Goal For The Green

Para-education and green living information

Archive for the ‘Nature’ Category

Central America has so much to offer visitors. It is no wonder why thousands of people from around the world make backpacking trips throughout Mexico and Central America every single year. In addition to just having countries that are great short vacation destinations, individuals will spent months at a time traveling through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama.

One of the reasons why Central America is such a great backpacking destination is because it offers a lot. It has volcanoes, rivers, rain forests, beaches, mountains, large cities, and almost anything that you could possibly want. If you want to get away from everything, Central America is for you. If you want modern cities with movie theaters, malls, and fine restaurants, Central America is also for you. And the really great thing is that it is really inexpensive, especially when compared to the United States and Europe.

When you visit Central America, you are going to see that you can find great inexpensive place to stay. If you are looking for something extremely cheap, you can stay in a hostel for just a couple of dollars a night. Or more you can spend a little bit more and get your own room and have air conditioning. No matter if you are looking for some privacy or you are looking to meet new friends and other travelers, Central America has great opportunities.

There are definitely a couple of things that you are going to want to take on your Central American journey. First, you should know that there are a couple of different mosquito borne diseases that people can get when traveling throughout these countries. For this reason, it is important to wear long-sleeved clothing and use mosquito repellent. A lot of efforts are being made in these countries in order to prevent mosquito borne diseases, including using mosquito water tablets to kill eggs. You should also know that you will need to protect yourself from the sun. Using sunscreen, a hat, and other protective clothing is important, especially if you are going to be outdoors enjoying the beauty of Central America.

Depending on the area where you visit, you may also need to prepare for the heat. If you are from the United States, you know that Arizona is one of the hottest states. Some places in Central America can reach the same temperature levels as Arizona. However, if you visit some places, particularly in Guatemala, you could experience very cold temperatures. Do your research and prepare your clothing accordingly.

Indoor Plants for the Office

Dec-27-2013 By Barbara Zak

 

 

Office plants are tricky. You want something good-looking, of course, but they can’t require too much sunlight or pruning, because you’re a busy professional with things to do. You’ll also want a species that doesn’t attract bugs or spill dirt all over your carpet as it grows.

window of plants and more mismatched chairs

window of plants and more mismatched chairs (Photo credit: wockerjabby)

Not sure which flora meet all these requirements? Here are eight excellent indoor plants for the office.

1: Bamboo Palm

Also known as “reed palm,” this sprightly plant flourishes in shady, temperature-controlled environments, making it an excellent choice for an office decoration that doesn’t require constant vigilance to maintain.

2: Heart Leaf Philodendron

Like all philodendrons, the heart leaf is great for odor elimination and air purification, but its biggest claim to fame is its large, green, bountiful leaves. Stick it in a pot or let it slide over the edges of a hanging basket to add a splash of color to your business suite.

3: Chinese Evergreen

Small and tidy, the Chinese evergreen won’t outgrow the confines its pot, so you’ll never have to worry about messes or watering mishaps. In fact, it does the best when left entirely alone.

4: Peace Lily

Another species that welcomes the shade, peace lillies will rest comfortably on your desk or bookshelf, requiring only a weekly watering to grow well and rid the air of harmful vapors like formaldehyde and trichloroethylene.

5: Strelitzia Reginae

These oddly-shaped blossoms make a great talking point for guests, and they also boast an extraordinarily long life, so you’ll enjoy them as an ice breaker for quite some time. You might also find them under the name “bird of paradise” or “crane flowers.”

6: Spider Plant

These creeping vines are great for businesses with an edge, ones who don’t mind having their visitors walk into the room and ask, “Wow, what’s that?” Consider it a bonus that spider plants are also extremely hard to kill. If you’re a workaholic who forgets the little things, this is the plant for you!

7: Yucca

Perfectly circular rosettes make the yucca a beautiful flower for any office or professional building. They do require a bit of maintenance to keep their shape and neatness, but the results are well worth it, especially in the summer.

8: Gerber Daisy

If you have a window that gets a lot of sun, set your gerber daisies on the sill and watch them thrive. They’re vibrant, colorful plants that will bring cheer to any workspace.

 

 

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A Look at Advanced Geosciences, Inc.

Oct-11-2013 By Barbara Zak

For those who love spelunking, finding caves is often a matter of discovering the openings on the surface and then working your way lower into the ground. Many caves might start out with just a small opening that is really no larger than a house or even a doorway, but there could be miles of tunnels under the ground. The caverns could be huge, with soaring ceilings that are even larger than any room you have ever stood in before. It is very fun to explore all of these areas as long as you have the right equipment so that you can stay safe.

English: Ice cave in Big Four Glacier, Big Fou...

English: Ice cave in Big Four Glacier, Big Four Mountain, Washington, USA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Have you ever considered the fact that there could be more caves that are simply hidden under the ground, that do not have an entrances that people can see? These caves could be larger than the ones that you have been in before, but you would never know they were there. You could walk over the top of them without knowing what lay just twenty feet below the soles of your shoes. This is something that people are often investigating with geophysical instruments manufacturered by Advanced Geosciences, Inc. They are looking for new caverns and caves that have never been explored before.

The instruments do this by looking at the resistance in the ground to electricity. When the ground is made from one solid material, the resistance levels are going to look the same, no matter how far down the impulses go. If there are different materials, the resistance could increase or decrease accordingly; as you can imagine, the electricity will move through solid rock much more slowly than it would move through something like sand. By looking at how fast the current can travel, you can effectively see what is beneath the machine to a certain depth, mapping it all out.

The way that this could be used to find new caves is that you would simply look for large patches where the resistance dropped to nothing at all. That would indicate that the electrical current was traveling through the air. It also might not be able to travel through the air at all if it is too weak, and so the current will stop and the signal will be lost. The cave may still not be accessible, depending on how deep it is, but you can at least know where to look for new explorations.

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