Environment
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Un article de VEG-TV. EARTHLINGS est un documentaire long-métrage sur la dépendance absolue de l'humanité à l’égard des animaux (animaux de compagnie, nourriture, habillement, divertissement, et recherche scientifique) mais aussi sur l’irrespect total pour ceux qu’on peut aussi qualifier de « marchandise ». Le film est narré par Joaquin Phoenix (Gladiator) et la musique est celle du célèbre Moby. Avec une étude approfondie sur les magasins d’animaux de compagnie, les usines à chiot, les refuges pour animaux, mais aussi les manufactures de cuir et de fourrure, les industries de hobbies sportifs et les professions médicales et scientifiques, EARTHLINGS utilise la caméra cachée et jamais auparavant on avait vu ces pratiques au jour le jour, d’une des plus grandes industries au monde, qui se fonde entièrement sur l’utilisation d’animaux pour faire du profit.
Earthlings - VEG-TV
“The only answer can be denial,” argues Paul Gilding, the veteran Australian environmentalist-entrepreneur, who described this moment in a new book called “The Great Disruption: Why the Climate Crisis Will Bring On the End of Shopping and the Birth of a New World.” “When you are surrounded by something so big that requires you to change everything about the way you think and see the world, then denial is the natural response. But the longer we wait, the bigger the response required.” Gilding cites the work of the Global Footprint Network, an alliance of scientists, which calculates how many “planet Earths” we need to sustain our current growth rates. G.F.N. measures how much land and water area we need to produce the resources we consume and absorb our waste, using prevailing technology. On the whole, says G.F.N., we are currently growing at a rate that is using up the Earth’s resources far faster than they can be sustainably replenished, so we are eating into the future.
The Earth Is Full - NYTimes.com
Get the Facts | whataretherealcosts.org
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Concrete Sustainability Hub has released preliminary research that will help create a new standard for life-cycle assessments. The two ongoing studies – “Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Highway Pavements” and “Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Buildings” – will ultimately provide the framework needed for the scientific community, industry leaders, and public policymakers to determine the environmental life-cycle costs of paving and building materials over the real life of projects. MIT’s research will reflect the best available data (using life-cycle modeling) and will incorporate all stages of “cradle-to-grave” analysis. Potential for significant fuel efficiency savings for vehicles on concrete pavements over asphalt.
Super X Divertor Eats Nuclear Waste, Generates Clean Power | Fast Company
The Super X Divertor sounds like some fantasy invention from a 1950s Popular Mechanics . But it's a real device that helps enable two eco-friendly processes: Generating zero carbon-footprint power, and eating up dangerous nuclear waste from older power stations. Physicists at the University of Texas have invented the Compact Fusion Neutron Source (CFNS), which is a clever system that mixes of two types of nuclear power reactors. The older fission reactor we're all familiar with (which generate lots of dangerously radioactive waste) and a tokamak fusion reactor (where small atoms are fused together much more cleanly). The CFNS will eat up so-called nuclear "sludge," which is a dangerous, highly toxic, long-lived radioactive by-product of existing nuclear power stations. The sludge is formed into a jacket around the core fusion reactor.
The secret superpower of the cockroach - life - 21 April 2011 - New Scientist
ON A midnight foray into my kitchen, I flicked on the light and was confronted with a devil's playground. Cockroaches were fornicating on my pots and dancing on the cooker. They were grinding on my floor and scuttling around my fridge.
Short Sharp Science: Halve your meat intake to stem nitrogen damage
Andy Coghlan, reporter I'm contemplating becoming a "demitarian". That's neither a strict vegetarian nor a full-on carnivore.
Shipping noise pulps 'ears' of squid and octopuses - environment - 11 April 2011 - New Scientist
It's not just dolphins and whales that suffer from the noise of shipping, sonar and oil prospecting. Experiments on squid, cuttlefish and octopuses show that their balancing organs are so badly damaged by sound similar to submarine noise pollution that they become practically immobile. The consequences seem permanent. "For the first time we are seeing the effects of noise pollution on species that apparently have no use for sound," says Michel André of the Technical University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain. "We were shocked by the magnitude of the trauma," he says. The results of the experiments, in which André's team exposed captive cuttlefish, octopuses and squid to low-frequency sound for 2 hours, seem to confirm that "ear" damage in nine giant squid that unexpectedly washed up on Spanish beaches in 2001 and 2003 was caused by low-frequency sounds from nearby seismic surveys for oil and gas.Continue reading page | 1 | 2 UPDATE, April 6 : This article has elicited a considerable amount of interest, and some criticism. We always welcome discussions of the stories we publish.
Wind and wave energies are not renewable after all - environment - 30 March 2011 - New Scientist
One Per Cent: Green Machine: Electric charging, fast as petrol
Existing batteries used to power electric cars take up to eight hours to charge, compared to the few minutes it takes to fill a tank with petrol. While fast-charging units that can fill up a car in around 30 minutes are available, Amy Prieto and colleagues at Colorado State University in Fort Collins have now built a prototype battery with hairbrush-like electrodes that can be charged in just a few minutes. Lithium-ion batteries are the most popular devices for powering electric cars and portable electronic gadgets thanks to their high energy density and low weight. The batteries consist of a graphite anode and lithium cathode, with an electrolyte sandwiched between them.Finding someone to have sex with can be a trial. There are plenty of humans in the world, but the proportion who are desirable, live nearby and – crucially – are willing to have sex with you can be prohibitively small . Most of us make the quest still harder by ruling out half the population before we even start looking. At first glance it looks like the single-celled organism Tetrahymena thermophila has cracked this problem in spectacular fashion. It has not two but seven sexes, and each one can mate with any of the others, which opens up the field considerably. Unfortunately, they all look alike.
Zoologger: The hairy beast with seven fuzzy sexes - life - 02 March 2011 - New Scientist
Greenland and Antarctica are losing ice at a faster and faster rate, according to a new study that has tracked the rate of melting in two independent ways. At this rate, melting ice sheets could dominate sea level rise in the 21st century. The most recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggested that sea levels could rise by 18 centimetres to 59 cm by 2100 – but that estimate didn't take the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets into account.
Sea level's rise and rise is down to melting ice sheets - environment - 11 March 2011 - New Scientist
That's when food production is inflated through the unsustainable use of water and land. It's the water bubble we need to worry about now. The World Bank says that 15 per cent of Indians (175 million people) are fed by grain produced through overpumping - when water is pumped out of aquifers faster than they can be replenished. In China, the figure could be 130 million.
Earth economist: The food bubble is about to burst - environment - 10 February 2011 - New Scientist
Air capture, in which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere, has been touted as a potentially promising way to tackle climate change. That's because unlike carbon capture from power plant flue gases, the technology has the potential to reduce existing CO 2 levels, rather than simply slowing the rate of increase. To demonstrate that the technology works, Christopher Jones at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta tested a CO 2 absorbent based on amines - the chemicals predominantly used in power plant carbon capture trials - on gases with CO 2 concentrations similar to those found in ambient air.
One Per Cent: Green Machine: Sucking carbon dioxide out of the air
A blue-green revolution: Upgrading photosynthesis - environment - 22 February 2011 - New Scientist
FOOD prices are at an all-time high right now. And although they are unlikely to stay that way, the long-term outlook is clear. From an increasingly rich population in Asia demanding more meat to the weather growing ever wilder, there are many reasons to think the days of cheap food are over .Way back in 2008, we reported on a proposal for the Sahara Forest Project , an incredible sustainable solution to resource scarcity that would turn the Sahara Desert into a source for food, water, and energy. If you thought the idea was too good to be true, think again. Norway and Jordan recently signed an agreement to allow for the development of a pilot Sahara Forest Project system on a plot of land in a coastal area in Jordan. The group will also conduct a number of studies in Jordan, with financial backing from Norwegian authorities.
Norway and Jordan Sign Agreement to Make Sahara Forest Project Oasis a Reality Sahara Forest Project, original rendering – Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World
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