All Solar Plane!

The worlds first all solar plane took flight yesterday reaching an average speed of 45 mph. The plane, Solar Impulse, was able to take off, fly properly, and land without any major glitches. The total flight time was 87 minutes and just the first step of a plan to go around the world using only solar energy. This is a huge step for both the aviation industry and the renewable energy industry.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Today I am going to talk about one of the most mind blowing pollution stories: The great pacific garbage patch. For those who have never heard of the great pacific garbage patch, listen up! The great pacific garbage patch is a gyre (a large system of rotating ocean currents) of marine litter that has become particularly concentrated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. While it is difficult to measure the size of the plastic "island", most scientists and oceanographers believe that the garbage patch is roughly two times the size of Texas. Yes, you heard me right. There is a patch of plastic particles in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that is two times the size of Texas.

How did this happen? Well 80% of all marine litter comes from land, not ships. And the oceans currents flow in a particular pattern that causes the majority of oceanic debris to mass in between the U.S. west coast and Hawaii. The millions of pieces of plastic and other garbage are not visible from space because the sun and the ocean essentially wash all color out of the plastic pieces making them clear and invisible from space.

Besides the problems of oceanic polution and the disruption of marine ecosystems, the great oceanic garbage patch may soon begin to directly effect humans. The sun also causes the plastic pieces to brake up into smaller and smaller pieces until they are barely visible. While the pices of plastic float around the ocean, they soak up toxins and other harmful chemicals. Fish and other marine animals end up unintentionally eating these toxic plastics. When fisherman catch these fish, the plastic winds up in our food supply.

Today I bought a bottle of water from Crepe'n Around -- an amazing crepe truck run by 3 friends -- and was happily suprised to see that the bottle was made 100% from plants and that it was compostable. The company that makes this bottled water is called Prima. The water inside tasted great too. Some bottled waters have a weird taste, but Prima water tasted fresh and it is enrched with minerals. Here is a fun fact that came off the bottle I bought:

"If all beverage bottles were made from plants, not oil, we'd save the equivalent greenhouse gas of not driving nearly 1 million cars a year."

Oil Spills in Australia

About one year ago, a ship was damaged causing a major oil spill (270 tons of oil) to pollute the Great Barrier Reef. Just this week, a Chinese ship carrying coal and oil hit the Great Barrier Reef and causing one of the oil containers to crack. The ship didn't report the accident until well over 2 hours past the event. So far, only 2 tons of oil has leaked into the ocean, but there is a good chance that the damaged ship could fall apart dumping thousands of tons of coal and oil into the water. To many, this whole situation seems fishy and lots of questions are being raised. Why was the ship so far out of the acceptable shipping lanes? Why did it take so long for the ship to report the situation? I'm not sure why the crash happened, but I do know that it is a terrible thing that happened. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living marine ecosystem on our planet. It really is tragic that so many damaging accidents keep occuring. It makes me feel like shipping companies need to take greater care and responsibility when they know they will be travelling in that area.

Read more about the spill here.

Living Green

Check out this website for some tips on living environmentally friendly: Global Stewards.

Good One Government

The Federal Government will apparently give anyone an "energy-efficient" rating now days. The Government Accountability Office went undercover and sent 20 products to the EPA and Department of Energy to get them approved as "energy-efficient". The items included things like space heaters with dusters taped on to it. Out of the 20 items, 15 of them passed and were given the ratings. I can't believe the government would be so careless at a time when American citizens really need some direction in cutting down emissions. Read more about the story here.

Spring is Here!

Spring is finally here and that means it is time for spring cleaning. Seventh Generation has come out with a new line of environmentally friendly cleaners that use natural ingridents to clean. One of the ingridients is the commonly found herb thyme which has the power to kill over 99.99% of germs naturally. They have also introduced 100% recycled paper towels to accompany the cleaners. Environmental bloggers are very excited about the introduction of Seventh Generation's new line and have posted their reviews of the products.

I am very happy that Seventh Generation has come out with their environmentally friendly line of cleaners because using harsh chemicals for cleaning really makes a negative impact on the environment. As it becomes trendier to be "green", I am looking forward to seeing more products like these cleaners.