Green

On June 21 the Philippines will destroy five tons of seized ivory, becoming the world’s first ivory-consuming nation to destroy its national ivory stock. The act comes in the wake of the country’s being identified by National Geographic magazine as having a longtime ivory-trafficking problem. “The destruction of the items would hopefully bring the Philippines’ [...]

What’s weirder than a slick, oily substance suddenly appearing at a northwest Indiana beach on Lake Michigan? Its equally sudden disappearance.

How hot is it in up north? It was so hot that Talkeetna, Alaska hit 96°F on Monday — warmer than Miami — blow past the previous record of 91°F set in June of 1969 (and matched on Sunday). Talkeetna is the city that the TV show Northern Exposure was supposedly based on. It was so hot the AP and others simply couldn’t resist headlines like “Baked Alaska: Unusual Heat Wave Hits 49th State.” It was so hot that Valdez, Alaska hit 90, smashing the previous all-time record of 87 set in June 1953. The National Weather Service issued this release in ALL CAPS (either because they were so fired up by this heat wave or because they issue all such releases in all caps): EXCITEMENT ABOUNDED THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS NORTHEASTERN PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND AS UNUSUALLY HOT TEMPERATURES WERE FELT ACROSS THE REGION. FOR THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS . . . HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORDS HAVE BEEN TIED OR BROKEN . . . BUT TODAYS TEMPERATURES SOARED BEYOND ANYTHING PREVIOUSLY SEEN IN THIS AREA. IN VALDEZ . . . THE DAILY HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORD OF 75 DEGREES SET IN 1997 WAS SHATTERED WHEN . . . AT 45 MINUTES AFTER 3 PM…THE MERCURY IN OUR THERMOMETER SHOT UP TO 90 DEGREES. AFTER A BRIEF DIP BACK INTO THE UPPER 80S . . . THE MERCURY AGAIN REGISTERED 90 DEGREES AT 15 MINUTES BEFORE 6 PM. THIS ALSO CRUSHED THE ALL-TIME RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR ANY DAY OF THE YEAR . . . AND FOR THE MONTH OF JUNE . . . WHICH WAS 87 DEGREES AND WAS ACHIEVED TWICE . . . ON BOTH THE 25TH AND THE 26TH OF JUNE IN 1953. A LOCAL WEATHER SPOTTER IN TOWN RECORDED A HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 87 DEGREES NEAR THE HOSPITAL DURING THE MID-AFTERNOON HOURS TODAY AS WELL. SUN-WORSHIPERS WERE OUT IN FORCE THROUGH THE MID TO LATE EVENING HOURS . . . AS THE TEMPERATURE AT 10 PM WAS STILL AN ASTOUNDING 77 DEGREES. It was so hot that former governor Sarah Palin unquit her job on Fox News just so she would have an excuse to visit the East Coast. Well, maybe that wasn’t the reason, but still, it was friggin’ hot! Climate Central notes in their story, “Alaska is one of the fastest-warming states in the U.S., largely because the nearby Arctic region is warming rapidly in response to manmade global warming and natural variability. In recent years, Alaska has had to content with large wildfires, melting permafrost, and reduced sea ice, among other climate-related challenges.”

Coca Cola just launched a new bottle that’s as cool as ice. The soda megabrand is offering Coke to its Colombian market, served in a chilled bottle made of ice. Once your ice-cold beverage is consumed, the packaging melts away, leaving nothing to throw away or recycle. The ice bottle joins 7Up, which introduced an ice vending machine in Argentina a few months ago that melted once all of its beverages were dispensed. Read the rest of Coke’s New Ice Bottle Keeps Drinks Cool and Melts Away With No Waste Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: Coke Colombia, Coke ice bottle, eco design, environmentally friendly soda bottles, green design, ice bottle, sustainable design

In 1942 writer Jerry Siegel (the co-creator of Superman) and artist Leo Nowak introduced a comic-book character named Robotman, a scientist whose human brain had been transplanted into an immortal robot body. In 2011 a Russian multimillionaire has proposed making this a reality by the year 2045.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have invented a method for tracking multiple people in a complex indoor setting using a video camera network. The development has been compared to Harry Potter’s Marauder’s Map, a magical document that tracks the comings and goings of everyone inside Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Policy wonk types: try this one! Melvin Delgado.  Social Justice and the Urban Obesity Crisis: Implications for Social Work.  Columbia University Press, 2013. This is an academic’s analysis of the social causes of obesity, especially among the urban poor, and what to do about it.  Although the book is aimed at social workers, it works for public health as well.  Delgado calls for community-based participatory health promotion principles and interventions.  These are clearly needed. If only they weren’t so hard to do…

Most nature lovers are familiar with the concept of a threatened species, or organisms that are in danger due to habitat loss, poaching, disease, or environmental factors. The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) compiles a Red List of Threatened Species in order to identify these plants and animals so that steps can be taken to aid in their recovery. A recent paper published in PLOS ONE involving more than a hundred scientists over a period of five years found that climate change has caused many of the world’s creatures to become imperiled. A staggering 83% of birds, 70% of corals, and 66% of amphibians were identified as highly vulnerable. Read the rest of IUCN Finds Staggering Number of Species Threatened by Climate Change Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: Africa, albertine rift, Amazon, Climate Change, coral triangle, extinction, global warming, international union for the conservation of nature, IUCN, plos one, red list of threatened species, threatened species, wendy foden

Recalls: Tesla Model S recalled for seat safety issue #green

Those of you who are lucky enough to be Model S owners take note, Tesla is doing a voluntary partial recall on EVs that were manufactured between May 10 and June 8.