Faithful readers, I hope you will bear with me over the next couple of days. I am having weird problems with my mice, and needless to say, the lack of a properly functioning mouse is a big obstacle to efficient computer use. The result will likely be fewer posts and/or fewer links in posts. I […]
Read more...A MarketWatch story says that there is a surprisingly effective motivation for people to conserve energy: keeping up with the Joneses. Research indicates that setting an example is more effective than one might think. So whether it’s owning a Prius, using florescent bulbs, or eating more plant proteins (fish and meat are higher up the […]
Read more...Today, the BBC and the Telegraph, among others, discussed the proposal of James Lovelock of Oxford and Chris Rapley, former head of the British Antarctic Survey, to reduce CO2 levels by pumping it into the deep ocean. Note that this is a type of carbon sequestration. Lovelock and Rapley believe this action is necessary because […]
Read more...The Financial Times, in “Wal-Mart seeks emissions data,” reports that the Bentonville behemoth is out to make it suppliers greener: Wal-Mart is to ask its suppliers to measure and report their greenhouse gas emissions, in the biggest move to disclose emissions from businesses. Few companies disclose their emissions, making it difficult to judge which are […]
Read more...A front page Wall Street Journal story today discusses how clotheslines have become a new battle front in America. The environmentally minded are using them in increasing numbers (clothes driers account for 6% of residential energy use). This is yet another illustration of how status consciousness and years of cheap energy intersect to produce peculiar […]
Read more...Blacksmith Institute, which addresses pollution-related problems in the developing world, published its annual list of the most polluted places, with more detail available on each: Sumgayit, AzerbaijanLinfen, ChinaTianying, ChinaSukinda, IndiaVapi, IndiaLa Oroya, PeruDzerzhinsk, RussiaNorilsk, RussiaChernobyl, UkraineKabwe, Zambia As the Institute says: Living in a town with serious pollution is like living under a death sentence. […]
Read more...The title above is the headline of a story in Science Daily, which reports on the recommendations of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), which in turn cites a recent report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The FAO report found that over-reliance on a few highly productive livestock breeds, such […]
Read more...Eeeew…..I much prefer the US solution of neuter and release. From the BBC: Australians have come up with a novel solution to the millions of feral cats roaming the outback – eat them. The felines are the descendants of domestic pets and kill millions of small native animals each year. A recent Alice Springs contest […]
Read more...The BBC, citing a study in Nature, informs us that climate change models have underestimated the risk of flooding. High atmospheric carbon dioxide levels mean plants suck less water out of the soil. Wetter soil means faster soil saturation in heavy rains, hence more serious flooding. From the BBC: Researchers say efforts to calculate flooding […]
Read more...Aah, there is so much good stuff out there that I can’t begin to do it justice. Hopefully you will enjoy these items: VoxEU features a very good international study on the gender income gap. The Boston Globe tells us that negotiating courses don’t address the fact that people lie. APEC is set to issue […]
Read more...An Associated Press story, courtesy the Houston Chronicle’s website, tells us that an Alabama nuclear reactor had to be shut down because the river whose water was used as coolant was too hot: The Tennessee Valley Authority shut down one of three units at the Browns Ferry nuclear plant Thursday because water drawn from a […]
Read more...A good piece from the Associated Press via Yahoo on the potential of geothermal energy as a fossil fuel replacement. Geothermal energy has the advantage of being clean and abundant. In fact, it’s already used in some homes in northern Europe, where a geothermal well beneath a house contains water that has been heated by […]
Read more...Periodically, the Earth has experienced significant species die-offs. While the so-called K-T extinction, which marked the end of the dinosaur age, has been attributed to an asteroid crash, other declines remain something of a mystery. An article in Science magazine, summarized on its website, recounts a study by researchers from the University of Kansas in […]
Read more...It turns out that those who blame the recent increase in the number of Atlantic hurricanes on global warming aren’t nuts. A study just published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society analyzed storms over the last century. It found that the increase since 1980 was due to climate change, and attributed 50% to […]
Read more...An article in Nature magazine, as reported by the BBC, has found that ozone is a more significant greenhouse gas than previously recognized. Ozone interferes with plant photosynthesis, which reduces their effectiveness as a carbon sink. The study estimated that it reduced plant productivity by 14% to 22%, which is a large enough level to […]
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