photo: Chung Kui Ryan Cheng / Creative Commons Living in Manhattan, where on a good night you only see a couple stars in the sky and it’s never truly dark due to light pollution , this one particularly hits home for me: BBC News reports that a new presentation at the American Geophysical Union me… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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A Second Life for an Old Train Tunnel Ever since the late 1970s, people have been trying to turn a 124-year-old abandoned railroad tunnel into something that pedestrians and cyclists could use (and eventually, bringing back light-rail to it). Active development started 12 years ago, and after a looooong wait, the 1.2 mile tunnel (not the best place to be if you are claustrophobic) has now been officially opened in front of a very enthusiastic crowd. Cyclists and pedestrians will be able to commute between the Larkspur Ferry landing and San Rafael in a … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …US Southwest May Enter Into Permanent Drought-Like Conditions by Mid-Century
December 14, 2010 No Comment
photo: Kevin Dooley / Creative Commons If you closely follow the water issues that plague the US southwest, the precipitation predictions for the region, and have a notion of the development patterns there that headline may seem obvious. But if you haven’t this is the thumbnail sketch of the situation, with some help from The New Y… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Photo: Sempra Energy 48 Megawatts of Goodness It’s 10x smaller than the planned 500 MW solar PV farm that Sempra is trying to build near Phoenix, Arizona, but the 48 MW Copper Mountain Solar facility, located in Boulder City, Nevada, has the benefit of not being just a plan anymore. Construction began in January 2010 at the 380-acre desert site and up to 350 workers installed nearly 775,000 thin-film PV solar panels. Now that it is finished, the Copper Mountain Solar farm is the l… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Photo: Marion Doss , Flickr, CC The fact that we currently need 60 votes in the Senate to pass any kind of legislation at all is just plain crazy. For the vast majority of US history, this was simply not the case — a simple majority was enough to pass a bill. Yes, the filibuster — which allows a dissenting senator to hold up a vote on any bill by taking the floor and talking continuously, until overruled by a vote of 60 senators — has long existed. But it was designed as a failsafe, not a rule to be routinely used, as it is now. Now, the filibuster is inv… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Why is "Science is Real" by They Might Be Giants So Popular Now? (Video)
December 14, 2010 No CommentI happened upon this great music video for kids, “Science is Real” making its way up the Most Popular list on Reddit. It’s by the alt rock band They Might be Giants, famous for their ‘Istanbul (Not Constantinople)’ tune and the theme song to Malcolm in the Middle. Anywho, it piqued my curiosity. Why was such a simple, cutesy conce… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Emily has been working with Garance and me for a few months. It’s been fun to watch her preparing for her first real Winter. Well, trying to prepare. Everyday during this past week seems to deepen her shock at just how cold it gets in Manhattan. It has been equally fun to watch her layer and layer the few appropriate clothes she did bring with her in a beautiful attempt at freeze relief.
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Image: Screenshot via DOE Secretary of Energy Steven Chu today announced the completion of a new 25,000-square-foot cool roof on the Department of Energy’s headquarters west building in Washington, DC. The design added no extra cost to the roof replacement project, and is projected to save taxpayers an annual $2,000 in energy costs. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
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