JULY 13th, 2010
We mentioned Copenhagen recently on this blog, as they have laudably decreed that all new buildings built in the city will have to have green roofs. Now retired architect William Baldrick wants to go one better and design a green canopy for the new Columbia River Crossing bridge being built between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. As well as mitigating the bridges carbon footprint, the canopy will also create a pleasant park for local residents and will serve as an attraction for tourists (hopefully tourists travelling by foot!)
Source: Inhabitat
JULY 8th, 2010
The Germans are having a year to remember in 2010. As well as setting the world cup alight and reminding Brazil et al that defensive solidity can be married to exciting football, they are leading the world on renewable energy and have targeted a 100% switch to renewable energy by 2050. This would almost certainly make them the first industrial nation to wean themselves of fossil fuels.
Speaking of the target Jochen Flasbarth, president of the Federal Environment Agency said “It’s a very realistic target based on technology that already exists – it’s not a pie-in-the-sky prediction.” Whilst here in the UK we may have our suspicions due to the legacy of broken promises and missed targets from governments immemorial, the German government speaks from a position of some credibility. Germany is already the world leader in PV usage and the second largest producer of wind-power energy after the US.
Source: Guardian
JUNE 15th, 2010
With the Deepwater Horizon oil spill estimated at leaking up to 40,000 barrels per day, it’s fair to say that when most people think of BP at the moment their nice green and yellow logo seems a little off kilter. The nice chaps at Greenpeace have realised this and have set up a competition inviting people to rebrand BP. It is unknown whether BP will be adopting the winning logo, although Greenpeace definitely will. For more information head to the Greenpeace website.
JUNE 14th, 2010
Splashed out £25 on a bottle of Obsession by Calvin Klein and still struggling to get a date? Could be you’ve been going to the wrong places. Guatemalan conservationists have discovered that Jaguars go crazy for the musky scent and have been using the cologne to lure out the normally elusive big cats so they can film them.
When quizzed on the matter Ann Gottlieb, who helped create the scent, stated: “It’s a combination of this lickable vanilla heart married to this fresh green top note – it creates tension.” Quite.
Source: Guardian
JUNE 9th, 2010
In news that is unlikely to deter Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it has emerged that climate damage can be added to the list of drawbacks of a nuclear conflict. Even the smallest of nuclear skirmishes would result in 690m tonnes of CO2 being added to the atmosphere. Whilst some may argue that seeing as up to 17 million people would be killed in the result of a small nuclear conflict, the team behind this research has got their priorities out of wack. The point of this research though was to weigh up the human and environmental costs of different sources of energy. The team make the pertinent point that with the increase of nuclear energy around the world comes the increase of nuclear technology and ipso facto the increase of nuclear war.
source: Guardian
JUNE 7th, 2010
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has estimated that species are becoming extinct at a rate 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than it would naturally be without humans. Whichever way you skin it that’s a pretty shameful statistic. A wide variety of weird and wonderful creatures have been made extinct in the name of human progress. Today at Neo we are going to celebrate the Quagga. Classified as a separate species in 1778, it was extinct by 1883, a measly 105 years of life as a Quagga. The Quagga was hunted into extinction for meat, hides and to preserve feed for domesticated stock. The world was left poorer as a result.
Source: Environmental Graffitti.
JUNE 7th, 2010
Whilst the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is deservedly grabbing all the headlines, it is also worth bearing in mind the people of Nigeria for whom catastrophic oil spills have become routine. The Niger delta is home to the finest quality oil in the world. That quality is not matched by the network of rusty pipes, terminals, pumps and oil platforms which spill more oil into the Niger delta each year, then the Deepwater oil spill had leaked in a month.
On 1st May this year an ExxonMobil pipeline spilled over a million gallons of oil into the Niger Delta before the pipe was fixed. Local people demonstrating against the company were reportedly attacked by security guards. The situation residents find themselves in was summed up by community leader Williams Mkpa who said “Oil companies do not value our life; they want us to all die. In the past two years, we have experienced 10 oil spills and fishermen can no longer sustain their families. It is not tolerable.”
Source: Guardian
JUNE 4th, 2010
Many would assume that its all hands on deck, as BP continues to unsuccessfully stop the deepwater oil spill. Apparently however, the firm has managed to find the time and money to shoot some adverts to tell everyone how sorry they are. As it emerged recently that two refineries owned by BP are responsible for a mind-boggling 97% of all flagrant violations in the refining industry over the last three years, one could be forgiven for thinking that the apology rings a little hollow. At a time when it seems BP is spending more time making sure that its attempts to stop the oil flow sound like Steven Seagal vehicles ( ‘Junk Shot’, ‘Top Kill’ ) then it is ensuring they will actually work, this PR attempt surely risks the attempt of backfiring with the american public.
Source: Treehugger
