Tuesday, April 29, 2014

France moving away from Nuclear power

http://www.enn.com/energy/article/47327




France is the world's most dependent country on nuclear power. It has a bold plan to reduce its huge dependency. By 2020, it plans to cut back 75% of energy produced by nuclear, to 50% nuclear energy. So where will this electricity com from, Narnia? France plans to invest in renewables. Wind in particular looks appealing to the French government. A poll was conducted and found that the majority of the French population favors the transition to renewables. Hopefully France can be a model to others how a major country and transfer from a nonrenewable, waste economy to a efficient renewable economy.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Forty-Four Years of Earth Day

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/upshot/forty-four-years-of-earth-day.html?ref=earth

Since the first Earth Day in 1970, much has changed since its first celebration. Alhtough we still face problems such as climate change, overpopulation and rising sea levels, much as been improved. For example, smog levels aren't as bad a forty four years ago. The reason is due to the fact that cars are more fuel efficient nowadays. Although much more could be done, like taking more trucks on the road and use civil disobedience against th oil companies roadblocks to fuel efficiency, the situation has improved. Fossil fuel per captia has decreased in America. Consumption has gone up, however so has the population and it has used less per captia. Rivers dont burn anymore, we recyle and endangered species have come back. We have many major challenges to go, however if we can take politics out of the equation and just act, there can be a substainable future.  

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

NSIDC, NASA say Arctic melt season lengthening, ocean rapidly warming

http://climate.nasa.gov/news/1058


Grave news from the Artic. Global temperatures are already hammering the ice caps. Now with each passing decade, the melting season is an additional five days. Sea ice is also becoming thinner due to rising temperatures. The last seven Septembers have been the warmest on record for the Artic. In some areas, the melting season has increased from 6 to 11 days.  Due to more rocks being exposed to the sun, the rocks are warming up and adding to the melting of the icecaps. At this current rate, there might not be any ice in the poles in the near future.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Meeting climate targets may require reducing diet of meat and dairy

http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/47236

Climate change is predicted to raise the temperature of earth ny 2 degrees C. The main factors are deforestation and burning of fossil fuels. Hoever, what if I told you that eating more vegetables and less meat would assit in reducing CO2 admissions. Nitrous Oxide and Methane are two greenhouse gases more potent than CO2, and if these problems aren't fixed then their levels could doube by 2070. By eating more meat, there's a higher demand for cows, meaning more methane. Beef and lamb are the largest CO2 admmissioners. It looks like that the Bigmac is not only bad for your health, but also for your climate.