You’ll find great success in your decorating and add continuity as well if you choose plants for your home that coordinate with the style of decor you are using. For instance, if you have a contemporary style, choose plants that have clean lines are sleek and have long, slender shapes. However, if your home is Victorian in style, you’ll want to choose feminine, frilly ferns. But in a Southwestern style, you’ll probably want to use plants from the cacti family. Here the choice of palm trees is perfect to go with the southseas style. It’s very casual and informal and the palm is light and airy to go with the light weight wicker furniture.

The heights of the plants should graduate down in small increments. Don’t place a 7 foot or taller tree (like seen here) next to a short plant. In the picture to the right, the tree is a little tall for the severe drop in height to the plants on each side. It’s better to graduate down with less of a drop off. The scale is all wrong and too severe. An easy-to-make platform for pots is a grouping of bricks covered with coordinating fabric from the room. If one of the plants isn’t tall enough, place it on a brick or a flat basket turned upside-down.

Senior manager
I will live in a villa in China in 2020, with fresh, unpolluted air, more trees and green fields and blue skies…
Everyone just works at home, no longer needs to gather in one office building. We can save both the resources and the time, and we also can allocate our time freely to improve efficiency and relieve traffic congestion.

travel business
I hope I can live in a beautiful village with nice surroundings, convenient transportation. I also hope I have more free time to travel and see the undeveloped places.

Artist

An artistic lifestyle, living in a natural and harmonious environment. I dream the city would be like a big garden and I am the bee.

Teacher, artist

A dream is only a dream. According to the situation now, a dream would remove you only be further away, so you’d better stop dreaming.

Teacher

Several years later, I wish there should be more green; I hope to breathe more pure fresh air. Drinking water will be much cleaner. I expect the buildings are more beautiful, the quantity of cars is much less than now. The population density is reduced. I could go through the city by bike.

Manager? …probably.

In 2015, I hope I would have a happy family, and everyone is healthy. Less pressure from living, enough time for traveling. I expect the living environment would have well appointed facilities, nice environment, fresh air and with a European feeling.

Gardener, manager or musician
Get up at 10 o’clock, start working, then a meal, and go to bed at 10 pm, that’s all. Living in a city with mountains and rivers and also animals. The city is quiet, with cultural details, traditional buildings and

More green in the surroundings, well-developed road network. I would buy my parents an apartment. Work hard, live intense.

15 years later, I expect I could join into some interesting affairs, like sell paintings, mount paintings, make some beautiful accessories, or run a flower shop. I could go for walk with my grandson in the park to play Taiji (Chinese kongfu). Blue sky, green land with birds and flowers, exchange chess techniques with friends.

I want to live in a lower than 6 stories building, no high buildings around so nothing would block the sunshine. There is a row of trees in front of the building to enjoy the shade. A sweet-smell comes from roses and clove trees. There would be no traffic jams on the roads, so the kids could get home quickly to have a rest, an 8 hour workday, and no overtime during the holidays; keeping healthy and energetic. Our kids’ kids would go to a school with highly skilled teachers, bright classes with just 30 students, no more crowded classes of 60 students. No dust in the playground.

1. An urban landscape trend
As a living environment of urban areas, we must first understand the district is the request of the tenants, which the living green Landscape best to consider the life and leisure requirements.

Requested by the modern quality of life around the material and spiritual lives of the start, in the material life to meet, gradually enrich the spiritual life today, it will pursue a more healthy, more affinity with their environments. Living green areas, we should consider not only the elements of the United States, but also give full consideration to the district housing the main — the needs of Only by understanding these needs and, starting from this need for the design, necessary for the United States, can be achieved satisfactory results.

Meet for a practical and aesthetic principles district design, and to the “people-oriented” ideology and ideological basis, a people standpoint, from the position to consider comprehensive, in the meantime, reaching people and the natural harmony. And the natural and harmonious development of urban development is a trend now; the future is now for a long time and has its correctness.

In 2002, 0.1 surveyed companies in the country did a market survey: “You want to have the most “Respondents are more than 70% of the people chose health.  Evidently, modern health concerns over the extent of any period in the past.

According to the World Health Organization’s definition of health: “The health of people is referring to the physical, mental, the community has in good conditioning the tremendous work pressure, a monotonous life, Complex interpersonal around to maintain the health of its difficulty. This attention to environmental issues designers should strive to create a more modern suitable living environment, from simple forms of the arts and visual pursuit to get out and pay attention to the human spirit ecological the swap function.

The introduction of natural living areas and the residents of each side, Landscape Architecture, behavior, ecology, Aesthetic theory subjects considered scientific proof, reasonable planning, has provided a good living environment for the district.

People with high blood pressure who want to drop some pounds may want to choose a low-carb diet, a new study shows.

In the study, overweight or obese individuals who went on a low-carb diet lost about the same amount of weight as those who cut down on their fat intake and took the weight-loss aid orlistat (sold as Xenical or Alli). However, the low-carb diet produced more favorable effects on blood pressure.

Most studies of weight loss methods have enrolled overweight or obese volunteers who were healthy, aside from weighing too much. The current study, in contrast, enrolled “real patients” with common conditions like diabetes and heart disease, William S. Yancy Jr. of the VA Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, told Reuters Health. People with these health issues are often excluded from weight loss studies, Yancy said.

He and his colleagues assigned 146 patients to either receive instruction on eating a low-carbohydrate diet, and to start out by eating fewer than 20 grams of carbohydrate daily, or to take 120 mg of orlistat three times a day and receive instructions on eating a lower calorie, lower-fat diet. All of the study participants received diet instructions at group meetings, which were every two weeks for the first six months of the study, and monthly thereafter.

After 48 weeks, the low-carb group had lost about 9.5 percent of their body weight, compared to 8.5 percent for the orlistat group, which wasn’t a significant difference. There also were similar improvements in cholesterol levels between the two groups. But the low carb diet did offer an advantage in terms of blood pressure reduction.

The low-carb group showed about a 6 percent drop in their systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading) and a 4.5 point drop in their diastolic pressure (the lower number). In contrast, the orlistat group did not see a drop in blood pressure; the corresponding changes for the orlistat group were 1.5 (systolic) and 0.4 (diastolic).

The two “fairly powerful weight loss treatments were equally effective, and one of them was more effective for lowering high blood pressure,” Yancy said.

Orlistat works by blocking the body’s absorption of fat from food so people who use the drug need to cut down on their fat intake or risk unpleasant side effects like gas and even incontinence.

Carbon-Conscious Home Design
Low-carb home designs can save you tons of money in energy costs, it helps reduce your reliance on potentially volatile sources of energy, and it’s good environmental stewardship. Here’s how to bring these virtues to your new home or cottage.

Carbon-Conscious Design Strategy #1: Maximize heating and cooling efficiency
Not all insulation systems with the same R-value perform the same way. That’s why you should consider non-hollow wall and roof framing systems such as structural insulated panels (SIPs) and insulated concrete forms (ICFs). SIPs offer especially impressive energy performance. One Brock University study showed that a SIPs house used 60% less energy than an identical stud-frame home built to code with the same nominal R-values and tested in side-by-side situations.

Carbon-Conscious Design Strategy #2: Minimize Carbon-to-Energy Ratio
Woodstoves, pellet stoves and solar collectors are all carbon-neutral sources of heat. The carbon dioxide released by burning biomass fuels was already in the biosphere previously, unlike fossil-based carbon is all new. If you must opt for a fossil fuel heat source, choose a fuel type that offers the most heat for the least carbon burden. Natural gas and propane release 25% less carbon per unit of heat output than oil and 50% less carbon than coal (most commonly used for electrical generation).

Carbon-Conscious Design Strategy #3: Choose 21st-Century Energy Technologies
On-demand hot water heaters eliminate standby energy loses from tank-style water heaters. Radiant in-floor heating provides greater comfort at lower room temperatures. Choose appliances with an Energuide label that shows close-to-minimum energy consumption compared with competitive models. Choose florescent lights with energy-saving electronic ballasts.

Tailoring your building plans to curb global warming isn’t about sacrifice. It’s really about building smart in a way that offers greater long-term economy, lower foreign energy dependency and building details that anticipate the needs and values of the new century.

It’s Easier Being Green
A fundamental shift in the environmental status of grid-delivered electricity is unfolding right now, but unless you understand the significance you might miss out on the benefits.

Until recently, anyone describing conventional electricity as ‘clean’ was either misinformed or deceitful. Sure, you’ll never see smog pouring out of a wall outlet, but the industrial activity behind traditional electrical generation comes at a steep environmental price. Airborne particulates from coal-fired plants, nuclear waste that still kills 100,000 years from now and mercury-contaminated watersheds from hydroelectric flooding are all part of the hidden pollution behind old-style electrical power.

But all this is changing as new, certified-green sources of electricity come online. A growing number of Canadians now have the option of paying modest premiums for environmentally-sound sources of electrical power, opening up a whole new world of low-carbon home design options. Now you can honestly consider specific sources of household electricity as green and completely carbon neutral.

The company claims the products, which use heat pump technology to extract energy from the air outside then transfer it inside the home to heat radiators or water, can offer UK households savings in running costs of over 30% and cuts CO2 emissions by 50% against the most modern gas condensing boilers

John Kellett, general manager of Mitsubishi Electric’s heating department said: “With our product line-up we are confident that we can deliver low carbon heating to the vast majority of UK properties built from the 1970’s onwards.

“Heating and hot water accounts for over 70% of the energy we use in our homes so if we as a nation can cut this consumption, we can make a real difference to both emissions levels and the fuel bills of hard-pressed households.”

The Ecodan 5kW is on display at the event’s ‘Eco House’ installation, designed by Woodward Smith Architects and constructed and developed by Loosemore Chartered Building Company, as an example of a sustainable, three-storey family home.

“80% of carbon dioxide emissions from clothes comes from its materials, its manufacturing and transportation process. If you use the clothes for a longer time, the carbon dioxide emissions of the clothes could be reduced year by year. The ‘dress eco circle’ indicates the carbon dioxide emission of clothes in a lifecycle and can draw people’s attention to eco-friendly clothing”, said one representative from the Newlore magazine.

In fact, low carbon clothes is a concept of eco-friendly clothing, providing a method to reduce the carbon dioxide emission of the clothes during its lifetime, including purchasing a clothes with a lower carbon emission, the clothes made of the recycle raw materials, or use the clothes for a long time to reduce the total energy consumption, and so on.

When we have the consumption consciousness of being eco-friendly, it would affect the development of the textile and apparel industry, as well as the industrial structural reform toward the low carbon direction. At that time, for the textile and apparel enterprise, the competition in the retail market would not be the price competition or the brand competition, but a competition basing on less environment pollution, and less carbon emission.

In this way, the more favor and support gained from the consumers, the larger market share the enterprises could achieve; what’s more important, at that time, not only our consumer could live a better green life, but also the enterprises with the low carbon competitiveness could have more profit and power to invest a further lower carbon business operation and industrial production, leading to a real eco-friendly environment finally. Hope so, it would be one of the ways to live better.

Asked if any companies were outsourcing maintenance of office equipment to specialised firms, or simply leasing rather than purchasing their office equipment, Guo said only two or three were outsourcing. Many were not aware that it was an option, believing that companies had to own their own equipment.

Actually, many companies do now rent equipment and management services from external providers. This increases utilisation of the equipment and reduces the number of products needed.

I also have noted that some of the 17 organisations surveyed in Beijing are in the environmental industry, and so already are concerned with “green working”. And, interestingly, it was agreed that the results of the evaluations would not be published.

Office working practices will change out of a sense of social responsibility or a desire to cut costs. But without public demands, this will be done quietly. Relying on voluntary changes will not be adequate – the government should set green working standards, covering energy use, indoor waste gas, noise, radiation and the handling of electronic waste. Policy can be used to change office culture and promote a new office revolution, with the market ultimately providing the necessary services.

Roots and Shoots is set to launch its project worldwide when the time is right. Innovation by environmental NGOs already is sending a positive signal. Rather than making “secret”, or quiet, changes, the government should make green working a matter of policy — and promote a second office revolution.

Well, I don’t know what you’re having for your lunch? If you are here in China, it’s lunch time.

But going vegetarian can be part of a low-carbon life. Giving up meat in China has only become a trendy way of life in the past decade. But it’s now catching on for a bigger reason. Today, in our ‘My Low Carbon Life’ series, Wang Mangmang finds out why people believe they can make a difference.

Look, smell, and taste. A vegetarian diet does not mean deprivation. But still, there needs to be a reason. Religious beliefs, health, animal protection, and saving the planet. This is why Lu Shi has been a strict vegetarian for thirteen years.

Statistics from the United Nations show that raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. Being a vegetarian can help reduce emissions of one and a half tons of carbon dioxide a year.

The tulip has come to be a loved symbol of the Netherlands. Many tourists visit the country just to see the bright coloured flower and the astonishing view over the bulb fields. The season begins in March with crocuses, followed by the daffodil and the yellow narcissi. In April the hyacinths and tulips blosssom to some time in mid May, depending on the weather. Later, in August it is time for the gladioli. Even when spring is over, the Netherlands is still a garden, visitors can enjoy flowers in the Netherlands all year round.

From April to September fantastic flower parades are held throughout the country. The Bollenstreek Flower Parade is the biggest parade and is held at the end of April every year. The origin of the parade dates 50 years back in time when initiators of various small parades in the villages of the Bollenstreek decided to go together and organize one big parade. Floats with 1.5 million of different flowers are created by enthusiastic volunteers who are working on this for months. Popular flowers for these floats are daffodils and hyacinths, but in some parts of the country, only dahlias are beeing used. The Bloemencorso Valkenswaard is a smaller parade which also includes folk dancing and street theatre.

The Kerstflora (X-mas Flora) Show is held every year in December, a five day show of house plants and flowers grown under glass. In Lisse, the Museum De Zwarte Tulp or The Balck Tulip, have a extensive collection of historical material on the flower. This includes information about the cultivation and the evolution, drawings, photographs, tools and a look into the bulb trading companies.