Flower carpet honors Turks from Belgium

Every two years, in the month of August, the main square of Brussels becomes a giant carpet of flowers, a tribute to the various communities or important actions of recent years.

Last month, the honoree was the Turkish community of Belgium, which led hundreds of gardeners working for a sole purpose: to put 750 thousand flowers in a carpet covered by 300 Begonias.

Begonias were chosen for their robustness, resistance to bad weather and longevity, which allows the rug to stay several days unscathed. This flower is used traditionally in beauty pageants and parties, with 80% of its production is exclusively the area of Ghent, Belgium. Every year, approximately 60 million Begonias planted and are mostly exported to the Netherlands, France and United States.

The giant puzzle took a few hours to be completed-the flowers have to be tied to each other not to fly with the wind. See the final result.

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Alcantara WWTP: the most famous Green coverage of Lisbon can now be visited (with video)

For 20 years, the WWTP de Alcântara was the open, accumulating bad odors and complaints from all that by passerby and near lived. Built in the years 80, this wastewater treatment plant has always been badly seen by locals, but in two years, everything changed.

In 2012, this gateway of Lisbon was targeted for refurbishment and opened an amazing green roof â€" multi award-winning â€" which already put aside the cement. "We thought interesting to translate relief from hillside, put him in a way more similar to original", explained to the green economy project architect, Frederick Valsassina.

According to the charge, were also introduced multiple paths in the structure, which serve to bind to the WWTP and the administration of Live.

In fact, it was the legislation that imposed changes to the improvement of water treatment, but the roof had green as a backdrop a choice linked to the aesthetic and environmental concerns.

"To have the original topography of the Valley of Alcantara, this cover was bent several times, to respond to the organs of WWTP machines but also to create a gradient of colours and volumes" continued the architect Valsassina.

The species that make up the flower beds and terraces were selected according to the needs of maintenance â€" species that got along with this type of coverage and that pressupusessem a minimum of treatment. The plants are watered by water treated by the WWTP.

According to Antonio Frazão, director of the WWTP of Alcantara, the coverage still goes through a testing period, but will be available soon to be visited â€" are three hectares green.

The Alcantara WWTP serves more than 750 thousand inhabitants of the municipalities of Lisbon, Amadora and Oeiras and received an investment of €70 million â€" € 7 of these for the green roof.

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Phoenix: record rain in a single day knocked in a few hours

The torrential rain this morning is reaching the city of Phoenix, Arizona, has already hit all the existing records, until now, when it comes to rainfall in this city of 1.4 million inhabitants. These values are monitored for 75 years.

Second is the report on the The Weather Channel on your site and twitter, the rainfall has reached the 75 mm, beating the record journal of the city in a few hours. This extreme phenomenon has as its starting point the tropical storm Norbert, which is creating a situation "scary" for a population very little used to this climate â€" Arizona is one of the States with less rainfall in the United States.

"The desert is already unable to receive many more millimeters of water, but when the heavy rains hit the city of Phoenix-developed and covered with cement, which does not absorb water â€" can occur a catastrophic situation," explains The Weather Channel.

"There are thunderstorms and heavy rainfall of 50 millimetres per hour, in an area that's not used. There is serious flooding and threat of landslides ", explained meteorologist Nick Waite.

Beyond Arizona, also California, Utah, Nevada and Colorado are going through similar situations. Yesterday, California emergency crews deployed to respond to various requests for assistance of vehicles on the highway.

The torrential rain arrived causing a highway of floods, pushed trees and power lines.

California is in a State of drought since April-and 94% of the State has not seen a drop of rain since May of 2013. Therefore, and despite the dangerous floods, population celebrated the rain. "It was great" â€" explained Malina Hernandez to CBS Los Angeles â€" "that's the way it should always be: rain, wind, rain. Always falling ".

Here are some pictures of Phoenix, who are already being shared on Twitter.

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Monsoon rains kill close to 300 people in India and Pakistan

Landslides and floods caused by the heavy rains of the monsoon killed almost 300 people in northern India and Pakistan, came forward last night to the Associated Press (AP). According to the news agency, the rain fell non-stop for five days in Kashmir, resulting in the killing of 120 people in those who are the worst floods in the region in 50 years.

Hundreds of villages were completely submerged, according to the Indian authorities.

In Pakistan the havoc the rains were even higher, leading to the deaths of 160 people and destroying thousands of homes, a situation which is being treated as a "national emergency".

Rescue efforts are mobilizing helicopters and boats, trying to reach the tens of thousands of people displaced. "I'm 80 years old and I've never seen floods like these. If my neighborhood is like this, I imagine the devastation in other areas ", explained to the AP Ghulam Nabi, inhabitant of Srinagar. The rain stopped on Sunday, according to the AP.

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Medieval Italian village transformed into a self-sufficient ecological community

In northwestern Italy near the French border, a medieval village has been converted in a small self-contained community. Residents who live there cultivate nearby land and buildings in centenarians inhabit rock, known as Torri Superiore.

The village dates from the 13th century and is located in a Green Valley overlooking a river.

The restoration of the village began in the Decade of 1990 and the conversion project has incorporated several principles and ecological materials, ensuring that the village kept the medieval traits that characterize it. For the renovation was used local stone, natural limestone and natural insulation, so that the original aesthetics of the buildings remains unchanged. For the final finishes were used wooden Windows and ecological paints.

Now, the renovated village uses solar panels to produce energy and heat water. There are also composting bathrooms for residents ' use. The village is incorporated into the Global Ecovillage Network GEN and is developing its goals of Permaculture, Permaculture gardens and several fruit orchards.

Most of the food consumed by the inhabitants of Torri is cultivated in adjacent land through organic and seasonal cycles. Additionally, the inhabitants of this Italian village still produce jam, honey, olive oil and bread. The animals roam freely through the village, being source for dairy products, writes the Inhabitat.

The objective of this ecological village is producing the least amount of garbage as possible. Any excess of organic waste is used as food for animals or for composting. The few existing vehicles are supplemented with two donkeys.

The future of eco-village projects undergo further decrease the ecological footprint, restore the cultural center and some private homes and install more photovoltaic panels.

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The cabin of 70 years that camouflages in the desert

Philip k. Smith III is an American artist responsible for the recovery of a 70 year old cottage situated in a desert near Joshua Tree, California. The cabin uses a play of light and reflections to transmit the entire desert landscape in its various angles.

According to Treehugger, the artist's goal was to create an infrastructure â€" Lucid Stead â€" who could blend into the landscape â€" the example of the thousands of animals do and have done for millions of years.

"The Lucid Stead take in the silence and pace of change of the desert. When the pace of life slowed down and align us with the desert, the project begins to unfold in front of us. And reveals that everything relies on light and shadow, reflected light and designed, and change, "explained Smith.

In this work, the movement of the Sun reflects light around the desert landscape, while several openings are revealed in the structure. The cabin is electrified by six solar panels that were donated to the project by Hot Purple Energy, in Palm Springs. I.e. no wires in sight, strange sounds and pollution generators. Nothing "spoils" the desert atmosphere â€" see also, in the gallery that follows, the aspect of the cabin at night.

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Nestlé sign commitment against animal cruelty

Nestle, the biggest food company in the world by revenue, announced last week a new commitment to improve animal welfare in its supply chain. The measure will affect 7,300 companies providing animal products to Nestlé, which will be obliged to adopt stricter standards.

According to Nestle the measure was taken to meet the concerns of consumers, who increasingly want to know the provenance of the products they consume.

The new brand's food programme, contract with the World Animal Protection, will ban suppliers of pigs confined in cells of pregnancy and calves and laying hens in cages. The new rules also prevent to be removed the horns, tails and genitals of farm animals without painkillers.

Several animal organizations expressed its satisfaction regarding the measure, indicating that this is the first and most comprehensive measure of the genus to end with common practices in livestock farms, referred to the Dodo.

Nestlé has yet to SGS auditor to carry out audits to ensure that the brand can ensure that the new standards are met.

Foto: supersugarsnaps / Creative Commons

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