Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Horseshoe crabs!



I found some horseshoe crab shells on my summer trip to Cape Cod with my family. I thought they might be interesting to see for those who may not be able to visit the beach all the time, as they're a really cool animal. They not really a crab! They're also ancient - the species is 200 million years old, according to this Rhode Island Sea Grant Fact Sheet.

Here are a couple of pictures of the first one I painted, along with one I left unpainted.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

I found the wind turbines!

Here's a couple of articles about the wind turbines I would look out at many mornings on Ometepe Island. I wish I had money to invest in renewable energy for Nicaragua!

This one has a good photo of Volcan Maderas in the background.
https://www.atmosfair.de/en/our-projects/projekte00/nicaragua-wind-power/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/02/nicaragua-wind-power-anot_n_154836.html

Chicken bus under the wind turbines!!!!!!!!! :) :)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28421541/ns/us_news-environment/t/nicaragua-adds-wind-power-energy-mix/

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Sustainable Shrimp Farming

I love shrimp. My grandma always remembers me wanting to order shrimp cocktail when we went to Cape Cod. Once it was considered a delicacy, and now, thanks to shrimp farming, more of us middle class can afford to eat shrimp on a more regular basis. Unfortunately, one of my favorite foods is not always good for the environment: many mangrove forests are destroyed to make room for shrimp farms!

On the other hand, Central America and entrepreneurship is once again here to save the day. :) A woman from the US went to Belize several years ago to begin shrimp farming there. She and the people of Belize are now working together to not only farm shrimp, but to farm it sustainably, with less impact to the environment. (Note that Belize is a bit different, where clay soil is moved around to make big ponds for the shrimp instead of mangrove forests). She and the owner of Aqua Mar and several other shrimp companies, along with the World Wildlife Federation, are now working to create standards for the shrimp farming.

Take a look below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5haEZ2OFbrY&feature=player_embedded#at=68