Archive for February 28, 2009
Weekly Round-up #7
What have we been talking about? What’s been happening in the world?
Eco Lesbo Vego
We discussed:
- Remembering to eat green for the planet – avoid the emo cows!
- Handy dandy ways to reuse your tea bags.
- The availabilty of retro Captain Planet episodes on the web-based Mother Nature network!
I also posted a vegan recipe - Lentil and Sunflower Seed Patties. It’s something new, and while it’s not something I’d want to eat all the time, it’s good for a change. Give it a try!
Environmental News from Australia and Around the World
Apparently the reason climate changes is not being taken seriously is because the media coverage is insufficient, says Dr Neil Gavin, from the School of Politics and Communication Studies at the University of Liverpool. Well, I know I’m not the media, but I’m doing my best! Read on!
The desalination plant at Tugan on the Gold Coast, Queensland, started work yesterday at 33% capacity. They say it will hit 100% within a few weeks. This should help if the drought turns around and gets worse again. The plant produces more than 40 million litres of water per day. I do wonder about the impact it has to the off-shore environment in the area.
A NASA satellite that was intended to monitor global warming plunged into the ocean near Antarctica yesterday, without ever entering orbit. You may remember the mention I made some weeks back of a Japanese satellite which was designed for the same purpose. NASA had spent some $280 million and more than four years aiming to do the same thing… with this as the result. There’s an evil part of me that wants to laugh. That part of me is clearly very evil. I actually think NASA is a good idea, I’m all for space exploration and I think encouraging that is a good thing. I don’t know that $280 million on a satellite is how I’d do that though. Maybe I’d spend that money on trying to develop a form of propulsion for spacecraft that didn’t involve rocket fuel. But hey, I’m no rocket scientist, so what do I know?
The Australian government has brought forward access to eligibility guidelines for the federally funded ceiling insulation scheme I spoke about in an earlier Weekly Round-up. Now home owners can check what kind of funding they can get to get the insulation, before the initiation date. This will hopefully avoid a massive backlog come the start-up date of July 01. The PM hopes this will stimulate the economy, decrease unemployment and positively impact the environment by better managing home cooling and heating.
Toyota thinks including blue highlights on their hybrid cars will make them seem cooler and ‘cutting edge’. This will encourage more people to buy them, because people are over being green. Hmm. I don’t know about anyone else, but I think I’d buy a hybrid car because it’s a hybrid car, not because it’s got bits of blue all over it. To each their own though…
Of course, there’s lots of other news. Did I miss anything particularly important? Leave a comment and let me know.
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