Home/News
News
Climate & Change, Science & Technology, Sustainable living, Jun 30th, 2011,
Despite the increasing availability environmentally-friendly solar energy panels most Americans are still resistant to utilizing this service in their own home because of perceptions of high costs. In a study released just last week researchers from Applied Materials found that 48% of Americans would not consider solar energy panels in their home at this time. However, there was a catch. More than 80% of these same people said that they would change their mind if it meant saving money. The good news is that technological advances and government incentives made available in the last few years has dramatically dropped the…
Tags: how much do solar energy panel cost, solar energy, solar panel cost
Politics, Wildlife & Flora, Jun 29th, 2011,
In May we ran a couple of posts on how Britons overwhelmingly support a ban on circus animals, yet the UK’s Conservative-led government was against any such ban. The Tory-Lib Dem coalition government, led by Prime Minister David Cameron (an avid hunter) instead proposed a licensing scheme for circuses. However, members of British parliament, including key Conservatives, have stood up to pressure from the Prime Minister and voted to ban wild animals in UK circuses. Though the motion voted on does not in itself enact a ban, but rather directs the government to do so, it is being hailed as…
Tags: animals, ban, Cameron, circus, Conservative, Mark Pritchard, MP, UK, vote, wild
Pollution, Science & Technology, Sustainable living, ,
Top Ten list? Several years ago, you might have been able to create a Top Three list of new green cars only by stretching the definition of the term quite a bit. Today, though, a Top Ten list rolls right off the manufacturers’ press releases without having to fiddle with the definition of green, which here we define as an eco-friendly car with city mileage of at least 28 MPG. #10 on this year’s list is the brand-new 2012 Ford Focus, 28 MPG in the city and 38 MPG on the highway — this excellent fuel economy alone qualifies this…
Tags: eco-friendly cars, electric cars, environment911, environment911.org, top ten green cars, top ten of eco-friendly cars
Climate & Change, Videos & Documentaries, Jun 28th, 2011,
Activist group Greenpeace claims that while Volkswagen promotes itself as a ‘green’ auto company, when it comes to delivering on environmental issues, Europe’s biggest carmaker is a greenwash. VW sold 2.9 million cars in Europe in 2009, over a million more than its leading competition, PSA Peugeot Citroën. But you can’t blame them for that, can you? The real problem is that on average Volkswagens pollute more than any other of Europe’s top 8 auto brands. What’s more is that VW has failed to reduce emissions and increase fuel efficiency in its vehicles when compared to the competition (especially Toyota)….
Tags: carmaker, Dark Side, Greenpeace, Star Wars, Volkswagen, VW
Climate & Change, Wildlife & Flora, Jun 27th, 2011,
Arctic ice melt due to warming temperatures is causing marine plankton to migrate from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic via Arctic waters. This may have huge consequences for marine ecosystems of which plankton form the basis. An EU-funded study, the CLAMER project, discovered that a species of phytoplankton called Neodenticula seminae has returned to the Atlantic Ocean, where it has not lived for 800,000 years. And it’s not just algae. Warming ocean temperatures are also causing animal plankton to migrate into new waters – and they are bringing along larger animals that feed on them. The appearance of a…
Tags: algae, arctic, Atlantic, Northwest Passage, ocean, Pacific, plankton, species, warm
Climate & Change, Nature, Politics, Videos & Documentaries, Jun 23rd, 2011,
Here’s a trio of environmentally-themed videos to get you through the rough midsummer days and nights, take your mind off government austerity measures and remind you of the wondrous complexity of our natural planet. We’ll start off light-hearted and work our way towards more serious issues. First up we’ve got an Antarctic penguin that got lost and swam around 2,000 miles / 3,000 km off course to end up on a beach in New Zealand. (If video won’t play go here) Next we head to Brazil, where evidence of another isolated Amazonian tribe has been found near the borders…
Tags: Al Gore, amazon, climate policy, Obama, penguin, tribe, video
Climate & Change, Pollution, Science & Technology, Sustainable living, ,
Ethanol is a fuel alternative that is derived from the fermenting and distilling of starch crops like corn, switch grass, sugar beets, sugar cane and barley. As a fuel source, it is quite credible. It is renewable in that it comes from the crops that we already grow and have been growing for years. Also, in ethanol only engines the power is much greater than a gasoline-powered car. And testing does indicate there is a much lower emission of greenhouse gas. The down side to this fuel is that it is expensive to produce and ship. It is projected that…
Tags: alternative fuels, biodiesel, compressed air powering vehicles, eco-friendly driving, electric vehicles, ethanol, gasoline
Recycling, Sustainable living, Jun 22nd, 2011,
Los Angeles Times columnist Susan Carpenter spent two years trying out several sustainable lifestyle practices in her California home – from compost toilets to keeping her own chickens – and wrote about the results. Which ones were worth the time and money and which were duds? After two years, the green retro-fittings Carpenter is most please with are her gray water system and her Photovoltaic solar panels, followed by rainwater barrels. Since she lives in a small house in sunny, dry southern California and keeps a garden, this should not come as a complete surprise. Her forays into growing her own…
Tags: California, compost toilet, eco-home, gray water, greywater, LA, solar panels. rain barrels, Susan Carpenter
Climate & Change, Pollution, Wildlife & Flora, Jun 21st, 2011,
“Shocking”, “unprecedented”, “catastrophic” – some of the words being used to describe the state of the Earth’s oceans and where things are headed, in light of a new study by Ipso, the International Programme on the State of the Ocean. Factors such as overfishing, massive agricultural and chemical pollution, warming temperatures and acidification due climate change are combining to cause mass extinction in the Earth’s oceans. Marine scientists believe these factors are working in tandem to create conditions seen in previous mass extinctions. From the Guardian: In recent years, human effects on the oceans have increased significantly. Overfishing has cut…
Tags: agricultural pollution, emissions, extinction, ipso, ocean acidification, oceans, overfishing, plastic, report, study
Climate & Change, Politics, Jun 20th, 2011,
I recently read Paolo Bacigalupi’s award winning “biopunk” science fiction novel The Windup Girl, set in a future Thailand where nationalist politics intertwine with genetic engineering and energy scarcity. In Bangkok’s bleak dystopian landscape, corporations control food supplies via copyrighted “gene hacked” produce, always threatened or bolstered by engineered plagues which threaten plants, animals and humans. Climate change is also ravaging the planet, fuel is scarce and methane strictly rationed. Bacigalupi’s vision lies firmly within the genre of speculative fiction, but the relationship between issues such as food security due to market speculation and genetic engineering, climate change, peak oil…
Tags: Bolivia, food security, Morales, Paolo Bacigalupi, seeds, Windup Girl
Health, Politics, Jun 17th, 2011,
No matter if you eat a 5 pounds of meat per day or are a strict vegan, intensive livestock farming is putting your life at risk. This is due to the routine and preemptive use of large amounts of antibiotics on factory farms, which contributes to the evolution resistant strains of bacteria like MSRA. In the US, MSRA is believed to be killing more people than AIDS. For years the medical profession has come under criticism for overprescribing antibiotics or doling them out unnecessarily. ERs are notoriously overburdened by patients demanding antibiotics for the treatment of illnesses that may not…
Tags: antibiotics, bacteria, dairy, factory farms, industrial, meat, MSRA, pig, resistant, superbug, vegan
Climate & Change, Health, Pollution, Jun 15th, 2011,
The dirty, low-tech burning of fossil fuels, wood and other biomass produces poisonous pollution and “short-lived climate forcers”, mainly black carbon, methane and ground-level ozone. Black carbon (soot) from sources such as crop burning, dirty diesel engines and simple coal or wood burning stoves causes cardio-pulmonary diseases and low birth weight. UN figures put deaths due to indoor smoke from cooking stoves alone at 1.9 million per year – mostly women and children in developing countries. A study from the University of Delaware states that soot from diesel freight ships contributes to 60,000 deaths from lung disease every year. Ground-level…
Tags: biomass, black carbon, coal, diesel, ground-level ozone, Health, methane, soot, stoves
Nature, Politics, Jun 14th, 2011,
With over 37 million inhabitants, California is by far the most populated state in the US. Despite its enormous physical area of 160,000 miles (414,000 square km) California still has 6 times the population density of its northern neighbor, Oregon. Oregon is lush, diverse and wild, with mountains, rugged coastline, forests and desert. Long known as a state with strong environmental policies, Oregon is increasingly becoming a large supplier of renewable energy to California. An area that spans parts of Oregon and Washington State is soon to become home the largest wind farm in the world. Who will buy all…
Tags: Bonneville Power Administration, BPA, California, hydro, northwest, Oregon, renewable energy, salmon, turbines, wind, wind farm
Climate & Change, Wildlife & Flora, Jun 13th, 2011,
I have seen the future and it stings. Climate change, overfishing and agricultural runoff are all possible factors in the rise of jellyfish populations in seas around the globe. Jellyfish invasions such as those experienced by Spain last summer are actually population booms and/or mass migrations attributed to warmer waters, a reduction of predators and an increase of oceanic pollution from organic fertilizers. Besides wreaking havoc on Spain’s beaches, jellyfish have been blamed for wiping out salmon stocks in Northern Ireland and disrupting the running of coastal power and desalination plants in Africa, the Middle East and Japan. New research,…
Tags: acidic, carbon, carbon dioxide, climate change, jellyfish, laser, oceans, Pollution, population
Climate & Change, Nature, ,
The New Zealand city of Christchurch has been hit by two powerful earthquakes. According to the U.S. Geological Survay USGR, the strongest had a magnitude of 6.0 on the Richter scale. Today’s quakes were aftershocks of the earthquake that struck in February in Christchurch. Dozens of afterquakes have hit the region since the earthquake of last February. Luckily there were no fatal casualties, but the afterquakes caused a lot of damage and panic. With the 181 casualties of the February earthquake still in mind, a lot of Christchurch residents fled in panic into the streets while more than fifity buildings…
Tags: 6.0 earthquake, afterquake new zealand, New Zealand earthquake, New Zealand February earthquake
Science & Technology, Videos & Documentaries, Jun 10th, 2011,
When one thinks of Belgium three things immediately spring to mind: alcoholic monks, acne and ethnic strife. Wait, that’s not quite right. What I mean to say is that when one thinks of Belgium three things immediately spring to mind: fine Trappist beers, gourmet chocolates and a thriving multiculturalism. It’s funny how that came out on my first try. I must have momentarily become some kind of stereotyping, Daily Mail-reading, grumpy old cynic. Anyway, one thing that this boring little non-country, excuse me, this fascinating microcosm of Western Europe can add to its wall of fame is that it is now…
Tags: Antwerp, Belgium, Solar, solar panels, solar-powered, train, tunnel
Science & Technology, Videos & Documentaries, Jun 8th, 2011,
The biggest solar flares in five years have been witnessed and filmed by NASA cameras. The flares, which are eruptions of high-energy radiation on the surface of the sun, may cause satellite disruptions. While some tabloids – like the ironically named Sun – are claiming that the filmed blast is “expected to cause a massive geomagnetic storm when it reaches earth”, possibly knocking out power supplies, the more sober Telegraph quoted NASA’s solar dynamics observatory in their description of the flares as “visually spectacular”, but resulting in “fairly small” effects down here on terra firma. Check out the following ITN video…
Tags: NASA, solar blast, solar flare, video
Health, Sustainable living, ,
Did you know that family health and kitchen etiquettes go hand in hand? With our busy schedules and increasingly fast life, we look for quick benefits when it comes to food. A little bit of care while cooking and not only will you gain long term health benefits but will also save energy, fuel and other natural resources. Take charge of your health and your world today. RETAIN VEGETABLE GOODNESS Use the following tips to get the best out of your vegetables. 1. Don’t soak your vegetables for too long as you will lose water-soluble vitamins 2. Always wash vegetables…
Tags: cook eco-friendly, cooking green, eco-friendly cooking, green cooking tips
climate change, Conservation, Politics, Jun 7th, 2011,
The UK government has released the Natural Environment White Paper, an official report on its environmental vision for the next 50 years. In the wake of the somewhat revolutionary report by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) entitled the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (UK NEA), which I wrote about last Thursday, the white paper attempts to address questions of biodiversity in tandem with climate change, population, etc. From Defra’s website: We will work to improve the quality of our natural environment and will aim to halt the decline in habitats and species, degradation of landscapes and erosion of…
Tags: biodiversity, Defra, National Ecosystem Assesment, Natural Environment, NEA, UK government, white paper
Pollution, Science & Technology, Sustainable living, ,
Before understanding why eco-friendly alternatives to air purifiers are needed, you should know a thing or two about air purifiers and indoor air pollution. Air purifiers are used to rid the indoor air of pollutants. You will be surprised to learn that indoor air is heavily polluted by a variety of sources – chemicals used in furniture, fumes from cooking fuel, outdoor air pollutants, tobacco smoke, asbestos coated insulation, pesticides and more. The pollutants in the indoor air keep accumulating leading to health problems over a period of time. Now, to clear the indoor air, people use air purifiers. The…
Tags: Air Pollution, air purifiers, eco-friendly air purifiers, eco-friendly alternatives to air purifiers, houseplants, ozone air purifier
