SINGAPORE: Fires in Sumatra and the yearly haze problem can be drastically reduced in five years or less.

Global Forest Watch, an organisation that monitors forest activity, tells Channel NewsAsia this is possible through concerted efforts on the ground -- involving palm oil companies and law enforcement.

And all stakeholders -- from financial institutions to even consumers -- can do more to get the US$21b industry in Indonesia to adopt sustainable sourcing practices.

But it would seem palm oil markets in the region are not as committed to sustainability, perhaps put off by the associated costs.

The dry season begins in June and runs until October.

About 250km from Singapore, farmers on Sumatra island are getting ready to clear land traditionally -- by burning vegetation.

That could be the spark needed to ignite and spread fires onto adjacent plantations.

The winds that occur during the Southwest Monsoon could fan the smoke and its unhealthy particulates right towards Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia, as it had done for years, as seen during Singapore's worst bout of haze in June 2013.

Increasingly, the pressure is on large palm oil and pulp companies to put an end to such practices.

Nigel Sizer, director of Global Forest Watch (Forests Programme) at World Resources Institute, said: "About half of these fires are burning on land that's in the concessions of palm oil and pulp wood companies in Riau and across Sumatra.

Go here to read the rest:
Clearing the air on haze - its root cause and challenges

Published: Monday, June 16, 2014 at 10:00 AM.

A settlement has been reached in a longstanding legal battle that is expected to put nearly 300 acres of undeveloped coastal property to public use as state park land.

As part of the settlement, an appeal before the N.C. Supreme Court has been dismissed, clearing the way for the state to take ownership of the Hammocks property in Swansboro for the expansion of Hammocks Beach State Park.

Carol Tingley, acting director of the state Division of Parks and Recreation, said there are still issues to be resolved regarding the title to the property, but with the settlement the lawsuit ends and the state agrees to pay approximately $10 million for the land.

While there are still additional actions to take and funds to raise, Tingley called the settlement a milestone in efforts to acquire the property.

It will still be a while before it happens but this is a big step and were thrilled to have this opportunity, and were looking forward to incorporating the property into Hammocks Beach State Park for the benefit of the public, she said.

The 289 acres sits along Queens Creek adjacent to Hammocks Beach State Park.

The history of the land dates back to the early 1900s, when Dr. William Sharpe, a neurosurgeon from New York, came to Onslow County and acquired The Hammocks, Bear Island and all the marshlands in between.

Sharpe made John Hurst, the son of a slave, and Hursts wife, Gertrude, caretakers of the hunting and fishing grounds.

A friendship developed between the Sharpe and Hurst families as well as a shared goal of keeping the land in trust for recreational and educational purposes by the N.C. Teachers Association and others. At the time, the organization was an association for black teachers and the property was to be used as a beach resort for its members.

Go here to see the original:
Settlement reached in expansion of Hammocks Beach State Park

Tips On Working With An Interior Designer
http://www.ahtinteriors.com Allison Havill Todd #39;s 6 Steps to Working With an Interior Designer.

By: Allison Havill Todd

Read more:
Tips On Working With An Interior Designer - Video

Interior designer for house

By: Radian Design

Original post:
Interior designer for house - Video

South African interior designer
Description.

By: Jean Hattingh

Continue reading here:
South African interior designer - Video

My Interview with Lora
check out my chat with Lora Lora Coburn is an innovative interior designer and television design expert based in Portland, Ore. Founded in 2008, CoCo Designs has provided an exclusive design...

By: Kevin Aguilar

Read the original:
My Interview with Lora - Video

Interior Design - Packing up for Desert Rose Install S-2, E-17
Interior Design, Interior Decorating, Interior Design ideas. *Note from Rebecca ....FYI, In real time, as this video uploads today... June 16, 2014.... I #39;m sitting on my bed at the Desert Rose...

By: Robeson Design

Continue reading here:
Interior Design - Packing up for Desert Rose Install S-2, E-17 - Video

CLINTON Clinton's senior citizens will not have a new place to call home, even when the work is done on their senior center later this year.

Rather, the town's senior citizens will have a majestic, 132-year-old building, one filled with history and originally built by local merchant John R. Foster in 1882 before becoming The Clinton Home for the Aged in 1900.

With a projected project cost of $1.9 million, the old mansion will become a new senior center, outfitted with upgrades like state of the art kitchen and new wiring.

"Now it's becoming a reality for us," Council on Aging Chairman William Grady Sr. said as workers from M. O'Connor Contracting worked heavy equipment handling drainage and parking lot work and wielded hammers driving nails to renovate interior space.

The path to a new senior center has, however, been long. For several years the issue was whether the town should build a new center or renovate an older building.

The Clinton Home had originally been transferred to the Clinton Home Foundation to be used to benefit seniors, and it operated as a rest home for years. Finally, it was closed as health regulations made it more difficult to operate, and the building was offered to the town.

Transferring it to the town for use as a senior center fulfilled the intent of the use, and as a bonus came at the right cost: free. But significant renovations would be needed.

Voters had approved $1.4 million for the project at a town meeting, but the town had already spent $475,000 of that to buy the American Legion property on Chestnut Street, a site on which a new building has been planned before the town opted to go in another direction.

A $763,000 Community Development Block gGrant added to the kitty, along with other funds from the town's economic development office. In addition, the Clinton Home Foundation offered up funds $300,000 for a trust fund, the interest to be used for future maintenance, plus $50,000 a year for five years toward costs.

Voters added another $100,000 at the recent town meeting.

Read the original here:
Mansion being retrofitted for Clinton senior center

Steve Thomas, Emmy Award-winning television personality and former host of the home improvement shows, This Old House and Renovation Nation speaks during a Habitat for Humanity luncheon at the Bethlehem Center in Alton Park to promote a home building blitz in the Southside where builders will renovate three homes.

Some 1.6 billion people in the world live in slum housing without running water, with leaking sewers or faulty wiring.

Others live in tents, and its not just somewhere else. It happens in America, said Steve Thomas.

You cant run a world this way. Its going to blow up. So you have got to do something, said Thomas.

The Emmy Award-winning television personality and former host of the home improvement shows This Old House and Renovation Nation was the star of Habitat for Humanitys Home Builders Blitz 2014 celebration Wednesday at the Bethlehem Center.

Thomas said he got involved with Habitat after traveling the world and seeing people live in substandard housing.

Nearly 200 people including contractors, professional home builders and developers met at the Bethlehem Center to share a barbecue lunch and celebrate their combined efforts to build two homes and renovate another in Chattanoogas Southside neighborhood.

Some donated time, while others gave gutters, building material, money or T-shirts.

They are a part of Habitat for Humanitys home builders blitz, a nationwide effort to build more than 250 homes in five days this week.

Thank you for making dreams come true, said Tom Gipson, who founded Habitat for Humanitys Home Builders Blitz.

See the original post:
Habitat for Humanity sets housing goal

With so many devices, such as smartphones and tablets, entering the home, the need for Wi-Fi becomes more and more necessary. While many Internet service providers now conveniently provide Wi-Fi routers with the boxes that provide our Internet service inside the home, they are often of limited range. Also, where these services enter our home isn't always the most convenient, depending on your situation and layout. There are some options to make things better, however so let's take a look at a few of them.

First, Wi-Fi signals are best placed as high up in the home as possible. Unfortunately, if you are receiving your Internet signal through cable or telephone lines it is likely that the lines run in through your basement. While there might be some options for lines on a main floor, many of us (myself included) have our Wi-Fi routers located on the lower floor. This means that your signal will get weaker the further you get from the router. If you are located in an older home or have a lot cabling in the wall, the signal gets weaker and weaker. With the good weather finally here, it would also be nice to enjoy Internet access outside on the patio but for some it's just not possible.

Fortunately, NetGear makes a Wi-Fi extender, formally called the NetGear AC1200 Wi-Fi Range Extender EX6200-100NAS. What this device does is take your existing Wi-Fi signal and boosts it to extend the coverage. It keeps your existing security in place and is a breeze to setup. I recently put one in my home, so I'll discuss my situation.

My Internet access comes in through the basement and I have a room with a computer, router, and network switch. It is the heart of my network as it were, but the Wi-Fi signal starts to get weak when you are upstairs and becomes unusable in the backyard. By placing the EX6200 on the main level, centrally, I now have coverage throughout the entire house and well into the backyard as well. The only requirement you have during the setup is a plug and access to your existing Wi-Fi network.

Using a smartphone, tablet or a computer you simply enter your existing credentials into the new hot spot that appears. After answering a couple of quick questions, you are ready to go. You will now have an additional hot spot to connect to and you can even call it the same as your existing one and your device will automatically pick the best one as you move throughout your house.

The EX6200 works well and also provides some additional benefits. First, you can connect a USB key (or hard drive) to the external port and have access to the files on it through the network. So if you have photos or music you can access them through the wireless network.

Secondly, it provides additional wired ports so if you have a device that connects the internet only via ethernet, you can place the EX6200 close to that device and then connect it to the network with a wire. It gets around the problem of trying to run wires through the walls, floors, and ceilings with ease.

Thirdly, you can connect a USB printer to it and now you can print from any device that can connect to the wireless network (appropriate drivers permitting of course). It is truly a multifunctional device that performs its main function very well.

If you just need a wired solution to perhaps go from location A to location B (and it's very inconvenient to get there) you might also want to consider ethernet over power lines. The technology has got better over the years. Products, such as the D-Link PowerLive AV500, allow you to use the power lines in your home as wiring. It's hard to believe that data can run alongside power but it absolutely works. You can even plug this into another router if you need more than one plug at the other end.

As our need for connectivity increases, problems can arise and fortunately, technology is here to solve those too! Stay cool and stay connected.

Read the original here:
Extending your Internet range