Archive for the 'Environment' Category
Up to 90% of Seabirds Have Plastic in Their Guts
August 31st, 2015Via: Guardian: As many as nine out of 10 of the world’s seabirds are likely to have pieces of plastic in their guts, a new study estimates. An Australian team of scientists who have studied birds and marine debris found that far more seabirds were affected than the previous estimate of 29%. Their results were […]
Pesticides in Paradise: Hawaii’s Spike in Birth Defects Puts Focus on GM Crops
August 24th, 2015Via: Guardian: Pediatrician Carla Nelson remembers catching sight of the unusually pale newborn, then hearing an abnormal heartbeat through the stethoscope and thinking that something was terribly wrong. The baby was born minutes before with a severe heart malformation that would require complex surgery. What worried her as she waited for the ambulance plane to […]
GMO: “Independent Expert” Was Actually Paid $25,000 by Monsanto
August 24th, 2015Via: GM Watch: In what appears to be an exercise in damage limitation, an article in the journal Nature has disclosed that Kevin Folta, a plant scientist at the University of Florida, received a US$25,000 grant last year from Monsanto. Monsanto noted that the money “may be used at your discretion in support of your […]
Typhoon Soudelor Kills 6 in Taiwan and Leaves Millions Without Power
August 8th, 2015Via: New York Times: A powerful typhoon pummeled Taiwan on Saturday, dumping rain, toppling trees and leaving millions without electricity as strong winds ripped across the island. At least six people were killed, Taiwan’s Interior Ministry said, including in its count people who had died Thursday and Friday as the storm approached. Five people were […]
Holding Your Breath in India
June 6th, 2015Via: New York Times: We gradually learned that Delhi’s true menace came from its air, water, food and flies. These perils sicken, disable and kill millions in India annually, making for one of the worst public health disasters in the world. Delhi, we discovered, is quietly suffering from a dire pediatric respiratory crisis, with a […]
Data Furnaces Arrive in Europe
May 28th, 2015Via: Ars Technica: Nerdalize is a small Dutch company that is trying to commercialise Microsoft’s data furnace idea. The first product is the eRadiator, which, given its size, probably contains two or three servers that pump out around 1000W of heat—probably just enough to heat a small room in winter. In an interview with the […]
State of Emergency Declared for Oil Spill Off Santa Barbara Coast
May 20th, 2015More oil drilling for New Zealand? Look and learn. Via: NBC: California Governor Jerry Brown on Wednesday issued an emergency proclamation for Santa Barbara County due to the effects of an oil spill near Refugio State Beach. Oil floating off the Southern California coast after a spill from a broken oil pipe now stretches about […]
Fracking Chemicals Contaminated Drinking Water in Pennsylvania
May 6th, 2015Via: The Verge: Traces of a chemical compound used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have been found in drinking water at three homes in Pennsylvania, according to a study published this week. The findings of the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, add to growing concerns over the public health […]
Like Shale Oil, Solar Power Is Shaking Up Global Energy
April 27th, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in NZ. — Unlike shale oil, however, solar power isn’t an unmitigated environmental disaster. Via: Reuters: One by one, Japan is turning off the lights at the giant oil-fired power plants that propelled it to the ranks of the world’s top industrialized nations. With nuclear power in the doldrums […]
Company Wants to Plant One Billion Trees a Year Using Drones
April 27th, 2015Terraforming… Our own planet. Via: Independent: A drone start-up is going to counter industrial scale deforestation using industrial scale reforestation. BioCarbon Engineering wants to use drones for good, using the technology to seed up to one billion trees a year, all without having to set foot on the ground. 26 billion trees are currently being […]
