Expert panel gives wind a clean bill of health.

This year more than any other in Canadian history citizens banned together to voice their concerns against the wind industry. Coming forward with claims that wind farms placed to close to their residences effected their health, causing insomnia, headaches, dizziness and increased levels of stress. Small grass roots organizations like Wind Concerns Ontario started to pop up all over the country becoming beacons of refuge for those who felt like their liberties and control were being stripped away by large wind companies, backed by heavy subsidies, tax payer money and some would argue governmental green guilt.

An independent expert panel was put together to study the potential health effects that wind turbines cause on near by residence; it would be the most thorough study done to date on the subject. Their evidence so far is clear: there is no direct health effects caused by wind turbines.

But the independent expert panel that prepared the wind-industry study, to be released today, conceded that some people can get stressed out by the “swishing” sound wind turbines often make.

“A small minority of those exposed report annoyance and stress associated with noise perception,” the panel concluded, pointing to similar annoyances that can come from highway or city traffic, local industry and airplanes. “Annoyance is not a disease.”

After the Green Energy Act was implemented earlier this year, new rules were enforced which required all wind turbines to be set back at least 550 metres from the nearest residence to assure that noise levels do not exceed 40 decibels – less than the noise created from light car traffic on residential streets.

Months ago as the eagerly awaited International Climate Conference started to peek its head over the horizon, it began to look like the citizens of the world’s overwhelming cry for the delegates and international leaders to come to some kind of consensus, agreement, or new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol and set carbon emission goals was not going to happen.

It was clear that world leaders had started to play point the finger, or couldn’t see eye to eye on certain aspects of climate change and carbon reduction. The leaders of the world, the elected officials, whom we appoint to make the decisions that affect us all and aid in the future survival of our species couldn’t do what the vast majority of the planet was pleading for them to do. Why?
Because they’re idiots.
Alright that’s a little harsh and there’s a good probability that they’re not. I’m sure there are numerous political details and economic issues at hand but when I hear hypocrisy like the following, I literally shake my head, look to the heavens and exhale a part of my soul as I whisper to myself, “are you f****ing kidding me?”.

There are over 1,200 limousines in Copenhagen to shuttle world leaders and VIP’s around town and over 140 private jets, many of which have had to be imported from Germany and Sweden creating tons of emissions and wasted fuel because there weren’t enough between the local companies to supply the demand. (rub my eyes as I hang my head in shame)

I’m not making this up.Great fiction writers couldn’t even come up with this kind of contradiction. The people who are gathering at a meeting to save our planet from climate change are creating enough carbon emissions in 2 weeks to match that of the annual output of a small city in England.

Is there anything Google can’t do?

Leaders from around the world have gathered in Copenhagen this week for the International Climate Change Conference (COP15). With so many nations hashing out plans trying to reduce carbon emissions and increase renewable energy, coal and oil plants are the big culprits in the eyes of many to the current climate conditions of our planet. As theses leaders come up with new energy policies and discuss ways in which their perspective countries can aid in lessening their carbon footprint, many overlook one of the simplest ways to control and reduce carbon emission.

Trees.

According to the Stern Review, protecting the world’s standing forests is a highly cost-effective way to cut carbon emissions and mitigate climate change. Because of this the United Nations has proposed a framework known as REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries) that will provide financial incentives to rainforest nations to protect their forests, in an effort to make forests worth “more alive than dead.” To implement such a plan will require each nation have the ability to accurately monitor and report the state of their forests over time and in a way that is independently verifiable. Unfortunately, many of these tropical nations of the world lack the technological resources to do so. Enter Google.

Today Google demonstrated a new technology prototype that enables online, global-scale observation and measurement of changes in the earths forests. A type of Google Maps for forests if you will.

We hope this technology will help stop the destruction of the world’s rapidly disappearing forests. Emissions from tropical deforestation are comparable to the emissions of all of the European Union, and are greater than those of all cars, trucks, planes, ships and trains worldwide.

Here’s what Google’s done with the prototype to help nations monitor their forests:

Start with satellite imagery

Satellite imagery data can provide the foundation for measurement and monitoring of the world’s forests. For example, in Google Earth today, you can fly to Rondonia, Brazil and easily observe the advancement of deforestation over time, from 1975 to 2001:

This type of imagery data — past, present and future — is available all over the globe. Even so, while today you can view deforestation in Google Earth, until now there hasn’t been a way to measure it.

Add the science

This type of technology now makes it possible for scientists to analyze raw data from satellite imagery and extract meaningful information about the world’s forests, such as locations and measurements of deforestation and even forest regeneration. Latin American countries currently use analysis such as the Carnegie Landsat Analysis System (CLASlite) developed by Greg Asner of the Carnegie Institution of Science. In developing their prototype Google collaborated with Asner, who is at the cutting edge of forest science and developing software that creates forests cover and deforestation maps from satellite imagery. Although analysis from systems such as CLASlite is being used in Latin America, widespread use of this analysis has been slowed by lack of access to satellite imagery data and computational resources for processing.

For more on Google’s new prototype see here.

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Eco-minded or green practices, eating only local farm fresh, the organic movement, recycling and the big push to reduce carbon emission are the issues that seem to be the most prevalent of the decade. With many people beginning to become more conscious of how they live their lives, there are still those skeptics hanging in the balance, claiming that these “trends” – in the end, have little effect and benefit on our environment. There are those who even claim it could have the adverse effect and cause detrimental damage.

According to a new Canadian study, those skeptics may have more ammunition to add to their claims. On top of causing detrimental damage, going green also causes immorality and greed.

Researchers at the University of Toronto have found that, “virtuous shopping can actually lead to immoral behavior.”

During the study, participants were told to select items they wished to buy from several online shopping sites. One online store sold mostly green products; the other sold conventional goods.

The participants were then given six dollars to ’spend’ on an anonymous person. Those who had bought green in the previous exercise showed themselves to be less generous with the cash than those who had exhibited less ‘eco-friendly’ spending.

The participants also took part in an exercise involving the chance to earn small amounts of money. The situation allowed them to cheat and steal easily, with no consequence. Again, the eco-shoppers displayed unethical behaviour, cheating and stealing in higher numbers than the

For the past week or so the biggest story in the news not involving Tiger Woods’ love of Las Vegas cocktail waitresses and former porn stars was the now famously termed Cimate-Gate scandal, where hackers supposedly broke into the prestigious Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University

of East Anglia and leaked more than 1000 emails and 3000 documents from scientists showing evidence that they massaged the data hide declines in anthropogenic global warming (AGW) and in some cases omitted data completely.

UPDATE: Now there are rumors and strong reason to believe that the information was not hacked at all but leaked by an inside whistle blower.

Despite the apparent smoking gun for the case of AWG, the World Meteorological Organization just released a report that claims a sustained global warming trend shows no signs of ending according to their new analysis which was made public on Tuesday.

AWG deniers who believed that the battle to exploit AWG as a hoax was done and over with thanks to recent events, may want to look over their shoulder for the Rockey-esque come-back punch the WMO report contains.

The World Meteorological Organizations report concluded that 2009 was one of the 10 warmest on record since instrumentally measured temperatures were first recorded in the 1850’s. Moreover, the decade of the 2000’s was warmer than the 1990’s, which was warmer than the 1980’s (nope no trends to see here, moving on).

Michael Jarraud who is Secretary General of the International Weather Agency says that 2009 will likely rank as the fifth warmest year on record. Although this won’t be for certain until the last data remaining from this year are assessed. Jarraud spoke to the press in Copenhagen today at the climate conference, and had this to say:

Sometimes Canadians forget how lucky we are and how blessed we’ve been with a country that retains so much of its unspoiled natural wilderness. With large forestland and an abundance of lakes, it’s not surprising that for years vacationers and outdoor enthusiasts have been flocking to Canadian resorts in search of destinations that offer a variety of outdoor attractions and activities amidst our lush wilderness setting.

As Canadians continue to become more educated about environmental impact and the effects their lifestyles have on it, many are making conscious efforts to reduce their impact and preserve that which we have been so blessed with. One of the many ways in which they are doing so is by enjoying green vacations.

As our country makes a transfer into the ‘green era’, eco-vacations have become a popular alternative for the environmentally conscious traveler. Ecotourism, a term that has been around long before the green movement, began when unknown destination areas, such as Costa Rica, began using the term to aid in differentiating themselves from other popular beach resort destinations. Today, ecotourism has made Costa Rica extremely popular destination for die-hard environmentalists as well as the average tourist.

Big news happened on Tuesday in the world of renewable energy. Norway has become the first country to produce osmotic power, a revolutionary new, emission-free way of generating electricity.

Osmotic power produces emissions-free electricity by mixing fresh water and sea water through a special membrane.

State-owned utility Statkraft’s prototype plant, which for now will produce a tiny 2 kilowatts to 4 kilowatts of power or enough to run a coffee machine, will enable Statkraft to test and develop the technology needed to drive down production costs.

How it works

The plant is driven by osmosis that naturally draws fresh water across a membrane and toward the seawater side. This creates higher pressure on the sea water side, driving a turbine and producing electricity.

“While salt might not save the world alone, we believe osmotic power will be an interesting part of the renewable energy mix of the future,” Statkraft Chief Executive Baard Mikkelsen told reporters.

[via CNET]

Statkraft, Europe’s largest producer of renewable energy with experience in hydropower that provides nearly all of Norway’s electricity, aims to begin building commercial osmotic power plants by 2015.

Future full-scale plants are estimated to be the size of a football stadium and will be able to produce 25 megawatts of electricity, enough to provide power for 30,000 households.

According to CNET, Once new membrane “architecture” is solved, Statkraft believes the global production capacity for osmotic energy could amount to 1,600 to 1,700 terawatt hours annually, or about half of the European Union’s total electricity demand.

The potential for this technology is enormous as it can be located anywhere that clean fresh water runs into the sea. Osmotic power could soon become a major part of many countries energy mixes and has the potential to usurp even solar and wind – due to it being far less stochastic and reliable.

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Food

How to be festive and green – from rentable Christmas trees and organic turkeys to original ethical gift ideas and tips on recycling electrical waste… From the Ecologist, part of the Guardian Environment Network.

Avoid the last minute supermarket dash – head for your local farmer’s market or farm shop instead to stock up on food for the festive season.

A weekly veg box makes life easier and saves you lugging round bags of potatoes and carrots. It also saves you a potential drive to the market – a big chunk of your food-related emissions.

Go for a free range, preferably organic, turkey – order from your local butcher in advance – or get an organic one delivered to your door from an organic online butcher.

For meat free Christmas ideas, the Vegetarian Society and the Vegan Society have recipes for soups, nut roasts, pies, stuffings and puds.

For fresh, green seasoning keep pots of evergreen herbs growing close to the kitchen. Herbs that can survive the winter outside include rosemary (add sprigs to soups, casseroles or sprinkle over roast potatoes or meat); sage (a delicious addition to stuffing and nut roasts) and parsley (a favourite for sauces and soups).

Booze

Get the party going with organic wine, beer, cider and spirits and know that your hangover will be that little bit healthier (no, we’re not kidding: find out why here).

On the subject of hangovers, you might also want to try some milk thistle, a detoxifying, immune-boosting herb well known for its ability to enhance liver function. It’s available as a tincture from most health food shops.

Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, published 150 years ago Tuesday, opened the book on our evolutionary past, which has since been traced by scientists back to fossil apes.

[Via National Geographic]

But where is evolution taking us? Will our descendants hurtle through space as relatively unchanged as the humans on the starship Enterprise? Will they be muscle-bound cyborgs? Or will they chose to digitize their consciousnesses—becoming electronic immortals?

And as odd as the possibilities may seem, it’s worth remembering that, 150 years ago, the ape-to-human scenario in On the Origin of Species struck many as nothing so much as monkey business.

(Related pictures: “Evolution vs. Intelligent Design: Six Bones of Contention.”)

PREDICTION ONE
Human Evolution Is Dead

“Because we have evolved, it’s natural to imagine we will continue to do so, but I think that’s wrong,” anthropologist Ian Tattersall of New York’s American Museum of Natural History said in an email.

“Everything we know about evolutionary change suggests that genetic innovations are only likely to become fixed in small, isolated populations,” he said. For example, Darwin’s famous Galápagos finches each evolved from their mainland ancestor to fit a unique habitat on the isolated islands in the Pacific.

(Take a Darwin quiz.)

Natural selection, as outlined in On the Origin of Species, occurs when a genetic mutation—say, resulting in a spine suited to upright walking—is passed down through generations, because it affords some benefit. Eventually the mutation becomes the norm.

But if populations aren’t isolated, crossbreeding makes it much less likely for potentially significant mutations to become established in the gene pool—and that’s exactly where we are now, Tattersall said.

Study of 600 brands finds two-thirds are either increasing emissions, have weak targets on cuts or do not publish data

Having just posted about McDonalds supposed new ‘green’ image I thought this was a good followup.

Consumer expectations that favourite brands are actively tackling climate change will be challenged tomorrow by a report showing that some of Britain’s top corporate names, including Barclays, Amazon and Sky, are lagging behind their competitors and failing to respond to the lead set by the government.

A survey of the carbon performance of 600 of the UK’s biggest brands reveals that two-thirds are either increasing their greenhouse gas emissions, have targets that are weaker than the government’s Copenhagen goal for carbon cuts, or are failing to put information about their carbon emissions in the public domain.

To tackle global warming the government has set a national target for 2020 of a cut of 34% on the 1990 emission levels.

The companies offered their own information for the survey, entitled Brand Emissions, and the data revealed that only one in five brands was demonstrating a reduction in emissions and had ambitious targets in line with the UK’s aims.

The “leaders” emerging from the research included the supermarket giant Tesco, the phone company T-Mobile, the computer company Dell and the car manufacturer BMW.