Earth Hour starts at 8.30PM tonight, asks for sixty minutes of natural living
Time to don your eco-warrior armor, strap on your nature-loving helmet, and flick that big old... light switch. Yes, in honor of the WWF's Earth Hour, countries around the globe are tonight switching off non-essential lights and appliances for sixty minutes, with highlights including Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, the Burj Khalifa, and the Empire State Building all going dark in the hope of helping the planet stay green. Timed for 8.30pm your local time, this unorthodox event has already commenced with Australia, New Zealand, China and others doing their bit -- videos after the break -- and is just now hitting Eastern European borders. So, fellow earthlings, will you be among the projected one billion souls that go au naturel for an hour tonight?
[Thanks, Pavel]
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Earth Hour starts at 8.30PM tonight, asks for sixty minutes of natural living originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
IBM Develops Infinitely Recyclable Plant-Based Plastic [Plastics]
Earlier this week, IBM researchers announced a discovery that could lead to plastics made from plants instead of petroleum. The new plastics will be more energy efficient, more versatile, and infinitely recyclable (until we move to our space colony). More
IBM Develops Infinitely Recyclable Plant-Based Plastic [Plastics]
Earlier this week, IBM researchers announced a discovery that could lead to plastics made from plants instead of petroleum. The new plastics will be more energy efficient, more versatile, and infinitely recyclable (until we move to our space colony). More
Doomsday Clock Moved Back One Minute [Doomsday]
The Doomsday Clock, a measurement of the threat posed by nuclear weapons, biotechnology, and climate change, has been moved back one minute, to six minutes before midnight, signaling a more "hopeful state of world affairs."
The Bulletin of Atomic Sciences cited the increased discourse on climate change and further developments towards a nuclear weapons-free future as the cause for dialing back the clock.
It is 6 minutes to midnight. We are poised to bend the arc of history toward a world free of nuclear weapons. For the first time since atomic bombs were dropped in 1945, leaders of nuclear weapons states are cooperating to vastly reduce their arsenals and secure all nuclear bomb-making material. And for the first time ever, industrialized and developing countries alike are pledging to limit climate-changing gas emissions that could render our planet nearly uninhabitable. These unprecedented steps are signs of a growing political will to tackle the two gravest threats to civilization — the terror of nuclear weapons and runaway climate change.
This is the nineteenth time the clock has been changed since it was originally set at seven minutes to midnight in 1947. It has been as close to two minutes to midnight—in 1953, at the height of the Cold War—and as far away as 17 minutes to midnight, in 1991. [TurnBackTheClock.org]
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Doomsday Clock Moved Back One Minute [Doomsday]
Sped-Up Bacteria Could Transform Carbon Dioxide into Natural Gas [Bacteria]
Bacteria naturally turn carbon dioxide into methane gas over billions of years. Now Japanese researchers want to give that process a speed boost, to help counter global warming and create some much-needed natural gas.
Agence France-Presse reports that Japan hopes to reduce the transformation period from billions to about 100 years.
The researchers at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology plan to develop a method within five years for speeding up the bacterial transformation. Their target: produce methane gas from carbon dioxide buried about 6,600 feet (2,000 m) beneath the sea bed, just off the northern tip of Japan's main island.
Many nations have already built massive carbon sequestration plants that can store carbon dioxide underground, as part of a worldwide effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions. And some researchers have experimented with synthetic trees that can soak up carbon even better than the real things.
Few would probably complain if the Japanese can pull off this neat trick and produce some natural gas in the bargain. But we'll keep our fingers crossed that the new super-strain of bacteria doesn't cause any unforeseen consequences.
[via Agence France-Presse]
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Sped-Up Bacteria Could Transform Carbon Dioxide into Natural Gas [Bacteria]