PETA is at it again. After demonstrating against bullfights, this time they decided to pick on the most successful designer to come out of Italy, Giorgio Armani. The PETA Angels waved their placards saying “Be an Angel for Animals. Ditch Fur!” just in their underwear. Guess the only thing that kept them warm where those angel wings that probably did miracles.

The result? They turned at least one guy green. He really looks like understanding the cause for which these girls went out naked. Check the pictures below, but be advised that your boss may think they’re not that safe for work.

© AP Photo/Kin Cheung

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Probably inspired by the way they pay fees in Brazil, if you happen to reside in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, you might have to go searching for a place to plant a tree, before you go around looking for a bride to get married to.

With the pollution of the city reaching an all-time high and much of Indonesian forests being cleared away for commercial purposes, the government had no other option but to introduce this unique new law. From now on, you need to plant a tree to get a marriage certificate or even a birth certificate in the city, which is an ingenious way to ensure that more and more people will get involved in the government’s reforestation program.

Each year, East Kalimantan, a part of Indonesia clears from 865,000 to 1.24 million acres of forest land and only replants 30% of it. This leaves a huge void which is increasingly being felt due to growing pollution in the country. The collection of tropical islands still has large land under forest cover, but the rate at which that land is disappearing is alarming.

Papua Province, Indonesia

Could that be the reason why Indonesia made it to the 2008 Guinness World Records as fastest forest destroyer on the planet? By “forcing” the citizens of Jakarta to plant trees, this may be a much needed boost.

Sounds like an easy way to save forests and a way of giving something back to Mother Nature. I’d love to see it turned into law, worldwide. What do you think?

Source: Reuters
Images courtesy of stefanottomanski and Greenpeace Southeast Asia

Flash floods are becoming more of a global threat than ever before with errant climate patterns that are being constantly altered and disturbed with man’s intrusion. Global warming seems to be causing a lot more than just the gradual melting of the poles as the set climate patterns are now becoming more and more unpredictable.

Flash floods are different from normal floods, which are often the product of melting snow. Flash floods are short-lived and dump a lot of rain.

However, Professor Colin Price from the Tel Aviv University is studying the link between lightening and subsequent flash floods. If his research is taken forward and integrated into a study for climate patterns, then predicting flash floods might be a reality very soon.

Together with his team of five European scientists, Professor Colin has been studying the intensity of lightening before and during every thunderstorm. His breakthrough technology relies on studying the radiation emitted during a storm which allows to predict the course of thunderstorms. By predicting the course of the storm, one can easily evacuate people, put those in the path of imminent flash floods on alert and save millions of lives on certain occasions.

“And it will be even more exciting in the next decade, when we’ll have continuous real-time detection of lightning activity from satellites. That data will be used to predict floods anywhere”, said Professor Colin.

With US geostationary satellites being equipped with cameras that will capture pictures of lightenings from space and transmit them live to earth, the capability of such a system is immense. One can only hope that this will help us further combat the fury that nature unleashes, to some extent.

Source: DailyMail
Images courtesy of pHil and krisR99

Solar energy is making such giant strides forward that it would be no surprise if in the next decade or so we all completely convert to solar power. For now though, each day is proving to be a new adventure for those working with and following the power of the sun.

The new arena that is being touched by solar power is the field of submarines as Swiss company BKW is all set to build the world’s first solar powered submarine.

Spending most of the time underneath the water, it won’t sport solar panels itself, but the docking station will. It will feature 30kW solar panels that will fully recharge the submarine’s batteries while docked.  Dubbed Project Goldfish, the submarine will be capable of carrying 20-30 passengers and two crew members, at a depth of up to 300 meters across Lake Thun in the Swiss Alps.

When required, the solar platform will be automatically hooked up with the sub via GPS.  There’s also a zero-emission solar-powered shuttle that will  ferry passengers to and from the shore and the boarding platform, making it completely eco-friendly trip.

The project is expected to be operational by 2012. – via CleanTechnica

Ashur lost her leg when her father attacked her at the zoo where they lived in Budapest, Hungary. Could be that Ashur stayed out too late one night with her boyfriend and didn’t call in, thus worrying her frantic father to no end? So much so that Papa leopard took one of her front legs off in hopes of keeping her in line?

Then suddenly the fairy god leopard in the sky arranged for young Ashur to be teletransported (by train, I suppose) to Jerusalem’s Biblical Zoo where miracles happened, the way they often do in the Bible. Ashur healed and, in the end she got along just fine making do with three where most have four.

Now Ashur has a new protector, Max. Max is 17-years old. Ashur is just 3. In leopard years, they are much closer in age, we hope, less Ashur’s father come looking for Max. Someday soon perhaps there will be cubs.

Don’t you love happy endings?

I know Yomamma jokes. How about a Yopapa joke? Turns out that Australian researchers think that kangaroos might be related to humans, being genetically similar and all.

In fact, the researchers guess – fact and guess are opposites, but that doesn’t matter – that the kangaroos may have first evolved in China then hopped across the Americas to Australia and Antarctica.

Scientists said they had for the first time mapped the genetic code of the Australian marsupials and found much of it was similar to the genome for humans, the government-backed Center of Excellence for Kangaroo Genomics said.

“There are a few differences, we have a few more of this, a few less of that, but they are the same genes and a lot of them are in the same order.”

Let me guess one of the differences. The kangaroos have a hopping gene and humans have a walking gene. “Humans and kangaroos last shared an ancestor at least 150 million years ago, the researchers found, while mice and humans diverged from one another only 70 million years ago.”

So, why do kangaroo mamas hate it when it rains outside? Because, then the kids have to play inside.

Image courtesy of aaardvaark

The Yellow Pages approached Pacific Environments Architects Ltd. Of New Zealand to construct a magical treehouse that brought all those fairy tales alive and the architects made a splendid effort in giving the company what they wanted: a Yellow Treehouse Restaurant.

Yellow Pages wanted to build the treehouse in order to promote its own business ventures and what has come out of it is an exceptional example of green architecture, where like in many other cases, architects have taken inspiration from Mother Nature herself.

The Yellow Treehouse Restaurant was built 40 feet up the trunk of a giant red wood tree and overlooks a stunning panorama which includes the stream and dense woods. Modeled on nature’s most sound design when it comes to protection, it’s built from natural material, local products and designed to provide great natural ventilation.

It looks a lot like a cocoon that helps a butterfly stay secure in its early stages, or the shell that protects sea creatures, preserving the flavor inside.

You might still have doubts about affiliating with Yellow Pages after this as there are enough yellow pages in USA alone that fill up to 5% of landfills each year. That might not be all that green, but it there is surely no questioning this eighteen seat cafe with brilliant green design. – via Inhabitat

It is amazing how many of the futuristic concepts design are either just a revamped version of the retro period or a space-age design that will take another century to materialize. This is all the more true in case of futuristic concept green vehicles that are often designed based on technologies that have not even been invented till date.

Scarab though, is a concept green bike that is both real in its manifestation and amazing in its design.

Designed by David Miguel Gonçalves, it’s all about today’s green energy meeting tomorrow’s design and ergonomics. With an engine that is powered by a permanent battery plus three options for the main energy pack – battery, fuel cell or biofuel, Scarab looks like a stunning vehicle that could be part of another Transformers flick.

Despite its eco-friendly nature, it is as good as any modern set of wheels in terms of the gadgetry on the inside embedded sensors, Lidar, radar, transponders, GPS, Drive by Wire and tactile HUD embedded in the Lexan canopy. Also, the regenerative breaking system allows you to add more energy to the wheels, while the various modes of parking and transportation make it great for the road as well.

A complete green vehicle that is both cool to travel and cool for the planet as well. Something is right about that thing! YankoDesign via EcoFriend

Jason Keath at “Jason Keath – Where Old Media Goes to Die” offered up his 5-step plan to “Green Hosting”.

1. Buy Your Own Offset Credits -Resources: How to buy carbon credits (Ehow.com) | Carbon credit price comparisons. Read Jason’s tip.
2. Use Hosting that Buys Credits – Jason’s recomendation – One good option in this direction is Dreamhost.
3. Use Hosting that Buys Green Energy – Better than buying credits when you use energy from wind farms, solar panels, and so on. Jason’s Resources: ThinkHost | HostPapa | HostGator
4. Use Hosting that Produces Green Energy -
   Some, but not all, in this category (from Treehugger.com):

   WebCtel – Solar

   SolarWebWorks – Solar

   EcoSky – Solar & wind

   The Green Web Host – Mixed sources, mostly wind I think

   Locomotive Media – Wind

   Elfon – Wind

   SustainableMarketing – Wind

   Aiso – Solar

   Taproot Hosting

   SolarHost – Solar

5. Use Your Own Green Powered Servers. Build you own wind turbine or hang solar panels.

Great ideas, Jason! Thanks!

Image courtesy of Nico Macdonald

Veterinarians in central India carried out a blood transfusion on a 7-month old wild tiger that had been beaten by angry villagers. The blood for the female tiger was forcefully donated by captive adults in a zoo.

The reason for all the hubbub is that India’s wild tiger population is on the decline. 100,000 a hundred years ago to 3,600 six years ago and just 1,500 or so now. Chinese kill them for medicine taken from body parts and others just want a tiger rug.  Villagers attempted to kill the young tiger out of fear.

A problem faced in India is blood grouping for the animals. And this tiger, nicknamed Juhi could not share her blood type. The cub is still in serious condition.

Let’s hope the tiger makes it and stays away from other such villages, eh?