Goal For The Green

They say things are “bigger and better” in Texas.  After reading this, you just may agree.

Landmark Wildlife Management LLC., is a biologist-owned and operated company whose mission is to provide Texas landowners with land and wildlife management expertise. Their services are designed to enhance the wildlife, recreational, watershed, economic,and enjoyment values of their clients most cherished asset – their land. The Landmark wildlife management Texas, is a team of biologists and field technicians that recognizes the importance of acquiring and retaining wildlife tax valuations in allowing landowners to meet their property goals.

Journal of Wildlife Management (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

They believe that all landowners should have direct contact with their own wildlife biologist who knows their land and property goals. Clients should feel free to contact their assigned biologist with any wildlife management questions or concerns.

At Landmark Wildlife Management, they feel so strongly about this that they only utilize wildlife biologist with a Masters degree. The advice offered to clients’ is based on extensive ecology & wildlife management research including the most recent findings. One of the most essential roles of this advice is to make this knowledge available to landowners in both a useful and meaningful way.

Landmark Wildlife Management wants you to know that they will never disclose information about landowner properties to any individuals, companies, or governmental entities. All findings and discussions are strictly confidential between you and your biologist. You can be assured that all landowner inquiries will be answered promptly and work products and services will be completed on or before stated deadlines.

It is no secret that exotic animal ownership has greatly increased in abundance over the last few decades. Many landowners have a strong interest in owning and raising them. Landmark Wildlife’s priority will always be towards Texas’ native game and non-game animals. However, Landmark Wildlife recognizes the right of landowners to manage their properties in a way that suits them. While they will readily offer their professional wildlife management expertise, ultimate decisions are always in the hands of the landowners.

Landmark understands and believes that wildlife management is not for everyone, and that Texas would be worse off economically without ranching and farming. Food production provided by Texas’ agriculture sector is essential to our nations economy, health, and well-being.

Good business is built on strong relationships. Landmarks approach to wildlife exemption services relies on positive, long-lasting relationships with those who administer wildlife exemption statutes, and to landowners. To be the strongest landowner advocates and thereby agreeing to meet state laws, Landmark Wildlife Management has Senior Property Tax Consultant certification. Together they are all working toward greener tomorrows.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, nearly 71 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered in water, 96.5 percent of which is in the oceans. The safety and health of the oceanic ecosystem is essential to help our planet thrive. Collectively, our current way of life is doing little to help the ocean ecosystem thrive. In fact, we’re actually doing more harm than good.

According to Greenpeace International, just off the coast of California, reaching all the way to Hawaii, is a trash vortex that covers an area the size of the state of Texas. In this floating mass, you can find everything from plastic bags, toothbrushes, garbage wrappers, polystyrene packaging, plastic drums, discarded bottles, disposable lighters and traffic cones. Greenpeace International notes that for every 100 million tons of plastic produced annually, roughly 10 percent of it ends up in the ocean.

This begs the question: why does so much trash end up in the ocean? Are people just too lazy to properly dispose of their trash? Are landfills too full? If so, landfill expansion from an environmental remediation company could help. Just last year, a Delaware landfill expansion was completed after 20 years that “extended the life of the landfill by about 20 years,” according to Sevenson Environmental CEO, Michael Elia, who oversaw the project.

There’s plenty you can do every day to help protect our planet’s oceans:

Use Less Energy

One the of ocean’s most serious problems is acidification. As the ocean grows more acidic, it becomes uninhabitable for coral, fish and other types of marine life. According to a recent article on the Daily Green, this is happening as a result of an excess of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is a byproduct from burning fossil fuels. You can curb your energy usage by:

• Using energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs
• Taking public transportation or carpooling to work
• Upgrading to high-efficiency appliances

Use Fertilizer Sparingly

If you live near the ocean or in a coastal community, be careful to use fertilizer sparingly. The Daily Green notes that excess fertilizer eventually finds its way into the ocean, where it then depletes marine oxygen levels. Low oxygen levels create dead zones, destroying marine life in close proximity. Instead of using harsh fertilizer, consider making your own compost to fertilize your garden.

Upgrade to Reusable Bags

Plastic bags are harmful to birds and marine animals. As a main component of the trash vortex, plastic bags are often mistakenly ingested by sea turtles, ocean mammals and sea birds, which can cause deadly digestive blockages, according to the Daily Green. Instead of using plastic bags, bring your own reusable tote bags to the grocery store or shopping center. Keep a small bag in your purse or in the glove compartment of your car so that you always have a reusable tote on hand.

Buy Sustainably Caught Seafood

Industrial farm fishing practices are wreaking havoc on marine habitats around the world. According to a recent article on Huffington Post, about 50 percent of all fish caught by industrial fishermen end up being wasted, dead and discarded in the sea. Exercise your purchasing power by avoiding farmed fish. Instead, choose fish that’s advertised as being diver-caught, wild or line-caught.

Experience Sky Factory’s Biophilic Illusions of Nature at Greenbuild 2012
The Sky Factory will exhibit at Greenbuild 2012, November 14 – 16 at the Moscone Centre in San Francisco, CA.  You can visit booth #4457N to experience eScape™, the new digital cinema virtual window with HD motion and sound; and a Sky Factory EcoSlim LED Luminous SkyCeiling™, the leaner, greener virtual skylight. 

Fairfield, IA November 6, 2012 — The Sky Factory is exhibiting at Greenbuild, November 14-16th, in San Francisco. The company will showcase eScape™, the new virtual window that displays eight hours of real-time, high-definition nature sequences captured with leading-edge RED Digital Cinema™ technology; and the EcoSlim LED Luminous SkyCeiling™, a vividly realistic virtual skylight that creates a sense of openness in otherwise confined spaces. Sky Factory products bring nature’s soothing presence to interior environments — image, motion and sound — a significant, researched, biophilic benefit for mind and body.

Sky Factory eScape™ is a digital cinema virtual window that features a commercial-grade HD LED screen embedded in a full-size casement window; several trim styles and finishes are available in wood and aluminum. Unedited nature scenes include tropical ocean views with dramatic surf, sunrise and sunset, waterfalls, rivers, lakes, wildlife and underwater marine life. Go here to watch a video on escapes.

Sky Factory EcoSlim LED Luminous SkyCeilings™ are virtual skylights displayed in an ultra-thin, toxin-free, energy-efficient system. The dimmable EcoSlim LED edge-lighting system contains virtually none of the toxic elements of fluorescents, is far longer lasting (50,000 – 100,000 hour life), and costs 15% less to operate for comparable illumination. The EcoSlim lighting unit has a compact profile that uses less material to construct; EcoSlim frames are made from 76% recycled aluminum. The EcoSlim power supply was recognized by the Illuminating Engineering Society in the IES Progress Report as “a unique and significant advancement to the art and science of lighting”. The LSC 24PS power system provides the first LED power supply with up to 1,500 watts capacity. It has a 24-V DC output and is capable of being dimmed. Multiple power supplies can be controlled by one dimming device.

Sky Factory reconnects people with the energizing and healing qualities of natural beauty and daylight utilizing unique architectural and biophilic design elements. Biophilia refers to human beings’ instinctive, genetically based need to affiliate with nature. Sky Factory products are versatile, visually engaging tools that modify the experience of the built environment and enliven human beings’ innate attraction to the natural world. These realistic illusions bring the refreshing influence of nature to enclosed spaces where access to real nature is limited or impossible. Applications include residential, hospitality, retail, office, educational and healthcare spaces.

Texas Tech University’s Neuroimaging Institute has partnered with Sky Factory to research the neural effects of Sky Factory’s photographic sky compositions. The first half of their research is complete. Of particular interest to Sky Factory’s founder, Bill Witherspoon, is “the fact that the Sky Factory sky compositions activate areas of the brain not activated by other positive images. Sky Factory artists introduce compositional principles and elements into our sky images that insure the necessary visual cues are present to trigger a profound ‘relaxation response’ — the unique physiological state that corresponds to an expanded awareness and sense of inner peace and stability. We expect that additional research is likely to further link this experience of SkyCeilings™ to the biophilic engagement that is reported by end-users.

The second part of the study will compare health data from patients staying in hospital rooms with and without Sky Factory Luminous SkyCeilings™. This part of the study will conclude in late 2013.

Sky Factory is an AIA Continuing Education System (AIA CES) Registered Provider, offering two free courses for AIA credit: Illusions of Nature in Architecture and Sustainability, Biophilia, and Illusions of Nature. The courses are available both as live webinars and online download. To learn more, visit www.SkyFactory.com/education/

About The Sky Factory
The Sky Factory, LC is a unique fine art and technology company that creates realistic Illusions of Nature™ – virtual skylights and windows – that transform interior spaces. Founded in 2002 and based in Fairfield, IA, the company is factory-direct with International Partners representing 50 countries. Sky Factory was named one of Inc. Magazine’s Top 20 Small Company Workplaces 2010 and was recently featured as the Wall Street Journal’s Workplace of the Day.