Bring back the horses
Replacing tractors
with real horse power could be the revolution that agriculture needs.
Replacing tractors
with real horse power could be the revolution that agriculture needs.
While the first generation of biofuels is wreaking havoc on the environment and the food markets, the second generation is set to make things even worse.
Since it has become clear that ethanol and biodiesel made from food crops are doing more harm than good, the hope for finding a substitute for oil has shifted to algae and cellulose. If we can believe the advocates of this ‘second generation’ of biofuels, these combustibles will deliver way more energy than it takes to make them, without threatening the world’s food and water supplies. Upon taking a closer look, however, this is very hard to believe. They might even cause bigger problems than biofuels made from food crops. Maybe this time around we could sort this out before the damage gets done?
At the beginning of the 20th
century some clever photographers specialized in Photoshop before the term existed, faking postcards from mainly rural communities. Images
of oversized vegetables, fruits and animals created a utopian myth
about a town or region and served as a way of encouraging settlement
and population growth. Some noteworthy collections of these so-called "Tall Tale Postcards" can be found here (Wisconsin Historical Society) and here (American Museum of Photography). UPDATE: Things magazine has found another weird example of postcard manipulation.
Drinking
bottled water is a much more ecological choice than consuming soft drinks,
coffee, fruit juice or beer. Water drinkers should be praised instead of
criticized.
Continue reading "Why bottled water is good for the environment" »
Turn off
your flat screen television and get lost in 17th, 18th
and 19th century optical entertainment.
New
research shows, albeit unintentional, that generating electricity with solar
panels can also be a very bad idea.
The manufacture of just 1 square meter of solar panels generates
between 7,500 and 31,400 kilograms of greenhouse gases. An average household needs at least 8 square
meters of solar panels for electricity generation alone, which boils down to a global
warming debt of a whopping 60,000 to 940,000 kilograms of CO2. These numbers
equate to 12 to 188 intercontinental flights (see comments). In some cases, producing electricity by solar panels releases more greenhouse gases than producing electricity by gas or even coal. (Picture: Sungazer)