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NASA is expected to announce break-through scientific news today. India’s maiden Moon mission Chandrayaan-1 possibly found water on the moon surface using NASA’s M3 (Moon Mineralogy Mapper) that mapped close to 97% of the lunar surface before the project was aborted due to communication failure. The ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) is currently analyzing this data and is expected to make an announcement soon. Read the full article here
The Age of Stupid is the new movie from Director Franny Armstrong (McLibel) and producer John Battsek (One Day In September). Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance? -from ageofstupid.net Now showing in cinemas around the world, The Age of Stupid sounds like it is my kind of film: science fiction marries documentary with an environmental message. I have not seen it yet, but Pete Postlethwaite is a fantastic actor and my hopes…
Brainwashing has been prevalent in media for while now. America’s enemies during the war (pick whichever you prefer) were doing it way back since the black and white era of film noir. Then the aliens arrived and are reputed to be at it even now, if one is to believe the X-files. And last but not the least, the soda companies allegedly sneak in subtle messages on cinema screens to make you run out and buy. But now it’s the 21st century – brainwashing is out and greenwashing is in! The dictionary definition of Greenwash is “disinformation disseminated by an…
“The objective of the Summit on Climate Change, which I am convening on 22 September, is to mobilize the political will and vision needed to reach an ambitious agreed outcome based on science at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen.” –UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon It seems that no matter what is happening to the planet – whether it’s climate change, melting polar ice caps, vanishing rainforests, pollution, vanishing fish populations or oceans full of plastic – it will never beat good, old fashioned, domestic, popular politics. According to an article in yesterday’s New York Times, the United States and China…
The Puget Sound – home to a vast array of marine and mammal life (including human) is constantly being threatened by pollutants, and it seems pet poop is one of the culprits. Storm water runoffs, polluted by various household chemicals and oils, (as well as the aforementioned poop) eventually end up in the sound, dumping some 140,000 pounds of waste into the body of water. The pollution can severely damage the wildlife in the region, not to mention Washington State’s lucrative seafood industry. Citizens, schools, advocacy groups and businesses have taken action and launched the Puget Sound Starts Here campaign,…
They’re big, they’re vegetarian and they’re very much like us. Except they mind their own business. Yet political conflict, the bush meat trade and human thirst for wealth and natural resources are wiping out these gentle, majestic primates. Check out this documentary on mountain gorillas by VBS. The Vice Guide to Travel: Gorillas in the Midst VBS travels to Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the mountain gorillas – 200 of the earth’s last 720 — are in a desperate fight for their survival. -vbs.tv By Graham Land Additional resources: The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International…
The motor industry is trying hard to meet the environmental requirements of the eco-minded consumer. We were able to notice a shift of interest at the latest Frankfurt motor show where electric cars dominated the event. Now Chrysler follows the movement by replacing the traditional owners’ manual of its vehicles by DVD, customer-friendly guides. Starting with the 2010 model year production line, all paper manuals will be replaced by small booklets and accompanying DVD. Doing so, Chrysler states it will save 930 tons of paper annually, which equates to about 20,000 trees. If they now also find a way to…
Another one for the record books – just 30 kilometers west off the Danish mainland stands the MW Horns REV 2 Wind Farm, and at present, the largest wind energy farm in the world. It consists of 91 turbines and can generate 800 Gwh of electricity per year (the Horse Hollow Wind Center in Texas, previously the largest, generates 735 Ghw). It was built by DONG Energy, a leading wind energy firm that supposedly produces about half of the world’s wind energy. Denmark’s Crown Prince, Prince Frederik, inaugurated the MW Horns Rev 2 on Sept 17, 2009. The whole system,…
The fashion industry has Fashion Week, the movie industry has the Oscars and Cannes and musicians have the Grammys and MTV Music Awards. For the green community, it seems the place to be this year is The United Nations Copenhagen Climate Summit in Denmark, set to begin on December 7 and will conclude on December 18. Everyone is a-buzz about this upcoming gathering and many environmental groups are urging their local governments to participate or get their agendas on the table. But why is the world excited about this a conference? What makes it so different from all the other…
One of France’s greatest exports is at risk, and the climate is none other than global warming. Winemaking is largely dependent on terrior (a combination of land and weather) and with the varying weather conditions in the past years; it’s not surprising that the industry is slowly starting to feel the heat (so to speak). The Greenpeace study “The impacts of climate change on wine in France” outlines the volatility of the winemaking process and that small changes in weather can have greater impacts on the product. During the last few seasons, the grapes were harvested much earlier than usual,…
Prior to the Climate Week NY°C event happening in New York City this week was New York’s Fashion Week, which had the launch of The Green Shows event, showcasing several different eco-fashion designers’ work. While most of us won’t be able to afford the latest designs off New York or Paris runways, here are some ways you can partake in the eco-fashion movement. Ecoist is first on the list. This is a company that makes and sells a variety of handbags made from recycled candy wrappers, subway maps, soda labels and other such materials. Not only do they use recyclable…
Lots of pollution and chemicals, of course! Anyone who has ever visited New York and strolled down by the water has probably seen and smelled that. But that’s not all, folks. Not by a long shot. In a piece for New York magazine dated May 9th of this year, Christopher Bonanos explores what fascinating, scary and downright weird things lie beneath the dark and toxic waters around New York City. Did you know? A 10,500-mile (17,000 km) long gas main runs all the way from Mexico to the Hudson River to serve the Big Apple’s gas needs. Around 300 ships…
Greenpoint, a popular neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, isn’t very ‘Green’ at all. Allegations of toxic vapors wafting up from the ground soil, high instances of rare bone cancer, multiple lawsuits and a pervading fear of unknown health risks plague the area. The culprit? A huge blob of oil bubbling up from the Brooklyn aquifer – where the neighborhood’s drinking water used to come from before the city started using upstate reservoirs. The source of all this oil is the long-polluted Newtown Creek, which forms Greenpoint’s northern margin and the border between the boroughs of Brooklyn…
Many know of and love the program that is Google Earth: a virtual globe, map and geographic information center that allows people to view the world in 3D, live video footage, reviews and ratings on lodgings, restaurants and transportation, and even celestial bodies of the night sky. It also shows a collection of organizations spreading global awareness, including Greenpeace, WWF, and Jane Goodall’s Gombe Chimpanzee Blog. Recently, they have taken their program to a whole new level. Available through the BeGreen website, you can now use the Carbon Impact Explorer application, which allows you to visually track the projects you…
This week marks New York City’s Climate Week. From September 20 – 26, government and business leaders will be convening in the Big Apple for meetings and events, all focusing on one big issue: climate change. This event is taking place exactly 70 days before the UN Climate Change Conference that is to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark. Citizens will also be able to show their support of the fight against climate change as well. Events that are being held during Climate Week NY°C include things like: Urban Green Expo, Brooklyn Rebuilds/Brooklyn Cares Day, Panel Discussion on “Solar in the…
One of the more strange methods of creating home-made fertilizer has come with some surprising results. A recent study conducted at the University of Kuopio in Finland showed that human urine combined with wood ash can help the growth of tomato crops. Separately, these two ingredients have been used in fertilizers for centuries, but no one ever thought of combining them until now. Surendra Pradhan and Helvi Heinonen-Tanski collected urine, stored it at 45 degrees F (23.4 C) for 6 months and then added wood ash taken from a home furnace. The scientists conducted three different experiments for the study: …
A kind of video supplement to National Geographic’s Green Guide, Green Home Makeover is a series of videos with helpful hints on making your home more energy conscious and environmentally friendly. National Geographic’s websites can be a bit tricky to navigate and use a Flash platform (so clicking the ‘back’ button won’t help) but once you familiarize yourself with the many sections available, you will find a vast wealth of Green resources. There is no video section on the Green Guide site and it is tucked away as a tiny link on the bottom right hand corner of National Geographic’s…
Despite the media attention climate change has had in the past years, many people are still unsure of what global warming is. In this age of 24/7 lighting fast information, we’re bombarded with all kinds of “facts” about the environment, so much so that we have a difficult time telling the truth from the real thing. Here are some of the top global warming myths that people still believe in. Myth #1: There is no real consensus in the scientific community that global warming exists. Not true. Many respected scientists and notable research centers from all over the world agree…
“One groundbreaking new study in Science concluded that when this deforestation effect is taken into account, corn ethanol and soy biodiesel produce about twice the emissions of gasoline.” – Michael Grunwald, Time I recently wrote an article about Indonesia’s bad biofuel industry, which is based on palm oil, resulting in mass deforestation via intense CO₂ producing slash and burn methods. One of the main problems was not Indonesia’s environmental policy per se, but that the laws are nowhere near being sufficiently enforced. And so the responsibility lies largely with the oil companies who were being encouraged – or coerced –…
In the “CO2 Energy Emissions Index (CEEI)” by global risk analyst Maplecroft (UK), it appears Australia has now overtaken the United States as the world’s top carbom emitter, at a rate of 20.6 tonnes of CO2 per capita. This is bad news, as Australia (along with other industrialized nations) will be under fire in December at eh Copenhagen Climate Change Summit. Australia is also considered at “great risk” because of its difficulty in obtaining renewable energy sources and dependence on fossil fuels. Australia and the US are followed, in order by Canada, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia in per capita…
