Archive for the ‘Environmental math’ Category

This is an interesting quote from Theodore Roosevelt, US president from 1901 to 1909. We of an older generation can get along with what we have, though with growing hardship; but in your full manhood and womanhood you will want what nature once so bountifully supplied and man so thoughtlessly destroyed; and because of that […]

This is a manual on how to end your own civilisation - by ruining the environment.

Extraordinary concept, this black toilet paper from Renova. Yep, I would use it once for the novelty. However, I would probably feel the need for subsequent cleanliness quality control. But I was pondering the other day... why is (white) toilet paper bleached? Does it really matter if it is greyish (which I imagine would be […]

There are 2 very promising inventions that use compressed air as the energy source. The first, from France, drives a piston engine (which does not require any ignition of a carbon-base fuel). The second, which seems more promising, is from Australia and it drives a light (13kg) and simple rotary engine. The compressed air is […]

China and India are hell-bent on "catching up with the West" and building pollution-spewing cars. We will be stuck with $50+ per barrel oil and world instability as a result for a very long time. Why don't they take the opportunity to pour money into development of fuel cells or hybrid cars and tax the […]

I just finished watching a brilliant Canadian movie, H20. It was intelligent, well-written, well-directed and very thought-provoking. A conspiracy involves the son of a recently-assassinated Canadian prime minister. A group of businessmen attempts to change the political landscape of the whole of North America. The bargaining chip? Water. Full of mystery and danger, the movie […]

Some interesting stats pulled from World Data Sheet: Percentage of the world living below US$2 per day: 53% Projected world population in 2050: 9.3 billion, an increase of 43% from 2005. Japan's population will drop 21% from now to 2050, China's will increase 10%, even though the one-child policy is still in place. Singapore's infant […]

The worst hurricane in US history has left a mess in southern US states. Very few scientists are now denying that global warming is happening - the jury is still out on exactly what is causing it. But surely we should be doing all we can to prevent it - and the world's greatest polluter […]

I would love to see a world which is not so dependent on oil. The Toyota Prius is a very interesting possibility for the end of such nonsense. I had the pleasure of driving the Prius a few times recently. It has an electric motor (which doubles as a generator when the car is slowing […]

When I lived in Japan in the late 1980s, we would morbidly discuss worst-case earthquake scenarios. The "Big One" - a massive earthquake that will hit Tokyo - is long overdue. On average, massive earthquakes have hit the region every 70 years or so. The last one was in 1923, when most of the loss […]