Photo: Red Cross of Argentina This is a pretty clever guerilla marketing by the Argentinian Red Cross: a "melting" man passing out fliers urging spectators in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to fight global warming. Link | Photo via Comunicadores.info [in Portuguese] - Thanks Adam! Previously on Neatorama: Ice Sculptures of Melting Men by Nele Azevedo Melting Ice Cream Truck...
If you missed the big news maybe you felt it in your bones: The Earth's spin has slowed enough to add a "leap second" to the end of 2008. The Associated Press story linked to above, however, fails to mention why the Earth is spinning down. Turns out it's all the fault of Al Gore. No wait, it's Exxon's fault. Just kidding. It's really not anyone's fault. Maybe God's fault, if you absolutely have to assign blame. One thing not to blame, for a change, is global warming. Despite the fact that climate changes can cause winds and ocean currents...
Of course it is quite difficult to like a website on its launch date when all you get is a lengthy and awkward name but I think Save The Planet And Win definitely deserves a very close look from everyone because of the great idea intended to help everyone do what we can to fight global warming. The idea behind the website is absolutely simple and straightforward: the website promotes environmental awareness while the companies sponsoring the site pay for regular members to reduce their carbon footprint. The website members are offered incentives - points that they exchange for real...
Australia has what’s been termed the highest rate of mammals facing extinction of any country in the developed world. Twenty two percent are threaten. And news just in suggests that another one might have already checked out. The rare white lemuroid possum (pictured right) hasn’t been sighted for the past three years. Scientists are concerned it might have the ignominious distinction of being the world’s first mammal sent to extinction by global warming. And......
What’s it like when a canal city has a flood? Venice, Italy is undergoing its worst flooding in 22 years as water has risen five feet above normal levels. Venice’s lagoon often rises to 40 inches above its normal level during ‘acqua alta’ or high tides, particularly in autumn and winter. But anything above 50 inches risks flooding the city and causing chaos for its 60,000 permanent residents and the tens of thousands of tourists who descend on it each day. The worst flood in modern times was in 1966, when the lagoon rose more than six feet and caused...
Eco Factor: Rainwater harvesting and storage design. A catastrophic water shortage can prove to be an even bigger threat than the rise in the prices of fuel and energy. Some researchers believe that underground sources of water could run dry and the melting of glaciers due to global warming could spell disaster. An Australian designer Chris Buerckner has designed a solution for all these problems – The Watree. Watree is a rainwater harvesting system that looks just like an umbrella turned upside-down. The system is designed to be placed in playgrounds and parks just as a rain shelter. While...
Dutch ecologist Roxina Soler and colleagues have discovered that subterranean and aboveground herbivorous insects can communicate with each other by using plants as telephones. Subterranean insects issue chemical warning signals via the leaves of the plant, alerting insects aboveground that the plant is already ‘occupied’.Aboveground, leaf-eating insects prefer plants that have not yet been occupied by subterranean root-eating insects. Subterranean insects emit chemical signals via the leaves of the plant, which warn the aboveground insects about their presence. This messaging enables spatially-separated insects to avoid each other, so that they do not unintentionally compete for the same plant. In recent...
Haven’t we heard this before? Yep. Here’s this week’s version of “the cure is worse than the disease”: Staging a global forum on climate change is a dilemma, as it adds to the very problem it is trying to solve.Around 13,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) will be added to the Earth’s greenhouse effect from the December 1-12 meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UNFCCC said. That estimate is based on a turnout of 8,000 people, but as of Sunday 10,657 people had registered for the talks. Poland, which is hosting the meeting, “plans to...
Do you have a friend that cares more about the environment then he does about you? Then buy him nothing (or one of these eco-friendly green gifts). Windup LED Flashligh - $7.69 This flashlight never needs batteries and the LED bulbs will last a lifttime! Crank this for just 1 minute for 120 minutes of light. The Windup LED Flashligh is available from Amazon for $7.69. Solar Power Your Home For Dummies - $13.59 This friendly, hands-on guide is packed with tips for making your home more energy-efficient though solar power—and helping the planet at the same time. You’ll see...
