Part One Was Subterranean, Now In Part Two, We Break The Green Surface.

Imelenchon

There’s a cool little bounce to the sidewalks of New Green City, that’s because these sidewalks are made of recycled rubber, composed entirely of old tires. Sidewalks that are safer and more flexible so no breaking apart as tree roots grow (like concrete notoriously does). They are able to be installed directly over and mold around tree trunks and roots while still allowing water to penetrate to the roots without damaging them or hindering growth. Rubber sidewalks curve around corners and even down slopes, gum doesn’t stick to it, cigarettes won’t leave burn marks and it’s easy to remove and replace.

Currently, the material is about 30% more expensive than concrete, but it lasts three times longer and does not have the carbon footprint as does the production of concrete.

New Green City utilizes recycled concrete in a myriad of ways, so much so that it is now completely unnecessary to toss any of the broken and discarded concrete that normally (by the tons), ends up in over-taxed landfills. Old broken concrete is repurposed and used like stone, popularly called “urbanite” for flower beds, landscaping gravel, paths and aggregate blends for patios, fire-pits, planters, and retaining walls. While broken pieces of concrete make good stepping stone walkways. Recycled concrete has become a staple in the manufacture and/or construction of counter-tops, sinks, pool decks, interior walls, floors, and even furniture.
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Forced Green has reached the 3 year mark!

Just think! 3 years and the planet is still here. Although bruised and beat up, she is still trying to hang in there for us.

Thank you for being a regular visitor! We really appreciate your dropping by and looking around.

Forced Green … as the green future unfolds.

Remember The Jefferson Starship Song “We Built This City On Rock and Roll”? Well, We’re Going To Put A Green Spin On It.

Let’s take a trip into the future in a multi-part series utilizing green innovations. Some of these ideas and innovations were the green subjects of previous Forced Green articles. Although these innovations can be used for brand new projects, in this series we will rebuild and transform a dying, decayed, and ruined city into a thriving, sustainable, and enjoyable metropolis. We will start underground and work our way up.

Part One : Subterranean

News reports have been full of stories of pipeline explosions killing scores of people, and devastating communities, or tons of fresh water lost to ruptured water lines. So for a safe solution to the deadly and environmentally destructive problem of age-degraded and structurally defective pipe systems, New Green City utilizes a method called cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) lining. For energy, sewer, and water pipelines et al, in both residential and commercial applications. It effectively relines the original pipe to create a new jointless pipe within the existing pipe without digging up roads and impacting traffic and area businesses for excessive amounts of time.

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Now We Know, We Need To Remove Nuclear (And “Clean Coal”) From Our Sustainable Future.

NASA's Earth Observatory

While the Japanese were in the mist of picking themselves up and dusting off from what is now classified as a 9.0 earthquake, they were slammed back down by a giant tsunami.

And bless their hearts, they can not even take a second to catch their breaths because four of their damaged nuclear reactors are exploding and catching fire. Officials have issued a health alert, radiation levels are spiking around at least one of the crippled reactors.

Authorities banned flights over the area, warned people as far as 18.6 miles (30 kilometers) away from the plant to stay inside (if there are ‘insides‘ to shelter in).

Most of the workers have been evacuated from the plant. And ‘most’ is the operative word because some workers remained behind engaged in a last-ditch effort using ocean water to cool the reactor cores. There is no doubt that they will be getting extremely high doses of radiation. Very possibly lethal doses and they know it. They are the very definition of the word heroes. For their people, they will most likely give the ultimate sacrifice – it is so very sad.

NOAA energy map

Japan is one of the most technologically advanced countries on Earth. In fact, when it comes to earthquake engineering and construction, the rest of the world looks upon this island nation as the experts and relies on them for knowledge and training in this field.

But no amount of preparedness can withstand a natural disaster that moves the island of Japan 8 feet (2.4 meters), shifted Eastern Japan towards North America by about 13 feet (3.96 meters), shifts the Earth’s axis around 6 1/2 inches (17 cm), and shortens the length of the day by about 1.8 microseconds.

So, Mother Nature has given us the answer on the nuclear power question. And the answer is nuclear power is NOT sustainable. Not for us at the day and age.  Tapping nuclear energy is too powerful and uncontrollable for us to manage. It is too dangerous. We must cross it off our green energy list. Just like ‘clean-coal’ is not clean, nuclear power is not safe.

NASA Image

If you are interested, there is a collection of overhead photos from Australian TV that shows startling contrast of before and after tsunami in Sendai area. Just hover the pics and sweep the mouse side to side to see the difference.

All in all how are the Japanese people handling these back to back terrible disasters? Well, there is no looting, the stores that could open did with marked down prices, vending machine owners opened their machines and gave away the drinks, and total strangers are sharing their food, water, and warm clothes and blankets with their neighbors.

And the rest of this world watches their grace under fire …

No Nuclear…. as the green future unfolds.

For many of us, we are not prepared!

Prepared for what? Spring has arrived, the snow is melting, and here come the rains. Flooding is occurring in the north and tornadoes are at the beginning of their yearly reign. Next comes the hurricane season. And just today, Japan got hit with a 8.9 earthquake and tsunami! Add in those of us who have been hit hard by this economy. By any chance, do you have emergency food storage that could help you survive for a few weeks, or even several months?

There is a new co-op that is at the grassroots level to give people free food. A CO-OP is nothing more than a group of people working together in order to obtain discount pricing on products and services.

The SOLUTION… Providing food at wholesale discount prices and creating a system to give it away for free along with it tasting better than regular grocery store food. That solution is now called…Free Food 2Go.

So how do you get free food? Well, grasshopper, glad you asked and please watch this video.

The first thing you need to do is to join the Free Food Co-op for a one time fee of $8.50. However, for a limited time it is only $4.00. Then get the free food sample pack(a $12 value). This will give you an idea of how the food tastes. Satisfaction is guaranteed.

There are many folks out there predicting that food costs are going up. Why not get ahead of the curve (or natural disasters) and stock up?
It is always good to have a backup plan for any event that you and your family will experience. So, give this a try!

Free Food …. as the green future unfolds. All of our prayers are with the Japanese people.

Sometimes A Video Is Worth A Thousand Forced Green Words

NASA

With the post “The Green Rebirth Of An Old Naval Air Station” , it is no secret that Forced Green is always impressed with the goings on at NASA Ames Research Center. And it is also no secret that one of Forced Green’s favorite innovative subject’s is Unimodal’s amazing SkyTran .

This past January, Plum TV’s Masters Of Innovation series with host Jim Brasher presented an episode called “Space Age Green”. This episode covers how the cutting-edge technology designed for space travel at NASA Ames Research Center is being re-purposed to make life on this planet a whole lot greener. From carbon net-zero office buildings to more efficient air travel, SkyTran’s Jetson-like pods for commuters and mushroom’s that clean up oil spills. Proving that of all the corporations and government entities talking the green talk, NASA is actually walking the green walk with a plethora of environment-friendly game-changers.

NASA – Masters Of Innovation ….as the green future unfolds.

Hundreds Of Life-Size Human Sculptures Have Been Installed As Part Of A New Underwater Coral Garden Off Cancun, Mexico.

Jason deCaires Taylor.

Today, Forced Green presents a very beautiful project called the “Silent Revolution” that is being built in Mexico. Not only does it add beauty to the seas but helps with the cleaning of the area. It was created by the British Artist, Jason deCaires Taylor.

So far there are 400 life size faux human sculptures which are made of special type of cement which has a neutral pH that encourages coral to grow. Within a few months, the area has been exploding with sea life, coral, etc.

Sit back and enjoy the scenery!

Faux Humans ….. as the green future unfolds.