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Skeptical Debunker

Delivering Health, Wealth and Water, Drip by Drip - 0 views

  • Solar-powered drip irrigation enhances food security in the Sudano–Sahel documents a field research project which found that: "solar-powered drip irrigation significantly augments both household income and nutritional intake, particularly during the dry season, and is cost effective compared to alternative technologies" Over the decades, irrigation has been shown to greatly increase agricultural productivity. Drip irrigation is spreading rapidly in Africa, with significant benefits. "Drip irrigation delivers water (and fertilizer) directly to the roots of plants, thereby improving soil moisture conditions; in some studies, this has resulted in yield gains of up to 100%, water savings of up to 40–80%, and associated fertilizer, pesticide, and labor savings over conventional irrigation systems" The solar-powered systems, however, look to offer the potential for even better results. From the study on impacts of PVDI systems it was reported: "The women’s agricultural group members utilizing the PVDI systems became strong net producers in vegetables with extra income earned from sales, significantly increasing their purchases of staples, pulses, and protein during the dry season, and oil during the rainy season. Finally, survey respondents were asked how frequently they were unable to meet their household food needs. Based on the frequency and most recent incident, households were assigned a food insecurity score ranging from zero (no problems during the previous year) to one (perpetually unable to meet food needs). This score changed significantly for project beneficiaries, as they were 17% less likely to feel chronically food-insecure. In short, the PVDI systems had a remarkable effect on both year-round and seasonal food access."
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    Several weeks ago, a group of researchers published an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences documenting how relatively low-powered solar systems offer the potential to increase food supplies in impoverished arid regions while reducing demands for fertilizers and other costly (in fiscal and other terms) additives.
firozcosmolance

Breaking All Records, Avengers: Endgame Pulls in $1.2 Billion in the First Week - 0 views

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    All the Marvel lovers out there! We have got good news for you. Avengers: Endgame, the latest blockbuster from the Marvel franchise has broken the box office records by earning a whopping $1.2 billion at the global level in its opening weekend. This is the 8th film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that has crossed the mark of a billion dollar and is the fastest any movie has earned ever so far.
firozcosmolance

Places in the World that Will Take You Closer to the Wildlife - Gossip Ki Galliyan - 0 views

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    From tracking Polar bears, Arctic fox, and ringed seal to swimming with sea lions, penguins, whales and seals in the Sea of Cortez, the world is full of incredible wildlife adventures that you need to experience at least once. If you are a sucker for animals, you won't want to miss these unforgettable wildlife vacations. The wonders of nature are spread in the forms of forests, waterfalls, flowering pastures, mountains, rivers and valleys. When wild life enters the beautiful nature, it attracts travelers from far and near. The natural spectrum of wild lands always encourages people to travel the scenic lands. In this way, tourists explore the way to enjoy life from a different angle.
firozcosmolance

This School in Assam Takes Plastic Waste as the Fees! - Gossip Ki Galliyan - 0 views

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    Located in the breathtaking Pamohi area of Guwahati, Akshar is a very unique school which takes just plastic waste when it comes to its fees! Yes, you read that right. This eco-friendly school lets the little kids connect with the Mother Nature in a thoughtful and amazing way. Parmita Sarma, the co-founder of the school stated "We wanted to start a free school for all, but stumbled upon this idea after we realized a larger social and ecological problem brewing in this area. I still remember how our classrooms would be filled with toxic fumes every time someone in the nearby areas would burn plastics. Here it was a norm to burn waste plastic to keep warm. We wanted to change that and so started to encourage our students to bring their plastic waste as school fees". The school is a brainchild of Parmita and Mazin Mukhtar and they together founded the school in the month of June 2016.
Benno Hansen

BBC News - Placing a value on Kenya's largest forest - 0 views

  • Prized as a "natural water tower", the forest has also been the target for aggressive clearance and timber logging in recent decades and its size has been cut by at least 40%.
  • Research by the Kenya Forest Research Institute (KEFRI) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates the economic benefit of the forest to be more than $1.3bn per year.
  • Bordering the trees are some of Kenya's largest tea plantations - tea is one of the country's key exports and the research calculates that it benefits from the forest to the tune of $163m a year.
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  • half of the country's power is driven by water
  • The study calculates that the Mau Forest's value to the electricity sector is $131.6m.
  • This blaze of lurid colour helps to make tourism one of Kenya's biggest earners, and the study reckons this industry receives $65 million in benefits from the forest.
  • Further services provided by the forest include an estimated $89million in storing carbon, $98million in controlling soil erosion and $21million in support for fisheries.
Skeptical Debunker

Tally of Antarctic Sealife Sheds Light on Changing Climate - 0 views

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    More than 6,000 different species living on the sea-floor have been identified so far and more than half of these are unique to the icy continent. A combination of long-term monitoring studies, newly gathered information on the marine life distribution and global ocean warming models, enable the scientists to identify Antarctica's marine "biodiversity hotspots". Researcher Griffiths describes how krill populations (the shrimp-like invertebrates eaten by penguins, whales and seals) are reducing as a result of a decrease in sea-ice cover. A much smaller crustacean (copepods) is dominating the area once occupied by them. This shifts the balance of the food web to favour predators, like jellyfish, that are not eaten by penguins and other Southern Ocean higher predators. Sea-ice reduction is also affecting penguins that breed on the ice.
Benno Hansen

Companies Reconsider Social Responsibility - WSJ.com - 0 views

  • Company spending has been squeezed by the global recession and budgets for corporate social responsibility have suffered disproportionately.
  • "There has been a tendency to compartmentalize so-called corporate social responsibility activities as an adjunct to the mainstream business activities."
  • "innovation is fundamentally about how the world can become a better place."
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  • "Corporate social responsibility asked the question: what is the impact of this business on the world? Sustainable business asks the question: what is the impact of the world on this business?"
  • "Companies are asking how they can be socially responsible in a way that also moves the business forward. It's no longer about having one corporate social responsibility guy who is supposed to be the moral compass for the company, like a chaplain in an Army regiment. It's about making sustainable business the standard operating procedure."
  • "Sustainable business has faced the ultimate double whammy of the credit crunch and the total damp squib that was Copenhagen. If climate change was the great driver for corporate social responsibility, then that driver seems to have stalled."
  • initiatives also increase employee loyalty
  • "If governments provide a strong legal framework that aligns incentives with business, then you have something you could call sustainability. If not, then corporate social responsibility will just be glacé cherries on an unsustainable cake."
Mark Kabbbash

Combine a payment system retailers phone company the Cloud consumers - 0 views

  • Technological Convergence In the Digital Marketplace provides windows of opportunity.  The socialization of data with sufficient bandwidth for the mobile handheld devices enables video to enhance the users experience to a personal level like never before.  Constantly fueling an expanding, user base with disruptive technologies and solutions right to the local environments, while monetizing that traffic flow, is the goal.
  • Mr. Harris added, "As the market enters a new era that will be driven by audience connections with each other and with brands, we will be focused on personal technology and personal media. To that end, we have also entered into negotiations to strengthen our global capabilities in social media, video and global e-commerce." VGTel anticipates that the deals under discussion will be closed before the end of the second quarter.
  • In addition to purchasing MeCoupons, VGTel is continuing to look for opportunities to strengthen its mobile and social capabilities. The power of mobile to actively engage consumers via data, voice and sound is driving innovation industry-wide and creating opportunities for companies like VGTel to develop new and compelling offers that enhance connections between consumers, content and brands. Mr. Harris added, “Mobile, along with social, video and commerce will continue to be key areas of focus as we move forward. We will look to build, buy or grow these capabilities rapidly.” VGTel noted that the deal should be completed before the end of the second quarter.
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    I am so sorry I did not want to put this here. I can not figure out how to delete it!
Benno Hansen

World is facing a natural resources crisis worse than financial crunch | Environment | ... - 1 views

  • humans are using 30% more resources than the Earth can replenish each year, which is leading to deforestation, degraded soils, polluted air and water, and dramatic declines in numbers of fish and other species
  • we are running up an ecological debt of $4tr (£2.5tr) to $4.5tr every year
  • populations and consumption keep growing faster than technology finds new ways of expanding what can be produced from the natural world
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  • by 2030, if nothing changes, mankind would need two planets to sustain its lifestyle
  • Sir David King, the British government's former chief scientific adviser, said: "We all need to agree that there's a crisis of understanding, that we're removing the planet's biodiverse resources at a rate which is as fast if not faster than the world's last great extinction."
  • 50 countries are already experiencing "moderate to severe water stress on a year-round basis"
  • 27 countries are "importing" more than half the water they consume - in the form of water used to produce goods from wheat to cotton - including the UK, Switzerland, Austria, Norway and the Netherlands.
  • A person's footprint ranges vastly across the globe, from eight or more "global hectares" (20 acres or more) for the biggest consumers in the United Arab Emirates, the US, Kuwait and Denmark, to half a hectare in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Afghanistan and Malawi.
  • The global average consumption was 2.7 hectares a person, compared with a notional sustainable capacity of 2.1 hectares.
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    2008
Benno Hansen

Do nations go to war over water? : Article : Nature - 1 views

  • There are 263 cross-boundary waterways in the world. Between 1948 and 1999, cooperation over water, including the signing of treaties, far outweighed conflict over water and violent conflict in particular. Of 1,831 instances of interactions over international freshwater resources tallied over that time period (including everything from unofficial verbal exchanges to economic agreements or military action), 67% were cooperative, only 28% were conflictive, and the remaining 5% were neutral or insignificant. In those five decades, there were no formal declarations of war over water2.
  • it is foolish for Israel, a water-short country, to grow and then export products such as oranges and avocados, which require a lot of water to cultivate
  • water 'embedded' in traded products could be important in explaining the absence of conflict over water
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  • as poor countries diversify their economies, they turn away from agriculture and create wealth from industries that use less water. As a country becomes richer, it may require more water overall to sustain its booming population, but it can afford to import food to make up the shortfall
  • Israel ran out of water in the 1950s: it has not since then produced enough water to meet all of its needs, including food production. Jordan has been in the same situation since the 1960s; Egypt since the 1970s. Although it is true that these countries have fought wars with each other, they have not fought over water. Instead they all import grain.
  • Palestinian and Israeli water professionals interact on a Joint Water Committee, established by the Oslo-II Accords in 1995. It is not an equal partnership: Israel has de facto veto power on the committee.
  • Inequitable access to water resources is a result of the broader conflict and power dynamics: it does not itself cause war.
    • Benno Hansen
       
      From causation to hen/egg
  • although India and Pakistan have fought three wars and frequently find themselves in eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation, the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, arbitrated by the World Bank, has more than once helped to defuse tensions over water
  • predictions of armed conflict come from the media and from popular, non-peer-reviewed work
  • I offered to revise its thesis, but my publishers pointed out that predicting an absence of war over water would not sell.
  • most importantly, improve the conditions of trade for developing countries to strengthen their economies
Benno Hansen

Learning From Past Civilizations : TreeHugger - 0 views

  • our early twenty-first century civilization is not the first to face the prospect of environmentally induced economic decline. The question is how we will respond.
  • Today, our successes and problems flow from the extraordinary growth in the world economy over the last century.
  • While the economy is growing exponentially, the earth’s natural capacities, such as its ability to supply fresh water, forest products, and seafood, have not increased. Humanity’s collective demands first surpassed the earth’s regenerative capacity around 1980. Today, global demands on natural systems exceed their sustainable yield capacity by nearly 30 percent. We are meeting current demands by consuming the earth’s natural assets, setting the stage for decline and collapse.
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  • In our modern high-tech civilization, it is easy to forget that the economy, indeed our existence, is wholly dependent on the earth’s natural systems and resources.
  • the carbon stored in the Amazon’s trees equals roughly 15 years of human-induced carbon emissions in the atmosphere
  • we will either mobilize together to save our global civilization, or we will all be potential victims of its disintegration
Mark Kabbbash

World Energy in Crisis a compelling read. - View Message - 0 views

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    Sound bites, political speak, media spin, tabloid sensationalism, propaganda and misinformation are the media's language. How do you see through the lies and discover the truth? Be discerning; critically analyze what you are being told. The media does not have a responsibility to report the news honestly; profit is the purpose of the media corporation. They answer to their shareholders. News and advertising is their product. The viewing public are their consumer. No Conspiracy theories here.
Traveller Spice

Offshore Wind Farms - 0 views

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    The Carbon Trust believes that offshore wind power has the potential to supply 25% of the UK's electricity by 2020. To help make this happen, the Carbon Trust launched the Offshore Wind Accelerator, a ground-breaking research and development initiative. From 2003 to 2009 some 350 offshore wind turbines have been built at the rate of one every 11 days. They currently deliver about 1GW, whereas about 29GW will be required to hit the EU's renewable target for 2020. To achieve this, a further 6,000 turbines must be built at the rate of one a day from 2010 to 2016, rising to 2.5 a day from 2017 to 2020. They will be bigger and more complicated to install, standing in up to 60m of water, in some cases more than 200km from shore.
firozcosmolance

Kylie Jenner Just Gifted a Lamborghini to Travis Scott - Gossip Ki Galliyan - 0 views

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    Kylie Jenner just took showering love on her beloved's birthday to an altogether different level by gifting a shining new Lamborghini to Travis Scott on his 28th birthday. She started celebrating Scott's birthday five days prior to the actual birth date that is the 30th of April. Jenner saved the best gift, the silver Lamborghini worth $280K for the last and took him by surprise with the stellar birthday present. Scott, the father of Jenner's one year old daughter Stormi Webster, took to his Instagram stories for flaunting the sparkly new car with a huge red bow resting on its hood. With hearts and smiling emojis, Scott wrote, "Wifey you go in every time". Travis too is no less than Jenner. Last year, he gifted Kellie a gorgeous white Rolls Royce on her 21st birthday.
firozcosmolance

Chernobyl-What makes it a must watch? - Gossip Ki Galliyan - 0 views

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    HBO's latest offering 'Chernobyl'has grabbed a lot of attention in the last few days since it was released. This mini-series, co-starring Jared Harris, Emily Watson and StellanSkarsgard, is a very grave picturization of one of the worst human disasters in modern history. Written by Craig Mazin (of "The Hangover" Parts II and III fame) and directed by Johan Renck, this five-episode series brings back to life the tragic event of 1986 in erstwhile USSR and does not shy away from showing the horrors committed during that time. It gives the audience a glimpse of the events before, during and after the nuclear explosion, ill effects of which can be seen in Europe till date.
Plantora App

Skeleton Flower Care: A Complete Guide - Plantora - 0 views

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    The Skeleton Flower, scientifically known as Diphelleia grayi, is a unique and fascinating plant known for its translucent, white petals. Native to the mountainsides of Japan, China, and the Appalachian region in the United States, the Skeleton Flower is a deciduous perennial that requires specific care to thrive. Remember that the Skeleton Flower is a unique plant, so it's important to provide the specific conditions it needs to thrive. Here's a complete guide on caring for the Skeleton Flower.
Plantora App

Peacock Plant Care: How To Grow These Tropical Houseplants - Plantora - 0 views

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    Calathea makoyana, often known as the Peacock Plant, is a beautiful tropical indoor plant with vibrant leaf patterns that resemble peacock feathers. This plant, which belongs to Brazil's jungles, thrives in its natural moist, shady environment. The Peacock Plant's beautiful foliage and air-purifying capabilities appeal to both new and experienced houseplant enthusiasts. Furthermore, the reddish-maroon stem and dark-purple underside of the leaves make for an excellent accent to any indoor garden. Peacock plant care is quite long since you can match the plant's native habitat, which is low light and high humidity. And, given the right conditions, this attractive plant can enhance the overall appearance of your home garden. So, let's have a look at how to care for the Peacock plant.
Mark Kabbbash

INTK Stock : Industrial Nanotech, Inc.'s Nansulate® Energy Saving Products to... - 0 views

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    Please help spread this word! It is for a good cause and the kids need help!
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    "The idea for the event builds upon three years of grassroots collaboration among K-12 schools to become more environmentally sustainable," said Harrison Monsky, lead organizer for the event and a senior at Collegiate, "The rationale and desire for sustainability exists; now schools want to know how to do it. The resources exist today and it is a matter of connecting 'the will' and 'the way.'"
Benno Hansen

Proving the 'shifting baselines' theory: how humans consistently misperceive nature - 0 views

  • what we see as pristine nature would be seen by our ancestors as hopelessly degraded, and what we see as degraded our children will view as ‘natural’
  • two different types of shifting baselines: generational amnesia and personal amnesia
  • Generational amnesia is when knowledge is not passed down from generation to generation.
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  • National Parks are often view by Americans as the emblem of nature—even with roads running through them clogged with traffic.
  • The evidence for personal amnesia comes from an analysis of the responses of those people who thought that the bird fauna of the area had not changed
  • evidence of “generational amnesia
  • over one-third of participants had a static view
  • Personal amnesia is when people forget how things used to be during the course of their own lives, for example they may not remember that things which are rarely sighted now were once common
  • “If we don't realize what we are losing we stand the risk of sleepwalking through the destruction of the natural world without taking action to remedy the situation,”
  • in the western United States wolves have been locally extinct for so long that no one remembers when they were plentiful. As far the community is concerned wolves are not a part of the natural environment
  • The problem is especially exacerbated when scientific data is not available regarding past conditions of an ecosystem
  • human perception of nature is subject to all sorts of failings, due to short life spans, poor communication (generational amnesia), and unreliable memory(personal amnesia)
Benno Hansen

Chevron fined $8bn over Amazon 'contamination' | Dominic Rushe | Environment | The Guar... - 0 views

  • An Ecuadorian judge has ruled that Chevron was responsible for widespread contamination of the country's Amazon basin and fined the company $8bn (£5bn).
  • far below the $27.3bn sought by the plaintiffs – and they may appeal
  • The epic and bitterly fought lawsuit over the "Amazon Chernobyl" has been going on for 18 years. It was brought on behalf of 30,000 people whose health and environment were allegedly damaged by chemical-laden waste water dumped by Texaco's operations from 1972 to 1990. Chevron bought Texaco in 2001.
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  • Chevron had claimed that Ecuador was violating the terms of a 1997 trade pact with the US.
  • According to a report by Sweden's Umeå International School of Public Health more than 30bn gallons of toxic wastes and crude oil had been discharged into the land and waterways of Ecuador's Amazon basin - or "Oriente". This compares to the 10.8m gallons spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989 in Alaska or 205m gallons spilt in BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster. The report claims there are at least two big oil spills per week in the area. Printable version Send to a friend Share Clip Contact us larger | smaller Environment Pollution · Oil · Energy Business Oil · Commodities World news Ecuador More news Related 7 Jun 2010 Exxon Mobil argues against knee-jerk reaction to Gulf oil spill 31 Aug 2010 Greenland's prime minister lambasts Greenpeace for raiding Arctic oil rig 7 May 2010 Chevron wins access to film-maker's Amazon pollution footage 1 Dec 2010 A climate journey - The Andes: Ecuador's rainforests
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