Saturday, December 16, 2006

Fujitsu has come up with what it calls the "world's first eco-friendly notebook computer."

Using starch from corn, potatoes and other plants, Fujitsu developed a biodegradable plastic that encases the new laptop. If the computer winds up in a landfill, microorganisms break down the plastic into carbon dioxide and water. The biodegradable plastic is eco-responsible in other ways, too. It doesn't emit dioxins or other harmful chemicals if incinerated.

Manufacturing the special plastic requires half as much energy as conventional plastics, making the production process more environmentally friendly, Fujitsu boasts. Plus, the biodegradable plastic is just as strong as the plastic used in regular laptop computers. But Fujitsu spokesman Scott Ikeda cautions: "Don't leave it out in your yard too long."

from hugg.com
Italian scientists have developed a new type of solar panel that does not use silicon. Instead it uses the pigment of blueberries. Yep. That would be the actual berry. Research is revealing that organic semiconductors could dramatically reduce the production cost of the solar panels, which is one of the main drawbacks of solar as an alternative energy source. Experiments continue that combine organic and inorganic materials with the hope that they can hit the efficiency rates of standard silicon panels.
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So some very interesting things to invest in in the future would be:
land, land , land...."preferably land that wont be able to get flooded!"
bamboo
blueberries
windpower
hydropower
aquaponics
and solar power.
vegie's and tree's
etc.
and a eco-friendly home.

Gendercide

From: planetsave.com

Gendercide Is Human Rights Violation, Too
Written by Talia Carner
Friday, 15 December 2006
Re: Human Rights Watch Dog Calls....

Often absent from discussions about human rights abuse in China is infanticide, or rather gendercide, as an estimated 1.7 million baby girls are "missing" in China each year. Often, tens of thousands abandoned babies die in state-controlled orphanages, while the gap in boy-girl ratio is growing particularly in regions where the one-child policy results in the traditional favoring of boys.

(to read the related article click here: Human rights watchdog calls on China to repeal restrictions on lawyers)

With the upcoming Olympics 2008, Western attention is often turned to Chinese activists being imprisoned, unfair wages being paid to laborers building the Olympics facilities, Chinese juveniles in the court system, AIDS patients going untreated, suppression of protests--and the fast trade in organ harvesting. But over a million babies being abandoned or killed? There is rarely a mention of them.

Infanticide is the starting point of human rights abuses.

Talia Carner Author, China Doll

Please read more on my website at www.TaliaCarner.com

For those of you who have not seen this yet:

Also i have not seen this video yet but i am buying it in february to show to all my non-believing family member's that global warming is real. You know what's funny? i'm
the only person in my entire family that know's that global warming is real! No one in my family tries to recycle anymore i had them doing it but that only lasted one month!
And my parent's couldn't really care less i guess because they are old they think they wont be alive when it happens so who cares. But what they dont understand is that it's already happening and that it's everyone's problem Not just future generations.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Bento Boxes

Buy Bento Boxes at: asianawest

History:
The earliest records of packed lunches in Japan date back to around the fifth century, when people going out to hunt, farm, or wage war took food with them to eat on the job. They typically carried dried rice, which was eaten either in its dried state or after being rehydrated with cold or hot water, or rice balls.

The word bento is often said to have originated with a sixteenth-century military commander named Oda Nobunaga (1534-82), who fed the large numbers of people at his castle by having food handed out to each individual. The word bento was coined to describe the simple meals that were distributed in this manner.

Traditionally, people working outdoors - whether in the fields, in the mountains, on fishing boats, or in town - carried their lunches with them because they did not have time to go home for meals. These box lunches were typically built around such staples as white rice, rice mixed with millet, or potatoes, depending on the region.

During the Edo period (1603-1868), people considered bento an essential accompaniment to outdoor excursions or the theater. The makunouchi bento, which typically contains small rice balls sprinkled with sesame seeds and a rich assortment of side dishes, made its first appearance during this era. Makunouchi refers to the interval between the acts of a play, and the bento is said to have gotten its name from the fact that spectators ate it during intermission.

from: web-japan.org

The Venus Project

The free city...
Think big, think space age, yes everyone it has arrived. Technology is advancing at a lighting pace and the Venus Project epitomizes that.

Imagine a city totally redesigned using the minimum expenditure of energy possible and using the cleanest technology available. This city will be working in harmony with nature to achieve the highest standard of living for the whole community.
How is this possible?

The Venus Project’s city is designed in a geometrically elegant and efficient circular arrangement, similar to ancient methods of farming.

The main dome sits at the center of the circle housing the network of computers that are needed to run the city as well its educational, health and child care facilities

The dome is surrounded by the cultural ring consisting of various entertainment centers. The housing units are landscaped in natural surroundings and are close to dining amenities.

The buildings are powered using renewable energy sources and all the food will be produced organically within the city further contributing to a cleaner and healthier environment.

One of the main aims of the city is to achieve a high standard of living by removing any expenses whilst giving people more leisure time; this in turn creates a satisfying lifestyle for the individual
Status

Phase one of the Venus project has commenced in central Florida but on a much smaller scale. The buildings are dome shaped for their large strength and stability. When properly engineered such domes can withstand extreme temperatures and are resistant to earthquakes, rodents and termites.

The Venus project will make use of an intricate web of computers, dubbed the electronic automated nervous system designed to take care of those boring monotonous tasks, and in turn by putting machines to work, it will allow the community to reach social fulfillment hopefully leading to an elevated spiritual and intellectual level.

The complex will utilize advanced real-time 3-D imaging of the weather, climate, population, ocean currents of the world. These along with all the other features are all freely available to the community.

The Venus Project is not looking to make this a singular development but it hopes to eventually involve the whole world and evolve it into a giant network of connected cities.

New ways of thinking and living-University of Global Resource Management.

The University of Global Resource Management or World University would be a continually evolving research institute. Student performance will not be based on results, but rather on “competence accreditation”. The research conducted at this center will be directly applied to society to benefit social structure. There will be a constant feedback from the community and this continual forwarding of information will allow for a more efficient society; allowing modifications to be made to structures so that maximum comfort and safety can be assured.

Cities at Sea
Cost

How free is free? The project will make use of a resourced based economy in which all use of money, credit, barter and debt is eliminated. All resources become the common heritage of the community and not just a select few. In an economy based on resources rather financial wealth, we can utilize existing resources and easily produce all of the necessities of life gaining high standard of living. By removing the stress due to accumulating enough money to take care of the family or providing nutrition to communities in poverty, society as a whole will be able to evolve. Food, clothing, safety and quality of life are all basic requirements of life and there is no need to pay for them. I believe that this could be a wonderful experience for all of mankind, but the question of feasibility arises. It would be impossible to find funding for a project of this scale, the only way a project of this magnitude could work would be in a “resource-based world economy” and “the world’s resources are held as a common heritage of all of the earth’s peoples.”

The above statement is something that so many cultures have fought towards for so many years, and if it could one day be possible, it truly would bring some peace to this world.

from: aboutmyplanet.com

how cool is this!!!

Computer from 65 b.c. how it works solved

Mysteries of computer from 65BC are solved

· Mechanism hailed as more valuable than Mona Lisa
· Device with gear wheels tracked sun and moon

Ian Sample, science correspondent
Thursday November 30, 2006
The Guardian

A reconstruction of the Antikythera mechanism
A reconstruction of the Antikythera mechanism. Photograph: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty

A 2,000-year-old mechanical computer salvaged from a Roman shipwreck has astounded scientists who have finally unravelled the secrets of how the sophisticated device works.

The machine was lost among cargo in 65BC when the ship carrying it sank in 42m of water off the coast of the Greek island of Antikythera. By chance, in 1900, a sponge diver called Elias Stadiatos discovered the wreck and recovered statues and other artifacts from the site.

Article continues
The machine first came to light when an archaeologist working on the recovered objects noticed that a lump of rock had a gear wheel embedded in it. Closer inspection of material brought up from the stricken ship subsequently revealed 80 pieces of gear wheels, dials, clock-like hands and a wooden and bronze casing bearing ancient Greek inscriptions.

Since its discovery, scientists have been trying to reconstruct the device, which is now known to be an astronomical calendar capable of tracking with remarkable precision the position of the sun, several heavenly bodies and the phases of the moon. Experts believe it to be the earliest-known device to use gear wheels and by far the most sophisticated object to be found from the ancient and medieval periods.

Using modern computer x-ray tomography and high resolution surface scanning, a team led by Mike Edmunds and Tony Freeth at Cardiff University peered inside fragments of the crust-encased mechanism and read the faintest inscriptions that once covered the outer casing of the machine. Detailed imaging of the mechanism suggests it dates back to 150-100 BC and had 37 gear wheels enabling it to follow the movements of the moon and the sun through the zodiac, predict eclipses and even recreate the irregular orbit of the moon. The motion, known as the first lunar anomaly, was developed by the astronomer Hipparcus of Rhodes in the 2nd century BC, and he may have been consulted in the machine's construction, the scientists speculate.

Remarkably, scans showed the device uses a differential gear, which was previously believed to have been invented in the 16th century. The level of miniaturisation and complexity of its parts is comparable to that of 18th century clocks.

Some researchers believe the machine, known as the Antikythera Mechanism, may have been among other treasure looted from Rhodes that was en route to Rome for a celebration staged by Julius Caesar.

One of the remaining mysteries is why the Greek technology invented for the machine seemed to disappear. No other civilisation is believed to have created anything as complex for another 1,000 years. One explanation could be that bronze was often recycled in the period the device was made, so many artefacts from that time have long ago been melted down and erased from the archaelogical record. The fateful sinking of the ship carrying the Antikythera Mechanism may have inadvertently preserved it. "This device is extraordinary, the only thing of its kind," said Professor Edmunds. "The astronomy is exactly right ... in terms of historic and scarcity value, I have to regard this mechanism as being more valuable than the Mona Lisa." The research, which appears in the journal Nature today, was carried out with scientists at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens where the mechanism is held and the universities of Athens and Thessaloniki.

from:guardian.co.uk

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

White Yangtze dolphin declared extinct

story from planetsave.com

Written by CHARLES HUTZLER
Wednesday, 13 December 2006
BEIJING (AP) _ An expedition searching for a rare Yangtze River dolphin ended Wednesday without a single sighting and with the team's leader saying one of the world's oldest species was effectively extinct.

white-dolphin.gif

The white dolphin known as baiji, shy and nearly blind, dates back some 20 million years. Its disappearance is believed to be the first time in a half-century, since hunting killed off the Caribbean monk seal, that a large aquatic mammal has been driven to extinction.

A few baiji may still exist in their native Yangtze habitat in eastern China but not in sufficient numbers to breed and ward off extinction, said August Pfluger, the Swiss co-leader of the joint Chinese-foreign expedition.

``We have to accept the fact, that the Baiji is functionally extinct. We lost the race,'' Pfluger said in a statement released by the expedition. ``It is a tragedy, a loss not only for China, but for the entire world. We are all incredibly sad.''

Overfishing and shipping traffic, whose engines interfere with the sonar the baiji uses to navigate and feed, are likely the main reasons for the mammal's declining numbers, Pfluger said. Though the Yangtze is polluted, water samples taken by the expedition every 30 miles did not show high concentrations of toxic substances, the statement said.

For nearly six weeks, Pfluger's team of 30 scientists scoured a 1,000-mile heavily trafficked stretch of the Yangtze, where the baiji once thrived. The expedition's two boats, equipped with high-tech binoculars and underwater microphones, trailed each other an hour apart without radio contact so that a sighting by one vessel would not prejudice the other.

Around 400 baiji were believed to be living in the Yangtze in the 1980s. The last full-fledged search, in 1997, yielded 13 confirmed sightings, and a fisherman claimed to have seen a baiji in 2004, Pfluger said in an earlier interview.

At least 20 to 25 baiji would now be needed to give the species a chance to survive, the group's statement said, citing Wang Ding, a hydrobiologist and China's foremost campaigner for the baiji.

Pfluger, an economist by training who later went to work for an environmental group, was a member of the 1997 expedition and recalls the excitement of seeing a baiji cavorting in the waters near Dongting Lake.

``It marked me,'' he said in an interview Monday. He went on to set up the baiji.org Foundation to save the dolphin.

That goal having evaporated, Pfluger said his foundation would turn to teaching sustainable fishing practices and trying to save other freshwater dolphins. The expedition also surveyed one of those dwindling species, the Yangtze finless porpoise, finding less than 400 of them.

``The situation of the finless porpoise is just like that of the baiji 20 years ago,'' Wang, the Chinese scientist, said in the statement. ``Their numbers are declining at an alarming rate. If we do not act soon they will become a second baiji.''

Pfluger and an occasional online diary kept by expedition members traced a dispiriting situation, as day after day team members engaged in a fruitless search for the baiji.

``At first the atmosphere was 'Let's go. Let's go save this damn species,''' Pfluger said. ``As the weeks went on we got more desperate and had to motivate each other.''

Plastic Bags Ancient history

Plastic bags will soon be ancient history thanks to furoshiki folding. Using on piece of cloth you can turn it into tons of different things to hold anything you need. Plus if you have a pretty piece of cloth it looks awesome too. Here's one of my fave's :

go here to buy patterned cloth:
wahooya.com

And here's instructions so you can do it at home:

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Global environmental Problems include:

pollution
over population
habitat destruction
over fishing "if we do not use sustainable fish methods fish will be gone by 2050"
radioactive waste storage
ozone depletion
deforestation " one problem is trees absorb CO2 only problems is that when you cut them down they release the CO2 into the atmosphere."
global warming
drought.

Wetland Impacts:
Agriculture
Air pollution
Cities
River Pollution
Canals, Ports, Harbors.
Non-native species
Dams
Aquaculture
Oil.

Along the Coast wetlands act like a buffer against storms when they are filled in for housing Hurricane Katrina happens. Wetland also act as filters for our water. That water then goes underground for when people need it, if people fill in these wetlands it cuts our underground water tables down. And this cannot be fixed soon because This water stays down there for nearly 10,000 years so we are cutting future generations water supplies terribly talk about burning your candle at both ends!

Humans are releasing roughly the same amount of greenhouse gases every two days as when Mount St.Helens erupted!

Global Warming is causing shifts i species and in habitats and migrations that range 6.1km per decade "ten years" Toward the poles. And spring is arriving 2.3 days earlier every 10 years. Doesn't seem like much till you add up how many years people have used greenhouse gases.

To much CO2 absorbed by the ocean will acidify it and cause the death of all shelled creatures.

Vehicles put out 40% of the CO2 while factories and electric company's generate 50%.

Green house gases include:
water vapor
carbon dioxide
methane
nitrous oxide
halogenated florocarbons
ozone
perflorinated carbons
and hydroflorocarbons.

Greenhouse gases are long lasting if everyone stopped today the effects wouldnt stop for 150 years.

Possible things in a eco-future.

1. every student would have no textbooks only eco-laptops and plastic page notebooks that can be erased and used again.

2.T.v.'s out of oleds that are super thin and can be rolled up to take on the go. "already there is a prototype".

3. Money will all be electronic and credit cards , bank cards , student i.d. birthcertificates etc. will all be on one card.

4. Dumps and garbage men a thing of the past everyone will recycle their own. With company's having recycling plants right on site.

5. Houses made out of sustainable bamboo and other sources.

6. Everyone will own greenhouses and take part in restoring habitats.

7. Cars and anything that runs on gas will be gone.

8. Schools and all homes will be solar powered electrical plants etc. are all gone.

9. spraypaints, pesticides etc. all banned.

10. Cities gone. replaced with habitat's for animals etc. and other sustainable items.

11. and electronics upgraded to oled's , touchscreen and Tera bytes instead of Gigabytes .

12. all things must be recyclable.

13. People will most likely learn more foreign languages.

14. Paper will be banned.

15. Air travel updated to be faster and more eco-friendly.

16. sustainable fishing practices and farming.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/

Dire warning for North Pole ice sheet

From correspondents in Washington

December 12, 2006

THE ice sheet covering the North Pole and Arctic Ocean could recede and disappear completely in the summer months by 2040, researchers said today.

If greenhouse gas emissions continued at the current rate, the Arctic's future ice cover would have periods of relative stability followed by abrupt retreat, said a team of scientists of the National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Canada's McGill University.

Only a small portion of the permanent ice pack would cling in the summer season around the northern coastline of Greenland and Canada, the researchers said in the Geophysical Research Letters magazine.

"We have already witnessed major losses in sea ice, but our research suggests that the decrease over the next few decades could be far more dramatic than anything that has happened so far," said NCAR scientist and lead author of the study Marika Holland.

The melting ice pack would have a devastating effect on global warming, warned the scientists.

"Open water absorbs more sunlight than does ice, meaning that the growing regions of ice-free water will accelerate the warming trend," they said.

The loss of the ice pack in the summer would also hold dire consequences for the environmental balance of the polar region and for the survival of some species like the polar bear, who need the ice pack for hunting.