The river water in the farming region of Bujama in Lima, Peru, is so heavily polluted with metals such as lead, arsenic and cadmium, that growing vegetables in the area have become heavily contaminated.

Due to this crisis, engineering students at Lima’s University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC) have created a revolutionary invention that sucks the water from the air to grow vegetables. The students have dubbed their invention the “air orchard”.

This ingenious device is fitted with 10 de-humidifiers that filter water from the air into a drip irrigation system connected to an urban farm on the ground below.

One week into operation the Air Orchard produced 2,448 fresh heads of lettuce, that are not only free from pollution, but also the pressures of the country’s current water crisis.

Students will be handing out their crops to the locals in an effort to promote their new sustainable urban farm.

by LJ Vanier, Team Spirit

Sources:

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30390041

Steven Paul Jobs was an American businessman, best known as the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc.; CEO and largest shareholder of Pixar Animation Studios. Yet what many people may not know is that in 2005 at a commencement speech at Stanford, he gave one of the most inspiring speeches ever. This is where most of Steve’s quotes originate from, and if it wasn’t for that day, we wouldn’t know the depth of this wonderful man.

1. Never Settle in Life

“If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.”

2. Do What You Love

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it”

3. It’s Not About Money

“My favorite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time” Continue reading →

Do you remember what it was like to be a kid with boundless amounts of energy? You would run around a field just for fun, flailing your arms enjoying yourself tremendously, caught up in the simple pleasure of just… being alive!

What happened to that?

Unfortunately, this isn’t the case as we get older. Not very often do we see adults running through a field in this manner and if we did it would look pretty out-of-place.. Too bad. There wouldn’t be any shame in it!

Some say, that over time our bodies seem to just get worn down, yet on the contrary, I know both men and women twice my age who are at the peak of physical fitness, leading me to believe that it’s not so much about a ‘physical breakdown’ as it is a mental and emotional one.

When we think that our bodies are old, worn down, and beaten up, then naturally our bodies will appear in the same manner. And when we can change our thinking, love ourselves more and appreciate our bodies, then these five amazing things will happen.

1. Instant Energy Boost

Changing our thinking pattern sets off an immediate chemical reaction in the body; flooding you with what feels like added energy. This is because it is proven that our attitudes about life direct our thinking and our thoughts produce emotions. Quite simply, when you think better, you will feel better! Continue reading →

If you practice any type of meditation regime, then you are aware of the historical account of Buddha, sitting in the lotus position in front of a large Buddhi or Fig Tree with a snake wrapped around his body and the snake’s head resting atop of him. This account not only is a true story, but encompasses many other religious teachings on both a physical and spiritual level.

A Kundalini awakening signifies a revolutionary step into expanded consciousness, as the coiled serpent energy that resides at the base of your spine is activated and begins to make its ascent upwards towards the crown chakra.

Once the Kundalini is awoken, its aim is to ignite all of the chakras in the body. Flooding the practitioner with immense energy and allowing the seeker to break down all preconceived notion of duality; giving them the ability to understand and experience ‘that in which is within, so is without’. Meaning, that everything we experience is a product of our own imagination and that, we are in complete control of our universe, because we are the universe.

The activation of the crown chakra signifies that the kundalini has completed its travel, surging upwards into the mind and will be experienced as the comprehension of seeing a large fig or buddhi tree. The mind is now firing on all cylinders and the brain acts just as this large tree, within its circuits.

This projection of consciousness, appears to be an external happening, as if being taken somewhere out-of-body and arriving at the tree of life or better known in the shamanic practice as “The World Tree”. However, the best kept secret is that it’s quite literally, all in your mind and this because the universe is mental.

The task is then to hold this level of activation and to exist in the realm of consciousness, where no thought or experience is neither inwards or outwards, but all is one. Continue reading →

Nine year old Yogamaatha, from India, astonished onlookers in the United States recently, as she applied three blindfolds over her eyes and proceeded to read sentences from the piece of paper in front of her.

How did she do this?

Yogamaatha claims that she attended a course at Gurukul, in India, where she was initiated by a Guru and now possesses the unique ability to see with her third-eye. She states that this mystical power is a “learned ability”, opposing those who believe that gifts like these, are only for the chosen few.

Not only can she read blindfolded, this nine-year old states that she can also ride a bicycle through traffic and dodge cars.

In this short video, Yogamaatha’s curious abilities bring her all of the way to Capital Hill, where her eyes are covered and she is tested. Continue reading →

What was one of the better kept secrets of the 21st century is now blown totally open.  The three corporations above are responsible for much of the world’s chocolate influx, 60% of which comes out of West Africa.

In 2000, it was revealed that the harvesting and processing of the cacao plant was left to children, often unpaid and living in slavery.  Imprisoned, forced to go to the bathroom on the roof or in a cup and malnourished, children would either be sold into it for $30 or be kidnapped, thinking they were applying for some sort of paying job.

The rules and regulations are so lax there that there is no government to step in and stop the atrocities.  This horrific state of child slavery is also the perfect cheap labor for candy companies that want to sell you chocolate for dirt cheap prices.  Why do you think it only costs $1 for a chocolate bar? Continue reading →