Google HQ Installs First Wireless Electric Car Charger

GreenTechies, March 23, 2011

The system is the first to offer consumers a simple way to charge their EVs with the ease of hands-free, automatic technology. Google is famous for giving the digital generation what it wants, so it only makes sense that the search giant would branch out into other technologies it feels are worth of its attention. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they would already be dabbling in smart grid technologies, and positioning themselves to be a leader in the future of both energy creation and distribution. Read more...

Expanding Forests in the Northern Latitudes

ENN, March 23, 2011


According to a recent United Nations report, forested areas in Europe, North America, the Caucasus, and Central Asia have grown steadily over the past two decades. While tropical areas have steadily lost their forests to excessive logging and increased agriculture, northern areas have seen increases caused by conservation efforts. However, the long-term health and stability of northern forest lands may be imperiled by the effects of climate change. Read more...

Brussels wants no oil-fuelled cars in cities by 2050

EurActiv.com, March 23, 2011


The European Commission plans to step up its battle against oil- and gas-fuelled cars, and is drawing up strict targets to halve their urban usage by 2030 and "phase them out by 2050," according to an EU road map on transport to be published on Monday (28 March) and seen by EurActiv. These objectives will play an instrumental role in achieving the more comprehensive target of cutting CO2 emissions from transport by 60% by 2050. Currently, a quarter of EU greenhouse gas emissions come from transport.
The Commission is therefore proposing an ambitious plan which eyes significant reductions of emissions especially in road transport, while it intends to increase rail traffic, on the grounds that is by far cleaner and more environment-friendly.  Read more...

Valvoline Launches 50% Recycled Motor Oil

Environmental Leader, March 16, 2011

Valvoline has introduced a 50 percent recycled motor oil, which will be available at retailers and through participating installers and oil change centers.
The company said that its NextGen brand of motor oil cuts down on fossil fuel use, lowering emissions and helping to ensure that used oil doesn’t make its way into the water supplies. The new product takes advantage of the latest innovative manufacturing processes, Valvoline said, to offer superior engine protection while reducing environmental impacts. Read more...

News at the North Pole Ozone Layer

ENN, March 16, 2011

Unusually low temperatures in the Arctic ozone layer have recently initiated massive ozone depletion. The Arctic appears to be heading for a record loss of this trace gas that protects the Earth's surface against ultraviolet radiation from the sun. This result has been found by measurements carried out by an international network of over 30 ozone sounding stations spread all over the Arctic and Subarctic and coordinated by the Potsdam Research Unit of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association in Germany. Read more...

Honeybee End?

ENN, March 11, 2011

The mysterious collapse of honey-bee colonies is becoming a global phenomenon. Declines in managed bee colonies, seen increasingly in Europe and the US in the past decade, are also now being observed in China and Japan and there are the first signs of African collapses from Egypt, according to the report from the United Nations. Beekeepers in Western countries have been reporting slow declines of stocks for many years, apparently due to impaired protein production, changes in agricultural practice, or unpredictable weather. Read more...

Eco-farming can double food output by poor: U.N.

Reuters, March 8, 2011

Many farmers in developing nations can double food production within a decade by shifting to ecological agriculture from use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, a U.N. report says.
Insect-trapping plants in Kenya and Bangladesh's use of ducks to eat weeds in rice paddies are among examples of steps taken to increase food for a world population that the United Nations says will be 7 billion this year and 9 billion by 2050. "Agriculture is at a crossroads," according to the study by Olivier de Schutter, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to food, in a drive to depress record food prices and avoid the costly oil-dependent model of industrial farming. Read more...

Costco, Sodexo Make Sustainable Seafood Pledges

Environmental Leader, February 28, 2011


Food giants Sodexo and Costco have both committed to improve the sustainability of their seafood.Sodexo, the $21 billion food service company, has announced a goal for all its contracted seafood to be certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) or the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) by 2015. Under the plan, Sodexo will review all wild caught and farm raised seafood purchases and set short, medium and long-term goals with its contracted seafood vendors. Read more...

Sea turtles' migration mystery is 'solved'

BBC News, February 25, 2011

Until now, how species such as loggerhead sea turtles manage to migrate thousands of miles across oceans with no visual landmarks has been a mystery.
Now researchers from the University of North Carolina believe they have found the answer. Loggerhead sea turtles appear to be able to determine their longitude using two sets of magnetic cues. It is the first time this ability has been shown in any migratory animal. This research is published in the journal Current Biology. Read more...

.Σκοτώνουν τους αργυροπελεκάνους

ΤΑ ΝΕΑ, 22 Φεβρουαρίου, 2011

Δύο ισχυρά πλήγµατα δέχτηκαν µέσα σε µία εβδοµάδα οι αποικίες του αργυροπελεκάνου σε δύο από τα µεγαλύτερα εθνικά πάρκα της Ελλάδας. Στη λίµνη Βιστωνίδα βρέθηκαν 28 νεκρά πουλιά χτυπηµένα από λαθροθήρες, ενώ στον Αµβρακικό Κόλπο άγνωστοι τα έδιωξαν και στη συνέχεια κατέστρεψαν τις φωλιές και τα αυγά τους. Οιεπιστήµονες τονίζουν την ανάγκη να ενταθούν τα µέτρα προστασίας του παγκόσµια απειλούµενου είδους πουλιού, την ώρα µάλιστα που το 10% του πληθυσµού του ζει στην Ελλάδα. Διαβάστε περισσότερα...

Serengeti World Heritage Site in Grave Danger as Tanzanian Government Moves Forward With Highway

Justmeans, February 13, 2011

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete directly contradicted his own government's study by claiming that a planned highway in the Serengeti National Park will not be the environmental disaster conservationists and scientists are claiming it to be. Speaking to the World Bank, President Kikwete gave the green light to the controversial highway project, saying that the "road to the south would not solve transport challenges of communities living on the northern side of the park." He once again claimed that "no tarmac road will be built through the Serengeti"-- an oft-cited statement designed to distract from the real issue at hand. Read more...

Climate science vs. climate economics

Grist, February 09, 2011

As I see it, there are two incommensurate stories being told about climate change. I'm not talking about the largely fake debate between those who say climate change is happening and human-driven (scientists) and those who say it isn't (the GOP). I'm talking about two different ways of envisioning what we can expect in a climate-changed future, both of which exist among people who take climate change seriously. Sometimes they take up residence in the same head! Like, er, mine. But they don't fit together very well. One comes to us from science, the other from economics. Read more...

Arctic Roamers: The Move of Southern Species into Far North

Yale 360, February 14, 2011

Grizzly bears mating with polar bears. Red foxes out-competing Arctic foxes. Exotic diseases making their way into once-isolated polar realms. These are just some of the worrisome phenomena now occurring as Arctic temperatures soar and the Arctic Ocean, a once-impermeable barrier, melts. Read more...

Ecuadorian Judge Hits Chevron with $8.6bn Ruling

Environmental Leader, February 15, 2011

Chevron has been slapped with an $8.6 billion penalty, in what is suspected to be the largest environmental fine in history – and the amount could double.
An Ecuadorian judge yesterday ordered Chevron to pay $8.6 billion to clean up oil pollution in the country’s rain forest, the Wall Street Journal reports. This includes $5.4 billion to restore polluted soil and $1.4 billion to create a community health system, plus $860 million to plaintiff coalition the Amazon Defense Front. Read more...

Read also: Chevron's Ecuador Fine `Unenforceable,' Analysts Say

H&M Unveils Recycled and Organic Fashion

Environmental Leader, February 11, 2011

H&M will debut a range of environmentally friendly fashion this spring, the retailer has announced.
The Conscious Collection, for men, women and children, is made from sustainable materials including organic and recycled fibers, H&M said. The collection will be on sale in all H&M stores from April 14.
Items in the collection will include blouses, tunics, T-shirts, dresses, skirts, blazers and trousers. These will be made from organic linen, polyester recycled from PET bottles and textile waste, and Tencel – which H&M describes as a “silky, renewable material produced with minimal environmental impact”. Read more...

Metal Toxins in LED Products

ENN, February 11, 2010


LED lighting is the newest, most efficient form of lighting to hit the markets. It blows away even the most efficient compact fluorescent bulb, and is therefore, a much more expensive option. However, the benefits to the environment from LED's efficiency come with another environmental cost. A new study from the University of California (UC) Irvine shows that LED bulbs contain lead, arsenic, and a dozen more potentially hazardous substances. Read more...

New Zealand scientists record 'biodiversity breakdown'

BBC News, February 4, 2011


Scientists in New Zealand say they have linked the modern-day decline of a common forest shrub with the local extinction of two pollinating birds over a century ago. They say the disappearance of two birds - the bellbird and stitchbird - from the upper North Island of the country has lead to a slow decline in common plants, including the forest shrub New Zealand gloxinia.
Ship rats and stoats imported into the country around the year 1870 are blamed for the birds' demise.
The researchers claim the study, published in the journal Science, offers rare experimental proof of a breakdown in a local ecosystem. Read more...

Nepal climate loan hit by opposition storm

BBC News, February 3, 2011

A loan to be provided by multilateral banks to help Nepal fight the impacts of climate change has kicked off a controversy after it invited criticism from civil societies and non-government organisations. They say it is not fair to burden an already climatically vulnerable country like Nepal with loans in the name of dealing with climatic changes. There are also some supporters of the loan, mainly from few government ministries who argue that the money is good for the country in the long run. But even within the government's administration, there are conflicting positions. Read more...

Brazil Approves Construction of the Belo Monte Dam Project

ENN, February 2, 2011


The proposed Belo Monte Dam in northern Brazil would be the third largest hydro-electric dam in the world in terms of electrical output. The dam would be 3.75 miles long and generate over 11,000 megawatts, which could power up to 23 million homes. Government officials say that the dam is an essential step in supplying energy to the nation's growing population. However, the project is rife with environmental conflicts. The project requires the clearing of 588 acres of Amazon jungle, the displacement of over 20,000 indigenous people, flooding a 193 square mile area, and drying up a 62 mile stretch of the Xingu River. Read more...

Sea Census Locates 1200 New Marine Species in World's Oceans

ENN, January 26, 2010

A newly concluded Census of Marine Life, covering most of the world's seas and oceans, has discovered over 1,200 new species of sea creatures. The ten year study, completed in October, 2010, was composed of 3,000 scientists from 80 countries, including a few from Israel, and cost $370 million USD. The study was the first of its kind to make a thorough census and categorization of sea creatures, ranging from the smallest micro-biological specimens to the largest fish and mammals. Read more...