The kakapo - world's only flightless parrot

The kakapo is the world's only flightless parrot... yet it still hangs out up in trees. Where else but New Zealand, where most of the native animals are flightless birds?

Nature's misfits: Clumsy Kakapo - BBC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhTU__jVP8E

Homeless in Hawaii

Homelessness in Waikiki - HawaiiBusiness
http://www.hawaiibusiness.com/homelessness-in-waikiki/

“'There are homeless people who come here in the winter months, just as tourists who come here when the mainland weather is brutal,' says Colin Kippen, the state’s homelessness coordinator.

But these Waikiki snowbirds usually don’t return home and they comprise a large part of Waikiki’s homeless, say Kippen and others who serve the homeless in Waikiki."

Uruguay's unique cow-tagging system

Uruguay's world first in cattle farming - BBC

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-30210749

Cool NASA video on oceans

This video is shows some cool insights into the oceans and how we view them with satellites.

Climate Change and Global Oceans
http://pmm.nasa.gov/education/videos/climate-change-and-global-ocean

Christmas in Japan means... Kentucky Fried Chicken and strawberry shortcake

Christmas in Japan means... Kentucky Fried Chicken and strawberry shortcake

Christmas Cheer Here Requires Reservations With The Colonel
http://www.wsj.com/articles/christmas-cheer-here-requires-reservations-with-the-colonel-1450477246

2015 Southeast Asian haze

Indonesia haze fueling major health problems
http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2015/10/28/indonesia-haze-crisis-smog-sater-lklv.cnn

Indonesia's forest fires costing more than the 2004 tsunami
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/15/indonesia-forest-fires-cost-twice-as-much-as-tsunami-clean-up-says-world-bank

Slash-and-burn farming caused a haze in 2015 across Southeast Asia.

"Fire has long been a popular way of quickly and cheaply clearing land on Indonesia’s Sumatra island and the Indonesian part of Borneo, to make way for lucrative palm oil plantations...

But the fires burn out of control and produce noxious haze during the months-long dry season, particularly when started on carbon-rich peatland...

So on the one hand 16 billion dollars cost to the public, on the other hand, eight billion dollars – lots of money – to a handful of individuals,” said World Bank environmental specialist Ann Jeannette Glauber...

"More than half a million people suffered acute respiratory infections in Indonesia, while many in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia also fell ill."


Riau province, Sumatra, Indonesia

Vanatu's underwater post office
http://www.padi.com/blog/2013/08/13/underwater-post-office-vanuatu/

Where is Vanatu again? Near Fiji in the Melanesia region of the South Pacific.

This is an interesting radio show in Spanish about a new Traditional and Alternative Medicine program in Rosario, Argentina that connects urban farming with health clinics:

-the city Dept. of Health buys medicinal plants from small farmers in Rosario's pioneering Urban Farming Program
-Dept. of Health makes those plants available for free at local health clinics. Currently the plants are available as herbal infusions, later they will available also as soaps, oils, syrups, herbal medicines, and other products.

A lot of the medicinal plants they mention I've never heard of--and I thought I had heard of a lot.

Una medicina más integral

http://www.unr.edu.ar/noticia/7794/una-medicina-mas-integral

Renewable energy videos

Renewable energy videos

World's first algae-powered building - Hamburg, Germany - Euronews Knowledgehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLEWZkKn1GE

Geothermal energy: What Alaska can learn from Iceland - KTVA Alaska
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnk0S8wlquo

China's solar ambitions - Euronews
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb_bWvsY6mw

Future of wind energy - Discovery Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiSWe3_GEUA

Rural-urban migration videos from China

Videos by Jonah Kessel from the NY Times

A series called “Leaving the Land”

Part One: China’s Consuming Billion — http://nyti.ms/12JJJOH

Part Two: Urban, But Left Behind — http://nyti.ms/1aWZLx1

Part Three: Relocating Tradition — http://nyti.ms/1ktGbKI


And one on problems which may arise following the destruction of these neighborhoods and advanced urbanization:

China Molds a Supercity Around Beijing— http://nyti.ms/1HD9CWX

Hip operation in India?

Hip operation in India? This is a great study of medical tourism around the world. You can get an operation overseas for a fraction of the cost--sometimes by doctors with US degrees.

Medical tourism: global competition in health care - by Devon M. Herrick
http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/st304.pdf

"An estimated 500,000 Americans traveled abroad for treatment in 2005."
"Approximately 250,000 foreign patients sought care in Singapore, and 500,000 traveled to India for medical care"
"Thailand treated as many as 1 million foreign patients..."

"Most American medical tourists seek treatment in Mexico and other Latin American countries."

"Costa Rica is known for high quality dental work"

Who knew?

I used to live in Costa Rica and remember seeing in the yellow pages doctors with degrees from Louisiana State and Texas A&M.

Medical boats of Assam, India

Boats of Assam - Patrick Shepherd
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOhnkLHUUmo

Providing floating clinics on the Brahmaputra river

Growing crops in the Thar Desert

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You might think nothing could grow in a place like the vast Thar Desert which separates India and Pakistan. But this project managed to do it.

Thar water and farms - SCOPE Pakistan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjxO-Iz6tSw

Cool interactive map on sinking cities of the future

Cool interactive map on sinking cities of the future

http://sealevel.climatecentral.org/

The Ganges River Is Dying Under the Weight of Modern India

The Ganges River Is Dying Under the Weight of Modern India - Newsweek
http://www.newsweek.com/2015/10/02/ganges-river-dying-under-weight-modern-india-375347.html