When Sandy hit BK Farmyards’ youth farm site at a school in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, it was especially frustrating for the site’s farmers. The foursome of young women are committed to providing fresh food alternatives in an under-resourced community, and they had already weathered what they’d thought to be their toughest obstacle: a Department of Education-mandated freeze on selling the produce they’d been growing all season long, right at the height of the harvest.
Hurricane Sandy has come and gone – businesses are reopening, subways are re-opening and New York City is even planning to host its annual New York Marathon this weekend. But while many people are dissecting links to climate change, what went wrong and how it is going to impact the upcoming election, it is important to keep in mind that there are STILL 570,000 people stranded in Lower Manhattan without power, water, food or access to basic amenities. 570,000 people is equivalent to almost the entire population of Boston or San Francisco – it is a lot of people. Read on to learn how you can help the relief effort by donating today!
One company’s goal of building a “one-stop” data platform for satellite and in-situ ocean measurements just came a step closer, thanks to their newly designed web interface, enhanced dataset collection and filtering, and easy sharing options.
- GreenJoyment(Ally): I’ll be interested to see what kind of strides scientists can make with the help of Marinexplore’s new platform. Also, it appears that anyone can join – from students, to random ocean nerds! Pretty cool!
South Africa, a historically coal-dependent nation, has approved an incredible $5.4 billion investment in renewable energy projects, which are predicted to be capable of producing 1,400MW of solar and wind generated energy. Twenty-eight initial projects have been approved for the program, with these solar and wind farms expected to go online between 2014 and 2016. The government hopes that the new facilities—while providing cleaner, greener energy—will bolster job creation and regional economies, with requirements set in place to ensure that energy companies use locally-sourced materials.
But it is an idea that is gaining traction. And activists in England, under the auspices of Westmill Solar Cooperative, have just launched what they claim to be the biggest community-owned solar project in the world, purchasing an existing 5MW solar farm near Oxford which generated over 4,900MWh of electricity in the last year. Westmill executive Phillip Wolfe lauds the project as a major step in the renewable energy revolution…
For consumers considering buying a Renault Twizy, a four-wheeled covered electric vehicle (EV), some worries about winter driving conditions might be alleviated by this news. For 295 British pounds (about $472 US dollars), owners can now buy a kit that will make the little EV winter proof. Or, at least, a little bit more protected. The Twizy doesn’t have a heater, after all.