Archive for the 'Environment' Category
‘High Level’ of Radiation Detected in Tokyo Park
April 25th, 2015Via: BBC: Japanese authorities have detected an unusually high level of radiation around playground equipment in a Tokyo park, report local media. The park, in the Toshima ward in central Tokyo, has been fenced off. Authorities recorded up to 480 microsieverts per hour at one spot – nearly half the recommended annual limit of exposure […]
Robot Dies After Three Hours Inside Fukushima Reactor
April 14th, 2015Watch the radiation monitor numbers on the video (lower right). That thing hits 24.9 sieverts per hour. In case you don’t have an understanding of how deadly that is, see this handy radiation dose chart. Via: Guardian: Decommissioning work at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has suffered a setback after a robot sent in […]
California Imposes First-Ever Mandatory Water Restrictions
April 2nd, 2015Via: Time: California’s governor issued unprecedented mandatory water restrictions for the entire state on Wednesday, in the face of a persistent drought that is growing dire. Governor Jerry Brown directed the State Water Resources Control Board to cut the state’s water usage by 25% by enacting a series of water-reduction practices, which could translate to […]
Peak… Sand?
March 26th, 2015Via: Wired: Apart from water and air, humble sand is the natural resource most consumed by human beings. People use more than 40 billion tons of sand and gravel every year. There’s so much demand that riverbeds and beaches around the world are being stripped bare. (Desert sand generally doesn’t work for construction; shaped by […]
Cost to Earthquake-Proof L.A.’s Crumbling Pipe System? $15 Billion
March 23rd, 2015Bone dry death trap… I wonder when I first used that term on here to describe where I’m from. Google spits up results from 2007, but I’m almost sure there are earlier ones. Anyway, quick hint about the phrase “mass evacuation”: You won’t want to be a part of that. Mmmkay? Via: Los Angeles Times: […]
France Decrees New Commercial Buildings Must Be Partially Covered in Plants or Solar Panels
March 20th, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — While I’d be thrilled to see more commercial buildings with plants and solar panels on top of them, I’m not so thrilled with the strong arm legislation used to get there. On the overall scheme of things, green rooftops and solar panel systems would be […]
Some Northern California Farmers Not Planting This Year, Will Make More Money Selling Water to Los Angeles
March 19th, 2015Via: CBS: The rice industry in the Sacramento Valley is taking a hard hit with the drought. Some farmers are skipping out on their fields this year, because they are cashing in on their water rights.
Flashback: “Oil Industry Helps Solve Radioactive Waste Problem”
March 16th, 2015Via: Truthstream Media: Truthstream uncovered several published newspaper accounts from the Spring of 1964 concerning a then-newly disclosed plan to dump nuclear waste produced by the atomic energy industry into hydraulic fracturing (fracking) wells using a cement slurry technique developed by Halliburton & Co. The top two fracking companies in the nation at the time […]
Altered Genes, Twisted Truth: How the Venture to Genetically Engineer Our Food Has Subverted Science, Corrupted Government, and Systematically Deceived the Public by Steven M. Druker
March 9th, 2015Via: Amazon: This book uncovers the biggest scientific fraud of our age. It tells the fascinating and frequently astounding story of how the massive enterprise to restructure the genetic core of the world’s food supply came into being, how it advanced by consistently violating the protocols of science, and how for more than three decades, […]
China Takes Under the Dome Anti-Pollution Film Offline
March 9th, 2015Here’s a version with English subtitles. Via: BBC: The authorities in China have a removed from websites a popular documentary which highlights the country’s severe pollution problem. Under the Dome explains the social and health costs of pollution, and was watched by more than 100 million people online, sparking debates. It was removed just two […]
