Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from June, 2010

Where water meets watts

Water and energy come into conflict around the globe. Use the map controls in the top left-hend corner to zoom and pan to an area of interest, or simply drag the mao around. Click on a location to explore local challenges and solutions. Each location`s marker reflects a prognosis based on the riskiness of the project, the likehood of success, and the consequences of failure. A nation`s ability to deal with its problem is influenced by the following for metrics: renewable freshwater per capita (millions of liters per person) , total primary energy per capita (total primary energy per capita) , population access to clean water, population access to electricity.

Threatened Species of Plants and Animals in each Country

Threatened Species of Plants in each Country This chart shows threatened species of plants in each Red List category in each country. Number of threatened species of plants in 2008: 10962 Current Number of threatened species of plants: 11,020

Pelican Awesomeness...

Foot powered: The Rise of Walking and Biking

It's summer, and you may be seeing more people out on the street walking and biking. But it's not just because the weather is nice. There are more people walking and biking year round, and the Department of Transportation is responding by dramatically increasing the amount of money spent on projects for pedestrians and cyclists. This is a look at the rise of foot-powered travel in America.

Wind power advantages and disadvantages

Fattest states

Percentage of Obese Adult Population (3-year average from 2005-07 CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data)

Does auto-dependency make us fat?

Obesity falls sharply with increased walking, cycling, and transit use!

Emissions (tonnes C)

Solar power in Europe

The European Commision`s latest plan to reduce carbon emissions by pumping a huge slice of the 50 billion euros available for research and development into solar power, may raise a few eyebrows.

How does pollution impact on people`s lives?

- Breathing air pollution in Cairo is the equivalent of smoking 20 cigarettes a day. - Water pollution causes up to 14,000 deaths a day. - There are over 400 polluted locations considered high-risk worldwide than affect more than 100 million people. - 60% of acute respiratory infections can be linked to environmental factors and kill 2 million children every year. - A recent study found that 40% of worldwide deaths were caused by water, air and soil pollution.

Oil Primer: Where It Comes From, Where It Goes

As the Deepwater Horizon continues to leak oil at a rapid rate, many people are asking whether we should be drilling in the Gulf of Mexico at all, while others say offshore drilling in the Gulf is a necessary source of oil. To help settle this debate, this is a look at oil around the world, who is producing the most, and what we use it for in this country.

Online Map Viewer for Land-Cover Classification Map

The GAP (GAP Analysis Program) online map viewer shows land cover classifications at three levels.

Memoral day CO2 emissions

People travelling by car: 27,9 million (9% of pop) Average round-trip: 626 miles Estimated total mileage: 8,7 billion miles Total memorial day CO 2 (Driving standard cars) emissions: 4,7 million metric tons (yearly emissions of Botswana)

New Facebook Application: Personal water footprint calculator

Why? Water is a scarce resource, and being aware of your water consumption is a first important step. Calculate your personal water footprint, compare with friends, and take steps to reduce your impact.

Tones of equivalent carbon per capita

Arctic ice

Arctic temperature records

Mantis - a dangerous predator

Mantis vs Colibri Photos: stvely

The 2030 perfect storm

Rise of 33% from 6bn to 8bn people. With more people living in urban areas greater demand for food (demand will increase 50%), water (demand will increase 30%), energy (demand will increase 50%).

Decebrate (no brain) Cat walks and exhibits multiple gait patterns

This is an old video of a cat exhibiting 3 different gait patterns as a treadmill is run at different speeds. Remarkably the cat was made decerebrate for the purpose of the experiment. This has lead researchers to the hypothesis that, when a quadruped walks/trots/gallops (or walks/runs in the case a biped), minimal control comes from the brain, and most of the control is computed morphologically through an implicit feedback structure in the bio-mechanical design. This phase transition phenomenon is still an active research area in the field of Passive Dynamic Locomotion.

Everything you need to know about FAST FOOD

1921: White Castle was formed as the first fast food chain. 1948: McDonald’s enters the fast food industry. 1951: «Fast food» appeared in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Also the same year Jack in the Box introduced the drive-through.

Human heart

Clouds in the Australian skies

Zooming Into The Cat's Paw Nebula

This video zooms in on the star-forming region known as the Cat's Paw Nebula (NGC 6334), which is located not far from the center of our Milky Way. Few objects in the sky have been as well named as the Cat's Paw Nebula, a glowing gas cloud resembling the gigantic pawprint of a celestial cat out on an errand across the Universe. British astronomer John Herschel first recorded NGC 6334 in 1837 during his stay in South Africa. Despite using one of the largest telescopes in the world at the time, Herschel seems to have only noted the brightest part of the cloud, seen here towards the lower left. NGC 6334 lies about 5500 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Scorpius (the Scorpion) and covers an area on the sky slightly larger than the full Moon. The whole gas cloud is about 50 light-years across. The nebula appears red because its blue and green light are scattered and absorbed more efficiently by material between the nebula and Earth. The red light comes pr

A Greener way to go

From preparing bodies to burying them in natural settings, the green burial movement is attempting to make death more environmentally friendly and, in some ways, closer to the way it was in the past.

How to save energy in your home

Plant on the west and northwest to provide mid-to-late afternoon shade in most locations. Shade east and west windows, but prune lower branches to prevent blocking the view. Plant shade trees over patios, driveways, and air-conditioning units.

The Largest Oil Spills in History, 1901 to Present

This map shows the largest oil spills in history (1901 to Present), from tanker accidents and drilling operations, as well as a number of other notable spills. An oil spill is a release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment due to human activity, and is a form of pollution.

Sleeping whales

Sperm Whales, Physeter macrocephalus, Sleeping whales in vertical pose., Pico, Azores, PortugalÑŽ

Green advertisement

Climate change, human impact, creative challenge.

Deepwater Horizon oil spill & Bird Areas most at rick

Map indicating current position of Deepwater Horizon oil spill as of 6/08/10 and Globally Important Bird Areas most at rick.

Green chair

In 1987 Peter had the idea of growing a chair. In 1995 Peter and Becky became life partners. One year later Pooktre was born. Together they have mastered the art of Tree shaping. Pooktre has perfected a Gradual shaping method, which is the shaping of trees as they grow along predetermined designs. Designing and setting up the supporting famework are fundamental to the success of a tree. Some are intended for harvest to be high quality indoor furniture and others will remain living art.

Human body like a machine

Man as Industrial Palase - Fritz Hahn (1927)

How wild is North America

Facts about continent's wildness, and our impact on our wilderness (ecological footprint in hectares per person, relative population of animals in North America, North America's smallest and largest mammals, percentage of land (mostly) untouched by human activity, water availability and consumption per capita, Canada accounts for significant portions of the globe's natural resources) .

Flaming gas crater, Darvaza (Turkmenistan)

The Darvaza area is rich in natural gas. While drilling in 1971 geologists accidentally found an underground cavern filled with natural gas. The ground beneath the drilling rig collapsed, leaving a large hole with a diameter of about 50-100 meters. To avoid poisonous gas discharge, it was decided to burn the gas. Geologists had hoped the fire would go out in a few days but it has been burning ever since. Locals have named the cavern The Door to Hell. Next to capturing the gas, flaring is safer and friendlier to the environment than releasing the methane into the atmosphere as methane is a relatively potent greenhouse gas with a high global warming potential of 72 (averaged over 20 years) or 25 (averaged over 100 years).

I see you

The world`s resources by country

Species density

Research in a variety of scientiffic disciplines suggests there are 85 to 90 per cent fewer fish and marine mammals in the oceans than there once were. The number of species found on a standard longline in the 1960s...

Scenes from the Gulf of Mexico

Based on recently revised estimates, BP's ruptured oil well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico continues to leak 25,000 to 30,000 barrels of oil a day. The new figures suggest that an amount of oil equivalent to the Exxon Valdez disaster could still be flowing into the Gulf of Mexico every 8 to 10 days. Despite apparent efforts to restrict journalists from accessing affected areas, stories, video and photographs continue to emerge. Collected here are recent photographs of oil-affected wildlife, people and shorelines around the Gulf of Mexico on this, the 51st day after the initial explosion. Oil covered brown pelicans found off the Louisiana coast and affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico wait in a holding pen for cleaning at the Fort Jackson Oiled Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Buras, Louisiana, June 9, 2010. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

The northernmost tea in the world

Tea, or Camellia sinensis L. , is a unique plant that has become part of our lives. With the refreshing drink made from the leaves of this plant, our day begins and ends. Now it's hard even to imagine human life without tea. Tea is the most "popular" drink of humanity. The homeland of the tea plant is Southeast Asia (it is there that we find "feral" tea plants as trees up to 20 meters high, which have been used for thousands of years by humans). The world learned what a tea drink is thanks to China. According to a legend, in 1737 BC, a servant girl of the Chinese emperor Shen-Nang was preparing a drink for her emperor and accidentally dropped a leaf of a plant, which grew near the palace, into the boiling water. The water turned a rich brown color; the emperor became interested in the new "brew," tried it, and liked it. This is how humanity's most beloved drink, tea, appeared.  Until the 19th century, China jealously guarded the secret of tea growi

Siberian oil boom

Russian tundra.