Thursday, October 28, 2010

The Bee Crisis in Europe: Something Must be Done: The European Parliament Reports on Bees and Environment

Bees are dying off at an alarming rate in Europe, which could have catastrophic consequences for food supplies, since bees are essential for pollination of fruits and vegetables.

See To bee or not to bee..?

Even in our private garden, we have noticed a drop in bee visitations, in spite of increased plants and flowers this year.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

BBC News - Study measures Atlantic plastic accumulation

BBC News - Study measures Atlantic plastic accumulation: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Judge Rules that Genetically Altered Biotechnology Sugar Beets Not Kosher Until Thorough Environmental Review by the Government

Michael Liedtke, AP Business Writer, in his August 15, 2010 article Judge's Ruling Uproots Use of Biotechnology Beets reported that Federal U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey S. White of the Northern District of California has invalidated government approval of genetically modified biotech sugar beets and has barred all future planting pending a full environmental impact review by the government (see the order in Case3:08-cv-00484-JSW Document570 Filed 08/13/10, in Center for Food Safety v. Vilsack, at the New York Times and at DocStoc).

Andrew Pollack covered the story at the New York Times in Judge Revokes Approval of Modified Sugar Beets.

See Federal Judge Bans Genetically Modified Sugar Beets at Treehugger.com

Crossposted from LawPundit.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Precluding Plant Mass Extinctions: The Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, according to Svalbard’s Tale (Norway or No-Way), is "an ambitious project to store a massive amount of seeds as a genetic backup plan precluding plant mass extinctions."

Hat tip to diffbot: Svalbard’s Tale (Norway or No-Way):

Saturday, July 17, 2010

2010 Already Hottest Year on Record since NOAA Records began in 1880

Picture This: Dry Heat - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International
Take a look at that link for a picture of the partly dried out River Elbe near Dresden in Germany.
"US researchers announced on Thursday that June had been the hottest month ever recorded. The scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said that the first half of the year was also the warmest period since records began in 1880, indicating that 2010 could break all records."

Friday, July 16, 2010

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Binge Flying? Britain Curbing Airport Growth to Aid Climate - NYTimes.com

The concept of "binge flying" is a new one, seemingly putting the onus on your average low-cost air traveler.

Britain Curbing Airport Growth to Aid Climate - NYTimes.com

Maybe one should evaluate the percentage of airplanes in the air that are accountable to unnecessary business travel which could be conducted online via the newest networking technologies.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Environmental Protection and Politics : Per Capita Gasoline Consumption by State Correlates with Presidential Election Voting in 2008 with Republican States Using More and Democratic States Using Less

Take a look here at environmental protection and Presidential election politics from a different angle and with a new twist.

While testing the new "Google Reader Play" we ran across the Infrastructurist.com by Martha Kang Mcgill, who presents  a gasoline per capita consumption map of the United States by individual State, a map which looks curiously similar to a New York Times map of the 2008 Presidential election results by State in the United States, which we had archived in our memory.

So we compared the two maps.

On the whole, the "red states" (who voted Republican for McCain) use more gasoline per capita than the "blue states" (who voted Democrat for Obama), which can not be a function of wealth, since the Southern states are generally poorer. The colors show the per capita consumption, while the size of a state shows total consumption. Why would this possible per capita gasoline correlation exist?



Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Recyclables - Washington Post - Nina Shen Rastogi

Nina Shen Rastogi at "The Green Lantern" column in the Washington Post asks: Recyclable or not? Check the rules in your locality about labels, tape, etc..

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Climate Scam : Blogs have Hijacked Peer Review Process says ‘Climategate’ Scientist

"Blogs have Hijacked Peer Review Process says ‘Climategate’ Scientist" - Climate Scam: Review of the Climate Change News

Saturday, February 13, 2010

The Climate, Global Warming and Air Moisture Increase at the February 12, 2010 Newsletter - The Week in Germany

The Newsletter The Week in Germany, February 12, 2010 of the German Missions in the United States has an opening op-ed by Karen Carstens, Webteam Germany.info, Co-Editor, The Week in Germany, on the topic of the climate and global warming where she writes that the current winter does not negate the theory of global warming:

"Cooler than average temperatures and record-breaking snowfalls are not, however, reason to dismiss global warming as some kind of secret plot for world domination....

I want to say just one word to you. Just one word. ... Moisture.
"

Global warming - if true - means increased moisture in the air, which, if temperatures are sufficiently cool, can in fact lead to increased snow.

read the entire analysis here

Saturday, January 23, 2010

German Missions in the United States - Year of Science

German Missions in the United States - The Future of Energy : Motto of the Year of Science 2010
"The future of energy: this is the motto of the Year of Science 2010, which begins on January 22 and is organized by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research together with the Science Initiative."

Friday, January 22, 2010

Venture Funding Moves from Clean Energy to Efficient Lighting and Energy-Management Software : Biotech Leads the Pack

Venture Funding Stabilizes, Shifts to Biotech, Shuns Energy - BusinessWeek

Biotech is on the rise as drug companies seek to offset expiring patents and as investments are being made in new technologies such as genome and cancer research. Less money is going into clean energy and more into projects for efficient lighting and energy-management software.

Tim Mullaney, January 22, 2010 (Bloomberg) , writes:
"Venture-capital funding for startup companies stabilized in the fourth quarter, with investor interest shifting toward drug development and away from clean energy....

Biotech was the largest industry for the quarter."