Green Options

Apparently Siemens got the message.

The Siemens Foundation, Discovery Education and the National Science
Teachers Association (NSTA) have partnered on this unprecedented initiative
to educate, empower and engage students, teachers and communities to become
“Agents of Change” in improving their community. Student teams from sixth
through eighth grade, under the mentorship of a teacher or adult supervisor,
can register for the *Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge *at *
www.wecanchange.com*.

Teams of two to three students will identify an environmental issue in their
community, research

[...]

Under a scenario that is nothing short of fairy tale-optimistic and unrealistic, a pair of authors from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has predicted a minimum warming of 2.4° C (4.3° F) above pre-industrial levels.

And even an increase that is seemingly that small, falls within the IPCC’s (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) threshold range of temperature increase that would see a massive loss of biodiversity, deglaciation and a variety of other negative environmental effects.

This post is a follow-up to The Fight Over Radon in Granite Countertops Heats Up, which will provide some background information on the granite/radon issue.

With the legion of both deniers and alarmists out there attempting to monopolize the discussion over the safety of granite countertops, it is difficult to find unbiased information.  Peruse the comments in the above post and you can see the discussion has devolved into name calling.  The deniers, many of whom work in the granite industry, blast any insinuation that granite could be dangerous as “fear-mongering” and put down the current research as “junk science.”  The alarmists, many of whom sell competing countertops, argue that consumers shouldn’t take the risk that comes with granite.  The truth, as with most heated arguments, can be found somewhere in the middle.

Editor’s Note: This is a guest contribution from Adam Shake.

Bill Gates has his hands in the green again, but this time, it’s algae.  His Investment Firm, Cascades Investments LLC, along with the Rockefeller family’s venture capital firm Venrock, the WellcomeTrust, and Arch Venture Partners have invested a total of 100 million dollars in Sapphire Energy.

Sapphire Energy, a San Diego based company that launched in May of 2007, says that it’s goal “is to be the world’s leading producer of renewable petrochemical products.” The companies website goes on to say “Critically important, there is no ‘food vs. fuel’ tradeoff. The process is not dependent on crops or valuable farmland. It is highly water efficient, delivering 10 to 100 times more energy per acre than cropland biofuels.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, “Sapphire is working towards a 10,000-barrel-a-day algae-based oil facility, and can now concentrate on production and engineering problems. Meanwhile, Gates’s involvement may signal a broader interest in alternative biofuels.”

Researchers and officials from the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service on Tuesday presented the findings of a 4 year study that estimated the population of grizzly bears in Montana. The results confirmed what was assumed: the endangered grizzly bear population has grown. There are now an estimated 765 bears living in northwest Montana, in places like Glacier National Park. This number indicates that the [...]

I was happy to receive 5 CDs from Stan Slaughter, the Eco-Troubadour. For the last few weeks I have been popping his various CDs in the player, and watching how my kids react (usually wild and uncontained hopping, wiggling and a sideways skip sort of a move that is my 3 year old’s signature move). Let me back up.

Stan Slaughter has been making music about the environment for over 25 years. He’s taken every environmental topic, from composting, hazardous waste, recycling, solid waste and aquatic ecosystems, and turned them into countless songs to teach and inspire. Stan has traveled the country performing his environmental music to over 500,000 students and adults.

Stan’s music is no shrinking violet. He rocks out in many of the tunes, with serious guitar licks, so if you are looking for something light, all acoustic or bluegrass, this may not be it. But anyone who can turn the concept of an aquifer into a song has my respect.

German biologists have discovered an hitherto unknown ant species, believed to be the oldest on the planet, deep in the Amazon rain forest.

Field researchers from Karlsruhe’s Natural History Museum who made the discovery near Manaus, Brazil, say the species, which resembles miniature wasps and looks like no other, may date back around 120 million years, according to Reuters.

Martialis heureka, nicknamed the “Ant from Mars” due to its unusual features and heureka from its surprising discovery, the ants themselves are eyeless, pale in color, subterranean, and predatory, according to Wikipedia.

Of all places to start a greenhouse, the Sahara Desert would likely rank pretty low for many. But someone is working on a plan to make food growing happen there. The Sahara Forest Project aims to use massive greenhouses to direct the sun’s rays for heat and energy, which is planned to regulate the air, filter water and create an environment for plant growth.

Via: greenpacks.org

According to the AP Newswire 432 children in China have been sickened by infant formula tainted with Melamine.

There is one confirmed death.

Apparently, a Chinese dairy that sold milk powder linked to kidney stones in infants knew it contained melamine. They failed to recall the tainted milk products because, “grocers wouldn’t return it”. Uh, okay? I kinda don’t get that either.

In any event. If you or anyone you know and love shops at an ethnic market with any regularity (I do!) please pass this important information along. Although much of the tainted formula has been seized, and many executives are in custody (Yes they did this on purpose) some might have made it’s way to other countries.

It was a weird and improbable shotgun wedding of genetic material — one conducted by your drunk uncle Larry in a brothel on the outskirts of Las Vegas. One in which researchers successfully combined enzymes from a bacteria that normally resides in a cow’s gut with the genes of the leaves and stalk of a corn plant — and one in which the offspring from that marriage is a corn plant that can digest itself into the components needed to make ethanol.

Certainly, anything that can digest itself warrants a closer look — and now a company in Kansas has licensed that proprietary corn offspring, dubbed Spartan Corn III (it even sounds like a name your drunk uncle Larry would approve of), for the ultimate consummation of the marriage in a baptism of commercialization.

By now, we’ve been well taught to view the steady decrease of Arctic ice as a bad thing; and for good reason, it is. But by now, I also hope that I have been able to teach you that, when dealing with the climate, nothing is simple. If that lesson has managed to make it through, then this latest piece of “good” news is going to be very interesting.

According to two separate research groups, new evidence supports the possibility that the disappearing Arctic ice is a good thing for the planet.