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 9th, 2010
Conventional wisdom dictates that algae and home appliances are traditionally best kept apart. That’s set to change with the Latro Lamp; a lamp that is powered from electric currents generated during photosynthesis. Combining algae carbon dioxide and water, the lamp charges by a combination of sunlight and lamp owners breathing into the side of the lamp. Designer Mike Thompson encourages Latro Lamp owners to think of their lamp as a pet, although man’s best friend probably doesn’t have to start looking too closely over his shoulder.
Source: PSFK
JUNE 9th, 2010
In a sign of things to come Copenhagen has become the first Scandinavian city to adopt a mandatory green roof policy. The policy is a keystone in Copenhagen’s drive to become a carbon neutral city by 2025. From now on, all buildings built with roof slopes of 30 degrees or less will be required to be covered with vegetation. This policy could mean as much as 5,000 square metres of grassy Danish roofs a year.
Source: Inhabitat
JUNE 7th, 2010
Vending machines have been turned on their head as part of a new concept dreamed up by Pepsi, Waste Management and Keep America Beautiful. Aimed at curbing some of the 100 billion cans and bottles that are thrown away each year instead of being recycled, the machine accepts rather then dispenses cans. Customers who use the Dream Machines will be given redeemable points and prizes in exchange for their unwanted cans and bottles. The project is in it’s infancy, but is ultimately expected to account for $400 million containers a year. Surely the most refreshing vending machine around.
Source: Webecoist
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
