce global warming.

---

The Black Range is a rugged and remote area of New Mexico’s Gila National Forest that contains deep forest covering mountains ranging to 10,000 feet. It is filled with mysterious spires of reddish colored stone, dark twisting canyons and high passes.

James McKenna was one of the early travelers through this area. As a young man, he had come out to prospect for silver and gold. It wasn’t far from here, around 1884, he nearly met his end at the hands of Apaches.

He was out fishing the streams one day, which he described as full of trout. Afterwards, he returned to his campsite near a cabin owned by the McKenzie brothers. McKenna walked into the middle of an Apache raid.

He discovered his friend and prospecting partner, Baxter, had been shot and killed by Apache Indians. His face and limbs had been mutilated by knives. McKenna himself was surrounded by 30 to 40 Indians, and two of them forced him back up against a tree and held him there. The others resumed their ransacking of the McKenzie cabin, ripping open the mattresses, throwing clothing about, and scattering the flour and other food all about.

The Indian women were gathering a large pile of brush, which McKenna took to mean he was intended to be burned alive. The squaws spit at him and one of them ran a mesquite thorn into his leg.

Fortunately for McKenna, the Indians’ stock of horses was stampeded by what McKenna believed was a grizzly, and in the resulting chaos he was able to run away.

He made his way to safety eventually, but only by saving himself once more by acting crazy when he ran into more Indians. The Indians, according to McKenna, were superstitious about lunatics and usually left them alone.

McKenna rejoined other prospectors and ranchers who had taken refuge, and learned the Apaches had attacked cabins and killed settlers all through the area. Although a loose group of 25 men formed a posse, called a Territorial Militia, to track down the Indians, none was ever caught.

McKenna traveled 100 miles southeast to near Kingston, but there were still sporadic attacks all through the area. Within six months, he lost another partner to Indians. McKenna claimed that for two years after that period of his life he had become so nerve-wracked he couldn’t sleep more than three hours a night, and every sound had him up with a hand around a gun. His hair fell out, and what grew back was white, though, as he said, he was still a young man.

McKenna eventually wrote a book about his prospecting years and therein related one of the strangest tales of the southwest. His travels had taken him to just south of the New Mexico border with Mexico. In a canyon he discovered an Indian cave that had been cleverly concealed with a large rock. The rock was so carefully shaped and placed it easily swung open at a push. Inside the cave was a well twenty feet across that erupted in spray coinciding with flashes of light. These flashes, McKenna said, were so bright inside the dark cave that he could clearly see the bones under his skin. Hundreds of feet into the cave he discovered a dozen skeletons. The air inside the cave was heavy with the odor of sulfur, and he could go no farther.

Years later, he revisited the area and found large boulders had filled in the canyon and the whole mountain landscape covered with volcanic ash. He never found the cave again, and the mystery of the flashing lights and water spray remained unsolved.

---

Good news on the sea lion that had fishing line wrapped around its neck: after 10 days, Sea World rescuers were able to capture it and remove the line.

It turns out the fishing line was actually plastic netting. The sea lion appeared healthy, although it had a cut on its chin. After the removing the plastic netting, the sea lion waddled over to the water and swam away.

---

The Green Man Blog is written to spread environmental awareness and appreciation of the natural world around us. Thank you for visiting! Stay green, support the organic movement, and be sure to visit www.greenmantshirts.com or www.robjuszak.com for the best in organic cotton and bamboo t shirts!

Note: Today's guest article is from Jay Chua:

People are always talking about living green. From the food they eat, the clothes they wear, and now even in the decors they have at home. There’s really something about going green that makes everybody interested and willing to change their old home decors to those which can be labeled as green. It all starts from using naturally made furniture like wood and bamboo. Proper installation, landscaping, and the choice of decors and furniture are also put into consideration. So why is everybody into green home decors? What can you gain from them? Here are 10 things you can get from having them at home:


Continue reading "10 Things You Can Get From Going Natural At Home"

---

Today's Full Moon is known as the Strong Sun Moon. We are just past the Summer Solstice, the time of year when the sun reaches its peak. From now on until the Winter Solstice the days will slowly get shorter. But right now, the days are long and the sun shines brightly until late in the day. The crops in the fields are nearing the time of the first harvest, and Mother Earth's abundance is all around us. The long, warm days encourage us to get outside and play and explore nature. Take a hike, go for a swim, ride a bike, eat dinner outside, or just lounge around and bask in the sun's rays. It's summer!

---

by Marion Tanguy. For the past 10 years, colonies of bees have decreased at an alarming rate. A phenomenon called colony collapse disorder has been killing them off en masse, and beekeepers have been quick to alert the public about their high hive mortality. The bees are threatened by new and intensive farming practices (heavy usage of technologies such as pesticides and chemical fertilisers, plant growth regulators, and methods such as mono-cropping and organised irrigation), climate change and the arrival of the Asian hornet. In recent years, the mortality rate of bees has quadrupled.

Continue reading "Can cities save our bees?"

---

Over the last 4 years, honeybees have been rapidly disappearing. This past winter a federal survey discovered another heavy die-off, and this means over 30% of the bee hives in the U.S. have now been wiped out.


Continue reading "Are Bees The New Canary In The Coal Mine?"

---

The choice is difficult: plan ahead for sustainable energy policies that benefit all of us in the long run, or provide needed jobs now?

When things are going fine economically, people tend to prioritize environmental initiatives. But once it gets economically tougher, the green initiatives tend to go out the window.

Witness Australia, where a few years back the people voted climate change as a top concern. But now, with Australia facing rising interest rates and job loss, the top priority is now saving jobs. Fighting climate change has fallen to seventh in public opinion polls.

Still, Australia, the hottest driest continent on Earth, is committed to cutting carbon emissions by 5% by 2020.

If there is strong international support, the Australian government would like to increase it to 25%.

Australia is the world’s biggest coal exporter, and plays a key role in coal-fired energy production. Any move they make will be huge.

It’s the short-term view that will keep on destroying the environment. And when we say environment, we are talking about our planet. Our rivers, lakes, oceans, air, wildlife, - we are its caretakers. We owe something to all who will pass through in the future, including our children, our children’s children, and on forever.

Only by taking a long-term view can we change the destructive path we now tread. The end result of our human economy is waste, poison, chemicals, and garbage.

Looking down the road we can see the huge mess we’ll eventually all choke on.

---

The Green Man Blog is written to spread environmental awareness and appreciation of the natural world around us. Thank you for visiting! Stay green, support the organic movement, and be sure to visit www.greenmantshirts.com or www.robjuszak.com for the best in organic cotton and bamboo t shirts!

---

It breaks your heart to see an injured animal like this: this sea lion, on the rocks in La Jolla near San Diego, California, has several loops of fishing line tangled around its neck and is slowly strangling to death.

A fishing hook is embedded in its head.

Sea World officials, alerted to the problem, can’t attempt a rescue because of the difficult area the sea lion is in.

Nearby lifeguards are watching the animal in case it moves to a more accessible area. If so, they’ll call the Sea World Rescue Team for a capture attempt.

If the sea lion cannot be rescued, it will surely die an excruciating death.

---

The Green Man Blog is written to spread environmental awareness and appreciation of the natural world around us. Thank you for visiting! Stay green, support the organic movement, and be sure to visit www.greenmantshirts.com or www.robjuszak.com for the best in organic cotton and bamboo t shirts!

---

Trevor Dickinson captured on film Australia’s worst dust storm in 70 years.

This storm, which hit yesterday, swept in overnight on much of the east coast and left millions of people choking in an eerie looking dawn.




Sydney was affected heavily, and the country’s largest airport was facing temporary closure.

North of Sydney, towns like Newcastle and Williamtown were facing strong winds exceeding 50 mph as the dust storm hit.




Australia’s interior is undergoing one of the worst droughts on record, and strong winds picked up thousands of tons of dry barren topsoil and carried it hundreds of miles to the coastal areas.



Photo Credits: Trevor Dickinson (Newcastle, Australia)

---

Back in September we wrote about that Aussie Dust Storm that blasted across New South Wales and southeast Queensland.

This dust storm was the biggest in 70 years. But only now are scientists giving us the staggering facts behind the storm.

Get this: at its peak the storm carried 140,000 tons of soil per hour from central Australia.

Hard to grasp that, isn’t it?

The scientists also say that 4000 tons of dust settled on Sydney, while another 3 million tons landed in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.

To put that in perspective, 3 million tons of dust is equal to 7,894 dump truck loads, if you used the world’s largest dump truck, the Caterpillar 797.

That’s moving some dirt.

---

The Green Man Blog is written to spread environmental awareness and appreciation of the natural world around us. Thank you for visiting! Stay green, support the organic movement, and be sure to visit www.greenmantshirts.com or www.robjuszak.com for the best in organic cotton and bamboo t shirts!

---

I discovered at the local Dollar Tree store that our utility company is promoting fluorescent light bulbs. They had the bulbs there for, naturally, a dollar each.

At Walmart and Target the prices are still $3.00 to $4.00 for the same bulbs.

So I grabbed 16 or so and switched out all my incandescents. Some fixtures I couldn't switch out because the new fluorescent bulbs didn't fit. But I got 14 lights switched over.

Then of course I had to break out the calculator and see what wattage I saved.

The new bulbs are 100 watt bulbs, but only consume 23 watts. So I am now using 322 watts for those light fixtures, whereas I was using over 1900 watts before. (I had mostly 100 watt incandescents, but also some 250 and 150 watt).

I kept my incandescent bulb in my reading lamp. The fluorescent bulb just wasn't cutting it.

But everywhere else they work great. Hopefully, I'll start seeing a 70% to 80% in my light bill each month.

---

The Green Man Blog is written to spread environmental awareness and appreciation of the natural world around us. Thank you for visiting! Stay green, support the organic movement, and be sure to visit www.greenmantshirts.com or www.robjuszak.com for the best in organic cotton and bamboo t shirts!

---

The Star of India, the world’s oldest active sailing ship, is docked at San Diego. This beautiful ship is currently undergoing needed repairs, including a $42,000.00 sandblasting job of her hull.

All told, the entire refurbishing project is expected to cost close to $300,000.00.

The Star began her sailing life in 1863. Originally named Euterpe, she was built at the Ramsey Shipyard on the Isle of Man.

Her first two voyages did not go well. On the first, Euterpe suffered a collision and a mutiny. On the second, a cyclone caught her and tore away the topmasts. On the same trip her caption died and was buried at sea.

But the great ship carried on and eventually logged 21 circumnavigations, carrying cargo to India and hauling immigrants to New Zealand, Australia, California, and Chile.

The Star of India was officially retired in the 1920s, and after a series of failed plans to restore her she was left decaying in the San Diego harbor.

But famed writer and sea-adventurer Alan Villiers, visiting San Diego on a 1957 lecture tour, rallied San Diego citizens to raise money to begin restoration.

In 1976, the Star of India put out to sea once again for a short sail through the San Diego harbor, now a yearly tradition for the great sailing ship.

---

The Green Man Blog is written to spread environmental awareness and appreciation of the natural world around us. Thank you for visiting! Stay green, support the organic movement, and be sure to visit www.greenmantshirts.com or www.robjuszak.com for the best in organic cotton and bamboo t shirts!

---

Bamboo t-shirts are very popular, as they should be. They feel great, come in bright colors, and use bamboo as the raw material.

But, strictly speaking, bamboo t-shirts are not made of bamboo fiber. They are made of rayon derived from bamboo.

We wanted to explain more about bamboo t-shirts, and shed some light about what bamboo t-shirts are and are not.

If you have anything made in China around your house, you better be worried. If you have children in your house, you better be petrified.

China routinely exports lead contaminated products all around the world. In 2007, for example, over 20 million lead contaminated toys were recalled worldwide. Nearly 1 million lead contaminated Chinese products were recalled in the U.S.



Continue reading "Why Does China Continue to Poison The World With Lead?"

---

Rhino horn is worthless in most parts of the world, but in the east rhino horn can sell for thousands of dollars.

Why? Because in countries like China and Vietnam the horn is perceived as medicine and as an aphrodisiac.
The result is an increase in illegal rhinoceros killing.

Famous wildlife parks like South Africa’s Kruger Park aren’t immune, and over 84 rhinos have been killed there this year alone.

The modern poachers are well equipped, flying in by helicopter to slaughter the animals.

Although rhinos have made a bit of a comeback in recent years, this escalation in poaching threatens to undo the gains made in the last ten years.

---

The Green Man Blog is written to spread environmental awareness and appreciation of the natural world around us. Thank you for visiting! Stay green, support the organic movement, and be sure to visit www.greenmantshirts.com or www.robjuszak.com for the best in organic cotton and bamboo t shirts!

Are you wearing the coat pictured at left? You shouldn’t be. You don’t want to be standing near a fire on a chilly night while wearing it: it violates the flammability standards, and you might very well go up in flames.

So how do we know this?


Continue reading "You Better Get On This List: It Could Save Your Life"

One of the most magnificent of all animals, the tiger, is one of our most endangered.

Only about 4,000 are left in the wild, most surviving in isolated pockets spread across India to south-eastern China and from the Russian Far East to Sumatra, Indonesia.

One hundred years ago the world’s tiger population was estimated at 100,000.

---

The Green Man Blog is written to spread environmental awareness and appreciation of the natural world around us. Thank you for visiting! Stay green, support the organic movement, and be sure to visit www.greenmantshirts.com for the best in organic cotton and bamboo t shirts!