News/Blog
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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Turtuga Blanku music is now also released through BandCamp.
BandCamp allows for immediate download of Turtuga Blanku tracks in your choice of 320k mp3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.
You can name your own price (minimum price is set to ensure that not only PayPal, but the artist also makes some money). (However,) buying music through Bandcamp does not require a PayPal account.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Global Dimming, a (BBC Horizon) documentary by Dr. David Sington.
A short summary of the documentary:
In the aftermath of the planes hitting the WTC in New York, the entire US fleet was grounded for three days. This resulted in immediate and dramatic changes in the weather. The change in temperature range during those days was over one degree Celsius, which is, from a climate perspective, huge.
Air and land traffic, (fossil fuel generated) energy production, factory emission results in tiny air born particles of pollutants in the air. This, in turn, results in haze surrounding our cities and more cloud formation, causing serious reduction of the amounts of sunlight reaching the earth. Ten to 30 percent reduction was measured globally between the ’50 and the ’90 of the former century.
Greenhouse gasses trap heat in the atmosphere and cause global warming. Yet, global dimming does not contradict global warming. It means that without this global dimming effect, the level of global warming would be even higher than it is today.
However, a certain amount of direct sunlight is needed to maintain natural circulation patterns in the weather globally (e.g. monsoons in the Sahel or Asia during the rainy season). A direct link was found between global dimming and the Sahel droughts. The Asian monsoon is a life-giving aspect for roughly half the world’s population.
This is the crux: the cooling as a result of air pollution induced global dimming has been hiding part of the global warming but at the same time has devastating effects on our climate and health (e.g. respiratory diseases). Efforts into reducing air pollution result in experiencing the global warming effect as it really is: the level cooling pollutant (tiny air born particles) is dropping down, while the level of warming pollutant (CO2 and other greenhouse gasses) is still going up resulting in an accelerating warming.
Therefore, cleaning up pollution should go hand in hand with acting against greenhouse gasses.
The (approx.) 50 minutes documentary Global Dimming is shown in five parts on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLfBXRPoHRc.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Turtuga Blanku's Be With Me is now on YouTube with lyric-"subtitles".
Double click in the youtube-screen to go to a bigger version or click on this link: Be With Me on YouTube
Check it out, rate it and leave a comment if you feel like it!
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Velcrow Ripper is the sound designer and music supervisor of the international award winning documentary ‘The Corporation’ and several other documentaries. He is also a multi award winning filmmaker (e.g. Genie award for ‘Scared Sacred’) and a writer.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Crude - the incredible journey of oil, a television documentary by filmmaker Dr Richard Smith.
A short summary of the documentary:
The basis of oil is plankton which lives in the sea. You need a thick layer of muddy organic dead, non-degraded plankton. For that you need: high CO2 concentrations in the air; high temperatures; no (polar) ice; a lot of nutrients (food for plankton) in the oceans.
Sounds familiar? With our industries and transportation we are hugely increasing the concentration of CO2; the temperature is rising; the polar caps are melting and our way of living results in a lot of nutrients reaching the seas due to dumping and erosion.
In other words, we are busy creating perfect circumstances for new oil production. However, these circumstances are not the right circumstances for humans to live in: high levels of CO2, high temperatures, toxic, smelly, dead seas, lots of tropical storms and seriously disturbed ecosystems all over the world make living (as we know it) impossible.
In the past it was volcanoes producing high CO2 concentrations in the air. Lots of CO2 in the air results in higher temperatures resulting in melting of the ice caps resulting in near global stagnation of ocean waters (ocean streams are the result of interaction between warm and cold water). High temperatures also lead to more evaporation and more heavy rainfall, resulting, in turn, in more nutrients being washed to the sea.
Now, humanity is doing all this. To break this oil-cycle, the use of alternative, renewable energy sources is necessary, as well as keeping our energy usage low. Good for the environment, good for your wallet, good for you.
The 90 minutes documentary Crude is shown in three parts on http://www.abc.net.au/science/crude/.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Turtuga Blanku's Holes in the Poles is now on YouTube with lyric-"subtitles".
Double click in the youtube-screen to go to a bigger version or click on this link: Holes in the Poles on YouTube
Check it out, rate it and leave a comment if you feel like it!
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Mike Farrell is -amongst others- an actor, a movie producer (e.g. Patch Adams), an author of two books, a refugee aid and human rights activist, and a board member of the Center for International Policy which supports efforts to combat illegal logging in Central America.
The M*A*S*H Captain was willing to participate in our 5Q-interview series.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _One of the comments I received on the Turtuga Blanku website, gave me the idea to write something about energy from the depths of the ocean (thanks Jonny!). I’ve talked about getting solar power music from the sea (well, from the moon, really...) earlier, but there are other ways the ocean can be used to generate electricity.
Any large body of water is acting as a solar energy collector with oceans being the world's largest solar energy storage system. The radiation from the sun is stored in the sea as it warms up the top layer of the water.
In the tropics, the amount of solar energy hours (or: “solar insolation”) is especially high. The tropical seas cover about 60 million square kilometers (23 million square miles) of the earth. On an average day, an amount of solar radiation is absorbed that is equal in heat content to about 250 billion barrels of oil. (In contrast, most recent [2007] info showed that the top oil consuming country, the United States, uses 20,680,000 barrels of oil per day).
How can all that free solar energy that is stored in the oceans be used?
In steam turbines (about 80% of the world's electric production is by use of steam turbines) and in internal combustion engines (all non-electrical car engines), heat flows from a high temperature reservoir to a low temperature reservoir. The engine/turbine converts some of the heat energy to ‘work’ energy.
The warmer top layer of the ocean and the colder deep ocean water provide natural high and low temperature reservoirs. A temperature difference of about 20°C (36°F) is needed and those conditions exist mainly in coastal areas located close to the Equator. Cold seawater is pumped up from the lower layers (800-1000 meter, or: 2500-3300 feet) of the ocean. Together with the warm top water, this can be used to operate a heat engine which produces electric power. This process is called ‘Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion’ (OTEC).
OTEC can be used 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year round. No need to worry about the unpredictability of wave, wind or “conventional” (photovoltaic) solar power. What’s more, because condensation of the warm seawater takes place, a by-product of OTEC is fresh water. This can be used in drinking water production. Also, the cold water that is pumped up can be used to air-condition buildings near to the OTEC-plant.
Hawaii has had OTEC- test facilities since 1974, India has built and piloted a one megawatt, floating OTEC plant and OTEC-air conditioning is used on the island of Bora Bora. It seems that OTEC is an interesting option to further investigate as an alternative to traditional oil based energy production. It would be great if my music production could be powered by the great deep blue, as well as by the power of the sun directly.
I can envision it: ‘Turtuga Blanku music - solar powered music, hot and cool..!'
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We asked this president of Ecocity Builders and author of 'Ecocities: Building Cities in Balance with Nature' to participate in our 5Q-interview series.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _A new song is close to being finished (copyright registration pending) and will be released a.s.a.p.
In the meantime, here are the lyrics of the latest release Keep On Dreaming.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Turtuga Blanku turns sunshine into music, but why not turn water into music? Countries like Norway are already using hydroelectric plants for practically all of their electricity generation. They are using their nation’s river landscapes for that, converting the power of streaming water into electricity through water turbine technology. A technique which is basically as old as the wooden scoops in the wheels of watermills are.
But, with about 72% of the earth’s surface covered with oceans, why not look beyond the mouth of the river as well, for generating of electricity? It might be interesting to further investigate if offshore underwater turbines can be used without ecologically damaging consequences. These are turbines basically comparable to wind turbines, except they use the tides to keep them moving. In some parts of the world, like off the coast of Ireland and the U.K., this idea is actually already in practice, albeit on a small scale.
The funny thing is that we shouldn't really be calling electricity generated in such a way 'water energy', since it is the gravitational force of the moon, of course, that keeps the water moving and creates the tides. So, actually, we'd be talking music from the moon, here!
The Caribbean waters supposedly are quite suitable for making use of tidal power as well. Coming soon, Turtuga Blanku from the moon?
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Dalecast and realRADIO1 in the UK are continuingly supporting Turtuga Blanku's recorded sunshine. Check out Dalecast's podshow #552.
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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _"There is infinite good music out there that people should hear and I intend to play some of that music" Colin - Ourobouros
Find out more about the Ourobouros podcast here.
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Turtuga Blanku's recorded sunshine has been "shining" on Russia as well.
Find out more about the Russian's Radio Grinch show here.
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Environmental photojournalist Gary Braasch is next up in the 5Q-interview series. Gary has had his images published by a range of well know magazines and institutions including National Geographic, Scientific American and the United Nations.
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More Turtuga Blanku music has been played on UK's Dalecast Podcast Show (#499 and #500) as well as on PMN's Weekly Top 5 Countdown Show. This is a podcastshow introducing musicians to Japanese listeners.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _The 5th song of Turtuga Blanku's upcoming debut album is now available. Go to the homepage or the shop-page if you want to check it out.
If you've been able to get out of bed today, feel free to leave a message on the comments-page.
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Turtuga Blanku music is played on Radio Orphans Podcast nr. 189.
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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Throughout the month of February, the music magazine Babble&Beat will play Golden Bubble on it's player. Click on the image to check it out the magazine and the player:
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Dalecast's podcast show picked up Golden Bubble and Be With Me and gave the songs a spin on realRADIO1 as well.
You can listen to the shows here (show #476), here (show #478), and here (show #491) and learn more about realRADIO1 here.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _A magazine called ‘My Lohas’, which is written in Chinese and sold in Taiwan, did a full page, small article (with fancy pictures) on Turtuga Blanku and his recorded sunshine.
Take a look and read it (if you can!) here.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _I recently visited (the Commonwealth of) Dominica (not to be confused with the Dominican Republic). It is a beautiful Caribbean island which is situated between Guadeloupe and Martinique. 754 km² in size with a population of probably around 55,000.
There are 365 rivers on this little island, large tropical forests, indigenous parrots, dolphins, sperm- and other whales and seven volcanoes of which six are dormant. Several solfataric areas are active and natural hot water can be found all over the island.
This volcanic activity can be put to excellent use to generate electricity in a clean and durable way. Dominica’s electricity company DOMLEC (Dominica Electric Services Limited), as well as a French company together with the government and a US private company are currently developing three (separate) projects to start making use of thermohydropower.
At this time, the system peak demand on Dominica is 18 megawatt of electricity, whereas a total generation installed capacity of some 150-200 megawatt can be expected upon completion of the thermohydroelectricity projects. So, not only will Dominica be able to provide themselves with durable energy, they also plan to export their green power to the neighboring islands. This is a great example showing that being environmentally conscious and making money can go hand in hand.
In the meantime, examples of the use of another sustainable way of energy production -solar power- can be found everywhere on Dominica; from solar powered streetlights to solar power boilers on the roofs of houses.
It is looking sunny, hot and altogether green on Dominica!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Great blog entry on Turtuga Blanku's recorded sunshine by Beth Buczynski of The GenGreen Team on this website here!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Nice mentioning of Turtuga Blanku on this website here!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _To celebrate the beginning of this new year, a nice present seemed appropriate: a free copy of Golden Bubble.
But we won't be giving it away to just anyone... You must be able to do some treasure hunting first.
On this website, three golden Turtuga Blanku logos are hidden. Find those, and you'll find the way to a secret Golden Bubble download page.
- Search the three hidden golden turtles, hover over the golden logo with your mouse.
- Carefully follow the instructions you get.
- Then, combine what you have written down in the right sequence (message golden turle 1 first, then nr 2 and nr 3, but without any spacebar-spaces).
- Type this into the address bar of your browser and hit enter.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _The lyrics of this latest piece of recorded sunshine are available here.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Several eco-websites from all around the web have been finding their way to Turtuga Blanku's Solar Power Music. This one here aims to report noteworthy initiatives to promote sustainable living.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _The 4th song of Turtuga Blanku's upcoming debut album is now available. Go to the homepage or the shop-page if you want to check it out.
As always, we'd love to hear what you think of the track! Feel free to leave a message on the comments-page.
A new t-shirt, specially designed for this new song release, will be presented and for sale soon.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Turtuga Blanku's Golden Bubble was played on the BBC radioshow 'BBC Introducing' on 6music:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _This year’s hurricane season has seen quite a lot of tropical storms and hurricanes with Paloma (category 4) being the most recent and hopefully the last one. However, as oceans are warming up, we may be in for even heavier and longer lasting hurricane seasons in the coming years.
That's not a good thing for the people living in the hurricane area. It's costing lives and causes great ecological and material damage. If only you could at least harvest these hurricanes for the enormous energy they release: imagine how much electricity could be generated if we could somehow make use of all that wind energy!
Obviously, hurricane conditions are far from ideal for windmills, which cannot operate under these conditions. But normally, the Caribbean has one of the best wind regimes for wind generated electricity. With declining fossil fuel stocks and increasing awareness of climate change, more nations in the Caribbean area are starting to see the advantages of these favorable wind conditions.
Still, you won’t find a windmill outside of Turtuga Blanku’s little studio. Being in the business of making music with the studio’s windows open, I still prefer silent photovoltaic solar plates!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Turtuga Blanku will release a new song in the very near future on this website. It is called Holes in the Poles. Previewers describe it as:
"Smart and attractive ear and brain tickling eco-song"
"Short but sweet"
"Great message, great approach, great song!"
Keep an eye out for this next Turtuga Blanku release. We'd like to know what you think of it!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Laiste on RustyLime did a review earlier and wanted to do an interview as well.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _SolarServer, a German website found out about Turtuga Blanku and put up an article in it's solar news section.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _The design of the website itself has been positively noticed as well.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _MakeNoise spreads the word about positive eco-action and included Turtuga Blanku in it's newsletter.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _GreenMuze was wondering what sunshine sounds like and has asked Turtuga a few questions about his recorded sunshine and how his music is helping to spread the good green word.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Turtuga Blanku has been spotted by the eco-website Treehugger, Discovery Channel's leading media outlet dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream.
And if you digg it, do a 'digg up' right here: www.digg.com.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _The title-song of Turtuga Blanku's upcoming debut album is now available. Hit the play button (on the homepage) and check it out!
Go to 'shop' in the main menu if you want to buy the single. Please leave a message about what you think of Golden Bubble on the comments-page.
(And, as always when a new song is released, a new t-shirt is also available, here).
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Former NASA scientist John C. Mankins has succeeded in sending solar panel captured energy by means of radio waves over a distance of 148 kilometer to a receiver station.
This experiment shows that using solar power directly from out of space might actually be possible. Given investment willingness and further research and development, solar power collector satellites could be brought into orbit and start producing energy 24/7, unaffected by the day/night cycle, weather, or seasons.
Of course, launching the satellites is still done using polluting fossil fuel and it generates waste as a product of manufacture and maintenance. But after putting the solar cells in orbit, it is a zero emission source, using renewable energy which would be wasted otherwise. The question remains: does the use of solar power satellites result in a netto environmental and economical gain?
If so, how about it? Radio waves carrying Turtuga Blanku music and energy to your homes? ;^)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Remember the little story about mysterious recordings? Well, this time, another sound has been creeping into Turtuga Blanku music recordings. It is not quite as subtle as the other mysterious sound... and actually not at all quite so mysterious either!
For several weeks now, a stag party has been going on...literally... There’s free roaming, semi-wild donkeys running around in the wilderness surrounding the ‘Green Machine’ (Turtuga Blanku's little, solar powered studio).
Usually, they go about their business quietly. Right now, their business is fighting, braying and running around like crazy. Several males are competing for the females in heat, during the day AND throughout the night! Blood, bite marks, even broken legs and a lot of conceptions are the results of all this.
...That AND of course several re-takes Turtuga Blanku had to do because of the noise. If only they could be taught to bray in tune...
Turtuga Blanku; a white turtle out in the wilderness surrounded by noisy wildlife...
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _As a special treat, a lyric page has been put together for Turtuga Blanku's second song First Step.
This link: First Step Lyrics, will lead you there.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Turtuga Blanku will be releasing a third single shortly. It is called Golden Bubble and is from the upcoming debut album 'The Golden Bubble'. Before officially releasing it, a short preview of the song will appear right here on the official website.
So, be sure to tune in later on!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _- The First Step is the second song.
- The next step is sending us your comments on the song.
- The final step is checking out the new First Step T-shirt.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _The copyright registration procedure has been finalized!
Expect new songs to appear on this very website, very soon.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Turtuga Blanku now has a dozen banners to choose from on a dedicated banner-page. Simply select the provided code, and copy/paste it on the desired spot in your own code.
Take your pick and add your free Turtuga Blanku banner of choice to your own website, myspace site, your blog, or in your signature on your favorite webforum.
Thanks for your support!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Turtuga Blanku has been getting more and more urgent requests to put up more songs. And you deserve another taste of solar power music! So, an explanation of the situation is in order:
In the music business (as in any other business) there are those who have no problems with illegally gaining money from other people's work or ideas. This is called 'stealing'. To prevent this, musicians often opt for registering the rights to their own material before sending it out to the world.
You automatically own all rights to everything you create the moment you create it. With registering your copyrights you can prove that you were the first to write those lyrics, play that guitar riff, or to sing this melody.
However, this extra 'just to be sure' measure is costly...mostly in terms of time. And it is exactly in this process that we find ourselves before releasing the follow-up to 'Be With Me': a time-consuming administrational thingy holding up the sunfun.
We are very impatient to share the newest Turtuga Blanku songs with you and we'll keep you posted on the progress. In the meantime, let's lift up just the tiniest part of the sleeve: the next song, ready and waiting, is called First Step.
Turtuga Blanku, turning sunrays into solar riffs for you...
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Because Turtuga Blanku's little studio 'The Green Machine' does not have air-conditioning (a much larger solar system is needed to run AC), Turtuga Blanku works with open windows. Nice cool South-West trade winds flow through 'The Green Machine'. Apart from coolness, this usually also adds an extra, natural feeling to Turtuga Blanku songs.
However, listening back to some vocal recordings for Turtuga Blanku's latest 'song under construction', suddenly a strange noise on a couple (but not all!) of these recordings could be heard. It seemed like a malfunctioning cable adding a lot of unwanted noise. After careful listening, the source became clear…
Due to the hurricanes, a lot of rain has fallen here in the Caribbean. Almost immediately after that, new life starts blooming everywhere. One sound which was not heard for a long time was the mystery-noise that was recorded along with the Turtuga Blanku vocals.
Cicadas! They are back again!
Hmm…Turtuga Blanku is up for some sweaty recording sessions…
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Turtuga Blanku's first officially released song, right here, right now, for you... Ladies and gentlemen, you're all invited to: Be With Me!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Turtuga Blanku wants to thank everyone who has contributed to the realization of this website and its content. A special thanks to the following individuals:
Mary Ann Koops, Roel Schuit, Onno Schuit, Styli, Steve Nelson, and Wim Boevink et al.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Welcome to the brand new and shiny web-home of Turtuga Blanku!
The homepage shows the latest news as well as newest songs... all of them recorded sunshine. Songs, t-shirts, and other Turtuga Blanku stuff can be bought at the shop-page and the merchandize-page. More about Turtuga Blanku's green (well, yellowish) way of music production on the Solar Studio-page.
Find more about Turtuga Blanku on the bio-page and go to the contact-page to well..obviously contact Turtuga Blanku. Oh, and don't forget to leave a comment on the comments-page!
Feel free to wander around and bask in the recorded sunshine.
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All rights reserved © 2007-2010 Maarten Schuit
Design by Roel Schuit & TB
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