Gleanings of the Week Ending September 19, 2015

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

tado° Smart Air-Conditioner Control Reaches Major US Retailers – Smart thermostats are getting smarter!

World on Path to Miss 2C Target – Depressing. The emission reduction plans submitted by 29 governments as of September 1^st are not enough to change the temperature rise of our planet…we are looking at warming by more than 2 degrees C. The trend is for the earth to be 2.9-3.1 degrees warmer by 2100.

Cave Towers - Mule Canyon – We vacationed in this area a few years ago….the whole area is full of interesting hikes. This post makes me want to visit there again.

Sierra Nevada snowpack lowest in five centuries – Just another indicator of how bad the drought in California really is.

First Detailed Public Map of U.S. Internet Backbone Could Make It Stronger – The fiber optic cables that carry Internet data across the Continental US...considering them as critical public infrastructure.

Lost Weather Balloon GoPro Found Two Years Later with Astounding Shots of Earth from Space – The 4 minute video near the end of the post is worth watching too.

51 Favorite Photos from Astronaut Scott Kelly's First Six Months in Space - Further from earth than the weather balloon and GoPro....from the International Space Station.

Lessons Learned: Aquaponics in Baltimore – I had learned a little about this project in a Food System course from Johns Hopkins (via Coursera). It would good to get an update.

The Recycling Rates of Smartphone Metals – Recycling tech (smartphones and other tech) has got to improve since the tech refresh cycle is relatively short.

What Restaurants Can Teach Us about Reducing Food Waste – And some of the things these restaurants are doing can be done at home too!

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 07, 2015

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Millions of Mutated Mosquitoes Could Be Unleashed In Florida—On Purpose - There is concern that tropical diseases like Dengue and Chikungunya will become more common in the US as the climate becomes warmer. Reducing the number of mosquitoes that spread the disease may become a priority and there biotech firm Oxitec has experimented in the Caymen Islands and Brazil with GMO mosquitoes that suppressed the population there by 96%.

Swarm of microprobes to head for Jupiter - The probes will burn up in Jupiter’s atmosphere was send a mass of data for 15 minutes. A lot will be learned about the atmosphere of the planet.

Assateague Island National Seashore Turning 50 This Year - Chincoteague/Assateague is my favorite place on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay….I’ll keep an eye out for extra activities that celebrate its 50 years as a National Seashore.

Mindfulness-based program in schools making a positive impact, study shows - Something to combat the stress of modern childhood?

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #75 - A feast of bird images from around the world. I always enjoy looking through these collections.

This Glorious Gallery Highlights A Myriad Optical Delights - Wow - images from a visual celebration of the International Year of Light. Next time I go to Arizona - I want to see Antelope Canyon

The origin of life: Labyrinths as crucibles of life - This article caught by eye for two reasons: it linked well with the Origins course I finished recently on Coursera and I like the picture of lava.

Two Graphs Highlighting Growth Surge in US Solar Market - With oil prices lower, will the trend continue in 2015?

Food Industry Drags Its Heels on Recyclable and Compostable Packaging - The food industry - particularly the fast food industry - is definitely not trending toward sustainable practices (with the possible exception of McDonald’s and Starbucks….and do we really need K-cups anywhere?

A Stunning 3D Cross-Section of Greenland's Ice Sheet - Made using ice cores and ice penetrating radar technologies. Watch the video to understand how it was done. There are three distinct periods of climate reflected in the Greenland Ice sheet.

Sustainability - Choosing Organic Food

Foods that are labelled ‘organic’ are produced to a USDA standard…and that labelling is the best proxy we have for ‘sustainably produced’ so I choose to buy organic food when I can.

Organic products are often more expensive although there is not as much cost delta as there was a few years ago and there seem to be more organic products available in the stores. More farmers are turning to organic methods if they are in the business for the long term because it is the most sustainable way of farming.

So I buy organic to avoid contributing my purchasing power to non-sustainable farming practices:

• Pesticides and fertilizers may temporarily increase crop yields but they degrade soil (by killing soil organisms and encouraging poor soil maintenance practices, with less organic matter in the soil there is faster runoff of moisture) and pollute water (the runoff carries the pesticides and fertilizers into streams and rivers causing algae blooms, changing reproductive capacity of fish, and dead zones as the mouths of rivers).
• Factory farms (dairy cows, pigs, chickens) cluster animals into tight quarters creating waste disposal issues (terrible smells and high potential for polluting water) and requiring the use of antibiotics (which causes antibiotic resistant bacteria, which can make people sick too).

Buying organic is a good step toward living more sustainably!