Daily Archives: November 12, 2008

Image from huangjiahui

Things just went from worse to worser in the Southern Ocean: According to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, seasonal changes in pH and the concentration of carbonate could be compounding the impact of anthropogenic emissions, speeding up the process of ocean acidification by almost 30 years, reports ABC Science’s Bianca Nogrady. Pushing the ocean much further could weaken the Southern Ocean’s ability to absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide and dramatically alter its ecosystem structure, th

Japanese Wind God, by Ogata Korin

Lester R. Brown

A new energy economy is emerging in the United States. As I note in a recent <a href=”http://www.earthpolicy.org/Updates/2008/Update77.htm” Plan B
Update, the old energy economy, fueled by oil, coal, and natural gas, is being replaced by one powered by wind, solar, and geothermal energy. The transition is moving at a pace and on a scale that we could not have imagined even a year ago.

Tibet railway photo: Henry Chen

China’s environmental woes are well documented, but in a recent article in Yale Environment 360 Fred Pearce tries to find the greener side of China’s rise. He even asserts that, because of its growing green efforts, China’s per-capita carbon emissions are unlikely to ever reach those of the United States.

At his own request, you can call him an “incorrigible optimist” (and frankly, I do, at least in part). But here are Pearce’s examples of the new Green China:

Photo of Professor Cho Jaephil via Hanyang University

Could this man be responsible for extending laptop battery life to 16 or 32 hours? A team of researchers at South Korea’s Hanyung University led by professor Cho Jaephil (pictured), has claimed a breakthrough that could extend lithium ion battery charge life up to 8 times current values. Such a breakthrough is big news, not just for shiny gadgets but for electric vehicles and micro-generation as well. What is the key to the breakthrough?

Amin Taha Architects are building gardens in the sky in their new Vauxhall tower, with 25,000 square feet of communal gardens, each three stories in height.

the idea behind the gardens is to create a space for social interaction foster micro communities. while the building is as dense as planning authorities allow, it maintains a high level of social sustainability.

photo: World Resources Institute

By this point we’ve all heard it dozens of times: Green jobs will revitalize the economy. And though by most accounts the stats bear out that near-maxim, nonetheless transforming our current brown economy to one a nice healthy shade of green is easier said than done. In a brief interview with The Huffington Post, Tom Friedman outline

Transformer furniture lets people get more out of small spaces, and you are going to be a neat minimalist if you have to clean off your desk before you go to bed every night.

We’re All Living in Internet Time Now
Things sure move fast these days. If we look at the environment, it wasn’t so long ago that in the U.S. green wasn’t on the mainstream’s radar and opinions on global warming were extremely polarized. Then in the past couple years, everybody and their dogs were now into green. European governments were pledging to make huge cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, etc.

But things are changing. Are we on the eve of a new 180 degrees? Read on for more

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Photo via ▌ÇP▐

The Basel Action Network, the Electronics TakeBack Coalition, and 32 electronics recyclers in the US and Canada have a big announcement that will help boost the responsible recycling of e-waste.

e-Stewards, a program that gives gold stars to responsible recyclers, will soon be fully accredited and certified, becoming the very first independently audited and accredited program in North America. The program will help out in quite a few ways to reduce the occurrence of illegal and harmful e-waste practices.