Today on G Living’s ROOM101. Elizabeth Kucinich, wife of Congressman Dennis Kucinich joins Sarah Backhouse for an in-depth two part conversation about her life before Dennis and what life is like on the road during the race for the Presidency.
In this interview we will cover: Meeting Dennis, War in the Middle East, War and The Environment, Greener Government, and what the future looks like. Sit back and enjoy a special Room101 with Elizabeth Kucinich.
Imagine this, owning a micro-sized house that needs no furniture and no extra rooms. A future-forward home that gave you the feeling of living in your own sci-fi film, set on a distant planet. If this image appeals to you, welcome to your dream home: The m-ch (micro-compact home). A team of researchers and designers based in London and at the Technical University in Munich developed the m-ch as an answer to an increasing demand for short stay living for students, business people, sports and leisure use and for weekenders.
The m-ch, now in use and available throughout Europe, combines techniques for high-quality compact “living” spaces deployed in aircraft, yachts, cars and micro apartments. Its design has been informed by the classic scale and order of a Japanese tea house, combined with advanced concepts and technologies. Living in an m-ch means focusing on essentials — less is more. The use of progressive materials complements the sleek design. Quality of design, touch and use were the key objectives for the micro-compact home team, for “short-stay smart living.”
The micro-compact low e-home is all-electric and powered by photovoltaic solar panels of 8sqm with a small diameter vertical axis wind generator.
In the shadow of the “Standard American Diet”, the “modern vegetarian diet” has emerged. Although considerably healthier than the SAD, the “modern vegetarian diet” isn’t without its shortcomings. Mostly built on complex carbohydrates such as breads and pasta and fortified with processed soy products and laboratory created multi vitamins and minerals, the “modern vegetarian diet” lacks several health-promoting elements.
Interestingly, the “modern vegetarian diet” lacks vegetables, what ideally it should be built on.
When I first made the transition to a plant-based diet at the age of 15, I ran into several problems. As I learned more, and began to understand the subtleties of a plant-based diet, what mine lacked revealed itself.
Complete protein: Vital for muscle regeneration and hormone production, a lack of dietary protein quickly leads to a lack of optimal health. This is was one of my problems when I first adopted the diet in 1990. However, these days the chance of vegetarians lacking protein is slim. Due to a flood of soy and gluten-based products such as imitation hot dogs, hamburgers, steaks and even bacon, options are plentiful. Unfortunately, the availability of these products have lead to another concern. Soy and gluten sensitivities are becoming prevalent, simply because so many of our foods contain more soy and gluten than the body can handle. Resulting in mild flu-like symptoms, fatigue, reduced sleep quality and sometimes even irritability, an over abundance of soy and gluten in the diet should be avoided. I opt for as many raw sources of protein as I can. Hemp is an excellent choice. I also like sprouted legumes, seeds and pseudo grains such as amaranth, quinoa buckwheat and wild rice.
Bercy Chen Studio: Our concept revolved around the notions of recycling a building, reusing natural and manmade resources and reclaiming the ancient ideal that buildings can and should be sacred places, especially the home.
The project began as a modest remodel, but turned into a full master-planning for the site; including complete interior and exterior recycle, an addition to an existing 1970’s home, as well as re-organization of the garden. As the original house was poorly sited, a large motivation of the design was to reconnect the house with its site by utilizing the steep topography to capture the expansive views.
One goal was to integrate the architecture with the native garden and creek at the bottom of the property. To fully enjoy the reclaimed views, the house is wrapped by exterior decks with glass railings. The inspiration is kiyomizu temple in kyoto, japan, (founded 7th century a.d.) which sits above the landscape and provides panoramic views of the city.
You can pick up your jaw off the ground now. Yes, that really is a shipping container turned in to a mighty Transformer. This transformers, trick is to go from a box to a Café in about 2 minutes flat.
Official Spill: Located in Montreal’s Old Port, Müvbox offers a variety of dishes featuring lobster from Îles-de-la-Madeleine. Created from an old shipping container powered by solar energy, this concept is a modern-day reinvention of the old-fashioned canteen which creates an experience that’s environmentally-friendly, ethical and affordable. Every night, Müvbox vanishes back into its cube, redeploying early the next morning in less than two minutes, at the touch of a button! movboxconcept.com
Smooth and creamy raw chocolate mousse served with semi-frozen raspberries is a perfect combination of raw chocolate and fresh, healthy raspberries and a perfect ending to any meal, or even when lounging around and looking for something refreshing but yet naughty.
G Living Micro Loaning Monkie Team: We are posting the loans by the G Living staff, contributors, partners and the members of the G Living Kiva Loaner Group Members, who are giving micro loans to people in need. We hope by including you, our readers in the experience, you will be encourage and inspire to join in. Tiny micro loans from each of us, will make the world a better place for all of us. Join Our Kiva Loan Group
Loan Request by Fulgencio Júlio Machava Total Loan Needed: $375.00 Loan Provided By G Monkie: $25.00
Fulgencio Júlio Machava, was born in Gaza Province. He is 27 years old and single with no children. He attended school through the 10th grade and he received training as an elementary teacher.
He left Gaza Province for Namaacha, a town on the border with Swaziland, with his parents after his father was transferred through his work in education. After completing primary education, his mother advised him to enroll in the training course for primary teachers as a fast path to entering the job market. Fulgencio completed the course in two years and quickly went to work as an administrator in the District Administration Office of Education in the same town of Namaacha. He has been working for three years and earns a salary of 4700 meticais monthly. He has not been able to save because he is building his residence in the town of Boane, which is located 75 km away from the town of Namaacha. he has not been able to complete the construction, so he approached Hluvuku requesting a loan to continue the work. He obtained this with a little bit of difficulty due to lack of collateral, but with the help of his uncle as a backer, he was able to overcome this barrier and continue the work. He takes care of his mother and his two younger siblings who live in the city of Maputo by sending them 1000 meticais per month. Continue Reading / See Additional Photos
We’ve written about urban farms before, how the future of farming might rely on giant skyscrapers, using hydroponics or other systems to feed our growing cities. New York Magazine has decided to do a feature on this as well, and has named it Skyfarming.
(via nymag.com) "A Columbia professor believes that converting skyscrapers into crop farms could help reduce global warming and make New York
Urban farming has always been a slightly quixotic endeavor. From the small animal farm that was perched on the roof of the Upper West Side’s Ansonia apartment building in the early 1900s (fresh eggs delivered by bellhop!) to community gardens threatened by real-estate development, the dream of preserving a little of the country in the city is a utopian one. But nobody has ever dreamed as big as Dr. Dickson Despommier, a professor of environmental sciences and microbiology at Columbia University, who believes that “vertical farm” skyscrapers could help fight global warming."
The New York Magazine article is based on Dr. Dickson Despommier work and essay on Vertical Farming. He has recently updated his essay and we will include part of it here: Essay 2
