Environment

Virtual Nature via Video Raises Concerns for Conservation

Nature photographers now use high-definition photography to bring unparalleled images of wildlife and a "you-are-there" experience approaching virtual reality to the viewer. It can be at once informative, thrilling and terrifying -- and all from the comfort of your easy-chair or sofa. While such video gives the public a view of nature never before seen, two biologists warn this technological wonder represents a proverbial double-edge sword. "Virtual nature, defined as nature experienced vicariously through electronic means, has potential benefits particularly for children dependent on adults for access to many natural areas ... yet virtual nature appears to directly compete with time previously allocated to more beneficial, direct contact with the outdoors." They call this phenomena "videophilia," which they define as "the new human tendency to focus on sedentary activities involving electronic media." Their concern is that such activities not only can contribute to a more isolated, sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle, but also may discourage people, especially children, from visiting parks or nature preserves and experiencing nature first-hand. And that, they argue, could affect environmental consciousness, which may hinder long-term efforts to conserve earth's dwindling tracts of wilderness.

The Planet

"The Planet" is a Swedish campaign to enhance public awareness of the planet Earth; to show its limits, wonders, possibilities. It is produced by Swedish public service television. This is a Flash app -- when you use it, make sure you hit the back arrow inside the app, otherwise if you use the browser's back arrow, you will get popped outside of the app completely. To get started, I suggest you click on "The Big Picture", then "The Current State", then "Great Acceleration". You can see many of the trends we talk about at the future salon there.

Nano design adjustment may help find, clear some water contaminants

Experiments designed to test discrepancies in theoretical computational chemistry have turned up a barely two-angstrom difference that may lead to a new approach to locate and remove dangerous toxins such as perchlorate and nitrates from the environment.

The Great Global Warming Swindle

The Great Global Warming Swindle is a controversial documentary film by British television producer Martin Durkin, which argues against the ... all » scientific opinion that human activity is the main cause of global warming. The film showcases scientists, economists, politicians, writers, and others who are sceptical of the scientific consensus on anthropogenic global warming. Publicity for the programme states that global warming is "a lie" and "the biggest scam of modern times." The programme's accuracy has been disputed on multiple points and several commentators have criticised it for being one-sided, noting that the mainstream position on global warming is supported by the scientific academies of the major industrialized nations and other scientific organizations. The film disputes the positions of these scientific organizations by interviewing scientists and others, including Richard Lindzen and other contributors to reports by the IPCC, who disagree with explanations that attribute global warming to human activities. Channel 4, which screened the documentary on March 8, 2007, described the film as "a polemic that drew together the well-documented views of a number of respected scientists to reach the same conclusions. This is a controversial film but we feel that it is important that all sides of the debate are aired."

Video, 1 hr 13 min

Researchers find large potential for cost-effective biohydrogen production from palm oil waste

A few years ago, we referred to the large potential for the production of bioproducts and next-generation biofuels from the waste biomass that accumulates at palm oil plantations and mills. The palm oil tree is one of the most productive plants on the planet.

Testing reveals drugs' residue

For five miles downstream of the Boulder, Colo., sewage treatment plant there are no male fish. In Pacific currents off the Los Angeles coastline, fish are too lazy to hunt, too laid back to bother with breeding. In south-central Asia, vultures are dying of drug overdoses. All because what goes in must come out. Recently, Miller was asked to go on a hunt for fecal contamination - sewage, basically - in Helena Valley groundwater. She was to use certain microbial markers, such as E. coli and coliphage, to sniff out the presence or absence of fecal taint. But the more she read about sewage-borne contaminants, the more she became convinced that more modern markers would make for a more interesting study. And so Miller added 28 man-made chemicals to her search target, including pharmaceuticals, endocrine disrupters and personal care products.

Dusty Wild West blamed on early settlers

The American west's dusty portrayal in movies and literature is no exaggeration - after the first settlers arrived, dust levels in the region soared. Atmospheric dust levels in the area jumped fivefold around 150 years ago, and have remained at that level ever since. The team reckons the advent of large-scale agriculture and railway building must have kicked up the dust.

WACAP - Western Airborne Contaminants Assessment Project

The Western Airborne Contaminants Assessment Project (WACAP) was initiated to determine the risk to ecosystems and food webs in western national parks from the long-range transport of airborne contaminants.

World's Top 10 Most Polluted Places

World's Worst Polluted Places 2007: Sumgayit, Azerbaijan, Linfen, China, Tianying, China, Sukinda, India, Vapi, India, La Oroya, Peru, Dzerzhinsk, Russia, Norilsk, Russia, Chernobyl, Ukraine, Kabwe, Zambia,

New Organic Center Research Provides First-Ever Estimate For Benefits of Eating Organic Produce

The Organic Center today releases an historic report that concludes converting the nation’s eight million acres of produce farms to organic would reduce pesticide dietary risks by about 97 percent. The Organic Center provides the first-ever quantitative estimate of the degree to which pesticide risks from food can be eliminated through adoption of organic farming methods in “Simplifying the Pesticide Risk Equation: The Organic Option,” a new State of Science Review by Dr. Charles Benbrook, the Organic Center’s chief scientist. Less than three percent of the nation’s cropland produces fruits and vegetables. Yet, according to The Organic Center, these crops account for most of the pesticide risks from dietary exposure in domestically produced foods. The 97 percent risk reduction can only be achieved if converting domestic cropland of organic is coupled with consumers choosing only imported produce that is certified organic.

Superbug zapper recreates 'fresh air' indoors

A device that mimics the naturally disinfecting quality of fresh air could be used to purge hospital wards of superbugs. The Air Disinfector pumps a continual stream of reactive hydrogen radicals into the atmosphere, killing microbes within minutes. Outdoors, microbes are killed by hydroxyl radicals, highly reactive agents constantly produced through natural reactions between airborne ozone and organic scented chemicals from plants such as pine trees. The makers say they have recreated this effect using a customised device the size of a flower vase.

Greener Green Energy: Today's solar cells give more than they take

Solar power produces, per unit of energy, only about one-tenth as much carbon dioxide and other harmful emissions as does conventional power generation, a new study shows. Solar panels don't release harmful gases during use, but making the solar cells does consume materials and energy—mainly from conventional power sources such as coal-fired power plants, which in turn produce emissions. Industrial techniques for making glass and other materials in solar panels also produce gases such as carbon dioxide. In the 1970s, manufacturing a solar cell required about as much energy as the cell could produce over its 20-year lifetime, so using solar power provided little if any energy gain.

India's "people's cars" spur green nightmare fear

It may be an Indian consumer's dream -- cheap cars for $2,500-$3,000 within reach of millions of a swelling middle class. But it could also prove to be a traffic and environmental disaster. Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA announced last week they were studying a $3,000 car to compete in India against Tata Motors Ltd.'s planned low-cost "People's Car" targeted at around $2,500 to hit the market next year.

Innovation awards take Imperial research to the next level

Professor Stuckey received the grant of £250,000 to develop a revolutionary new sewage treatment process which will use bacteria that primarily comes from the human lower intestine to breakdown effluent. Current sewerage treatment technology, which uses oxygen to breakdown waste, is power intensive - using 5 per cent of all energy used in the UK - and produces thousands of tonnes of sludge which is difficult to dispose of. Professor Stuckey believes he has developed an environmentally sound system which actually creates energy and clean water, and reduces sludge by 90 per cent.

Mediterranean's 'horror' tsunami may strike again

The survivors of a tsunami that killed thousands living on the shores of the Mediterranean in AD 365 called it the "day of horror". Worryingly, history may be due to repeat itself, say geologists who have located the source of the wave.