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 March 4, 2011 and has No Comments
Winter floods always bring a rush of concern about the amount of water being "wasted" as it rushes out to the ocean. A serious problem with urban landscapes, particularly those on coastlines or near deltas, is that rainwater washes straight into storm drain systems and out to sea, rather than being soaked up by the soil and replenishing the ...
Read more...published February 17, 2011 and has No Comments
Photo by Jaymi Heimbuch The topic of Peak Water is always top of mind here at TreeHugger, and we're constantly reading up on the subject, from what exactly "peak water" means, to the implications running out of water will have on humans and ecosystems. How are we running out of water, what happens when we do, and how can ...
Read more...published February 12, 2011 and has No Comments
Thirsty? An image from the documentary Gasland depicts the dangers of fracking. Of the worthy films up for Best Documentary at the Academy Awards this year, two focus on environmental issues. Though much interest involves British guerilla street artist, Banksy, showing up in a monkey mask for his Exit Through the Gift Shop , another film about an artist, ...
Read more...published February 3, 2011 and has No Comments
Photo by Prince Roy via Flickr Creative Commons Water rights holders get paid to leave water in streams, businesses pay to clean up water... it sounds too good to be true, yet it's a solution that is already in practice and working today. Rob Harmon of the nonprofit Bonneville Environmental Foundation, explains the plan they put together for a ...
Read more...published January 19, 2011 and has No Comments
Photo by feserc via Flickr Creative Commons As groundwater supplies dwindle, it's only natural to start digging deeper, hoping to access more water the farther down we go. However, that could lead to some serious problems, as a new study of wells in Vietnam has shown. In tests of 512 private wells that reach from 33 to 164 feed, ...
Read more...published January 15, 2011 and has No Comments
Image: whowillwewill.com However the referendum in South Sudan turns out, one thing will not go away quickly: the lack of water in the region. The International Committee of the Red Cross, however, is at work on a project that will mitigate that problem in at least one town, and will hopefully be replicated in other regions if ... Read ...
Read more...published December 27, 2010 and has No Comments
Three Gorges Dam. Photo by Britrob via Flickr Creative Commons Knowing that China is hurting for water , it comes as no surprise that the country is setting aside a massive $30 billion for water conservation during 2011. China's rapid growth could be stalled by water shortages , which is needed for everything from manufacturing to mining to generating ...
Read more...published December 27, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo via University of Washington Disinfecting water with the sun is an old idea. But students at University of Washington have come up with a clever way of checking whether or not the water being disinfected is finally ready to drink. Using simple parts, their cheap set-up is a solution for safe drinking water in poor areas, and it ...
Read more...published December 22, 2010 and has No Comments
Image: "Are Oral Contraceptives a Significant Contributor to the Estrogenicity of Drinking Water?" by Amber Wise, et. al. at ACS Publications You may have heard the rumor, or even bought into the popular belief, that taking birth control pills is causing high levels of female hormones in the environment, leading to the feminization of frogs, fish, and other aquatic ...
Read more...published December 22, 2010 and has No Comments
Images via Blue Water Satellite Using satellites helps us monitor everything from animal migrations to forest cover to water supply levels. And now Blue Water Satellite has come up with another perfect use -- monitoring toxic blooms of blue-green algae in lakes, rivers and reservoirs. Blue-green algae makes news as a foul-smelling killer found everywhere from China to Original ...
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Contrary to previously held notions of how whale songs are shared between neighboring populations, a surprising study finds that whales living the same ocean basin are singing different songs. Read the original post: Study: Humpback Whales Living in Same Ocean ...
"The technology that we have here gives us a first-ever look at the Amazon in its full three-dimensional detail, over very large regions," says the study's lead researcher. Here is the original post: Lasers Used to Generate Remarkably Detailed 3D ...
