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Efficiency Equals Reduction
Efficiency Equals Reduction (400 words) Imagine that if at the grocery store the person bagging your purchases left empty, unused spaces in each bag causing you to carry 10 instead of 5 bags out to your car then into your home. You would be...
Schools - Green and Clean
Now that you are settled back at school it is a good time to think about how you can help the planet by making your classroom and school environmentally friendly. Here are some ideas to get you started: ...
Secrets of the 200 MPG Carburetor
Dear Fellow Car Enthusiast:
Thanks for requesting this report on the "200 MPG Carburetor." It should inspire you. It may make you angry. It may answer some of your questions, while raising a few more. For example.
These questions have been...
Sustainability Today
Sustainability Today
Achieving a sustainable lifestyle today is of paramount
importance for the health of future generations. The devastation
of our natural environment by individuals and corporations who
carelessly pollute the water and...
Wind Farms and Corruption
There is only one reason that wind turbines will be built in the West Country. Our Press has failed to tell its readers of the corruption which stares us in the face, but is not seen as such. For example; The target to be met is to produce 10% of...
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Schreiber, Johansson Build A 'Bridge' To A Classic
Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson are starring in a widely praised revival of Arthur Miller's <em>A View From The Bridge</em>. They tell reporter Jeff Lunden that as in all great tragedies, this one's clashes and catastrophes have something of the inevitable about them.
Stargazing At The Opera
The Hayden Planetarium in New York takes opera to the moon with a new production of <em>Il Mondo Della Luna.</em> Diane Paulus and Philip Bussmann talk about merging cosmos footage with music, how science can enhance the arts and the future of technology and theater.
Obama 'The Musical' Opens In Germany
A new theater production <em>Hope: The Obama Musical Story</em> opened this week in Frankfurt, Germany. It tells the story, in song and dance, of America's first black president. It is likely to be a big success in a country where President Obama is still immensely popular.
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Since Katrina, the Environment Is Front-Page News
Ever since the end of August, when Hurricane Katrina devastated
the major American city of New Orleans and the coastlines of
Louisiana, Mississippi, and parts of Alabama, the consequences
of environmental degradation have been front-page news.
Politicians and ordinary citizens are openly discussing what
scientists have believed for years: that the widespread
destruction of wetlands along the Gulf coast eliminated a
natural buffer zone which in the past had served to slow down
powerful hurricanes before they hit dense population areas.
The manmade levee systems in New Orleans and along the
Mississippi River also came in for some blame. The levees
disrupted natural processes which in the past had expanded the
fertile farmlands of the Mississippi delta. Instead, the
diversion of water caused subsidence which actually lowered
major parts of New Orleans below sea level - making them a prime
target for flooding, even without the breach of the levees.
Katrina and other recent natural disasters have become grim
lessons in the consequences of failing to protect the earth's
natural environment. Floods on the Malibu, California coast
periodically wash away million dollar estates - a result of the
soil on hillsides being weakened by clear cutting which
eliminated the root systems of trees that had served to hold the
soil in place. High priced residential communities encroach into
previously virgin old growth forests, and then are destroyed as
wildfires, often a natural result of lightning storms, wreak
havoc on the forests. Antiquated coal burning plants in the
Midwest cause air pollution that travels to the Northeast,
resulting in mercury pollution that kills rivers, lakes, and
streams and ends up in the human food supply via fresh-water and
ocean
We Ask The Pros: Should You Friend Your Boss On Facebook?
Rejecting a friend request from your boss could be seen as a vote of no confidence, but do you really want his Burning Man photos showing up in your news feed? Comedian Baratunde Thurston and media technologist Deanna Zandt discuss proper workplace friending etiquette.
Green Energy Web Host Paves The Path For Other Web Hosting Companies
Many companies are interested in installing a solar or wind electric system, but not many go forth with the idea. One company stands out from the crowed and that is Affordable Internet Services Online Inc. (AISO.Net) in Romoland, California. They...
fish.
If there's a silver lining to the Katrina disaster, it's this:
Mother Nature has finally, dramatically, gotten our attention.
Proposals in the U.S. Congress to begin a wetlands reclamation
project along the Gulf coast are being taken seriously, and even
the issue of global warming is center stage again as scientists,
politicians, and pundits debate the effect of the phenomenon on
increasingly powerful and frequent hurricanes.
So What Now?
The awful destruction of Katrina, with its human and
environmental costs, presents a unique opportunity - to rebuild
a major American city from the ground up. Imagine a city
re-created in a way that functions with the natural forces of
the area, instead of against them. Imagine ruined homes replaced
with sustainable housing, a city running completely on
alternative sources of energy - wind and solar power, biodiesel,
energy harnessed from the tides. Imagine a city with broad
social reforms, universal health care, a superlative educational
system, and training for the jobs which will be created in the
new sustainable economy.
Katrina has gotten our attention. Now we need environmentalists,
experts in alternative energy and sustainable housing, and
politicians to come together to be a powerful force for the
future. There will be no better time to make the earth's
environment the number-one priority.
About the author:
Aldene Fredenburg is a freelance writer living in southwestern
New Hampshire and frequently contributes to Tips and
Topics. She may be reached at amfredenburg@yahoo.com.
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