Group items tagged

This is a crucial time for people to rethink how we meet our needs today to help to ensure a desirable future for following generations. Local government officials must play their part in reinventing our institutions to help communities and residents stay healthy and whole. This is because we have entered an era where human generated pressures on the natural world are unprecedented and threaten our current way of life. A few examples include depletion of non-renewable resources - 65% of U.S. oil is gone and the world is at or past peak oil; insufficient drinking water for two thirds of the world's population; consumption of land and loss of topsoil at unsustainable rates; projected loss of 90% of the world's fisheries by 2048; extinction of a distinct species of plant or animal, on average, every 20 minutes (qualifying the present period as one of the six great periods of mass extinction in the history of Earth1); and the presence of 250 persistent toxic chemicals not known before 1945, many of which are now found in human tissues.

Oil enhancer - lower emission lower cost

Having a bad day? Reading lots of depressing things about the future of our dependence on oil? This 27min watch suggests we can fix it without government intervention and with current technology while boosting our economy. Seem too good to be true? Perhaps!

Interesting story about how oil and gas drilling has effected Oklahoma.

Hemp is such an amazing plant. From it an array of oils, plastics, paints and twine can be created ... of such strength Kentuckians were able to avoid WWII draft by staying home and growing hemp. The fiber of this plant is so strong, that the government was eager to have farmers plant and grow it (with government provided seeds) so that the best parachutes, laces and other materials could be made for soldiers and the war. "Breathing in 4x the carbon dioxide (CO2) of trees during it's quick 12-14 week growing cycle. Trees take 20 years to mature vs 4 months for Industrial Hemp" So why are we still clearing forests and avoiding the CO2 sync of this marvelous resource???

Georgia Tech is researching an additive to plastics that speed up the break down process and allow a plastic bottle to biodegrade in 5-10 years in an landfill.