Humans are too Stupid

Bloggers are writing about respected climate scientist James Lovelock and his publication of a report in The Gaurdian saying that humans were too stupid to deal with the issues of global warming. He feels that humans are not yet eveloved enough to understand and prevent climate change. In his opinion, one obstruction to preventing climate change is democracy. Lovelock says, "Even the best democracies agree that when a major war approaches, democracy must be put on hold for the time being. I have a feeling that climate change may be an issue as severe as a war. It may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while." But this is something that isn't likely to happen anytime soon. For something to humans to do something about climate change, Lovelock thinks that some major catashtrophe needs to occur and shock people into action. I agree with everything he has to say. At this point, there is lots of evidence pointing to the eventual destruction of our planet. Yet, no major changes have been made in people's lifestyles. At this rate, major damage will be made to the environment.

Fun Fact on the Importance of Recycling

Here is a fun fact for the week from the Student Environmental Advisory Counsel. "During the time it takes you to read this sentence, 50,000 12-ounce aluminum cans are made."

Oceanic Acidification

Many bloggers are writing about a group of marine ecologists who have recently found that the ocean is becoming more acidic due to increased levels of carbon dioxide in earth's atmosphere. The marine ecologists ran simulations in a fake "ocean" by adding carbon dioxide at the future predicted rates. The results were upsetting. The increased acidity in the "ocean" killed off a certain type of sulfur-consuming bacteria. Without this bacteria, there will be "a significant impact on the ocean’s productivity and the overall global climate system." This means that not only the oceans would be effected, but humans would also be effected by this change.

Earth Hour Still Important!

So a few days ago I made a post about WWF's annual Earth Hour (which, by the way, is tonight from 8:30pm until 9:30pm). As the time draws closer for this event to occur, many bloggers are debating the helpfulness of Earth Hour for the environment. As one blog puts it,

"A climate change campaign to get everyone to switch off their lights will not reduce carbon emissions, according to electricity experts...the fall in electricity use for such a short period is unlikely to result in less energy being pumped into the grid, and will therefore not reduce emissions."

I would like to say that I still think Earth Hour is still important! The reason for the occurrence of this event is not only to reduce emissions -- which it apparently isn't doing -- it is also to raise awareness for climate change and the ways in which individuals can help to reduce emissions in their daily lives. Maybe Earth Hour won't decrease emissions, but if everyone was more conscientious about turning lights off and using less electricity, then eventually, less energy will be pumped into the grid because it is not needed. So for all of those saying that Earth Hour is pointless, think about all the reasons for Earth Hour, not just the obvious ones.

Yay for LA!

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released the results of a study they were conducting on environmental buildings. The study focused on different cities around the U.S. and determined which cities had the most energy efficient buildings. And guess which city was the forerunner in green buildings... our very own LA! Other cities that placed in the top five included Washington D.C., San Francisco, Denver, and Chicago. The EPA's press release also reported that in 2009 alone, 3,900 commercial buildings across the U.S. have recieved the EPA Energy Star classification and have raked in "annual savings of more than $900 million in utility bills and more than 4.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions." That's pretty impressive for a years work.

Plastiki

Plastiki, a boat made of more than 12,000 plastic drinking bottles, set sail 5 days ago from San Francisco on a journey across the Pacific Ocean to raise awareness for plastic pollution around the world. Over at Ralph Potts Vagabonding, the paid tribute to Palstiki's voyage and also shared some of their troubles with recycling. They said that, "Bottled water in the west is easy to avoid — after all our tap water is perfectly drinkable — but it’s tougher when you’re abroad in Africa, Asia and South America where the local water supply is suspect at best and sometimes even dangerous." I completely agree with them on this issue. Only having gone abroad a couple of times myself, I was always very conscious of making sure my drinking water was from a reliable source. While it is possible to bring a filter with you when you travel, it is sometimes hard to use it. Vagabonding and I both agree that there needs to be a better way to access clean water abroad.

On another note, here are some fun (or not so fun) facts about plastic:

• 2.5 million bottles are trashed every hour in the U.S.


• 90% of plastic materials used are not recycled


• Plastic accounts for 60%-80% of all marine pollution


• For every liter of bottled water that’s manufactured, another two liters of water are used to make it

Avatar Definietly Not the Greenest Movie

A couple of weeks ago I made a post about James Cameron's claim that he was the greenist director because of his message in Avatar. I went to see Avatar for the first time last weekend and now that I have seen it I would like to give my opinion on his claims.

I don't know how he could have thought that it sent out a message to the public about being environmentally friendly and green. That was not the takeaway I had at all. I felt like Avatar was trying to teach viewers a lesson in harmony among different people and races more than it gave a lesson in environmental issues. Movies like Wall-E and an Inconvenient Truth had much more blunt messages about the dangers of ignoring the environment's needs.

Earth Hour

This week Saturday is the chosen date for this years earth hour, a program started by the World Wildlife Foundation. At 8:30pm on Saturday, everyone is supposed to turn out their lights in an effort to save electricity and promote awareness for energy conservation and the problems occurring because of climate change. Some big landmarks have pledged their support and have promised to turn out the lights including the Las Vegas Strip.

Many environmental bloggers have been creating posts on this event to try and get the word out to the public (see here here and here). Many of these bloggers have also put up pictures and videos from previous years earth hour event.

Some blogs are also debating on the effectiveness of WWF's Earth Hour. They argue that while it is great to conserve energy for an hour, that won't even make a dent in the problems we are facing today and the even bigger problems we will face in the future. They also believe that "there is a risk that it makes people feel that the solution to reducing emissions is to turn off the lights for one hour" and "turning off lights for one hour makes little overall difference and is not an on-going solution, and rather smacks of WWF marketing than effecting real change."

I disagree with these statements and think that it is great that Earth Hour is happening because even if it doesn't make a huge difference, it reminds people that conserving energy -- in any way we know how -- is important. And if it allows WWF (a non-profit dedicated to making this world a better, more sustainable place) to receive some good publicity and marketing, I say even better.

Fun Fact

Here is a fun fact to contemplate from Think Quest:

Energy saved from one recycled aluminum can will operate a TV set for 3 hours, and is the equivalent to half a can of gasoline.

And all of that is just from one can. So the next time you throw a can in the trash can instead of the recycling bin, think of the real consequences of your action!

Thermowaves!

Scientists at MIT may have come up with a new way to generate electricity. They are calling this new power source thermopower because the waves are generated from a previously unidentifiable process where high thermal activity creates waves filled with electricity. The Green Car Congress has more scientific details on how the process actually works. The study was published in an online journal, Nature Materials.

Besides the fact that this could be a new renewable energy resource, researchers are excited because the discovery opened up the way for a new area of study, something that is becoming more rare as the years go on. Since the discovery was just made this month, the scientists at MIT are unsure about the practical applications of this new energy source. But since the waves produce such a high burst of electricity in such a small space, they are discussing the idea of using it in electronics as small as a grain of rice. If indeed that is possible, the realm of technology would be greatly enhanced.

Turn in Your Old Jeans!

Gap is running a promotion where people can turn in their old jeans and receive 30% off a pair of new Gap Jeans. And why does Gap want my old jeans you ask? Well, Gap has partnered with Cotton from Blue to Green Organization to turn old pairs of jeans into natural cotton fiber insulation for homes and communities in need.

Insulation is important in homes to keep them warm during the winter and cool during the summer. Also, proper insulation can help save on the gas and electricity bill because the heater or air conditioner doesn't need to be used as often.

Old jeans are turned into a natural cotton fiber insulation by a simple recycling process. First, all medal attachments like buttons and zippers are removed. Then, the denim is shredded and turned into its fiber state. The fibers are dipped into solutions to make them non-flammable and set into sheets which are cut and packaged as the final product. The newly made insulation is used in homes and commercial buildings across the U.S. To see a video of this process, click here.

This promotion with Gap is only running from from March 5 to March 14 so hurry and find your nearest Gap! This is a great solution to finding an environmentally friendly way to dispose of your old jeans.

Cheers!

Here is a little fun fact for the day and some good news for college women! A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine concluded that women who drink are less likely to gain weight over time. The study followed 19,000 women for 13 years. And at the end of those 13 years, they found that the more women drank, the less weight they had gained. Conversely, women who didn't drink at all were the ones who gained the most weight. Read more about the specifics of the study here.

Cause of Dino Extinction Confirmed

What caused the most severe mass extinction ever? It has been re-confirmed that a meteor crash in Mexico was the cause of the end of the Cretaceous period (better known as the age of the dinosaurs). All past research was re-examined, and new evidence was discovered by 41 researchers from across the globe. They concluded that a large meteor -- the impact site was over 200 kilometers wide -- crashing into earth 65.5 million years ago is the only possible explanation for the mass extinction. For more details on the new findings and fun facts about the meteor, click here!

EU Gives the Go-Ahead for the Cultivation of a Biotech Potato

Until Tuesday, all genetically-engineered plants were not allowed to be grown in any part of the European Union. This changed yesterday as officials gave the okay for a new breed of potato -- called the amflora potato -- to plant roots in EU soil. This is a very controversial topic, as many people believe that the dangers associated with engineered plants and animals are too unpredictable. Some of these concerns can be read about here.

One of the most compelling arguments for keeping genetically-engineered plants from taking root is that no one really knows what will happen when these new plants are introduced. Too many times, scientists have made mistakes with species introduction. Many times when a stronger plant enters an area, it chokes out the other native plants that have been growing there. Also, when, for example, new genetically-engineered rice was introduced, people became too dependent on it and many of the other rice varieties became virtually extinct. Not only does this harm diversification, if a disease were to come and wipe out this certain type of rice, we would have a world famine on our hands. Many EU citizens are afraid something similar may happen to the potato in Europe now that farmers are allowed to grow this new potato.

The other very controversial thing about officials giving the okay for the amflora potato has nothing to do with the environmental repercussions that may occur. Many EU citizens are upset that lobbyists, not voters, were the ones who were able to push this topic through the government and get it passed. This is a political issue that I am not going to get into right now, but with all of the harms -- both political and environmental -- it makes you wonder: Is the amflora potato doing more bad than good?

Environmental Standards Across the Borders

Chinese officials have recently outlawed the sale of Hummers in China because they consume too much energy and harm the environment. This is just an example of the steps China is taking to become more energy efficient. In fact, they hope to have 15% of their energy be derived from renewable resources by 2020, just 10 years from now.

The U.S. however, is still in the planning stages of the renewable resource movement as discussed in Larry's Environmental Issues Blog here. On the U.S. Department of Energy website, there are tips and tricks to helping Americans conserve earth's limited resources. This includes a guide to fuel economy on the 2010 model vehicles. The government, however, has not made any significant decisions on how the country will turn towards renewable energy sources. For the world sake, I hope they will get it together soon as the U.S. is the most consumerist nation in the world.

Is Avatar the Greenest Movie?

James Cameron has recently claimed that he is the greenest director of all time because the message in his box office hit Avatar. Janet Wilson of Grist goes into details of why the director thinks this here. But, as Cameron's wife pointed out, movies like WALL-E and An Inconvenient Truth have reached just as many viewers. In fact, they may have even had a stronger environmental message. While Cameron may have a "green" past in movie making, he should think about what he saying before making such bold statements.