Image: Three out of four hot days could be due to climate change (Image: Guy Corbishley/Getty)
newscientist.com - April 28th 2015 - Aviva Rutkin
If climate change was a game, we'd have racked up quite a score. A fresh study suggests that humans are responsible for a hefty number of today's extreme hot days and rainstorms.
Weather extremes, such as a Russian heatwave in 2010 and a drought in Texas in 2011, have been blamed on climate change before – but the attribution of individual events to it is still hotly debated.
Image: The country’s tropical climate with high rainfall, mountainous interior and low population gives it a distinct advantage in terms of renewable energy. Photo credit: Shutterstock
ecowatch.com - March 23rd 2015 - Tierney Smith
For the last 82 days, Costa Rica has powered itself using only renewable energy sources
That means the Latin American country hasn’t had to use fossil fuels at all so far in 2015.
Last week, the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) announced that 100 percent of the country’s electricity came from renewables for the first 75 days of the year, as heavy rains boosted the country’s hydroelectric power plants.
STANFORD, Calif. — AFTER years of hype, renewable energy has gone mainstream in much of the United States and, increasingly, around the world. . .
. . . But many communities that need small-scale renewable energy remain out in the cold — literally and figuratively.
In Alaska, for instance, the vast majority of the more than 200 small, isolated communities populated primarily by native Alaskans rely on dirty, expensive diesel fuel to generate their electricity and heat.
The problem: The growing emission of carbon dioxide from a wide range of human activities is causing unprecedented changes to the land and sea. Identifying effective, efficient and politically acceptable approaches to reduce the atmospheric concentration of CO2 is one of society’s most pressing goals.
Emergency shelters are designed to be short-term solutions, and many cannot withstand rain, wind and sun for more than six months. Yet the average stay in refugee camp is over twenty times that duration.
The IKEA Foundation, in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has developed a longer-term solution to this problem, turning their experience with flat-pack furniture and language-free instruction manuals toward disaster relief efforts in and around war-torn places like Syria (they are already testing in Lebanon and Iraq). Sticklers for detail should scroll carefully below for a step-by-step deconstruction of what goes into this remarkable dwelling.
After 4 days without power thanks to Hurricane Sandy, something arrived today that will help keep my mobile devices fully charged and connected to the web. I backed a Fenix ReadySet on Kickstarter, which is a large battery that charges with an included solar panel.
I hope you are all well. I am happy to invite you to the next Jamaica Bay Greenway Coalition meeting, which will be held on November 2, 10:30 am at the Ryan Visitor's Center. This will be a very special coalition meeting because as Alice Friedman (from NYCDOT Greenways Department) will join us to introduce DOT's Jamaica Bay Greenway Implementation project and planning process. This is an amazing first step to begin to address some of the greenway issues that have been discussed in previous meetings and workshops. Also, during this meeting we wanted to focus sometime to defining our role(s) in this process as well as how we all mutually benefit from coming together.
As was discussed in the last meeting, we ask that you think about the following and come prepared to discuss:
o Your interests & goals for being part of this project & Coalition
FREE This Wednesday, 11/6, join the climate change and vulnerable populations discussion at the Brooklyn Historical Society, 6PM-7:30PM. The focus will be on Red Hook, Sunset Park and Williamsburg.
Canarsie Healing Center & EcoVillage - Community Resilience Pilot Initiative
Canarsie Eco Village & Natural Healing Center is one proposed initiative from the community as part of an encompassing plan for the future of Canarsie. Said local Rabbi Yosef Serebryanski or Rabbi Yossi, as he is fondly called by everyone " An eco-community can be an integral sustaining power for Canarsie to weather any future storms, natural or man-made.It is important for any group of people living together to have clean water and food during any disaster. If it is freely available then it also means there is no need for rioting, pillaging or mayhem as it allows people to continue to co-exist peacefully."
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