Assam Tea Taste Being Altered by Climate Change – Crop Yields Dropping, Too
December 28, 2010 No Comment
photo: A Girl With Tea / Creative Commons Oh no! If you’re a tea lover like this TreeHugger then some reporting from The Guardian comes as doubly dire news: Apparently climate change is both reducing crop yields of India’s Assam tea and changing its much-prized characteristic flavor. Besides being a personal issue of tea preference–Assam tea … Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Photo by jkirkhart35 via Flickr Creative Commons Keeping honeybees safe from viruses is a top concern among beekeepers. However, they may be the ones spreading diseases to other pollinators. Researchers from Pennsylvania State University in University Park have found eleven species of wild pollinators that are carrying some of the viruses found in honeybees. Because most of the pollinators have never been known to carry honeybee diseases before, it could be that domesticated bees are spreading viruses. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
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File this one in the interestingly geeky diversion category: Coming to TreeHugger via The Cost of Energy is what they are calling the “coolest looking graph in climate science”–which helps visualize… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Scientists Plot World’s Largest Simulator to Model Disease, Climate Change, Economies
December 28, 2010 No Comment
Image via FlyingSinger Modeling systems are incredibly helpful for anticipating the effects of everything from weather to policy decisions on the environment and human populations. They can simulate what might happen when a storm hits a coastline or a new farming policy is enacted that could impact ground water. Typically modeling systems are specific to topics or geographic areas. Now, a group of researchers are trying to up the ante by creating a simulator that will replicate everything happening on the entire planet, including weather, diseases … Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Snowmageddon is a website set up to help people dig out of the blizzard in New York. It was originally set up last year in Washington; it is an attempt to crowdsource information, where people can use their computers and cell phones to notify others of problems and solutions. It doesn’t seem to getting a lot of hits, but there is a fascinating story behind it…. Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Image credit Lloyd Alter One of the worst career moves I ever made was to write off shipping containers. I started my architectural education with them, winning the big prize in 1st year for this summer camp that folded out of a 40 footer. But in the real world I found them too small, too expensive, and too toxic, between the lead paint and the insecticides in the floors. But architects and designers keep proving that you can do interesting things with them. Preston at Jetson Green does a
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Image via CityVille Facebook App We had high hopes that a ridiculously popular game like FarmVille might get players to build real life gardens, or care more about where their food really comes from. However, it looks like most Facebook players are still interested in city life. What exactly is so compelling about CityVille over FarmVille?… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Image via DailyMail When I first saw this futuristic fridge, my thought was “What ever happened to the simple insulated box that makes things cold?” The full-size touch screens look like energy wasters and the whole thing seems like an ugly addition to your kitchen. However, looking a little more closely, this fridge could actually be a solution for shrinking your overall environmental footprint. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Photo: Wikimedia Commons The toothy mug on this guy makes quite an impression — it was featured in our most popular slideshow of 2010, a collection of scary fish that puts your fear of Jaws on the back burner. The top 10 slideshows of the year also include jaw-dropping close-ups of insects, curious whales that check out photographers, bird photos so dramatic you will think they are fake, solitary bees that live in flower petals, and more.
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Images credit Jagnefält Milton It is often the case that the most interesting and innovative entry in a competition comes in second or third, while the more practical and realistic entry wins. That appears to have happened in a recent competition for the Norwegian town of Åndalsnes, which, according to Designboom, is a huge tourist attraction in summer but is “a relatively monotonous place.” You can see the winning entry from Jaja Architect… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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