It's Not Easy Being Green...

Consumers confused about 'green' plastics
07/09/2007 - UK consumers have a confused understanding about "green" plastics and how to dispose of them, according to a survey by the Waste and Resource Action Programme (Wrap).The confusion indicates that recent efforts by processors to increase their use of recyclable and compostable packaging may not be paying off in the way they hoped."New 'green' biopolymer plastics need to be introduced with care if potential environmental benefits are to be maximised," Wrap stated yesterday in releasing the survey results.The research found that most consumers are confused about the wide range of new materials emerging with "biodegradable", "home compostable", "compostable" and "degradable" labels.

Sorry Charlie!

Firm awarded 'eco-label' for tuna fishing method
Consumers in the U.K. will soon be able to eat "environmentally friendly" tuna after an American company today became the world's first tuna fishery to be awarded the Marine Stewardship Council's eco-label. The American Albacore Fishing Association (AAFA) is only the 23rd fishery in the world to be given the MSC's independent accolade for sustainable fishing. The fishermen in the association use a "pole and line" technique which catches individual tuna and involves virtually no "by-catch"—other marine animals that get inadvertently caught in other methods used to catch the fish.

Heart Rendering Heat

http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=tt4rjecab.0.kucvkecab.yeyjtrbab.13781&ts=S0278&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wtop.com%2F%3Fnid%3D106%26sid%3D1239743
Global warming may be melting glaciers and forcing polar bears onto land, but doctors warn it could also affect your heart. "If it really is a few degrees warmer in the next 50 years, we could definitely have more cardiovascular disease," said Dr. Karin Schenck- Gustafsson, of the department of cardiology at Sweden's Karolinska Institute. On the sidelines of the European Society of Cardiology's annual meeting in Vienna this week, some experts said the issue deserves more attention. It's well-known that people have more heart problems when it's hot. During the European heat wave in 2003, there were an estimated 35,000 deaths above expected levels in the first two weeks of August. In France alone, nearly 15,000 extra people died when temperatures soared. Experts say much of that was due to heart problems in the elderly worsened by the extreme heat. The hardening of the heart's arteries is like rust developing on a car, said Dr. Gordon Tomaselli, chief of cardiology at Johns Hopkins University. "Rust develops much more quickly at warm temperatures and so does atherosclerosis," said Tomaselli, who is program chair at the American Heart Association. In higher temperatures, we sweat to get rid of heat. During that process, blood is sent to the skin where temperatures are cooler, which opens up the blood vessels. In turn, the heart rate rises and blood pressure drops. That combination can be dangerous for older people and those with weakened cardiovascular systems.

Butter-side Down

Butter flavor possible cause of lung disease Source of Article: http://www.ift.org/news_bin/news/news_home.shtml 9/04/2007-According to an AP report, a doctor at Denver's National Jewish Medical and Research Center has written to federal regulators that they may have the first case of a consumer who developed lung disease from the fumes of microwaving popcorn several times a day for years. It was just one case and the doctor cautioned that they cannot be sure that the patient's exposure to butter-flavored microwave popcorn from daily heavy preparation has caused his lung disease. However, there is currently no other plausible explanation, according to the doctor. The lung disease was first noticed in workers who make flavorings or use them to produce microwave popcorn. Production workers employed by flavoring manufacturers (or those who use flavorings in the production process) often handle a large number of chemicals, many of which can be highly irritating to breathe in high concentrations. Diacetyl has been used as a butter flavor ingredient for several years and is approved for this use by the Food and Drug Administration. It has been the subject of lawsuits by workers at food factories exposed to the flavoring. Butter flavors used in microwave popcorn generally contain significantly more diacetyl than other types of flavors because of consumer preference, and microwave popcorn manufacturing and preparation processes. The Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association issued a statement Tuesday recommending that its members reduce "to the extent possible" the amount of diacetyl in butter flavorings they make. See also CDC Information on the topic.: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/flavorings/

The plot behind killing electric cars

Who really killed the electric car?

You did. You and the periodic table of the elements, with a little help from physics. Don't feel bad. Any individual responsibility seems to be spread pretty thin, but I figured it was about time to speak on the issue.

In the past few years, a theory has developed hinging on the notion that oil producers, in cahoots with auto manufacturers, conspired with each other in the mid-'90s to throttle the electric car in its crib. As a result, we've all been consigned to environmental doom.

The doom part actually seems to be on track, but the rest of the theory doesn't hold up that well upon closer inspection. Don't get me wrong: I think electric transportation (along with clean diesel) will become more prevalent over the next 20 years. And automakers have worked to keep emissions standards low. But here are some reasons why we're not witnessing a modern-day version of the Knights Templar:

Empty Shelves, Empty Hope...

Office Depot cuts carbon emissions in North America by 10.1%
Office Depot said it has reduced the carbon dioxide emissions from natural gas and electricity consumed in its North American retail stores, warehouses and offices by 10.1%. The company made the reductions while expanding its footprint in North America by 1.7 million square feet.

A Hole in the Heart of Space-Time...

Huge Hole Found in the Universe
The universe has a huge hole in it that dwarfs anything else of its kind. The discovery caught astronomers by surprise. The hole is nearly a billion light-years across. It is not a black hole, which is a small sphere of densely packed matter. Rather, this one is mostly devoid of stars, gas and other normal matter, and it's also strangely empty of the mysterious "dark matter" that permeates the cosmos. Other space voids have been found before, but nothing on this scale.
Astronomers don't know why the hole is there.

Environmental Flame Out...

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/070815_tw_without_optics.html

Solar flares - abrupt emissions on the sun's surface that release massive amounts of energy - can render satellites temporarily useless. Major flares can knock out electricity grids and even affect our weather. More generally, EUV-driven activity in the Earth's atmosphere has long-term effects on radio communications and climate. "These are real effects," Judge said, adding that a better understanding of solar flares could lead to the development of an early-warning system for weather forecasters, satellite operators, astronauts and others.

Tumor meets Grill

Is grilling linked to cancer?
Grilling is a low-fat method of cooking, says Elizabeth Schaub, registered and licensed dietitian on the medical staff at Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano. But we have to be aware that it can increase our risk of cancer if we eat grilled meats too often.
It s true those juicy burgers, especially the charred ones, can contain cancer-causing carcinogens. When you grill meat some of the fat does drip down on to the charcoal and when fat meets that really high temperature it develops a carcinogen and the smoke carries the carcinogen back up to the meat which can be dangerous for our bodies, explains Schaub.
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=5730&Section=DISEASE&source=DHB_070817&key=Body+ContinueReading

Deadly Get Together in Your Future

Astronomers Witness Whopper Galaxy Collision

A major cosmic pileup involving four large galaxies could give rise to one of the largest galaxies the universe has ever known, scientists say. Each of the four galaxies is at least the size of the Milky Way, and each is home to billions of stars. The galaxies will eventually merge into a single, colossal galaxy up to 10 times as massive as our own Milky Way..."Most of the galaxy mergers we already knew about are like compact cars crashing together," Rines said. "What we have here is like four sand trucks smashing together, flinging sand everywhere."

Galaxy collisions are a common occurrence in the universe. Our own Milky Way is fated to collide and merge with its neighbor, Andromeda, in about 5 billion years.

Message in a Bottle... Or hepatits A to you...

New York City pushes tap water, not bottled
New York City is trying to avoid waste by urging residents to drink tap water, rather than bottled water. Environmentalists say four out of five plastic bottles are thrown away rather than recycled, and shipping them from thousands of miles away creates additional greenhouse gases. Some New York restaurants have started to follow the lead of California, where some dining establishments serve only tap water at tables (Jane Peel, BBC News, July 10). The city's $700,000 "Get your fill" advertising campaign is promoting tap water as "healthy" and "great on the rocks" through posters and radio.

As the Cookie Crumbles

If a sugar-free cookie tastes too good to be true, there could be a reason. That cookie may not be sugar-free at all—even if the "nutrition facts" label says so. In these days of epidemic obesity, diligent consumers are reading the nutrition labels on packaged foods, but apparently they're the only ones doing so regularly. Although Congress has forced food manufacturers to place nutrition facts labels on their products since 1990, the Food and Drug Administration doesn't have enough staff to check labels' accuracy. So where does that leave a consumer? Too often, in the dark.
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=589&topicId=15026&docId=l:632183182&start=5&nid=3461

Message in a Bottle

At yesterday's meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, mayors from across the country rejected efforts by the American Beverage Association and Coca-Cola to stop a resolution that highlights the importance of municipal water and calls for a study of the impact of bottled water on city waste. Mayors voted to support the resolution, introduced last week by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Salt Lake City Mayor Ross "Rocky" Anderson and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=589&topicId=15026&docId=l:631668173&start=5&nid=3461

I'm Melting, I'm Melting!

Arizona Dust Causes Colorado Meltdown

Wind-blown dust from the drought-stricken Southwest can speed the melt of snow in Colorado’s mountains, yet another unpredictable effect of climate change, a new study shows. In 2006, snows in areas of Colorado's San Juan Mountains above and below the tree line (above which trees can no longer grow), unexpectedly melted a month earlier than usual.
http://www.livescience.com/environment/070625_dust_snow.html

I'm Sinking, I'm Sinking!

Cities beneath the sea

Heat from the Earth’s deep interior helps keep much of North America afloat by warming the continental crust and making it buoyant, scientists say. If not for this effect, many American coastal cities would lie beneath the sea.

The findings show that if North America had a uniform crust, many American cities would be underwater. New York City, for example, would be dunked 1,427 feet beneath the Atlantic. Boston would be 1,823 below sea level, and Los Angeles would be 3,756 beneath the Pacific.

http://www.livescience.com/environment/070625_bouyant_namerica.html

I got some beach front property in Montana to sell you...

Rising Seas to Destroy U.S. Beaches
You may have to kiss that summer trip to the beach goodbye later this century, thanks to rising sea levels and more intense tropical storms, scientists predict.
A new study of the potential sand losses to North Carolina beaches reports that a 1-foot rise in sea level in the next 25 to 75 years (which is at the lower end of the range predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) would cause the coast to move inland by 2,000 to 10,000 feet and could cost an estimated $223 million in lost recreational value by 2080 to beach-goers in that state alone.

Molten Magma Underfoot

Thick Layer of Magma Found Under American Southwest Scientists have spotted a thick layer of melted rock beneath the Earth’s crust that could be part of a fluid band of hot magma circling the globe. The magma ring has until now remained a theory. The molten-rock layer is 10 miles thick and can’t be seen, felt or smelt from the surface.

Guns, Gas or Butter?!

Food execs to examine solutions to biofuel threat
Food industry R&D executives will be meeting in Chicago next month to examine the impact of increased biofuel demand on their business, in an effort to anticipate challenges resulting from a fundamental shift in supply chain dynamics. Organized by the American Association of Cereal Chemists International (AACCI), the symposium and workshop will examine the projected demand for biofuels, and the impact of this on the food industry supply chain, on consumers, on food formulation and on food technology.
http://www.foodproductiondaily-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=77488-aacci-biofuels-ethanol&nid=3461

Losing the Moon and the Sun and the Stars...

The Earth is moving very very slowly away from the Sun. This happens for two reasons. The first is that the Sun is constantly losing mass because of the solar wind. As the mass of the Sun decreases its pull on the Earth decreases and so the Earth moves slightly further away. The second reason is to do with tidal forces. In exactly the same way that the Moon is slowly moving away from the Earth, the Earth is very slowly moving away from the Sun. In the Earth-Moon case the Moon pulls on the Earth creating tides and slowing the Earth’s rotation very slightly, making the day longer. This action has a reaction - the Moons orbit is speeded up. If something travels faster it must move outwards to remain in an orbit and so the Moon slowly drifts away from us at a rate of 3.8 centimetres per year. The same situation happens with the Sun but the Earth’s influence on the Sun is much smaller than the Moon’s influence on the Earth. The result is the Earth’s tiny tiny drift away from the Sun

When Schwabe speaks the Sun Listens...

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/comment/story.html?id=597d0677-2a05-47b4-b34f-b84068db11f4&p=4
"Solar scientists predict that, by 2020, the sun will be starting into its weakest Schwabe solar cycle of the past two centuries, likely leading to unusually cool conditions on earth. Beginning to plan for adaptation to such a cool period, one which may continue well beyond one 11-year cycle, as did the little ice age, should be a priority for governments. It is global cooling, not warming, that is the major climate threat to the world, especially Canada.”