Space is where our future is — trips to the Moon, Mars and beyond. Most people would think that aside from comets(彗星) and stars, there is little else out there. But, since our space journey started we have left so much trash(垃圾) there that scientists are now concerned that if we don't clean it up, we may all be in mortal(致命的) danger.

    The first piece of space junk was created in 1964, when the American satellite Vanguard Ⅰ stopped operating and lost its connection with the ground center. However, since it kept orbiting around the Earth without any consequences, scientists became increasingly comfortable abandoning(抛弃) things that no longer served any useful purpose in space.

    It is estimated(估计) that there are now over 500,000 pieces of man-made trash orbiting the Earth at speeds of up to 17,500 miles per hour. The junk varies from tiny pieces of paint chipped off rockets to cameras, huge fuel tanks, and even odd items like the million-dollar tool kit that astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn Piper lost during a spacewalk.

    The major problem with the space trash is that it may hit working satellites and damage traveling spacecraft(飞船). Moreover, pieces of junk may collide(碰撞) with each other and break into pieces which fall back to the Earth. To avoid this, scientists have invented several ways for clearing the sky. Ground stations have been built to monitor larger pieces of space trash to prevent them from crashing into working satellites or space shuttles. Future plans include a cooperative effort among many nations to stop littering in space and to clean up the trash already there.

    The organic food has gained a lot of [popularity as they are being considered as healthier and tastier.  A fair number of people advocate a large-scale shift to organic farming from conventional agriculture. But this might not seem well-founded.

    Since the mid-19^th century, conventional industrial agriculture has become incredibly efficient on a simple land to food basis. Conventional farming gets more and more crop per square foot of land, which can mean less wilderness needs to be transformed to farmland.

    To make farming more efficient, conventional agriculture uses a significant amount of synthetic fertilizer（合成肥料）each year, and all that nitrogen（氮）enables much faster plant growth. However, the cost is paid in vast polluted dead zones at the months of many of the world's rivers, because much of the nitrogen ends up running off the soil and into the oceans. This also makes conventional farming one of the major threats to the environment.

To weaken the environmental impact of agriculture, improve soil quality as well as produce healthier foods, some farmers have turned to organic farming. Environmentalists have also welcomed organic food as better for the planet than the food produced by agricultural corporations. Organic practices — refusing artificial fertilizers and chemical pesticides –are considered far more sustainable. Sales of organic food rose 7.7% in 2010, up to $26.7 billion—and people are making those purchases for their moral senses as much as their tongues.

    Yet a new meta-analysis in Nature does the math and comes to a hard conclusion: organic farming produces 25% fewer crops on average than conventional agriculture.

    In the Nature analysis, scientists performed an analysis of 66 studies comparing conventional and organic methods across 34 different crop species, from fruits to grains. They found that organic farming delivered a lower output for every crop type, though the difference varied widely. For crops like fruit trees, organic trailed（落后于）conventional agriculture by just 5%. Yet for major grain crops and vegetables – all of which provide the world's main calories – conventional agriculture outperformed organics by more than 25%.

    What that means is that while organic farming may be more sustainable than conventional agriculture, there are trade-offs（此消彼长）with each. So an ideal global agriculture system may borrow the best from both systems rather than upholding merely organic or conventional practices.

    Welcome to Holker Hall & Gardens

    Visitor Information

    How to Get to Holker

    By Car: Follow brown signs an A590 from JB6, M6. Approximale travel times: Windermere-20 minutes, Kendal-25 minutes, Lancaster-45 minutes, Manchester-1 hour 30 minutes.

    By Rail: The nearest station is Cark-in-Cartmel with trains to Carnforth, Lancaster Preston for connections to major cities & airports.

    Opening Times

    Sunday-Friday (closed on Saturday)11:00 am-4:00pm,30 March-2nd November.

    Admission Charges

    Special Events

    Producers: Market 13th April

    Join us to taste a variety of fresh local food and drinks. Meet the producers and get some excellent recipe ideas.

    Holker Garden Festival 30th May

    The event celebrate its 22nd anniversary with a great show of the very best of gardening, making it one of the most popular events in gardening.

    National Garden Day 28th August

    Holker once again opens is gardens in aid of the disadvantaged. For just a small donation you can take a tour with our garden guide.

    Winter Market 8th November

    This is an event for all the family. Wander among a variety of shops selling gifs while enjoying a live music show and nice street entertainment.

    Do you know that junk food isn't healthy? Of course you do! Do you eat it anyway? Of course you do! But a new study shows teaching adolescents about the ways food companies fool them into thinking junk food is cool can encourage kids to fight back—by eating healthier.

    The pull of junk food can be super-strong. It's designed to tasty; which makes eating well one of the great health challenges of our time. Everyone from doctors to the government has been trying to handle it. Yet we keep eating junk food.

    Professor Christopher Bryan says, "Food companies want you to want junk food." They spend millions of dollars coming up with new ways to^ promote junk food consumption. They hire scientists to make new junk food almost irresistible. They might do this, for example, by adding more sugar. Rats fed junk food for six weeks will even walk across a floor that gives them electric shocks just to get more of such food.

    Food ads often make unhealthy junk food seem healthy by featuring professional athletes, fit-looking pop stars and smiling, active teens. "We thought when the students learned this, it would matter to them," Bryan says. He worked with 8th graders at a Texas school. Half of them got a lesson Bryan created. It focused on the ways junk food is advertised, or marketed. A second group received lessons that focused on health. These lessons informed students junk food is had, and that foods like apples or carrots are a better choice. The students learned a bad diet can lead to major weight gain, and that being overweight puts people at risk for serious diseases. They also learned how eating well now can keep you healthy when you're older.

    After the lessons, the kids in both groups were asked how they felt about junk food. Most didn't have positive feelings about these unhealthy foods.

    I have a story about raising free-range (自由放养) kids. This past Columbus Day, my husband and I went fishing with some friends on their boat while our10 and 8-year-old kids were in school. We left the house all at the same time, about 7 a. m. My children walked to and from school every day and we knew they would be OK for a couple hours by themselves anyway. We told them to go home after school and we would be home around 4 p. m.

    We live on the Gulf Coast, and since it was a beautiful day, all of the adults decided to go fishing off-shore. At around 2 p. m. after a good harvest from the sea, we started back to the shore and unfortunately after some time, we ran out of gas. We were out of cellphone service, and what was even worse was that 911 wasn't working. We didn't have a radio either. Therefore, we were stuck waiting for someone to pass by. We were out there until 10 p. m. All the while my children were at home, expecting us to return shortly after they got home. At about 7 p. m. , when it was getting dark, my 10-year-old daughter thought something might be wrong so she walked to each house on the street until someone answered the door and asked the person what they should do. This was how we were finally found by the game warden (管理员) on the coast and "rescued".

    Talking with that neighbor the next day, I was never so proud of my children. This neighbour explained to me, "What calmness both of your children showed when explaining the situation and how impressed I was with your children seeking help, even though they didn't know me." I never doubted him for a minute, though next time we go fishing we'll monitor the gas more carefully.

    In the shadow of Kenya's Mount Kilimanjaro, nine Rothschild giraffes, the rarest giraffes on the planet, are free to wander at the English-style manor (庄园). Every day shortly before 9am, they come up to the house and stick their heads through the windows and doors in search of morning treats. The manor's owners, Tanya and Mikey Carr-Hartley, share their dining table with them. And now the couple are sharing the fantastic experience with the public by opening the manor gates to guests at the giraffe hotel, the only hotel of its kind in the world. Now, guests can feed the giraffes at breakfast but can also get up close to them from their second-floor bedrooms.

    Mr and Mrs Carr-Hartley, both 38, spent their childhood living close to the house in Nairobi and have always been enthusiastic about the animals. Tanya said, "Mikey and I grew up near this manor house when we were children. We are both third generation Kenyans and have always wanted to work in conservation. Mikey's family have been related to the protection of animals for many generations. His granddad helped the removal of giraffes as far back as the 1930s because the Rothschild giraffes lost much of their natural living space. When the house came up for sale, we jumped at the chance to buy it as we had always dreamed of owning it. Now, we were absolutely overjoyed to do something for the giraffe protection. Having the giraffes so close is very special and something which people can now experience by staying in one of the ten rooms at the hotel."

    A conservation project to save them was started at the manor in 1974 by the previous owners. "The previous owners ran a very successful breeding (繁殖) programme, where many giraffes were set free into the wild and we hope to continue," said Tanya.