Here’s another nest video from Current TV that looks at he legalization of graffiti art in Washington DC.
Bus + Train = Burain
Train companies use maintenance vehicles that can switch from road to rails, however, this is the first time I’ve seen bus do this. Japan Rail is testing the bus-train combo on the island of Hokkaido. The system seems to work because the mass transit there is not mass at all.
Dual-mode vehicles have four rubber tires for road use and four steel wheels for the rails, and it takes less than 15 seconds to go from road to rail and back again. It drives just like a bus on the road, and a hydraulic system raises the tires and lowers the steel wheels as the driver guides the vehicle onto the tracks.
Japan Rail provides rail service for the island of Hokkaido, and about one-third of its lines carry less than 500 people. It developed the dual-mode vehicles as a means of cutting costs on those lines without reducing service. The vehicles use a Toyota microbus body and axles built by Hino. The two companies will help Japan Rail refine the technology and increase passenger capacity with an eye toward commercial production.
Monsanto Movie Critical Examines Company
A movie, The World According to Monsanto has been released that examines (the not good) Monsanto. The movie exposes how the company manipulates scientific data and bribes politicians to get it’s way. So what’s so good about this?
Monsanto has tried suing any site that hosts the video below to stop the spread of this information. The good news is that people are taking on this massive corporation and you can too. There already is a campaign against Monsanto that you can join, and another. Vanity Fair has even published an article on the evil Monsanto.
Recycling is so Awesome!
Recycling is perhaps the easiest think one can do for the environment and it’s very very effective at reducing the amount of raw materials that get consumed.
Why is recycling so efficient? According to Alcoa, recycling a ton of aluminum uses just 5% of the energy required to make virgin metal. Every ton of recycled aluminum that Alcoa uses saves about 14,000 kilowatt hours of electricity. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that the average American household consumes 920 kilowatts of electricity per month. Consequently, using 1 ton of recycled aluminum as opposed to 1 ton of virgin aluminum would make enough conserved energy available to power an American household for over 15 months.
A Good Reason for the British Royal Family
Celsias has an interesting piece on how the British royals can serve a good purpose- protecting the environment. And, no this is not an ironic post.
The Prince has also long promoted small, local, organic farming. Leading by example, his own Gloucestershire farm has been organic since 1986 and was among the first to provide organic products in Great Britain long before it was eco-chic. His Duchy Originals brand is made from products grown on his farm in a sustainable manner, with special attention to crop rotation and soil management with the proceeds going to charity, including environmental and alternative health organizations that he has founded. He’s kind of like the Paul Newman of Great Britain!