The loss of life and missing persons due to the Costa Concordia cruise accident may not be the only resulting tragedy. Sinking in a protected marine area this ship still contains over half a million gallons of oil, as well as other waste products, chemicals and trash. Could this be the next ecological disaster of BP proportions?
As the search continues for several missing persons, the Costa Concodia is sitting on its side just off the coast of Isola del Giglio, which is part of the Tuscan Archipelago National Park, which is the largest marine protected area in Italy.
Did you know that this protected area is home to several plants and wildlife including some rare frogs, while the seas support coral, cetaceans and the occasional Mediterranean monk seal which is considered a highly endangered species? The area is also home to coral, dolphins, sponges and many other rare creatures.
But the National Park is not the only area at risk. Between waves and winds the many environmental dangers of an accident of this proportion not only threaten the direct coastline but many others in the area. The Natural Park of Maremma is just north of the cruise ship, and is the only Italian habitat for rare form of dune dwelling plant life as well as a stopover point for migratory birds and a safe place for the reintroduction of osprey to the area. Laguna di Orbetello, is just to the east and is an important bird reserve.
At this time, there doesn’t appear to be any leaking oil or other chemicals, and a boom has been erected around the ship in an effort to protect the outlying areas in case of a “spill” or leak. Salvage efforts are in place to not only raise the ship out of the water but to pump the fuel tanks as well.
Here are some facts about cruise ships that may surprise you:
• The average cruise ship with 3,000 passengers and crew generates and air pollutants equivalent to 12,000 automobiles every day
• The average cruise ship with 3,000 passengers and crew generates about 30,000 gallons of human waste and 255,000 gallons of non-sewage gray water every day. (Source EU Oceana.org) Read the rest of this entry »
Real Time Farms is a site that, it says, is aiming to “document the entire food system”. Already featuring 4,800 farms, 32,000 photos and 11,000 menu items, it is definitely an ambitious project. Cited by Food Inc as their “favorite new website”, this crowd sourced resource on understanding the food system looks set for big things.
Artist Fred George created his “Plastic Ocean” installation in Saarbrücken, Germany, to help illustrate the increasing threat non-biodegradable plastic particles in the ocean pose to fish and other sea creatures. Comprised of seven water-filled columns, one for each of the world’s seas, the piece is completed by recycled bottle caps collected by local schoolchildren.
There are many great and pleasantly simple ways to conserve water usage at home. Want to save an extra 50+ gallons of water each and every day? Here’s one way you may not have considered before: take a navy shower! No, you don’t need to shout “yes, drill sergeant” or drop and do fifty push-ups at any point in this process.
In November 2011, BP fired an employee named August Walter, who had been working on clean-up of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Now, Wilson says the company fired him because he wouldn’t help gloss over its clean-up shortcuts. He’s suing BP in federal court.
Who would have thought there were so many wood bikes around? Would you believe that Leonardo D’Vinci or one of his students is credited with designing the first bike? In the beginning the first bikes were actually made from wood. We have blogged on where to recycle bikes and how to re-purpose bicycles, and Bamboo Bikes but for some reason haven’t done a wood Bike post.
Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez were recent grads who were supposed to go into investment banking, but they became obsessed with the idea that mushrooms could be grown in old coffee grounds, reports Sarah Stankorb at GOOD. Faster than you can say “triple bottom line” they’d interested their local Whole Foods in their first batch of mushrooms — grown in a bucket in the basement of Velez’s fraternity.
One of the most toxic and carcinogenic threats in the human food supply is a natural chemical called “aflatoxin” that is produced by a fungus called Aspergillus. This opportunistic plant pathogen has the capacity to grow on a wide range of foods and feeds (corn, peanuts, cotton seed, tree nuts, dried spices and chiles…). The chance that it will contaminate a crop is enhanced by drought and/or insect damage – unfortunately both conditions expected to be more common with the onset of climate change.
Although the overall tone of this year’s North American International Auto Show had a far lower emphasis on “green vehicles” than we’ve seen in recent years, we were nonetheless surprised to see three different niche companies with electric vehicles present on the main floor. Two of these compaines, Tesla and Coda, had all-battery EVs; the third, VIA Motors, has pickups and vans with electric drive and onboard generator for extended range driving, much like the Chevy Volt.
IKEA is marketing its big annual sale with a line of clever furniture pieces made entirely out of the company’s very own flat pack furniture packaging. IKEA commissioned advertising agency AUGE Headquarter in Italy to make a big splash for their 40% sale, and that’s exactly what they’ve done by designing a table, a chair, and a table lamp – all made out of cardboard.
Call it a fire drill for the day the world runs out of petroleum. London motorists awoke this morning to a news report that they might not have gasoline.
In her backyard in Nashville, Tenn., Trazana Staples is growing turnip greens, mustard, kale, and two kinds of garlic (white and Siberian). “That’s the winter garden,” she says, with a tone of pleased satisfaction.
Her vegetable patch isn’t just a good source of produce. For Staples, it’s a daily reminder that profound personal change is possible.
It’s a complicated world. On the one hand environmentalists strategize on how to end factory farming. On the other, we get excited about the potential for urban aquaponics to help feed the world. But at what point does a space- and resource-efficient method of growing animal protein and vegetables become just another form of factory farming?
As each of use pursue a “greener” lifestyle, each of us also have different priorities and abilities. For some it’s developing and learning about new technology. For others it is learning what products, goods and services that are available that fits their lifestyle and green goals for the future. But it seems like every day there is a new product or service to choose from. How can we tell if it’s a great green idea or just another form of green washing?
I recently discovered this website “Good Guide.com” which provides the opportunity to use their ranking tools to determine which products from personal care to electronics are good for our health, environment, and society. Professionals in their field weigh in on each product determining through scientific evaluation and testing which ones are a good fit for you and your family.
You can even personalize your choices. If organic or natural ingredients are important to you then you can say so and the results will be filtered to rank your personalized preferences first.
Or pull up a category and search according to brands or other filters.
I found some of the results not only informative, but enlightening. Who knew that some of my favorite products were so “good” or “bad” based on my personal value system.
Here is a helpful video to give you an idea of how the Good Guide works and how you may use it in your life.
Which is worse: Climate change or biodiversity loss? It seems like a chicken-and-egg conundrum. With hope waning that we can limit climate change to an average increase of 2 degrees centigrade, global warming threatens many species (including our own) with loss of habitat, disastrous weather events, and evolving illnesses.
A Dallas meat packing factory that had been previously cited for inhumane treatment of animals, is under investigation for dumping pig blood and other chemicals into a nearby river. The river runs directly beside the Columbia Packing Company and investigators fear that an open pipe was dumping the blood straight into the river.
Newsweek, in its annual Green Rankings, rated CBRE Group, Inc. the greenest real estate company of 2011, according to an article in RealEstateRama. The Green Rankings list measures the environmental performance–based on environmental impact, management and disclosure–of the 500 largest publicly traded companies based in the U.S.
As part of his “Toxic America” series, CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been investigating schools, and his findings are not good. Research suggests that at least one-third of U.S. schools have mold, dust and other indoor air quality issues that can cause asthma in students and staff.
Get yourself back to the dumpster, claim your piece, and get ready to drill. It’s time for another handy woman project. Quite literally, in a small amount of time you can make this makeshift clock, (ten minutes tops).
It’s a simple and great gift. I made a variation for my niece and she loves it!
Transition Towns have spread around the Globe as a community-lead response to peak oil and climate change. But many people still ask, what does a Transition Town actually do?…Transition Town Whitehead in Northern Ireland is going to be planting 60,000 trees in the coming weeks in an effort to reforest a region that is known as the least wooded spot in Europe.
Unlike most automotive electricity storage systems, NCC’s system does not use lithium ion or lead acid batteries. Instead, it relies on a double layer electric capacitor to store its energy…NCC’s system isn’t meant to power the whole vehicle; rather, the thermos-sized capacitor supplements the gasoline engine by using regenerative braking to charge the capacitor each time the car slows down. The capacitor then powers the electrical systems in the car.
Are you and your family finding it more important than ever to save money in 2012? Luckily, smart money saving tactics almost always allow for helping the environment. From making your own cleaning supplies to finding new free ways for your family to have fun together, helping the planet and saving cash could be easier than ever this year.
The oceanic landfill is located in the North Pacific Ocean, not far from the coast of Hawaii. Grant notess that the patch is “not a solid mass”. If this were the case, it would be much easier and less expensive to clean up. However, the patch is composed mainly of tiny fragments of plastic that levitate beneath the surface of the water.
If you’ve ever harbored a secret desire to spend time in a stone hut, upgrade that fantasy to 2.0 with a private swimming hole fed by a waterfall, dining pods suspended in trees and organic, local food. This is a true eco-troglodyte haven with no WiFi or TV.
Singer Jason Mraz has long been aware of the benefits of veggies in his diet. How could he not? The man lives on an avocado farm. Now, for the last four months, the singer has been strictly putting plant based foods into his body, and the result has been nothing short of amazing.
Imagine being able to tailor Google to search specifically for sustainable food suppliers or restaurants and socially-minded companies in your area. That’s pretty much what a new online marketplace, FarmPlate.com, does. It features a searchable directory of more than 40,000 business listings across the country, and you can search by category and by location to find just the sustainable food or drink you’re looking for.
The concept of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) was brought closer toward reality yesterday with the U.S. Department of Energy outlining how it intends to support the design and licensing of SMRs. The Obama administration supports SMRs as a form of low carbon energy and for job creation.
The general idea behind SMRs is to cluster together many small reactors to match the output of obsolete coal or nuclear facilities. Steam output from many modules would power a common generator to produce electricity, and SMR reactors are passively cooled, so core meltdowns are less of a possibility.
Oil companies will pay $6.8 million in fines for not meeting federal quotas for blending in cellulosic biofuels – those produced from grasses, wood and plants – even though there weren’t enough of those biofuels available for use, the New York Times reported. Those fines are likely to rise in 2012 because the cellulosic biofuel quotas that refiners have to meet will rise more than 30 percent to 8.65 million gallons.
The more I read about food, the less I want to eat it. And the less I want my children to eat it. I’m thinking, not about the food I grow or purchase at the farmers’ market, but the stuff on our supermarket’s shelves. Cow and pig parts in cereal? BPA in canned soup, canned beans, canned everything?
Kodak may be in the middle of some financial trouble — it just filed for bankruptcy yesterday and has shut down almost all of its camera film production — but they’re looking at solar energy as a way to a fresh start. The camera and film maker is hoping to use its already existing manufacturing processes to produce thin-film solar cells.
Xuyen stands amidst taro plants in her home garden. The plant stems are a base ingredient in traditional soups and congees found on most Vietnamese dinner tables. By growing taro and other vegetables, she keeps Vietnamese traditions alive in her community.
Nestled high in the “Pyrénées Mountains on the French-Spanish border,” (Infoplease, 2005) Andorra boasts of being a mountain wonderland for all who come to visit. Especially with reference to the well-known tourist destination of Naturlandia in the small parish of Sant Julià de Lòria.
Naturalandia is considered an “eco-friendly mountain theme park” (Rural, 2009) that is fun-filled for the entire family. Trekking, Nordic walking, horseback riding, archery, paintball, climbing and the Tobotronic Alpine coaster are only a handful of the activities available for tourists during the summer months. In winter, Naturalandia switches gears to include options such as cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, tobogganing, dog sledding, snow quads and ice skating. In skimming the information on the front page of the main website, it becomes quickly apparent as to why this destination hotspot is so popular in Andorra. Complete bonus to know it also claims to be eco-friendly.
If you haven’t heard about SOPA/PIPA, please get educated on this very imporant issue.
If you feel that they are bills which should be thrown out, please contact your congress person or, at the very least, send your senator/congress person an email.
Your school doesn’t have to invest in a state of the art computer aided electrical system to save money and energy. This school in Long Island, New York found that stickers, checklist and post it notes can get the job done. They report that;
“Simple yellow Post-it notes with the message ‘When not in use, turn off the juice,’ pointedly left on classroom computers, printers and air-conditioners, have helped the Mount Sinai School District on Long Island save $350,000 annually on utility bills.”
“Schools, once known as energy wasters, are embracing conservation in increasing numbers. A desire to practice the environmentally friendly principles discussed in classrooms has been heightened by soaring energy costs and tighter budgets.”
In some cases it takes green to go green and these schools have made these successful changes:
Homdel Township schools in New Jersey lowered their gas and electric bills by half since 2009, now “only” spending about $1 million annually.
Lincoln High School in Yonkers, NY replaced their 60 year old boiler which used over 130,000 gallons of oil a year. The new boiler only uses 80,000.
Wilson High School in D.C. has put in solar panels, green roofing and an eco-lab. More classes are including in the curriculum about the environment and they are soon starting a garden to grow their own foods for the cafeteria.
Woodcreek Magnet School in Lansing, Michigan has created a solar warmed worm bed. The “bed” is used to eliminate uneaten food from the waste system through natural composting. They also created a community recycling drop off program, bird sanctuary, and butterfly garden.
