Cuban Rainforest

Sorry for having been absent for so long, but I was in Scotland to do some voluntary work in the diocese of Aberdeen. Now I’m back – also with things I learned there:
It’s in rainforests like this one where underage people are forced to work on banana-plantations instead of going to school and where aboriginal people are chased off their lands for farmers to grow even more plantations. Yet we throw away tons of old, mushy bananas and “useless” banana-peels instead of using every part of what people made these sacrifices for:
>Not only can mushy fruits be turned into a juice, smoothie or even baby-food, but the peel is also a great thing. Banana-Peels contain many nutrients the plants in your garden need to grow. Thus you can simply cut them into small peaces and use them as fertilizer by burying them in the ground near the roots of your plant. >Dried peels can also be malmed into a powder and mixed with the earth before trying to grow a plant there.
>If you put a banana-peel into water and wait for a couple of days, the water will have absorbed the nutrients from the peel and you can water and nourish your plants at the same time.
>By carefully rubbing the inner part of a banana-peel against a plant, you will also make it shine like a new penny, keep away lice and create a temporary defense against dust (similar to how tooth paste creates a temporary protection against bacteria).
>Pieces of leather and silver can be cleaned in a similar manner, but afterwards you definitely should rubbb these with a towel.
>I know this trick is more common with the peel of citrus fruits, but organic banana-peels may even be used to make tea or – cut into very small peaces – as some sort of garlic.
>If you have fruits that aren’t ripe yet, just wrap a banana-peel around them and they will get ripe faster.
>By pressing the inner part of an organic banana-peel against the sting of an insect, you may also make it stop being itchy.
>A pureed inner part of a banana-peel may also be used as a face cream to fight facial wrinkles or even as shampoo. A similar paste may also be used to wash smelly feet. (By the way these cosmetic tips also work with the peel of organic citrus fruits.)
>However you may also work with both the peel of a banana and the peel of a citrus fruit. Use the inner part of the peel of the citrus fruit to dissolve lime or very sticky and hard substances and then rub it with the inner part of the banana-peel to make it shine.
>If you want a cleaning-agent that smells well, put peels of bananas and citrus-fruits into a huge canning jar and cover them with vinegar. After two weeks it should be ready for use as a cleaning-agent. However afterwards the things you rubbed with this cleaning-agent should be washed with water. Don’t worry, the good smell won’t get off too fast.
>Baked peels of both citrus-fruits and bananas can also be used as air-fresheners by just hiding them somewhere in the room, fridge or even wardrobe – moths hate the smell and will avoid that.
>Both kinds of peels may be used to rub discoloured fingernails

The German monthly newspaper “GEO” says that for the first time ever since there have been statistics on this matter more than 5% of Germany – namely 6% – are buried beneath concrete. While not directly being connected to Cuba, this example shows how the building of huge concrete cities and the lack of water in some areas (like certain Cuban regions where people suffer from a lack of water) are connected. You see, all this concrete actually interrupts the water cycle. Concrete prevents water – like for example rainy water – from entering the ground as it would naturally do. This leads to crop plants not getting enough ground water and dying, certain worms and bugs that live in humid soil dying (thus also affecting the food chain) etc.

This week an interesting documentary movie about the breeding of edible fish aired on the TV-channel “NDR”. It says that these bred fish are not only fed algae, mussels and by-catch, but often also are fed some mush that contains corn and /or soy, both of which may come from deforested and forcefully depopulated areas in the rainforests of South America.
Plus feeding on plants leads to the fish developing more omega 6 than omega 3, although most people eat so much fish due to the omega 3 and we already eat too much omega 6.

I thank both of you!
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Re-upload: “http://www.tropicalbio.org/” and especially “http://www.livingrainforest.org/support-projects/” are the websites of two organisations that definetly are worth getting mentioned here because of their work for the rainforest.
I know the zapata rail doesn’t live in this rainforest, but rather in swamplands. However this cute little bird lives in Cuba indeed and so I decided to post this here: In case you want to know a reliable organisation to get involved to save this animal, I can only give you the link “http://www.birdlife.org/”.

I know the zapata rail doesn’t live in this rainforest, but rather in swamplands. However this cute little bird lives in Cuba indeed and so I decided to post this here: In case you want to know a reliable organisation to get involved to save this animal, I can only give you the link “http://www.birdlife.org/”.