Blogs
Inspire
High Above the Earth, Satellites Track Melting Ice
The surest sign of a warming Earth is the steady melting of its ice zones, from
disappearing sea ice in the Arctic to shrinking glaciers worldwide. Now, scientists are
using increasingly sophisticated satellite technology to measure the extent, thickness,
and height of ice, assembling an essential picture of a planet in transition.
European Retailers Adopt Voluntary Sustainable Business Code
I have to bite my tongue when I hear people claim how progressive Europe is when
it comes to sustainability and consumerism. Take Amsterdam, where in May I worked and
traveled for two weeks. True, bicycles are everywhere, public transport works, and you can
find great locally grown food. But step into an Albert Heijn supermarket, and you will see
that the capital of tulips and bicycles is also the capital of processed food,
over-packaged in plentiful plastic.
Elves and Sprites
Upper atmospheric lightning or upper atmospheric discharge are terms sometimes
used by researchers to refer to a family of electrical breakdown phenomena that occur well
above the altitudes of normal lightning. The preferred current usage is transient luminous
events (TLEs) to refer to the various types of electrical discharge phenomena in the upper
atmosphere, because they lack several characteristics of the more familiar lower
atmospheric lightning. TLEs include red sprites, sprite halos, blue jets, gigantic jets,
and elves.
UN scientist: Eat less meat to tackle climate change
Rajendra Pachauri, the chair of the UN-run Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said that eating less meat is a good way to reduce damage to the climate.
Solar: the sky is the limit
This week’s record-breaking night flight by the Solar Impulse aircraft has been
widely acclaimed, but few of us are ever likely to fly in such a plane.