on 02. 8.10
Watch the full size video on Planet Green
Today, Planet 100 looks at how a record cold snap in Florida is bringing an old urban legend to life.
on 02. 8.10
Photo via Syracuse
I have a challenge for you: try to come up with a company that better exemplifies the archetype of the nefarious, greed-driven, monolithic corporation than Exxon. Besides Haliburton. You have until the end of this blog post to do so, and it's a tall order: Exxon is behind one of the most infamous environmental catastrophes of our time, it makes more gross income than most nation's entire GDPs, it does business with nations with unstable governments that are often hostile to the US, and, worst of all, it has done everything in its power to push the misinformation campaign designed to discredit both climate science and the efforts to keep the earth's temperatures from rising to dangerous levels. And according to recent reports, its still up to its old tricks.
on 02. 8.10
Image credit: Good
We have all seen "buy local" campaigns, but what about taking it to the next level: Investing locally?
TreeHugger breaks it down for you in a series of in depth how-to articles that will help you green your life. No time like the present!
on 02. 8.10
Image Credit: Jon Curnow via Flickr
MikeZ has a problem with high speed rail travel:
The way I look at it, the competitors to High Speed rail are: 1) Cars, which driving long distances on the highway are in their most efficient operating mode. 2) Planes, which get around 40-50 mpg per seat. In addition, the only attempt at long distance rail travel, AMTRAK, is losing ridiculous amount of money and has operating costs on a per seat-mile basis massively more than any airline. Yet people advocate spending billions on high speed rail. Instead why not dedicate that money towards commuter rail and light rail?
What do you think? Join the conversation.
Read more about the cases for and against high speed rail travel.
on 02. 8.10
Ponoko CEO David Ten Have by Williams + Hirakawa, via Inc
We have written so much about downloadable designs, about shipping ideas all over the world instead of stuff. It just keeps getting better, with more products and more options. That is why I love Ponoko so much; it is the first real demonstration of the concept. Now that they have added a hub in Europe, you can see the first real concrete example of the effect of multiple hubs: Shipping costs in Europe dropped from $60 to $9.
on 02. 8.10
Image credit: flickrfavorites/Flickr
Researchers monitoring three-toed sloths in the jungles of Panama came upon a shocking discovery after one of their radio-collared animals stopped moving. The sloth had been killed, its organs eaten, and left on the forest floor. Upon closer inspection, researchers determined the sloth to be a victim of a surprising killer: The tiny spectacled owl.
on 02. 8.10
Photo: Flickr, CC
I Feel a Great Disturbance in the Force
Finding new uses for equipment that you already have is always satisfying (at least to engineers). One very cool example of this is the use of cell phone towers to measure rainfall in real-time; the rain interferes with the radio signals, and this interference can be measured with "greater spatial resolution than traditional point measurements provided by rain gauges." How is this green? Well, in general it could provide better data about our planet and changing rain patterns, but on the more practical level, it could help reduce the dumping of polluted water in lakes and rivers.
on 02. 8.10
NOAA responds to millions of annual requests for climate data vital to planning and operations. In vulnerable areas, infrastructure can be designed with a better understanding of projected sea-level rise, flooding and/or changes in hurricane frequency and intensity. Photo and caption: NOAA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced that it will be unifying all its climate change research capabilities into a single office, the NOAA Climate Service. Agency head Dr Jane Lubchenco said the new office will be "Working closely with federal, regional, academic and other state and local government and private sector partners [and] will build on our success transforming science into usable climate services."
Here are a few recommended websites.
