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Global warming or what scientists popularly call them as climate change has taken its toll. Vice president Al Gore, has expressed his views on the dangers of these natural threat to the living creatures on this planet Earth. It may not be directly felt at this time but the danger may be faced by the next generations to come.

This phenomenon is causing a lot of changes to the globe’s climate, distorted weather patterns which has become unpredictable over the years, increase of vector-borne diseases, and leading to animal extinctions.

The changes in earth’s climate can be best described as the imbalance in the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse effect basically pertains to an occurrence in the Earth’s atmosphere which traps the heat from escaping but in turn maintains the earth’s temperature to provide a certain amount of heat for the living things to thrive- the rest of the heat escapes into space. The danger comes when more of the greenhouse gases are in the atmosphere. When more heat gets trapped, it increases the intensity of the temperature leading to unimaginable disturbance in the natural cycle.

Global warming is both caused by natural cycle of the earth’s activities and human undertakings. Most scientists and researchers believe that the main cause of global warming is due to an increased emission of greenhouse gases from different activities.

Not all greenhouse gases have similar heat-trapping abilities. Some of them can trap more heat than carbon dioxide. A molecule of methane can trap heat 20 times more than a molecule of CO2. Nitrous oxide has 300 times more heat trapping property than CO2. Other gases, such as chlorofluorocarbons, have heat-trapping potential thousands of times greater than CO2. But because the concentrations of these gases are much lower than CO2, not one of them has the potential to add as much warmth to earth’s atmosphere as CO2 does.

It has been noted that the United States is responsible for the highest amount of cumulative CO2 emissions which amounts to about 30% even up to today and continues to increase emitting the greenhouse gas by 20%. China, however, is expected to compete or even overtake the US in the next decades with their increasing industrial activities.

It may take over a decade to allow the carbon dioxide to disappear in the Earth’s atmosphere. But even if carbon dioxide emissions cease immediately overnight, still past irresponsible actions would still affect the planets in years to come, affecting future generations.

Unfortunately, the World Health Organization blames the 150,000 deaths in a certain period of time, to the effects of global warming- the extreme and predictable weather in selected places, longer droughts, extreme heat waves, decreased food production, and spread of malaria, a vector-borne disease.

(Photo: iStockPhoto)

If there is any more worthless waste product than the four billion pounds of chicken feathers produced by our enormous appetite for poultry products, I don’t know what it is. It would be great if we could stuff them into pillows, but down comes from geese.

Believe it or not, we turn feathers into low-grade animal feed by mixing them with water in a giant and inefficient pressure cooker. Scientist Walter Schmidt of the Agricultural Research Service in Maryland thinks he can make paper, cloth, plant pots, and, yes, auto parts out of them, but it might take a while. Australian researchers want to wear chicken feathers, making them into high-tech sweat pants.

The keratin fiber in chicken feathers is even stronger and more absorbent than wood, and it breaks down in landfills far faster than does plastic or Styrofoam. Finding novel uses for chicken feathers is a pet project of Professor Richard P. Wool of the chemical engineering department of the University of Delaware. He had a very original idea: Why not use carbonized chicken feathers – which resemble highly versatile (and tiny) carbon nanotubes – to store hydrogen for fuel-cell vehicles. Picture very tiny natural sponges, which have a big weight advantage over metal hydride storage of this useful element. How great is that?

Wood enlisted Turkish-born graduate student Erman Senöz in the project, whose results were announced this morning at a conference in College Park, Maryland. We started three years ago, Senöz said. The pyrolysis process – very high heat without combustion in the absence of oxygen – yields fibers that are micro-porous, very thin and hollow inside like carbon nanotubes. They start forming at 350 degrees Centigrade, and above 500 C they collapse. We’re trying to find the perfect temperature.

By the way, the fiber is from the central quill part, so the fluffy feathers are still available to force-feed livestock. Feather fiber is, of course, very cheap, and the gas tank equivalent would be too, costing only about $200. A carbon nanotube tank? How about $5.5 million. Metal hydride tanks, Wool says, are probably $30,000.

This process is not near commercialization, and hydrogen’s extremely low density is a big issue. Wool says that, using the team’s technology, a car would need a 75-gallon chicken tank to go 300 miles in a car. They’re working on it. And the poultry-minded scientists also think they can make bio-based computer circuit boards and hurricane-resistant roofing from the same chicken fibers.

I love the idea of recovering stuff we usually dump into landfills. And since we produce billions of pounds annually, this is one waste stream that really needs to get diverted.

 

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Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

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The earth has certainly been hot these days. It was really observed as such since there was fire and dust which made the skies of Indonesia turn orange because of drought. It was really so as different hurricanes and tsunami hit the different part of USA and even on the other part of Asia. Also, there are real observations on the size of the ice in the Arctic and Antarctic has been recorded and this has supported the real effect of earth’s warming. Natural disasters have truly been a part of the problems in most countries. Nowadays, this has become more common and evident in international news as before. This is truly the result of global warming.

The subject has been around even before the 20th century. But it has become more clear that the earth truly has been sick since then and scientists have been trying to get the attention of the government and individuals since then. With the result on heat waves, floods, forest fires, and melting glaciers, the climate becomes unhealthy as well.

Before, environmentalists and the government has been bombarding what facts and myths are about this phenomena but now these has remained to be real in everyone’s eyes. The debate about global warming has indeed stopped. All agreed that human factors have contributed to the abnormal climate changes. All sectors of the community have been encouraged to be involved to stop and resolve the obvious effect of the warming. Articles are being cited, researches supported and awareness are highly increased on the subject.

Everybody is now aware of the situation. The release of CO2 in the atmosphere will frighten a responsible citizen as the “last part per million of greenhouse gas behaves like the 212th degree Fahrenheit that turns a pot of hot water into a plume of billowing steam”. A melt in the Greenland ice will give an impression we are not only soaking in the melted water but actually unload a much bigger glacier. The latest assessment shows indeed that several ice sheets have doubled rate of slide. The sea level, thus, will continue to rise. This rise concerns on health and animal extinction. If these possibilities will happen, what will become of us? Further misbalance of nature is expected.

It is indeed up to us now to control more natural disaster. Now that we know that nature give back only what we give to it.

“Our children are our nation’s future”. This common adage speaks the importance of the children’s awareness on issues like global warming. Their involvement will not only help them in the future but will help contribute to the fight against global warming in our present day by raising their voice, activity awareness, community involvement, and environmental concern. Our children’s voice should be one of the good influence for us adults.

Involving your children in activities such as those facilitated by Climate Change Education. Org will increase their awareness on the issue. This could be a good training for them to be a responsible citizen even in their delicate age. Scientists, educators and concerned organization have really taken part in imparting the worldwide concern to all ages. For example, the Climate Change Education. Org facilitated an activity where the child is encouraged to be a space science engineer. He/she will be given a chance to design a space that may enable them to go to the nearby planets. This activity will give them surprise discoveries, including finding the greenhouse effect on the specified planet that will demonstrate such effect. Imaginatively, when they return to earth, they will find that both natural and human greenhouse effects are made. Their scientific discoveries will enable them to save the planet in their own understanding. The activities will also help them discover the temperatures of the planets and how each atmosphere affects them. Aside from this they will be able to analyze atmospheric samples and see models that show how greenhouse gases work. This fun ways of discovering encourage the kids to get more discoveries on how the climate changes. Other activities also promote concern to our environment by involving them in planting trees and recycling products.

Incorporating the facts on global warming to kid’s sites that introduced colorful information about global warming is also helpful for research and awareness of kids. Aside from mere information to the issue, practical solutions on how the kids can personally stop global warming is specified in this sites. This is a very helpful initiative from educators and teachers as well as children’s organization who impart concerns to the “next generation” in a fun and creative way. Most of all, it is important that adults give the best example in showing how global warming can be minimized or stopped. Without these proper examples, children may think that the problem is not at all serious.

There are some misguided souls who believe that clean roof-lines are more important than sustainable power generation. But we’d all be silly to think that someday we won’t have both. And, if you have enough money, that someday could be today.

SRS Energy has developed roofing tiles that mimic Tuscan terracotta roofing tiles but contain amorphous silicon solar cells produced by Uni-Solar. The solar tiles are extremely durable, work in a variety of temperature ranges, and link in specifically with tiles from US Tile. The result is a stunning, seamless blend of dark solar tiles and traditionally colored clay tiles.

The solar tiles generate a peak of 500 watts per 100 square feet. So you’ll be getting less power for more money than if you installed a traditional south-facing, roof-mounted panel, but incorporating this technology so elegantly into the design of the building with be worth a lot of money to a lot of people.

Via CNet

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Nissan Cube (Photo: Nissan)

Nissan will build its electric car — maybe an electric version of the recently hyped Cube? — in the U.S., bringing an undisclosed number of green jobs to Smyrna, Tenn., according to Reuters.

Together with an affiliated NEC lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant, Nissan will invest as much as $1 billion in the new electric cars — which it plans to pump out by 2012 (as many as 100,000 per year).

Whatever happens, the new advertising campaign for the little white Cube as a portable device is brilliant. The 2009 Cube gets 29 mpg (automatic; the manual is rated only for 26 mpg). That leaves it behind the 14 cars and SUVs that get better than 30 mpg, but squarely in line with other hip new micro cars promising to remake the American road.

 

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Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

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How do you know if an ad is telling the truth? It’s not always easy, but there are certain clues you can look for to determine if the claims an ad is making are legit or if a marketer is purposely trying to mislead you into thinking a product is healthier, safer, or greener than it truly is.

Here are some ways to determine if advertising claims are fact or fiction…

Words matter. Look for specific rather than general claims. The following words are essentially meaningless because they are too vague and/or there aren’t any standard definitions for them:

• Natural
• Hypoallergenic
• Nontoxic
• Fragrance-free or unscented
• Free range
• Hormone-free
• Antibiotic-free
• Eco-friendly, environmentally preferable, or eco-safe
• Green

Meaningless claims are ubiquitous in the marketplace. For instance, about 33 percent of food and beverage products launched last year made some kind of natural claim. When shopping, it’s safer to look for specific attributes, but there are no guarantees because in many cases there’s no one verifying the manufacturers claims.

Some examples of specific claims:

• Made from post-consumer recycled paper
• Formaldehyde-free
• No additives
• No animal byproducts
• No parabens
• Phosphate-free

Visit Consumer Reports’ Eco-labels center to find out which labels and terms you can trust.

Look for proof. Choose products with claims that can be verified or that have been certified by a third party. These products have been vetted by an independent agency to ensure that they meet certain standards. Some credible logos to look for include USDA Organic, Energy Star, Forest Stewardship Council certified, Rainforest Alliance certified, and Green Seal.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission recently charged K-Mart and other companies with makingdeceptive and unsubstantiated biodegradable claims on some paper products. The FTC is expected to update its outdated regulations for green advertising claims sometime this year. Hopefully consumers won’t have to read between the lines quite as much if the government cracks down on misleading claims.

Rely on experts. These websites do the homework for you: GoodGuide rates food, toys, personal care items, and household products based on environmental, social, and health attributes. Greenzer collects product and merchant info from across the Internet to create a score for each product it features on its site. Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database can help you find the safest and healthiest cosmetics and personal care products.

Check out TerraChoice’s list of the Seven Sins of Greenwashing for additional tips on sniffing out misleading advertising.

Want to see some of the most egregiously misleading ads? View a fullsampling, post your own examples, and vote for the worst offenders atthe Greenwashing Index. Or read about Huddler’s top picks.

 

Yahoo! Green is now on Twitter!  Follow us at http://twitter.com/YahooGreen.  

Environmental journalist Lori Bongiorno shares green-living tips and product reviews with Yahoo! Green’s users. Send Lori a question or suggestion for potential use in a future column. Her book, Green Greener Greenest: A Practical Guide to Making Eco-smart Choices a Part of Your Life is available on Yahoo! Shopping and Amazon.com.

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Sadly, the new Honda Insight isn’t selling as well as Honda had hoped. The Prius still reigns supreme. And, since it is the more advanced (though more expensive) option, we can’t really argue with that. But Honda is taking the news in stride. Instead of backing off of their commitment to hybrids, it looks like they’re planning two more, and they’re hoping to make them even cheaper.

While the Prius is the technology leader, it is important that we bring the costs of hybrids down so that more people can get better gas mileage, and that is Honda’s goal. Honda’s president says they’re working on two new hybrids, and that they will both be even cheaper than the Insight. One of these will probably be a hybrid version of the Fit, which could easily come in at $17,000, and the other might be the CR-Z (pictured) which is slated for launch in 2011.

Via AutoBlogGreen

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(Photo courtesy of Slickrock Adventures)

I’m a big believer in the popular environmental mantra: Think globally, act locally. When it comes to saving the planet, that saying is as true as it is simple.

And when I travel, my rule of thumb for keeping it green and keeping it cheap is: Think locally, travel globally.

You’ll usually find the most eco-friendly and genuine travel experiences when you spend less – not more – and get local, no matter where in the world you’re wandering. It’s all about traveling independently (not in a tour group or packaged tour) and drilling down to the local level, getting a true sense of place by experiencing it as if you live there.

Here’s how…

Guidebooks kill: Consult a good, locally researched guidebook like those in the Lonely Planet series for basic background and logistical info before you travel, but don’t use it to plan your every move, like where you’ll stay, eat, and hang out. By the time a guidebook recommends something, it’s usually overrun with tourists (and overpriced).

Travel without reservations: Except for perhaps the first night or two when you’re traveling overseas and going to be suffering from jetlag, avoid making advance reservations at hotels and other accommodations before you leave home.

You’ll generally pay a lot more for lodging reserved from overseas, and they’re rarely the type of local, affordable places you can only find once you’re there. Plus, advance reservations limit your ability to be spontaneous in your travels.

The Three L’s Rule (Look for Lines of Locals): If you’re looking for a good meal or friendly place to have a beer, put away your guidebook and open up your eyes and ears. Looking for where the locals hang out and chatting it up with them is the best – and cheapest – way to travel.

Local transportation and short distances are best: Traveling slowly, covering short distances, and staying in towns longer is the key to really getting a sense of place and people. Linger in places you’ve never heard of and where you don’t see another tourist; don’t plan an itinerary that’s just one popular tourist destination (aka tourist trap) followed by another.

Taking public transportation, hiking, or bicycling will give you a great opportunity to meet local people and see how they live. Plus it will save you a busload of traveler’s checks.

Sleep cheap: Americans can travel to almost anywhere in the world and pay top dollar to stay in an American-style hotel, just like the ones back home. Why even bother to travel if that’s what you want?

Look for locally owned, mom and pop places to stay, pensions, and public camping facilities (sometimes they’re free). Check out youth hostels, couch surfing, and house-swapping for a highly affordable, and rewarding, travel experience.

Prepare at least some of your own meals: Sampling the fare in local restaurants is one of the joys of travel, but you’ll sell your trip short – and spend a lot more – if you don’t at least occasionally pick up some groceries from a local market and prepare some of your own meals. Maybe it’s just simple breakfast foods or picnic supplies.

Shopping for food where the locals shop is one of the most enlightening cultural experiences I know of when you travel, and it just happens to make travel much more affordable.

Keep it green when you travel: Not surprisingly to this Green Cheapskate, a recent study commissioned by eco-friendly lodging chain Element Hotels found that 41% of the people they surveyed said that their vigilance about conserving resources is due to the economy (i.e., It saves me money!), while just 28% said it was due to the environment.

The upshot is that when people travel, their eco-conscious habits often slip; they’re not as vigilant about things like turning off the lights in their hotel room, since they’re not paying the electric bill. Don’t leave your eco-ethics at home when you hit the road this summer, because you can’t fool Mother Nature.

Jeff Yeager is the author of the book The Ultimate Cheapskate’s Road Map to True Riches. His website is UltimateCheapskate.com.

 

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div class=image style=float:right;padding-left:8px;img alt=gas prices a year ago height=300 src=http://l.yimg.com/a/feeds/us/grn/green_driving_directions/gasprices-bl.jpg width=400/br /emGas prices on the Massachusetts Turnpike almost br /exactly a year ago. Bad old days are here again. br /(Photo: /ememSvadilfari / /ememFlickr/emem)/embr /br //divpThe emLos Angeles Times/em headline says Gasoline Price Surge Comes at Bad Time./ppSez you./ppGasoline prices a href=http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-gas15-2009jun15,0,1361076.story target=_blankare headed north at the fastest clip ever recorded/a, so fast that economists are saying it could imperil the economic recovery. Nobody wants that. /ppBut there is more than one way of looking at this phenomenon. The environmental economy, also known as the survival of our planet, will be imperiled if we can’t get the electric vehicle (EV) revolution off the ground and gas-guzzlers off the road. And the only thing that will definitively kill that transition is low gas prices./ppLast summer, $4 a gallon gas delivered a nearly instant, almost mortal blow to SUV sales. When a href=http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/translating-uncle-sam/stories/eia-the-rise-and-free-fall-of-gas-prices target=_blankthe price plunged to $2/a, there was a small but noticeable shift back to bigger vehicles, but the sales figures were complicated by a href=http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/with-lower-gas-prices-truck-sales-rebound-but-its-complicated/ target=_blankthe huge discounts the retailers put on their big boat-anchor trucks/a. People were feeling pretty desperate at the time, as this amusing video makes clear:/ppembed allownetworking=internal allowscriptaccess=never type=application/x-shockwave-flash src=http://www.youtube.com/v/zSaZ5v1eW5Icolor1=0xb1b1b1color2=0xcfcfcfhl=enfeature=player_embeddedfs=1 allowfullscreen=true width=425 height=344/embed/ppNow, just as the summer driving season is getting underway, prices are way up again, rising more than 17 cents in the last two weeks. The national average on Friday was $2.66 a gallon, and I saw $2.80 all over the place today. In San Francisco and some other places in California, it’s over $3 already. This is just the way it happened last year./ppThere’s no particular reason for prices to soar right now: analysts are somewhat baffled, because there’s neither a big recovery stoking demand or a supply crisis./ppI’m not just speculating about how consumers are likely to behave. A recent Kelley Blue Book study shows that 87% of new-car buyers expect gas prices to rise sharply, and more than 60% say that rising gas prices have either caused them to change their minds or made them think about vehicles they normally wouldn’t have considered. They also said they might go from a V-6 to a four-cylinder engine, or from a large sedan to a mid-sized one. And 73% said they plan to change their spending habits if gas prices were to go much higher./ppSo gas prices are a big driver, and people won’t seriously consider buying green cars in any numbers (early adopters will always go for them) unless they need relief at the pumps. Unfortunately, gas prices fluctuate so much they send consumers on a wild ride, not sure what to buy. And sometimes that means they just stick with the guzzler in the garage./pp /ppstrongMore from The Daily Green/strong/pullia href=http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/save-gas-47031702?link=reldom=yah_greensrc=syncon=blogmag=tdg10 Easy Ways to Save Gas Money/a/lilia href=http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/micro-cars-mpg-460409?link=reldom=yah_greensrc=syncon=blogmag=tdgThe Hottest New Cars Prove Small Is Beautiful/a/lilia href=http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/fuel-efficient-cars-47102201?link=reldom=yah_greensrc=syncon=blogmag=tdgThe Most Fuel-Efficient 2009 Cars and SUVs/a/lilia href=http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/natural-swimming-pools-460908?link=reldom=yah_greensrc=syncon=blogmag=tdg23 Breathtaking Natural Swimming Pools/a/lilia href=http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/shipping-container-homes-460309?link=reldom=yah_greensrc=syncon=blogmag=tdg45 Amazing Homes and Offices Made From Shipping Containers/a/li/ulpemReprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc /em/p

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