Environment - Protection Blogs on Artician

Wonders in the Water by Shultz777

Wed, 3 Nov 2010 19:28:34 EST

The Right Debris Netting In The Right Place Can Save Your Company Money by RosalindaCraner

Tue, 3 Aug 2010 02:02:18 EST

Debris is litter and junk and what is left after things get broken apart and torn down. At best debris can be a nuisance. But at the top of a twenty-story construction project debris can be life threatening. Debris netting can save lives.

One of the dangers of work on tall structures is wind. Strong winds can blow people and object of the edge of the surface on which they are located. Wrapping a building in netting reduces wind penetration, while still allowing air circulation.

Netting, placed horizontally below and at the edges of the work site will prevent falling people and objects from falling far enough to damage themselves or whatever they might land on. The holes in the mesh should be small enough to prevent small items like nails and rivets from falling through.

One of the most historically significant construction projects in the United States was the Golden Gate Bridge. The wisdom of the day predicted that there would be one man killed for every million dollars of construction costs. It was a thirty five million dollar project and the workers wondered which of them would be among the thirty five who would lose their lives.

They weren't just being paranoid. The winds out on the bay are fierce and there are days when the fog makes everything invisible. The damp fog also made surfaces slippery and men easily lost their footing on the steel surfaces. Chief engineer Joseph Strauss insisted on all the standard safety practices of the time. There are photographs and movie footage of men being blown off their feet and hanging by their safety harnesses.

Joseph Strauss, the chief engineer, realized that all the standard safety practices that he rigorously enforced were inadequate on this unique project. He designed and ordered construction of a giant safety net similar to what trapeze artists in circuses use. It was suspended under the bridge and extended ten feet out to both sides.

Critics might have considered the enormous net a somewhat extreme measure but it quickly paid for itself. Before the bridge was completed in 1937 nineteen men had joined the ranks of the Half Way To Hell Club. The members were so called because each had been saved from certain death by falling into Strauss's net.

Former bridge workers remembering those days opine that the net paid its dues. It did not just benefit those whose lives were saved. Strauss, the city and the company benefited from money saved in lost time and the associated expenses of fatal accidents. They also basked in positive PR that money could never buy.

Another effect of the net that paid off financially was the increased morale and confidence among the workers. Once the net was installed the men were able to put less of their attention on surviving and more on their jobs. Work became more efficient.

The safety net provided Strauss, the city and the company the added benefit of good publicity. The bridge was controversial. Many people thought it never should have been started. Strauss was not popular in many circles and had no reputation as a humanitarian. Some workers even questioned Strauss's motives, saying he was actually concerned more about his own reputation than about the safety of the workers. However whatever may have motivated Strauss to provide a safety net the results were clear. The project came in under budget and ahead of schedule. Nineteen men whose lives could have ended before the bridge was completed lived to tell their tales. Credit goes to one man who decided not to scrimp on netting. Debris netting might not net such exciting results but it is likewise something worth not scrimping on.

20 Amazing Photos of Earth for Earthday by Akujin

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:37:00 EST

Earth day

Since it's Earth day I decided to collect some of the best shots of our planet from around the world so let's go around the planet, shall we...

Tea Farm by Fath

Monument Valley Panorama by barbroute

Spiti Valley by chaoskaizer

The Color of Magic by AngelaBarnett

Crater Lake by soyrwoo

Our Endangered Planet by BenKern

Maui From the Air by Geoff CB

Dragon teeth 2 by dgheban

Phalasarna Cliffs by Akujin

Moosehead Lake, ME by mattdclimber24

Costa Rican Lake by OpheliaMist

The alps by robowan

Praia da Guarita by fx5588

ALPINE2 by frERA

Niagara Falls - Day Panorama by Zohar

Iceland by wuziwug

They Live - Nallihan Ankara by nightdog

Stonehaven by GregMcKinnon

Moraine lake by reizvolle

Glen Lake HDR by GuyStrong

Sant Georgios Bay by dgheban

The Method of FNA by FreeNatureArts

Sun, 8 Mar 2009 23:06:30 EST

I just Figured that it would be best if I told why I am a artist and what I plan to do with this abiliy..

To begin with I started in my home as a self taught artist, with a few " How-to-draw" books and a wish to draw " pokemon". I slowly learned the anatomy of several animals, and now, 15 years later I end that stage by looking to professionalize my abilities. I knew my love of animals would see me through since Copywrites over pokemon where so great, then a idea hit while me and my family celebrated earthday as a actual holiday for the planet... Nature needs more help then anything we can ever create on our own, and more so, we are to blame for what we've done as humans without a care in the world but our own.. To end such a life that had no meaning once the body we exist within is redeemed useless, forever leaving a footprint on the living that now suffers among our handicaps to the land we resided in.

To aid those creatures I love so dearly and the nature of it all that I feel somewhat responsable for, I use my art not only to protect what cannot protect themselfs, but to take a stand for the honor of man kind to be the gentle teresterial to this planet and bring it back to it's original state. Whether it is possable, no one knows for sure, but with the damage we've done Destroying many things that where absolutly harmless to us, and even fantastic for our Entertainment as caretakers for our young and those we consider as such and call " pets". It's the least we can do to aid this massive land and all that existed before us. While the Valcano's killed many fish speciese to pave the way for evolution, the Meteor that destroyed the dinosaurs and brought evolution on full speed for mammals, and the Icey Ages of a sleeping planet removed the largest creatures ever imagenable to bring on our existance.. We have donated nothing back to all that died to create us, we have mutated natural selection to cause " Beauty" rather then " Need" and we have weakened many creatures abilities they where born with as a right, not a priviledge. We have broken all laws of natural existance and destroyed what was created as a partnership to us , for aid and for protecting so they too may evolve as we have. As such we destroyed the balance of such natures, and it's our job to bring it all back, if we can't the least we can do is TRY.

So every drawing I create is sold to bring about larger natural reservations, and even the nessasary fencing of Rainforests to stop pouchers and loggers from taking unnesasary lives, Animal or otherwise. To put them out of commision and create a life worth living for us all. We owe this planet our lives, and have given nothing back and now is the time to do our part not only for our survival, but mostly for those who have nought to do it for themselfs due to our destruction of natural evolution.

In this mannor my drawings hold as lives and not as just a portraite, they are illistrations of what could be lost if we don't stop the act of mutation and destruction. And with every drawing sold, the drawing is a gift to those who care for animals as I do, while the money is mearly a donation with or without a image nessasary. As such I strongly accept hand outs as well.

With several others agreeing to these animal and natural rights, this has become a organization effert.. And as such we find areselfs as FreeNatureArtists. FreeSpirited Natural Artistians in perotection of our ecosystum. For better or worce we are in it for the long hull, and though I hold the name "Founder" I only brought about the idea of connecting to take on this fate we all share as artists. With such I continue my daily life by rescueing creatures others consider " untamable" and " Unadoptable" to show we are still abile to live in harmony even if the ability of being domesticated is lost. For domestication was a human creation of inprisonment for these beautiful creatures. As instead of that I live WITH them and find myself honored to have such loving and otherwise misunderstood companions. From biting rats to rats to small to breed now they they've been mutated to much, fish otherwise thought as food for man or larger creatures. And a cat that was bred out of the mistake of my family as novice animal caretakers. I take full responsability for my creations and my creatures, in hopes others will do the same and change the otherwise careless destruction of our world.