Mister Ian's Weblog » Environment

Canada’s Oil Sands Conundrum

Ian — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:32:53 +0000

There is a new not totally unbiased review of the impact of the Athabasca Oil Sands on climate and Alberta’s economy.

We all know that the technology is polluting and wastes too much natural gas but what bothers me is as stated in the report.

As a consequence, the governments of Alberta and Canada are now gambling on another technology, carbon capture and storage (CCS), to reduce GHG emissions in the tar sands. Both governments have invested nearly $3 billion worth of taxpayers money to develop several demonstration projects.105 This largely untested and complex technology, intended primarily for coal-fired power plants, strips CO2 emissions from smoke stacks, compresses the gas and then transports it to be stored in deep underground formations. This waste must then be monitored for an undetermined time, possibly thousands of years, at an uncalculated cost, to ensure no leaks occur.

If the federal and provincial governments had any intelligence they would spend this money on proper sustainable ways to conserve energy and utilize sustainable resources.

News flash, to coincide with the now Greenpeace has blockaded Shell’s Albian Sands open-pit-mine north of Fort McMurray.

Here is another blog’s take on it.

Water

Ian — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:13:30 +0000

From Seed Magazine, In a small village in the center of Gujarat, India, a society grows from clean water and satellite maps. They have used technology to save and take good advantage of the monsoon rains.

For more on water and nature, click here and then go to the third slide. Turn on your speakers and enjoy the nice natural sounds!

Wait there’s more. Scientists have developed a technique for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using heat, natural light, and a novel organic-metallic complex. Clean and renewable energy.

Pond scum the next fuel

Ian — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 11:51:51 +0000

There was also a feature on this in Quirks and Quarks.

Surprising, what a coral reef is really like without man’s influence

Ian — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:43:35 +0000

An Uneasy Eden—Photo Gallery—National Geographic Magazine

Rethink What It Means to Be Green

Ian — Tue, 27 May 2008 17:35:45 +0000

They also don’t agree with carbon trading which I’ve always thought was stupid.

Inconvenient Truths: Get Ready to Rethink What It Means to Be Green

Asbestos warning on nanotubes

Ian — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:51:16 +0000

I figured something like this would come up.

Carbon nanotubes, the poster child of the burgeoning nanotechnology industry, could trigger diseases similar to those caused by asbestos, a study suggests.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | ‘Asbestos warning’ on nanotubes

Collection of posts

Ian — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:33:27 +0000

From boingboing: Flinstones car victory in court. True and hilarious.

And on a less shallow note. The next world crisis will be water.

Can aviation go green with algae-based biofuels? Also from boingboing. I’ve been thinking of this lately. It is the short term solution. Using arable land is stupid and is causing the ridiculous food prices nowadays.

Green Housing

Ian — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:18:38 +0000

Green housing!

bookofjoe: Michael Reynolds is the ‘Garbage Warrior’

AK-47s, Arab Jails and Animal Smugglers: Interview with Conflict Photographer Alex Smailes – Part I at CameraPorn

Ian — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:50:23 +0000

An amazing interview with a photographer. You will read it all, very interesting.
AK-47s, Arab Jails and Animal Smugglers: Interview with Conflict Photographer Alex Smailes – Part I at CameraPorn

More on what a farce carbon offsets are

Ian — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:02:10 +0000

There are a couple of posts on the Becker Posner site about what nonsense carbon offsets are. I’ve blogged about this previously.

Carbon Offsets–Posner

On Carbon Offsets-Becker

Click here to see my previous posts!