Jun

01st 2008

Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan U.S.

Filed Under Environment, United States | Leave a Comment

In a study issued by the Brookings Instititute, the surprising conclusion was that the carbon footprint of urban dwellers was 14% smaller than the average American’s.   The top three smallest metropolitan area carbon footprints in order are: Honolulu, HI, Los Angeles, CA and Portland, OR.  The top three largest metropolitan area carbon footprints in order are Tulsa, OK, Knoxville, TN, and Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA.

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Apr

06th 2008

Garbage Patch Islands in the Oceans

Filed Under Environment, World | Leave a Comment

An enormous collection of garbage weighing more than 3 tons and a size of twice the state of Texas is floating out in an isolated section of the Pacific Ocean.  The garbage patch, dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, is held together by a rotating system of currents known as the North Pacific Gyre.  The swirling currents bring the collected debris into the relatively calm center of the North Pacific Gyre.   In the past this collection of garbage biodegraded over time but with the modern addition of plastics the broken pieces. instead of biodegrading, clump together into a large mass of waster.

Image courtesy of Greenpeace

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Jan

02nd 2008

World’s Largest Water Reclamation Plant

Filed Under Environment, United States | Leave a Comment

Orange County (California) officially launched the world’s largest reclamation plant to coincide with the New Year.  The project, costing around $490 million, filters waste water through a complex over 20 acres using a series of pipes, drains and filtering techniques before pumping the water through the area’s extensive groundwater system.  While the water is potable after being processed through the reclamation system, it is added to the groundwater to prevent saltwater intrusion and add another layer of natural filtration.  The system will add 130 million gallons of fresh drinking water a day to the area’s water supply, reducing the need to import water from northern California.  A massive campaign to educate the public and to prevent protests that have undermined other reclamation projects in the local area was responsible for the public’s acceptance of the plant.  The Los Angeles Times has a graphic demonstrating the technology. 

Read more: O.C. sewage will soon be drinking water - Los Angeles Times

Nov

02nd 2007

Phenomenal Images of Earth

Filed Under Environment, World | Leave a Comment

The deputydog blog has 11 amazing images looking down on various phenomenom on earth.  From a two part image of a coastline in Sri Lanka at the time of the Tsunami back in December of 2004 to spectacular images of the earth from space, this post is a definite visit. 

Oct

20th 2007

Birth of an iceberg

Filed Under Current Events, Environment | Leave a Comment

The European Space Agency has a web page animation of imagery from Envisat’s Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) instrument, that shows the breaking away of a giant iceberg from the Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica.  The newly formed iceberg covers an area of 34 km in length by 20 km in width. 

The animation highlights the movement in the area between September 2006 and October 2007. The Pine Island Glacier is visible stretching from the right of the image to the centre. The tongue of Pine Island is shown moving inland between September 2006 and March 2007. Between April and May 2007, the detached iceberg in front of Pine Island moves significantly. Also in May 2007, a crack in Pine Island becomes visible. By October, the new iceberg has completely broken away.

Source: Earth from Space: Birth of an iceberg

pine_island_glacier_l0.gif

Photo: ESA; Photo: ESA/Cluster; Image: ESA/NASA - SOHO/LASCO

Oct

16th 2007

How long will the North Pole ice cap last?

Filed Under Climatology, Current Events, Environment | 2 Comments

Pen Hadow of Vanco Artic Survey hopes to answer that question with the most detailed survey ever of the Arctic ice thickness at the North Pole.  Starting next February 2008, a team of scientists and explorers will undertake a 120 -day, 3,200 mile journey to cross the ice cap.  The team will start in Point Barrow, Alaska and reach the polar cap by June, 2008.  Along the way, over 10 million readings will be taken to determine snow and ice thickness.  Currently, estimates on the melting of the ice cap range from 16 to 100 years.  The readings, taken by radar, will help determine a more accurate assessment of the remaining life of the permanent ice cap of the North Pole. 

vancoarcticsurvey_routemap.jpg

Proposed route from Point Barrow to the North Pole

Oct

08th 2007

International Cleanup Weekend

Filed Under Current Events, Environment | Leave a Comment

The weekend of October 13th and 14th has been announced as “International Cleanup Weekend” by Google who is inviting participants to submit maps of planned cleanups of “local parks, beaches, trails and other places close to home.”  Visit the “International Cleanup Weekend” site to sign up for this outreach event.  On this page you can view a Google Map of the planned clean up events, submit your own event and invite participants to your event.   

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