Solar Panels - Why So Long to Hit the Shops?
THE SEPTEMBER 2006 ISSUE OF SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN was dedicated to exploring the future of energy beyond the carbon era. The editors shared a sobering outlook: 'Decades may pass before hydrogen-powered trucks and cars relegate gasoline-and diesel-fueled vehicles to antique auto shows.' Until that happens, we"ll 'muddle-through' somehow. But why does it take so long for some energy technologies to get from the lab and industrial applications to the service of consumers? Take solar panels, for example. A high-street electronics chain in London now sells educational solar-power kits for around the 20 mark.
Polar Bear and Climate Change
Many organization and many individuals have been in the forefront of many battles won and lost in the history. But not in our so called illustrious history an animal has been in the forefront of a struggle. A struggle in which it is unknowingly dragged into, A struggle that will define its existence. The photo provided below taken by Dan Crosbie have sent cripples all over the world. The picture looks like a Mother and cub resting in the top of a ice sculpture done by waves have sent ripples all over the world. Let me remind you that Polar Bear are extremely decent swimmers. But yet they may be in sight of being endangered.
Environment - Capping-and-Trading Carbon Credits - Why Stop There?
Some of the proposed solutions for global warming like capping-and-trading of carbon credits can actually be transferred to other sectors and applied to other pressing social problems. Take education in general, and illiteracy in particular, for example. Why not create an artificial scarcity of illiteracy just like creating an artificial scarcity of carbon dioxide emissions? Just like both the private sector and the Congress are working in parallel tracks to determine a cap on the kind of "carbon footprint" that private corporations can have without incurring any penalties, the Congress, private sector and the municipalities can also work on an artificial cap on the percentage of illiteracy that will be allowed in a city, county, state, or even corporation.
Saving The Environment
Saving the environment seems such a mommoth task. It simply leaves people immobile. Where does one begin? Some things are easy. Don"t litter. Don"t damage. Don"t waste resources. But what exactly does this involve? What does the common person do to be saving the environment? Not everyone can research. Not everyone can make it the calling of their lives. Not everyone even knows what to do. Yet, we have a huge number of people available, who would, if pointed out, definitely be happy to make small adjustments that together can result in massive change. The key is in identifying exact things, that are quick to do and watch out for, once people know.
Environment - Carbon Credit Manufacturing -- A New Industrial Growth Sector
Did you know that companies can now buy and sell "carbon credits" internationally just like other goods and services regularly bought and sold on the international market? There are two important prerequisites for this new carbon credit business: 1) Your country must have signed the Kyoto Protocol (the United States has still not signed it as of March 2007). These credits are made possible by the Kyoto's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). That's why sometimes this new line of trading is also referred to simply as "CDM" business. 2) You have to register your "carbon saving" project with the United Nations before you can sell your credits to other international purchasers.
Environment - The Politics of Carbon Credit Incentives in New Zealand
Using "carbon credits" as a tool and an incentive to slow down global warming by rewarding those that release less carbon dioxide to the atmosphere is a solution that must be implemented with utmost care for the correct policy measures to go along with it. If implemented within a framework of incorrect politics, it can backfire and either handicap the economy with unnecessary restriction and land use patterns or create serious political fractions within a country, or both. A case in point is the "deforestation tax" controversy raging in New Zealand (as of early 2007). It all started when the forest owners in New Zealand felt compelled by market forces to shift their land use from forestry to dairy farming.
The Electric Alternative - A Little Will Go A Long Way
With all the reports of Global Warming, it"s a wonder how we have survived this long. It"s a shame that we as a race have become so farsighted when it comes to the health and stability of our environment. We all need to do our part to conserve what little natural resources we have left, while at the same time being more earth friendly conscious. If lawmakers would stop playing to the hands of lobbyists and honor their election pledges, we would be a lot better off as a planet. What little thing we can do as part of our obligation to preserve this planet is to get away from the gas guzzling monsters the not only use too much of our natural resources, but also are heavy contributors to the eradication of the protective layer called the O-Zone layer.
Practicing Stewardship With Our Ecology
God gave us the beautiful mountains, large meadows, and great seas, all for which I am truly thankful. We have proof in the many natural settings serving as the backdrop for scripture-based posters. Some love what He has created and all are charged with caring for His creation. However, merely recognizing this magnificence is not stewardship. Putting thought into ecology, the environment, and how we affect it is. How far does this stewardship go? Deuteronomy 25:4 tells us "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." We have guidance from the Bible showing how to care for the land and wildlife inhabiting the earth.
Going Green 1941
I was unpacking the content of a box of old magazines I had purchased at auction several days ago preparing the content for listing on one of my websites, the trouble with old magazines is they are extremely interesting as they report on events that have past long ago and with hindsight we can view how naïve we our parents and grandparents were and what we could have done better. What I really found interesting were the advertisements that in comparison to today"s slick magazine and television adverts that convince us to purchase products we do not really need the old fashioned advertising was an invitation to try rather than something we should buy to keep abreast if not in advance of the Joneses.
Intelligence In The Gorilla And The Other Great Apes
The use of tools in the wild by chimpanzees has been observed and well established for some time now and in fact recently chimps have also been observed successfully hunting lemurs with crude yet self-crafted spears. On the other hand tool use by gorillas in the wild has been little observed and certainly not to the same extent or sophistication as their more rambunctious cousins, the chimpanzee. So then do these observations lay to rest once and for all the age old quandary about "which species of ape is second to man in intelligence"? Patterns of Intelligence It is now recognized that certain regions of the human brain play a more significant role in the processes of functional memory, emotional behavior, creative thought, motor control (movement), planning and decision making as well as language.