The science behind climate change couldn’t be clearer. It’s mostly man-made, and change is accelerating. The problem with most of today’s climate-related activism is that it plays softball. It still speaks to people like it’s trying to convince them, woo them, gently show them why the system is sick. Finally, a major organization, Conservation International, has ‘grown a pair’ and started talking to people the way they deserve: with unflinching poise and undeniable blame. The series, titled “Nature is Speaking“, uses celebrity voices playing the roles of The Ocean, The Soil, Mother Nature, etc. The scripts are paired with beautiful video of pristine nature, the way it exists without humans messing things up. The punch line for the short videos is the real narrative, however. “Nature doesn’t need humans. Humans need Nature.” It’s a quote that I will be extolling for years to come, and I’m thrilled to have a great national organization finally market to people the way they need to. Wake up, humans. We need nature.
392 Megawatts is a huge amount of energy, from any power plant. 392 Megawatts of carbon-free solar power is astounding. Remarkable in size and capacity, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is the biggest in the world, and one of the few power-tower solar thermal plants operating today. Instead of the solar panels you see on a house roof or your old calculator, this type of solar reflects light from thousands of reflective mirrors and concentrates it to boil water and turn a turbine. The mirrors are computer controlled and send huge amounts of heat to giant boilers 459 feet in the air. The system generates enough clean energy to power 140,000 homes. Fantastic.
Via Gizmodo, Wikipedia, and Brightsource Energy
Coral reefs are in trouble, and human-caused climate change is to blame. As the oceans get more warm and acidic, fragile reefs are dying out, and they take with them some of the most biodiverse, and incredible life we’ve ever seen. A video called Slow Life is simply mesmerizing, showcasing some of the gorgeous and extraordinary details of this amazing reef. It brings into focus the world beneath the waters of our oceans, and show us why they are worth protecting, if we still can. Watch the video in HD, and prepare to be enthralled. Via Jarratt M:
Via the producer:
“Slow” marine animals show their secret life under high magnification. Corals and sponges are very mobile creatures, but their motion is only detectable at different time scales compared to ours and requires time lapses to be seen. These animals build coral reefs and play crucial roles in the biosphere, yet we know almost nothing about their daily lives.
Lately there have been a bunch of stories coming out of China on just how horrific their air pollution is. Days where the smog is so thick that you can’t see more than a few feet in front of you. This is mostly due to coal and dirty oil emissions, and lax environmental controls.
It’s something that makes me terrified, and the Chinese government must act. Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde is developing a system that collects the smog like a vacuum cleaner using copper coils buried underground. Below is a very brief explanation on how it works.
The buried copper coils produce a weak electrostatic field that extends into the sky above. Smog particles are drawn down towards the ground, punching a clean hole in the air and allowing the particles to be collected. The coils can be buried beneath the grass of a park and are completely safe.
This is a proof of concept, and Roosegaarde has only done minor trials, but the idea is interesting. Surely the Chinese government should fund and explore this type of solution to smog, while simultaneously enacting strict emissions regulations.
I finally got around to seeing the film Chasing Ice last night, and I highly recommend going to see it. The film is a gripping and fiercely scary look at the world’s glaciers, and their rapid decline and disappearance. Renowned photographer James Balog spends years of his life and literally destroys his own knees hiking to some of the world’s most remote yet critical glaciers, setting up multi-year timelapse studies. His visual records of swift glacial decline are irrefutable proof of climate change in action. At the same time, he captures images of ice, icebergs and glaciers that are visually astounding. Painfully beautiful and just plain painful, the film is a must-see for anyone that wants to feel invigorated to do something about the climate crisis. Go see it.
An amazing collection of species from the future, changed irreparably due to climate change and the need to adapt to a new planet.
Via Time:
In his “Engineered Species” project, part of his recently released book Past Forward, Fournier explores how life itself tinkers with its own design, changing DNA to make species better, faster and stronger. Fournier took pictures of taxidermy specimens—stuffed and pinned animals—and brought them to animal geneticists to find how these species were evolving in real time as the environment, thanks largely to human action, keeps changing.
PANGOLIN [Pholidota supraclimatis]
Climate change-tolerant mammal • Better adaptation to climate change (i.e. increase of 2∘C). Nocturnal/diurnal animals.
A high keratin content (DM content of 45%) maintains a constant body temperature and controls homeostatis. Claw composition: non-metallic and metallic (Ir) components [1:7] for animal defense.
BEETLE [Oryctes transmissionus]
Insect adapted to continuous tracking.
GPS receiver in the horn as integrated antenna. • Secretion of a two-layer ABS/Plexiglas material by the engineered animal. Accuracy of time signals (±10ns).
Head and thorax made with Al for short-wavelength transmissions in the ISM band from 2400-2480 MHz. Able to withstand accelerations of 12,000 g or about 118 km/s2. The L5 frequency band at 1.17645 GHz added. Animal for continuous tracking.
SPARROW [Passeridae megapixeliadeae]
Bird with high visual acuity
Injection around 20000 engineered stem cells per eye using isolate fibroblast precursors from corneal stroma.
Critical visual angle : 0.35 arc-minute. Large format camera : 180 degrees.Resolution of the bird eye : 576 megapixels. f/ratio = 22.3/7 = 3.2
CORTINARIUS [Fungus aridus]
Like-arid environment tolerant fungi
Injection of a genetically modified gene isolated from camel hump cells in spores. Reservoir of fatty tissue derived from lipoblasts within cap.
Metabolized tissue with a yield of approx. 0.1 of H2O for each 0.1 g of fat converted through reaction with O2from the air.
MONITOR LIZARD [Varanus imitabilis]
Mimetic lizard
Glass mirrors on scales providing parabolic reflectors. Very low f/#s. With a ray depth of 48.
Secretion of a thin layer of aluminium by reduction from tetrahydroxoaluminate Al(OH)4–to metallic aluminum by microbial-bacterial processes. Agro-infiltration of engineered bacteria with surfactant Silwet L-77. Body for mimetic camouflage.
GREAT GREY OWL [Strix nebulosa]
Predator-resistant feathers
Vision in pixels for delivering a fuller picture to the brain. Process of computer software memory. Engineered nerves cells and photoreceptor cells in the retina of the eye. Neither ears nor horns.
Embryogenesis modification. Tufts feather with a narrow band of wavelengths (305-320mm) to avoid predation.
Claw composition: non-metallic and metallic (106Cd) components [1:5] for defense.
Keystone XL remains a terribly flawed project, and one I think would push policy and energy strategy in North America is the absolute wrong direction. In an era of climate change, air pollution and ever-dwindling fossil fuels, we need to seek new directions, not double-down and get even deeper into the hole we’ve dug for ourselves.
Obviously, the Sierra Club agrees, and have produced a succinct video on the project. Perhaps if you have a friend or relative on the dirty end of the argument, you could point them in this direction.
No, you’re not imagining it. 2011 has been rife with extreme weather events. There have, in fact, been 2,941 monthly weather records broken in the U.S. this year—549 snowfall records, 1,090 rainfall records, and 1,302 heat-related records. The NRDC’s extreme weather map (time-lapse version available here) makes the rash of weather events seem all the more real.
No part of the U.S. was spared from extreme weather this year. Nevada saw four broken heat records, seven broken rainfall records, and three broken snowfall records. On the other side of the country, Pennsylvania saw 44 broken heat records, 55 broken rainfall records, and 49 broken September records, and the wettest September ever recorded.
- Huge blizzards closed down parts of the midwest and east coast in 2011
These events haven’t just been an inconvenience; they have cost billions of dollars in agriculture and health consequences alone. Damage from wildfires, heat waves, and droughts in the Southwest alone has led to $10 billion in direct losses from cattle, agriculture, and structures. Midwest and Mississippi River flooding combined with Hurricane Irene incurred $20 billion in costs and took 60 lives.
Can any one of these events be conclusively linked to climate change? Not likely. Still, it’s not every year that the U.S. breaks nearly 3,000 weather records. It probably won’t be the last, especially if the world’s governments continue to drag their feet on climate change mitigation.
Al Gore made headlines today for publicly lambasting President Obama for his lackluster performance when it comes to climate change legislation. I think it’s about time, and I applaud him for calling our president out for being weak, non-commital and frankly, irresponsible for not doing more when it comes to our environmental protection. Don’t get me wrong- Republicans have done everything in their power to halt, stop, weaken and knock down legislation. And tragically, they’ve been extremely effective at blocking positive change. Regardless, we voted for a leader. Someone to show us a course where we need one. And by god do we need one.
The last three years have been extremely hard on a lot of people. A global recession that left millions out of work, and many of us underemployed or feeling dejected by the state of affairs, at least economically. In this time of despair, a nationwide coming-together could have been built around the issue of climate change. R&D, investment in clean tech, construction jobs, and even an Apollo-like quest for the next great revolution in energy. All of these things were talked about, and people like me were optimistic. Hugely grateful that people were awakening to the idea that the climate was in trouble, and that a combined effort could not only help thwart the problem, but bring our society together.
Instead, we had three years of scare tactics by oil companies, stagnation and downright inaction by industry, and a complete belly flop by the public, too swept up by menial crap like sex scandals and reality TV to give a damn about saving the one planet we have. I have raised blood pressure and a deep-seated cynicism that arose out of the last few years. I don’t trust nor put much faith into people anymore, understanding that until the floods, tornadoes, forest fires and droughts reach everyone’s front door, nothing will advance. I recommend you read Mr. Gore’s thoughtful, stirring essay, as he is surely more patient and optimistic than I.
The President has reality on his side. The scientific consensus is far stronger today than at any time in the past. Here is the truth: The Earth is round; Saddam Hussein did not attack us on 9/11; Elvis is dead; Obama was born in the United States; and the climate crisis is real. It is time to act. – Al Gore.