Gas explodes from Australian river near fracking site. I was shocked by force of the explosion when I tested whether gas boiling through the Condamine River, Queensland was flammable. So much gas is bubbling through the river that it held a huge flame.
More coverage from:
The BBC
Buckingham’s web page
RT News
Hat tip to Matt Smith for the share! By the way, our sharer is not the eleventh Dr. Who.
Journalist James Nestor becomes a freediver: one of a group of mostly scientists interacting with Moby Dick whales without breathing gear – spermwhales – to depths over 100 feet and for times over 5 minutes duration. They study the whales’ speech and behaviour and next, will be trying to replicate their language and hold conversations about trees and other things whales cannot see from their watery perspective. Once believed too dangerous to attempt, this group has been diving since 2007 with whales that, “can grow as long as 60 feet and weigh up to 110,000 pounds,” and eventually, Nestor dove in too:
I HELD MY BREATH AND SWAM DEEPER, 10, 20, 30 feet. I heard a thunderous crack, then another, so loud they vibrated my chest. Below my kicking feet, two sperm whales emerged from the shadows, each as long as a school bus.
The cracking was coming from the whales; it’s a form of sonar called echolocation that species of dolphins, whales and other cetaceans use to “see” underwater. With these vocalizations, called clicks, the whales were snapping three-dimensional images of my body, and those of my diving companions, from the inside out — scanning us to see if we were a threat, or if we were food.
The New York Times offers a free virtual reality film app for Android or iPhone so you can get a taste of what swimming with whales feels like.
Hat tip to Leen De Weerd-Mosley for the beautiful find.
Which we are killing.
Slow Life from BioQuest Studios on Vimeo.
The Fontus bottles use solar power to pull in moisture from the air, cool it and fill them up with water. In high humidity conditions you can have half a quart of water in an hour (less in dryer conditions). Of course, you will want the air around the bottle to be pretty free of contaminants.
More on the science of Airo and Ryde (same type bottle for cyclists) by Fontus.
Visit the Fontus website to donate to their IndieGogo campaign and get a discount on the bottle when it comes out later this year.
But if you’re looking for the real facts about climate change, the NYT also developed a “cheat sheet” Short Answers to Hard Questions About Climate Change
1 Million Women also explains why checking and boycotts are so important.
100% Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) is produced in a way that helps protect the last remaining habitat for wildlife and preserves the livelihoods of producers. By buying from companies using either CSPO or sustainable alternatives to palm oil, you can enjoy some wildlife-friendly, guilt-free chocolates.
Why is palm oil such a big issue?
When tropical forests are cleared to make way for oil palm plantations, carbon is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2 ), the gas that is the leading cause of climate change; tropical deforestation accounts for about10 percent of total global warming emissions (UCS 2013).
Indonesia was the world’s seventh-largest emitter of global warming pollution in 2009, and deforestation accounted for about 30 percent of these emissions (WRI 2013). Indeed, for that same year Indonesia ranked second (behind Brazil) in the amount of global warming pollution it produced because of deforestation (WRI 2013).
It’s estimated that 98% of Indonesian forest will be gone in 9 years due to palm oil plantations.
Palm Oil is a major problem, and it is up to us as consumers to make a difference. It is up to us to boycott the brands that contain palm oil, or who are not trying to source responsible palm oil, and protest against those who create this destruction…
How is standing up against sustainable palm oil going to affect the food and beauty products we use at home?
Standing up might mean giving up: crackers, ramen, chocolate eggs, easter bunnies and many commercial brands of soap – in favor of buying less commercial brand products. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, is it? Having the chance to save the world and be healthier at the same time sounds like a pretty good tradeoff to me.
For more information on the drive to produce only sustainably harvested palm oil visit the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.
storyofstuffproject
And in New Jersey, private companies are getting ready to buy municipal water systems out from under the people – and then make customers pay them back the money they spent to buy the systems.
Taking care of ourselves, our society and our natural resources is our obligation as earth citizens. We need to get much better at doing this than we are.
On the eve of the Democratic National Convention as the national spotlight shines on Philadelphia, thousands of Americans will gather on July 24 2016 to demand bold action be taken to end fracking, keep dirty fossil fuels in the ground and immediately transition toward a truly clean, renewable energy future. Will you be there too?
Together, we will march through downtown Philadelphia to call for:
RSVP to let us know you can join us in Philadelphia!
Sunday 24 July 2016
12-6PM
Request transportation help by contacting Rita email or 732-993-8966. More information at CleanEnergyMarch.org
The BCUA accepts only checks or money orders. For more information about this and other community greening programs visit bcua.org.