Showing posts with label hope. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hope. Show all posts
So bad, I can't keep track of it anymore without losing it.
Sorry, I can't do it right now. Maybe soon. Thank you.
Really interesting!
Great article about planned urban shrinkage and creation of city land banks in Flint, MI.
"Instead of waiting for houses to become abandoned and then pulling them down, local leaders are talking about demolishing entire blocks and even whole neighborhoods.
The population would be condensed into a few viable areas. So would stores and services. A city built to manufacture cars would be returned in large measure to the forest primeval.
“Decline in Flint is like gravity, a fact of life,” said Dan Kildee, the Genesee County treasurer and chief spokesman for the movement to shrink Flint. “We need to control it instead of letting it control us.”"
Well, an entirely glorious thing.
"The discovery of a population of some 125,000 lowland gorillas has been hailed by conservationists as "absolutely fantastic news". LINK
This is lovely.
Solar power offers some hope.
Thanks B!
"A tiny rectangle superimposed on the vast expanse of the Sahara captures the seductive appeal of the audacious plan to cut Europe's carbon emissions by harnessing the fierce power of the desert sun.
Dwarfed by any of the north African nations, it represents an area slightly smaller than Wales but scientists claimed yesterday it could one day generate enough solar energy to supply all of Europe with clean electricity." LINK
Dwarfed by any of the north African nations, it represents an area slightly smaller than Wales but scientists claimed yesterday it could one day generate enough solar energy to supply all of Europe with clean electricity." LINK
Taiwan to close highway to allow butterfly migration. Very cool, Taiwan.
"Taiwan is to close one lane of a major highway to protect more than a million butterflies, which cross the road on their seasonal migration.
The purple milkweed butterfly, which winters in the south of the island, passes over some 600m of motorway to reach its breeding ground in the north.
"Human beings need to coexist with the other species, even if they are tiny butterflies," Lee Thay-ming, of the National Freeway Bureau, told the AFP news agency. " LINK
Rule Britannia
"LONDON (Reuters) - The British capital set out on Tuesday to become the greenest city in the world with a radical climate action plan to cut carbon emissions by 60 percent within 20 years in the battle against global warming.
The plan aims to slash carbon output by reducing demand and wastage across the whole spectrum from individuals to households, businesses and local governments.
"This will make London the first city in the world to have a really comprehensive plan to cut its carbon emissions," Mark Watts, climate change adviser to London Mayor Ken Livingstone, told Reuters in an interview."LINK
The plan aims to slash carbon output by reducing demand and wastage across the whole spectrum from individuals to households, businesses and local governments.
"This will make London the first city in the world to have a really comprehensive plan to cut its carbon emissions," Mark Watts, climate change adviser to London Mayor Ken Livingstone, told Reuters in an interview."LINK
Brilliant!
Great story out of Australia-
"SYDNEY, Australia - Australia will be the world’s first country to ban incandescent lightbulbs in a bid to curb greenhouse gas emissions, with the government saying on Tuesday they would be phased out within three years and replaced by compact fluorescent lighting." LINK
Thanks to the tip from the Amazing B!
"SYDNEY, Australia - Australia will be the world’s first country to ban incandescent lightbulbs in a bid to curb greenhouse gas emissions, with the government saying on Tuesday they would be phased out within three years and replaced by compact fluorescent lighting." LINK
Thanks to the tip from the Amazing B!
UK's 3rd largest grocery to reduce packaging.
This has been fantastic. The always interesting Independent began a publicity campaign to draw attention to wasteful, unecessary, and sometimes even humourously excessive packaging. Readers were encouraged to write in to the paper with examples of the most ridiculous packages, and reporters were dispatched to the largest groceries to ask top management why produce should be wrapped in plastic.
These are a few of my favorite reader stories from the campaign:
"At a supermarket in Edinburgh I saw a turnip that was branded as "grown in Scotland". It was shrink wrapped, and the label said: "packaged in Kent".
Mark Sydenham
Despite many swede fields near by, the Co-op in Aberfoyle offers shrink-wrapped swede, from Tasmania.
Prof Stephen Baron
In Asda, I have seen coconuts shrink-wrapped.
Melissa Gooch" LINK
Well, the campaign is working! The UK's 3rd largest grocery is going to strip produce of packaging in a test store, and based on the results, is considering doing the same at all of it's stores.
"The stores involved in the trial will not be named to protect the experiment. Packaging will be removed from 60 lines of fresh produce, including carrots, broad beans and courgettes. Only produce deemed "fragile", such as raspberries, will remain packed to prevent damage.
A company spokesman said: "The move heralds a return to old-fashioned retailing methods - the first step taken towards the past by any retailer for almost 60 years."" LINK
These are a few of my favorite reader stories from the campaign:
"At a supermarket in Edinburgh I saw a turnip that was branded as "grown in Scotland". It was shrink wrapped, and the label said: "packaged in Kent".
Mark Sydenham
Despite many swede fields near by, the Co-op in Aberfoyle offers shrink-wrapped swede, from Tasmania.
Prof Stephen Baron
In Asda, I have seen coconuts shrink-wrapped.
Melissa Gooch" LINK
Well, the campaign is working! The UK's 3rd largest grocery is going to strip produce of packaging in a test store, and based on the results, is considering doing the same at all of it's stores.
"The stores involved in the trial will not be named to protect the experiment. Packaging will be removed from 60 lines of fresh produce, including carrots, broad beans and courgettes. Only produce deemed "fragile", such as raspberries, will remain packed to prevent damage.
A company spokesman said: "The move heralds a return to old-fashioned retailing methods - the first step taken towards the past by any retailer for almost 60 years."" LINK
Ecocity planned in China. Yeah, China.
The US is geting lapped. This sounds phenomenal!
"All the buildings in Dongtan will be self-sufficient in their energy use, with power coming from a combination of wind power, solar power and other renewable sources. All the apartments and houses will be within seven minutes' walk of public transport. Most of the citizens of Dongtan will work within the city and all buildings, made of local materials, will use a combination of traditional and new construction technologies.
This is the biggest single building project in the world, and it's taking place in a country many see as the biggest risk to the planet's green future. The urbanisation process in China is astonishing - there are already 90 cities with more than a million residents, and 400 million people are expected to move from the countryside to cities in the next 30 years.
The project has been given initial approval by the central government in Beijing and the remaining permissions are expected after Chinese new year later this month.
The initial phase will be finished by 2010, when the Expo fair comes to Shanghai, and it is forecast that by 2030 there will be more than 500,000 people living here." LINK
"All the buildings in Dongtan will be self-sufficient in their energy use, with power coming from a combination of wind power, solar power and other renewable sources. All the apartments and houses will be within seven minutes' walk of public transport. Most of the citizens of Dongtan will work within the city and all buildings, made of local materials, will use a combination of traditional and new construction technologies.
This is the biggest single building project in the world, and it's taking place in a country many see as the biggest risk to the planet's green future. The urbanisation process in China is astonishing - there are already 90 cities with more than a million residents, and 400 million people are expected to move from the countryside to cities in the next 30 years.
The project has been given initial approval by the central government in Beijing and the remaining permissions are expected after Chinese new year later this month.
The initial phase will be finished by 2010, when the Expo fair comes to Shanghai, and it is forecast that by 2030 there will be more than 500,000 people living here." LINK
This is brilliant! The $100 laptop to be offered to the public! With an awesome catch.
Oh Frubjous Day! Calloo! Callay! This is the happiest you might ever see me.
The incredibly cool One Laptop Per Child program is not only up and running, but they've decided to sell the super-cool $100 laptops to the general public, expanding beyond the government-contract only availability that they planned. But here's the super sweet, amazingly awesome catch:
"Customers will have to buy two laptops at once - with the second going to the developing world." LINK
I can't even say how thrilling this initiative is. Read up on it- it's the kind of thing that gives one hope in a hopeless world.
OLPC home
wikipedia on OLPC
The incredibly cool One Laptop Per Child program is not only up and running, but they've decided to sell the super-cool $100 laptops to the general public, expanding beyond the government-contract only availability that they planned. But here's the super sweet, amazingly awesome catch:
"Customers will have to buy two laptops at once - with the second going to the developing world." LINK
I can't even say how thrilling this initiative is. Read up on it- it's the kind of thing that gives one hope in a hopeless world.
OLPC home
wikipedia on OLPC
Finally, a zoo exhibit I don't object to.
Homo sapiens are the newest addition to the exhibits at the Adelaide, Australia zoo. These members of the Hominoidea family of primates "will be monitored by a psychologist who hopes to use the findings to improve conditions for real apes in captivity."
LINK
LINK
Switchgrass study- ethanol at $1 per gallon? Go URI!
Well, I might be biased (in the interest of full disclosure, someone I call kin is involved in this project) but this is an exciting development.
"“Switchgrass is a native plant of the tall grass prairies. It grows 12 feet tall in one season and produces 10 tons of plant material an acre, more biomass per year than most other plants,” said Albert Kausch, a University of Rhode Island plant geneticist on the cutting edge of switchgrass research. “I’m confident my lab can make it produce 20 tons an acre using the tools and personnel we have right now.” And because switchgrass is a perennial plant, it doesn’t require replanting year after year."
LINK
"“Switchgrass is a native plant of the tall grass prairies. It grows 12 feet tall in one season and produces 10 tons of plant material an acre, more biomass per year than most other plants,” said Albert Kausch, a University of Rhode Island plant geneticist on the cutting edge of switchgrass research. “I’m confident my lab can make it produce 20 tons an acre using the tools and personnel we have right now.” And because switchgrass is a perennial plant, it doesn’t require replanting year after year."
LINK
Something lovely and quite positive- go pond scum, go!
Algae! Yay!
Seriously, this is very very cool. Research into using algae as a source for biofuels is proving very productive-
""Soybeans can give you 50 to 60 gallons of oil an acre compared to 75 to 125 gallons for canola, but algae is almost limitless because it grows so fast, so potentially you could get 10,000 gallons per acre." And while plants require a lot of fuel to sow and harvest and additional fertilizer and fresh water to nourish, algae can be continuously harvested from closed water-based bioreactors that require little additional replenishment other than inorganic fuel supplied in the form of waste gas."
LINK
Seriously, this is very very cool. Research into using algae as a source for biofuels is proving very productive-
""Soybeans can give you 50 to 60 gallons of oil an acre compared to 75 to 125 gallons for canola, but algae is almost limitless because it grows so fast, so potentially you could get 10,000 gallons per acre." And while plants require a lot of fuel to sow and harvest and additional fertilizer and fresh water to nourish, algae can be continuously harvested from closed water-based bioreactors that require little additional replenishment other than inorganic fuel supplied in the form of waste gas."
LINK
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