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How it all ends

Video: YouTube

I have had more than one person say to me that Global Warming is all a load of rubbish. This video is my response.

The Video basically says, that even if Global Warming doesn’t happen, the risk of doing nothing is still too great not to act, so therefore we need to act and act now.

I believe 100 percent that Global Warming is happening and that we are all in big trouble unless we manage to take major action really quickly.

BUT for those of you who don’t believe in Global warming

What about people dying of respiratory problems in China, due to pollution.

What about Tasmanian Devils being decimated due to Gunns Logging company tearing down huge portions of Tasmanian wilderness and reducing their habitat.

What about the Amazon Rainforest being destroyed for large scale cattle ranches and subsistence agriculture.

What about the fact that in Los Angeles on a clear day you can still look at the sun without shielding your eyes ( I was able to do this 12 years ago), I imagine the pollution is worse now.

What about Chernobyl.

What about the severe damage to the OK Tedi River system in Papua New Guinea by Australian company BHP.

What about the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

What about the Sydney Tar Ponds in the city of Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada.

What about the Release of cyanide, heavy metals and acid into the Alamosa River, Colorado from the Summitville mine.

So my message to anyone out there who doesn’t agree that Global Warming is real is;

1. I really think you need to get real. See the report below;

United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

2. If you still don’t agree, why not take a look at the short list of Environmental Disasters above.These disasters happened, they cannot be disputed.

Surely you would have to agree that we need to get rid of the destructive processes and develop good environmentally friendly practices in all countries right across the world.

Socially advanced Vs Greed

This complex in Vienna (Alt-erlaa) houses some 10,000 low-income residence, it includes a range of 1, 2, 3 & 4 bedroom housing, all with views over parkland areas with playgrounds, sports grounds, tennis courts, gyms, saunas, pools (both in door and out door on the roofs), ample parking, schools, medical centres, shops, restaurants, a metro station and it’s own TV station.

Photo: Alt-erlaa Vienna

When you look at these photos you will notice also there is no litter, no graffiti, no car wrecks, the place is obviously well looked after and I’m betting there is very little crime. So the question is, in the long run who benefits here, the few or the many… you’d think any democratic nation would embrace such a system yet so few do and curiously all of them are in Europe, sad to say Australia’s not one of them.

POST CONTINUES Read more

LED Lighting

Photo: The LED Shop

It looks like the humble LED, you know that ubiquitous little red or green glow on the front of your TV, Stereo, computer or whatever, has been moved up a notch or dozen. Dr Faiz Rahman and his team of the University of Glasgow have developed what looks like a very efficient, long life and very bright white light that may soon replace the Fluro which replaced the old incandescent light globe that’s been around since Thomas Edison invented it.

The manufacturing process involves a process known as nano-imprint lithography… we’re going to hear more about the various nanos soon. Anyway, the process involves making microscopic (nano) holes in the surface of LEDs to increase the level of light they give off. I’m not sure how drilling holes in a transparent material increases the level of light but hey if it works and there’s no downside cool.

I’m currently using the ‘new’ Fluros, but contra to what I’d heard they do give off some heat (otherwise known as energy leakage) and I had to change one of the light shades because the fluro resonated with it… one of those barely audible annoying buzzes. Other than that and perhaps the price since I’ve not had the Fluros long enough to realize their relative cost effectiveness I am happy with them.

Being a male I love a new gadget and the new LED lighting looks more gadgety than the fluros. My brother, who seems to have a thing for torches, has recently researched and bought a very gadgety looking LED torch which is definitely brighter than any other torch I’ve seen.

It will be interesting this new push for more efficient and better quality lighting. The LEDs in TV Laptops, monitors, phones and Palms (I have a thing for real Palms) itself is it seems to be replaced by OLEDs, ‘O’ for organic and I can’t wait to see where that heads. A techo friend in the know says the OLEDs may eventually be fully transparent windows… but that’s for another post when they have more to show us.

Website: University of Glasgow

Keep up to date with the Greenpeace chase of the Japanese Whalers

Video: YouTube

Greenpeace has caught up with the Japanese Whalers as reported in the YouTube video above.

Greenpeace Weblog

Greenpeace have also reported the latest siting with a video on their weblog site, see the link below.

Greenpeace find the Japanese whaling fleet.

Greenpeace are posting to this whale weblog everyday from aboard the Esperanza, providing details of their mission to chase the Japanese Whaling Fleet. It is hoped that this will disrupt the whaling. Their weblog also has some amazing photos of icebergs and a nice whale slide show, well worth a look. Click the link below if you would like to keep up to date every day with Greenpeace’s actions.

Greenpeace Weblog on whales

POST CONTINUES Read more

Greenpeace monitoring Japanese whaling fleet

Greenpeace has been shadowing the Japanese whaling fleet for weeks. When they tried to contact the Australian Government surveillance ship Oceanic Viking to inform them that the Japanese whaling fleet was in a restricted area the call was apparently refused.

Photo: Travel-Destination-Pictures.com

It’s a sad day when ‘true believers’, champions of the ‘under dogs’ and what’s morally right fail to act. The question of whaling is simple for me, they are way more intelligent than a chicken or cattle, and even though they have been ‘harvested’ for hundreds of years, things change, hopefully we become more humane, more aware, how can honorable people possibly kill an intelligent defenseless creature like a whale and call it research? How can anybody stand by and let it happen?

Photo: Google

Website: Save the Whales

Vertical Farming

Photo: The Vertical Farm Project

“EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Vertical Farming concept rests heavily on a set of existing technologies that have yet to be fully realized. The implementation and coordination of technical elements required within a Vertical Farm facility have not been undertaken previously because conjectural analysis has lead many to believe that the capital investiture could not possibly be recovered. The following report seeks to definitively and comprehensively respond to a single question: is Vertical Farming financially realistic? Our findings are as follows:

1. The urban hydroponics model of Vertical Farming is both presently realizable and profitable. The investment return is comparable to stock market averages.

2. Properly implemented renewable energy sources can significantly reduce utilities expenditures, justifying their initial capital cost.

3. Corporate and institutional investors are willing to finance Vertical Farming as a result of the operations significant secondary benefits.

4. Vertical Farming presents a unique investment opportunity as it aims to revolutionize our understanding of food production and urban development.”

POST CONTINUES Read more

Global Warming video

Video: LiveLeak

This video shows the effects of Global warming and things you can do to help slow it down.

Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett to ban plastic bags

The last time we talked about the Australian Environment Minister was during our recent federal election. We now have a new Government and consequently a new environment minister.

Many of you may have heard of the Australian rock band out of the eighties and nineties called Midnight Oil, and it’s lead singer Peter Garrett.

Peter is now the Australian Environment Minister, and might I say I am pleased that we have finally got rid of the old one (Malcolm Turnbull).

So back to the subject of this post, Peter Garrett has confirmed he is pushing for a phase out of plastic shopping bags by the end of this year.

Garrett is to meet with his State and Territory counterparts in April to discuss the proposed phase out.

Some people are up in arms about the decision, mostly those with vested interest in making money from the use of the plastic bags.

I imagine oil company executives would be going into damage control and trying to get a campaign of disinformation going as the plastic is a bi-product of the oil industry and very important to them.

The plastic bag and packaging manufacturers would also be trying to convince us all, that because you can reuse your bags for garbage liners that we have nothing to worry about.

How about the oil companies starting to channel their extra effort into renewable energy and the plastic bag and packaging people put more of their energy into biodegradable bags as well as permanent bags that can be used over and over.

It’s the same old story though, big business greed. These companies will still make plenty of money even if they do switch to environmentally friendly alternatives, they just don’t want the cost of setting up to make the greener products.

Website: Peter Garrett wants phase-out of plastic bags

Dear John, thanks for your support…

that’s of course John Howard’s support. His ideology suited the corporate interests of the Resource and Nuclear Power industry, but that’s probably Not in the interest of the People in general.

Photo: Muria peninsula on Central Java - Is that a Volcano?
Possible area for Indonesia’s first Nuclear Power Station - Google Earth

“Dr Ziggy Switkowski, who headed the Howard government’s nuclear energy task force, says Indonesia is right to consider the option.”

Well Yeah! of course they got a right… it’s their country, but sounds like doublespeak to me. I think the ‘doctor should take care of the sick, not the well’ (a line from Capitan Matchbox Whoopee Band’s - Wangaratta Wahine). I think he’s got a vested interest, I think he’s just a Former Telecommunications now again a Nuclear salesman. I, and a lot of Australians don’t particularly want to live next door to a Nuclear Power Plant, don’t really want one in our area.

The Nuclear lobby’s suggesting an option where you hoc yourselves to the banks, pay out billions and billions of dollars to build a Nuclear Power station, then billions of dollars to store the waste, more billions to decommission the station when it reaches it’s ‘used by date’. Hey there’s no value for the Resource and Nuclear Power industry if Indonesia turns onto solar, wind or tidal generation… despite that there are some Very big tides & currents in the area that could generate huge amounts of power. The Resource and Nuclear Power industry don’t want that because they are looking to replace Oil & Coal with another resource they control, namely Uranium.

“Once your snout’s in the trough, the rims your horizon”.

Obviously they wont take into account that a Nuclear Power Station probably won’t be reliable since Indonesia’s very volcanically active and reoccurring volcanic activity tends not to be the ideal environment for a Nuclear Power plant or it’s transmission lines… but wait there’s more. Muria peninsula on Central Java where they propose to build the Nuclear Power station is next to an ‘inactive’ volcano and only 120 kilometers (75 miles) from an active volcano in the south, on an Island and in an area that’s renowned for seismic and volcanic activity.

Website: ABC Australia - “Indonesia pushing for nuclear power, despite safety concerns”.

Low-impact Kinetic Hydropower

Underwater turbines producing power for the masses, seems like a good idea on the surface, I mean below the surface.

US and Canadian based company Verdant has developed an exciting technology called Low-impact Kinetic Hydropower.

Low-impact Kinetic Hydropower is a renewable energy system that uses underwater turbines to generate electricity from the water currents of tides, rivers and manmade channels.

“The systems do not require dams, impoundments or major civil works. They operate automatically, unattended, fully underwater and can be invisible from shore.”

Verdant has stated that “These patented turbine systems have the economics, scalability and simplicity to be implemented across the globe, taking an immeasureable number of potential kinetic hydropower projects from start to finish, or “water to wire.”

The following photos show the first project being deployed for operation in New York City’s East River.

Photo: Verdantpower.com

MORE PHOTOS, POST CONTINUES HERE Read more

Love is all, at the Butterfly Ball

All you need is love and understanding.

What a profoundly simple statement.

If everyone were to develop a philosophy of Love and understanding for the Planet, its people, animals and the environment then I think we would be all on the right track.

This means big business and politicians as well, they need to develop an attitude of love and understanding for the little guy and for the planet.

The music video below says it all. I remember seeing this video clip on ABC TV as a kid in the late seventies.

My wife Kylie found the video on YouTube, Thanks Kylie.

Video: YouTube

Website: Butterfly Ball, Love is all by Roger Glover

Wizard of Id

Photo: Hart & Parker

I’m a big fan of Wizard of Id… it’s in one of my homepages but the DSL threw me.

Website: Wizard of Id

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