When mamma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.

When Mamma Nature ain’t happy, it can get real ugly, or pretty depending on your perspective.

Alaska’s Mount Redoubt volcano erupted five times in one night. The volcano sent ash plume more than 9 miles into the air. It was the volcano’s first emissions in nearly 20 years. (Yeah, trying to hold your anger in for 20 years will make you blow your top seriously, eh?)  Fine gray dust fell Monday morning on small communities north of Anchorage.

Alaska’s volcanos’ ash is used as an industrial abrasive. It can also injure skin, eyes and breathing passages.  Ash can cause damage to engines in planes, cars and other vehicles.

There were reports of a quarter-inch of ash in Trapper Creek and up to a half-inch at a lakeside lodge near Skwentna.

“This morning we will have a half-inch snow, um, ash fall…”

“The heavier stuff drops out very quickly, and then the other stuff filters out. There’s going to be a very fine amount of it that’s going to be suspended in the atmosphere for quite some time,” said one meteorologist. “The finer ash is going to travel farther, and any ash can affect aviation safety.”

Redoubt Volcano is 10,200 feet high and roughly 100 miles southwest of Anchorage. It last erupted during a four-month period from 1989-90.

The last time Redoubt erupted it sent ash 150 miles away into the path of a KLM jet.  The jet’s four engines flamed out and dropped more than 2 miles before the crew was able to restart all engines and land safely. It cost $80 million to repair the plane.

So, my question is – If we don’t start taking care of our planet and Mother Nature gets really really angry, what do you think might happen?

Perhaps we don’t want to find out.

Via: Sina

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Yo mamma is so fat that she has her own zip code.
Yo mamma is so fat that people sit next to her at the beach to get some shade.
Yo mamma is so fat that 20 Greenpeacers tried to throw her back into the ocean.

Funny.

Not funny… about 80 long-finned whales beached themselves in Hamelin Bay, Western Australia. Five bottlenose dolphins joined them in the mass suicide.

Workers were able to get 14 whales and four dolphins back to the sea when they were taken to calmer seas.

Scientists offer some theories as to why the whales beach themselves:

1. chased by predators
2. chasing prey
3. sonar used for navigation is hindered by natural geomagnetic factors
4. bad directions
5. following an ill or injured pod member into danger and refusing to leave it
6. human activity – undersea exploration, sonar from submarines

Since last November about 520 whales have beached themselves. More than 470 have died.

“We’re in a peak period now,” said Evans, of Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. “What happens in that period is the climate factors increase the prey field near the shore, forcing whales closer to shore and thereby increasing the probability that they will strand.”

There is a cycle of such activities by the whales dating back to the 1920s. Maybe something can be discovered by studying that.

Let’s hope so.

Knock Some Sense Into Them

Part of a broader campaign to give the poorest children a voice at the G-20 summit of world leaders gathering in London on April 2 to discuss a way out of the financial crisis, the film below is a viral that carries a simple message “They’ve helped save the banks and big business. Now it’s time they helped save children’s lives.”

Unlike big business, children don’t have shareholders. Which is probably why they don’t have a voice at the G-20. Yet the world’s poorest children are already suffering the worst effects of the financial crisis. If we don’t act now, up to 2.8 million more children could die by 2015 – many because they just don’t have enough to eat.

While the financial institutions have been bailed out to the tune of $2.5 trillion, saving these children’s lives would take only a tiny fraction of this amount.

The film is backed up with a targeted press and outdoor campaign carrying the same message and the image of a child holding the Chancellor’s budget box while standing on the steps of Downing Street. The headline bluntly emphasizes where the agenda lies in the eyes of the world’s leaders. And it’s not with children.

Life-size cut-outs of this message and the boy holding the budget box will line the route of the ‘Put People First’ march that will precede the G-20 summit on Saturday March 28. Teams of Save the Children support workers will collect names for the petition from the 20,000 protestors expected to turn out.

The growing world population and the fact that each year we need to feed more mouths, means that farmers are forced to derive the maximum out of the same agricultural land available. The problem with such an approach is that most often synthetic materials and pesticides creep into the local ecosystem due to their excessive usage and it is just a matter of time before their adverse effects are being felt along the food chain.

Valley Farm, West Wratting

But there’s hope as organic farming is the fastest growing sector of the American food marketplace today. And is gaining greater acceptance in nations like UK, India, Australia or Japan.

Although studies across have found a 20% smaller yield from organic farms, it should be considered that it’s a result of using 50% less fertilizer and 97% less pesticides. In other words, there is just a marginal decrease in yield when compared to the huge reduction in costs and energy that is spent when compared to conventional farming.

It has also been concluded with evidence that organic food tastes a lot better, has more nutritional values and greater health benefits due to lack of synthetic and chemical compounds in them when compared to other food material.

However, the most important aspect of course is that the production of organic food actually helps build clean, pollution-free and sustainable ecosystems devoid of chemicals— making them invaluable environmental assets. And there’s hope. There are companies like Abel & Cole Organic Food in UK that are at the cutting edge of producing organic food and hopefully will soon oversee a revolution towards farms that stop becoming pesticide dumps, while offering nutritious diet hat builds a healthy society.

We’re game!

Image courtesy of stawarz

A huge movement that packs plenty of fanfare and significance,  Earth Hour is an annual worldwide event— much needed from a green outlook. For people to understand the significance of energy (consumption) and the major role it plays, this year more than 2400 cities are going to do their good deed.

Original image by sacharules

When is Earth Hour?

Created by the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature/World Wildlife Fund) and held on the last Saturday of March from 8.30 to 9.30 PM, the huge annual event has not just become famous for its eco-value, but for the dark delights that it offers for locals, tourists and photographers.

And this year is going to be pretty special.

Some of the world’s most famous monuments like the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower, the St. Louis Gateway Arch, the Sydney Opera House, the Sears Tower, Seattle’s Space Needle, the Great Pyramids and Sphinx, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Niagara Falls are set to go dark. However the most astounding addition to this list would be the switching off of the bright and ever-shining lights in Vegas. While the casinos’ slot machines and gambling tables are still lit, in an unprecedented event, the bright lights of Las Vegas will go dark for the very first time.

Overview of Sydney in Earth Hour 2008

With 20% of America’s energy consumption coming from household needs and common electronic gadgets, saving a large chunk of this power by being energy-conscious and using smart options is the moral of the movement. With games being re-scheduled, airports cutting out on fancy lights and the Broadway going dark, this will be one hour that will get the message across loud and clear.

Will you show that you care? Will you turn your lights off for just an hour?

The story of Thor Heyerdahl and his now-famous Kon-Toki expedition where he sailed 4300 miles across the Pacific in a pae-pae raft made from balsa wood, seems to inspire people. And David de Rothschild is one of them. He’s planning to embark on a similar journey from California to Australia, but adds a modern twist to the whole deal.

Using discarded plastic bottles as the main building item, De Rothschild is working on a catamaran that will have 90% recycled materials. Hoping to draw attention towards recycling and waste issues that plague our planet today, the excited adventurer is set to start in San Francisco this April or May.

Known as Plastiki, the catamaran will sport hulls filled with 12,000 to 16,000 bottles and is covered with skin-like panels, also made from recycled PET bottles. Using its sails and running entirely on wind power, Plastiki will be home to a three member crew that will accompany De Rothschild, and a few scientists.

With each bottle being pressurized using dry ice powder that will sublimate into carbon dioxide gas, the catamaran is going to feature two wind turbines and an array of solar panels will charge a bank of 12-volt batteries that will power all the electronic devices on-board.

David’s effort (11,000 miles is no easy task for any boat) is to show the world that what we dispose off as waste can actually be used effectively once again if we have the time, patience and creativity to tap into its existing potential. The trip is symbolic how the tons of trash that is being discarded on a daily basis and piles up at the landfill can actually be recycled with ease.

While the detractors point out the cost and energy needs of building a boat like Plastiki, this is more of a symbolic message and is aimed at promoting awareness among people. Once the boat finishes the voyage, De Rothschild says that it will again be recycled.

Let’s just hope he actually finishes the rough voyage and reaches safely to the shores down under!

As the Kyoto agreement runs out in 2012, the world is getting together to make sure that they have another international treaty in place by then, to address the deteriorating environmental issues and to ensure that each nation has a certain emission cut targets set for it.

Image by lingaraj

However, developing heavyweights like India, China and Brazil, seem to have taken a hard stand when it comes to agreeing to the emission cuts they will abide to. And India’s chief climate negotiator, Shyam Saran, said that the developed world should guard itself against green protectionism and must offer greater help to developing nations to deal with their eco-problems.

Not only did he warn against a growing discord between the developing and the developed world when it comes to dealing with green issues, but also stated that nations like India could only sign on treaties with realistic goals in regards to emission control.

While Energy Secretary Steven Chu suggested slapping a tariff on imports from nations that do not require emissions cuts to “level the playing field”, Saran responded saying that the negotiations were already starting on an uneven playing field.

The sour grapes between, seems to suggest that a realistic figure when it comes to curbing carbon emissions is still a long way away from materializing and while India’s pledge of never letting its per capita emissions exceed those of rich nations, it seems a pretty fair deal in itself.

More has to be done at this point rather than worry about political brownie points …

Meanwhile, Tata Motors launched the Nano— world’s cheapest car, in India!

Via: Yahoo! Green

As you know, Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore has been consistently campaigning for the environment, and in the process he has evoked plenty of interest in issues that surround global warming.

Image by World Economic Forum

Al Gore’s book— An Inconvenient Truth, and the subsequent documentary that was made based on it, has reached out to millions and even won Gore an Academy Award. Now the former US Vice-President is coming up with a sequel of sorts with a new book— Our Choice, slated for release in November this year.

The latest book penned down by Gore is set to come up with the solutions to the problems discussed in the first book and also offer a clear direction as to what we need to do for a greener future. The book goes all out in its effort to promote green by practicing what it preaches.

Our Choice will be printed on 100% recycled paper, has locally produced and sourced editions, uses low VOC inks, and will be carbon neutral. Add to all these the fact that all profits will go towards the Alliance for Climate Protection and it shows Gore’s commitment towards the green cause once again. So will there be another award winning documentary on this one as well? Probably!

Via: Reuters

According to leading survey companies that have taken account of the way energy is used in the domestic sector, it is assessed that 30% of all energy consumption is due to the heating and cooling needs of our buildings.

As you already knew, the use of an air conditioner can really take a heavy toll on your electricity bill. That’s exactly why Le Lievre, a co-founder and former CEO of Ausra, has launched Chromasun, a company that plans to dish out efficient and ergonomic solar-powered air-conditioning systems for our next summer.

The new and innovative design of Le Lievre is all about tapping solar power in an ultra-efficient way by using mirrors, concentrators and receivers that enhance its output capability immensely. Also, the new design ensures that by using 95% less silicon it will boast a 75% efficiency— compared to 23% efficiency on conventional solar cells.

Harnessing energy from sunlight and waste heat to cool down the interiors, this will not just save energy but also slash your power bills in a huge way.

In the time of recession, that surely should encourage more people to take a turn towards the green! Let the sun chill you down …

[via Ecofriend]

Earth is an awesome movie produced with the help of world’s best nature filmmakers, and Disneynature the first film label that has been introduced by Walt Disney in over 60 years. That in itself, should convey the significance, seriousness and the efforts that Disney is taking up.

However, unlike many other movie makers who make sweeping documentaries that only promote awareness, these guys decided to go a step further and offer all movie lovers to make a difference in a small yet worthy fashion by adding more trees to the planet. That means that If you go to the theater to watch it, Disney will plant a tree on your behalf in Brazil.

Disney has identified that the Brazilian Atlantic Forest is a sensitive and delicate ecosystem where only 7% of the original tropical rainforests is still intact today. That’s why this is where they’ll plant the trees, nurture them and ensure that the forest is replenished.

Apart from being part of a great and moving visual experience come April 22, when the Earth hits the screen, you can also do your little bid to help save the planet. Of course you can plant a tree yourself, but that’s also uber-cool… Kudos to Disney!

[Ecorazzi via GreenDaily]