The Sun Can't Save Us From Global Warming

The sun contributes almost all of the energy into our atmosphere through electromagnetic radiation, so when our nearest star reduces its output, one would think that our atmosphere would cool down (or, at least, wouldn't heat up).

This is true, partially.

But a new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters says that even if the sun commenced a very long period of low activity, it cannot put the brakes on the relentless rise of global temperatures caused by greenhouse gases.

Read more . . .

Massive 131 Acre Green Roof Planned for Seoul

Just a quarter of a century old and the original Garak Wholesale Market has turned sour with residents complaining about traffic congestion and a rather unappealing smell from leftover vegetables amounting due to an inefficient logistics system. Enter Samoo Architects & Engineers who's new plans for the space will now be realised after winning a design competition to regenerate the dingy market. Their plans are drastic and will generate, among many improvements, a massive 131 acre green park roof.

Read more . . .

Thanks to Inhabitat.com for the link

Sewage to Drinking Water: Singapore Paves the Way

This is a very good thing.

Just shut up and drink, as they say. A system developed to purify water for special forces teams will serve luxury hotels.

If it's good enough for Navy Seals, it's good enough for guests at luxury hotels.

Singapore has installed a water purification system on the from Global Water Group in Dallas that will process 2,500 gallons worth of waste water and effluent streams – i.e., sewage – a day and turn it into drinking water. The system, which is located in the newly created village off Pulau Seringat on the coastal island of Sentosa, has been tested and will begin delivering water later this month.

Read more . . .

Better Place, Denmark’s DSB Strike Deal for Eco-Techno-Utopian Transit

Electric car infrastructure startup Better Place and Danish rail operator DSB have a vision to link electric vehicles, car sharing networks, trains and mobile devices into one high-tech, eco-utopian transportation system in Denmark. The duo has just announced an agreement to install charging stations for electric vehicles at “a number of major Danish train stations,” and provide an electric car sharing service at Denmark’s main commuter stations so train passengers can pick up a plug-in for the next leg of their trip.

Sounds very intriguing, read more . . .

Perspective

This morning one of the blogs I subscribe, Envirovore , to had an article about seed banks that included:

For example, farmers grew more than 7,000 varieties of apples in the 1800s, yet by the end of the 1900s, only 300 had survived extinction.

And I found myself annoyed. The implication is that humans are devastating thousands of plants species and that global warming is threatening native species. FOLKS, get a gripe. When it comes to agriculture, almost everything we grow was selectively breed from native plants and is NO LONGER the same plant. They are all man made! So if they go away, the Earth has lost NOTHING. I responded thusly:

I completely support these seed banks and grow heirloom crops as much as I can. I would like to see us return to diets more in line with our ancient ancestors. And I would like to point out that those 7,000 varieties of apple were NOT . . . well, natural, for want of a better word. They were all varieties achieved through selective breeding over a mere few thousand years and, therefore, man made. The ancestor of all apples is still alive and well and in no danger of becoming extinct in the near future.

Just trying to put things in perspective. It hurts the environmental movement, I believe, to bewail the loss of an artificial crop growing far from it's natural habitat.

Ant-tasting Party #06

Ant-tasting Party #06
Originally uploaded by dutchdoubles

I'm seeing more and more about consuming insects and I have to say I'm all for it! Bugs reach maturity fast on little feed and carry few diseases communicable by us eating them. I've tried the odd ant when I was gardening and one bit me and I have to say they are a bit acidic. I wonder if cooking them improves the flavor?

US bulldozing green laws to build border fence

The Bush administration is bulldozing environmental laws to build a controversial fence designed to block illegal immigrants from crossing the Mexican border. To force through its construction, the secretary of homeland security, Michael Chertoff, waived 35 separate environmental protection laws last week using provisions of the Real ID Act of 2005. The act allows him to set aside laws that might interfere with the construction of physical barriers at US borders.

Segments of fence totaling 750 kilometers are to be completed this year and will pass through many sensitive environments. In southern Texas the fence will run along flood-control levees between 100 and 1500 metres from the Rio Grande, creating what critics call a "no-man's land" between fence and river.

This section of the fence will cut through rich wildlife reserves, including the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in Alamo, the Sabal Palm Audubon Center and most of the Nature Conservancy's Lennox Foundation Southmost Preserve near Brownsville. Other wild areas are threatened in New Mexico, Arizona and California.

Read the rest at New Scientist.

This is particularly annoying to me. I feel "boundaries" need to become a thing of the past and a person's rights and value should not be dependent on which side of an imaginary line they live. For the US government to decide to flout the policies of decades to create what will turn out to be an ineffective barrier to humans migrating is disgusting and aggravating.