Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

We'd be lying if we didn't acknowledge that some of the satisfaction that comes from watching this clip stems from the catharsis that comes from seeing M. Bison, a character that's been frustrating us for a good four and a half years in Street Fighter 5 now, getting absolutely rocked, but it's also just a very aesthetically pleasing sequence.

The newest addition to this current Street Fighter, Seth, is able to teleport about like a damn Dragon Ball Z character when they implement their V-Trigger 1. Put them in the hands of a lab monster like Javits Arias and it almost feels like you're watching an anime battle.

This is something that technically only be performed on Bison since it uses his unique Scissor Kicks install that Seth gains from their V-Skill 1, though there very well may be other characters who offer Seth techniques that function in a same or similar enough manner.

In terms of practicality, this probably isn't a series you're going to see every match as it requires an already activated V-Trigger, a stocked install, and an air to air in the corner.

Javits leaps up to meet his foe with a medium punch and cancels into Seth's Makoto-like axe kick in mid-air. As Bison goes hurtling toward the ground Seth instantly zips below him via teleport and pops him back up skyward with yet another Makoto style technique.

The SF4 boss then follows their foe back up into the air to hit him with yet another axe kick that, again, sends him flying down toward the floor in what appears to be a conclusive end to the combo. It isn't.

Seth actually has time for yet another speedy DBZ teleport and another upward launching fist that juggles Bison up to be hit by a handful of additional attacks. Javits closes the whole thing out with one final teleport, this time sending Seth high above the evil dictator so that they can come crashing down with a multi-hitting drill kick that empties the life bar and finally causes the seven golden "PERFECT" letters to appear on the screen.

Check it out below and let us know if you found it as slick as we did in the comments.

Click image for animated version

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Seth uses a bunch of Makoto's moves and goes full Dragon Ball Z on M. Bison in this oh-so-satisfying Street Fighter 5 beat down - EventHubs

CROWDFUNDING REVIEW Have you ever wanted to add motion-activated lighting to your home but gave up on the idea when you realized the expense and time required to set everything up? I have something for you today that takes all the headaches out of setting up zoned lighting. Its SnapPowers ConnectLight and its awesome. Lets take a look.

The ConnectLight from SnapPower is a Kickstarter project for a motion-activated light that requires no rewiring, apps, Bluetooth, Wifi, etc. All it takes is an existing wall outlet, a screwdriver, and about 2 minutes per light for the install.

If the brand SnapPower sounds familiar, thats because Ive reviewed and continued to use two of their products, the SnapRays GuideLight and the SwitchLight. The new ConnectLight is like the GuideLight on steroids.

Its basically a replacement for your wall outlets cover with a built-in motion sensor and downward-firing LED light and the magic ability to sync with other ConnectLights to create zones.

The ConnectLight has 3 switches. Theres one on the front under the motion detector, which controls the lights brightness setting from low or high, and to turn off the light. Turning the light to off means that it will detect motion but will remain off while the other ConnectLights in the same zone will turn on.

Then on the edges of the ConnectLight there is a switch to assign the light to zone 1 or 2 or to set it to the standalone mode which essentially just turns it into a GuideLight that turns on when motion is detected. The opposite side of the light has a switch that controls the light duration to remain on after tripped. It can be set to 15 seconds, 1 minute, or 5 minutes.

Like SnapPowers other products, installation is a snap (sorry) due to the genius design that pulls power from the outlet without requiring any special wiring or skills on your part.

There are two flexible prongs that pull power when they touch the screw terminals in the outlet box.

To install the SnapPower ConnectLight, you need an outlet and a screwdriver. You should also turn off power to the outlet. I skipped this step and am still typing this, but dont blame me if you ignore SnapPowers instructions an end up zapping yourself.

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SnapPower ConnectLight review The easiest automatic lighting you'll ever install - The Gadgeteer

Camping gear will be distributed to people experiencing homelessness at upcoming giveaways scheduled at three locations in McHenry County this Tuesday and additional dates next month.

The giveaways are meant to address concerns that the pandemic and the associated economic fallout will exacerbate homelessness in the area.

"Many of McHenry county's homeless have to resort to camping and the need to help them will become more urgent," organizer Patrick Murfin said in a news release. "We expect a surge of new homeless with the suspension or reduction of unemployment insurance and the expiration of eviction suspensions. Many will be unhoused for the first time and will include formerly secure individuals and families."

The donations are being organized by the Faith Leaders of McHenry County, an informal group of area clergy, chaplains and volunteers, along with the Compassion for Campers program founded by the Tree of Life Unitarian Church.

Tents, sleeping bags, tarps, pads, coolers, mosquito repellent, sunscreen, hygiene products and non-perishable food, among other items, will be given away, according to a news release.

The gear will be available from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Tuesday at Bethany Lutheran Church, 76 W. Crystal Lake Ave., Crystal Lake.

Distributions also are planned from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Sept. 1 at First United Methodist Church, 3717 Main St., McHenry; and from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Sept. 15. at St. Ann's Episcopal Church, 503 W. Jackson St., Woodstock.

The gear will be given away in a drive-up or walk-up setting, and face masks are required, as is proper social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Monetary donations from the Faith Leaders group have been added to Compassion funds to buy the camping gear.

Donations can be mailed to 5603 W. Bull Valley Road, McHenry, Illinois, 60050. Checks should be made out to Tree of Life UU Congregation with "Compassion for Campers" on the memo line. Donations to Compassion for Campers cannot be used by Tree of Life for any other purpose, according to the release.

For information, contact Murfin at 815-814-5645 or by email at pmurfin@sbcglobal.net.

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Camping gear for homeless people to be distributed at three McHenry County churches - Northwest Herald

By Julia Swerdin

In the four months since officials broke ground on Lynbrook High Schools renovation, much progress has been made. The project has been in the works for nearly three years, beginning with the communitys approval in October 2017 of a $28.9 million bond to fund it.

A two-story extension from the front entrance to the fields will house a school store, three music rooms, three art rooms and an innovation space on the first floor. On the second floor, five new classrooms will be constructed for family and consumer science classes, as well as the career development program.

Principal Joseph Rainis has attended meetings each month, along with Superintendent Dr. Melissa Burak and Vice Principals Mathew Sarosy and Salvatore Brescia, to hear construction updates and a projected completion date.

Work inside the current building is designed to be completed by September, so we can operate normally with the start of the school year, Rainis said. The skeleton of the new building will begin to take shape, and will continue to be constructed throughout the school year.

As of press time, the footings had been poured on the field to begin building the extension. Room 201, known to students as the Honors/AP Spanish classroom, is becoming a hallway, connecting the second floor to the new area of the building. The room is being stripped and the doorways knocked down to expand the width to the size of a corridor. In the principals offices, steel beams are being installed, and the overhang in the front entrance has been replaced by footings for the extension.

For much of March and April, construction was delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Once the renovations resumed, construction workers quickly caught up to their schedule and are now on track to finish construction by the end of next summer.

The courtyard, auditorium and front overhang entrances are currently blocked off by construction, but Rainis is pushing to make them available for students arriving in the fall. Renovations to the field, officials said they hope, will not interrupt students learning, though they will be unable to use the field while this part of the project is under way.

Phys. ed. classes, as well as fire drills and emergency gatherings, will be held on the Kindergarten Centers field, on Atlantic Avenue. The challenge will be to maintain a social distance during drills, Rainis said.

Construction workers have been directed to stay away from students while school is in session.

Parking along Union Avenue will be limited because of the large construction vehicles. No parking signs have been placed along the avenue since the end of March and will remain there until the renovation is complete. This will pose a challenge for students who drive to school, as the high school does not have a parking lot, leaving students to park on the surrounding streets.

Inside the building, the renovation will create new opportunities for co-curricular electives. According to Rainis, Burak is enthusiastic to expand the schools science, technology and art subjects and hopes to incorporate robotics and drones into the curriculum.

This day is a long time coming for us, Burak said in a statement about the groundbreaking. We have gone through many challenges in trying to figure out how we can best support the future of the high school.

At Waverly Park Elementary School, renovations funded by the 2017 bond are also in the works. An elevator is being added to the back of the school, making it accessible to all students and bringing it into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Construction began when school closed and will continue until the fall semester starts. Work was halted for a period of time because of the pandemic, but is being hurried along to stick to the schedule. There will be no disruption to students learning, and the back entrance will be available for use during the school year, should the buildings operate as normal in the fall.

As we prepare for quite a unique September, we are hopeful this project will be completed, Waverly Principal Allison Banhazl said. Our priority is safety for all.

North and South middle schools are additionally under construction this summer to renovate the schools locker rooms and gyms.

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Lynbrook school revamp is on track - liherald.com

How do you add more square footage to your house without increasing its size?

It might sound like a riddle, but the answer is easy: look to your garage.

Most municipalities require extensive architectural drawings for new additions, explains KV Harper, founder and principal of the New Orleans-based firm Kex Design + Build, who warns prospective builders to think twice before constructing something new. A garage conversion is a bit less extensive since the structure is already existing.

You will still need approval and permits for the project, but the process will be simpler and likely shorter, and can be a great solution for a family in need of more living space, a guest suite, or an office. But heres what homeowners should ask themselves before giving up their garage.

Even though youre not building a new structure, converting a garage can still be an expensive undertaking. Typical costs range from $6,000 to $21,000, numbers that wont feel as overwhelming if you consider a bank loan, like a Discover personal loan, which offers flexible repayment options. Just remember: like most renovations, the simpler it is, the smaller the budget.

Don't forget labor, which is typically 10 to 20 percent of the final cost.

If youre handy, doing the work (or some of it) yourself will also save money, as labor is typically 10 to 20 percent of the final cost.

The biggest consideration to think about when converting a garage, Harper says, is how the space will be used. Will the layout fit the homeowners needs? she asks.

For Turna Uyar and her boyfriend, homeowners in Long Island, New York, answering this question meant living in their two-bedroom, ranch-style home for more than two years before deciding to convert the garage.

Thus, theyve decided to turn their two-car garage space into a family room and more formal dining room, while also carving out a guest bedroom that will double as an office. This gives them more space in their existing kitchen, and allows for a larger pantry.

They also considered how best to maximize the space, since the overall square footage is relatively smallthe garages footprint is roughly 25 feet by 20 feet. Uyar opted for pocket doors in the conversion rather than swing doors, which would take up unnecessary space.

If I were to [have done] this project from the moment I bought the house, I am sure it would not look like what I have in front of me today, says Uyar.

The biggest thing to consider is adding light, Uyar says. Garages dont usually have windows. Theres only natural light when you open the garage door. They plan to add four regular-sized windows, and one large 6-foot by 5-foot window overlooking the backyard.

You will also likely need to run more wiring and outlets for additional lights, as most garages only have a bare bulb ceiling light. Additional outlets only cost $75 to $100 to install, but if you need to hire an electrician, expect to spend $50 to $100 per hour.

The type of floors and ceilings you choose will influence things like budget and how well the converted portion blends with the rest of the house. A drop ceiling is the cheapest option, but unless you want your new space to look like a strip mall office, opt for drywall, which is $1.60-$2.13 per square foot. If you want to raise the ceiling, expect to spend significantly more. But, if you plan to sell in the future, note that a 10- to 12-foot ceiling can add up to 25 percent more value to a home, so it may be worth the investment.

Garages often sit somewhat lower than the floor of your house, so raising the floor for one continuous level, like Uyar is doing, allows for a seamless transition from the new part to the old.

A kitchen will also need gas lines, and any space will need proper heating and cooling ducts, as most garages are not connected to a homes HVAC system. Installing ducts and vents can cost up to $2,000. Along with that, proper insulation is needed to maintain a comfortable temperature.

In areas with mild climates, parking outside is manageable. For homeowners in areas with harsh winters, this may be the biggest factor in whether or not they want to give up the garage. Do you really want to clear snow and de-ice every morning before work for a third of the year?

Uyar is no stranger to snowy Northeast winters, but she doesnt plan on building a new garage. We never put our cars in the garage, she says. Plus, one-third of the house is the garage. It seems like a crazy amount of space to dedicate to a car. Id rather entertain.

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Turn Your Garage into the Living Room You've Always Wanted - HouseBeautiful.com

There is an upside to spending more time at home: researching your dream house, down to the cabinet handles.

To decipher what dream home means in a global-pandemic world, Mansion asked the editors of three house-centric websitesHouzz, Decorilla and The Real Houses of IGto identify their most popular images from the first half of the year. We examined photos that home-dcor followers are clicking, liking and scrolling through to better understand todays trends.

The verdict? Its in the details.

People simply have more time and are going to greater lengths to plan out, and to seek inspiration for, their dream home, says Kate Rumson, founder of The Real Houses of IG, a home-and-design Instagram account with 2.4 million followers. Many are in the process of building their homes, she adds, and they are committed to making perfect choices, no matter how small. Questions about wall colors, window treatments and furniture that appear in the background of photos she posts are frequent fodder. "My followers do care about every detail," she says.

These days, many are ushering in brass-adorned kitchen cabinets and high-contrast living rooms, and are rethinking office areas. They seem to be saying goodbye to the all-white kitchen, acoustically challenged open-floor plan and unequipped outdoor space.

More: Bright Ideas for Outdoor Lighting

Homeowners also are moving away from a single style of home throughoutbe it contemporary or farmhousetoward mixing and matching dcor elements, says Houzz editor Anne Colby.

The company had a 58% surge in demand for home-renovation and design professionals in June 2020, compared with June 2019.

"Weve seen particularly strong interest in major outdoor projects," says Ms. Colby.

Todays homeowners are mindful of overall size, choosing realistic footprints. "Were not in a period of economic optimismthe dreams are somewhat different," says Catherine Wallack, an architectural archivist at the University of Arkansas and a trained architect. "The marketed dream home is something thats aspirational, but its possible."

In the spotlight: the home office.

More: How to Choose the Right Couch for Your Space

Homeowners want versatile, well-lighted spaces that are soundproof and can be closed off from the main living area, perhaps via sliding or pocket doors.

They are interested in the notion of separable spacehaving the option to be part of the living space, says San Francisco-based architect William Duff. In some instances, families request two or more nooks to accommodate quiet areas for everyone in the home, including children needing space to do classwork. In past projects, he says, home offices were set up in a spare bedroom as an afterthought.

Overall, construction costs in 2020, to date, are $700 to $900 a square foot, compared with $600 to $800 in 2018 for high-end homes, says Mr. Duff. "People may spend more money on elements of their homes because they are valuing them in a different way," he adds.

He says homeowners are upping spending on areas that dont have a wow factor for visitors. They want top-of-the-line HVAC systems, in an effort to make indoor life safer and more comfortable. Other choices are solid-wood doors for quiet, and custom, built-in storage throughout for more space.

Ms. Rumson has noticed increased interest on her Real Houses Instagram account for utilitarian spaces, including the laundry room, mudroom and walk-in pantry. These private areas are getting a makeover for the benefit of families, not guests, she says. Daring wallpaper choices, funky floor tiles and thoughtfully chosen wall sconces or chandeliers help these smaller areas feel more playful.

More: First Impressions: Front Entries That Are More Than Functional

"They are spending a lot of time in those rooms, and they want to make them functional and beautiful," she says.

Meanwhile, the dream kitchen is getting more down-to-earth. Popular photos show soft greens and browns, with wood accents that complement brass or mixed-metal fixtures. Light-colored oak shelving is another common accent.

"All-white is less popular," says Ms. Colby, whose site now has more than 20 million images. "People are leaning toward a two-tone or three-tone kitchen."

San Francisco interior designer Caitlin Flemming designed a two-tone kitchen that was popular for its simplicity. She used Farrow & Balls Pigeon paint for some of the brass-adorned cabinets, then installed a plain white quartz countertop instead of one in veined marble. "It is all flowing together; sometimes marble can be a little distracting," Ms. Flemming says.

Bathrooms are getting their own updates by blending neutral colors with interesting textures to make small spaces seem bigger, says Stephanie Fryer, a Newport Beach, Calif., interior designer. In one of Houzzs most popular photos, Ms. Fryer hung a painting above the toilet and expanded the shower tile to the entire bathroom to create a cohesive modern space. "It makes it more like a room than just where to use the toilet," she says.

More: Designing a Home Gym With Distinction

When it comes to dining areas, homeowners are focusing on statement lighting or modern wood elements that give a polished feel and set the spaces apart visually from the kitchen, adds Devin Shaffer, lead designer at Decorilla, a company that offers 3-D renderings and product suggestions.

Average project costs rose to $1,205 this year, to date, compared with $990 in 2019, because people are renovating more rooms, he says.

Living and dining areas are using high-contrast black or blue elements, says Ms. Colby. The wall color has switched from darker hues to simple whites.

The pandemic is influencing the outside of the dream home, too. Favored outdoor spaces have dcor and lighting that wouldnt be out of place indoors. Covered cooking areas with built-in grills, fire pits with comfortable seating and dining areas are making it easier to relax or to work outside.

"The patio and the deck are really just another room in the house," says Ms. Colby.

More: Bringing Your Lawn to Life With Sculptures

Many homeowners are asking for easy-to-open walls that can create indoor-outdoor spaces to bring in fresh air and make it easier to entertain during a pandemic, adds Mr. Duff.

For most families, the idea of a dream home shifts with their values and goals, adds Lindsay T. Graham, a researcher at University of California Berkeleys Center for the Built Environment.

"That notion of Im going to do this once and its going to be done is kind of a misnomer," she says. "We grow, so our spaces are going to grow."

Tips for How to Handle a Labor of Love

Decades after falling in love with California wine country, Gordon Rudow, decided to build his dream home in Napa. It took four years to perfect the 4,000-square-foot, prefabricated, modular 1950s designat a cost of $4.75 million. He offers tips on organizing the process:

Start with a concept. Mr. Rudow, working with Jennifer Jones, founder of Niche Interiors in San Francisco, had what he called his brand wordsluxury eco-resort spato guide the design process. "Every choice we made, we shared the same filter," says the leadership consultant.

From Penta: A 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB Becomes the Most Valuable Car Ever Sold Online

Decide on must-haves. Rudow and his wife, Sophia Rudow, who live with their two school-age daughters, opted for natural wood throughout. It took months for them to find a hypoallergenic couch without MDF elements, and a latex mattress. They also installed a $100,000 water-filtration system.

Customize. For the Rudows, it was about perfecting form and fit. The couple went so far as to measure the length of their thighs to tailor built-in seating around the fire pit; custom indoor couches conformed to the same measurements. The team also studied the sun to determine the best angle for the outdoor canopy. "We belabored every one of those measurements and geeked out on them," he says.

Read the rest here:
Top Design Trends of 2020: From Home Offices to Two-Tone Kitchens - Mansion Global

A proposed development called The Gardens whichhas stirred local controversy ever since acontentious communityhearing last July now has the county planning boards initial approvaland will be considered by the Flagler County Commission.

The proposed community would straddle John Anderson Highway south of State Road 100 with a golf course and 335 homes. Its a dramatic reduction from an earlier proposal for 3,996 homeswhich had prompted the July2019 outcry during a community meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn and spurred the creation of an opposition group calledPreserve Flagler Beach and Bulow Creek.

Proposals for the land have been in play for more than a decade.

A versionof the community was first proposed in a 2005 Planned Unit Development, or PUD,for 453 homes, but the recession foiled former developer Bobby Ginns plans for the land, which was sold andisnow owned bydeveloper Ken BelshesPalm Coast Intracoastal, LLC.

"This deal has already been done its already been signed, sealed and delivered so I dont think we need to make a new one.

MARK LANGELLO, Planning and Land Development Board chairman

At an Aug. 11 meeting, theFlagler County Planning and Development Board faced two decisionsconcerning The Gardens: Determining whether the proposed development was similar enough to the 2005 planned unit developmentthat it could proceed under an amendment to the earlier PUD, as opposed to requiring a whole new PUD application; and, second, approving or denying a preliminary plat for the development.

It approved both, voting 5-1 to approve the PUD amendment, with board member Mike Goodman dissenting;and 6-0 to approve the preliminary plat.

I find that this application is considerably similar to the 2005 PUD, board Chairman Mark Langello said. This deal has already been done its already been signed, sealed and delivered so I dont think we need to make a new one.

The boards decision followed comments by community members who opposed the project.

A number of residents said they were concerned about increased traffic and flooding: The area already has adrainage problem, they said, and the addition of so much concrete would worsen it.

Resident Barbara Revels, a former Flagler County commissioner, said she understood that the developer has engineers who will say that theyve studied the drainage and that their project wontfloodother peoples homes.

"There will be nothing left absolutely nothing left, and I defy you to say that that's good development."

BARBARA REVELS, former Flagler County commissioner, on the land clearing and retention pond creation she believes the project will require in order to prevent flooding

But to do that, she said, theyll have to convert wooded areas into fields and create lakes to store the water. Thats what happened with a nearby land development proposalthe commission signed off on when she was on the commission, she said: Developers took a gorgeous piece of property in what became theBulow Shores developmentand bulldozed it, then used fill to raise home sites.

There will be nothing left absolutely nothing left, and I defy you to say that thats good development,she said.Im ashamed to say, as chairman of the Flagler County Commission,my name is on that plat on John Anderson. ... You sit there and you think youre relying on your staff, your engineers, your planning people, and then something gets put in place and its very poorly done. Dont let that happen this time.

Representatives of Preserve Flagler Beach and Bulow Creek told board members that the organization doesnt dispute the developers right to build.

Instead, they said, itbelieves the current proposal is inconsistent with the 2005 PUD.

They pointed to four areas in which the new proposal, they said, differed substantiallyfrom the 2005 one: The earlier one required a golf course whereas the new proposal doesnt include design for the golf course, leading the group to suspect it might not be built; the earlier proposal didnt include direct access to John Anderson Highway, while the new one does; the earlier proposal spread 453 lots over 1,305 acres, while the new one clusters home sites together; and the earlier proposal spread homes across both sides of the road, while the new one groups 335 on the east.

Attorney Michael Chiumento, representing the developer, said those aspects of the 2005 plan werent binding. They came from a 2005 siteplan, he said, while what the new proposal needs to be consistent with is not the 2005 PUDs site plan, but its concept plan.

As to traffic and the golf course, he said, the developer has had transportation studies conducted showing that John Anderson can handle the increased traffic, and the developer is planning to build the golf course in stages. The course is intended to provide the city of Flagler Beach with a location to distribute the city's reuse water, rather than emptying it into the Intracoastal.

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Gardens project earns Planning Board's approval, will advance to County Commission - Palm Coast Observer

Rattan Lal, an Indian-born scientist, has devoted his career to finding ways to capture carbon from the air and store it in soil. Ken Chamberlain/OSU/CFAES hide caption

Rattan Lal, an Indian-born scientist, has devoted his career to finding ways to capture carbon from the air and store it in soil.

More than 40 years ago, in Nigeria, a young scientist named Rattan Lal encountered an idea that changed his life and led, eventually, to global recognition and a worldwide movement to protect the planet's soil.

Lal was fresh out of graduate school, recruited to join the newly established International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, and given an assignment that, in hindsight, seems ridiculous in its ambition. "I was 25 years old, in charge of a lab, given the mandate of improving quality and quantity of food production in the tropics!" Lal says.

He struggled. The problem was the soil. Because of climate and geological history, it was more fragile than what he'd seen in India, where he grew up, or Ohio, where he'd received his Ph.D. Lal cleared parts of the forest for his research plots, but when the soil lost its vegetation and was exposed to sun and rain, it quickly deteriorated. What Lal calls the "life blood of the soil" the so-called organic matter, made of microbes and decomposing roots, which holds moisture in the soil and provides a fertile bed for growing seeds vaporized or washed away, leaving behind gravelly dirt as hot and hard as a road.

One day, a famous scientist named Roger Revelle came to visit. Revelle was one of the pioneers in the field now known as climate science. Lal told Revelle about his problems; about how the organic matter kept disappearing. Revelle pointed out that it was escaping into the air in the form of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. Then Revelle asked a question: "Can you put it back?"

"That simple statement, 'Can you put it back?' was my introduction to climate and soil," Lal says.

Rattan Lal was awarded the World Food Prize this year. He previously won the Japan Prize. John Rice/OSU/CFAES hide caption

Rattan Lal was awarded the World Food Prize this year. He previously won the Japan Prize.

Lal, now a professor at Ohio State University, is courteous, polite and soft-spoken. But that can be misleading. "I am by nature competitive," he says. "You're either going to be in the top one, two, three, four or you are not going to survive."

It's a lesson from childhood. He grew up poor, in a village in India. He and his family were refugees from present-day Pakistan. His ticket out of poverty was a government stipend a few dollars each month to study at university. To earn that money, his grades had to be in the top five in the class, and he was haunted by fear that he'd lose it. "That insecurity never really left me," he says.

Soybeans growing at Ohio State's Waterman Agricultural and Natural Resources Laboratory. It's part of an experiment aimed at measuring the effects of farming practices on soil quality. Dan Charles/NPR hide caption

Soybeans growing at Ohio State's Waterman Agricultural and Natural Resources Laboratory. It's part of an experiment aimed at measuring the effects of farming practices on soil quality.

When Lal returned to Ohio State as a professor of soil science in the late 1980s, the insight from that conversation with Revelle became his calling card. He pushed a new view of soil, arguing that it's more than a simply a place where farmers grow crops. It's also a vast global reservoir of carbon that has been a major source of carbon dioxide emissions. Until the mid-20th century, cultivating the soil released more carbon dioxide than burning fossil fuels. Even today, farming and clearing forests for agriculture is responsible for roughly a quarter of global greenhouse emissions.

Farmers control that reservoir; they can continue to mine the soil by tilling it, spilling carbon into the air, or they can refill it, restoring some of the carbon that was previously lost. Soil that's rich in organic matter also is healthier in many other ways. It acts like a sponge, holding water, and it also contains nutrients like nitrogen.

In the American Midwest, for instance, the undisturbed soil of the prairie once was incredibly rich in carbon. Much of it was lost after settlers began plowing it to plant grain. Deforestation and land clearing continues in parts of Latin America and Africa.

Lal began experimenting with farming practices to see how they affect the level of carbon in that reservoir, and he discovered that it's actually possible to refill it at least partially by capturing carbon from the air. Some of those experiments are still ongoing. Nall Moonilall, a Ph.D. student at Ohio State, shows me one of them, an array of square plots at the university's research farm. For the past 30 years, Lal has been monitoring the effects of covering the soil with mulch. Some of the plots have been covered with different amounts of straw mulch every year. Others remained bare. Those bare soil plots now contain less than 1% carbon, but "the carbon content in plots that receive the maximum amount of mulch is probably upwards of 4%," Moonilall says. That's a healthy amount of soil carbon, close to what Midwestern soils contained before they were first plowed.

It also adds up to to tons of carbon in a single acre of soil, simply from adding mulch to the surface each year. Researchers also have found that farmers can enrich soil by leaving it undisturbed. Instead of tilling the soil before planting, which releases stored carbon into the air, farmers can deploy equipment that opens up a narrow slice in the soil and inserts the seeds. Such "no-till" practices have been widely adopted by American farmers in recent decades. Even better, at least from an environmental point of view, farmers can stop growing crops altogether, returning the land to permanent pasture or wetlands.

Soon after he returned to Ohio State University in the late 1980s, Rattan Lal laid out these research plots to study the capacity of soil to store carbon. Dan Charles/NPR hide caption

Soon after he returned to Ohio State University in the late 1980s, Rattan Lal laid out these research plots to study the capacity of soil to store carbon.

Lal was not the only scientist exploring this field. In fact, some of his colleagues and rivals in soil science privately criticize him for spreading himself too thin, publishing articles at a ferocious pace yet not always breaking much new ground. Few of them, though, were the equal of Lal when it came to bringing soil to the attention of policymakers and the general public.

Just in the past few years, dirt has turned trendy. Books have appeared, many of them featuring Lal. There's a TED talk about soil health. Agricultural industry giants like General Mills and Bayer are offering to pay farmers to adopt practices that restore carbon to the soil. There's a catchy new name for it: regenerative agriculture. A startup company called Indigo Carbon released a video calling this "the most promising technology we have to address climate change."

Last year, Lal received the Japan Prize, which many consider second only to the Nobel in scientific prestige. In June, he won the World Food Prize, and former Vice President Al Gore and Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, both called to congratulate him.

There are critics of regenerative agriculture who say the movement has become a fad, promising more than it can possibly deliver. According to the World Resources Institute, no-till farming is unlikely to capture enough carbon to make much of a difference for the climate. And more dramatic changes, such at converting fields back into permanent grasslands, aren't likely to happen on a large scale because there's a growing demand for food, and farmers probably won't stop growing profitable crops.

Lal agrees that rebuilding soil won't stop global warming, but insists that it can make a difference for carbon emissions and for a variety of other environmental problems, from reducing water pollution and expanding habitat for wildlife. He's mostly happy that soil is finally getting the respect it deserves. He even wants it written into law. The U.S. has a Clean Air Act and a Clean Water Act, he says; there should be a Healthy Soils Act, too.

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The Ideas Of A Pioneer In The Environmental Movement Are Finally Recognized : Goats and Soda - NPR

Bees pollinate about one-third of the worlds food supply, according to Sustain, a nonprofit agriculture policy organization. Bees pollinate all manner of fruits, vegetables, crops, and even some of the wild grasses used to feed cattle and other livestock.

Their impact to the U.S. economy are valued at about $15 billion per year, according to Scientific American. During the winter of 2018-19 bee keepers across the country lost an estimated 38% of their honeybee colonies mostly due to an Asian parasitic mite that is resistant to some pesticides that kill mites.

The bee population in Arkansas is in decline and it could have a devastating impact on the states agriculture industry. Neelendra Joshi, assistant professor of entomology for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, uses the research tools of his discipline to understand the greatest threats to the states hundreds of bee species and learn how to protect them.

There are an estimated 25,000 species of bees that provide pollination services to the world, Joshi said. Our research has identified more than 100 species in Arkansas, and we estimate that there may be as many as 300 to 400 native bee species in the state.

Using various sampling techniques, Joshi has determined that different species of bees are distributed to different areas of the state, mainly based on local resources like habitat and food sources.

Bee populations, both managed and wild, are in decline everywhere, Joshi said. Extensive research is underway nationwide to fully understand the causes, but the known threats are many.

Interactions among many stressors have created colossal maladies hitting bees at one time, Joshi said, and in many cases, the combinations have caused additive impacts. Also, he said, the factors causing distress in wild bee populations tend to be different from those harming domesticated honeybees.

Managed bee populations often suffer from restricted diets when they are moved from location to location to pollinate specific monoculture crops, where they forage on only one kind of flowering plant. Joshi said these bees are not getting the balanced nutrition necessary to maintain good health.

Also, the breeding and handling practices for managed beehives tend to make the bees vulnerable to rapid spread of disease pathogens or parasites and other pests.

The biggest threats to wild bee populations are loss of nesting habitat and loss of native flora that are primary food sources, Joshi said.

Most people think of bees living in hives, either in managed, human made hives or wild hives in trees or, on occasion, attics. But wild bees live in many different kinds of nesting sites, most of which are vulnerable to loss because of human development.

Seventy percent of bees are ground-nesting, Joshi said. Many others live in tunnels and cavities.

Bees can be quite industrious, rivaling human developers in creating living space. Joshi said they may occupy or even build cavities in the ground, tunnels in trees either moving into abandoned beetle galleries or, as in the case of carpenter bees, creating their own or live on the ground. Mason bees use mud, sand, leaf particles and other materials to build nests.

Bees lose habitat to human development like urban expansion, road building, logging, land clearing and tilling for agriculture, forest fires, and other natural or human-made reduction in wild land and forests.

Urban spread and monoculture agriculture contribute to loss of wildflower food sources for wild bees, Joshi said.

Bees require nectar and pollen from diverse floral resources to meet their nutritional needs, he said. Popular garden plants and the sameness of monoculture farming systems do not provide dietary balance.

Many other things also contribute to population decline, Joshi said, including pesticide use.

Joshi and his lab have conducted studies to measure the effects of common pesticides and biological alternatives on bee species. The studies included determining what levels of exposure are fatal, and those from which bees of different species can recover.

While its easy to point the finger at agriculture for pesticide use, Joshi said homeowners and gardeners use precisely the same pesticide chemicals, and often with less restraint.

Global climate change also is likely contributing to bee decline, though scientists are still collecting data. While Joshi said he had not seen evidence of it in Arkansas, there is much concern that rising temperatures may cause flowering cycles and the beginning of seasonal bee activity to get out of sync.

Solitary wild bees could emerge early and not find any food, he said.

Managed bees and wild bee populations have to compete for ever-shrinking resources, compounding the problem.

Beekeepers who maintain managed populations for breeding, honey or pollination services are already looking to researchers for the answers they need to restore health and stability for their hives.

Joshi said everyone can make changes to help wild bee populations recover.Homeowners and gardeners should be careful about pesticide use, he said. Farmers use the least amount necessary to protect their crops for economic reasons. Homeowners use pesticides for comfort to keep insects out of their homes and gardeners use them for aesthetic purposes, to keep their gardens pretty. Joshi recommends using pesticides that are less toxic to bees or natural alternatives, if possible, and to time their use for when bees are not active or present.

Maintaining non-compacted, well-drained soils offers suitable nesting substrates for ground-nesting bees, Joshi said. He suggested drilling holes in scrap pieces of wood and hanging them in trees at least 5 to 6 feet off the ground for tunnel-dwellers.

To provide food sources, Joshi recommended planting a variety of native wildflowers.

Many exotic garden plants will not be suitable, Joshi said. Its best to use a mix of colors and plant heights, as well as a sequence of plants that bloom at different times of the year while bees are active, usually from April through about mid-October, he said.

Joshi is conducting a study now to correlate specific pairings of bee species to plant species in Arkansas. Were looking at different flowers to identify which bee species are using them, he said.

Different species have different preferences, Joshi said. We want to learn what those are.

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Scientists try to stem the tide of bee losses - talkbusiness.net

Image via Peter Parks / AFP (L) and Flickr user Harley Kingston,CC licence 2.0 (R)

Conservationists and wildlife experts have expressed grave concern that Australian state governments are continuing to log unburned forests that are home to vulnerable koala populations.

Estimates suggest that at least 5,000 koalas were killed and over 2 million hectares of habitat was destroyed in the state of New South Wales during the 2019/20 bushfiresa devastating blow to a species that is already facing the compounding risks of climate change, urban development and deforestation.

In light of these threats, a recent government inquiry found that the states koalas could become extinct by 2050 unless there is urgent government intervention to prevent habitat loss.

Yet despite a number of clear recommendations from that same inquirythat the NSW government urgently prioritise the protection of koala habitat in urban planning, for example, and that they ban the opening up of old growth forests to loggingthe state-owned logging agency Forestry Corporation is continuing to cut down trees in increasingly rare koala habitats.

Its a scandal that the government isnt doing whats required to prevent the extinction of one of our most iconic species, James Tremain, from the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, told Vice News over the phone. Theyre schizophrenic on the issue. They say they have a koala strategy and an ambition to increase the population of koalas, but theyve introduced laws that have made it much easier to destroy koala habitat.

The recent bushfires destroyed millions of hectares of native bushland, but the NSW government has largely maintained the intensity of its logging operations: pledging to maintain wood supply at the same rate as before the disaster. As Tremain explained, that effectively means more intense logging operations across the state as corporations try to yield the same volume of timber from a significantly reduced area of bushland.

Forestry Corporation documents released through parliamentary processes showed that 85 percent of forest previously designated for logging on NSWs south coast was burned in the bushfires, along with about 44 percent on the north coast. In response, the Forestry Corporation increased its logging intensity to keep up with the demand for timber.

The Nature Conservation Council of NSW previously asked the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to investigate the logging, but was told that operations could not be halted when Forestry Corporation was not in breach of its approvals.

Unfortunately for koalas, they tend to like the same kinds of trees that loggers likeso theyre in direct competition, he said. The main extinction pressure thats placed on koalas is habitat loss, primarily from logging for timber production or land clearing for agriculture. And although there is a desire for the government to do the right thing, there are powerful industry interests to prevent it from doing what has to be done.

Video footage recorded by arborist and conservationist Kailas Wild reveals that logging operations are continuing in some of the last remaining koala habitats in NSW, in the Lower Bucca State Forest on the states north coast. Wild, whos worked in koala conservation since 2010, understands the ramifications that deforestation can inflict on biodiverse ecosystemsand he fears the governments business as usual approach could be devastating to already vulnerable wildlife populations.

The fact that theres just been no pause or stocktake from the NSW Government to be like lets just see whether this is going to cause impact is worrying, he told Vice News. These bushfires completely changed the game. I've seen with my own eyes the old growth forest that fires completely obliterated, and the habitat that no longer exists, and its really shifted and increased the value of these native forests.

Wild further noted that hes worried the remaining koala populations in NSW and Australia are even less than we thinkand that if the NSW government and state premier Gladys Berejiklian continue to neglect meaningful action on wildlife protection and habitat preservation, the extinction of koalas in the state could come even sooner than current projections suggest.

The fear is that 2050 is an optimistic estimate, he said.

Associate Professor Mathew Crowther, from the University of Sydneys School of Life and Environmental Sciences, said that although it is unlikely the whole koala species will go extinct in the near future, continued logging, habitat loss and fragmentation in areas where koalas live could increase the probability of localised extinctionthat is, the loss of koalas from certain areas.

It all depends on the amount of koala habitat that is to be logged, and what appropriate mitigation has been applied to maintain koalas in the area, he told Vice News over email. The Berejiklian government unfortunately has a very poor record regarding habitat and threatened species protection, and weakening of environmental legislation has led to greatly increased land clearing.

Professor Crowther said that in order to effectively mitigate risks to koala populations, governments need to stop the fragmentation of their habitats, reduce developments near areas of koala populations, invest in research addressing threats to koalas, and implement policies to target some of those other threats, such as climate change.

In the short-term, though, with Australia still reeling in the aftermath of the most devastating fire season on record, he suggested that logging corporations should refrain from wading into potentially fragile ecosystems.

Any logging of koala habitat at this time, when the full extent of the bushfires on koala and other species populations has yet to be ascertained, is short-sighted and potentially very damaging to the species, he said.

Vice News approached the NSW Forestry Corporation for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

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Koala Habitats that Survived Australias Bushfires are Now Being Logged - VICE