You are here: Home / Archives for Around the World

It’s Not All of CO2′s Fault

January 9, 2012 By

Note that the keyword here is “all”. CO2 is still very much a guilty party in contributing to deterioration of the ozone layer, but researchers have found two new solutions when it comes to reducing global warming — and to saving lives in the process.

Soot and methane are huge factors of pollution, and their reduction can offer more quick reduction of global warming. Methane comes from landfills, farms (and especially from mass amounts of animals in factory farms), drilling for natural gas, and coal mining. Soot, a byproduct of burning things, is a big problem with rudimentary cook stoves and in some diesel fuels worldwide. Soot also is a big health problem, so dramatically cutting it with existing technology would save between 700,000 and 4.7 million lives each year, according to lead scientists conducting the research. Since soot causes rainfall patterns to shift, reducing it would cut down on droughts in southern Europe and parts of Africa and ease monsoon problems in Asia.

Many methods – including capturing methane from landfills and coal mines, cleaning up cook stoves and diesel engines, and changing agriculture techniques for rice paddies and manure collection – are being used efficiently in many places, but reports from NASA indicate that these practices aren’t being universally adopted. This is where I rely on you guys to help me spread the word about this issue.

PS: shifting the pollution focus doesn’t mean that we’d be ignoring the CO2 issue; we need to start implementing ways to fix this growing problem as soon as possible. Splitting our attention in order to reduce methane and soot isn’t the be-all, end-all when it comes to solving climate change, air pollution, and issues like  hunger, but cutting down these pollutants can help to solve all three. And any attempts are better than none, especially with our planet at stake.

Filed Under: Around the World, Green Girls Blog, Green Stuff, Household

The Only Reason Why the World’s Ending…

January 4, 2012 By

…is because One Life to Live is being unplugged for good. And I would hardly call that the end to anyone’s world.

Listen — people have been predicting an “apocalypse” for ages. Since we just so happen to love our world (I should hope, if you’ve been trying to protect it with anything I’ve ever said), this needs to be talked about. I’m sure that you’ve noticed that this past New Year’s, of all ones in recent years, has been quite the extreme one — seeing as many people truly believe that this is the last year the world will ever see.

Talk about stupid.

And, for those of you who believe that December 21st is our last day alive, did you ever think that the Mayans were either a, pessimistic about how long their people might survive; b, smart enough to save their precious time and not go past 2012 in their calendar because writing out 700 years worth of days, weeks, and months was far more than enough for them before Cortes came in; or c, they were a little busy with something called smallpox and saving their people from death? I rest my case.

Look, religious extremists, preachers, “preachers”, etc. (see Camping) have also been predicting the end of the world for quite some time. Too bad that many don’t read their own scriptures to know that Jesus (and other icons of religions) have said over and over again that “you know not the day or the hour”. And Britney Spears may have made money off of some pop-esque, catchy song about it — and we all, unfortunately, know about movies like 2012 and The Darkest Hour pathetically trying to rake in a couple of bucks for their spin on how the world will end. I guess no one’s a big enough Back to the Future fan to know that the world can’t end in 2012 — Marty McFly’s been to 2015. In any case, all of this end-of-the-world stuff is seriously not worth spending energy on. Who knows? Maybe the end of the world will be tomorrow (in which case, you’re going to need a whole lot more than a day at church to get you mentally prepared). But if it were, I know that you wouldn’t want your very last day here to be spent petrified about how it will all happen. For those that are absolutely, unshakably convinced that 12/21/12 is it, then fine — but you’re going to miss one hell of a party on the 22nd.

Filed Under: Around the World, Electronics, Green Stuff

Giving Nature the Heart It Was Missing

December 7, 2011 By

Russians are setting the record straight with nature this week. They’ve rescued a blinded baby ginger seal who had been abandoned from its black seal tribe and have given Nafanya, as the rare albino seal has been called, its own enclosure, complete with a pool and already-visiting fanbase. I’m one to join the chorus of “awww”s on this one — and am so glad that this cute, brightly blue-eyed critter has finally found a home.

Filed Under: Around the World, Fun Stuff, Green Stuff, Household

Take That, Rainforest Killers!

December 5, 2011 By

Brazilian government officials released a report yesterday that destruction of its Amazon rainforest region has reached its lowest in 23 years! About time! Now, let’s see if we can top that record next year….

Filed Under: Around the World, Gardening, Green Girls Blog, Green Stuff, Household

A Convenient Truth

November 8, 2011 By

Al Gore announced to the world this morning that a major  battle has been won: Australian Parliament has just put the first carbon price into the lawbooks. He described it as a major milestone in solving the climate crisis. He then briefly mentions that he’s spent enough time in Aussieland, also known as the world’s largest coal exporter and population of cute furry critters (my words, not his), to know that opposition to this law was fierce… but he still doesn’t mention what this law actually does. Digging up dirt on the subject gave me no such luck; I’ll probably try again tonight, as you should, too. Anyone can tell us that the climate needs to be saved, laws that protect them are strongly opposed, blah, blah. But if you know so much about Australia, then fill us in, first, on what we need to know. Note, Mr. So-Called Green Enthusiast: if you want us to celebrate this event so badly, then tell us what it actually is before we can pop open the Dom.

Filed Under: Around the World, Green Stuff

Penguins + Sweaters = The Cutest Combo Ever

October 21, 2011 By

(and it’s not just done for cute pictures)

New Zealand has recently suffered its worst oil spill to date, and the disaster has already killed 1300 penguins native to the area. So what, you might ask, are they doing to save more penguins from ongoing spills? They’re putting sweaters on these small birds to keep them warm before being cleaned, as well as to prevent them from trying to clean themselves and thereby ingesting the toxic oil. I would urge you to join the cause, give up your Sunday morning eat-a-thon brunch group for one week, and also knit a few sweaters for these little guys, but I’ve just found out that they apparently don’t need any more sweaters as of right now. Bummer, because not only would saving these cute little guys’ lives keep you warm, too, but photoshopping your picture next to the penguin you’d've saved would’ve made awesome holiday cards.

Filed Under: Around the World, Fun Stuff

Fly the (Truly) Friendly Skies

September 21, 2011 By

Whether this phrase was created because of excellent customer service, highest rate of on-time arrivals, or the wonderful reputation that many stewardesses (and passengers) upheld as a part of the Mile High Club, many airlines are getting a whole lot friendlier — and this time, I mean earth-friendlier.

Many European airlines announced over the summer that they planned to start using biofuel in more than 200 flights (each airline) to reduce the 2% of all human carbon emissions created by airline exhaust. This number doesn’t sound large, but being able to cut that down or out completely would certainly do some good. Now, however, US Airways, United (and Continental), Delta, and American Airlines are now following suit here in the United States.

Biofuel comes from living things — mostly plants and algae — but can also be derived from recycled cooking oil. A number of cars on the road have already made the transition to biofuel, but many more will hopefully follow suit soon. Algae and its subsidiaries can be easily grown on marginalized, farmed-out land, meaning large numbers of this plant can be created without kicking another farm or vast amount of land out.

However, one concern is that these plants pre-picking and pre-creation of biofuels would otherwise be soaking up carbon from the atmosphere. If the same impact is to be had, then more plants must be grown in their absence. The additional algae grown could help this, but more plants (and algae) would have to be planted for every section of algae stripped. This creates a cycle that seems never-ending, but many airlines, like Lufthansa, assure that their production of algae does not interfere with food production and does not result in rainforest destruction.

So, next time you’re choosing flights, stick with one of these brands. As for whether or not you choose to join the Mile High Club… well, let’s just say that you’ll feel less guilty overall after choosing this eco-friendly flight.

Filed Under: Around the World, Automotive

Don’t Catch This Spreading Euro Bug

September 13, 2011 By

Warm environments facilitate growth and spread of all types of bacteria. I don’t need to be your high-school health teacher to remind you of this, but in Europe, this fact might be more alarming than you thought.

In Brussels, health officials have reported an increase in spread of certain bacterias, like the Vibrio genus, in oceans that are responsible for food poisoning, serious gastroenteritis, septicemia, and cholera, to name a few. The spread has grown much faster than originally predicted. What this means for us, though, is that sealife will become contaminated with the little bugger, and consuming seafood might pose a serious health threat.

Now, if you’re a shrimpaholic, it might be time to rethink your ways. These critters live on the bottom of the seafloor, ingesting all of the toxins and heaven-knows-what that gets deposited on or near the bottom of the ocean, whether that be by boats, petroleum deposits, or excretions from other sea-dwellers. As if all of this weren’t nasty enough, now this bacteria’s getting added into the mix that your $5.99 shrimp cocktail dinner special will now feature.

These warmer oceans also have led to acidification, which has caused algae to intake less carbon dioxide than it is normally capable of ingesting. As a result, more is being released into the atmosphere… and we know what that leads to. Until the EU meets next week to discuss what steps can be taken next, the only thing that we as consumers and green-activists can do is to stop consuming fish in such large quantities. I’ve already warned you about this before; if that wasn’t enough of a wake-up call, and if this isn’t enough to snap you out of your all-you-can-eat fish mentalities, then I hope it’s worth getting sick over.

Filed Under: Around the World, Green Stuff