If you ever have had the privilege of driving with Marko across the US/Canada border you know that this will be the first event to happen on a trip—we are always marched into the customs office. Once inside, there has to be a few tough questions thrown my way also, mainly because I have a green card and a Canadian passport. I must say, it would be nice to see open borders that the countries in the European Union enjoy and also countries like El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Once we reached the customs in Honduras, again I was pulled aside but this time I was not asked any questions as my Spanish consists of about 5 words. It was a technicality in my paperwork, as I needed an address we were staying at and I suppose they didn’t like my answer of Tegucigalpa.

The family that we are boarding at is the same home we had the privilege of staying at in November of last year. To describe our contentment was simply put by our host when we arrived at his home and he told us “Welcome home”. Though this time I get my own bed. Last time I had to share a bed with Marko, who was enjoying foreign bacteria moving through his system.

The short clip I’ve uploaded is a mix of things I saw today.

- An old hanging bridge to get across this deep gorge. During hurricane Mitch the water crested it, even though the river is now 70-100 feet below. At that time several houses disappeared into the river.
- A church that helps the poor neighborhood kids with monthly medical checkups and they also enjoy other activities with a smile as you can see. There was about 94 kids in around the place when we popped in to say hi.
- Random rooster that I’m sure I’ll be hearing tomorrow morning before sunrise.

My dad, Pentti Leppanen, preaching in Florida

The image was taken in the late 70s or early 80s. The church looks like Bethel in Lake Worth, Florida. He was the pastor at the Finnish church in Lake Worth, now called Kotikirkko and can be found at 1510 High Ridge Road. He served there from 1975 to 1980.

The audio is from 1984, a month before he passed away in a drowning accident. The sermon is from a Finnish conference held in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. It was from a late evening meeting.

We stayed a few days in Villa Nueva, located 8 miles from Guatemala City. The city is one of the poorest with 400,000 residents.

One article was quoted as saying that “55,000 of the poorest people in Central America live in Villa Nueva”.

Article from Reuters on Villa Nueva “Slum dwellers armed with shotguns have taken to Guatemala’s streets to hand vigilante justice to youth gangs”

Armed guards with shotguns were everywhere you looked. It was nearly impossible to determine whether they were militia or private security guards as some were in uniform.

Armed with pistol handle shotguns - Image from Google

Great sunrise on the first morning at around 6:00am. The next morning I slept in.

Some photos I took with the evening sun hitting our rocky beach.

Isaac goofing around for the camera

Expanding the wood in this sauna bucket stops the leaks we were having

These photos were taken yesterday morning. I was in search of some wildlife that also would give good color contrast. Though the lighting was not quite strong at times, the photos did work out to my liking.

The buzzing bee

Coming for a landing.

These were taken a few feet from Two Island Lake outside of Thunder Bay.

In response to President Obama’s move to make the White House more environmentally friendly, DoSomething.org, one of the largest teen organizations in America, announced today they will join forces with GreentheWhiteHouse.com, an interactive site enabling users to upload suggested “green” features into virtual rooms in The White House. The goal is to inspire America’s youth to lead the charge in greening their own homes and help teach the rest of the world, including The First Family, how to green theirs.

“If young people can change their habits, the White House and the rest of the world can too,” said Nancy Lublin, CEO of DoSomething.org. “Teens are leading the nation’s green movement – we’re just providing the platform.”

Sloan Barnett, author of the New York Times bestseller “Green Goes With Everything: Simple Steps to a Healthier Life and a Cleaner Planet,” created GreentheWhiteHouse.com so everyone could have access to the symbol of American power and a voice in shaping its future. “We want to inspire Americans to get involved in a national collaboration that’s truly “by the people, for the people,” and home by home, reduce our impact on the planet in measurable ways,” said Barnett.

The Green the White House initiative, which launches today, gives teens ideas, inspiration and expertise on how to make simple green changes around their homes. GreentheWhiteHouse.com will offer teens and adults a virtual tour of the White House, allowing users to see how “the nation’s house” can be made more eco-friendly. Users will then be able to upload their own ideas and actions to DoSomething.org/WhiteHouse, which will include facts and stats about the environment and what America’s youth can do to make a difference in their communities.

Teens across the country will want to show America how they are making their own homes eco-friendly, too. Greenthewhitehouse.com’s renowned panel of America’s leading “green” experts will moderate a national dialogue about all their suggestions and all things green, from water, clean air, personal health, food, building and more, through informative blogs, content and interactive video. Users will be encouraged to upload their pictures and videos of how they made their homes more eco-friendly, and then will have the opportunity to submit ideas to the Obama’s on how they can continue to green their home.

Solar cars, solar homes, solar backpacks, and now we have an example of a solar camel.

This pilot test of solar-powered refrigeration units on camels is being performed by a nomadic community in Kenya. Mpala Community Trust is using these units to transport medical supplies (most notably vaccines) with the help of Princeton University’s Engineering Department and Designmatters.

Another part of this Mpala Project is HIV/AIDS education and family planning. As pictured here, the canvas flip-book was one of the end productions of this venture. The original project was submitted as an entry into the World Bank Development Marketplace competition in 2007.

What other interesting solar applications have you run across?

Demand for green homes is on the rise according to Michelle Kaufmann, award-winning green architect and sustainable living expert, who has seen her architecture business triple over the past year. Michelle Kaufmann Companies which recently completed its thirtieth (30th) home, focuses on making beautiful, thoughtful design accessible to more people by employing prefabricated modular building practices and prepackaging green solutions.

“Despite the ‘doom-and-gloom’ housing market, we’ve never been busier,” said Michelle Kaufmann, founder and chairwoman of Michelle Kaufmann Companies. “There’s an enormous demand from homebuyers, who want beautiful homes and healthy environments as well as the lower energy bills that come along with our homes.”

With two major museum exhibits focused on prefabricated building–New York Museum of Modern Art’s (MOMA) Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling and Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry’s Smart Home: Green and Wired, which features Michelle Kaufmann’s mkSolaire™–interest in green prefab building is at an all-time high.

“People are actually living in our homes, so for us green, modular design isn’t a concept, it’s a reality,” explained Michelle. “Our company has built more homes for clients than any other firm in the modern modular architecture world–with hundreds more in the pipeline. We’re thrilled that our company is well on its way to delivering thoughtful, sustainable design to the masses.”

By reducing resource consumption, waste, costs, and building time by up to 50%-75% over conventional building methods, Michelle Kaufmann’s prefabricated, modular building techniques deliver benefits to individual homebuyers as well as builders/developers, who are interested in building green multi-family and community developments.

When designing any space, Michelle Kaufmann creates sustainable structures based on 5 EcoPrinciples: smart design, eco materials, energy efficiency, water conservation, and healthy environment.

Michelle Kaufmann offers six modular configurations–Glidehouse™, Sunset® BreezehouseTM, Sidebreeze™, mkLotusTM, mkLoftTM, and mkSolaire™–as well as custom homes and larger multi-family and community developments.

Ms. Kaufmann unveiled the first mkSolaire™ home as part of the original Museum of Science and Industry exhibit Smart Home: Green + Wired, Powered by ComEd and Warmed by Peoples Gas. The exhibit opened in Chicago May 8, 2008 and will run through January 4, 2009.

About Michelle Kaufmann Companies

Michelle Kaufmann (AIA, LEED® AP) is a tireless advocate and knowledgeable source for eco-conscious living. Michelle founded Michelle Kaufmann Companies with the mission to make it easier for people to build green and live a more sustainable lifestyle. To that end, Michelle Kaufmann leads a full service design/build architectural firm that uses off-site modular technology and prepackaged green solutions as the means to create beautiful, eco-friendly homes and multi-family develoments. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Oakland, CA, the company expanded to run its own factory delivering homes for clients on the West Coast. Michelle Kaufmann Companies also works with key factory partners to handle increasing volume and expanded territories.

Interested in connecting with people beyond traditional architecture, Michelle has launched a collection of lifestyle media properties, products, and events designed to inspire individuals, families, and communities to create and enjoy sustainable lifestyles.

Visit Michelle’s blog at www.blog.michellekaufmann.com.

There is gold in going green, and the same drive to make a buck that created global warming can now be harnessed to slow the carbon- based pollution that is overheating the planet. ECOpreneuring shows how we can harness our country’s entrepreneurial spirit to avert global catastrophe and profit from doing so. – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Kivirist and Ivanko weave together a perspective that can transform how you think about work – and a more sustainable life. Their timely book is jam-packed with the necessary details to sort out what it means to live simply and sustainably in an economy that fosters life, not depletes it. ECOpreneuring illuminates a radically different approach to both working and living. – Wanda Urbanska, host of “Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska”

Powerful social trends towards green living, relocalization and self-sufficiency have fanned the fires of would-be ecopreneurs in North America, driving a shift towards prioritizing purpose over profits, and building community over building market share. A nation of 9 to 5-ers is giving way to a spirited bunch of innovators, searching for ways to make a life instead of simply making a living.

This accessible and inspiring guide includes profiles of successful ecopreneurs and provides an in-depth exploration of:

- Eco-Business basics
- Purposeful management
- Marketing in the green economy
- Running a lifestyle business.

Ecopreneuring shows how we can earn our daily bread on a local or regional level while saving money, strengthening the economy and helping restore the planet to ecological health and social stability.

Part small business manifesto, part personal finance primer, Ecopreneuring is essential reading for small business owners, prospective entrepreneurs, and anyone who dreams of a livelihood based on independence, creativity, passion and a commitment to green practices and sustainability.

via: CSRwire

Claimed as the second century of flight. The Personal Air Vehicles (PAVs) will be a new generation of small aircraft that can extend personal air travel to a much larger segment of the American population. As a solution to America’s future mobility needs, NASA aeronautics developed the PAV concept to provide a more distributed and less centralized system of air travel. Super energy efficient PAVs will be able to transport people to within just a few miles of their doorstep destination at trip speeds three to four times faster than airlines or cars. NASA predicts that up to 45% of all miles traveled in the future may be in PAVs. This will relieve congestion at metropolitan hub airports and the freeways that surround them, reduce the need to build new highways and save much of the 6.8 billion gallons of fuel wasted in surface gridlock each year.

Some key features of PAVs are:

- Highly fuel efficient and able to use alternative fuels
- 150-200 mph “flying car” that flies above gridlock without traffic delays
- Quiet, safe, comfortable and reliable
- Simplified operation akin to driving a car
- As affordable as travel by car or airliner
- Near all-weather, on-demand travel enabled by synthetic vision
- Up to 800 mile range
- Short runway use so you can walk to grandma’s from small residential airfields

NASA’s PAV (Personal Air Vehicle) Challenge is a contest modeled after the successful “X-Prize” Space flight competition. To stimulate rapid innovation and progress in PAV performance, NASA has funded $2 million for the flight competition.