By elissam
We had some trouble finding cars to take us from Chachapoyas to Chirimoto. We thought we would be able to use the university trucks during our entire trip, but apparently those were only meant for our stay in chachapoyas. One of the drivers came with us to Chirimoto, but we had to take 2 extra taxis as well.
We had stopped for in Mendoza to do some shopping and had lunch at Antonio Trigoso’s house before continuing on to Chirimoto. We also stopped on the highway above Chirimoto so that Lucho could set off his customary fireworks to let the town know that we had arrived. Lucho introduced us to Panchito and his family, and Panchito gave us a tour of the hummingbird house and their land. Panchito and Wilma live in the Hummingbird house and take care of it in Lucho’s absence. They have 5 children: Malco, Aner, Elder, Jarold (el diablito), and Donnie (el osito polar).
We set up tents and get all of our stuff organized. After dinner we went to the meeting of coffee growers in the municipality to make introductions and meet some of the townspeople.
By elissam
We woke up early to drive to Kuelap, and spent a couple of hours walking around the ruins with the President of the University and another member of the government. From Kuelap we went to Leymebamba to meet with the Mayor and collect water samples from two sources near the town. We started the water tests in Leymebamba as part of a video interview , and then brought the rest of the water back to the university in chachapoyas to finish the tests.
After the water testing, we went out to dinner and then to a bar with the vice president and Wilo.
By elissam
In the morning we met with the University president and the engineer, and were given a tour of the university's science and engineering facilities. Much of their research is focused on agricultural studies; A large part of their engineering department, as well as much of the biology, microbiology, and chemistry studies were researching crop varieties, food studies, and appropriate farming technology.
We also met with the regional government to present the new water project, formalize the battery campaign and discuss our various ideas for smaller projects.
In the afternoon we hiked to Gocta falls.
By elissam
Flight to Chachapoyas. We spent 8 hours in the airport terminal waiting for our flight, which was supposed to take of at 9, and did not leave untill 2:30.
Dinner with members of the government and the university president.
By elissam
Late start this morning- we didn't get back to Lucho's untill almost 11:00- traffic was almost at a standstill due to a taxi strike.
We went to lunch with Wilo at a seafood place close to Lucho's house, and then on to La Catolica for our meeting with GROUPO. GROUPO is a nonprofit group focused on appropriate rural technology. They had several interesting designs for water pumps, and wind turbines made from various recycled materials, as well as initiatives to provide homes with residual heating and improved kitchens. Hopefully, we will be replicating some of their improved kitchens in Chirimoto, and are hoping to have a few members of GROUPO come with us on a future trip.
By elissam
Lucho's brother Jorge gave a design presentation on his long-term large-scale plans to bring hydroelectric power into Chirimoto. The progect involves diverting about half of the Shocol river into a large canal and tunnel on the other side of the valley from the rivers original course, and exploiting the elevation drop between Chirimoto and the neighboring town downstream.
After the presentation, we went to several of the artisan markets in Lima, and walked around the old city.
By elissam
The first full day of our assessment trip. We all flew into Lima over the last 2 days, and met up today at Lucho's family's house. For lunch we went out to the club Rodriguez de Mendoza with Lucho and his son Rodrigo. Lucho introduced us to most of the people at the club- he seems to be related to or know most of everyone there.
We took a taxi along the coast to the ocean, and then up the ridge to Miraflores. From there we walked to Barranco and spent a couple hors there getting dinner and walking around before continuing on to Nancy's house, where Richard, Charlie, and I would be staying for the next couple of days. The rest of the group is staying at Lucho's.
By Paolo Belfiore
The world needs a paradigm shift in how things are made and how frequently things are consumed. In a consumerist society like ours and many more in the western world we must step up for ourselves and spread this message.
Cynicism can only delay the time it takes one to realize the problem and will lengthen one's exposure to harmful, avoidable, yet ignored discharge created by the same products one buys.
You can find much more at http://www.storyofstuff.com/
Here's the link to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8
ENJOY!!!
By Paolo Belfiore
First Published May 2009 by IEEE at
(http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/may09/9029)
Smart sensors let crops text-message growers for more water
4 May 2009—Although technology has benefited agriculture in a number of ways, there are some things that growers still do the old-fashioned way. Among them is putting their hands and other measuring devices in the dirt and judging, based on how moist the soil is, whether their crops need water and how much should be added.
But AgriHouse, an agricultural technology firm based in Berthoud, Colo., says it is marketing a new device that can eliminate irrigation guesswork by letting plants call growers via cellular networks to indicate when they need a drink. To be specific, the plants send text messages alerting growers if their water uptake is too little, too much, or just right.
AgriHouse’s leaf sensor clips onto a plant’s leaf and uses proprietary algorithms to translate its relative level of turgidity into a reading of its internal moisture content. Developed by the University of Colorado at Boulder for NASA’s human space missions and licensed exclusively by AgriHouse, the new sensors are set to be sold in early 2010.
The AgriHouse field station, a small, weatherproof electrical enclosure to which several of the centimeter-long turgidity sensors are wired, collects readings every few minutes, then sends packets of data over the cellular network to a secure, password-protected Web portal every few hours. The system can be programmed to activate an irrigation system or send an alert whenever the plant’s water-deficit stress levels fall outside a preset range.
Though too little or too much water can diminish yields, growers tend to err on the side of giving crops more water than they need rather than risk letting the crops dry up and wilt. AgriHouse claims their sensors could significantly lower the world’s freshwater usage by preventing plants from getting too much water at the wrong time. Commercial agriculture in the United States accounts for more than 60 percent of the freshwater consumed annually. This equates to roughly 129 billion liters per day, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. “A savings of just 10 percent would be dramatic,” says Richard Stoner, founder and president of AgriHouse. Asked how big a savings the leaf sensor would likely yield, he notes that the amount varies by species of plant but that an annual reduction of 5 to 10 centimeters per hectare in applied water use would be feasible for most irrigated row crops.
Stoner says that for each circular 53-hectare field irrigated by a center pivot (a large rotating sprinkler system), the water savings realized by growers who clip a few of the sensors to their plants “would be enough to supply as many as 50 U.S. homes annually.” Stoner notes that there are close to 200 000 center pivots in North America, “so that’s a lot of freshwater that can be diverted to other uses.” He adds that for each of these center pivots, two to four sensors will provide enough redundancy to make an accurate assessment of what is transpiring in the fields.
On the flip side of the water-conservation coin is reduced energy use. You wouldn’t imagine that farming, which brings to mind pictures of idyllic meadows and rustic barns, is an energy-intensive business. But the energy required for water delivery—to pump water from wells, lakes, or reservoirs and distribute it across fields dotted with thirsty plants—accounts for half of a grower’s input costs, says Stoner. Under a typical center-pivot irrigation system, he adds, the water conserved by using AgriHouse’s leaf sensors could save a grower as much as US $4000 in annual pumping costs while substantially reducing carbon emissions. As for the sensors, they draw a miserly 50 milliwatts from the field station, which contains a lithium-ion battery pack that can store enough energy to run from the time seeds are sown in spring to when the crops are harvested in the fall.
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/may09/9029
By Paolo Belfiore
If you could turn the population of the earth into a small community of 100 people, keeping the same proportions we have today, it would be something like this...
...18 live without an improved water source...
...43 live without basic sanitation...
...53 struggle to live on $2.00 per day or less...
...6 people own 59% of the entire wealth of the community...
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THIS AMAZING VIDEO...