Environment

Sustainable Cities in China

- Adam Clare

China has started a pilot project for sustainable cities in Liaoning Province named the Cradle to Cradle Village.roof top garden

“The design of the village aspires to draw power from the sun, to maintain materials in closed-loop systems of technical and biological nutrition, and to create an intergenerational community of people productively engaged in restorative commerce. Its goal is to provide a higher quality of life for the villagers and to exemplify a more hopeful future for the children.”

For more information the BBC has a good article looking into sustainability in cities.

Fake Meat no Longer for Vegetarians

- Adam Clare 3 Comments

NASA has been looking into making meat in a lab. A recently published academic paper proves thatchicken nuggets no longer need to be attached to those clucking chickens.cows In addition to the obvious life-saving benefits, manufactured meat would allow the manufacture to control how much nutrients are in each slice. For example omega 3, which is a good thing, can replace omega 6, which is not as good for you.

One reason some people are vegetarian is because of the environmental effects of raising livestock for human consumption; lab meat will make environmentally unfriendly farming obsolete.

Sure some vegetarians may have to reexamine if they should/can eat lab-made-meat, but the fact that sentient beings may no longer be killed for human consumption is good.

Plastic Steel

- Adam Clare

Scientists from Australia have figured out a way to turn plastic by-products into steel. This will have a huge impact on how much waste is sent to landfills since many plastics can now be used to enforce steel.

Scrap steel and plastic waste is put into a furnace where they are heated to extreme temperatures. The plastic provides some carbon which then enforces the steel, which means less coal is needed too.

Harry Potter the Environmentalist

- Adam Clare

This is somewhat old news, but it is still good news.

Raincoast Books is the company that is publishing the Harry Potter books for Canada is very eco-conscious. The books have been/continue to be printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper. 30,000 tress may be saved as a result. BoingBoing has more info.

From the link:

Raincoast isn’t the only publisher seeking to put a green tint on the wildly popular Potter books. Publishers from Germany, Italy, Britain, and Israel also comitted to printing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on large percentages of recycled paper and/or “ancient forest friendly” paper.

Lawyers-to-be Help Environmental Causes for Free!

- Vanessa King

Environmental Law students are beginning a very cool trend all over the United States. They are contributing free legal services to Environmental causes to gain hands on experience in their field!

At Pace University’s environmental law clinic in White Plains N.Y, for example, some second and third year students are acting as lead attorneys and have gone against such high powered lawyers as those at Exxon-Mobil! They often take cases which government agencies aren’t willing to back up and that means taking serious risks to fight for a good cause that needs help. Some students can even wind up with legal victories on their résumés before they take their bar exam!

Rather than focusing on a grade these students actually learn by making a difference! With their energy and conviction they are going head-to-head with corporations that have armies of lawyers and unlimited budgets.

Wow! If only all lawyers were so kind!

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