Magnetic soap? Why it could be a good idea

Magnetic soap (Credit: Image courtesy of Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL))

It may sound silly at first, but the discovery of magnetic soap could lead to a way to reclaim soaps used in industry and in disasters like oil spills.

Scientists from the University of Bristol have developed a soap, composed of iron rich salts dissolved [...]

The mining industry: private profits from public land

Phosphate mining on public lands. BLM

The General Mining Act allows hard rock mining companies (including foreign-owned ones) to do pretty much whatever they want on a lot of public land, most of it in the West, without paying royalties on what they take. It was signed by President Grant in 1872 and it’s time [...]

Whither the bees, go we

Mother Jones: A study from Purdue researchers casts further suspicion on Bayer’s money-minting concoctions. To understand the new paper—published in the peer-reviewed journal Plos One—it’s important to know how seed treatments work: The pesticides are applied directly to seeds before planting, and then get absorbed by the plant’s vascular system. They are “expressed” in the pollen [...]

Water forecasts for the Colorado River system are way down this year

The prediction is for a drop of 2.6 million acre feet.

The largest single water user on the Colorado River, the Imperial Irrigation District in southeast California, diverted 2.9 million acre feet from the river at Imperial Dam in 2011. Arizona’s entire consumptive use was 2.7 million acre feet.

Astonishing, isn’t it, that agriculture [...]

Worth repeating…civil disobedience STILL works

This man has spirit, and that’s required for real, positive change!  Reverend Billy Talen is the leader of the Church of Life After Shopping and has been, for months or years now, protesting in bank lobbies to get them to stop funding mountain top removal.  He posted this on facebook:

This peaceful bank seizure [...]

The politics of Nausicaa. Toxic whales

Here is a story some people may have seen. It basically has to do with toxic metals and man made/synthetic chemicals found in the tissue of whales. Its based on a report put out by Ocean Alliance

Stuff like this always gets me worried the whole left is missing the boat on how messed [...]

Tracking a drop of water down the Mississippi by canoe

The Race2theGreen Project will leave Minnesota by canoe in June for a three month trek down the Mississippi tracking environmental changes and meeting with green groups and scouts along the way.

They will have weekly podcasts tracking how clean water turns into sludge, and pass through Cancer Alley, an area where rare forms [...]

Iceland #1 in environmental performance, US #61

The US is #61, close with Venezuela, Paraguay, and Georgia. Sigh. We really can do better than this. The study was done by Yale and Columbia.

Though scoring highly in forest sustainability and provision of safe drinking water, [the US score] is offset by high greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollution issues.

[...]

Welcome to Dystopia

Where criminals are still free and desperately arguing for a continued coverup of their crimes:

I’m not amused that the Wall Street Journal solicited an op-ed attacking the decision to try KSM in civilian court from one of the  people–John Yoo–with the biggest conflict on such a decision. It’s yet more proof that Rupert Murdoch [...]

More thoughts on a new economy

In a previous post, I looked at some characteristics that a post-modern economy ought to have. But later, I realized I had overlooked a useful way of considering this issue: the economy is, in some sense, a giant business entity. That means accounting has something to offer on the topic.

Imagine you’re put in charge [...]