Daily Life Section

2006 Exxon Valdez Spill Video Shows What to Expect in the Gulf of Mexico

Submitted by cactii on July 12, 2010 - 4:26pm

The oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico gets worse every day, but we've been assured that everything will be done to restore the Gulf to its pre-spill condition.

If you're counting on BP assuming responsibility and thinking that the situation will be righted as quickly as possible, it's likely you're you're going to be very sad after viewing this video of what it was like back in 2006 at the Exxon Valdez spill site. When the video was filmed in 2006 it would be 17 years after the Valdez spill.

Read the full article »

Harvesting Sea Turtle Eggs

Submitted by cactii on May 16, 2010 - 10:47am
Harvesting Sea Turtle Eggs

Usually when I receive an email that's been forwarded to hundreds of people its contents is something that doesn't interest me and I'm able to just delete it. The other day though, an email was forwarded to me that took me by surprise because the contents of it hit a little closer to home and I thought that I could do something better than delete it.

In the email that was forwarded to me I seen pictures of people along a beach harvesting sea turtle eggs. I've attached the picture to the article - you can click on it to get a larger view. Read the full article »

The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and BP's Out of Sight Out of Mind Mentality

Submitted by cactii on May 16, 2010 - 12:14am

There's a lot going on in the Gulf of Mexico right now with BP's big oil spill. The whole thing, from any perspective, is no less than an ecological disaster. This spill will have far reaching and long lasting effects for a long time to come.

Nobody can predict how the oil spill will turn out in the end, there are too many variables, too many unknowns and there's no similar historical data to compare the spill to. We can however, make educated decisions on whether some effects of the 'cleanup effort' may actually be compounding the problem. Read the full article »

What to do With Greases and Oils From Cooking?

Submitted by cactii on May 12, 2010 - 11:35pm

Rather than do research on the internet for this I've decided that I want to ask my audience for their ideas on a little problem I have.

It's a simple problem and it should have a simple solution but I can't think of one off the top of my head.

I like meat! I like bacon, chicken, steak and all of that sort of meaty stuff. I love animals but I don't want to be a vegetarian because I really like meat far too much to give it up. Read the full article »

Disastrous Effects of Valley Fill Mine Tailings Disposal

Submitted by cactii on April 13, 2010 - 12:03pm
Copper Precipitating Out of Old Tailings

I recently had the chance to visit an old mining town called Nacozari de Garcia in Sonora, Mexico. I was very surprised at the mining disaster I found when I arrived.

Nacozari is a mining district with a long history of copper mining. About 50 years ago, when mining was performed in the area the town was built around, tailings (the material that was processed to take out the copper) was disposed of using a method called Valley Fill.

Valley Fill means exactly what it says - you fill the valley or other voids in the landscape with the tailings that come from the mine. Read the full article »

Richie Sowa's Ecologically Irresponsible Spiral Island

Submitted by cactii on February 9, 2010 - 10:01am

Richie Sowa's Spiral Island is a floating island near the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. It's an island made of garbage. Most of the garbage that's used in the construction of the island consists of capped plastic bottles that are put into bags made of netting and then strapped together to form a floating structure.

My vision of green is a little different than Richie Sowa's vision. I would never consider bringing 200,000 plastic bottles together so that I could throw them into the ocean and try to live on them. Read the full article »

The Ingenuity of Man - Overcoming the Challenges of Nature

Submitted by cactii on February 8, 2010 - 10:33am
Plastic Covered Plantation

Human beings are amazing creatures. We're set apart from all the rest of the animal kingdom by our ability to reason and solve problems.

The one thing that amazes me the most about human beings is our ability to work with mother nature. We're able to deal with the challenges she offers up. We're able to overcome these challenges, and use the fruits of our ability to change things for our own benefit.

Man is changing things all the time, it happens all around us in many forms, a lot of times we're not even paying attention enough to realize the feats we've accomplished. Read the full article »

How To Wreck the Sun Too

Submitted by cactii on January 18, 2010 - 8:15am
Space Cannon for Launching Supplies into Space

An article was recently published on Popular Science about a space cannon that could be used to launch supplies into outer space.

The space cannon is important because it has the potential to be able to reduce current space launch costs of about $5,000 per pound down to just $250 per pound.

While there's no mention of the device being used to launch nuclear waste as a projectile into the sun in the original article, the article also appears on Slashdot and Gizmodo where discussions about launching nuclear waste into the sun is well underway. Read the full article »

At the Mercy of Mother Nature – A Reason to Go Green

Submitted by cactii on January 16, 2010 - 9:52am

Recently, Haiti was devastated by an act of mother nature. An earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter Scale quickly and easily destroyed buildings, roadways and the infrastructure that took Haitians many years to build. Every witness to events like the earthquake in Haiti should think about how powerful mother nature is and how it's in everyone's best interest to try and work with her instead of work against her. Read the full article »

I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas

Submitted by cactii on December 25, 2009 - 9:51am

Super short post today!

I just wanted to wish everybody a Merry Christmas. I hope that you're in the company of all those that you care for, that you share some old memories and have some new ones to share in the future.

Merry Christmas!