Home/Archive for February, 2010
Archive for February, 2010
sustainable living, Wildlife & Flora, Feb 4th, 2010,
When it comes to survival of the fittest, age does not matter. If an animal views you as food or a threat, they will attack. A teenage girl from New Zealand recently found this out the hard way. Lydia Ward narrowly escaped death this past week. A shark attacked her while she was in waist-deep water at Oreti Beach. Apparently, she thought she was standing on the shark before it attacked. The shark jumped out of the water and took a bite of her hip. Luckily, the young girl had a body board with her and used it to bash…
Tags: body board, broad-nosed sevengill shark, New Zealand, Oreti Beach, shark attack, teen
Climate & Change, Feb 3rd, 2010,
Supply and Demand. It’s a common thing amongst businesses and consumers. We demand something, they supply it. They demand something and some other company, manufacturer, or what-have-you supplies it. Such a common thing is about to take a bit of an unexpected turn. The world of supply and demand is changing and it’s coming to the point that, if suppliers do not take better steps (or any steps) to managing their greenhouse gas emissions, they could lose clients. There are already about 56% of large firms that would stop doing businesses with suppliers if they failed to meet specific CO2…
Tags: carbon, Carbon Disclosure Project, CDP, climate change, co2, Green business, greenhouse gas emissions, suppliers, supply and demand
climate change, Politics, Videos & Documentaries, ,
Dozens of giant underground coal fires have been burning in the Indian state of Jharkhand for almost 100 years, according to a BBC News report. Attempts at extinguishing the fires have so far been unsuccessful. Now, the Indian government wants to move in and put out the fires with water and chemicals, and subsequently remove the coal. The problem is that some 400,000 people live on the coalfields – the desperately poor that survive by scavenging for coal. It is a hot, dirty and dangerous place where living conditions are beyond Dickensian, as exemplified in the town of Jharia. The…
Tags: burning, coal, coal fires, coalfields, fire, government, India, Indian, Jharkhand, poor
Business, climate change, Sustainable living, ,
Will 2010 be the year when we all shed our fossil fuel addiction, become vegans and take to the streets in silent, shiny new plug-in electric cars while Enya lilts – at a reasonable volume, of course – through the vehicles’ stereo systems? I doubt it, but there is certainly an electric buzz about this new decade and it’s not just coming from all those new wind farms which seem to be popping up all over place, destroying rich people’s views. According to an article in the Christian Science Monitor, more and more Americans want plug-in hybrids, like the Chevy…
Tags: car, Christian Science Monitor, Economist, electric, electric cars, hybrid, Nissan Leaf, plug-in, plug-in hybrid, Volt
Science & Technology, Weird & Wonderful, ,
When we were young, we learned some very common and basic science facts. We were taught about the law of gravity. Some teachers may have showed their students how to suck an egg into a bottle. We also learned that rubber does not conduct electricity. As with many other scientific theories, discoveries and so forth, some things end up being disproven over time. Researchers at Princeton and Caltech developed a rubber chip capable of harvesting energy. This chip is made of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) nanoribbons and has the potential to power small, portable electronic devices, like cell phones, or…
Tags: breathing, Caltech, electrical energy, energy harvesting, portable electronic devices, Princeton, PZT, rubber chip, walking
Climate & Change, Wildlife & Flora, ,
Tree huggers, lovers and fanatics may have heard about the great American elm named Herbie. Herbie lived in Yarmouth, Maine and was approximately 110 feet tall. He had a 20-foot circumference and a 93-foot crown spread. Oh, and he was there since (roughly) 1798, making him over 200 years old. After living over 200 years and surviving 14 bouts of Dutch elm disease, Herbie was finally cut down. Two weeks ago was the time of his passing and since then, many scientists have contacted the Maine Forest Service about examining Herbie’s trunk to see what they can extract about the…
Tags: climate change, dendroclimatologists, elm tree, Herbie the elm, Maine, scientific study, tree rings
Wildlife & Flora, Feb 2nd, 2010,
Desperate times call for desperate measures and this also applies to those who are part of the animal kingdom. Last week, a pack of 6 stray dogs managed to get into a zoo located in Sofia, Bulgaria. There, they killed 13 rare animals. Five deer and eight mouflon were ripped to pieces. They would have also gotten a meal from a couple of fallow deer, but luckily the deer were able to fend off the dogs and survived the attack. It is believed that the dogs were driven by hunger and the fact that temperatures in the area fell below…
Tags: 13 zoo animals killed, attack, Bulgaria, fallow deer, mouflon, Sofia, stray dogs, zoo
Climate & Change, climate change, Science & Technology, ,
Freezing cold supermarkets equal a hotter planet. As reductionist as this may sound, a recent study by Environmental Investigation Agency – an international campaigning organization – claims that greenhouse gases used in large freezers and fridges by supermarkets are as harmful to the environment as plastic bags. The problem is HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons) which are coolants that were introduced in the 1990s to replace ozone depleting CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) and HCFCs hydrochlorofluorocarbons). Unfortunately HFCs are powerful greenhouse gases – up to nearly 4,000 times more so than CO2. And they are released routinely by common refrigeration systems. In the UK, the EIA…
Tags: freezers, fridges, greenhouse gases, Guardian, HFCs, refrigeration, supermarket, UK
Climate & Change, climate change, Politics, ,
![]( "<!--:en-->Breaking:")
' src='http://gf3.statico.be/wp-content/themes/greenfudge/thumbnails/6719.jpg' alt='breaking-not-good-enough-%e2%80%93-55-nations-sign-copenhagen-accord' class='art-teaser' width='95' height='95' /> 55 countries signed onto the Copenhagen accord by January 31st, the UN’s ‘soft deadline’ for submitting promises to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The 55 signatories – who are responsible for 78% of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning – include China, the US and all 27 European Union states. So far the pledges to reduce emissions are not sufficient for what is needed to keep the Earth’s temperature from rising 2C (3.6 F) above pre industrial levels, or 1.3C (2.3F) above today’s temperatures, according to the goals set out during the Copenhagen climate talks. Janos Pasztor, the top climate…
Tags: accord, climate, copenhagen, emissions, gas, greenhouse, Guardian, sign, temperature, UN
Climate & Change, Sustainable living, Videos & Documentaries, ,
The UK’s All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Agriculture and Food for Development issued a report criticizing the British government for cutting aid for agriculture in developing countries. An article from OneWorld UK describes the APPG report as detailing the link between food and security, especially in the developing world. Population growth, disease and climate change present challenges to keep up with global food production, yet so far the number and percentage of people going hungry are growing. The report stated that with the global population set to rise at 6 million per month and almost double from 1 billion…
Tags: agriculture, australia, climate change, emissions, farming, food, global, production, UK
Business, Science & Technology, Videos & Documentaries, ,
I came across this video of Top Gear where Jeremy Clarkson claims that and explains why the supposedly eco-friendly hybrid Toyota Prius car is more environmentally damaging than a high performance car like the BMW M3 or a fuel monster SUV. Although the Top Gear crew is known for being over-the-top critical sometimes, I have to admit that I, like everyone else I guess, tent to forget that CO2 emissions of cars (and of all other products for that matter) should be calculated starting at the creation of the product and not – as is too often the case –…
Tags: BMW M3, electric car, hybrid, Jeremy Clarkson, Prius, Top Gear, Toyota
Nature, Wildlife & Flora, ,
Asian animals have been in dire straits in recent years. The latest news has been covering the ongoing tiger crisis. Singapore, however, is getting quite the reputation for being a successful nursery and breeding ground for some extremely rare or threatened animals. The Singapore Zoo runs a special breeding program for 315 species. Approximately one out of six of these species are threatened. The good news is the breeding program has been very successful thus far. Last year alone, at least 142 animals were born as part of the program; 32 of which are threatened species. Even though these animals…
Tags: breeding program, conservation efforts, Singapore, Singapore zoo, threatened species, Wildlife Reserves Singapore
Nature, Wildlife & Flora, ,
Recently, 13 Asian countries held a conference to determine the fate of tigers and how to proceed in helping them recover. Along with Russia, the nations vowed to double the number of wild tigers (currently a rough 3,200), take more serious action against poaching, and prohibit the building of any road or bridge that could harm the tigers’ habitat. Unfortunately, this vow does not include any money to fund their newly pledged conservation efforts. Instead, they plan to approach international groups, such as World Bank, for money and also to tap money from ecotourism, carbon financing, and infrastructure projects. Along…
Tags: 13 nations, Asia tigers, conference, doubling tiger numbers, endangered species, helping the tigers, meeting, Nature, tigers, WWF
Science & Technology, Weird & Wonderful, Feb 1st, 2010,
Green Noise Are you infected with the travel bug? Have you ever traveled by plane? If so, then you are most likely aware of all the noise that can come from an airport—particularly when planes are landing or taking off. Designer Hung-Uei Jou has created the Green Noise. This device traps all that airport noise and then converts the sound energy to electricity. This electricity is then used to power the airport runway lights. No, this doesn’t mean that it will completely eliminate all that noise and you get to have a nice, quiet departure (or arrival) for a change….
Tags: airport runway, eco inventions, ekokook, Faltazi, green noise, Hung-Uei Jou, kitchen system, Orienal, recycle paper, white goat
climate change, Politics, Sustainable living, ,
While the United States and other countries offer incentives for development in the renewable energy industry, China passes laws that require it. A New York Times article highlights the ways in which China is beating the pants off other nations when it comes to making clean energy. For example, China now leads the world in the manufacturing of solar panels and wind turbines. The state funded Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association claims that renewable energy jobs in China increase by around 100,000 a year. These efforts to dominate renewable energy technologies raise the prospect that the West may someday trade…
Tags: China, environment, New York Times, panels, power, renewable energy, Solar, turbine, wind
Nature, Wildlife & Flora, ,
Earlier this month, there was an incident involving the Ady Gil vessel (of the Sea Shepherd fleet) and the Shonan Maru No. 2 (which is with the Japanese whalers). To make a long explanation very short, the Shonan Maru No. 2 rammed the Ady Gil, causing irreparable damage to the vessel and now the Ady Gil is somewhere on the ocean floor. Both sides blame each other for the crash and some form of official intervention is needed. Now that we are more or less up to speed on things, here is where the update on matters begins. Recently, the…
Tags: Ady Gil, Antarctica, australia, investigation, Japanese Whaling, New Zealand, scientific expedition, Sea Shepherd, Shonan Maru No. 2, Whale Wars
climate change, Science & Technology, Sustainable living, ,
Statkraft, Norway’s state owned electricity company, has opened the world’s first osmotic power station in the Norwegian municipality of Hurum. The process at the plant is conducted by salty seawater drawing fresh water through a permeable membrane which increases pressure on the side with the salt water. According to an article from the website Nordic Energy Solutions, ‘the increased pressure is used to produce power.’ The plant is only a prototype and not yet capable of generating very much power, but Statkraft has high hopes for the future of the technology. It could one day supply up to 10% or…
Tags: electricity, Norway, osmosis, osmotic power, plant, power, salt, sea, Statkraft, water
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