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A while ago, I wrote about Severn Suzuki (video here), a woman who at the age of 12 held a speech at the UN Earth Summit in 1992 that got a standing ovation from the members. As the years passed, she became an active environmentalist, wrote a few books, and even had her own TV […]
Global warming has lowered the global yield of crops with up to 5% since 1980; not for soybeans, or tomatoes, or etc, but for wheat and corn – which are probably the most important crops. A global problem The study, which was published in the journal Science, states that the corn production has gone up […]
It is no longer a question if multi-meter sea level rises will happen, but only of when. According to the latest estimate from the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme it seems the accelerated climate change in the Arctic including a thaw of Greenland’s ice could raise world sea levels by up to 1.6 meters by […]
Researchers from Boston College and MIT have managed to develop a new kind of thermo-solar technology by applying a new technique which involves high-performance nanotech materials arrayed on a flat panel – they’re results have proven to be as much as eight times more efficient than current solar thermo electric generators, at little to no […]
First of all, don’t think of alien species as extraterrestrials; if you came here wanting to hear about that – sorry. Thankfully, the sci-fi scenario is not upon us. I’m talking about species which haven’t originated from Antarctica – seeds, fungi, microorganisms, they go wherever they are taken, and wherever people take them. If you […]
When Biosphere 2 was launched in 1991, the idea seemed to be absurd. A few years after that, it suddenly seemed to be a great idea, and the results were eagerly awaited; but the results didn’t came… Biosphere 2: the making The point was to make a terrarium, connect it with some other enclosures, and […]
The situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant was dangerous for several weeks, but the danger of nuclear power plants has greatly been exaggerated. To get an idea about what the situation is at Fukushima right now, if you are in Tokyo right now, the radiation you are exposed to is about as big as you […]
An international research team is in the land of snow and ice, in search of soot or black carbon, in an effort to judge whether or not it is responsible for the alarming rapid warming in the area lately. The research team includes scientists from Norway, Russia, Germany, Italy, and China, whose members are working […]
The continuous expansion of human cities are forcing habitats, as well as plants and animals, to retreat more and more; however, more and more often there is nowhere else to retreat. As a consequence, plants and animals alike face extinction, and cannot escape this grim fate. Out of the 1,357 plant species that once thrived […]
It’s incredible what some people manage to build simply by turning something that’s overpassed its use into something useful again. A perfect example of this is this incredible studio built entirely out of former cargo containers located deep in the Mojave Desert. The home designed by architect Walter Scott Perry of ecotechdesign out of was […]
After decades in which environmentalism wasn’t really taken serious, big steps are being made in the right direction; however, without any legal guidelines, it’s often hard to implement measures that can protect nature and fight climate change. But now, the intriguing idea of giving legal rights to natural systems is getting more and more attention. […]
You’d expect this from the Times, and it wouldn’t be so much of a surprise. But David Owen’s article entitled “Economy vs Environment” definitely says a lot about how things are going at the New Yorker these days; it was published three weeks ago, but I just came across it, and it’s never too late […]
In the last couple of years researchers have been confronted with a peculiar case in the Atlantic penguin colonies as an increased number of penguin chicks have been found to be suffering from what seems to be a feather loss causing disorder. Scientists have been studying the phenomena for a few years now, but have […]
Global warming shows more and more effects with eacy passing day. Russian arctic foxes are threatened by their red relatives, for the first time. For the first time in history, a red fox has been seen intruding on an arctic fox breeding den. The arctic fox is not prepared for a fight, because they are […]
The US Congress may have set an unforgiving precedent after approving the decision to remove the Rocky Mountain gray wolf from the Endangered Species List, marking the first time ever an animal has been cut off the list. The decision came after important Federal cuts were announced, in which Majority Leader Harry Reid and President […]
The search engine giant who has dabbled in environmental projects before announced that it will chip in $168 million to the yet under development Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS), the soon to be world’s largest solar tower power plant. The site will be located on 3,600 acres of land in the Mojave Desert in […]
In light of recent catastrophic events that plagued Japan, and the consequent nuclear crisis recently raised to level 7 on par with Chernobyl, the talk of the day in every scientific and political circle seems to be that of nuclear safety. Armenia’s 31-year old only nuclear power plant located in Metsamor is one of the […]
In an attempt to combat commuter and residential pollution, architect and product designer Wyatt Little came up with a very interesting concept called the U-Boat which tries to capitalize on urban body waters (rivers, lakes etc.) and utilize them as ‘off the grid’ marina style living spaces. It’s basically a boat-house-thingy, but with tremendous green […]
The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project was launched by physics professor Richard Muller, a long time critic of studies led by the government regarding global warming. So he and a team of physicists and statisticians set out to challenge the general consensus on global warming, and prove that skeptics have good reasons to doubt. But […]
The number of elephant poaching in Africa has increased dramatically, as well as the Chinese demand for ivory, and according to most, this is not a coincidence at all. The growing demand for ivory in China, combined with the country’s growing influence on the dark continent work together and are leading to the tragic decline […]
The ozone layer in the arctic regions has suffered unprecedented damage this winter due to cold weather in the upper atmosphere. By the end of March 40% of the ozone in the stratosphere had been destroyed, compared to the previous record of 30%. The European Space Agency, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as well […]
By means of a new mathematical model, scientists have been able to calculate the displacement of ice in glaciers along the years. This was achieved by using the spread of glacier debris and the lines where vegetation starts on the mountainsides to create a series of calculations determining the amount of ice that has melted […]
Take a look at your town; take a look at the people around you, at the streets, and the garbage cans. How much of the garbage do you think is recycled ? After that, think about how much trash gets labeled as “non-recyclable” by the recycling facility and will end up in a dump somwhere. […]
You might think that this isn’t quite the best time in the world to announce a nation wide nuclear plan, with the Japan double tsunami/earthquake incident which lead to the consequent Fukushima nuclear crisis and all, but South African officials don’t seem to let nature intimate them. As such, South Africa’s cabinet ratified a controversial […]
It gives me great pleasure to see some points of view the governor of California has; here’s what he had to say about solar panels, simple and short: “Asking whether large solar power plants are appropriate in the Mojave desert is like wondering whether subways make sense in New York City.” This is hands down […]
Now that’s a taste of politics from the land down under; some Australian officials are condemning carbon and pollution taxes, argueing that since it will make a difference only after a thousand years, we shouldn’t bother at all. Here’s their statement: “It will not make a difference for 1000 years,” the Opposition Leader told parliament. […]
Tiger populations throughout the world are facing a dramatic decline, and are faced more and more with extinction; the future looks pretty dire for these amazing creatures, but maybe there is still hope for these magnificent creatures. A recent census conducted in India showed 295 more tigers than last year, which can only be good […]
The sun is the biggest source of energy on our planet, and it’s all natural. It’s enough to realize that in one hour the sun produces enough energy to power all the electrical needs of the word for an entire YEAR! Naturally, research has been underway for many years now for means of practically and […]
A Monash University grad student has managed to create a simple, sustainable and affordable water purification device with the potential to save an incredible number of lives and eradicate diseases. The Solarball, as it is called, was developed by Mr Jonathan Liow as his final year project in his Bachelor of Industrial Design can produce […]
Yes, I know there’s still a few days until Earth Hour comes, but I just wanted to give you guys the heads up. At 8:30 PM, on Saturday, 26 March 2011, lights will switch off for one hours, in the hope that people will commit to actions that go well beyond that one hour. In […]
Even though it will cost a whooping $845.000, I for one welcome the appearance of this kind of Porsche; why ? Because it will definitely change the mind of many who believe that hybrids are all about economy and the environment, and nothing about performance. Because if Porsche can do one thing, they do fast […]
With all the big fuss regarding the nuclear power plant problems in Japan, everybody seems to be throwing rocks at atomic energy, without taking a look at long term benefits and problems. I stumbled across this chart, published over at Next Big Future that takes a look at how many deaths came as a result […]
The Andean cat (Leopardus jacobita) is an extraordinary elusive creature, being relatively small, well camuflaged and incredibly hard to find dwelling in a habitat usually at 3,000 meters in altitude. Actually, up to the late 1990s the snow leopard-like cat was known to scientists only through a few pictures sporadically taken by locals when such […]
Junk is not only limited to our planet, we have a problem with space pollution as well. In 1978, a brilliant NASA researcher named Donald Kessler predicted that a collision between two pieces of space junk could trigger a cascade of further impacts, which would create a significant quantity of debris which would then cause […]
The earthquake that occured yesterday near the coast of Japan, the 4th most powerful earthquake ever to be recorded, is causing even more problems, after the direct damage, the aftershocks, the tsunamis, and the fire tsunamis; this time, things can get way, way bigger and worse, and the disaster toll keeps rising. An explosion at […]
Oh, it’s this topic again ! It seems for some reason, which eludes me, more and more people are buying and drinking bottled water, even if the tap water is usually perfectly fine – and 1900 (!) times cheaper. About 2.7 million tons of petroleum-derived plastic is used for making bottles every single year only […]
It’s been a busy tectonic month, and things aren’t about to chill down. A massive 7.9 magnitude Earthquake has just hit the Northern coast of Japan, triggering a more than four meter tall tsunami that wiped down cars and other property along the coastline, but it’s still unclear how many people were injured or killed. […]
Sharks are some of the most fascinating creatures to ever have “walked” the face of the planet; the best argument for this claim would be that they stand alons on the top of the food chain, with no natural enemy, other than humans, of course. Among the species of sharks, a few stand out as […]
Iceland is definitely one weird country; it is extremely rich in geothermal and volcanic energy, and has access to a significant quantity of fish, but other than that, resources are extremely scarce. At the end of 2008, the economy collapsed, with all major banks going bankrupt. Since then, they have been desperately trying to rise […]
It’s another bad omen for life on Earth, as a colony of imperial penguins from the Antarctica peninsula has disappeared, probably due to the warming of ice caused by global warming. It was expected that penguins would greatly suffer from the warming, but this is the first documented case ever of the disappearance of a […]
Bears are some of the most amazing and loved animals out there, and to find out that up until a few months ago nobody made a thorough study about their hibernating was really sad for me. Until this, almost everything we knew about hibernating was that… well, bears do it’; they go into their dens […]
The Canadian olympics of 2010 will forever be stained with the blood of 100 husky dogs who were brutally killed with a knife and a shotgun, because they were no longer profitable. For Canadians and tourists, the blue eyed huskies who took them on sleds were nothing less than icons; but for Outdoor Adventures, the […]
Numerous oil fields that could become an extremely valuable resource in the US and in the world have been out of reach ever since they were discovered; but that is all about to change thanks to a new drilling method that is currently being developed. The new drilling could help reduce oil imports for the […]
It’s been a little over a year since the earthquake that caused so much damage and cost so much lives, and people are starting to wonder what the situation is like in Haiti; or actually, not so many people are wondering about that. United Nation’s special envoy, former Canadian Governor-General Michaelle Jean sums it up […]
Toys made out of recycled materials are of course a great initiative and can teach your kids a lot, while being very cheap and also fun, but Germany is set to show the world that things can get even better – way better. The latest trend in German green toys have solar panels and only […]
Pollution can take numerous and unexpected shapes; one of the not-so-deadly, but still extremely unpleasant types is noise pollution. You probably don’t notice it because it’s so common, but it’s a really noisy world out there; if for a few days you were to go somewhere far away from all the fuss and noise that […]
Another mystery, even bigger than the one with the birds in Arkansas is puzzling researchers from all over the world, as dead fish hit the coast of Brazil, with CNN reporting that there are over 2 million dead fish in Chesapeake Bay. Experts have first suggested that this is probably caused by a combination of […]
You probably don’t know it yet, but our planet has a major problem with plastic. I wasn’t able to find an accurate statistic of how much of this is caused by regular ordinary plastic bags that everybody uses, but it’s definitely a considerable number. After a laudable initiative taken on by the city of Seattle, […]
When NASA satellites and biology come together in the same sentence, you just know something awesome is going to come up; this was the case with a phytoplankton bloom observed off the coast of Argentina. Two strong currents stirred the needed combination of nutrients, sald and microscopic organisms, and then sunlight did all the rest […]
Nairobi, Kenya is home to one of the world’s biggest slums, more than one million people living in subhuman conditions in the African state capital. I’ve seen and read a lot of reports from there, and other African states alike, and the situation is indeed dire. Imagine having nothing to eat – now imagine having […]
