07 Friday Oct 2022
Posted in Environment
Tags
“A first-of-its-kind database for tracking the world’s fossil fuel production, reserves and emissions launches on Monday to coincide with climate talks taking place at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The Global Registry of Fossil Fuels includes data from over 50,000 oil, gas and coal fields in 89 countries. That covers 75% of global reserves, production and emissions, and is available for public use, a first for a collection of this size.”
Link to full article from the AP.
13 Friday Aug 2021
Posted in China, Environment
01 Thursday Apr 2021
Posted in Climate Change, Environment, news
Tags
13 Friday Nov 2020
Posted in Ecopsychology, Environment
According to a study led by University of Exeter researcher Daniel Cox, people living in neighborhoods with more birds, shrubs and trees are less likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and stress.
Dr. Cox and his colleagues from the University of Maryland, the University of Queensland in Australia, the British Trust for Ornithology and the University of Exeter in the UK, surveyed mental health in 263 people from different ages, incomes and ethnicities.
“All the participants lived within the urban limits of the so-called ‘Cranfield triangle,’ a region in southern England, UK, comprising the three adjacent towns of Milton Keynes, Luton, and Bedford,” the researchers said.
They found benefits for mental health of being able to see birds, shrubs and trees around the home, whether people lived in urban or more leafy suburban neighborhoods. They also found that those who spent less time out of doors than usual in the previous week were more likely to report they were anxious or depressed. MORE
22 Thursday Oct 2020
Posted in Environment, news, Organizations, water
Tags
Haphazard urbanization and political wrangling are seriously affecting people’s ability to realize their right to water in Nepal’s capital city. According to the Nepalese government’s Central Bureau of Statistics, one in every five Kathmandu households has no access to a domestic water source and two-thirds of its urban households live with an inadequate water supply. 
Estimates show that the city of 4 million has a severe water deficit. The demand is triple the current supply of 106m liters a day , which further reduces to 75m liters a day during the dry season [PDF] . Despite growing demand, little has been done to increase supply. Read the full article at the Guardian.
05 Wednesday Aug 2020
Posted in discovery, Environment, Japanese Textile Designs, Research, Science
The sailing stones of the Racetrack Playa, a dry lakebed in Death Valley, have been the subject of a mystery since the 1940s. The playa is dotted with stones, some as large as 700 pounds (320kg), with long tracks behind them, as though they have been performing a synchronised dance.
Although there have been many theories about how the rocks might be moving on their own — including dust devils, hurricane-force winds, films of slippery algae or thick sheets of ice — none had ever been confirmed, nor had any human seen the rocks actually moving.
Until now, that is. A team of researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego decided they were going to solve the mystery once and for all. In the winter of 2011, they brought in a high-resolution weather station to measure wind at one-second intervals, and brought in 15 rocks fitted with GPS devices (since the National Parks Service would not allow them to use the native rocks).
10 Friday Jan 2020
Posted in Americas, discovery, Environment, Justice, poverty, Social Science
Tags
Environment for the Americas was created as a result of International Migratory Bird Day’s success. Created in 1993, the celebration has grown to become much more than a one day event. Over 450 events are now hosted from South America to Canada, materials are available year-round, and other projects and programs have been developed to increase bird conservation education.. As a result of Bird Day’s growth, sponsors could no longer house the program. In 2006, formal steps were taken to create a 501(c)(3) organization to provide a permanent home for Bird Day and other exciting efforts. That organization is Environment for the Americas (EFTA)! Today, EFTA works with partners and programs throughout the Western Hemisphere.
EFTA GOALS
At EFTA we strive to make bird conservation education available throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Our Goals are to:
•Create the framework educators need to host bird-focused programs, events, and festivals;
•Develop education materials about birds and their conservation;
•Serve as a network for the exchange of information about successful bird conservation education programs;
•Motivate the public to become involved in bird conserva
25 Wednesday Sep 2019
Posted in Ecopsychology, Environment
According to a study led by University of Exeter researcher Daniel Cox, people living in neighborhoods with more birds, shrubs and trees are less likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and stress.
Dr. Cox and his colleagues from the University of Maryland, the University of Queensland in Australia, the British Trust for Ornithology and the University of Exeter in the UK, surveyed mental health in 263 people from different ages, incomes and ethnicities.
“All the participants lived within the urban limits of the so-called ‘Cranfield triangle,’ a region in southern England, UK, comprising the three adjacent towns of Milton Keynes, Luton, and Bedford,” the researchers said.
They found benefits for mental health of being able to see birds, shrubs and trees around the home, whether people lived in urban or more leafy suburban neighborhoods. They also found that those who spent less time out of doors than usual in the previous week were more likely to report they were anxious or depressed. MORE
25 Thursday Jul 2019
Posted in america, Economics, Environment
Failed bolts on a connector unit from a subsea oil well. U.S. regulators and oil-field service companies have said the bolts are breaking, prompting equipment shutdowns and raising safety concerns about gear used on Gulf of Mexico rigs. PHOTO: BUREAU OF SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT
18 Saturday May 2019
Posted in Economics, Environment, History, news, Research
Tags
The New York Times has reported that U.S. officials and American geologists have found an estimated $1 trillion worth of mineral deposits that have yet to be exploited in the country. The paper said a Pentagon report called Afghanistan potentially “the Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key component in batteries for cellphones, laptop computers and eventually, a plug-in fleet of electric cars.
In December, 2007, China’s state-owned China Metallurgical Group Corp. (MCC) signed a $2.9 billion agreement with the Kabul government to extract copper from the Aynak deposit, one of the world’s largest unexploited copper deposits with an estimated 240 million tons of ore. When MCC entered into negotiations with the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, it offered substantial aid for resource development as part of the package.
Of course in order to move the ore Afghanistan needs a rail system. Afghanistan ‘s mining 
minister appointed China Metallurgical Group Corp. to carry out technical studies for two proposed rail lines in the country from Kabul to Turkam in the east, and Kabul to Mazar-e-Sharif in the north. The rail lines are seen as essential to help Afghanistan develop a mining industry that could bring in billions of sorely needed dollars to the impoverished nation.
Naturally China really wants gas and oil and once again Afghanistan’s government signed a deal with China’s state-owned National Petroleum Corporation, allowing it to become the first foreign company to exploit the country’s oil and natural gas reserves.The ministry listed the initial value of the project with CNPC as $700 million. But the total could be ten times greater if more reserves are found and developed.
The government of Afghanistan also granted key gold and cooper licenses to a consortium backed by City of London banker Ian Hannam, former BHP Billiton CEO Chip Goodyear and Poland’s multibillionaire Jan Kulczyk. In addiation Afghan Gold and Minerals, Afghan Minerals Group, and Turkish-Afghan Mining Co. had been picked from a shortlist of 25 bidders to explore and start developing the Balkhab, Shaida and Badakhshan projects respectively. Afghan Gold and Minerals (owned by Sadat Mansoor Naderi) will have copper explorations rights over the Balkhab, northwest of the capital Kabul. Not sure who owns the Turkish-Afghan Mining Co. Also, Afghan Minerals Group was granted Thursday a license to explore the Shaida copper deposit, in the province of Herat, in western Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Turkish-Afghan Mining obtained the license for the Badakhshan gold and copper deposit, in the Badakhshan province, in north-eastern Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s government granted an Indian steel company the right to exploit the Hajigak iron ore deposit which is considered one of the largest iron deposits in the world at 1.8 billion tonnes. The Indian company wants to ship the ore through Pakistan to India, which might seem a bit of a problem but the amount of money to be make by trucking firm and Government fee’s means that the green light will be given.
They are a lot of other businesses (and NGO’s) looking to profit from the Afganie war as well.
China, Not U.S., Likely to Benefit from Afghanistan’s Mineral Riches
China mining giant tapped for Afghan rail project
RichardbBrunner 