Japan Tsunami Debris Floating Toward Hawaii

Up to 20 million tons of tsunami debris floating from Japan could arrive on Hawaii's shores by early 2013, before reaching the West Coast, according to estimates by University of Hawaii scientists......

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Cold, Hard Economics

Why changing your old lightbulbs and toting your eco-friendly canvas shopping bag around won't save the planet.



Global warming is happening faster and with more intensity than anyone expected, yet the fossil-fueled right has succeeded in removing the issue almost entirely from the agenda through a false pretense of defending "free markets." In response, environmentalists have tended to retreat further into their own organically padded corners, when what's needed is to get back to economic basics: Markets cannot be free when benefits are privatized and enormous costs are being socialized. The only way out of this environmental crisis is to align citizens' economic self-interest with the planet's health.

The problem is that the very people who can help us do so -- economists -- have been pushed aside in the public debate.
On one side, you have climate scientists who, if anything, have underestimated the true effects of global warming -- the North Pole now looks to be free of summer sea ice within this decade a half-century earlier than scientists predicted in consensus documents as late as 2007.
On the other side, you have the true believers: Environmentalists, who seem to want to reduce, reuse, and recycle our way out of every situation and would never touch an out-of-season grape, let alone a plastic bag..........

Interactive How Does Lack of Water Affect Women and Children?

Antarctic's hidden world revealed
Ever wondered what Antarctica would look like without all that ice?
Scientists have produced the most detailed map yet of the White Continent's underbelly - its rock bed.
Called simply BEDMAP, this startling view of the landscape beneath the ice incorporates decades of survey data acquired by planes, satellites, ships and even people on dog-drawn sleds.

Was reading yesterday somewhere that the most horrible furniture house in Europe, Ikea, was switching from wooden to cardboard pallets [the cardboard folding tech is amazing]. They use 10 million pallets per annum and think by switching to the recyclable, one way pallets, hugely lighter too, to save 140 million, per annum. Money driven eco friendliness.

Ah, google had it in English too: http://www.furnituretoday.com/article/545904-...llets_will_save_money.php
US 193 million savings it says here. Not all wooden pallets weigh though 55 pounds as is claimed here, but the cardboard version weighs only 5.5 pounds.

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