Sustainability
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96 - the number of new daily low temperature records that have been set so far this year* in the United States. (link) 1,970 - the number of new daily high temperature records that have been set so far this year* in the United States.
Climate change, or just coincidence? Some numbers to help you decide...
The Future of Marine Fish Resources
December 2009 Overfishing continues despite repeated warnings about the decline in the ocean’s population of Atlantic, or Northern, bluefin tuna ((Thunnus thynnus). Source: Osaka Aquarium, Japan; OpenCage.info. Fisheries have transformed the world’s oceans .Who's to blame for supermarket rejection of 'ugly' fruit and vegetables?
Huge amounts of perfectly edible, nutritious fresh produce is wasted for not meeting cosmetic standards. Professor Davey Jones of Bangor University has been conducting studies on farms in East Anglia and has been shocked by just how much food waste is still edible. 'I’ve walked through fields after harvest and 90 per cent of the wasted crop is still worthwhile. Supermarkets have pushed the prices so low for vegetables sometimes it’s not economically viable for farmers to even harvest the good stuff and entire fields get ploughed in - it’s heart breaking.'
German village generates 321 percent more renewable energy than it needs, earns millions selling it back to national power grid
(NaturalNews) Developing a renewable energy system that creates energy independence and even a considerable new source of revenue is not some sort of sci-fi pipe dream. BioCycle reports that the German village of Wildpoldsried, population 2,600, has had such incredible success in building its renewable energy system. Wildpoldsried generates 321 percent more renewable energy than it uses, and it now sells the excess back to the national power grid for roughly $5.7 million in additional revenue every single year. By utilizing a unique combination of solar panels, "biogas" generators, natural wastewater treatment plants, and wind turbines, Wildpoldsried has effectively eliminated its need to be attached to a centralized power grid, and created a thriving renewable energy sector in the town that is self-sustaining and abundantly beneficial for the local economy, the environment, and the public.
Has Earth Passed the Tipping Point?
Worldwide, carbon dioxide (CO2) levels have risen again , according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The rise, a disturbing 2.6 parts per million over 2006 levels, is attributed primarily to the burning of fossil fuels. However, another factor, which may present its own tipping point, is global warming’s effect on forests.
Slow Food: Shared Meals, Shared Knowledge
This year, Slow Food USA, which defines “slow food” as good for its eaters, its producers and the environment — a definition anyone can get behind — set out to demonstrate that slow food can also be affordable, not only a better alternative to fast food but a less expensive one. The organization issued a $5 Challenge with the inspired rallying cry of “take back the ‘value meal’,” which in most fast food restaurants runs somewhere around five bucks. Under the leadership of its president, Josh Viertel, Slow Food has moved from a group of rah-rah supporters of artisanal foods to become a determined booster of sustainability and of real food for everyone.
What happened when one family went back to basics for a month? | Environment | The Observer
It starts badly. When I arrive at the chalet the first thing I notice is that some idiot has stolen one of the water butts. The last time I saw it, it was full of 200 litres of water.
The sheet of paper looks like any other document that might have just come spitting out of an office printer, with an array of colored rectangles printed over much of its surface.
While you’re up, print me a solar cell
Excess Farm Harvests Gleaned to Feed the Hungry (Video)
Image credit: The Perennial Plate What to do about hunger is a complicated business. While some people are arguing that food banks are part of the problem , others are calling on supermarkets to waste nothing and donate what they can't sell . Some restaurants are even instigating "everybody eats" policies —turning nobody away for lack of funds. In California, one group of activists is helping feed the hungry—and offering an alternative to the often over-processed foods at the food bank—by going direct to the farms. It turns out that most farms have a lot of excess, and that excess can be put to good use.You Can't be Both a Tea Partier and an Environmentalist. Sorry.
Photo credit: ryanjreily via Flickr/CC BY The line gets drawn somewhere, folks. Lately, I've been receiving a bunch of comments asking me to lay off the Tea Party. One quipped that "it's not like every person who believes in personal accountability and smaller government wants to strangle penguins and club pandas." He's right -- it's not like that. If you support the Tea Party, then what you're doing to the environment is much, much worse.Solar Cells Can Now Be Printed on Anything, Even Paper and Fabric
Photo by Patrick Gillooly via MIT News Researchers at MIT have figured out how to print photovoltaic cells on every-day materials like paper or fabric -- and the process is practically the same is printing this article out on your desk printer. MIT reports that a team of researchers has published a new paper in the journal Advanced Materials detailing how solar cells can be printed as easily and as cheaply as "printing a photo on your inkjet" thanks to new special inks. "The sheet of paper looks like any other document that might have just come spitting out of an office printer, with an array of colored rectangles printed over much of its surface. But then a researcher picks it up, clips a couple of wires to one end, and shines a light on the paper. Instantly an LCD clock display at the other end of the wires starts to display the time," reports MIT news.It seems like a new prediction pops up for how we will use renewable energy in the coming decades every day. Will we be using all solar in two years? In five? Will we use more nuclear, or less? Experts love making predictions. Here, we round up some of the most exciting (and upsetting) predictions that have been made in the last few months.