I am sorry to keep plaguing you all with more of the same ole posts. When it turns out no matter what products we use or buy, it seems to be a choice about not really having much choice. We are at the mercy of the manufacturers, and don’t have any say as to how products are made, packaged or sold. Someday we may be able to uninvent some of the things that have both, improved and hurt our lives and environment.
Category Archives: environment
What are we to do with all of that plastic!
A fellow blogger had this post and I’m sure if we were to work at things, we can overcome the massive piles of plastic waste we keep managing to create.
I’m afraid I don’t know the name of this blogger, but I have found many great scientific articles here. You should check them out.
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Is recycling a waste? Here’s the answer from a plastics expert
Another article to catch some attention. I am not able to add articles together, as I am no technogenius, so there will be a second post from a fellow blogger following this post.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/22/is-recycling-a-waste-heres-the-answer-from-a-plastics-expert.html
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Climate Change To Accelerate At Pace Not Noticed in 1, 000 Years
All of the musicians are doing MASH_UPS these days, so I did a mash_up with the climate.
There might be climate change, and some of the effects are going to look just like the movie ” THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW “. Shifting weather patterns will be the norm for a long time to come, and if we continue to burn fossil fuels, the climate may never get back to what it was.
We do have the capability to utilize SOLAR, WIND, and TIDAL energy sources, and that can help some. Cars, factories, volcanoes and many other sources of carbon dioxide emissions will continue this current trend We have gone past, just turning off the lights we aren’t using. We need to be more energy-efficient and conservative with everything we do.
Climate Change To Accelerate At Pace Not Noticed in 1, 000 Years
Climate Change To Accelerate At Pace Not Seen In 1,000 Years – Climate change is accelerating at a rate not seen in 1,000 years, according to new findings. By the year 2020, global temperatures could be rising by nearly half a degree per decade, over twice the rate seen over the last 900 years, climatologists warn.
Over two dozen climate models were examined, with data arranged in 40-year cycles. This is roughly the length of time houses and roads tend to exist, before being replaced. Human activity is releasing vast quantities of carbon into the atmosphere, leading to climate change, including global warming, researchers warn.
Although the long-term effects of carbon on the environment can be simulated in computer models, short-term variations in weather make short-term predictions difficult. A base rate of global heating was determined for the period of 1850 to 1930, when human emissions of atmospheric carbon were much lower than in later decades.
Tree rings, ice cores and corals were examined, in order to create a record over global temperatures, stretching over the last 2,000 years. Investigators found that temperatures rarely rose more than 0.18 degrees Fahrenheit each decade, prior to the start of the 20th Century.
The climate is changing, sorry deniers but it’s true. A major happening is a large piece of a glacier in Antarctica has moved off of the shelf it was sitting on. The super cold freezes sea water, making fresh water ice, and allows the heavier salts to return to the bottom of the ocean. The iceberg that fell off of that shelf is the size of Rhode Island, and that will cause problems with the deep-sea currents.
The other problem is, a large lake under the ice sheets in Greenland has let go, dumping millions of gallons of cold fresh water into the northern end of the same deep ocean current. The two events happening at nearly the same time, has slowed down the Mid Atlantic Current.
That current carries the colder water to the tropics, and brings the heated waters north to the arctic. With a slowdown in this current the climate will continue to show vast changes in weather patterns, we have not seen in present times.
Here is an info-graphic showing some of the major weather events just in the last year.
http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/03/24/atlantic-ocean-current-overturning-circulation-historic-slowdown-climate-change?cmpid=tpdaily-eml-2015-03-24
Significant Climate Anomalies And Events
(Infographic: Courtesy NOAA)
Via: TakePart.com
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Drought persists in the Northwest, despite winter rains
Water supplies and drought outlooks are grim in most Western states.
Kate Schimel March 20, 2015 Web Exclusive
drought-persists-in-the-northwest-despite-winter-rains-e28094-high-country-news.
Last Friday, Gov. Jay Inslee declared a drought emergency in three Washington regions. Two days later, it rained across the state. In Seattle and Olympia, it poured enough to break decades-old records, and in Walla Walla County, one of the state’s dry spots, a half an inch fell.
But the weekend’s rain won’t break Washington’s drought. Farmers, ski area operators and water managers are waiting on snows that haven’t come and that likely won’t until next winter. In the Pacific Northwest, as in other mountainous regions of the West, mountain snow normally acts as a reservoir, melting off in the spring and carrying the region through dry summers. But this year, the snow just hasn’t appeared. According to the latest federal data, the Cascades and the Olympics have less than a third of their normal snowpack for this time of year. In some areas, that number is less than ten percent.
You can finish this article here: http://www.hcn.org/articles/drought-persists-in-the-northwest-despite-winter-rains?utm_source=wcn1&utm_medium=email
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http://www.hcn.org/articles/drought-california-shasta-water?utm_source=wcn1&utm_medium=email
California has one year of water left: Hype or reality?
When a NASA scientist speaks in blunt terms about water supply, other scientists take notice.
Jeremy Miller March 18, 2015 Web Exclusive
-California has one year of water left_ Hype or reality_ — High Country News
A Los Angeles Times op-ed penned by NASA senior water scientist Jay Famiglietti last week caused a stir in drought-racked California. In forceful and vivid language, Famiglietti announced that the state has only about a year of water left in its reservoirs, rivers and lakes, as well as in its snowpack and soil.
Based on data acquired from NASA satellites, Famiglietti reported that the persistent drought conditions in the state have led to a 34-million acre-foot deficit in surface water – a volume 50 percent larger than Lake Mead, the country’s largest reservoir. “… (O)ur strategic backup supply, groundwater, is rapidly disappearing,” Famiglietti wrote. “California has no contingency plan for a persistent drought like this one (let alone a 20-plus-year mega-drought), except, apparently, staying in emergency mode and praying for rain.”
When scientists drop the academic posture and speak in blunt terms, other people – in particular, other scientists and water watchers – take notice.
Some took issue with the op-ed’s headline – “California has about one year of water left. Will you ration now?” – saying it was out of sync with the rest of the article. New Mexico journalist and water reporter John Fleck fired back on his blog, calling it “scary as hell, a click-generating machine.”
Fleck also tapped Jay Lund, a professor of environmental and civil engineering at UC Davis (and a noted California water commentator in his own right), for comment. “It’s not the right impression that one more year of this and we’re toast. There’s quite a bit more left in groundwater,” Lund wrote. “A little bit less every year because we’re pumping, trying to make up for the drought.”
But it’s hard to deny that the metrics of California’s ongoing drought demand serious attention. The most recent snow survey at the beginning of March pegged snowpack statewide at less than 20 percent of average. “Nearly a third of our SNOTEL sites in the Cascades and Sierra Nevada are reporting the lowest snowpack ever measured,” said Cara McCarthy, a hydrologist with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. “For the first time, some sites were snow-free on March 1. These areas can expect reduced summer streamflow.”
you can find more here: http://www.hcn.org/articles/drought-california-shasta-water?utm_source=wcn1&utm_medium=email
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Scientists Want To Mine Your Poop For Gold
SHUTTERSTOCK
When you think about it, humans are just really elaborate filtering machines. All sorts of stuff comes in to be broken down and processed by the body, after which the sh*t comes out. For most people, that’s where their vague interest in the subject ends. Crap is crap; it is universally understood to be worthless.
But that isn’t true at all, according to this Guardian article:
Sewage sludge contains traces of gold, silver and platinum at levels that would be seen as commercially viable by traditional prospectors. “The gold we found was at the level of a minimal mineral deposit,” said Kathleen Smith, of the US Geological Survey.
Smith and her colleagues argue that extracting metals from waste could also help limit the release of harmful metals, such as lead, into the environment in fertilisers and reduce the amount of toxic sewage that has to be buried or burnt.
“If you can get rid of some of the nuisance metals that currently limit how much of these biosolids we can use on fields and forests, and at the same time recover valuable metals and other elements, that’s a win-win,” she said.
A previous study, by Arizona State University, estimated that a city of 1 million inhabitants flushed about $13m (£8.7m) worth of precious metals down toilets and sewer drains each year.
So your butt may soon be the source of a new goldrush as investors jockey for the right to pan through your poop.
Scientists have estimated that an average ton of sewage sludge contains 0.4mg gold, 28mg of silver, 638mg copper and 49mg vanadium, which is used in cell phones so you know it’s hella valuable now. These amounts stayed relatively consistent across different sized cities and locales across the country. No word on if New Jersey poop yields are more potent due to the region’s ridiculous consumption of Goldschläger.
It’s been a great year for fecal sludge in the news – more and more processing plants are filtering out material useful for fertilizing crops. And Bill Gates recently drank the totally delicious output of a device that extracts clean water from human waste – great for water starved hellscapes where that kind of thing is necessary to survive. Or California in 10 years.
Source: The Guardian
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MORE EFFING SPIDERS?
So what is it with this guy and his damn spider fancy? Didn’t I say ” I hate those f***&%g things? ” Sorry y’all, but these things were running all over the place, so I caught them and put them in here. Even though you don’t like them, if you are able to recognize them, you won’t smash the good ones.
Oh crap, look out, that big one’s a nasty one, quick smash it before it it bites us all!
Shake Your Silk-Maker: The Dance of the Peacock Spider
25 Adorable Spiders That Are Not As Scary As You Think
Published on Sep 4, 2014
Few people say they like spiders. These little creatures are usually characterized by terms like “disgusting”, “detestable” or “revolting” but in fact, the bad reputation is entirely undeserved. Most spiders are not dangerous to humans at all. Indeed, many are beneficial because they eat other pests in our homes and gardens. If we still have not succeeded in convincing you to stop hating these little guys, these 25 adorable guys might help you to change your mind.
Top 10 Most Venomous Spiders
Looking into our 8 legged friends from around the world. We’re looking into the most dangerous/deadliest and most venomous spiders.
World’s Most Deadly Spider – Brazilian Wandering Spider
The deadly Brazilian wandering spider, aka banana or armed spider, is considered the world’s most venomous & deadliest spider by the Guinness Book of World records. They are found in the tropical regions of Central & South America and are called wandering spiders because they roam the jungle floor at night.
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Volcanic Lightning Forms Glass Balls
by Becky Oskin, Senior Writer | March 13, 2015 02:12pm ET
http://www.livescience.com/50137-volcanic-lightning-glass-balls.html?cmpid=559238
Inside towering clouds of volcanic ash, stunning lightning storms can create tiny crystal balls, a new study reports.
Researchers recently discovered smooth glass spheres in ash from explosive volcanic eruptions. Kimberly Genareau, a volcanologist at the University of Alabama, first spotted the orbs while scanning ash from Alaska’s 2009 Mount Redoubt eruption with a powerful microscope. She also found them in ash from Iceland’s 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption.
-Forged in a Flash_ Volcanic Lightning Forms Glass Balls
Both volcanoes blasted out billowing ash clouds that triggered spectacular displays of volcanic lightning. Inside these murky clouds, ash particles rub together, generating static electricity that discharges as lightning. [Big Blasts: History’s 10 Most Destructive Volcanoes]
https://www.youtube.com/user/NaturalezaSalvajeHD
Genareau and her colleagues said they think the lightning displays forged the glass balls from particles of volcanic glass. Their findings were published Feb. 27 in the journal Geology.
Volcanoes spit out jagged glass shards during eruptions, along with sharp scraps of rocks and minerals. But lightning within the ash cloudcan heat the air to 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit (30,000 degrees Celsius) for a few millionths of a second, melting the glass particles. These molten droplets then form into balls as they fall through the air, Genareau said.
Electrifying Images of Volcano Lightning
Researchers previously knew that volcanic eruptions could produce glass, but the new findings show how that glass can be made into spheres.
“You don’t need volcanic lightning to make glass [in ash], just to get that unusual shape,” Genareau told Live Science.
The round spherules from Mount Redoubt and Eyjafjallajökull are only 50 microns across (1/25,000th of an inch), hundreds of times smaller than the spherules that can be ejected during meteorite impacts. Fountaining lava caught by the wind can also form such glass spherules, called Pele’s tears.
-pele’s tears – Google Search
Some of the glass spherules examined in the study were as smooth as crystal balls, but others were hazed by cracks and pits that may have formed when water expanded into steam as the glass melted.
The research team is planning further studies into how and why the spherules formed. For instance, the scientists verified that a violent shock can produce glass spheres in ash when they found a version of the tiny balls in ash left over from experiments by researchers at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. In the experiments, the Canterbury researchers, who are also co-authors on the new findings, zapped artificial ash to investigate how volcanic ash disrupts high-voltage insulators. Their tests were similar to lightning discharges inside an ash cloud, Genareau said.
Electrifying Images of Volcano Lightning
Now, after studying samples from several eruptions, the researchers suspect that it is the size of the ash particles that determines whether the glass spheres appear after volcanic lightning strikes, Genareau said. All the spherules found so far are about 50 microns or smaller in size, she said. Larger ash fragments were partially melted, but didn’t completely transform into spherical shapes.
Forged in a Flash_ Volcanic Lightning Forms Glass Balls
Genareau said she hopes that the new discovery will spark a search for similar spheres in older ash deposits, which could provide new clues about where and when volcanic lightning strikes.
“Not much is known about how often volcanic lightning occurs, and this provides physical evidence that may be preserved in the geologic record,” she said.
Electrifying Images of Volcano Lightning
Follow Becky Oskin @beckyoskin. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Originally published on Live Science.
http://www.livescience.com/50137-volcanic-lightning-glass-balls.html?cmpid=559238
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HELP WANTED, ATTENTION IS GREATLY APPRECIATED
HELP WANTED, ATTENTION IS GREATLY APPRECIATED
( Thank you Libby Garner-Smith for this find )
At least someone finally cared enough to help. You would go out of your way for a cute critter, so let’s try to follow that example every day. Look with your eyes open and a heart filled with desire to make a difference.
The difference can be small, as we have such large perceptions. Small things add up, and a little help or attention to others around you makes great impact. Be kind, you don’t have to love everyone or everything, but in the end, loving and caring is all that truly matters in life.
QqKWuCt8esU vid on YouTube
Uploaded on Nov 10, 2011
Thank you for watching and sharing this video!
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‘Hang Son Soong,’ the Largest Cave on Earth
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/03/an-aerial-tour-of-hang-son-soong-the-largest-cave-on-earth/
‘Hang Son Soong,’ the Largest Cave on Earth
Hang Son Doong, located in central Vietnam. Deboodt brought a drone and an array of cameras to help capture the cave system, the largest chamber of which is 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) long, 200 meters (660 ft) high and 150 meters (490 ft) wide. Despite its enormity, the cave was only discovered in 1991 by a local man, and it wasn’t even studied by scientists until about five years ago. One of the most disorienting thing about watching Deboodt’s film was my brain not comprehending the scale of what I was looking at. It’s only once you notice the ant-like people walking through some of the shots that you realize just how massive this place is. You can see more of Deboodt’s cave photography on Instagram. (via PetaPixel)
Above and Below
from Ryan Deboodt PLUS 6 months ago NOT YET RATED
A collection of timelapse footage from my travels including clouds in the would’s largest cave. I have been working on this project for awhile now and not yet fully finished. Shots from Vietnam, Myanmar, and Nepal.
Above and Below from Ryan Deboodt on Vimeo.
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