Think Green, Eco-Friendly this Christmas

At this time of year when people are shopping for gifts that will make others green with envy, they should consider another kind of green — and it’s not money.

Today, Christmas is characterized by marketing, hectic schedules, overcrowded shopping malls and credit card charges.

In January, after the gifts have been opened and some even forgotten and the merriment has died down, the New Year will reflect the chaos of December. Landfills will be piled high with debris and households will feel the burden of overspending.

It’s ironic that excessive shopping during the holidays for the sole purpose of finding joy on Christmas day leads to financial stress and continued strain on our planet’s resources and environmental health. There is an obvious disconnect between what we seek as a nation and what we reap as a result.

Joy is often found in good times and good health spent with loved ones. The health of our planet is intrinsically connected to human health, but we are polluting our world with waste and conspicuous consumption that leads to natural resources depletion, air, water and ground pollution.

The Clean Air Council reports that almost one third of the trash generated in the United States is packaging. They also reported that in the United States, the average person discards 4.39 pounds of trash a day and 56 tons of trash per year. But during the holidays alone, an additional 5 million tons of waste in the form of wrapping paper and shopping bags is dumped into landfills.

People can do their part to preserve our corner of the world by purchasing items with the least amount of packaging, using one large bag and not taking plastic bags while shopping or by purchasing used items.

Additionally, they can re-use wrapping paper and gift bags that come with gifts they receive.

When you think green this Christmas, think eco-friendly, because the human health and the health of our planet is the greatest gift of all.

Eco Friendly Diners

Eco-friendly floating restaurants serving sustainable seafood are on the menu for marinas around the world, in a bid to tackle the crisis caused by commercial over-fishing.

The first of these fundraising rafts, the "SS Plastic Dining Room," launched earlier this year in Vancouver, Canada, and now plans are afoot for a fleet of similar floating restaurants in major world cities including Auckland, Cape Town and London.

Nestled among a cluster of luxury yachts in the exclusive False Creek Yacht Club marina in Vancouver, "SS Plastic Dining Room" has so far raised just under $100,000 in support of the School of Fish Foundation, whose goal is to get sustainable seafood programs in culinary schools worldwide.

"We hope that after the first generation of chefs graduate from culinary school armed with a full knowledge of sustainable fishing, then we'll soon start to see a major shift in what's being served on people's plates," Shannon Ronalds, who established the foundation in March of this year, told CNN.

With diners paying $205 a head for a six-course seafood spread prepared by Canadian chef Robert Clark, Ronalds says the menu balances luxury dining with the highest ecological concerns.

Kept afloat by 1,675 repurposed 2-liter plastic bottles, the boat's wooden framework is made of recycled damaged cedar, while the transparent floor pane -- which allows patrons to peer at the colorful bottles in the hull -- is made from recycled Plexiglas.

Sahara Desert Silicon and Solar Panels

The Sahara desert receives so much sunlight per day in such intense amounts that it seems like the perfect place for solar panels. Japanese and Algerian universities combined forces to open silicon manufacturing facilities in the Sahara. The silicon produced is used to make solar panels, which are in turn used to produce energy for the facility to run on. By 2050 the project is expected to be able to supply half the world with energy, a little far-fetched for me. An issue with this is that the superconductors used to transmit the electricity have to be kept at 400 degrees below zero. Hopefully this project will be able to not consume all the energy it creates and instead become a major energy exporter.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-11/breeding-silicon-and-solar-power-middle-desert

Extending the Life of Oil Reserves: Greener, Cheaper More Efficient Oil Extraction Made Possible

Researchers at the University of Bristol have developed a soap-like additive for CO2that turns it into a viable solvent for commercial-scale enhanced oil recovery to increase the amount of crude oil that can be extracted from oil fields. "Carbon dioxide is useful in enhanced oil recovery as it is able to flow through the pores in the rock much more easily than water," said Professor Julian Eastoe from the University of Bristol. This new additive will help thicken the CO2, which is vital to recovering oil, and making this process much more efficient. One of the major benefits to this new additive is that it will increase the life of our oil reserves. Giving us much more time to find other oil fields, and research alternative fuels.

"Earth on Fire"

A woman saw smoke coming from the woods but it did not smell like the woods on fire because of the rotten egg smell. A mine that has been closed for 40 years was on fire in Hazard, Kentucky. These fires are called Ruth Mullins Fire because when these mines go on fire, they name the fire after who spots them. Mines like these ones that have been closed for a very long time are suddenly going on fire all over the world. A team went into the mine with protective gear and made vents for the fire because of the poisonous gasses that were being released could cause an explosion.

http://discovermagazine.com/2010/jul-aug/28-earth-on-fre

Clouds and Global Warming

Katie Ford
Researchers are saying that changes in Clouds will also affect global warming. There are less clouds now due to human activity. The greenhouse gases are allowing the clouds to hold in more heat causing the earths temperature to rise. This changes in the atmosphere are so fast that animals and plants arent having enough time to adapt to the changes. This could cause several other problems.

Greenland Ice Sheet Flow Driven by Short-Term Weather Extremes, Not Gradual Warming, Research Reveals

The glaciers are melting in Greenland at an incresingly fast rate. The glacier covers 80% of Greenland.There is also a heavier rainfall than normal which is also icreasing the melting rate of the glaciers. I thinkthis is an important issue because the glacier is a habitat for many animals. If the animals have no where to live then they willl become extinct. This will mess up the entire ecosystem.
Katie Ford
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101208172318.htm

Plants are showing they can slow down Global Warming

Katie Ford
NASA has done research showing that if we put more plants in the atmosphere the plants will show a cooling effect. It would lower the world avg temp by .5 degrees farenheit. Also oxgen levels would doubl over time. I think this a good solution to help slow te effects of glabal warming. Alot of the global warming is caused by humans. This is a good solution
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101208085145.htm

"Oyster Creek Reactor to Close by 2019"

www.nytimes.com/2010/12/09/nyregion/09nuke.html?_r=1&ref=earth

After struggling to get its permit renewed because of corrosion, the Oyster Creek Reactor will most likely be shut down by 2019 due to costly additions needed to the plant. The reactor is quite small and only supplies 6% of New Jersey's electricity, making the cost of renevations outweigh the profits of the reactor itself. While anti-nuclear people may see this as a victory, the tearing down of this nuclear reactor is hardly significant. I believe that we need to seek nuclear power such as thorium that will decay faster, but the shutting down of small nuclear plants does not promote our nation to alternative fuels. In fact, this reactor will soon be replaced by a larger one and produce more radioactive waste at the rate energy consumption in the United States is going. The only barrier to shutting down the plant is when, as Exelon is conversing with the New Jersey governor on how long the plant can continue without new cooling towers.

Breeding Silicon and Solar Power in the Middle Dessert

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-11/breeding-silicon-and-solar-power-middle-desert



The plan of breeding silicon to make solar panels is a group project of the Japanese and Algerian Universities. The plan is to use the desert's immense supplies of sunlight and sand to "breed" solar power plants and solar panel factories. It will start with some silicon producing facotories that will churn out the silicon needed for solar panels. After the panels are made they are going to be used to power the silicon manufacturing plants that will obviously make more silicon and solar panels. By the year 2050 the univesities will be making enough silicon and solar panels to supply half he world's energy. At the same time they are also saving energy by using the solar panels used to produce the silicon and solar panels in the factories. Some question the fact that the power plant will stop competition but the "Breeder Project" says that it will be able to be cost competitive even with the added cost of cooling lines for transmissions.

Invisible Invasive Species Threaten Ecosystems

While Asian carp, gypsy moths and zebra mussels hog invasive-species headlines, many invisible invaders are altering ecosystems and flourishing outside of the limelight. A study by Elena Litchman, Michigan State University associate professor of ecology, sheds light on why invasive microbial invaders shouldn't be underestimated.

"Invasive microbes have many of the same traits as their larger, 'macro' counterparts and have the potential to significantly impact terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems," said Litchman, whose research appears in the December issue of Ecology Letters. "Global change can exacerbate microbial invasions, so they will likely increase in the future."

One example is in the Great Lakes, a brackish diatom (a microscopic alga), has colonized Lake Michigan probably via ballast-water discharge and is now the largest diatom in the waterways. Also while many people have a working knowledge of the American chestnut blight, which was caused by a pathogenic parasitic fungus, most invasive microbes fly beneath the radar of the public and scientists alike. Virtually nothing has been published on the potential of nonpathogenic microbes on a large scale, according to Litchman. The chestnut blight dramatically altered forests and now the spread of West Nile virus is associated with significant bird deaths," she said. "Currently, there are no published examples of the impacts of invasive nonpathogenic microbes, but there is growing evidence that they could change ecosystems in equally dramatic fashion." The lack of attention to microbial invasions compared to macroorganisms is partly because their cryptic nature and the difficulty of detection. Lack of detection combined with climate change could potentially increase these microbial invasions, which could continue to grow as the earth's weather patterns change, Litchman said.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101207143216.htm

5 of the Newest and Craziest Genetically Modified Foods (3 Are Animals)

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/5-of-the-newest-and-craziest-genetically-modified-foods-3-are-animals.html

We all have learned about genetically modified foods, or GMO's which remind you of soybeans and corn. Well, not there are 5 MORE GMO's that have been created. The FDA have not approved of these foods...yet, but they could in the near future. These new 5 foods include: Super Chicken Eggs- the eggs come from genetically modified chickens that have cancer fighting proteins. Non-browning apples- the gene that produces the enzyme polyphenol oxidase is "silenced". So now the apples don't turn brown very fast, if at all. A third GMO is a Fast Growing Salmon- The fish can now grow in 16 months instead of 3 years... Hyper Producing Seeds- They produce and grow at a much faster rate increasing yield for farmers. The final GMO is the Enviro-Pig?!! These pigs produce 65% less phosphorous in their waste and urine. This is important because the phosphorous causes an excessive growth of algae in ponds which removes oxygen from the ponds and kills fish. So, these pigs produce less phosphorous and are more enviro friendly...

Hawaii expands push to fuel hydrogen cars

Perhaps hydrogen fueled vehicles are not as far off as we think!

Hawaii may be the nation’s first state to implement and have a successful hydrogen fueling infrastructure that will support thousands of hydrogen fuel vehicles. 12 different organizations are working in conjunction including local utility providers of Oahu, and General Motors in order to get this project going. The idea is to have this infrastructure up and running by 2015 to provide the many fuel-celled vehicles predicted to come out that year. This would make hydrogen fuel-celled vehicles a reality. The only problem I see coming up would be, if the cars fail. However this plan seems pretty legitimate and hopefully Hawaii won’t loose a load of money on this project.

Mr. LaFave said that he didn’t think that this would happen in his lifetime, and he hopes he is wrong. I am still incredibly skeptical on whether this will work or not, however if it does this would truly be astonishing.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/12/hawaii-expands-hydrogen-partnerships.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GreenspaceEnvironmentBlog+%28Greenspace%29

The Natural Way to Cool Off

Swimming can be great exercise and a lot of fun, not to mention an exciting sport at the Olympics. But the chlorine used in most pools can have some negative side effects, not the least of which is reliance on toxic (and finicky) chemicals.

Chlorine's damaging effects on hair are well known, but few people realize that a number of studies have linked inhalation of the chemical by swimmers to increased asthma rates (in fact a new Irish study published this April reported a significant link between the number of years a boy had been swimming and the likelihood of the child being wheezy in the past year.) A Norwegian study also documented an increased risk of wheezing among children who swim in pools before 6 months of age. Further, in an unpleasant reaction, pee and sweat in water can react with chlorine to form toxic breakdown products known as chloramines.

One elegant, eco-friendly solution that has had enthusiastic supporters in Europe for decades is the so-called natural swimming pool, which is slowly beginning to gain buzz in the U.S. Natural swimming pools, often called swimming ponds across the Atlantic, can be beautiful oases of greenery and sustainability, as well as safe, fun places to take a dip.

Managed properly, natural swimming pools have crystal clear water and require no chemicals to maintain, as they are self-cleaning mini-ecosystems. "You can drink the water if you want to, and you don't necessarily have to take a shower," says Morgan Brown of Idaho-based Whole Water Systems, LLC. The natural pools designer says the systems also have lower maintenance costs than conventional pools, and their installation costs are not much more than standard designs.

Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/natural-swimming-pools-460908#ixzz17aLmdbyx

Natural pools are a fantastic idea. If they are taken care of properly and treated correctly, than I think these are a terrific concept that should be used where available. I think if more people knew that this option was there, than more people would do it.

Private Companies in Space

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101209/ap_on_sc/us_sci_test_rocket;_ylt=AvRcE7xN0Xbt93PxQ7r8eFis0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFlNWM0ZTdzBHBvcwM2NARzZWMDYWNjb3JkaW9uX3Vfc19uZXdzBHNsawNjb21wYW55aXNmaXI-

Today, December 8th, was the first time a private company launched a spaceship into space and then safely returned to space after orbit, a feat only accomplished by national governments. The rocket landed right on target somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. This shows that companies can now start transporting people back in forth to space rather easily. Ships that can support humans will go into production, so expect to start seeing more humans in space in the following years. One great leap for mankind? I think, yes.

Farmers Replace Pesticides with Sunflowers

Organic farmers cannot use any pesticides on their produce, which creates an issue because bugs tend to destroy their crops. A very clever solution to this problem is putting sunflowers around their crops. Sunflowers are home to beneficial bugs, like lady beetles, which kill the bad bugs. Organic farmers have always had the disadvantage when it comes to fighting invasive bugs and weeds. Conventional farmers have a plethora of ways to battle these things off. Organic farmers have had to get crafty and learn how to grapple with these elements.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/science/30farm.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=sunflowers&st=cse

Recycle Your Old Cell Phone!

Cell Phones are Among the Fastest Growing Types of Trash
The average North American gets a new cell phone every 18 to 24 months, making old phones—many that contain hazardous materials like lead, mercury, cadmium, brominated flame retardants and arsenic—the fastest growing type of manufactured garbage in the nation. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Americans discard 125 million phones each year, creating 65,000 tons of waste.

Convenient Recycling Support for Cell Phone Users
Luckily, a new breed of electronics recyclers is stepping in to help. Call2Recycle, a nonprofit organization, offers consumers and retailers in the United States and Canada simple ways to recycle old phones. Consumers can enter their zip code on the group’s website and be directed to a drop box in their area. Most major electronics retailers, from Radio Shack to Office Depot, participate in the program and offer Call2Recycle drop-boxes in their stores. Call2Recycle recovers the phones and sells them back to manufacturers, which either refurbish and resell them or recycle their parts for use in making new products.

Recycling Cell Phones for Charity and to Help Developing Countries
The CollectiveGood organization takes used cell phones, refurbishes them, and then re-sells them to distributors and carriers for use primarily in developing countries, providing affordable communications to poorer citizens while helping to “bridge the digital divide.” They also recycle all non-functioning batteries through a partnership with the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation. When you donate your phone to CollectiveGood you can direct the profits from the sales to a charity of your choice.

Changing Attitudes about Cell Phone Recycling
Another player is ReCellular, which manages the in-store collection programs for Bell Mobility, Sprint PCS, T-Mobile, Best Buy and Verizon. The company also maintains partnerships with Easter Seals, the March of Dimes, Goodwill Industries and other nonprofits that undertake cell phone collection drives as a way of funding their charitable work. According to ReCellular vice-president Mike Newman, the company is trying to change attitudes about used cell phones, to get consumers to “automatically think of recycling cell phones just as they currently do with paper, plastic or glass.

States and Provinces Lead the Way on Mandatory Cell Phone Recycling
Neither the United States nor Canada mandates electronics recycling of any kind at the federal level, but a few states and provinces are getting into the act at their own initiative. California recently passed the first cell phone recycling law in North America. As of July 1, 2006, electronics retailers doing business there must have a cell phone recycling system in place in order to legally sell their products, whether online or in-store. Other U.S. states considering similar legislation include Illinois, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Vermont and Virginia, while the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick are likely to jump on the mandatory cell phone recycling bandwagon soon

Where Has All The Plastic Gone?

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/08/where-has-all-the-plastic-gone.html?ref=hp

Hundreds of kilometers off the coast of southern California lies the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. On the other side of the country, tiny pieces of floating plastic are in the Atlantic Ocean at least two-thirds the size of the United States. Oceanographers have found a trend in these "plastic soups" and the amount of plastic has remanined steady despite the increase in industrial plastic production. This is surprising because the amount of plastic produced globally and thrown away in the United States has grown several times over the same period, and presumably some of it winds up in the ocean. For example, the plastic might disintegrate into pieces too small to be caught in a net. Or algae-coated pieces might sink to the sediments, or the plastic could be eaten by plankton or fish. That raises the concern that marine animals could be poisoned by toxic chemicals carried by the plastic.

Life in Space? Not Quite, but Life That Thrives on Arsenic

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/life-space-life-lives-off-arsenic/story?id=12291373

In Mono Lake, California scientists have discovered a bacteria called GFAJ-1. Until now we believed that all life on Earth needed 6 things to live: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur and phosphorous. But this newly discovered bacteria can live without phosphorous. Instead, it thrives on arsenic. This is so important because before this no one ever thought that things could survive without what we previously knew. Scientists at NASA are now ecstatic and looking for ways that life could possibly survive o other planets. They are already making plans to visit Titan, Mars' biggest moon because they know that it has arsenic on it.

Strong Winds and Rain Affecting the Northeast

A strong storm system Wednesday brought rain and winds that shut down the Statue of Liberty and delayed flights for more than four hours at airports in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Flight times were almost back to normal by late Wednesday. The wind snapped a large lighted Christmas tree at the South Street Seaport a few blocks from the Brooklyn Bridge. No injuries were reported. The Statue of Liberty was forced to close at 2 p.m. because of inclement weather. Weather permitting, the venue was expected to reopen today. Heavy rain triggered flooding in some Eastern states a day after the system raked the Southeast.  The storm system brought flooding and snow to areas around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, slowing commuters and prompting some schools to open late. There was a state of emergency in Butler County, Pennsylvania, until at least this morning because of the flooding due to storms from late Tuesday and Wednesday. During much of the day, ground stops were in effect for New York's John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports because of low clouds and heavy rain, according to CNN Meteorologist Sean Morris. Flight delays of more than four hours had been reported at the Newark, New Jersey, airport, and delays of more than an hour were reported at airports in Teterboro, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One person was killed and a second injured Wednesday when high winds caused a tree to fall on a car with two people in it in West Milford, New Jersey, according to the National Weather Service in Upton, New York. On Wednesday, the storm system set its sights on much of the Eastern Seaboard. Severe thunderstorms were possible from the Florida Panhandle north to Maryland, and flash flooding was possible from northern Georgia into Vermont and New Hampshire, according to the National Weather Service. Also Wednesday, the National Weather Service confirmed that it was a tornado, packing winds of 130 mph, that tore through suburban Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday, damaging more than 50 homes and a businesses.

Space Tourism Expansion Just Months Away

PJ King, a 41-year-old Irish businessman, is one of hundreds of travelers who've signed up and trained to be among the first paying passengers aboard Virgin Galactic's trips to suborbital space -- 62 miles above the Earth. King believes the $200,000 he and other passengers pay for a seat on a Virgin Galactic spacecraft will help create a new future when "flights like this are happening every week, when lots of people go, and the cost has been massively reduced due to the economics of scale." Prices are coming down, even before space tourism has started taking off. Russia charges private travelers $40 million to ride on its Soyuz spacecraft and spend a few days aboard the international space station. For a much shorter journey, Virgin Galactic wants $200,000 for a flight to suborbital space. But Space Adventures advertises suborbital trips for about half that price: $102,000. King says he knows people who've taken out mortgages to buy their spacecraft tickets. 
The plunging prices are opening doors to consumers which have been all but closed for half a century to everyone except "right stuff" supermen and superwomen with names like John Glenn, Neil Armstrong and Sally Ride. About 360 paying passengers have signed up to be among Virgin Galactic's first travelers, CEO George Whitesides said. After the initial launches, he expects that number to grow to thousands and tens of thousands. This past year has seen important strides toward this shift. Washington licensed Jacksonville, Florida's Cecil Field as the nation's eighth non-government spaceport in January. New Mexico's Spaceport America, where Virgin Galactic plans to permanently base its space flights, completed a nearly 2-mile spacecraft runway this month.

Electric Cars Hitting the Market by 2012

From General Motors (GM) to Honda, almost every major automaker and even some not-so-major ones plan to have at least one plug-in car on the market by the end of 2012. Toyota alone will have three, including the Rav4 EV SUV and the Prius plug-in. Meanwhile, start-up companies, many of which are betting their lives on plug-ins, are planning their own assortment of cars including: Wheego's Smart car look-alike, Fisker's sumptuous luxury liner and Aptera's three-wheeler that looks like a hastily reassembled Cessna.
But despite all those new offerings, fewer than 7% of Americans say they would even consider buying a plug-in car according to a recent survey conducted by the automotive Web site Kelley Blue Book. Of those that may go electric, many people are unlikely to double-up on risk by buying from an unknown company.
 The big automakers shouldn't be badly hurt. First, they aren't totally reliant on plug-in cars. Far from it. Gasoline cars still make the vast majority of their sales and their profits. Second, big carmakers like GM, Nissan and Toyota will probably capture most of the plug-in sales. Electric car sales will mimic today's hybrid car market, where one model makes up half of all sales with the rest of the field left fighting over the scraps.

0:00 /2:26Ghosn: Leaf promotes clean energy

While the Chevrolet Volt may sell in respectable numbers, Companies like Georgia-based Wheego, which only makes one model right now may struggle. The two-seat Life will cost about as much as the larger, better known, Nissan Leaf. Aside from customer service, specialization is one key factor that may help some start-ups to make it. Fisker Automotive, for example, has a good shot at making it because it's not challenging mainstream automakers. Its first product, the Fisker Karma, is a luxury sedan priced as an alternative to a Mercedes-Benz S-class or Jaguar XJ. Henrik Fisker, Fisker CEO and a former designer for BMW and Aston Martin, says he's confident in his company because he's able to make his product profitably even at low volumes and because the company's focus on green luxury makes it unique in the luxury car industry.
Besides being electric, Fisker cars will be appointed with leather from free-range cattle and repurposed wood.

How Plants Near Chernobyl Shrug Off Radiation

Scientists are reporting the discovery of the biological secrets that enable plants that are growing near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant to adapt to highly radioactive soil. Colleagues note that plants have an unexpected ability to adapt to an environment contaminated with radiation. Their previous research showed that soybean plants in the area have adapted to the contaminated soil with certain changes in their proteome. A proteome is the full complement of proteins produced by the genes in a plant/animal. Radiation exposure had relatively little effect on the protein levels in the plants with only about 5% of the proteins altered.

Who knew that our carbon emissions could have such a drastic effect on sea-life? Rising CO2 emissions have dissolved in the ocean to form carbonic acid. Because of this, the oceans are acidifying at the fastest rate since over sixty-five million years ago. Now the fish have more to worry about than overfishing and habitat loss. This acidification of the water can harm baby clown-fish by messing up their orientation and sense of smell. This would lead them to get eaten by other fish more easily. Also, it softens the shells of oysters and other crustaceans which means their defenses are lowered. So far, there isn't any solution to how we're going to solve this problem, but the best we can do as of now is to just keep our carbon footprint under control.

Warming Igniting Fires

Over the past 10 years, Alaskan wildfires have grown more intense. They last longer and burn bigger, destroying precious habitats. Who's to blame? According to the New York Times the culprit is none other than global warming. The fires are burning deeper into the soil and have begun igniting the peat, which acts as a carbon sink. When the peat burns, it releases massive amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Nearly twice as much carbon dioxide has been released by wildfires as a result. Another issue that will arise is that the peat can no longer act as a carbon sink if it is gone. All across the globe, the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere is equally stored in the peat of soil. We need to reduce our carbon use so not as much is reaching the atmosphere. The problem with this solution is that many people are stubborn and are adamant about not changing their lifestyles.

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/climate-change-igniting-deep-peatland-fires-study-says/

Mushrooms, Rice Husks, and Buckwheat - Replacements for Plastic?

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tech-transport/mushrooms-ricehusks-buckwheat-replacements-plastic.html

Eben Bayer believes that Styrofoam, which is toxic and can't be recycled, could be replaced with more conventional items that are naturally occurring and completely safe. He wanted to find something that was more than just 10% recyclable, and he found mushrooms to be the magical answer...The mushroom's roots are able to take things we would consider waste, like woody biomass or seed husks, and form them into a polymer that is used exactly like plastic. It results in a recyclable and compost-able material. In other parts of the world, rice husks can be used the same as these mushrooms roots, and in the US buckwheat husks or oat hulls could be used...I think this is a fantastic idea that should be taken into consideration when companies try to replace styrofoam...

Philadelphia Eagles to Be Powered by On-Site Renewable Energy in 10 Months

The Philadelphia Eagles announced in November that they will be partnering with Solar-Blue energy to completely re-green their football stadium. Onsite wind turbines, solar panels, and a dual-fuel renewable energy plant, this stadium will be the only one worldwide that will be completely run on its own energy. The franchise is excited about this and this renovation will be completed by September 2011.

  

"The Eagles are partnering with Solar Blue, which will install the $30 million system consisting of 80 20-foot wind turbines (vertical, rather than bladed, to reduce noise and danger to nearby birds), 2,500 solar panels, and that 7.6-megawatt dual-fuel generation plant that'll be situated adjacent to the stadium. About 15 percent of the stadium's power will come from wind and solar, individually, with the remaining 70 percent coming from the plant. The plant is expected to create about 1.039 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity every year--enough to power 26,000 homes." 

Novel Metal Catalysts May Be Able to Turn Greenhouse Gases Into Liquid Fuels

Novel metal catalysts may be able to turn greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide into liquid fuels without producing more carbon waste in the process. If fossil fuels burn completely, the end products are carbon dioxide and water. Today the carbon dioxide is a waste product, one that goes into the air -- adding to global warming; or the oceans -- acidifying them; or underground -- with as yet unknown consequences. Now reversing combustion has been a loser's game, because making carbon dioxide into a fuel uses up more energy than combustion releases and produces more carbon dioxide than it reclaims. But catalysts could change everything. Catalysts might provide alternative reaction pathways with lower energy barriers. The reactants could then be bumped over those lower barriers with carbonless energy sources such as sunlight. In the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Mirica describes a new metal complex that can combine methyl groups (CH₃) in the presence of oxygen to produce ethane (CH₃-CH₃). This is the second step in the conversation of methane (CH₄), the main component of natural gas, into a longer-chain hydrocarbon, or liquid fuel. Mirica's team is currently tweaking the complex so that it will be perform the first step in the methane-to-ethane conversion as well.

Fossil fuels are useful because they pack energy in their chemical bonds and release that energy when they are burned. Reactions that release energy, however, are reluctant to reverse themselves and the more energy they release, the more reluctant they are to back up. There's no way around this problem; if a reaction released energy both going forward and going backward, it could fuel a perpetual motion machine, which, of course, is an impossibility. Still, it is possible to make hydrocarbon combustion reactions run backward -- either by brute force or by finesse.

Last year Mirica's group was working with a palladium compound that they hoped could catalyze the splitting of water. "The catalyst we made for that reaction worked," says Mirica, "but not as well as we hoped. But we noticed it was easily oxidized, even by the oxygen in air. "One of our ideas was to use it to turn methane into ethane." Methane, the main component of natural gas, is released in large amounts when an oil well is tapped. Currently the methane from the oil fields is wasted; it is flared off on site, releasing even more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Turning methane to ethane, says Mirica, could be the first step in a process of building longer-chain hydrocarbons such as butane and octane, which would be liquid at normal temperatures and pressures and so could easily be transported to distant users.

Mirica's metal complex solves half the problem of methane-to-ethane conversion. It takes two methyl groups (CH₃) and, in the presence of oxygen and light, binds the carbon atoms to one another to form ethane. The complex consists of an organic molecule that binds a central palladium atom through four nitrogen atoms. The organic molecule is key to the metal complex's function, since it stabilizes it in the unusual +3 oxidation state (it has given up three electrons), which is responsible for its unprecedented chemical activity. However, these sites are occupied by methyl groups, which the palladium atom joins to produce ethane. But, Mirica emphasizes, the sites could easily be occupied by other chemical species. What's more the reactions could be reducing ones (where electrons are donated to reactants) rather than the oxidizing ones (where electrons are removed from reactants) like the methyl-to-ethane conversion.

The first part of that reaction is pulling methyl groups off methane molecules. "The reaction wants to run straight down the energy hill all the way to the bottom (CO₂)," Mirica says. "Our goal is to design a catalyst that stops the reaction part of the way down the hill (when only one hydrogen has been removed). His lab is also testing the metal complex's ability to perform a reduction reaction, the conversion of CO₂ into methanol (CH₃OH). "Carbon dioxide is an exceptionally stable molecule, so anything you do with it is going to require energy, " Mirica says. "We're just trying to use the metal complex to minimize the energy input. "Both the ethane and methanol reactions take greenhouse gases and transform them to liquid or easily liquefied compounds that could then be reused as fuels. If the energy penalty turns out to be low enough the carbon could be recycled in this way many times.

Ultimately Mirica's goal is a recycling carbon chemistry that requires so little energy that it can run off sunlight!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101130103615.htm

Using Earthworms to Process Hazardous Materials Containing Heavy Metals

Researchers in South America have studied the viability of using earthworms to process hazardous material containing high concentrations of heavy metal for the bioremediation of old industrial sites, landfill and other potentially hazardous areas. Worms are probably the gardener's best friend and they have been encouraged to process garden waste and soil for generations. The common earthworm could also become a useful tool in the processing and safe management of hazardous solid and liquid wastes with high metal content, according to chemist Lué Merú Marcó Parra of the Universidad Centro Occidental Lisandro Alvarado in Cabudare, Venezuela, and colleagues there and in Argentina. The team has carried out two studies on the use of worms in treating waste. The team first used compost produced by worms, vermicompost, as a successful adsorbent substrate for remediation of wastewater contaminated with the metals nickel, chromium, vanadium and lead. The second used earthworms directly for remediation of arsenic and mercury present in landfill soils and demonstrated an efficiency of 42% to 72% in approximately two weeks for arsenic removal and 7.5% to 30.2% for mercury removal in the same time period. Earthworms could offer an inexpensive and effective bioremediation alternative to complex and costly industrial cleanup methods

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101206101241.htm

The Future of Green Architecture: A Live-In Power Plant

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-06/future-eco-friendly-architecture-live-power-plant

Archietects have planned a building they want to build. The building will power enough electricity to power 4,000 homes near by. The good side to these buildings are they will generate the electricity by the sun heating liquefied salt that transfers heat to a convection loop that runs a large steam turbine. Then a two-megawatt solar tower will produce heat when the weather is colder. The only problem with this new building is that it will cost $4oo million dollars. On the flip side they could pay off their energy dept in just twenty-years. The building could be for offices or residents or maybe even both. They are working towards this building in the near future. The designer Robert Ferry saies that is might sound unrealistic right now but before long we willl be used to seeing buildings such as these. I think the more ways we try to move towards alterate energy sources it will be for the better. This will really help our enviroment.

Nissan Says its Electric Leaf gets Equivalent to 99 MPG

Nissan says that it’s electric car, which they say gets 99 MPG, goes out in December 2010. The EPA tests electric cars before they go out on sale, and they claimed Nissan’s car gets 73 MPG on a fully charged battery; much less than 100 MPG. But, the stickers on the car will show a range between 90 and 110 MPG, including both city driving and long distance driving. The Leaf’s rating is nearly double the rating then the hybrid (which is only 50 MPG). In December, the Leaf will be sold in the following states: California, Washington, Arizona, Oregon, and Tennessee. In January, the Leaf will be sold in Texas and Hawaii. Other states will follow in the upcoming year.

China's New pursuit for Fusion Power, Teleportation

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-12/wikileaked-cables-beijing-reveal-chinas-pursuit-fusion-power-teleportation

It comes to no surprise that China is beating American and other Countries in the new technologies and much more. Cables at an American Embassy in Beijing are helping Chinese scientists in making far-out fields like nuclear fission, biometrics, and even quantum teleportation. One incident where a confidential cable was sent to Washington from China suggests that China has some big secrets up there sleeves. First off China is planning to open 70 nuclear power plants in the next decade. Also the Chinese Academy of Sciences is majorly funding its Institute of Plasma Physics so that it can keep doing research on nuclear fusion. Apparently China has been hard at work on its Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) reactor, which is designed to sustain a controlled fusion reaction that can go on indefinitely at high temperatures. The same cable says the CAS’s Institute of Intelligent Machines (IIM) in Hefei has created a biometric system that identifies individuals through their pace and gait.

Oceans Failing the Acid Test

The chemistry of the world's oceans is changing at a rate that hasn't been seen for 65 million years. "Environmental Consequences of Ocean Acidification" posted by the U.N. Environmental Program (UNEP) warns that some sea organisms including coral and shellfish will find it difficult to survive as acidification shrinks the minerals needed to form their skeletons. We are seeing an overall negative impact from ocean acidification on organisms and ecosystems directly that help provide food. We need to start thinking about the risk to food security. The increase of acidification is likely to affect the growth of coral reef and with ocean warming could limit the habitats of crabs, mussels and other shellfish with effects all over the food chain. Around a quarter of the world's CO2 emissions are being absorbed by the oceans, where they are turned into carbonic acid. pH levels in seas and oceans worldwide have fallen by an average of 30% since the Industrial Revolution. The report predicts that by the end of this century ocean acidity will have increased 150% if they keep rising. But at the same time acidification doesn't affect all sea creatures in the same way. We need rapid and substantial cuts to CO2 emissions as well as assessing the vulnerability of communities which rely on marine resources to stop pH levels falling further.

Is Santa Claus Toxic Because of Toxic Food up by the North Pole?

Every child knows that Santa Claus lives somewhere up by the North Pole. The North Pole has seen many changes in recent years with the melting ice and warmer summer temperatures. But climate change isn't the only bad news facing Santa Claus. Research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) shows that if he's eating anything that lives in the Arctic, chances are that he is loaded with toxic chemicals. Biologists have reported high levels of contaminants in a range of Arctic animals and fish. Industrial pollutants from western Europe, North America and Asia are dispersed by the air and ocean currents and are then concentrated over the arctic. The chemicals are taken up by the smallest plants and animals lowest on the food chain, and are "biomagnified" the higher on the food chain an animal is. That's why the polar bears have some of the highest levels of toxic organic pollutants of any creature walking the planet. In a test of feeding dogs minke whale blubber that was contaminated with the chemicals showed altered thyroid hormones. Should Santa decide to diet a bit? Eating less fatty contaminated foods he won't have to worry about harmful health effects from the contaminants that are stored in his own fat belly.

Reflective Crops could Cool the Planet.

There are several components when it comes to the reflectivity of different crops. This could be from how hairy the leaves are to the composition of wax on the plants. But why should reflectivity matter when choosing which crops to plant? New research shows that reflective crops could reflect heat back into the atmosphere which could easily cool the earth a couple of degrees. This would reduce the impact of climate warming in these areas. This could have a significant effect on the earth as about eleven percent of the land on earth is devoted to crops. "That's one degree you don't have to turn up the air-conditioning," says John Shepard of the University of Southampton. A similar proposal is to paint roofs of buildings white to reflect light and heat. This would not be as effective as the crops though because the roofs don't take up as much space.

A Crystal Ball for Electricity

Black and Veatech is an engineering and consulting firm that is involved with a variety of power plants and they say that the demand for power will continue, as well as the fear of global warming. Which will cause a dependence on renewable sources; such as nuclear power plants. There are more efficient motors that are being sold and the population could grow by 2.5 % and electricity will only rise 1.1%. An independence between economic growth and electric demand is arising. The future shape of electricity depends on the price of natural gas and the price of CO2 emissions. Renewable resources are steadily on the rise and are becoming more convenient as non-renewable resources become non-convenient.

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/a-crystal-ball-for-electricity/?ref=earth

Pru External Battery Trailer Adds 700 Extra Miles of Range to Electric Cars

Pru Trailer (cross-section):  EMAV

Most people think that electric cars are still in their infancy, which we all know is not true. However they are just now starting to be reintroduced. For example the new Nissan leaf, this gets roughly 100 miles per charge. This idea here is how to we improved the range? Well maybe not for daily commuters but for road trips and such the idea is to have one of the small trailers. The trailers are extra batteries, as well as a storage space, and with this trailer you can boost your travel by about an extra 700 miles. The idea is extraordinary but still in its beginning stages. While some would say that is looks ridiculous, here is the thing it is small, efficient and still usable for storage space. "The Pru trailer (it stands for Power Regeneration Unit) from Electric Motors and Vehicles is more than a simple extra battery on wheels attached by trailer hitch. Powered by software called the Smart Hitch, the Pru actually measures its own speed and powers itself along at the same speed as the car, thereby making sure it doesn't slow the EV down with its weight. It's even equipped with a GPS sensor that syncs with Google Earth, measuring topographical details that might affect its charge cycle. “I am really interested to see if this actually goes through and is created. As it is right now, there is nothing but a design; not even a prototype. However scientists are ambitious, and hope to have at the very least a prototype by mid 2011.

This is a comment from the article I did.

"Wow...no thanks....I shouldn't have to tow a huge battery behind me.....I'll wait for super batteries that don't have to be charged until thousands of miles, either that or fusion....until then I'll be using gas."

http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2010-11/pru-trailer-adds-storage-space-and-700-extra-miles-range-electric-cars

Pulluted Sperm Whales!

Sperm whales seem to be polluted near the Galapagos Islands. The pollutants include the pesticide DDT, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's, which can also have natural sources, such as volcanoes), hexachlorobenzene, and 30 types of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's). Another route is that after exposure to something like an oil spill, pollutants get sucked into their skin. Godard-Codding said, "Whether this actually reflects higher levels of pollutants in the Galapagos waters, or in the food chain in these waters, remains unknown." These pollutants are found to be man made and are released in the waters.

Shark attack kills German woman off Egypt's Sharm Resort

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101205/wl_afp/egyptgermanyaccidentshark;_ylt=AmyxHqYr5xmvc8gD6eZLNzl4hMgF;_ylu=X3oDMTMxNDI1OXBlBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDEwMTIwNS9lZ3lwdGdlcm1hbnlhY2NpZGVudHNoYXJrBHBvcwMxNgRzZWMDeW5fcGFnaW5hdGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawNzaGFya2F0dGFja2s-

A 70 year old woman was mauled to death by a shark off of the Red Sea resort she was staying in. She was snorkeling, and the shark attacked her thigh and arm, officials say this attack is very rare, and there have been two more like it in just one week. The cause isn't known for sure, but they think it's due to overfishing which has caused the sharks to move father inland to find food. The government has dumped chum into the waters to try and get the sharks away from the shore, but it has not shown much of an affect. This jaw-like incident is strange and worrying many swimmers and authorities.

Flying vs Driving - Is Flying Better?

Flying vs Driving: Carpooling Generates Fewest Greenhouse Gases Per Passenger
What this also means, of course, is that while even driving alone would be slightly better from the standpoint of greenhouse-gas emissions, carpooling really makes environmental sense. Four people sharing a car would collectively be responsible for emitting only 104 kilograms of CO2, while the same four people taking up four seats on a plane would generate some 736 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

Flying vs Driving: Cross-Country Calculations Show Stark Contrasts
Journalist Pablo Päster of Salon.com extends the comparison further, to a cross-country trip, and comes to similar conclusions. (Differences in the math are attributable to the use of slightly varying assumptions regarding fuel usage and source equations.) Flying from San Francisco to Boston, for example, would generate some 1,300 kilograms of greenhouse gases per passenger each way, while driving would account for only 930 kilograms per vehicle. So, again, sharing the drive with one or more people would lower each individual’s carbon footprint from the experience accordingly.

Flying vs Driving: Air Travel Most Economical for Long Distances
But just because driving might be greener than flying doesn’t mean it always makes the most sense. With current high gas prices, it would cost far more in fuel to drive clear across the United States in a car than to fly nonstop coast-to-coast. And that’s not even factoring in the time spent on restaurants and hotels along the way. Those interested in figuring out driving fuel costs can consult AAA’s nifty online Fuel Cost Calculator, where you can enter your starting city and destination as well as the year, make and model of your car to get an accurate estimate of what it will cost to “fill ‘er up” between points A and B.

Flying vs Driving: Carbon Offsets Can Balance Travel-Related Emissions
Once you’ve made your decision whether to drive or fly, consider purchasing carbon offsets to balance out the emissions you are generating with cash for renewable energy development. TerraPass, among others, makes it easy to calculate your carbon footprint based on how much you drive and fly (as well as home energy consumption), and then will sell you offsets accordingly. (Monies generated through carbon offsets fund alternative energy and other projects, such as wind farms, that will ultimately take a bite out of or eliminate greenhouse-gas emissions).

Flying vs Driving: Public Transportation Beats Both Car and Air Travel
Of course, an individual’s emissions from riding a bus (the ultimate carpool) or a train would be significantly lower. Paster adds that a cross-country train trip would generate about half the greenhouse-gas emissions of driving a car. The only way to travel greener might be to bicycle or walk—but the trip is long enough as it is

Northern Wildfires

Fires in the Alaskan interior, an area as big as 18.5 million hectares have been more severe than in the past 10 years. This is causing large amounts of carbon to be released into the atmosphere. This fact is startling because half the world's soil carbon is locked within the northern permafrost and peat land soils. This increase in carbon could lead to a runaway in rising climate changes. The increased fires are also considered a health risk, causing respiratory problems. Rescue centers are watching the fires and are pursuing many of them and extinguishing them to try and keep from releasing even more carbon. I think everyone should be conscience of these fires and do their part in helping the environment in every small way possible. Sure we wont see a change right now, but maybe we can keep our world a little cleaner.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101205202514.htm

Polluted Air Increases Obesity Risk in Young Animals

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101202124246.htm

Who would ever think that air pollution would cause obesity? Scientist concluded that an excessive amount of air pollution would contribute to obesity in young animals. Researchers said that the animals that are being exposed to the air pollution had larger and more fat cells and higher blood sugar levels then the animals eating the same diet but breathing in good air. How did they test it? Scientist conducted an experiment that exposed the mice to polluted air for six hours a day, five days a week, for 10 weeks beginning when the animals are at 3 weeks old. Scientist are doin this experiment to see if it relates to human obesity. It is the first test to cause inflammation and a change in fat cells. This is really neat due to the fact that scientist may have found another cause to obesity. I know most of obese problems comes from the food source but maybe the air pollution does play a roll in obesity.

Simple, Low-Cost Carbon Filter Removes 90 Percent Of Carbon Dioxide From Smokestack Gases

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080519092205.htm

Maciej Radosz and colleagues at Wyoming's Soft Materials Laboratory cite the pressing need for simple, inexpensive new technologies to remove carbon dioxide from smokestack gases. Coal-burning electric power plants are major sources of the greenhouse gas, and control measures may be required in the future.

The study describes a new carbon dioxide-capture process, called a Carbon Filter Process, designed to meet the need. It uses a simple, low-cost filter filled with porous carbonaceous sorbent that works at low pressures. Modeling data and laboratory tests suggest that the device works better than existing technologies at a fraction of their cost.

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by American Chemical Society.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Flue-Gas Carbon Capture on Carbonaceous Sorbents: Toward a Low-Cost Multifunctional Carbon Filter for 'Green' Energy Producers. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research. May 21, 2008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ie0707974

If this product has been developed, why is it not being used in more places? Are there negative affects of this? I think this needs to be utilized and companies who burn coal should especially be aware of this and the impact it could have. Someone is actually successfully doing something to improve the environment and it is not being used? I really do not understand why this is being put to the side and not recognized. People should be jumping all over this opportunity! I hope that more people become aware of this and that it will be used more.

Hadron Supercollider: End of the World?

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2841650/large_hadron_supercollider_breaks_records_pg2.html?cat=15

The Hadron Supercollider in Switzerland was built to try and prove and disprove theories about dark matter, other dimensions, and if smaller particles than atoms really exist. While this is all such great knowledge, a miscalculation could result in the possible end of the world. It is theorized that if protons collide at a certain speed, they will create the same moments that existed during the "Big Bang" and at which point they could obtain the "god particle" or the smallest block of matter possible. Many scientists are opposed to this, calculations show that in such a particle collision a black hole could form which would ultimate consume all matter around it, including the planet earth.

Benefits of Recycling Glass?

http://environment.about.com/od/recycling/a/benefits_of_glass_recycling.htm

When you throw away a glass bottle, and it is sent to landfill, it can take an astonishing 1,000,000 years to break down. However, when you recycle a glass bottle, it takes only 30 days for it to recycled and re-used. Glass is also 100% pure, meaning it can be recycled over and over and over again with no loss of quality. Recovered glass from recycling is also the primary ingredient in almost all new glass containers. Recycling glass also saves a lot of energy. To make glass, sand and other materials have to be heated to temperatures of close to 2,600 degrees, which takes lots of energy, which can easily be conserved by recycling. Hopefully, you're now all inspired to recycle.

Japan Researching Solar Power from Space

Heavenly Power Japan is building satellites that will convert solar energy into microwaves and beam them back to Earth. Paul Wootton

http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2008-06/10-audacious-ideas-save-planet

Beaming Electricity from Space

The Vision Launch giant solar panels into orbit and send limitless clean energy back to Earth

The Plan By 2030, Japan hopes to pull its power from the heavens instead of from polluting coal plants. The idea is to send satellites into geostationary orbit above the equator, where they will unfurl 1.5-mile-long solar arrays and soak up the sun 24 hours a day. Transmitters mounted on the satellites would convert the solar energy into microwave energy and beam it down to terrestrial receiving stations. Equipped with massive antennas measuring two miles across, each station would produce one gigawatt of electricity—enough to power 500,000 homes. That’s twice as much as a typical coal-fired plant, and without any of the greenhouse emissions.

Putting solar panels in space has one obvious advantage: It’s never cloudy 22,000 miles up. On average, there’s 8 to 10 times as much sunlight available in space as there is on Earth, where atmosphere and weather get in the way. Now, with satellite launch costs dropping (about five thousand dollars per pound today, versus $12,000 per pound a decade ago) and energy bills rising (already double what they were in 2005), researchers are finally warming to the idea.

Later this year, in fact, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to test the idea on the ground, blasting a microwave beam some 170 feet to a 6.5-foot-wide rectenna, a type of receiver that converts microwaves into DC electricity. Not as glamorous as beaming rays from space, but it’s a vital first step.

Potential Uh-Ohs One frightful but improbable scenario is that the microwave beam misses the receiving antenna and fries something on Earth’s surface. Like a village. To mitigate that risk, JAXA scientists are developing an automated detection system that turns off the microwave beam if the satellite drifts out of line.

ETA JAXA aims to launch its first energy-beaming satellite into orbit by 2013, with a network of powersats that feed energy directly into the grid to follow by 2030.
—Rena Marie Pacella

I think this is an area of alternative energy that should be researched further. If the "Potential Uh-Ohs" can be ironed out, I think this would be a very effective power source. Japan is a leading nation as far as technology goes and if they can figure this out, it would be very successful.