Sapa, located in North Vietnam. July 07. Photo taken by someone in my family.
When I went to Vietnam last year, it had only been my third time to the country. I am fortunate to have parents who like traveling so my family and I traveled all throughout Vietnam from the North into the South. Despite the unfortunate third-world country status, it is a truly beautiful country. I don’t think I could have fully and truly appreciated nature until my trip. I hiked mountains which I had never done before. I saw some of the most beautiful country sides, great green mountains and went into caves.
Ha Long Cave. July 07. Photo mine.
Parts of the beautiful scenery are many different plants and trees. There are a lot of different fruits and plants that I have never seen in California so I wanted to share my 3 favorite plants I found in Vietnam.
1. Cay Ca Trung “Fish Egg Tree”
It is known as the Jamaican Cherry Tree in most of the world, but I had only known of it as Cay Ca Trung or literally translated to Fish Egg Tree. The outside is small and red. The inside looks like fish eggs hence the literal Vietnamese name. The fruit is very sweet and VERY sticky. When I went to Vietnam, my younger cousins showed me the fruit. Then we proceeded to have fish egg fights while we were on duck paddle. Very dangerous. And very sticky. The tree was found almost alongside roads. Unfortunately, this tree is rarely seen in North America.
2. Bong Mac Co “Shy Flower”
The second time I had been to Vietnam, this plant amused me to no end. I had never seen anything like it. With a flick of a finger or a kick of the feet, the leaves closed up as if it were alive. I was astonished. A few years later, the plant appeared for my amusement again except in Hawaii! You can grow your own at ticklemeplant.com.
Here is a video I found on YouTube where someone touches the shy leaves.
3. Cay Phuong Do
The woman under the tree is my mom during our trip.
Here in America I’ve seen these trees except in purple. When in season, my whole street blooms into purple. It’s great until the petals fall on the streets and cars causing a slightly sticky mess. In Vietnam, the trees have red flowers. I can’t find the English name and I can’t translate Phuong into English. So my basic translation is Red --- Tree.
There is a town 130 miles away from San Francisco called FortBragg.
That is FortBragg. It is quite gorgeous except for the building.
In this town, a pollutant, dioxin, is infesting the area of a former lumber mill.
How do they want to clean the dioxins?
With mushrooms.
There are two types of mushrooms native to the North that is dioxin-degrading:
Turkey Tail:
And Oyster mushrooms:
I eat oyster mushrooms. My family just finished off a 5lb bag of oyster mushrooms last week.
Mushrooms being used to clean up oil spill are nothing new. It is a process called bioremediation. In this process pollution-eating organisms like fungi or green plants are fed with fertilizer, oxygen and anything else that makes it grow faster. As defined on this site, it “uses microorganisms or their enzymes to return the environment altered by contaminants to its original condition.”
However, it hasn’t been used to clean dioxins. Dioxin is the second most toxic man-made chemical. Number one goes to radioactive waste.
There is no safe level of dioxin exposure according to the Department of Toxic Substances Control. Constant exposure to dioxin can lead to cancer.
There is a lot of contaminated soil because of the dioxins made from the lumber mill. Normally contaminated soil gets taken away to be burned or buried.
What the town hopes to do is use the mushrooms by putting it in plots, sprinkled with straw then left alone with the mushrooms spawning. Then, it is supposed to release a threadlike web called mycelium that secretes enzymes which causes the toxins to fall apart.
Since mushrooms haven’t been used to clean dioxins, sometime this year the town will try a test of mushrooms on a truck loads worth of contaminated soil.
Whales are such magnificent creatures. While watching the news yesterday, a package on whale watching came on. Big dangerous looking creatures, swimming alongside a boat. My mom made a comment that if they wanted to they could easily flip the boat over. But no, they are harmless.
They swim by big man made machineries and mind their own businesses. If I was a whale and saw the ugly ship that does not belong in my home, I’d flip it over. Thank goodness for those ships I’m not a whale. But honestly, I can’t say the same for killer whales.
As kind as most whales are, ships are their predators. One of the most endangered species of whales is the right whale. The name right whale comes from whalers who thought it was the "right" whale to kill. Back in the day it was for the whale's oil, One of the leading two unnatural causes of right whale deaths is getting hit by a ship.
An article from the New York Times says that the National Marine Fisheries Service wants to make speed limits on ships within 30 miles of port. The White House has been lagging on making a decision because shipping companies don’t like it.
In the last 10 years, a third of the right whale population was killed due to ship strikes. With only 350 North Atlantic whales left in the world, scientists warn that an unnatural death of even one breeding female can push North Atlantic right whales into extinction.
Almost once a week there’s always some kind of new report saying that some product I use or eat is not good for me because a certain chemical in it will make me sick or kill me.
I’m over exaggerating. Just a little.
One week coffee is good for me then the next week coffee isn’t. One week chocolate is good for me the next week it isn’t. Antidepressants make people stop being depressed or make them kill themselves all together.
Everything has its’ pros and cons. We eat and buy everything. With everything we consume, how can producers not put pesticides on veggies? They want us to buy, and we won’t buy if it has little holes in it. Even my Asian noodles had issues with it. Chemicals were being put into it to make it a little chewy. Later everyone found out the really delicious noodles have chemicals in it that harm you. I get surprised but not surprised at the same time. You are supposed to eat to live. But maybe some of the stuff I eat will kill me. Then what is there left to eat? I can eat organic food, but they could be lying to me. It’s probably organic by label.
All those toys I played with when I was younger had lead. I’m pretty sure. Most of them were made in China. But hey, I’m not dead now. =) But I love lead!!! All those Mexican candy I bought from the Ice Cream man after elementary school were GOOD.
The National Toxicology Program says this week’s unhealthy substance is Bisphenol A. BisphenolAfree.org says the substance harms people and the environment. BPA, for short, is the major compound used in polycarbonate plastic. The substance can be found in baby bottles, water bottles, and as liner in a lot of canned food. The BPA can leak out of the can into your food. BPA can cause problems in human development and reproduction.
So basically, this week’s unhealthy product is BABY BOTTLES. I am not surprised. Baby bottles are hard and clear. I could put it in the microwave and it didn’t break down. That’s not natural. To me, that’s an obvious sign of: possible harmful ingredient.
After studying plastics by animal testing (Great…), scientists found out that when the womb was exposed to BPA, there were chances of developing certain cancers and childhood behavioral changes such as hyperactivity.
In this article, BPA can be found in your teeth too. A small amount of it is used in fillings and sealants. Nothing is natural anymore. Not the food we eat. Not the things we buy. Not even people.
Is that possible? I can’t imagine L.A. being anything but gray let alone green.
I guess my imagination isn’t as vivid as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa though.
The Mayor wants to cut down greenhouse gas to 30 percent below what it was in 1990 by 2030.
His plan is to make developers whose building projects are 50 units or 50,000 square feet to make their buildings up to green standards set by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
On April 22, the L.A. city council voted and passed the law.
Apparently, by 2012 this new law will cut carbon dioxide emissions by 80,000 tons which is about taking 15,000 cars off the road.
L.A. isn’t the only city in the sunshine state trying to get the “biggest green city in the country” title. Next month, San Francisco will act on a similar new building standard. San Francisco’s plans are suppose to be stricter, but if both cities succeed, Los Angeles will make a bigger impact since there are 4 million people in L.A. and 800,000 people in San Francisco.
I don’t know if it’s possible to make L.A. even a bit green, but if Villaraigosa succeeds, that will be incredible.
Until then, he will have to make me and everyone else a believer.
Random tidbit on the same topic, the LA Times reports that the Vatican now says air pollution is being added to the list of “new sins”.
Pollution has always been a health hazard for humans but also for insects.
A new study has found that the growing levels of air pollution has reduced the potency of flower fragrances by up to 90 percent compared to pre-industrial levels in the U.S.
Pollinators like bees and butterflies locate flowers by their fragrance. With more pollution in the air, pollinators will have a harder time locating flowers and feeding off of the nectar.
If insects can’t find flower food, the lack of insect movements will not pollinate other plant species.
Air pollution has decreased the distance flower scents travel in the wind from almost 3,600 feet when pollution was first recorded in the mid-19th century to an average of 700 feet in large cities.
Air pollution is worse on “code red” days during the summer.
One of the biggest pollutants is the ozone. Ozone is created when air filled with pollutants and sunlight reacts together.
When the scent molecules a flower creates bond with pollutants, the process breaks down the scent thus causing the scent not to travel far and potency level to drop.
Metals from aluminum cans. Casing made of plastic from bottles. Rubber key mats made from car tires.
That is what makes up Nokia’s green cell phone, ReMade, according to this article on Environmental News Network..
ReMade is made up of 100 percent recycled parts. There will be no need to make new parts which will stop manufacturers from using more natural resources. Not only that, landfills will be reduced.
Unfortunately, recycled phones like ReMade will not be in stores anytime soon; maybe in another few years. Markus Terho, a director at Nokia's environmental affairs unit, said that because there are not a lot of recycled materials in a large quantity, they can’t make it for market consumption.
Apparently, 40 to 60 percent of Nokia’s current phones already use recycled materials.
According to this article, by 2007, Nokia saved over $150 million on material and transportation costs just by going green. Financial gains from going green will persuade other phone companies to go green too.
Even though the motive is green (as in cash), I like the idea that the world will be greener because of it.
Here's the Nokia promo for ReMade. It's a pretty cool looking phone. I just hope I don't break it.
I know the aim was :30-:60 but I went over by 4 seconds. I made my brother help me out and I sort of starved him a bit. He's a good first time actor under a really horrible director. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.
In this article, UC Berkeley found out in 2000 that hydrogen fuel would be a very attractive alternative to fossil fuels because it is renewable and environmentally friendly.
"Hydrogen is so clean-burning that what comes out of the exhaust pipe is pure water. You can drink it,"said Tasios Melis, a UC Berkeley professor.
To read the full article, go here at the Environmental News Network.
This is a music video by a Japanese group called Lead. "STAND UP!" has a corn throughout the video which is promoting ethanol.
What is ethanol exactly? I asked myself this question. When I found out about it a few years ago, all I knew was it was an alternative fuel made with corn. The other thought was, it’s going to save me gas and that sounded really good. Recently though, I noticed ethanol is suppose to have consequences. Because I don’t know much about it and want to learn more, I researched some advantages and disadvantages on ethanol.
Advantages
1. This alternative fuel is renewable.
2. The energy density of ethanol is higher than other alternative fuels. Because it is higher, less volume is required to go the same distance.
3. The agricultural economies can be improved because it will help certain farmers, for example those who produce sugar beets and maize, have a steady market.
4. No dependence on foreign oil!!!
Disadvantages
1. It has a short shelf-life. If the fuel does not get replaced within a certain amount of time, it can corrode at the engine.
2. Ethanol has a smaller energy density than gas. This means it takes longer for ethanol to travel a certain distance than gas.
4. Ethanol burning could increase emissions of certain types of pollutants.
5. Ethanol is expensive to make. A lot of land is needed to grow crops. This would be a problem in developing countries because it would compete with food production. Crops are also vulnerable to bad weather, insects, and droughts. Also, a lot of water is needed to convert crops into ethanol.
6. Corn production is bad for the environment. It causes more soil erosion than any other crop in the nation.
I guess after researching, ethanol is going to need a lot more work before it should be used as an alternative fuel. If you do not take care of ethanol in your engine, it causes harm to your vehicles. Producing the crops needed for ethanol is bad for the environment. I suppose the dependence on foreign oil will have to continue.
Sapa, located in 
