Month: September 2011

  • Is Climate Change Already Causing Violent Conflict?

    For years, the Pentagon has been saying that climate change is perhaps the biggest threat to American security of all. Back in 2004, a report commissioned by Pentagon defense adviser Andrew Marshall, the man behind the restructuring of the US military under Donald Rumsfeld, predicted that “abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the…

  • Whales Mingle Across the Arctic

    The loss of Arctic sea ice is predicted to open up the Northwest Passage (the vast northern sea lanes above Canada presently choked off by ice), shortening shipping routes and facilitating the exchange of marine organisms between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. Skeletons, DNA samples and harpoon heads have all suggested that bowhead populations…

  • Andrews Air Force Base

    Most people think of polluted sites as being something industry does. Not so. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it has signed an agreement with the Department of Defense to remediate Joint Base Andrews (formerly Andrews Air Force Base) located in Clinton, Md. Although cleanup activities have been on-going at the facility, the…

  • A View of Earth: PBS Offers Operators Manual

    What if there was a mobile app to help us understand our planet? A guide to tell us how to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and increase our use of renewable energy? PBS has answered this need with Earth: The Operators’ Manual—a visually stimulating and informative one-hour program on how science can help us…

  • Climate Warming: Who Thinks What

    Yale University has created a new poll based report, Politics & Global Warming, which describes how Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and members of the Tea Party respond to the issue of global warming. The results come from a nationally representative survey of 1,010 American adults, aged 18 and older, conducted April 23 through May 12, 2011.…

  • Smart Energy Country Profile – South Africa

    South Africa is changing rapidly, and the ANC government of Jacob Zuma has big plans. This blog will examine the changing picture in terms of its energy supply and its plans to become a primary supplier to the growing global fuel cell industry. The South African economy is closely tied to the energy sector, with…

  • Tallest Building in New York Now LEED Certified

    The tallest building in New York currently standing is the Empire State Building. It is a beautiful symbol of the greatness of New York, rising 1,250 feet (381 meters) with an antenna spire rising to 1,454 feet (443.2 meters) above bustling midtown Manhattan. It was named one of the Seven Modern Wonders of the Modern…

  • Belgian Company Leads the Way In Landfill Mining

    Landfill mining is a rapidly growing area of waste management that is proving to be extremely profitable. About 50 miles east of Brussels, at Houthalen-Hecteren lies the Remo Milieubeheer landfill which dates back to the 1960s. It consists of industrial waste, household garbage and other things that landfills normally have – basically 16.5 million tons…

  • It’s All in the Head: Songbirds With Bigger Brains Have Benefited from the End of Communism

    ScienceDaily (Sep. 15, 2011) — According to a new study published in Biological Conservation the abundance of songbirds with relatively large brains in Eastern Germany and the Czech Republic has increased since 1989 / 1990. Researchers from German Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F) and Czech Charles University in collaboration with “Dachverband Deutscher Avifaunisten” (Federation…

  • More Americans believe world is warming

    More Americans than last year believe the world is warming and the change is likely influenced by the Republican presidential debates, a Reuters/Ipsos poll said on Thursday. The percentage of Americans who believe the Earth has been warming rose to 83 percent from 75 percent last year in the poll conducted Sept 8-12. Republican presidential…