Miscellaneous Articles
Student's 'Green' Use For Online Social Networking
ScienceDaily (Aug. 20, 2009) - A computer science student at the University of York has created a new Facebook application that uses the social networking website for monitoring
home energy consumption.
Derek Foster developed the WattsUp application, which will also allow people to assess their carbon dioxide emissions, as part of his project for the MSc in Human-centred Interactive
Technologies.
The domestic sector accounts for about 30 per cent of all energy consumed in the UK. The application aims to raise awareness of energy consumption in the home to both reduce
usage and have a positive impact on climate change.
The WattsUp application records users' live and historical household energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, via a special energy monitor: the WATTSON monitor.
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The National Climate Seminar
This fall, join the launch of The National Climate Seminar, and engage your class or community in the critical debates unfolding in Washington and Copenhagen.
On September 9th Dr. Dallas Burtraw, Senior Fellow at Resources for the Future, will initiate a bi-weekly phone conversation featuring top climate scientists, political leaders, and policy
analysts. ( http://www.bard.edu/cep/ncs/ )
Speaking on "US Policy: Eyes on the Prize", Burtraw will provide an overview of, and key insights on, the House and Senate carbon cap-and-trade legislation. Targets, offsets,
allocations -- will the architecture be sound enough to get the job done?
In later weeks, look to hear from Dr. Steve Schneider, Bill McKibben, the Honorable Edward Markey, Hunter Lovins, Andy Revkin and others.
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JOIN THE 350 TEACH - IN
On October 22, colleges, universities & K-12 schools around the world will be part of The 350 Teach-In. Why 350? The Teach-In is supporting the International Day of Action organized
by Bill McKibben's 350.org group. Many scientists believe that we must get below a long run target of 350 ppm CO2 concentrations if we are to stabilize the climate at a point avoiding
catastrophe.
The current issue of Scientific American has a nice feature on our open-ended teach-in's, involving 2500 schools and other institutions over the last two years. Through the 350
Teach-In, we are again providing a voice to young people in Washington, and in Copenhagen.
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An Overdue Ban On A Dangerous Sweetener
Cancer Prevention Coalition CHICAGO, IL, August 15, 2009 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- The artificial sweetener aspartame has been shown to cause cancer in lab rats, and should be banned
for human consumption, warns the Cancer Prevention Coalition.
Under the explicit provisions of the 1958 Delaney Law, which requires an automatic ban on carcinogenic food additives, the Coalition is calling on Dr. Margaret Hamburg, the newly
appointed Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and public health advocate, to promptly ban the continued use of aspartame.
First discovered in 1965 by the pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle, aspartame is an artificial sweetener marketed by Ajinomoto Sweeteners under trademark names including
Nutrasweet, Equal and Canderel.
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Green Campus Program Comes to the Los Angeles Community College District
This fall, the Alliance's Green Campus program will come to the East, West and Southwest campuses of Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD). The program will partner
with key stakeholders to engage the campus community in energy and money-saving activities - many of which mirror the district's current energy efficiency initiatives. The program will
also help prepare students for the green workforce while providing a shot in the arm for LACCD campuses strained by statewide education budget cuts.
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Higher Pathogen Loads In Collapsed Honeybee Colonies, Study Finds
ScienceDaily (Aug. 22, 2009) - Honeybees in colonies affected by colony collapse disorder (CCD) have higher levels of pathogens and are co-infected with a greater number of
pathogens than their non-CCD counterparts, but no individual pathogen can be singled out as the cause of CCD, according to a study by an international team of researchers.
The researchers, who represented Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, University of Liege, Gembloux Agricultural University, North Carolina State University and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS), collected samples of adult bees, wax comb, pollen and brood - developing larvae - from 91 colonies in 13 apiaries in
Florida and California and quantified more than 200 variables, including the presence of parasites such as varroa and tracheal mites; infection by bacteria, viruses and fungi; pesticide
levels; nutritional factors; and bee physiology. No single factor was found consistently only in those colonies suffering from CCD.
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