Farm in a box

An inventor in Kenya has come up with a farm kit he claims can grow enough plants and livestock to feed a family in a space the size of a small car.

The 'aquaponic' system combines growing beds with a tank for rearing edible fish or shrimps. The two systems work in harmony using minimal amounts of energy and water.

If this sounds like the stuff of science fiction, its creator assures me the idea has been around for centuries and is beguilingly simple. That said, he has little doubt about its potential to revolutionise the way food is produced in the future.

I meet Heino Dahmen in a sprawling garage on the outskirts of the port city of Mombasa. He has run this business and an adjoining shipyard on the Mtwapa Creek for 20 years, but now devotes almost all his time to a bewildering array of engineering projects.

Podcast #52: Japan whaling ban, Selling human waste + YearsOfLivingDangerously

This podcast includes the following stories:

1. What does the ban on Japan's Antarctic whaling mean?
2. Selling sewage to help boost sanitation in Kenya
3. My web picks
4. Deal to start mining the sea bed in Papua New Guinea
5. Reviews of the US documentary series Years of Living Dangerously

Listen to more CoolGreen episodes here

The Goldman Prize
Goldman Prize on YouTube
Costing The Earth debate on IPCC report (BBC)
Dan Charles' report on fish farming for All Things Considered (NPR)
Years of Living Dangerously on YouTube

Human waste as fuel

Dried human waste could be the next big business opportunity in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as helping to flush out the problem of poor sanitation, according to a start-up in the coastal city of Mombasa.

Waste Enterprisers believes the "faecal sludge" found in pit latrines and septic tanks could be used as industrial fuel in place of imported coal and other biofuels. 

The company's CEO, Dr Ashley Muspratt, said that dried waste has been shown to burn at least as well as coffee husks and palm nut shells in tests. Unlike these more common biofuels, there is a plentiful local supply of sewage all year round. 

"I like to talk about what we're doing as replacing [sewage] treatment plants with factories. When you talk about factories you're talking about bringing in a raw material and putting out a value-added product," Dr Muspratt said. 

A pile of dried sludge in Kampala (Moritz Gold / SANDEC)

Podcast #51: New ways of monitoring Earth from Space; Apple CEO takes on conservative think tank + The lonely tree

This podcast includes the following stories:

1. Two new schemes tom monitor rainfall and deforestation from Space
2. My top environmental web picks
3. Apple CEO Tim Cook tells climate skeptic think tank where to put their money
4. A community's attempt to save the tree it loves 

Listen to more CoolGreen episodes here

Global Precipitation Measurement mission (NASA)

Info graphic of Global Precipitation Measurement satellite (Space.com)

Global Forest Watch

The Passing of a Giant (Mark Deeble)

Nuclear Waste's Final Destination (BBC Costing The Earth)

Show Me The Way To Go Home (BBC Discovery)

A town's love for one tree (Guardian)

Podcast #50: What Warsaw achieved, chilling effect of the Arctic 30 arrests + the most anti-environment ad ever?

This podcast includes the following stories:

1. Typhoon Haiyan fails to whip up a frenzy of action in Warsaw
2. My top environmental web picks
3. Could the Arctic 30 arrests have a chilling effect on direct action?
4. Marine reserves in the Antarctic stymied
5. Is this the most anti-environment ad ever?

Listen to more CoolGreen episodes here

Dispatch from Kiribati (Business Week)
Surveying deforestation since 2000 (Google/USGS/University of Maryland/Living on Earth)

90 emitters responsible for climate change (Guardian)

Podcast #49: Peru's dolphin cull, making airlines pay for emissions + trees that point to gold

This podcast includes the following stories:

1. World's 'largest illegal dolphin slaughter'
2. Battle for control of airline emissions
3. My top environmental web picks
4. Banning damaging PIB dumping at sea
5. Australian bushfires: No climate change link, says PM
6. Trees that point to gold

Listen to more CoolGreen episodes here

Undercover dolphin slaughter footage (Jim Wickens/Mundo Azul/ITV News)

Jim Wickens' account of being shipwrecked

CSI Landfill (BBC Costing the Earth)

Podcast #48: Global reaction to the IPCC report, the latest on detained Greenpeace activists + turbine rock

This podcast includes the following stories:

1. Reaction around the world to the IPCC's fifth climate report
2. My top environmental web picks
3. Latest on 30 Greenpeace activists detained in Russia
4. Using goats at green mowers
5. The great gig in the sky (actually on a wind turbine)

Listen to more CoolGreen episodes here

Crowdsourcing climate data from smart phones (BBC Inside Science)
Interactive: How hot will it get in your lifetime? (Guardian)
Bill McKibben on his latest book (PRI Living On Earth)