NOTE: As someone pointed out, this is a DANGEROUS process and requires a lot of safety precautions. I would refer to other instructions with more safety measures. I posted this more for the uses of #Lime (as opposed to using tons of chemicals).

Burn #Seashell #Lime in a Primitive Straw/Clay #Kiln!

By skillcult

"In this project we use Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Animal, Vegetable and Mineral to make something with a multitude of practical uses. The text is detailed and stands alone, but the videos are very useful and entertaining. Video #1, the Quicky version, is the 7 minute general interest, entertainment version. Video #2, buildcult, is the long educational 20 minute version. I'd recommend watching the short version first, before reading this instructable, so that you have a visual reference. I did my best to make it worth 7 minutes of your life. I conceived this project for the Brave the Elements contest, which you can vote in here, hint hint.

"The goal is to build a kiln from natural materials in order to burn and slake #lime for #seashells. Lime is immensely valuable! If lime disappeared tomorrow, civilization would fall hard! It is the main ingredient in cement and can be used to make #mortar and #plaster. It can also be used in the arts for #limewash and fresco, in #Soapmaking, mixed with casein (milk protein) to make #PreIndustrial waterproof #glue and #paint, for smelting and refining metal, and to remove hair and prepare skins for rawhide, hide glue or tanning. Ever read the ingredients on your tortillas or tortilla chips and seen 'traces of lime'? That’s because lime is used in processing #corn kernels to make tortillas, hominy and grits, which is easy to do at home. Not only does it make corn more nutritious and digestible, but it also lends to the unique flavor of those products. Beet sugar is processed with lime too. Lime is also used to potentiate certain drug substances such as betel nut and coca leaves, a small bit of lime being chewed with the plant material to activate it. So, yeah, wow, lime is one of the most useful substances ever!

"A WORD ON SAFETY: A lot of people think that lime is some deadly scary chemical that will burn you face off. It’s not… not really... well, maybe. #QuickLime is dangerous, but that is a brief transient state. During #slaking, the quicklime will give off heat and boil vigorously, so that is dangerous since the stuff can splatter around and is not only hot, but also highly alkaline. So, yeah, okay, maybe doing a face plant in a boiling tub of quicklime may burn your face off. Don’t do that! Otherwise, the stuff is not that horrible, and people have been making #tortillas, mixing mortar, plastering walls and tanning leather without goggles and hazmat suits for a very long time. It is also non-toxic. You definitely don’t want your pets drinking lime water or your kids playing with lime, but that is due to it’s concentration mostly, and not to inherent toxicity. When diluted, it becomes less and less caustic and is at some point completely harmless. Once converted to #CalciumCarbonate by drying, it’s just like egg shells, sea shells or stone, not only non-toxic, but actually used as a #calcium supplement. So, don’t get it in your eyes, keep it away from children and pets, be careful when slaking and use common sense and everything will be fine. It will temporarily dry skin though skin though, so be aware of that.

"Before we get to the fun stuff, let me explain how this works. Don’t be intimidated by the chemistry terms, they aren’t important. The changes lime goes through have a name, The Lime Cycle. By heating stone or shells red hot, about 900 Celcius (called calcining), we can change lime from it’s stable inert form, calcium carbonate, into #Calciumxide. Calcium oxide, aka Qucklime, is the most unstable and highly reactive form of lime. Quicklime reacts violently with water, giving off tremendous heat and boiling vigorously. This reaction with water makes it into #CalciumHydroxide, which is similar to #lye, but not as strong. This is the form that is used the most in the arts and industries mentioned above. If the lime is kept under a layer of water, it will not only keep forever, but it improves with age! This stuff is called lime putty. You may be more familiar with the dry lime you can buy in a bag, which is dry calcium hydroxide. This bagged powdered #HydratedLime is widely available, but inferior to wet #SlakedLime putty. You can hardly buy lime putty, and it is very expensive, but you can make it! For more on the forms of lime see my article, Understanding Lime.

"Basically, #LimePutty is like liquid rocks. Once it is allowed to dry with exposure to air, it absorbs carbon from the atmosphere and turns back into a hard rock (or shell, which is pretty much the same thing). Think about that for a second. That is awesome!

"And thus the lime cycle is completed from rock or shell, to quicklime, to lime putty, and back to rock/shell.

"In my book, it doesn't get much funner than burning and slaking lime, so lets get this party started!"

Learn more:
https://www.instructables.com/Burn-Seashell-Lime-in-a-Primitive-StrawClay-Kiln/

#SolarPunkSunday #OldTech #LowTech #LoTech #DIY #TraditionalTechnology
#AncientTechnology #CalciumCarbonate #TraditionalMortar #History #HistoricalMethods #OldTech #SeashellLime

#ClimateChange boosted #HurricaneMelissa’s destructive winds and rain, analysis finds

By ISABELLA O’MALLEY
Updated 10:18 AM EST, November 6, 2025

"Human-caused climate change boosted the destructive winds and rain unleashed by Hurricane Melissa and increased the temperatures and humidity that fueled the storm, according to an analysis released Thursday.

"Melissa was one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes to make landfall and brought destructive weather to #Jamaica, #Haiti, #DominicanRepublic and #Cuba, causing dozens of deaths across the #Caribbean. Roofs were torn off of homes, hospitals were damaged, roads were blocked by landslides and crop fields were ruined.

"The rapid analysis by World Weather Attribution found that climate change increased Melissa’s maximum wind speeds by 7% and made the rainfall near the center of the storm 16% more intense. The scientists also wrote that the temperature and humidity in which the storm intensified were made six times more likely due to climate change compared to a #PreIndustrial world."

https://apnews.com/article/hurricane-melissa-climate-change-rain-wind-jamaica-41cf1c5d771aec9e5290c6a427660c9e

#ClimateCrisis #SuperHurricanes
#RecordBreaking #Weather #ExtremeWeather #ExtremeWx #Capitalism #CapitalismKills #IndustrialAge

The Inaugural Session of the International Conference on Preventative Care in the Preindustrial World, with Guy Geltner introducing the methodology of healthscaping, and the field of the #preindustrial public health at large, has now started. 👏

#histmed #publichealth
@monashcmrs @monashuni

Move over, Med diet – plantains and cassava can be as healthy as tomatoes and olive oil, say researchers

Findings from Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro region indicate traditional eating habits in rural Africa can boost the immune system and reduce inflammation

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/apr/17/mediterranean-diet-african-food-tanzania-heritage-traditional-healthy
#health #diet #research #preindustrial

Archaeologists Unearth 2,500-Year-Old Ice Maiden with One of the Earliest Recorded Tattoos

In 1993, Russian archaeologist Dr. Natalia Polosmak led a groundbreaking excavation on the Ukok Plateau, a region that spans across Russia, Mongolia, China, and Kazakhstan and is known for its harsh climate and layers of permafrost. This excavation centered around a burial mound, or kurgan, that had been untouched for over 2,500 years.
Inside the mound, the research team discovered the remarkably preserved remains of a woman, laid to rest in a wooden coffin and surrounded by elaborate burial artifacts. The frigid environment of the area played a crucial role in preserving her skin, hair, and clothing. Numerous items were found at the site, including textiles, tools, and six horses equipped with saddles and bridles, indicative of her high social status.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the Ice Maiden was her detailed tattoos, which are among the earliest known and have been exceptionally well-preserved due to the permafrost.

#Tattoo #Tribal #PreIndustrial #Nomadism

'#InsatiableGreed': Richest 1% Have Already Burned Through Their #CarbonLimit for 2025

"The #SuperRich continue to squander humanity's chances with their lavish lifestyles, polluting stock portfolios and pernicious political influence. This is theft—pure and simple."

Jake Johnson, Jan 10, 2025

"An #Oxfam analysis published Friday shows that the richest 1% of the global population has already blown through its global carbon budget for 2025—just 10 days into the New Year. The figures, which arrive amid catastrophic fires in Los Angeles that may turn out to be the costliest in U.S. history, highlight the disproportionate role of the #UltraWealthy in fueling a #ClimateEmergency that is causing devastation around the world.

"Oxfam calculates that in order to keep critical climate goals in reach, each person on Earth must have a CO2 footprint of roughly 2.1 tons per year or less. On average, each person in the global 1% is burning through 76 tons of planet-warning carbon dioxide annually—or 0.209 per day—meaning it took them just over a week to reach their CO2 limit for the year.

"By contrast, the average person in the poorest 50% of humanity has an annual carbon footprint of 0.7 tons per year—well within the 2.1-ton budget compatible with a livable future.

"'The future of our planet is hanging by a thread,' Nafkote Dabi, Oxfam International's climate change policy lead, said in a statement Friday. 'The margin for action is razor-thin, yet the super-rich continue to squander humanity's chances with their lavish lifestyles, polluting stock portfolios and pernicious political influence.'

"'This is theft—pure and simple―a tiny few robbing billions of people of their future to feed their insatiable greed,' Dabi added.

"'Rich polluters must be made to pay for the havoc they're wreaking on our planet.'

"Oxfam's new analysis came as the @CopernicusEU Climate Change Service confirmed that 2024 was the hottest year on record and 'the first calendar year that the average global temperature exceeded 1.5°C above its #PreIndustrial level.'

"'All of the internationally produced global temperature datasets show that 2024 was the hottest year since records began in 1850,' Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo said in a statement. 'Humanity is in charge of its own destiny, but how we respond to the climate challenge should be based on evidence. The future is in our hands—swift and decisive action can still alter the trajectory of our future climate.'

"Oxfam called on governments to move urgently to curb the emissions of the rich, including by implementing #WealthTaxes, banning #PrivateJets and #Superyachts, and imposing strict new regulations on #polluting companies.

"'Governments need to stop pandering to the richest,' Dabi said Friday. 'Rich polluters must be made to pay for the havoc they're wreaking on our planet. Tax them, curb their emissions, and ban their excessive indulgences—private jets, superyachts, and the like. Leaders who fail to act are effectively choosing complicity in a crisis that threatens the lives of billions.'"

https://www.commondreams.org/news/rich-carbon-limit
#EatTheRich #YeetTheRich #Oligarchy #CorporateColonialism #CorporateGreed #TechBros #CEOSeason

In May, a group of researchers conducted a geochemical survey in the Antas Valley, Iglesiente region, Sardinia, to explore the environmental (and health) impacts of pre-industrial mining from a silver-mining boom in the 12-14th centuries.

#preindustrial #pxrf #medieval

This year set to be first to breach 1.5C #GlobalWarming limit

by Mark Poynting
November 6, 2024

"Global temperatures have been so high through the first 10 months of 2024 that only an implausibly sharp drop in the final two months would prevent a new record from being set.

"In fact, it is likely that 2024 will end up at least 1.55C hotter than #preindustrial times, according to data from the European #Copernicus #ClimateChange Service."

Read more:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1dpnxnvv2go