Environment
A new study shows that, contrary to widespread belief within the solar power industry, new kinds of solar cells and panels don’t necessarily have to last for 25 to 30 years in order to be economically viable in today’s market. #RenewableEnergy #solarpanels
The architects explain that the system is designed to “help [make] even the smallest quantities of rain [flow down] the roof and eventually coalesce into bigger drops, just right for harvesting before they evaporate.” Considering hot, dry climates can be almost unbearable for residents during the summer, this intriguing concept has a variety of positive implications. #rainwaterharvesting
Cellphone testing by the Chicago Tribune reveals several popular cellphones emit far higher levels of RF radiation than legally permitted, which has led to the filing of at least one class-action lawsuit. #cellphoneradiation
In an effort to help curb the decline, Bee Vectoring Technologies in Canada created an organic fungicide that can be delivered to crops by bees. The fungicide, called Clonostachys Rosea CR-7, or Vectorite, is set to be released this fall for use on crops of high value — such as strawberries, blueberries, sunflowers, and almonds. #savethebees
Like fresh new, environmentally-friendly inventions? Read this! #environmentallyfriendly
Plastic by-products were found in an alarming 97-100% of blood and urine samples from 2,500 children tested between 2014 and 2017, according to a new study by the German Environment Ministry and the Robert Koch Institute. #environment
Environmental and public health advocates blasted the Trump administration Thursday for finalizing its rollback of an Obama-era regulation designed to curb the pollution of waterways nationwide. #environment “#WaterProtection
If you’re seeking some good news during these troubled times, look at the ecologically sound ways of producing food that have percolated up from the grassroots in recent years. Small farmers, environmentalists, academic researchers and food and farming activists have given us agroecology, holistic resource management, permaculture, regenerative agriculture and other methods that can alleviate or perhaps even eliminate the global food system’s worst impacts: biodiversity loss, energy depletion, toxic pollution, food insecurity and massive carbon emissions. #environment #farming #sustainablefarming
The state of Michigan is hoping to bring a bit of soothing comfort happiness into people’s lives with a “Happy Little Trees” program meant to celebrate Bob Ross’ 100th birthday and help inmates plant 1,000 trees throughout public parks every year. #happylittletrees
Indigenous people can save the forests. But they need their legal autonomy restored in order to do it. #savetheforests
While renowned naturalist Sir David Attenborough warned the world’s oceans are “under threat now as never before in human history,” green groups on Tuesday said a United Nations resolution to end plastic pollution in the world’s oceans does not go nearly far enough to combat the problem, and stressed that more urgent action is needed to eradicate the damage before it’s too late.
A draft United Nations report warns “the same oceans that nourished human evolution are poised to unleash misery on a global scale unless the carbon pollution destabilizing Earth’s marine environment is brought to heel. #climatechange
A pair of leading scientists are calling on the global community to spend the next few decades working toward formal protections for at least half of the world’s oceans and lands, warning that as the human population nears it’s projected 10 billion by mid-century, several species will face a heightened threat of extinction. #extinctioncrisis
Indigenous tribes whose land and livelihoods are being directly harmed by the fires ravaging the Amazon rainforest vowed Tuesday to do everything in their power to resist Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s “destruction of Mother Nature” #amazonfires
These fires are threatening the livelihoods of all Amazonian people – indigenous and non-indigenous, urban and rural; destroying the world’s greatest home for wild species of plants and animals, and reducing the forests which store and sequester carbon and help curtail our planet’s climate crisis. #amazonfires
