Green

Cliff Swallow Colony, I-287 Bridge, Franklin Twp., NJ, June 19, 2013 (digiscoped by Jonathan Klizas). Seven active Cliff Swallow nests are on the I-287 bridge over the Raritan River accessed by the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park towpath near Easton Avenue, Franklin Twp. This is approximately the same number as in 2012. One nest is on the south side of the bridge. The Weston Canal area was not checked today. It had eight nests last year. Mike Britt reports 15 Red-tailed Hawks this morning in the air space around Burnt Mills Road in Bedminster Twp. Some were hawking Cicadas.  Many species of birds are feasting on Magicicada spp. this season. Yesterday, June 18, an Alder Flycatcher and Yellow-breasted Chat were found again in the section of habitat southeast of the intersection of Pleasant Plains and White Bridge Roads in the Great Swamp NWR (Jamie Glydon). The Yellow-breasted Chat was evident again this morning.

Sally Ride is still an inspiration, 30 years after becoming America's first woman in space via @Stefaniamcd

Beach Party Alaska! #green

Obama to reveal plan to combat climate change, aide says #green

How Ancient Roman cement outlasts today's best via @blakegraham

It has been over two years since the catastrophic meltdown at the Fukusima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and the bad news keeps on rolling in. On the heels of an announcement by Tepco that the water at the facility is contaminated with low levels of cesium, the company reported that the groundwater is also polluted with strontium-90. The highly toxic substance is a by-product of the fission of uranium and plutonium in nuclear reactors. The discovery will no doubt complicate Tepco’s ongoing struggle to contain leaks inundating the basements of reactor buildings. Read the rest of Radioactive Strontium-90 Found in Fukushima Groundwater Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: cesium, cleanup, contamination, fukushima daiichi, groundwater, leak, Pollution, Solar Power, strontium-90, TEPCO, tritium

The whole trip is really made possible through the work of Dr. Steven Kress. He is the guy who had the idea to restore Puffins to Maine. The birds were eliminated from the state through hunting and egg collecting back in 1885 or something like that. Dr. Kress had the idea to take a few Puffin chicks from Newfoundland and put them on a rock island in Maine and hand feed them to see if they would come back to breed. That was back in the 1970's. The birds did come back to the island (after 7 years at sea). And now there are about 600 Puffins in Maine breeding successfully. He also works on other islands restoring gulls and terns and other sea birds too. Well, he doesn't actually work on the islands - he has interns to do that now. One of the islands that he manages is Ross Island. We took a field trip there and actually went onto the island to see gull nests. That doesn't seem like a big deal, but apparently the gulls are in trouble up in Maine and need help. Check out these photos. The first photo shows our method of arrival. The rocks were covered with seaweed and VERY slippery. We had to hold onto each other to climb up to the dry rocks.Once we were on the rock, Dr. Kress gave us the lecture about the gulls and terns. He is a master at giving the talk and getting people to care. Of course, I couldn't paying close attention when there were so many birds to photograph :-)Dr. Kress addressing the groupThe gulls are not exotic - just Great Black-backed and Herring gulls which are the same gulls that we see at the shore. Great Black-backed GullHerring GullIt was pretty neat to see their nests and eggs. Then the strangest thing happened - Dr. Kress walked over to a nest and picked up one of the eggs. I couldn't believe my eyes! It has been drilled into us since we were little kids to never go near a nest let alone pick up an egg, but here was the famous bird guy doing it. Then he proceeded to show us that the baby bird was trying to get out of the egg - it was pecking it's way out. Then, as if that weren't enough, he put the egg up to everyone's ear so that they could hear the chick pecking and cooing! Great Black-backed Gull egg - hole on right sideBird Nerds listening to the eggAmazingGet ready to have your mind blown here because mine sure was. After we all listened to the egg, Dr. Kress put it back in the nest and proceeded to grab 2 Herring gull chicks out of another nest and pass them around! I swear, I almost had a cow. Barbara and chickLinda and chickLori and chickTara and chickThese two chicks made the rounds and were returned to the nest. The one that Tara and I had was really chirping. I felt bad for him but he was no worse for wear.Herring Gull chicks in the nestMom seemed happy to have her brood back too. She waddled back over to the nest and promptly settled in. Herring Gull - Mom and ChicksAnyway, you might not think that was unusual but I sure did. It was the best field trip of the entire week.

Designer Chris Hough created this set of biodegradable, portable speakers using only waste and reclaimed materials. Made up of a combination of nutshells and waste newspaper, the speakers are strong, light and tactile. Connected through a 3.5 millimeter audio cable, the product is intended for amplifying the sound on mobile phones and laptops. Each speaker is handcrafted using a two part cast mold and can be endlessly replicated. + Chris Hough The article above was submitted to us by an Inhabitat reader. Want to see your story on Inhabitat? Send us a tip by following this link. Remember to follow our instructions carefully to boost your chances of being chosen for publishing! Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: all natural speakers, Biodegradable speakers, Chris Hough, diy speakers, Nutshells, Portable Speakers, Reclaimed Newspaper, speakers

A possible biofuel breakthrough, via the leafcutter ant #green

I drove up to  Palo Duro Reservoir in Hansford County yesterday for a change of pace.  I’ve been hitting the same spots around Hutchinson County for a while and I was getting a little bored with the same places.  Palo Duro  is about an hour’s drive northeast of where I live and is formed by an earth dam just north of where Palo Duro Creek and Horse Creek converge.  It’s not a large lake but they had gotten some good rains on their watershed last week and the water level was up several feet.  There’s a little campground and picnic area on the north side of the lake with a small pond and creek overhung by cottonwoods.  On the south side of the dam is the lake.  I took photos on both sides of the dam. I stopped by Spring Canyon before I drove across the Lake Meredith dam on the way to Palo Duro and photographed these Northern Rough-winged Swallows taking a break from hunting for breakfast and this female Painted Bunting that scolded me for interrupting her morning bath. As you drive north from Lake Meredith you gradually trade the pastures and arroyos of the Canadian River breaks for the farmland of the northeastern edge of the Llano Estacado.  I saw this Dickcissel on a fence overlooking an irrigated cornfield north of Spearman.   Most of the farmland in the Texas Panhandle is irrigated with water from the Ogallala aquifer as we only get about 20 or so inches of rain a year; less when we are in a drought, like we have been for most of the last several decades.  Here’s an interesting time lapse of satellite images showing how much the water levels at Lake Meredith have dropped since the early 80s. Mississippi Kite Red-winged Blackbird female Eastern Kingbird Palo Duro Reservoir is home to a colony about 30-40 nesting Double-crested Cormorants.  This one is keeping an eye on a trio of Western Grebes.  The grebes are a little unusual for this time of year.  Late migrants, I guess. Great Blue Heron Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Black-crowned Night-Heron More photos in the galleries at the top of the page.