Eric Dewhirst said:
"Congrats - Ben, Ben and Matthew,
Great idea and definitely needed - perhaps some funding could go for some carriers as well? I remember it..." [read]
Dave said:
"20 mins on my bike. 8km. Its always faster than driving/bus and we have little traffic and excellent puplic transport here in Christchurch, New Zea..." [read]
PricklyPear said:
"Well, my family is working hard to be greener... but it isn't always easy.
My husband drives almost every day from his home office into one..." [read]
Christoph Wienands said:
"Hey, where is the three car garage for my family's SUvs :-)..." [read]
ron said:
"thanks for attacking me, warren.
that drivel about the worst part of leather being the tanning process is bs.
it's raising the cows..." [read]
Christoph Wienands said:
"Even if the electricity for an EV was produced by a coal-fired plant, it's carbon footprint would still be by multiples better than if it had an in..." [read]
Unlike iron fertilization, whose intended aim is to stimulate large phytoplankton blooms in the hopes of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide draw-down, the main objective of the University of Toronto's Danny Harvey seems far simpler (hewing closely to basic chemistry principles): to neutralize increased ocean acidity by adding a base, limestone. To do so, he proposed dumping huge quantities of powdered limestone -- around 4b tons every year -- into the oceans; his findings were just published in the Journal of Geophysical Research (h/t Discovery News' Jessica Marshall).
Unless you've been living under a rock, you'd be hard-pressed to miss the continuous stream of news stories describing the threat posed by the world's dwindling reserves of freshwater. With some talking up the potential for water becoming the next "oil," it has become imperative for international NGOs and governments to focus their energy on forestalling a global crisis that could devastate developing countries. Fortunately, the WWF and Nature Conservancy have developed a handy new resource, the FEOW (Freshwater Ecoregions of the World) map, to help guide current and future conservation efforts.
Courtesy of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer comes this nifty side-by-side comparison chart (see here for a blown-up version). The article does a nice job of running through the (many) problems associated with biofuels, citing two studies by The Nature Conservancy and a team of U.S. scientists.
The average Canadian produces 22 tones of carbon dioxide each year - equal to the weight of about 4 large elephants. Doesn't everyone measure carbon dioxide in elephants? One of those Canadians happens to be biochemistry professor Hervé Philippe from the Université de Montréal.
Philippe was surprised to discover that his scientific work (computers, air travel, and air conditioning) added up to 44 tons of carbon dioxide a year, or almost 9 extra elephants. Amidst reports of rapidly accelerating carbon dioxide emissions, it is not surprising that we often forget the many aspects of our life that cause carbon dioxide emissions.
“I did my PhD on nucleotide sequencing in the hope of advancing our knowledge of biodiversity, but I never thought that the research itself could have a negative impact on biodiversity" said professor Philippe. He continued, "By viewing oil as an unlimited resource we are making a tremendous mistake."
It’s not just any old organization that can set a goal like this: protect 10% of every ecosystem type on Earth by 2015, effectively doubling the headway of the conservation movement over the last century. But The Nature Conservancy can. Acting president and CEO Stephanie Meeks chats with TreeHugger Radio about this and other mind-boggling commitments. It's no wonder they own the URL "nature.org." ::TreeHugger Radio
Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download. Click here for part one of our interview.
When questioned by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works yesterday about the potential health risks posed by perchlorate, a chemical used in solid rocket fuel, Benjamin H. Grumbles, the EPA's assistant administrator for water, said: "We know that perchlorate can have an adverse effect and we're concerned about that."
Yet, when further pressed by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who chairs the committee, on whether the agency would take action to limit the amount of perchlorate in water -- a no-brainer, you'd think, right? -- Grumbles answered that there was a "distinct possibility" (read: almost guaranteed) that it would not, reports the LAT's Marla Cone.
It sounds tasty, but what "crispy noodles" is referring to here is (unfortunately) not a delicious dish -- but a new material that could both help cut carbon dioxide emissions and power the next generation of hydrogen vehicles. Developed by a team of chemists at the University of Manchester, this polymer, whose structure resembles that of crispy noodles, is currently being explored as a potential sequestration device to be installed on coal-fired power plants.
The £150,000 18-month study, led by materials chemist Peter Budd of the university's Organic Materials Innovation Center (OMIC), will investigate the use of this "polymer of intrinsic microporosity" (or PIM, for short) as part of a catalytic membrane system to trap and recover carbon dioxide -- a scheme similar to other membrane technologies we've coveredin the past.
Though the EPA has come in for a fair amount of criticism on this site - largely due to its political leanings of late - it goes without saying that its work is tremendously important and that its regular reports, on topics ranging from waste management to air pollution, are well worth the reading. ES&T's Naomi Lubick brings us word of a new draft report on the effects of climate change on water management, called "National Water Program Strategy: Response to Climate Change," which provides a valuable insight on its challenges and the potential mitigation strategies we should be considering.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
After helping spark a substantive conversation on the economics of climate change with the release of his seminal report in 2006, Sir Nicholas Stern is back with a new report, entitled "Key Elements of a Global Deal on Climate Change," in which he paints an even bleaker of the potential risks posed by inaction. Acknowledging that his previous report may have underestimated the threat of climate change, he is now calling on developed nations to cut their emissions by 80% by 2050 and on developing nations to agree to binding targets by 2020....
Few speakers are as well-suited to tackling the challenges and potential risks posed by global climate change than IPCC Chairman Rajendra K. Pachauri. The recent talk he gave at MIT is well worth your time if you've never heard him speak before -- or are just curious about his perspective on the impact of climate change on 21st century society. Here's a short snippet about the key themes he addressed:
Here’s Rajendra K. Pachauri’s panic-inducing assertion: We have a window of seven years to stabilize CO2 at today’s levels if we are to limit our global mean temperature increase to around 2.40C. A world this hot would be a very unpleasant place to be. Pachauri lays out unequivocal” evidence of climate change, and describes how extreme precipitation events, heat waves and other natural catastrophes will become more frequent, endangering vast swaths of humanity. We stand to lose 20-30% of species if warming exceeds 1.5 to 2.5 0C. Pachauri also notes this “scary prospect”: the rapid loss of ice sheets on polar land, leading to sea level rises of several meters, and the flight of large populations in response.
A perfect storm of research and technology has emerged that when taken together may provide part of a solution to food production and global warming. The key ideas are:
1. Biodiversity increases the ability of an ecosystem to capture carbon, says Brown University.
2. There are 100's of economically important native seeds according to Lee and Maggie Arbuckle.
3. Native perennial grasses can be used as food, according to The Land Institute.
4. Harvesting perennial grasses is getting easier, with the Arbuckle Native Seedster.
Together these innovations change the framework for how we can turn sunlight and water into food. Incorporating these ideas could sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, provide economic growth, improve soil health, reduce fossil fuel use, and provide sustainable and resilient food production....
Image courtesy of Richard Simmon/NASA
To put it succinctly: not a chance. Just because I know there are those who will gleefully point to this study as proof that global warming is all a big hoax (*cough* Senator James Inhofe *cough*), let me start off this post by quoting one of the study's authors, Noel Keenlyside: "We want to make very clear that we don't want to say that [anthropogenic] global warming is not here."
He followed up by noting that the cooling trend, if it does occur, will likely only be a baseline natural fluctuation -- one that will have no impact on the prevailing global warming trends. Now, to get back to the actual meat of this study, Keenlyside predicts that Europe and North America could soon experience a cooler climate due to natural variations in the North Atlantic's and tropical Pacific's ocean currents....
Thursday night at Town Hall, the Natural Resources Defense Council presented E.O. Wilson interviewed by the author and New Yorker staff writer Elizabeth Kolbert. Father of biodiversity, "Darwin's Natural Heir", Pulitzer Prize winner, author of 25 books, ecologist, and humanist, E.O. Wilson is also the subject of the film Lord of the Ants, which will be presented on Nova May 20th. Wilson joked that the only time he tried to publish in the New Yorker, they rejected him, so that, by dialoguing with Kolbert, he was working his way up. While he shares the dismay many of us in the environmental movement feel about the direction in which the planet is going, Wilson is an optimist on human nature, and, by extension, on people's ability to fix environmental problems once they are aware of the issues at stake....
Let's start off this post with another round of good/bad news, shall we? The bad: According to new data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), the North Pole could become ice-free this summer because of a record low in ice formation. The good news: Its ice expanded at a greater rate this winter than it did in 2007, and there is the possibility that a milder, more cyclonic atmospheric pattern this summer could help preserve it. ...
View of a cobblestone street that split in half after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Photo courtesy of Getty images.
At the crack of dawn on Friday, April 18, an earthquake rocked the Midwest. You read correctly -- the Midwest.
Now let's back up. When we think of tornadoes we think of the Midwest. When we think of hurricanes we think of the Florida coast, and sadly, due to Katrina, New Orleans. When we think of earthquakes we think of California. But we don't think of the Midwest.
That said, on April 18th (exactly 102 years to the day after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906) a tremble started in West Salem, Illinois, 125 miles southwest of Indianapolis, and reached as far as Cincinnati, some 250 miles to the east. It registered a 5.2 on the Richter scale.
So maybe when I say "rocked" I'm exaggerating. Maybe it was more like a tickle, but it was a 5.2 magnitude earthquake and it quaked, not on the California coast, but in Middle America. ...
When the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, died a couple of years back, after being stung by a stingray, our obituary post sparked off a torrent of views for and against Steve’s style of wildlife conservation. Let’s see how we fare this time?
Wildlife Warriors Worldwide, the organisation set up by Steve Irwin and his family, is currently building what is described as the “world's largest wildlife hospital” next door to Australia Zoo in Queensland. Which is kinda cool on its own. But we also like that it will be housed in “one of the biggest strawbale constructions in the world.”
...
Scientists and businesses are increasingly turning to an innovative strategy to fight rising emissions: turning waste carbon dioxide into a commodity. Now researchers at Newcastle University have unveiled a new technology to capitalize on this trend; the team, led by organic chemistry professor Michael North, has developed a method of converting carbon dioxide into cyclic carbonates -- compounds with wide applications in the chemical industry. ...
Image courtesy of D&J Huber via flickr
A festering problem Lloyd reported on last year -- the invasion of British Columbia's forests by voracious mountain pine beetles -- has taken a drastic turn for the worse, according to a new study published in the journal Nature. Werner Kurz of Natural Resources Canada found that the beetles are turning large tracts of forests into carbon sources -- rather than sinks -- aggravating the onset of global warming....
Climate crisis. While alternative energy options grow, the nuclear option is also back on the table. In spite of the complexities of permitting, hazards of nuclear energy and challenges that the investment and construction timelines pose in the race for solutions, humanity's growing energy hunger may require reliance on this well-established greenhouse-gas-emissions-free technology.
One problem looms above all others, though, every time the nuclear question is raised. What about nuclear waste? A recent study by Professor Mercouri G. Kanatzidis at Northwestern University may promise some answers....
Image courtesy of NASA
Talk about a lose-lose proposition: According to a new article published in the journal Science, a proposed geo-engineering scheme to inject sulfate particles into the stratosphere to mitigate the impact of global warming could damage the ozone layer. Yet another article, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, has determined that allowing for a complete recovery of the ozone layer could actually intensify global warming's impact in the Southern Hemisphere....
Are Greenland's days already numbered? And, if so, can anything be done to avert the looming disaster posed by a massive sea level rise? The simple answer is that though Greenland's fate is not yet set into stone (at least when it comes to a specific date), the present melting trends do not bode well.
Calling Greenland's potential collapse another climate "tipping point" would be doing it fair justice -- after all, scientists have estimated that were its ice sheet (which holds one-twentieth of the world's ice) to melt completely, global sea levels would jump 7 meters. As Alexandra Witze reports in the latest issue of Nature (sub. required), Greenland's disappearance is one of the foremost concerns weighing on climate researchers' minds. ...
The Discovery Young Scientist Challenge is back, and they're looking for a few good students and teachers. The premier national science competition for students in grades 5 through 8 (and their teachers) is accepting entries through June 15, so if you are (or know) a student interested in science, create a short (1-2 min.) video about one of this year's scientific topics -- The Science of Space is the theme -- and you could win a trip to Washington, DC to compete in the finals later this year.
Here's how it works: create a video that demonstrates the student's understanding of the scientific concepts explained and his or her comfort level discussing science in general. Between June 15 and early September, judges from Faraday Studios will review the submissions and choose 51 semifinalists: one from each state and the District of Columbia. Students will be judged on the scientific merit of their video and, just as importantly, on their ability to communicate science. Keep reading to learn how entering the challenge might get you an appearance on Discovery Channel's Mythbusters TV show....
Image courtesy of the World Economic Forum via flickr
Topping a Nobel Peace Prize-winning performance won't be easy, but the IPCC is hoping to do just that with its next report, set to be released no later than 2013, by honing in on two key themes: practicality and precision. Meeting last week in Budapest, Hungary, the government delegates to the multilateral organization agreed to several procedural changes that would help streamline the process -- and ensure the next report is released on time.
Science's Eli Kintisch reports (sub. required) that the scientists agreed to focus on providing more information about the actual impacts of global warming and what can be done to reduce GHG emissions growth. In order to get the report out by 2013, within the usual 6-year time frame, they decided to omit several sections -- primarily the more data-heavy scenarios some researchers use to build their global warming models....
Some people find wind turbines ugly, others say they kill birds (read more about that myth here and here), but New York based artist Andrea Polli likes them so much, she wants to see some on top of Queensboro Bridge. She believes that integrating clean, renewable wind power can enhance the beauty of a city and suggests combining the landmark architecture of one of New York’s bridges, with wind power....
Here it is, in all its lonely glory: the world's oldest living tree. Found in western Sweden, scientists believe that this spruce is 9,550 years old. Before, pine trees in North America had been called the oldest at 4,000 to 5,000 years old. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, a bristlecone pine named Methuselah in California's White Mountains was aged 4,768. But this discovery changes that view dramatically.
Just to be clear about this: the tree itself is new. But scientists found a cluster of about 20 trees that are 5,660, 9,000 and 9,550 years old. They used carbon dating on the cones and wood, found underneath its crown, and that showed that its root system had been growing for 9,550 years. Spruce trees grow by cloning so they produce exact copies. It was explained that "while any individual tree growing in the area would itself not be more than a few hundred years old, any tree found on site over the centuries would be generated from the same genetic root system. There is constant turnover in what is actually growing above ground but genetically, the trees growing today are the same as those from thousands of years ago.” A fence is being erected around the tree to protect it from trophy hunters. :: BBC News
...
The blaring headline on the front cover of the May/June issue really says it all: "It's behind the war, the recession, the ice caps: if we don't confront our energy crisis, we're screwed." As far as "green" issues of major/independent news publications go - and we've certainly seen our fair share over the last few months (Vanity Fair, Time, NYT and The New Republic to name a few) - MoJo's effort stands out as one of the best. ...
The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming
The Earth's environment has limits. Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has long recognized that those limits can ignite economic growth and ecological prosperity at the same time. Earth: The Sequel written by Krupp and Miriam Horn, a journalist and staffer at EDF, begins with a case study of how we can solve global warming and improve our economy by addressing the need for limits.
In the early 1980's sulfur dioxide emissions from coal fired power plants caused acid rain, damaging forests and aquatic life. We had reached the limits of how much sulfur dioxide we could pump into the atmosphere. The knee-jerk reaction to this problem was to create strict 'command and control' regulations that required adding expensive scrubbers to smoke stacks. But this solution was not addressing the problem......
Curious about how Iceland's geothermal power stations actually work? Let Albert Albertsson, the deputy CEO of a large station there, take you through the finer points of the energy extraction process, courtesy of the folks at Greenbang. He provides a great introduction to some of the more technical details, including a description of how the island's volcanic activity and geographic location make it the ideal candidate for geothermal energy. Oh, and you won't want to miss his riff on the fabled "Icelandic perfume". Another video after the jump. ...
We'll be working on better category archives soon. In the meantime, take a look at the weekly archive if you really want to dig around, or use the search box at the top of the page.
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!
![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.treehugger.com/nav-commenters.gif)
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
After helping spark a substantive conversation on the economics of climate change with the release of his seminal report in 2006, Sir Nicholas Stern 
Few speakers are as well-suited to tackling the challenges and potential risks posed by global climate change than IPCC Chairman Rajendra K. Pachauri. The 
A perfect storm of research and technology has emerged that when taken together may provide part of a solution to food production and global warming. The key ideas are:
1. Biodiversity increases the ability of an ecosystem to capture carbon, says 
Image courtesy of Richard Simmon/NASA
To put it succinctly: 
Thursday night at Town Hall, the 
When the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, died a couple of years back, after being stung by a stingray, 
Image courtesy of 
Climate crisis. While alternative energy options grow, the 
Image courtesy of NASA
Talk about a 
Are Greenland's days already numbered? And, if so, can anything be done to avert the looming disaster posed by a massive sea level rise? The simple answer is that though Greenland's fate is not yet set into stone (at least when it comes to a specific date), the present melting trends do not bode well.
Calling Greenland's potential collapse another climate "tipping point" would be doing it fair justice -- after all, scientists have estimated that were its ice sheet (which holds one-twentieth of the world's ice) to melt completely, global sea levels would jump 7 meters. As 
The Discovery Young Scientist Challenge is back, and they're looking for a few good students and teachers. The premier national science competition for students in grades 5 through 8 (and their teachers) is accepting entries through June 15, so if you are (or know) a student interested in science, create a short (1-2 min.) video about one of this year's scientific topics -- The Science of Space is the theme -- and you could win a trip to Washington, DC to compete in the finals later this year.
Here's how it works: create a video that demonstrates the student's understanding of the scientific concepts explained and his or her comfort level discussing science in general. Between June 15 and early September, judges from Faraday Studios will review the submissions and choose 51 semifinalists: one from each state and the District of Columbia. Students will be judged on the scientific merit of their video and, just as importantly, on their ability to communicate science. Keep reading to learn how entering the challenge might get you an appearance on Discovery Channel's Mythbusters TV show....
Image courtesy of the 
Here it is, in all its lonely glory: the world's oldest living tree. Found in western Sweden, scientists believe that this spruce is 9,550 years old. Before, pine trees in North America had been called the oldest at 4,000 to 5,000 years old. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, a bristlecone pine named Methuselah in California's White Mountains was aged 4,768. But this discovery changes that view dramatically.
Just to be clear about this: the tree itself is new. But 
The blaring headline on the front cover of the May/June issue really says it all: "It's behind the war, the recession, the ice caps: if we don't confront our energy crisis, we're screwed." As far as "green" issues of major/independent news publications go - and we've certainly seen our fair share over the last few months (
The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming
The Earth's environment has limits. Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has long recognized that those limits can ignite economic growth and ecological prosperity at the same time. Earth: The Sequel written by Krupp and Miriam Horn, a journalist and staffer at EDF, begins with a case study of how we can solve global warming and improve our economy by addressing the need for limits.
In the early 1980's sulfur dioxide emissions from coal fired power plants caused acid rain, damaging forests and aquatic life. We had reached the limits of how much sulfur dioxide we could pump into the atmosphere. The knee-jerk reaction to this problem was to create strict 'command and control' regulations that required adding expensive scrubbers to smoke stacks. But this solution was not addressing the problem......
