Monday, January 31, 2005

[Sustainable product design] Electronic afterlife Recycling is now a factor in product design. [Source: Longmont (CO) Daily Times-Call] 3:24:44 PM Google It!    [Grants] Call for proposals from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority has $2.5 million in grants available for innovative or underutilized energy-efficient industrial process improvements at industrial facilities  in New York. For more information, visit www.nyserda.org or contact Karen Whalen by e-mailing kew@nyserda.org or faxing (518) 862-1090. 3:21:56 PM Google It!    [E-Waste] Congressmen Introduce National E-Waste Recycling Bill U.S. Reps. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., have introduced a National Computer Recycling Act, which would direct the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and implement a national electronic waste recycling program. If passed, the bill would order the EPA to create a grant program to encourage individuals, organizations, cities and counties to start e-waste recycling programs. The bill also would require the EPA to conduct a study of e-waste and make recommendations on how to address it Additionally, a $10 fee on new computers to fund the EPA grant program would be imposed. According to the bill, manufacturers and retailers with existing recycling programs would be exempt. [Source: Waste Age Wire] 3:20:55 PM Google It!    [Schools] Brine and Growing Grass Watching Grass Grow: A Spectrographic Analysis of the Concentration of Iron and Chromium in Subsurface Soils as a Result of Watering Seashore Paspalum Turfgrass with Reverse Osmosis Brine Christine Elizabeth Johns, 14, Cape Coral, Fla. Finalist, Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, 2004 3:19:42 PM Google It!    [Profiles] Loyal to Her Party, but Not in Lock Step The New York Times profiles Christie Todd Whitman. 3:18:40 PM Google It!    [Alternative fuel] Hybrids? Some opt to go all-electric Not long after Dan Kroushl got his new 2004 Toyota Prius, he began to wonder about the mysterious button on the dash. It didn't seem to have any function. Didn't boost the turbo or engage an ejector seat. In online discussions with other Prius enthusiasts, Mr. Kroushl soon discovered the button did have a hidden function: It could turn the gasoline-electric hybrid into an all-electric car - for a mile or so on limited battery power. This "stealth mode" button works fine in Japan and Europe where it's handy for drivers to roll politely about densely packed subdivisions in the early morning and late evening. But the button has been disconnected for North America's Priuses. Now, scores of Prius owners in the United States are activating the button on their own - despite company warnings that altering the car will void its warranty. [Source: Christian Science Monitor] 3:17:07 PM Google It!    [Environmental regulation] Regulatory Climate Changes Top issues in air quality management in 2005. [Source: Environmental Protection Magazine] 3:13:45 PM Google It!    [Environmental health] Debate Continues Over Safety of Water Spiked With Rocket Fuel An expert panel recommends that the Environmental Protection Agency take a new approach in weighing dangers of perchlorate, but industry says precaution is trumping science. Author: Erik Stokstad [Science: This Week's News] 3:11:56 PM Google It!    [Climate change] Panel Urges Unified Action, Sets 2° Target [NEWS] CLIMATE CHANGE: Panel Urges Unified Action, Sets 2° Target. A new report from an international task force on climate change calls for the major industrial nations to join with China and India to tackle the problem together. Author: Eli Kintisch [Science: This Week's News] 3:09:44 PM Google It!    [Environmental policy] Latest News on the Environment Latest News on the Environment. New Report on Climate Change: A new combined study by the Institute for Public Policy Research in the UK, the Center for American Progress in the US, and The Australia Institute, entitled Meeting the Climate Challenge, supports the "2 degrees" hypothesis, that if we allow pollutants from human activities to push the global average temperature two degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial revolution average, the increase will become self-perpetuating and inevitably wreak massive climate change around the globe. Of course, since the danger cannot be proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, and would be astronomically expensive to address (even the US-repudiated Kyoto first steps would be woefully inadequate) the deniers are again out in full force saying it's all biased alarmism. They haven't come up with a credible explanation what motivation hundreds of scientific experts, many with Nobel prizes, would have to put their reputations on the line for a "hysterical" theory. Maybe they think the laboratories and scientific academies of the world are hotbeds of liberalism. This report is consistent with last year's Pentagon report on the subject, which the science-hating Bush shrugged off saying he wan't interested in hearing about "worst-case scenarios". I guess Bush figures the Rapture is the answer to that. Countries Rated for Environmental Sustainability: A new research report by Yale and Columbia Universities rates some Scandinavian and South American counties best at environmental protection. The report, prepared for the annual corporatist Davos conference, uses 75 factors in its evaluation, but also factors in country size, letting the horrifically polluted Russia off the hook, ranking 33rd. Canada ranked sixth, also an outrageous greenwash, while the US, despite its size, ranked 45th. Map of all country indices is shown above. How to Save the World] 3:08:38 PM Google It!    [Climate change] WWF: Global Warming May Kill Polar Bears (AP). AP - Some arctic animals including polar bears and species of seal face the possibility of extinction in just decades because of global warming, the World Wide Fund for Nature said Sunday. [Yahoo! News: Science] 3:03:50 PM Google It!

© Copyright 2005 Laura L. Barnes. Last update: 10/25/2005; 12:09:08 PM.