When Children Are Exposed To High Levels Of Lead And Mercury From Coal Emissions, They Get Hurt

by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 07.16.08

EPA Drops the Value of an American Life Almost a Million Dollars

by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 07.12.08

Headlines revealing the discovery that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reduced the value of a statistical life by almost a million dollars abound. The news, as you might expect, generates some of the best humorous comments (quotes overleaf). But what does it all really mean? How does it affect your environmental quality? And how does it affect your finances, especially in a down economy?

by Peter Myers

Hawaii, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

Private investors have completed the US $10.75 million equity financing for Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning, the innovative renewable energy project for downtown Honolulu. The company anticipates a construction start date of January 5, 2009.

by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 06.22.08

This was just listed as a small note on the side of the front page of the PD business section the other day...

Click on the "Wind Energy Video" link in the green box on the right hand side of this page:

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 05.12.08

Food & Health (food)

Big Steps In Building: Remove Stupid Rules That Are Making It Hard To Go Green

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 05.12.08 Design & Architecture

Solar Cup 2008......

The Solar Cup Program

Solar Cup is a seven-month program that begins in the fall, in which high school teams totaling about 900 students build and race solar-powered boats at Lake Skinner, in Temecula Valley, learning about conservation of natural resources, electrical and mechanical engineering, problem solving and much more.

Peak Everything: Eight Things We Are Running Out Of And Why

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 05.27.08 Design & Architecture (materials)

This was sent to me by a very dear friend....  Sorry it is so long, but it is well worth the time...

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What In The World Is Going On?

 

This is a 2.0 Mb Powerpoint Slideshow on the current building boom in Dubai that a friend sent to me. I think that it is very educational: Please "Click" Here for the Slideshow (it will take a little time to download & start...)

by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 04.28.08

Good Video From The Article Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S6oyTdkOWc&eur

Let's start off this post with another round of good/bad news, shall we? The bad: According to new data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), the North Pole could become ice-free this summer because of a record low in ice formation. The good news: Its ice expanded at a greater rate this winter than it did in 2007, and there is the possibility that a milder, more cyclonic atmospheric pattern this summer could help preserve it.

...just something I found on the web, from a person who is writing a book.

 

“I’m writing a book on magic,” I explain, and I am asked, “real magic?”

 

If we hear nothing else all year, let's hear this"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g8cmWZOX8Q

April 1, 2008

LANSING -- The State of Michigan is examining a plan to sell about half of its share of the water in the Great Lakes over the next 20 years to drought-stricken areas in the Sunbelt states.

 

April 1st is "Energy Wasting Day"

A Great Idea, and A Great Video...

http://www.energywastingday.com/

It seems like many people, especially in the big media, are obsessed with whether or not that hybrid/plug in hybrid/electric car/etc will "pay for itself" with fuel savings. The latest example is the (misleading) "The payoff for plug-in hybrids: 95 years?".

Coal Power's Deja-Meltdown

By Denis Du Bois

03/12/08

The government's futuristic "clean coal" power project has joined the long list of scuttled coal plants. The death spiral of coal energy is reminiscent of the 1980s popular blockade of nuclear plant construction. Investors and even the Bush administration are backing out.

 

A group of influential green professionals are pushing for activism to go viral. Keeping themselves deliberately incognito and going by the name of The Alarmists they are proposing to make some serious noise about Global Warming. Not just at one event, but at 11 am on the 11th of every month for one minute. They say, "This is a state of global emergency. According to the IPCC, we must cut emissions within eight years, to avoid catastrophic global warming. There is nowhere near enough action yet to make that happen. We need to set off the world's alarms. Join in. It could be the alarm on your phone, in your home, in your car. You could gather some friends to make some noise. Organise a flash mob. Schedule a company fire drill. Borrow a vintage air raid siren... Be creative. Raise the alarm." :: Alarmism

Thought For Today....

Found in the current issue of Metropolis magazine...

    "When oil becomes scarce, our cu

Climate Watchers Place Own Big Bet On Alaska's Thaw
March 7, 2008; Page B1

Every winter since 1917, people in Nenana, a village 55 miles southwest of Fairbanks, have wagered on the exact moment that the ice breaks up on the nearby Tanana River. For the 450 townsfolk, the annual Alaska ice lottery, called the Nenana Ice Classic, is a financial lifeline that offers some their year's only employment. Winners last year shared a jackpot of $303,272.

One day a florist goes to a barber for a haircut. After the cut he asked about his bill and the barber replies, 'I cannot accept money from you. I'm doing community service this week.' The florist was pleased and left the shop. When the barber goes to open his shop the next morning there is a 'thank you' card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door.

 

Good Video... 

'Fritz Haeg: Attack on the Front Lawn': Activism disguised as art

This is a wonderful and insightful report on the current state of mixing "sustainability" with existing businesses. It is one thing to start up a sustainable business, and it is something else entirely to take an existing business and try to re-design/retrofit it to be more sustainable. The problem is akin to the "green" building problem... building a new "green" building is a lot easier than "greening" an existing one.

 ScienceDaily (Feb. 4, 2008) — A new study sheds light on the relationship between women who smoke while pregnant--or are exposed to second-hand smoke--and an increased risk of SIDS to their babies.

Researchers at McMaster University have found a mechanism that explains why an infant's ability to respond to oxygen deprivation after birth--or a hypoxic episode--is dramatically compromised by exposure to nicotine in the womb, even light to moderate amounts.
"While cigarette smoke contains many different compounds, we found there is a direct impact of one component, nicotine, on the ability of certain cells to detect and respond to oxygen deprivation," says Josef Buttigieg, lead author and a PhD graduate student in the department of Biology. "When a baby is lying face down in bed, for example, it should sense a reduction in oxygen and move its head. But this arousal mechanism doesn't work as it should in babies exposed to nicotine during pregnancy."
The research, which was conducted on laboratory rats in collaboration with Dr. Alison Holloway, explains the critical role that catecholamines--a group of hormones released by the adrenal glands--play in a baby's transition to the outside world.
During birth, the baby is exposed to low oxygen, which signals the adrenal glands to release the catecholamines, which contain adrenaline, or the 'fight or flight' hormone, explains Buttigieg.
It is these catecholamines that signal the baby's lungs to reabsorb fluid, to take its first breath, and help the heart to beat more efficiently. And for some months after birth, the adrenal gland still acts as an oxygen sensor, aiding in the baby's arousal and breathing responses during periods of apnea or asphyxia. But the ability to release catecholamines during these moments--a critical event in the adaptation of life outside the womb--is impaired due to nicotine exposure.
"At birth, the nervous control of the adrenal gland is not active and so a baby relies on these direct oxygen sensing mechanisms to release catecholamines," says Colin Nurse, academic advisor on the study and a professor in the department of Biology. "But nicotine causes premature loss of these mechanisms, which would normally occur later in development after nervous control is established. Thus, the infant becomes much more vulnerable to SIDS."
The findings are published online in the journal Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) and will appear in the May 2008 print issue.
The study was funded in part by the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and Focus on Stroke.
Adapted from materials provided by McMaster University.