2020 - The Japanese Dream!

Japan is one of the countries that more consumes energy, mostly fossil energies. The consequences of being one of the most developed countries in the world are not easy to face. The price to pay for that amount of energy is too high.

This morning I read on the newspaper an article about a Japanese megalomaniac Project. Which consists, basically, in send an enormous central of photovoltaic panels to the space, where the production of electric energy would be five times more than in the Earth.

But how to send energy from the space to Earth? The scientists are thinking to use microwaves to transport energy through the space. It’s a very expensive project, and is not easy to make it possible. But it would make Japan even more developed, and the energy prices would be the lowest in the world.

Source: João Nunes in Domingo, November 15 2009

Survival of the fittest… or the luckier? - Redux

Yesterday I wrote about the use of water in dry areas of the world for all daily-life purposes. Among them was agriculture. I’d like revive the line of thought I left you with yesterday. This time to focus mainly on the resources used to create farms. Yes, farms in dry lands. 

“Fossil water also enables crops to be grown in the desert to provide food for local populations.” A curious and ingenious system is used: farms gain a circular shape due to being irrigated around a central pivot. Growing crop is not only easier, but it’s also cheaper (within the otherwise average costs. Growing food in these areas is still very expensive). Dozens of these fields are constructed next to each other; bringing short-lived hope to farmers that can spend money to grow food where otherwise would have been impossible or unprofitable. 

Circular crop farms in Kansas

Again: short-lived. This circular system is used all over the world (such as the central U.S.A.) but in remote areas as this “there’s a heavy price to pay: fossil water is a non-renewable resource. In Saudi Arabia, the dream of industrial farming has faded.” All the money invested goes to waste, as more fossil water deposits are misused and overused, leaving investors bankrupt and, “as if on a parchment map, the light spots on this patchwork show abandoned plots. The irrigation equipment is still there, the energy to pump water also, but the fossil water reserves are severely depleted.” 

Quotations from the 2009 documentary, HOME by Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

Carbon capture and storage

Thermoelectric energy is a process that involves the burning of coal, a fossil fuel, in order to produce electricity. Like all the other burning related energy fabrications, this procedure creates a significant amount of carbon dioxide that, when released into the air, helps warming the Earth. Nonetheless there is a solution for this problem. If carbon dioxide can be captured before being released into air and imprisoned somewhere safe, it’s feasible to reduce C02 emissions and consequently C02 concentrations.

Scientists and engineers are starting to implement an adjustment to the production of energy through burning coal called carbon capture and storage or geological carbon sequestration. Basically, it consists in capturing the carbon dioxide and keeping it underground indefinitely. This idea was born due to the recollection of fossil fuels’ origins, that is, carbon has always existed beneath the surface, and therefore it’s certain that it is safe to storage carbon dioxide where carbon has existed before.

A more detailed explanation of the process is the following:

1. Coal is burned using oxygen instead of air;

2. From this combustion result the energy prospected and gases made up with steam and a high concentration of carbon dioxide.

3. Steam is released to the air whereas compressed and purified carbon dioxide is transported underneath the surface through pipes.

4. There it fills up the pours of sandstone or other suitable rock and is trapped.

Carbon capture and storage as already been practiced by and oil platform owned by Statoil since 1996, so no one can rebottle carbon sequestration saying that it’s not known how safe it is. This innovating solution can’t be named as the solution against all our problems but should be thought and be considered as one of many fronts to make use against the perils of climatic changes.

If you want to know more and are a little more patient, the following link will be of great use. It is a lecture on carbon sequestration given in the University of Berkeley.

 

Rainforest2Reef: A caring organization of the world

Tropical forests contain enormous amounts of carbon and when they are slashed and burned (if you want to know more about slash and burn please read João’s post Cold-Hearted Arsonists) they are released to the air and increase the carbon dioxide concentration, thus augmenting global warming. Presently, the destruction of rainforests is the main cause of carbon dioxide emissions in the planet. However horrific this fact alone is, tropical forests obliteration also devastates millions of different species’ habitats which may lead to their extinction. So, with all this in mind, you must struggle against the killing of a essential part of the planet.

Luckily, there are organizations which know what tropical forests represent to the global well-being and fight for it. Organizations like Rainforest2Reef, a non-profitable group that cares deeply for the survival of rainforests, in particular the Selva Maya forest” (…) the second largest rainforest in the Americas (…).” (Cheri Sugal, Executive Director of Rainforest2Reef). This forest stretches along parts of Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. Protecting some of this area is the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. This wild-life sanctuary has about 750.000 hectares and holds about 60.000 species of plants and animals.

A local Native American people called ejidos owns large areas of the Selva Maya. For some of them, the only way to make a living is to sell their land to logging and slash and burn agriculture corporations. The newest threat is the proposal of ethanol companies to convert territory outside and even inside the reserve into corn production fields. This would tear apart the Selva Maya rainforest so Rainforest2Reef came up with a solution, they would pay the ejidos 2, 5 times what they’d receive from selling to others. They have also been working with them to find a more profitable way to collect from their lands without damaging the ecosystem and also teaching the young about the importance of forests. Now, they have been measuring the quantity of carbon so they can, in the future and according to market developments in the U.S.A. sell the carbon off-sets they have secured to companies. As a result of these business measures they are building a trust-fund along with Conservation International, so that they can finance land protection forever.

All of the world should follow the example of this modest association and put in the efforts for the preservation of the world’s resources. We have to try and make the best we can with what we can and without damaging the others.

http://www.quantumshift.tv/v/1221506699/

Let's help that undefended animals!

Someone asked me to put here some ways we can help the endangered species, and that's what I'm doing. Like I told you, or tried to tell, people like us (with no power in our society) can't do much in this area, however we can always make something. We can help them, conserving their habitats, creating more habitats (specially those that are in lower number), following the three R rule (Recycle, Reduce, Reuse), controling the species, joining to an organisation and finally try to make our voice heard. And more specifically:

- Protect the animals and create national parks, to maintain the contact between the animals and the humans low;

- Visit national parks and talk to the ranger about how are the animals protected and how you can improve that;

- When you visit a national park, make sure you follow the rules of the park in order to maintain the good life quality of the animals;

- Take care of the lands near your house by removing weeds and planting local native species in their place. Join yourself to one group or create one with your family and friends. This will make the animals return to their natural habitats;

- Make organic composts in your garden, it eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers which are harmful to animals and humans. Don't use harmful chemicals;

- Save energy and water;

- Buy organic fruits and vegetables;

- Many species expand because birds transport the seeds by the world;

- Join yourself to an organisation that helps the nature;

- Talk with your family and friends about these problems and encourage them to help the nature;

- Write articles or letters about these problems to newspapers and magazines;

The youngest people, have to listen and learn about the problems that we are facing daily, in order to know how to exceed them in the future. I think that's the only way to fight for a better world. To increase in them the will of helping they should draw pictures, write sentences and to research about this.

I hope to have helped you and I hope that in the future you will use these solutions.

Sources: http://www.endangeredspecie.com/Ways_To_Help.htmhttp://gallery.wvca.us/albums/Streambank-Restoration-and-Riparian-Planting-Completed-in-Sleepy-Creek/Participants_planting_trees.jpg http://www.nps.gov/fost/forkids/images/NPS.junior_ranger.gif

Soil needs attention

The lack of attention to soil destruction is illustrated not only in the limited protection laws across the EU, but also in the scarcity of data. Soil is a non-renewable resource and needs to be managed sustainably. Only 10% of all human food doesn't come from the soil and it maintains the water and the ecosystem stable and most importantly it slows down the climate changes.

Erosion, loss of organic matter, compaction, salinisation, landslides, contamination, sealing… Soil degradation is becoming more frequent, with negative effects on human health, natural ecosystems and climate change.

There are some areas of EU policies that protect the soil (air pollution, the marine environment, waste prevention and recycling, natural resources, the urban environment and pesticides) .But as these policies have other objectives and other scopes of action, they are insufficient to ensure an reasonable level of protection for all soil in Europe(and the world).

Without the appropriate protection we will lose our bigger and better resource. Annex: The Sahara desert grows 100 kilometers per year. Between 1990 and 2000 2,8% of soil as suffered severe changes mostly by the growing of urban areas. Without the capabilities of soil the artifacts we often found, our ancestors would be lost forever and we would never know they existed(only by theories). http://www.eea.europa.eu
 

Chinese Fur Farms

In this post I will show you what I included in my presentation about endangered species. In my opinion this is more than cruel, they don't have the right to do that, there are lives that are in question and they don't care about that. The traders are so selfish that they don't feel any pain in killing the poor animals. All this because the fur is beautiful and they want to win some money, selling that. Poor animals! I started to give attention to this subject when I recieved one e-mail with one petition whose objective was to fight against this. I saw the movie and I was shocked. It's so bad that I never thought about such thing. In Chinese Fur Farms we can find foxes, minks, rabbits, and other animals. These species can be in peace now but with this trade, certainly they will be in danger of extinction too. China say that half of the fur garments were imported to USA to be sold. In this story is so much guilty China as USA, China as seller and USA as buyer. The only thing that we can do is to sign the request and to wait for someone with more power than us in our side to destroy this trade. (You don't have to see the movie because is very shocking)

Source: http://www.peta.org/feat/ChineseFurFarms/index.asp

Acid Rain

Acid rain is every rain with a PH lower than 4,5, it can happen do to the natural gases of vulcanoes and by some biological processes that happen in the swamps, sea and in the soil. But the bigger causes to this event is due to the human being. Our industries, power plants and our means of transportation pollute the air wich makes the acid rain. The water affected by that pollution can still move thousands of kilometers before it rains wich in most of the cases it doesn't rain were the pollution happens but in places were it doesn't happen, who gets punished are the "god guys". The acid rains are formed by sulfur our nitrogen. Sulfur can be form by the burning of mineral coal and oil and in a small part by vulcanoes. Nitrogen is very unresponsive and for to make it reacts it requires a lot of energy wich is caused by the using of combustion engine our by electrical discharges. Acid rain releases toxic metals that were on the ground. These metals can contaminate rivers and are inadvertently used by man, causing serious health problems, acid rain also helps to erode some of the materials used in construction, damaging some structures. The lakes may be the largest hit with the effect of acid rain because they could become fully acidified losing all it's life, it can destroy florests, and our plants in agriculture wich takes us some of our food. To prevent this from hapenning we have to use more public transportations, take the sulfur out of the products before using them, prevent industrial areas and the use of renewable energies ( wind power, solar power...). Anex: Acid rain can transform marble into plaster, it's one of the causes of Alzheimer.

http://www.explicatorium.com

http://www.toronto.ca/greenguide/

www.youtube.com