Gaddafi's son in America right up until Libya uprising

Yeah, that's right...on a state sponsored internship. He was given VIP tours of the Universal Studio's theme park, Google, Apple and Intel, as well as defense contractors Lockheed Martin, Northrop Gruuman. He returned home, where he is a military commander, when the uprising started. The state denies they planned or organized the trip, despite his warm reception. Full article here.

"Leaves are buzzing with electricity..."

What a wonderful example of what's possible when we partner technology and nature! In 1998, researchers at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory developed an artificial, silicone-based leaf able to collect energy from the sun. However, this was a costly prototype, being composed of rare and expensive materials, and it had a short life span. So Daniel Nocera of the Massachusetts  Institute of Technology went back to the drawing board.

Organic, All Natural, Locally Grown: What does it all really mean?

Many of you are like me, ready and willing to start doing your part by making sustainability a habit, but still in an environment that doesn't lend it's self well to backyard chicken coops and gardens. And while we still must rely on the grocery stores to feed ourselves, we want to make better choices with our money and for our health. So do we buy certified organic? All natural? Only food grown locally? And how does each option effect the environment and our health?

Planting A Herb Garden

I am the younger sister of Mrs. Nerd-N-Ernie. I am a wife, a mother of one, and one damn clean-smelling hippie. I will be contributing to the “When All Else Fails” section, adding the perspective of one who is in the process of converting a piece of land into a Mecca of self-sufficientness. I’ll keep you posted on our progress, and I will do my best to present fun ideas for your own projects! It is my goal to help prepare you for the worst. Check back frequently for gardening tips, cost summaries, and ways to help bring yourself back to the Earth.

Many people may think that growing your own food is too hard and time consuming. Food and herbs can be grown easily and, more importantly, it is crazy healthy! Hopefully the tips you find here will help you to see this is not the case. My favorite part about growing my own food is the satisfaction I get knowing that I am playing a key part in my family’s health and well-being. Investing just a little time and an even smaller amount of money can be the greatest thing you do for your family.

Step One: Planting a Herb Garden

Welcome Yaya! Nerd-N-Ernie's newest member and resident Sustainability Columnist (fancy, yes?)

Out like a lion, indeed!

Welcome back from the weekend! The first order of business, this snowy Colorado morning, is to introduce and welcome a new contributor to Nerd-N-Ernie.

In accordance with the blog's new direction, I've added a new section entitled When All Else Fails that will hopefully help you bring more and more bits of sustainability into your life. As I currently live in the middle of a city & in a basement apartment, I felt it necessary to bring in a writer with a different perspective than I to fill in any gaps.

My little seester fits the bill perfectly as someone who is currently working to turn my parents 40 acre piece of land into a fully working and sustainable farm. She starts today, posting under Yaya, so start looking for tips on starting herb and vegetable gardens, chicken raising, raising a baby in a sustainable environment and whatever else she comes up with! I will also add tips geared more for the apartment dwelling readers as well, but Yaya's info should transfer well to both kinds of living.

I'm very excited to welcome her on board and I hope you all will enjoy hearing from her as well!

As always, thanks for checking us out!

-Nerd-N-Ernie

Progress!!

So, whatdya think of the changes so far? I'm pausing my re-design phase for a moment so I can introduce the new content tabs. 

Some Sort of New Direction

I've been struggling with my direction, in life as well as online, since I viewed the newest installment of the Zeitgeist films, Zeitgeist: Moving Forward. The concepts introduced seem(ed) so important that the need to tell anyone and everyone was often overwhelming. I know my family and friends were sick to tears of hearing me ask, "Have you watched it yet!?" every conversation we had and my husband, though he agrees with the concepts 100%, begged for my attention to be focused elsewhere.

Canada vows to keep lying on the news illegal. Reason # 1223 to emigrate.

The scariest thing about this Huffington Post article is realizing that, in America, we don't have this law. Up until 1987 we had the Fairness Doctrine, which Reagan abolished that year....WTF? This means American news corporations can legally lie to you and distort the truth to fit their views. Fair and balanced indeed.

BurntErnie: I'm not lovin' it. or Why can't McDonalds serve digestible food?

Everyone knows one shouldn't indulge in fast food too often *harrumph*. High fat, high salt, high impact on the environment...the list goes on. On occasion I do like to give in to my guiltiest of pleasures....McDonalds' sausage, egg and cheese biscuit...with a big ol' Coke. I dream about it sometimes, with Homer Simpson-esque results (No, that's sleep drool on my pillow!), but very rarely do I give in. This morning was one such occasion.