Fossil Fuel Dependancy

Many people have tried to get across the scale of our dependency on fossil fuels. It's not an easy task, and this info-graphic doesn't come close (for one thing, it completely leaves out plastics) but it does show just how much energy we burn through for transport and electricity.... and the damage that usage is doing to our atmosphere.

Click for full view.

Climate news roundup

First up: planet hacking. A fringe idea, but one that's starting to be taken more seriously. I guess that just shows how desperate we are for a quick fix. This page shows some hacking ideas with a rundown of the pros and cons of each.

In a related note, this New Scientist article profiles some geo-engineering possibilities and talks about who will take responsibility and what the legal and ethical implications could be.

What does it take to make people save power? Apparently the answer is peer pressure. This article explores how mind games could be used to help save the planet.

If the ice shelves in Antarctica are melting so fast, how come Greenland is still iced over? It is warmer there after all. Well, apparently it's icy because it's warmer. New Scientist investigates.




In the current events section, an oil spill threatens the Great Barrier Reef. Environmentalists blame cost cutting measures.

Finally for today, the battle over climate change has reached US classrooms. Bad news if we want this issue to be taken seriously.

TED slavery speech

For your viewing pleasure: Kevin Bales' TED speech on slavery. You can expect to hear more in this topic when I've done my research.

How to give money for Free

It's a known phenominon and something I've observed myself whist collecting for charities: The people who are most willing to give money for a cause are the people who have the least to spare. Knowing that, I thought it would be a good idea to give some publicity to the sites that allow you to donate for free.

How it works

Most of these sites are click to donate sites.
When you visit the site, you are shown a link or button (click here to [whatever your cause wants to do]). When you click this link, you are taken to a page with a thank you message and some sponsor advertising. The sponsors will pay for your donation in return for you looking at their adverts (you don't have to click them, the fact that you're on that page is enough). You can click once per day for each cause and your donation will be counted without you having to pay a cent of your own money. Pretty cool huh?

The sites:


Direct click sites:
You click on the link, snd they donate the money.

- Click to give: Help with breast cancer, hunger, literacy, rescued animals, child health and rainforest conservation.

- Care2: help with rainforest conservation, children, big cats, breast cancer, healthy smiles, pets seals, oceans, primates, global warming, stop violence and wolves. Also provides a daily action article or pettition to raise awareness of other issues.

- The Stop HIV Site: informative site dedicated to stopping the spread of HIV. Includes a click to give link.


Links pages:
links to hundreds more sites like these.

- thenonprofits.com
- freewebs.com
- charityclickdonation.com: This site has links but also hosts bulk click software that allows you to effectively click on several sites at once. Whilst this technology my seem convenient, it bypasses the advertising pages, so if too many people use it then it will become more difficult for charities to find sponsors for these pages. Please use it responsibly.


Slightly different:

freerice.com donates 10 grains of rice for each correct answer to a simple question. It requires a little more thought than the other sites, but it's still free and there is no limit to how much you can give in one day. It's not difficult - give it a go!

How to live on $2 a day

How do billions of people manage to live on just $2 per day? Apparently some of them manage much better than one would imagine.
I'm aware that this comes across as advertising, but it's an interesting sound clip. I will have to check out this book.....

More on Marine Reserves

Following on from my post about the decline of commercial fish species, here is Sylvia Earle's excellent TED Prize wish speech, sharing valuable information about the state of our oceans.

From TED.com:
Earle's work has been at the frontier of deep ocean exploration for four decades. Earle has led more than 50 expeditions worldwide involving more than 6,000 hours underwater. As captain of the first all-female team to live underwater, she and her fellow scientists received a ticker-tape parade and White House reception upon their return to the surface. In 1979, Sylvia Earle walked untethered on the sea floor at a lower depth than any other woman before or since. In the 1980s she started the companies Deep Ocean Engineering and Deep Ocean Technologies with engineer Graham Hawkes to design and build undersea vehicles that allow scientists to work at previously inaccessible depths. In the early 1990s, Dr. Earle served as Chief Scientist of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. At present she is explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society.



"We've got to somehow stabilize our connection to nature so that in 50 years from now, 500 years, 5,000 years from now there will still be a wild system and respect for what it takes to sustain us."
- Sylvia Earle

Putting things in perspective

The Miniature Earth
If the entire world was reduced down to a village with 100 people and kept the proportions we have now, how would things be distributed? Watch the video to find out.

The Global Rich List
On a list of everyone on earth, arranged by income, where do you sit?