Photo via the New Republic It's a widely held notion that politicians have long been in the pocket of Big Oil. And there's good reason for that perception: oil companies' huge campaign donations, vast lobbying power, and close ties to politicians have ensured that their taxes remain low , that hidden subsidies are around to provide extra funding, and that they receive preferential treatment in US energy policy. But there could be a new, ... View original post here: The Next Big Oil: Big Smart Grid?
So there really isn't anything that deep to this image. It's just a (more or less) life-sized blue whale eye. And on the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society site you can educate yourself/be mesmerized/ waste some time for a while staring at it while the entire life-sized animal scrolls across your browser window. Believe me, it's way cooler than you might think:... Read more from the original source: Ever See a Blue Whale Life-Sized on Your Computer? Now You Can
published July 29, 2010 and has No Comments
Image via BBC The warming temperatures of the ocean are problematic for many species, but especially worrisome is the impact hotter water has on cornerstone species upon which many other marine animals rely. Usually we hear about changes in ocean temperature impacting coral reefs , but now scientists are finding that across the globe, phytoplankton -- the food for ...
Read more...published July 29, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo via laffy4k The Cove has shaken up globe when it comes to dolphin hunting. The Oscar-winning documentary brought Japan's slaughter of cetaceans into the tunnel vision of mainstream audiences -- no small feat for small scale documentary makers. Now, the film's director, Louie Psihoyos, is latching on to the craze of 3D and starting a new project, The ...
Read more...published July 28, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo by clogozm Every year, the Natural Resources Defense Council runs a survey of our beaches and marine habitats to find out which are safe and which need help to recover from abuse. Earlier in the month, the organization put out a map specifically of beaches closed by the Gulf oil disaster . But now, its 2010 report for ...
Read more...published July 28, 2010 and has No Comments
photo: US Coast Guard A new report by The Center for Public Integrity reveals that, in the hours after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig caught on fire, the US Coast Guard failed to follow its own internal firefighting procedures, potentially causing the rig to sink and the riser pipe, from which the majority of the oil in the Gulf ...
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Photo by ezioman NASA is a constant help in monitoring water supplies and conditions, from groundwater supplies in California to ocean dead zones worldwide . But every day the technology gets more helpful, and with USEPA estimating that over 20,000 water bodies within the United States do not meet water quality standards, it's ... Read the full story on ...
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Photo via eutrophication&hypoxia Earlier this week, we pointed out that only a small fraction of China's water is usable , let alone drinkable. And yet, the country is at the height of development. How can a country with so many people doing so much building and mimicking wasteful western ways have enough water to supply the demand. According to ...
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Photo via US Geological Survey The impact of ocean acidification on sea life is becoming better understood in areas like coral reefs, where impacts like bleaching, altered shells of crustaceans , and even a Go here to see the original: Ocean Acidification Changing Polar Waters Fastest
Read more...published July 27, 2010 and has No Comments
Kalamazoo River map via Wikipedia . Here we go again... Not too much on this one yet, but Detroit News reports that Environmental Protection Agency officials have said that as much as one million gallons of oil has leaked from a pipeline owned by Enbridge Liquid Pipelines into a creek flowing into the Kalamazoo River near Battle Creek, Michig... ...
Read more...published July 27, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo via National Marine Sanctuaries As the ocean absorbs more of the carbon dioxide we're pumping into the atmosphere, its chemistry changes and it is becoming much more acidic. This ocean acidification is causing problems from bleaching coral reefs to altering the make-up crustacean's shells. But for the first time, scientists are finding that it is also playing havoc ...
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Image by milena mihaylova Sewage is a surprising resource when it comes to harvesting energy during its treatment. According to researchers from Oregon State University, investing a little more in sewage could provide substantially bigger yields. They've found that adding gold nano-coatings to the anode chamber of a fuel cell could help produce 20 times more electricity from sewage ...
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A Finnish designer has made a working surfboard from broken skateboards. Read the original here: Hollow Surfboard Is Made from Broken Skateboards
How to grow tastier tomatoes and how to make food taste sweeter without sugar: just two amazing discoveries from a study of the chemical interactions underlying tomato flavor preferences Read the rest here: The Secrets of Tasty Tomatoes Discovered - Can ...
