SKCEA.ORG » Environmental Issues

Nuclear Power – environmental advantages

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:19:29 +0000

Renewable energy and nuclear power increasingly factor into the evolving American energy equation to replace polluting coal. Even some environmentalists acknowledge that nuclear is a viable emissions-free option to dirty coal while renewable-energy technologies continue to advance. Nuclear fission reactors generate electrical power by splitting the atomic nuclei of uranium. This process creates a massive amount of heat — thermal energy — and radiation. The resultant heat is in turn utilized to make steam from water that then moves turbine blades to drive generators to produce electricity.

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Nuclear Power – environmental advantages

Penguins From Texas happy in Dubai

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:19:28 +0000

10 King and 10 Gentoo Penguins imported from Texas are now living at Ski Dubai – an indoor ski slope in the desert! It’s bizarre enough that Dubai has an indoor ski slope despite outdoor summer temperatures averaging at over 40 degrees Celsius, but now a colony of penguins has taken up residence at this popular tourist attraction. Ten King Penguins listed as “least threatened” on the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species, and ten Gentoo Penguins which are “near threatened” were relocated from Seaworld in Texas, where a penguin breeding program has been underway for several years. Ski Dubai insists the animals are treated like royalty and are there to raise awareness, but animals rights activists are already criticizing at the move.

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Penguins From Texas happy in Dubai

Ancient Lake Vostok

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:19:28 +0000

After 20 years of drilling, a team of Russian researchers is close to breaching the prehistoric Lake Vostok, which has been trapped deep beneath thick ice layers (2 miles thick) in Antarctica for the last 14 million years. Lake Vostok is actually the third largest lake in the world, measured by the amount of water it holds. In the early 1990s, the Russians re-created a history of the Earth’s atmosphere throughout the past 400,000 years — a record of our planet’s air during the past four ice ages. The lakes are rich in oxygen (making them oligotrophic), with levels of the element some 50 times higher than what would be found in your typical freshwater lake. The high gas concentration is thought to be because of the enormous weight and pressure of the continental ice cap.

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Ancient Lake Vostok

Chicago-Based Eco-Friendly Dentist Doubles Down on Green

admin — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:57:30 +0000

Almost exactly five years ago, I took at look at Transcendentist, a Berkeley based green dentistry office that combined environmental responsibility with a very different approach to patient care. Rather than the typical clinical approach, the founders of Transcendentist created a spa-like atmosphere complete with foot massages. Even then, the idea was taking off: nothing like a little calm to take the edge off of that fear of the dentist thing.

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Chicago-Based Eco-Friendly Dentist Doubles Down on Green

Donna Resevoir and Canal

admin — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:57:29 +0000

During the week of February 6-12, 2012, representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) will be in the area of South Alamo, Texas, to speak with residents about the contamination in the Donna Reservoir and Canal. This effort is being made to provide local residents with information about the health risks of consuming fish taken from the Donna Reservoir and Canal. The possession of contaminated fish taken from the reservoir is prohibited by the TDSHS and has been since 1993.

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Donna Resevoir and Canal

Doctor Prescribes Preventive Medicine for Shale Gas

admin — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:07:00 +0000

As Gasland director Josh Fox’s arrest stole the attention, politicians heard important testimony about fracking.

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Doctor Prescribes Preventive Medicine for Shale Gas

Doctor Prescribes Preventive Medicine for Shale Gas

admin — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:07:00 +0000

As Gasland director Josh Fox’s arrest stole the attention, politicians heard important testimony about fracking.

Arrested for Excessive Sweetness

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:46:07 +0000

Put your hands up and step away from the sugar! No, not really. But one day, sugar may be a regulated substance, on par with alcohol and tobacco. The notion seems draconian at first, but once you look at the reasoning behind it, it begins to make a lot of sense. Researchers from the University of California (UC) San Francisco stipulate that excessive consumption of sugar is behind the global obesity pandemic. Sugar contributes to over 35 million deaths per year from diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and other diseases. Their desire is to see a healthier world with fewer health-related costs through the restriction and regulation of sugar.

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Arrested for Excessive Sweetness

DuPont and Suntech Sign Strategic Agreement

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:41:14 +0000

To help increase the supply of photovoltaic materials and technologies for the growing global market for solar energy, the world’s largest producer of solar panels has signed a strategic agreement with DuPont. The agreement focuses on technology advancements, supply chain optimization cost reduction initiatives, and DuPont™ Tedlar® polyvinyl fluoride film supply.

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DuPont and Suntech Sign Strategic Agreement

Study Reveals Impacts of Environmental Changes on Southern Ocean Food Web

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:55:55 +0000

In January of this year, a comprehensive study of animals in the Southern Ocean was completed, showing that the region is under threat from climate change. The scientific journal Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography featured the findings of an international group of researchers who wrote over 20 papers about the effects on the Scotia Sea food web by above average water temperatures.

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Study Reveals Impacts of Environmental Changes on Southern Ocean Food Web

The Super Green Bowl

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:55:54 +0000

For the past 18 years, the NFL has been working to decrease the environmental footprint of the largest annual sporting event in the U.S. – the Super Bowl. Two years ago, we wrote about several initiatives aimed at reducing the events’ impacts. Last year, we covered how Super Bowl XLV was slated to be the greenest NFL championship game in history. This year, the NFL is trying to outdo itself yet again by working with the Green Mountain Energy Company and the Indianapolis community to make Super Bowl XLVI the greenest yet. I talked with Jack Groh, Director of the NFL’s Environmental Program, to get the details on this year’s efforts.

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The Super Green Bowl

Atlantic Sturgeon Declared an Endangered Species

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:35:20 +0000

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association today designated the Atlantic sturgeon an endangered species, providing it greater legal protections, following a petition the Natural Resources Defense Council submitted in September 2009. NOAA’s Fisheries Service today announced four subpopulations or distinct population segments of Atlantic sturgeon, which are treated as individual species under the law, will be listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act: the New York Bight, the Chesapeake Bay, the Carolina, and the South Atlantic. The northernmost distinct population segment, the Gulf of Maine, will be listed as threatened.

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Atlantic Sturgeon Declared an Endangered Species

Early Ice Ages

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:35:18 +0000

New research led by scientists from Oxford University and Exeter University has shown that the invasion of the land by plants in the Ordovician Period (488-443 million years ago) cooled the climate and may have triggered a series of ice ages. During this period sea levels are very high and at the end of the period there was a mass extinction event. At the beginning of the period, around 480 million years ago, the climate was very hot due to high levels of CO2, which gave a strong greenhouse effect. The marine waters are assumed to have been around 45°C, which restricted the diversification of complex multi-cellular organisms. But over time, the climate become cooler, and around 460 million years ago, the ocean temperatures became comparable to those of present day equatorial waters. The dramatic cooling of the planet between 300 and 200 million years ago was also the result of the evolution of large plants with large rooting systems that caused huge changes in both of these processes. In the current results it was shown that the appearance of the first land plants had a similar effect and much earlier in time.

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Early Ice Ages

UN Calls Sustainable Development a Top Priority

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:35:17 +0000

The UN High-Level Panel Global Sustainability released its report in Addis Ababa yesterday entitled Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing. The panel’s 99-page report, which will serve as an input to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in June, (otherwise known as the Rio+20 Summit) is a call to action, “to address the sustainable development challenge in a fresh and operational way.” This document is incredibly rich, beautifully written and filled with a tremendous amount of good thought, clear vision, careful analysis, sober assessment, and useful suggestions for ways to move sustainable development from an abstract concept to the core of mainstream economics.

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UN Calls Sustainable Development a Top Priority

UPS Foundation Donates $6M To Champion Diversity

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:35:16 +0000

It’s good news for the human environment. The UPS Foundation today announced almost 120 grants totaling more than $6 million to non-profit organizations around the world that champion diversity and support diverse communities. For more than 60 years, UPS’s philanthropic arm has funded organizations that support under-served and under-represented members of society. This year’s grants will support a wide range of programs, including those for wounded veterans, the hearing and visually-impaired, women and girls and culturally distinct populations.

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UPS Foundation Donates $6M To Champion Diversity

Energy Poverty Remains a Global Challenge for the Future

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:45:09 +0000

Washington, D.C.—Despite massive gains in global access to electricity over the last two decades, governments and development organizations must continue to invest in electrification to achieve critical health, environmental, and livelihood outcomes, according to new research published by the Worldwatch Institute for its Vital Signs Online publication.

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Energy Poverty Remains a Global Challenge for the Future

Canada Uranium and Other Mines: The Future

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:45:06 +0000

Canada was the world’s largest uranium producer for many years, accounting for about 22% of world output, but in 2009 was overtaken by Kazakhstan. Production is expected to increase significantly from 2013 as the new Cigar Lake mine comes into operation. Canada is also a large producer of many other mineral products. The problem is that many mining operations produce significant amounts of waste in an environment with a fragile ecosystem and limited resources to deal with environmental issues. While the government of Canada has introduced legislation to ensure that at least some of the costs associated with reclamation are accounted for in future developments, critics believe there are still serious risks.

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Canada Uranium and Other Mines: The Future

Volcanoes Indicted for Europe’s Long, Big Chill

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:45:05 +0000

For years scientists have debated what could have plunged Europe into the half-millennium-long cold spell that ended only a century ago. Was it the temporarily spotless and therefore faint sun, or did a burst of volcanic eruptions loft debris that shaded out a normal sun? Or were the sun and volcanoes in cahoots? Researchers analyzing plants killed in the Little Ice Age’s opening years are now pinning the blame on volcanoes alone.

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Volcanoes Indicted for Europe’s Long, Big Chill

Escaped pet Pythons causing decline in Everglades Wildlife

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:45:05 +0000

Non-native Burmese pythons are believed to be the cause of severe mammal declines in the Florida Everglades, according to new research. Also known as the Asiatic rock python, the Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus) is a large constricting snake native to Asia. The exact origins of the pythons in the Everglades are unknown, but many have been imported into the United States through the pet trade, and some are likely to have escaped or been released into the wild. In the absence of natural predators, the Burmese python population has exploded. Since 2000 the species has been recognised as being established across large parts of southern Florida, where it is known to eat a wide variety of mammals and birds.

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Escaped pet Pythons causing decline in Everglades Wildlife

Satellite Study Reveals Critical Habitat and Corridors for World’s Rarest Gorilla

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:45:02 +0000

Conservationists working in Central Africa to save the world’s rarest gorilla have good news: the Cross River gorilla has more suitable habitat than previously thought, including vital corridors that, if protected, can help the great apes move between sites in search of mates, according to the North Carolina Zoo, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and other groups.

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Satellite Study Reveals Critical Habitat and Corridors for World’s Rarest Gorilla