Synthetic Biology. Food. Planetary Boundaries. Rights of Nature. Anthropocene. Agriculture. Broken Earth. Buy a new Earth. New "Super Earth" Found at Right Distance for Life. A new planet—probably a rocky super-Earth—has been found squarely within its star's habitable zone, making it one of the best candidates yet to support life, its discoverers say. The planet, dubbed GJ 667Cc, orbits a red dwarf star 22 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Scorpio.
A binary pair of orange dwarf stars are part of the same system. (Related: "'Tatooine' Planet With Two Suns Could Host Habitable Moon? ") The new planet has a mass 4.5 times that of Earth and orbits its host star every 28 days. The red dwarf is relatively dim, so the planet receives slightly less light from its star than Earth does from the sun. That means if the planet has a rocky surface—which is predicted for planets less than ten times Earth's mass—and an atmosphere, it could support liquid water and maybe life, said co-discoverer Guillem Anglada-Escudé, who conducted the work while at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C.
Rocky Planet Around Unexpected Star. Closest Sun-Like Star May Have Livable Planet. What's the Latest Development? Astronomers at the University of Hertfordshire, UK, have discovered that the closest single star like our Sun may have an habitable planet in its orbit. The star, called Tau Ceti, is just twelve light years from Earth and is believed to have five planets surrounding it, all between two and six times the mass of planet Earth. "One of the planets lies in the habitable zone of the star and has a mass around five times that of Earth, making it the smallest planet found to be orbiting in the habitable zone of any Sun-like star. " The technique used to find the planets is new and twice as sensitive as past methods. What's the Big Idea? Photo credit: Shutterstock.com. Newly Discovered Earth-like Planet Could be Habitable | Surprising Science.
Awareness. NEO Earth Close Approaches. GEO - Group on Earth Observations. Global geospatial community to convene in Geneva on May 5-9 Geospatial Media and Communications, in partnership with the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and SwissTopo, will host the Geospatial World Forum on 5-9 May 2014 in Geneva. The conference will convene representatives of the geospatial commercial sector and government/policy end users. A program titled, "Geospatial Industry Forging Ties with GEOSS" will be held on Monday, 5 May, and the GEO Appathon 2014 will kick off on Wednesday, 7 May.
Find more information here. First Copernicus satellite, Sentinel 1A was launched successfully! The ability of European citizens, policymakers and service providers to access key environmental data on a routine basis will take a major step forward following the launch of ESA's Sentinel-1A satellite. The launch can be viewed here 10th GEO IGWCO COP Meeting Global Agriculture Ministers Recognize Value of GEOGLAM GEO Issues GEOSS AIP Call for Participation GEO Congratulates JAXA-NASA on GPM Launch.
Gaia hypothesis. The study of planetary habitability is partly based upon extrapolation from knowledge of the Earth's conditions, as the Earth is the only planet currently known to harbour life The Gaia hypothesis, also known as Gaia theory or Gaia principle, proposes that organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a self-regulating, complex system that contributes to maintaining the conditions for life on the planet. Topics of interest include how the biosphere and the evolution of life forms affect the stability of global temperature, ocean salinity, oxygen in the atmosphere and other environmental variables that affect the habitability of Earth.
Introduction[edit] Less accepted versions of the hypothesis claim that changes in the biosphere are brought about through the coordination of living organisms and maintain those conditions through homeostasis. In some versions of Gaia philosophy, all lifeforms are considered part of one single living planetary being called Gaia.
Silent Spring. Silent Spring is an environmental science book written by Rachel Carson and published by Houghton Mifflin on September 27, 1962.[1] The book documented the detrimental effects on the environment—particularly on birds—of the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation and public officials of accepting industry claims unquestioningly. In the late 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation, especially environmental problems that she believed were caused by synthetic pesticides. The result was Silent Spring (1962), which brought environmental concerns to the American public.
Silent Spring was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, but it spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy, led to a nationwide ban on DDT for agricultural uses,[2] and inspired an environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.[3][4] Research and writing[edit] Content[edit] Silent Spring Institute | Welcome.
Mobile Apps for Exploring Nature. This post appears courtesy of SciStarter, a blog and online resource for citizen scientists. I often get sidetracked after using the W-A-L-K word out loud in front of my dog. Sometimes, I am looking for misplaced sneakers or sunglasses, but today I am downloading a few citizen science apps to my iPhone in hopes of turning our midday walk into an urban naturalist adventure. Mila, a fluffy herding mix, sits at attention, impatiently staring at me with her “didn’t you say we were going for a walk?” Expression as I poke at the phone and the app icons appear on the screen. For most dogs and the people attached to the far end of their leashes, a walk around the neighborhood is a regular part of the day. This is especially in urban areas where fenced in backyards aren’t common. I choose three citizen science apps: SciSpy, iNaturalist, Project Noah. Five blocks with SciSpy Tree!
Five blocks with iNaturalist Five blocks with Project Noah Aha! Navdanya. Vandana Shiva: Earth Democracy at PCC. The Story of Stuff Project. CC_2012_FinalScores. Deep ecology. Deep ecology is a contemporary ecological and environmental philosophy characterized by its advocacy of the inherent worth of living beings regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs, and advocacy for a radical restructuring of modern human societies in accordance with such ideas.
Deep ecology argues that the natural world is a subtle balance of complex inter-relationships in which the existence of organisms is dependent on the existence of others within ecosystems.[1] Human interference with or destruction of the natural world poses a threat therefore not only to humans but to all organisms constituting the natural order. Deep ecology's core principle is the belief that the living environment as a whole should be respected and regarded as having certain inalienable legal rights to live and flourish, independent of their utilitarian instrumental benefits for human use. Principles[edit] These principles can be refined down into three simple propositions: Development[edit] List of environmental organizations. This is a list of the more notable environmental organizations by organization type (intergovernmental, governmental or non-governmental) and further subdivided by country.
Intergovernmental organizations[edit] Worldwide[edit] Regional[edit] Local governments[edit] ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability Government organizations[edit] The governments of many countries have ministries or agencies devoted to monitoring and protecting the environment: Non-governmental organizations[edit] These non-governmental organizations are involved in environmental management, lobbying, advocacy, and/or conservation efforts: Children's organizations[edit] Project Green Oman Fictional[edit] See also[edit]
Earth911.com. Wind Map. An invisible, ancient source of energy surrounds us—energy that powered the first explorations of the world, and that may be a key to the future. This map shows you the delicate tracery of wind flowing over the US. The wind map is a personal art project, not associated with any company. We've done our best to make this as accurate as possible, but can't make any guarantees about the correctness of the data or our software. Please do not use the map or its data to fly a plane, sail a boat, or fight wildfires :-) If the map is missing or seems slow, we recommend the latest Chrome browser. Surface wind data comes from the National Digital Forecast Database. If you're looking for a weather map, or just want more detail on the weather today, see these more traditional maps of temperature and wind.
Home - Climate CoLab. Home page | Planetary Skin Institute. Biomimicry 3.8. Ecovative Design | Ecovative Design. Open Source Ecology. Building Energy Efficient With Energy Management Software and Sustainable Materials. Capture solar power with your curtains. LONDON, England (CNN) -- Imagine every time you closed your curtains, you were capturing enough solar energy to power your laptop. The technology is available, but no one's packaged it up in a handy DIY kit at your local hardware store. Solar textiles use the same technology as traditional solar panels to convert sunlight into energy.
Sheila Kennedy hopes to be the first. She's not an interior designer but an architect and professor in practice at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is convinced that solar textiles will revolutionize the way we collect and consume power. "I've been thinking about what happens when power and light become flexible, literally flexible," she said. She calls it "soft power," as in the "soft energy path," a term coined Amory Lovins in the 1970s as a way to describe a world where renewable energy would gradually replace the centralized grid. Kennedy's work with soft power builds on both of these ideas. Its limitations are its performance. BioBag is the World’s largest selling brand of certified compostable, 100% biodegradable bags and films. Save Water America: Home. Solutions | For a sustainable and desirable future.