Man Kills Himself Holding 'Tax The 1%' in Front of Capitol-and Nobody Hears About It. When 64-year-old Vietnam vet John Constantino burned himself to death on the DC Mall in October of 2013 I couldn’t stop thinking about this man and his act. Who was he? What compelled him? What was his life’s story? What were his political views, his life’s station, etc? I wanted to write a blog then but didn’t. Then Saturday happened. On the kind of beautiful sunny day when hope springs eternal, an older gentleman wearing a backpack walked over by the fountain in front of the Capitol Building in Washington DC.
The police captain on the scene who addressed the news cameras eerily avoided the question, mumbling that it was “something about social justice,” as if he were annoyed to address any specifics. What kind of a society have we become? How would Americans react if these stories were given a full airing on the news? It is not unclear that these two men brought their grievances to DC and in spectacular fashion attempted to connect with our deepest consciences. Is anybody out there? The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered, and It Is Not What You Think. It is now one hundred years since drugs were first banned -- and all through this long century of waging war on drugs, we have been told a story about addiction by our teachers and by our governments.
This story is so deeply ingrained in our minds that we take it for granted. It seems obvious. It seems manifestly true. Until I set off three and a half years ago on a 30,000-mile journey for my new book, Chasing The Scream: The First And Last Days of the War on Drugs, to figure out what is really driving the drug war, I believed it too. But what I learned on the road is that almost everything we have been told about addiction is wrong -- and there is a very different story waiting for us, if only we are ready to hear it. If we truly absorb this new story, we will have to change a lot more than the drug war.
We will have to change ourselves. I learned it from an extraordinary mixture of people I met on my travels. I had a quite personal reason to set out for these answers. Philips 60W Equivalent LED (model 9290011350) Preview. It's only been a few years since LED light bulbs sold for thirty bucks a piece or more, but -- thankfully -- prices have since fallen steadily. These days, you'll find plenty of strong options that cost $10 or less, but Philips is pushing things a step further, with a new 60W equivalent LED that'll retail for less than $5. At that price, Philips' new bulb is already the least expensive big-brand LED we've seen, but to further sweeten the deal, the Dutch manufacturer is offering two bulbs for the price of one at Home Depot for the first ninety days of its shelf life.
That brings the cost per bulb down to something less than you'd pay for a morning latte -- and makes outfitting a whole home's worth of bulbs seem a lot more feasible. The new 60W equivalent draws 8.5 watts and puts out a stated 800 lumens, putting it right on par with other, comparable LEDs in terms of brightness, and making it slightly more efficient than many of its competitors. Guardian Media Group to divest its £800m fund from fossil fuels | Environment. The Guardian Media Group (GMG) is to sell all the fossil fuel assets in its investment fund of over £800m, making it the largest yet known to pull out of coal, oil and gas companies. The decision was justified on both financial and ethical grounds, said Neil Berkett, GMG chair: “It is a hard-nosed business decision, but it is influenced by the values of our organisation. It is a holistic decision taking into account all of those things.”
Berkett said fossil fuel assets had performed relatively poorly in recent years and were threatened by future climate change action, while an ethical fund already held by GMG had been a “stellar” performer and renewable energy was growing strongly. “This means we can adopt socially responsible investment criteria without putting at risk the core purpose of GMG’s investment funds: to generate long-term returns that guarantee the financial future and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity,” he said.
New Report Shows Australia Is Missing Out On Global Renewable Energy Boom | IBM Smarter Trends. Solar, wind power aid unprecedented halt in global emissions. The International Energy Agency has hailed a “surprising” and “unprecedented” halt in the rise of global carbon dioxide emissions – an event it directly credits to the growth in solar and wind power, increased hydro, and the decline in coal-fired generation. The IEA says global CO2 emissions stood at 32.3 billion tonnes in 2014, unchanged from the preceding year, despite a 3 per cent increase in global economic growth.
It says this is the first time in 40 years in which there was a halt or reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases that was not tied to an economic downturn such as the global financial crisis. Specifically, the IEA attributes the halt in emissions growth to changing patterns of energy consumption in China and OECD countries, and the growing use of renewables, particularly solar and wind power – which are now beginning to have a real impact on energy emissions.
Indeed, the significance of the IEA’s findings should not be underestimated. Global warming 'set to speed up to rates not seen for 1,000 years' | Environment. People need to brace themselves for accelerating climate change that could alter the way we live even over short time scales, scientists have warned. New evidence suggests the rate at which temperatures are rising in the northern hemisphere could be 0.25C per decade by 2020 - a level not seen for at least 1,000 years. The analysis, based on a combination of data from more than two dozen climate simulation models from around the world, looked at the rate of change in 40-year long time spans. Lead scientist Dr Steve Smith, from the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, said: “We focused on changes over 40-year periods, which is similar to the lifetime of houses and human-built infrastructure such as buildings and roads. “In the near term, we’re going to have to adapt to these changes.”
Overall, the world is getting warmer due to increasing greenhouse gas emissions that trap the Sun’s heat. Electric cars could cut oil imports 40% by 2030, says study | Environment. Electric cars could cut the UK’s oil imports by 40% and reduce drivers’ fuel bills by £13bn if deployed on a large scale, according to a new study. An electric vehicle surge would deliver an average £1,000 of fuel savings a year per driver, and spark a 47% drop in carbon emissions by 2030, said the Cambridge Econometrics study. The paper, commissioned by the European Climate Foundation, said that air pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and particulates would be all but eliminated by mid-century, with knock-on health benefits from reduced respiratory diseases valued at over £1bn. But enjoying the fruits of a clean vehicle boom will require an infrastructure roll-out soon, as the analysis assumes a deployment of over 6m electric vehicles by 2030 – growing to 23m by 2050 – powered by ambitious amounts of renewable energy.
One study earlier this month found that such concerns were more common among less experienced electric vehicle drivers. MIT scientists create new method to detect the origins of methane. An MIT-led team of researchers has developed an instrument capable of quickly and accurately analyzing samples of methane, pinpointing how they were formed. The breakthrough could give scientists a greater understanding of the role the gas plays in global warming.
Methane is a potent force in global warming. It is second only to carbon dioxide when it comes to trapping heat inside the atmosphere for extended periods of time, and can originate from a range of different sources, including lakes, livestock and natural gas pipelines. The new study aimed to determine which of two common origins were responsible for any given sample of the gas. Specifically, it focused on determining whether they were thermogenic (produced by high-temperature decay of organic matter buried deep within the Earth) or microbial (formed as a metabolic byproduct by microorganisms living in the guts of animals) in origin. "Cow guts produce methane at very high rates – up to 500 liters a day per cow. Source: MIT Share. Passivhaus-certified straw homes claimed to cut fuel bills by 90 percent - Images.
A house made from straw didn't work out so well in The Three Little Pigs, but maybe it's not such a bad idea after all. Sustainable building firm BaleHaus recently unveiled a number of new energy-efficient Passivhaus-certified homes that feature a prefabricated straw insulation system, and promise a heating bill 90 percent lower than that of an average home.
View all BaleHaus is a group comprised of three firms: Cadan Developments, ModCell (responsible for the straw insulation), and White Design. The homes completed so far come in a number of shapes and sizes, including three-bedroom terraced townhouses and one-bedroom apartments, proving the versatility of the straw building system. The sustainable technology installed in the homes varies greatly too, and includes roof-based photovoltaic arrays in several sizes, rainwater harvesting, and air-source heat pumps. Perhaps more significant than the completed houses is the actual ModCell system of insulation itself. Source: ModCell Share. Windräder kontaminieren Nordsee mit giftigem Rostschutz. Mit dem weiteren Ausbau von Windkraftanlagen auf See werden in den kommenden Jahren Tausende Tonnen giftiger Metallverbindungen in Nord- und Ostsee eingebracht. Grund ist der Einsatz sogenannter Opferanoden.
Sie sollen das Verrosten der stählernen Fundamente der Windparks verhindern. Die Opferanoden, die hauptsächlich aus Aluminium, aber auch aus Zink und Schwermetallen bestehen, lösen sich im Wasser nach und nach auf. Eine Umweltfolgenabschätzung dazu gibt es bislang nicht. Allein für den inneren Rostschutz der Stahltürme, auf denen die Offshore-Windräder montiert sind, werden nach SPIEGEL-Informationen über eine Lebensdauer von 25 Jahren bis zu zehn Tonnen Aluminium in das Seewasser abgegeben - bei jedem Turm. Bei einem Ausbauziel von 6500 Megawatt Offshore-Windparks bis 2020 könnte das eine zusätzliche Belastung von rund 13.000 Tonnen Aluminium für Nord- und Ostsee bedeuten. Es besteht auch die Möglichkeit, den Stahl elektrisch vor Rost zu schützen. News verfolgen. Satellitenfotos zeigen immer schnellere Regenwald-Abholzung. In den vergangenen Jahren hatten Wissenschaftler mehrfach hoffnungsvolle Nachrichten verkündet: Es gebe eine Trendwende, die Abholzung des Regenwalds gehe zurück.
Die Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) der Uno war im Jahr 2010 zum Schluss gekommen, dass von 2000 bis 2010 deutlich weniger Wald verschwunden war als in dem Jahrzehnt davor. Nun haben Forscher der University of Maryland die Entwicklung des tropischen Regenwalds anhand von Satellitenbildern analysiert - und sie kommen zu einem ganz anderen Ergebnis.
Der Flächenverlust habe im Zeitraum von 1990 bis 2010 nicht ab-, sondern zugenommen, schreiben Do-Hyung Kim und seine Kollegen im Fachblatt "Geophysical Research Letters". "Es gibt verschiedene regionale Studien mit Satellitenbildern", sagt Kim, "aber unsere ist die erste, welche die gesamten Tropen umfasst. " In die Analyse flossen Daten von 34 Ländern ein, die 80 Prozent der Flächen mit tropischem Regenwald weltweit repräsentieren. <p>Bitte aktivieren Sie Javascript. Dürre in Kalifornien: Diebe stehlen Wasser. Drogen, Juwelen, schnelle Autos - üblicherweise sind es solche Luxusgüter, die in reichen Ländern Diebe anlocken. In Kalifornien aber bekommen Behörden derzeit einen Vorgeschmack darauf, was auch in anderen Regionen der USA und Europas im Zuge des Klimawandels geschehen könnte: Die seit Jahren anhaltende Dürre macht Wasser zu einem seltenen Gut, das zur illegalen Selbstbedienung einlädt.
Der Wasserraub ist ein Symptom eines tiefergehenden Problems, das die Wasserversorgung Kaliforniens ernsthaft bedroht: Die Grundwasser-Entnahme wird nicht zentral dokumentiert, und sie ist kaum kontrollierbar. Zeitraffer: Die Dürre im Südwesten der USA United States Drought Monitor Trockenheit im Südwesten der USA: Gelb steht für "abnormal trocken", helles Orange für "moderate Dürre", dunkles Orange für "starke Dürre", Rot für "extreme Dürre" und Braun für "außergewöhnliche Dürre".
Gratis-Brauchwasser am Straßenrand Das bekommen die Kalifornier inzwischen auch im Alltag zu spüren. 20. 23. 12. 13. 1. 2. 26. Philips LED with Warm Glow Dimmable Light Preview - CNET. LED prices have fallen dramatically over the past few years, but we're seeing a $10 sweet spot emerging in the 60W replacement category. The latest is the newly announced Philips LED with "Warm Glow" dimming capabilities. Dial the brightness down using a dimmer switch, and you'll see a sunset-like drop in the color temperature, too, from a yellowy 2,700K down to a tone that's more reddish-orange. That's a feature that you won't get from Osram and Cree, both of which also offer 60W replacement LEDs at that $10 mark. The Warm Glow LED seems to have its sights set specifically on the Cree 60W Replacement LED, matching that bulb's 10-year warranty with its own decade of coverage.
Spec for spec, the three bulbs seem to sit pretty close together, all of them claiming a light output of 800 lumens. From our initial tests, the Warm Glow LED comes in comfortably above that number, our spectrometer measuring it at 834 lumens. As for color temperature, all three bulbs come in right under 2,700K. 6 companies doing the most to stop deforestation. In an eco-twist on the Forbes 500, the UK-based think tank Global Canopy Programme has launched the Forest 500, a ranking of how effectively companies and organizations are working to stop global deforestation. Stopping deforestation has been identified as one of the cheapest and most effective means of fighting our current climate change trajectory. However, the issue is made complicated by a number of factors, such as the global demand for tropical products as well as illegal activities. So, who’s doing the most to stop it? While well-intentioned consumers may seek to avoid products like palm oil and beef, the product chains that tie our food, paper and clothes to tropical forests are decidedly tangled.
That’s where Forest 500 steps in. The rankings look at companies, jurisdictions (countries and other economic regions like the E.U.), investors and other power brokers. The top scoring companies are listed below, in alphabetical order. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. A long way to go. Learn to love the pigginess of a pig, says America's farmer rockstar Joel Salatin | News. If ever there was a rockstar farmer, it has to be American Joel Salatin. He is the poster boy for the alternative food movement and draws annual crowds in Australia – farmers and tree changers alike – to hear his version of the “land-healing” gospel. From his website: “We are in the redemption business: healing the land, healing the food, healing the economy, and healing the culture.” Salatin describes his 220-hectare Polyface farm in Virginia as a “family owned, multi-generational, pasture-based, beyond organic, local-market farm and informational outreach”.
Yet Salatin is not your average sustainable foodie. There are two elements to Salatin’s philosophy, which seem to attract two very disparate political groups. His first and primary message is to eat real food. His second message – more for his home audience – is that government should get out of the way of food producers. The basis for Salatin’s approach to farming, he says, is nature. Salatin has two golden rules.