Diesel Civil Trust
“We have to remember,” Trent said, quoting Marshall McLuhan: “we are not passengers on spaceship Earth, we are the crew.” - Best quote I’ve heard all day, practical application pictured above, described below.
Via mohandasgandhi
How the OMEGA system works.
Supported by NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate and the California Energy Commission, the project’s goal is to demonstrate the feasibility and scalability of OMEGA with respect to the biology, engineering, and economics, and to insure that its environmental impact remains beneficial at the large scale needed to replace our dependence on fossil fuels. The hope is that, based on this demonstration, people worldwide will realize the potential of OMEGA, and adapt and develop versions of OMEGA for the good of all.
NASA Develops Algae Bioreactor as a Sustainable Energy Source
The OMEGA system consists of large plastic bags with inserts of forward-osmosis membranes that grow freshwater algae in processed wastewater by photosynthesis. Using energy from the sun, the algae absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and nutrients from the wastewater to produce biomass and oxygen. As the algae grow, the nutrients are contained in the enclosures, while the cleansed freshwater is released into the surrounding ocean through the forward-osmosis membranes.
NASA Envisions “Clean Energy” From Algae Grown in Waste Water
When the process is completed, biofuels will be made and sewage will be processed. For the first time, harmful sewage will no longer be dumped into the ocean. The algae and nutrients will be contained and collected in a bag. Not only will oil be produced, but nutrients will no longer be lost to the sea. According to Trent, the system ideally is fail proof. Even if the bag leaks, it won’t contaminate the local environment. The enclosed fresh water algae will die in the ocean.
The bags are expected to last two years, and will be recycled afterwards. The plastic material may be used as plastic mulch, or possibly as a solid amendment in fields to retain moisture.
“We have to remember,” Trent said, quoting Marshall McLuhan: “we are not passengers on spaceship Earth, we are the crew.”Another reason why I really, really, really love NASA. This is a brilliant alternative and so incredibly simple.
Josh Fox, ‘Gasland’ trailer, 2010.
Must see. Winner best documentary feature, Sundance 2010. Watch it on HBO currently.
“It is happening all across America and now in Europe and Africa as well - rural landowners wake up one day to find a lucrative offer from a multinational energy conglomerate wanting to lease their property. The Reason? In America, the company hopes to tap into a huge natural gas reservoir dubbed the Saudi Arabia of natural gas. Halliburton developed a way to get the gas out of the ground—a hydraulic drilling process called fracking—and suddenly America finds itself on the precipice of becoming an energy superpower.
But what comes out of the ground with that natural gas? How does it affect our air and drinking water? GASLAND is a powerful personal documentary that confronts these questions with spirit, strength, and a sense of humor. When filmmaker Josh Fox receives his cash offer in the mail, he travels across 32 states to meet other rural residents on the front lines of fracking. He discovers toxic streams, ruined aquifers, dying livestock, brutal illnesses, and kitchen sinks that burst into flame. He learns that all water is connected and perhaps some things are more valuable than money.”
See also: Gasland official site
Also also: PBS ‘NOW’ segment on Gasland
A brown pelican coated in heavy floats in the water June 4, 2010 near East Grand Terre Island, Louisiana. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The post-World War II American dream was a strange, fleeting moment in global history – an opulent and optimistic 50 years when the world was our oyster and individual freedom reigned supreme. Now we’re beginning to realize that this dazzling celebration of individual autonomy begat some very dark consequences. It gave birth to entire generations of hyper-individuals plagued by a bottomless hunger for MORE. Despite footprints five times larger than they should be, they still want MORE. And when they don’t have the money, they turn their backs on reality, max out their cards and get what they want anyway.
This week marks 25 years since the discovery of a hole in the ozone layer by British scientists Joesph Farman, Brian Gardiner, and Jonathan Shanklin of the British Antarctic Survey. The ozone is the Earth’s protective layer against damaging effect from ultraviolet rays. However it also marks an unprecedented international response, with the Montreal Protocol written up within two years and becoming the first UN treaty to achieve universal ratification last year.
Be sure to read clear to the bottom for the point of linking to this story. Emphasis mine.
Are the carbon markets showing unexpected signs of maturity?
Last week, the European Union released preliminary data on carbon emissions for 2009 under the EU emissions trading scheme (EUETS).
The information showed a huge slump in emissions compared with the previous year. Verified emissions from industry were down just over 11 per cent in 2009, at about 1.89bn tonnes of carbon compared with 2.12bn tonnes.
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday described his proposal to open vast expanses of American coastlines to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time, as a painful but necessary decision.
More than 10,000 homes a week will be given ‘eco-upgrades’ under Goverment plans to make every home in Britain environmentally friendly.
What does a metre sea level rise actually mean? This is how we visualised some of the data confusion.
From the standpoint of governance, what is at stake is our ability to use the rule of law as an instrument of human redemption. After all has been said and so little done, the truth about the climate crisis — inconvenient as ever — must still be faced.
Op-Ed Contributor - We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change - NYTimes.com
Here’s a great example of how the Government, in its quest to save the Earth, and us -the benighted masses- from our dimwitted selves, took something efficient and elegant in its simplicity, and rendered it, well - less effective. Now apply this lesson to something more complicated, like health care. Mixaphorically speaking, I’d rather not be what ends up on the bottom of the plunger when they get though.
EU leaders have agreed to pay 7.2bn euros (£6.5bn; $10.6bn) over the next three years to help developing nations adapt to climate change.
Read the last two paragraphs for other business that was being discussed at the same time. Emphasis mine.
The Obama administration is warning Congress that if it doesn’t move to regulate greenhouse gases, the Environmental Protection Agency will take a “command-and-control” role over the process in way that could hurt business.
Developing countries react furiously to leaked draft agreement that would hand more power to rich nations, sideline the UN’s negotiating role and abandon the Kyoto protocol.
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