Archive for the 'Environment' Category
Photographer Sneaks Into Fukushima Exclusion Zone
July 13th, 2016Via: Daily Mail: More than five years after the devastating tsunami and the 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck north-eastern Japan, causing the explosion of the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, the Japanese town remains abandoned. Since April 22, 2011, an area within 20km (12.4miles) radius of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power plant has been cordoned off from the […]
FEMA Contractor Predicts ‘Social Unrest’ Caused by 395% Food Price Spikes
June 27th, 2016Mmm hmm. Via: Vice: The US national security industry is planning for the impact of an unprecedented global food crisis lasting as long as a decade, according to reports by a government contractor. The studies published by CNA Corporation in December 2015, unreported until now, describe a detailed simulation of a protracted global food crisis […]
While Brazil Was Eradicating Zika Mosquitoes, America Made Them Into Weapons
June 24th, 2016Via: Atlas Obscura: In the 1950s, while in South America military-like brigades were hunting down Aedes aegypti, in the United States, the Army was falling in love with the same mosquito. At Fort Detrick, the military’s biological weapons base in Maryland, in great secret, Army scientists were considering how fleas, grasshoppers, and mosquitoes might be […]
Department of Energy: Warning Messages for Future Humans to Avoid Radioactive Waste Dumps
June 7th, 2016Wikipedia: Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: For the case of the WIPP, the markers, called “passive institutional controls”, will include an outer perimeter of thirty-two 25-foot (7.6 m)-tall granite pillars built in a four-mile (6 km) square. These pillars will surround an earthen wall, 33 feet (10 m) tall and 100 feet (30 m) wide. Enclosed […]
No, Norway Isn’t Banning Diesel and Petrol Cars – Yet
June 6th, 2016Via: TheLocal: A report that Norwegian politicians agreed to ban the sale of diesel and petrol-powered cars by 2025 quickly flew around the world, but it is “not correct”. At least not yet.
Trump Outlines ‘America First’ Energy Plan: Coal, Oil, Gas
May 26th, 2016Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Ok. Well. Here we go. Solar and wind are already cheaper in some markets than coal and they are just getting started. Even in a place like New Zealand, with maximum hostility toward solar, the number of installations keep doubling. The same sort of doubling […]
Lake Mead Declines to Lowest Level in History
May 20th, 2016Via: Desert Sun: The nation’s largest reservoir has broken a record, declining to the lowest level since it was filled in the 1930s. Lake Mead reached the new all-time low on Wednesday night, slipping below a previous record set in June 2015.
The Coming Wide-Spread Use of Drones in Agriculture
May 10th, 2016Via: Hackaday: Let’s cover what drones can offer and what growers can use, then dig into what is out there and happening over some fields right now. These Things are Important to Farmers, but are Limited or Troublesome Confirmation: Verifying that plants are growing where and when they should, and checking this as early and […]
Not a Typo: Chinese Company Pays NZ$526 for 146 Million Litres of Water a Year… In a Drought Zone
April 27th, 2016I like to think of NZ as a sort of remote, limited bandwidth version of a Mr. Lee’s Greater Hong Kong franchise: Via: Radio NZ: A veritable drop in the ocean. No, we’re talking about fresh water. Forget it, Nick. This is Chinatown. Pardon? Nothing.
Prescription Meds Get Trapped in Disturbing Pee-to-Food-to-Pee Loop
April 24th, 2016Via: Ars Technica: If you love something, set it free… so the old adage goes. Well, if the things you love are pharmaceuticals, then you’re in luck. Through vegetables and fruits, the drugs that we flush down the drain are returning to us—though we’ll ultimately pee them out again. (Love is complicated, after all) In […]
