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 October 21, 2011 and has No Comments
? Courtesy of Jeremy Dunn If this was done on purpose, I hope they catch whoever did this... Jeremy Dunn, a Portland cyclist, found something strange on his path while he as riding westbound on the bike lane on NE Marine Drive. A piece of tar paper with thumb-tacks pushed through it so they are perpendicular to the ground, ...
Read more...published October 21, 2011 and has No Comments
? Michael Melford/National Geographic The Merced River in Yosemite National Park, California, boasts 114.5 miles protected since 1987 with an additional 8 miles added in 1992. However, this represents a portion of a much less encouraging number. Try 0.35%. That's the percent of all US river miles that are currently protected by law. Joel K Bourne, Jr. celebrates the ...
Read more...published October 21, 2011 and has No Comments
Environmental Science and Technology /via Turns out that the plastic pollution problem in the world's oceans is not just a result of improper or irresponsible disposal of our waste : Some of the plastic collecting in the oceans is coming directly from our washing machines. A story in Environmental Science and Techn... Read the full story on TreeHugger Read ...
Read more...published October 21, 2011 and has No Comments
Photo credit: langalex via Flickr/CC BY Much of the world is impatiently waiting for clean energy to get more affordable and more efficient. Renewable power advocates eagerly await the day when technologies like solar and wind reach 'grid parity' in mainstream markets. This is already happening: The cost of manufacturing solar photovoltaics, for instance, is plummeting, and efficiency is ...
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? Shawn Heinrichs for the Pew Environment Group Pew Environment Group this week released a series of photos that are simply jaw-dropping as they reveal the scale of shark fishing for fins. The group released a report earlier this year noting the world's 20 largest shark catchers, including Taiwan, which is where these photos were taken. ... Read the ...
Read more...published October 21, 2011 and has No Comments
From sail-powered cargo ships to kite-powered freighters , there have been some promising signs of wind-power returning to international shipping. The Tres Hombres is a wind-powered ship providing a freight service between continental Europe, the UK and the Americas. Rob Hopkins of the Transition Movement has just recorded a podcast on Read the rest here: Sail Powered Shipping Makes a ...
Read more...published October 20, 2011 and has No Comments
Credit: NASA When our earliest ancestors first learned to manipulate perhaps the most powerful of natural forces by creating and harnessing fire, it set the human species on a trajectory towards global domination from which we, for better or worse, have yet to veer. What began as humble campfire flames flickering in the otherwise pitch-black, prehistoric night, now propels ...
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Photo credit: o paisson via Flickr/CC BY Over the last few years, President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson has seen disasters both financial and environmental wrack his tiny island nation of Iceland. The Nordic country was at the center of the economic meltdown in 2007, when each of its three major banks collapsed. Since then, Iceland has made headlines when it ...
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? Chris Tackett One of the big takeaways from SxSW Eco for me was the importance of getting kids to understand and care about the environment. This topic came up in a number of panels and was a popular idea on Twitter . On one day of the conference, a group of students from the The Khabele School in ...
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Official US Navy Imagery / CC BY 2.0 Some telling stats from a new poll by the University of Texas on how people in the United States feel about current national energy policy (h/t Yale e360 ): Just over 3400 people were surveyed, with 76% of them think the country isn't making adequate progress on renewable energy and energy ...
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This hand operated gramophone is as simple as it gets. Original post: Minimalist Gramophone Makes Playing Music Super Simple
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 ...
