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PENCINTA ALAM JUNE 2013 ECO KIDS COLUMN 19-YEAR-OLD INVENTS OCEAN CLEANUP ARRAY (Source: Inhabitat.com) 19-year-old Dutch inventor Boyan Slat has unveiled plans to create an Ocean Cleanup Array that could remove 7,250,000 tons of plastic waste from the world’s oceans. The device consists of an anchored network of floating booms and processing platforms that could be dispatched to garbage patches around the world. Instead of moving through the ocean, the array would span the radius of a garbage patch, acting as a giant funnel. The angle of the booms would force plastic in the direction of the platforms, where it would be separated from plankton, filtered and stored for recycling. At school, Boyan Slat launched a project that analyzed the size and amount of plastic particles in the ocean’s garbage patches. His final paper went on to win several prizes, including Best Technical Design 2012 at the Delft University of Technology. Boyan continued to develop his concept during the summer ...

PENCINTA ALAM JUNE 2013 GREEN LIVING COLUMN REMOVING WEEDS THE NATURAL WAY The rainy season is upon us again, and it usually results in an increase in weeds. The use of chemical weedkillers and herbicides, however, has been linked to water and soil pollution and the deaths of insects, frogs, toads, birds, tree shrews and even companion animals such as dogs and cats. How, then, do we remove weeds without resorting to chemical weedkillers?  Here are some safer ways of removing weeds and preventing weeds from growing: (1) Spread layers of wet newspaper on top of areas where you do not want weeds to grow. This prevents sunlight from reaching the soil and thus inhibits the growth of grass and weeds.  Old garbage bags, pieces of tarpaulin or old carpet and shower curtains work as well. However, this method can be rather unsightly, so you may wish to restrict this to the insides of flowerpots, borders and in the spaces between plants. (2) ...