Glaciers and Global Warming



Perhaps the best sign that global warming is upon us are the melting of most of the world’s glaciers.  Glaciers are large moving masses of ice.  They are our souvenirs from the last ice age.  Glaciers are the earth’s largest reservoirs for fresh water and the threat of global warming has triggered a phenomenon called glacial retreat.

Scientists site the increase of greenhouse gasses as the main cause of glacial retreat.  Studies show that glaciers all over the world have shown significant shrinkages over the years mainly due to the rapid rise of the earth’s temperatures.  Mountain ranges in the Andes, Himalayas, Alps, Rocky Mountains and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania have shown the most drastic glacial loss.

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Leonardo Di Caprio and his Eco Green Lifestyle



Leonardo Di Caprio is one of Tinseltown’s most sought after actors.  He has come a long way indeed from his fresh faced days as “Jack” in Titanic.  Today Di Caprio is not only an Oscar nominated actor but also an outspoken environmentalist.

To show the world his commitment to sustainable and eco friendly living, he has purchased an eco friendly apartment in New York’s Riverhouse complex.  He has also traded in is hybrid Toyota Prius for a Tesla Roadster, his first sports car.

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Algae Biofuel – the Dream of Green Oil Production



If humans may be called the microcosm of the universe, algae can be considered as the microcosm of environment-friendly energy coming from existing biological sources – the new green biofuel. Wile global scale production of oil from algae still needs to overcome certain practical challenges, the homework on producing an eco-friendly form of biofuel from algae has been completed and various environmental-friendly fuel companies are looking forward to cash this immensely valuable natural source of energy that is barely visible to the general attention of our species.

The history of algae biofuel dates back to 1978 when the Aquatic Species Program (launched in the US) started research on energy production from high-lipid algae that were grown in ponds. Trying, at first, to get hydrogen from algal population, the program later focused on oil production, especially biodiesel. In the mid 90s, the research program came to an end and the publications from the program came out by early 2001. It concluded that the green biofuel from algae would only be economical if oil prices would double than the existing (1998) ones. Today, that limit has been far exceeded and hence the increased interest in algae biofuel for large-scale energy production.

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Cleaning It Green



Whenever it comes to a general discussion of hazardous chemical products, most people tend to feel worried about industrial wastes that are contaminating the air, water, and land around us. To give you all goose bumps, the threat of toxicity is more immediate – lying next to our daily life inside our very own houses. True that the levels of toxic chemicals used in households is usually much lower than those dealt with in industries or workplace. Nevertheless, houses do carry a threat to health and environment due to hazardous chemical products. While different substances in the house may contain higher than safe levels of toxic chemicals, household cleaners are particularly infamous for posing greater risks to health.
Aside from the composition of household cleaners, the latter are of worse concern to health-conscious families because they are used throughout the house for cleaning purposes. Since water is used with many of them, the vapors formed indoors may affect all the inhabitants of the house. Within a house, various cleaners of toxic composition are used in the kitchen, bathrooms, garages, and virtually anywhere. Two main reasons appear to be responsible for the use of potentially harmful chemical cleaners in our modern day houses. First, synthetic chemical cleaners are quick to use and help save the consumer’s time. Secondly, they are easier to use than many natural cleaners that were used prior to the popularity of synthetic cleaners. Given the health and environmental effects (both actually related) of synthetic cleaners, spending more time and effort is worth adopting.
Prior to going for natural and safer cleaners at home, it is important to identify hazardous cleaning agent used for household cleaning. This is easy since most of such cleaners are labeled with one of these three main alarming words: Danger, Warning, and Caution. Those marked with the word ‘Danger’ are the most toxic followed by those with ‘Warning’, and products labeled with ‘Caution’ are rather low in toxicity (though still not advisable for use). Generally, caustic and highly evanescent (solvent) substances used at home are mostly toxic to health. In the long term, they cause a large number of health problems ranging from skin problems to cancer.
For general safety to your health and environment, proper disposal of all waste/left-over materials is indispensable. Following the instructions on the container is the best way of safely using the product it contains. All labels need to be duplicated and affixed to a new container in case the user needs to change containers. People with access to the Internet (and who hasn’t got it these days) can get plenty of free information on safe disposal of household products. It goes without saying that all chemical cleaners need to be kept out of the reach of kids.

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