Where: Shanghai Auto Show in Shanghai, China

When: April 19, 2007

Who: General Motors Corporation

What: Unveiling a Version of the Chevrolet Volt Electric Car

At the Shanghai Auto Show this weekend, GM unveiled a new version of the Chevrolet Volt electric car. In order to extend its range with zero emissions, this car uses a hydrogen fuel cell. “The experimental Volt is GM’s leading entry in the auto industry’s race to create a commercially viable electric car that can compete with the range and performance of gasoline-powered models.” The theme of Shanghai’s Auto Show is alternative vehicles. Automakers plan to show off their fuel cell and gasoline-electric hybrid models.

GM’s Chevrolet Volt

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

The new volt, in order to extend its range to 300 miles, uses lithium-ion batteries that can be plugged in to charge and a fuel cell to recharge them while on the road. Increasing these fuel cell vehicles gives them a confident chance to complete alongside gasoline vehicles. How to fuel cell vehicles really work? These vehicles “run on the power produced when oxygen in the air combines with hydrogen that’s stored in the fuel tank – producing only harmless water vapor.”

GM has not yet set a day for the start of selling this car. Right now, they have begun production enginerring, a process that alone can take three to four years. GM plans to distribute 100 of its produced cars to members of the public in North America, Europe, and Asia for testing.

According to Lawrence D. Burns, GM’s vice president for research, a key factor for the electric car to be accepted is the availability of hydrogen at filling stations. Right now, companies are developing technology to produce hydrogen from natural gas

Hopefully, GM will to able to satisfy the consumer in order for the Chevrolet Volt to be purchased. It’s a great step in the right direction, because automobile emissions are one of the greatest contributors to global warming. If everything works out and this car gets on the market, trips to the gas station could be potentially eliminated!! So let’s hope everything works out.

Sources

http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayServlet?target=http://image.emerald.gm.com/gmnews/viewmonthlyreleasedetail.do?domain=3&docid=31656

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12611

http://www.businessweek.com/autos/content/jan2007/bw20070108_195447.htm

http://www.thecarconnection.com/Auto_News/Green_Car_News/GM_Plugs_Fuel_Cells_into_Volt.S196.A12244.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Volt

The city of Vancouver, British Columbia is trying to make its city as environmentally friendly for the 2010 Winter Olympics by heating the athletes’ village through sewers. Officials have decided to use the heat from the sewers to heat the buildings. This sewer-heat system is very similar to that of geothermal energy. Somewhat like a geothermal energy system, a sewer-heat system uses exchangers to extract waste heat from the sewage. Don’t worry about the odours, air filters will be installed to remove odour.

Example of a Geothermal Energy Plant in the Philippines

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Currently, there are two other similar sewage-heat systems in operation in Norway and Japan. Vancouver is said to be the first one in North America and is predicted to be completed in 2009. When completed the sewer-heat system will heat the neighboring area which includes athletes village. The construction is said to cost a whopping C$20 million. The conversion to dollars would be:

1.13 Canadian = 1 dollar

20 million Canadian = 17.7 million dollars

I think that it’s a great idea that Vancouver is heating the Winter Olympic games through sewers. It’s a great way to help out the environment, even though on exceptionally cold days natural gas will be used. This idea when completed will not only benefit the athletes village, but also the neighboring area. It’s a great way to save resources and make the most of what already is given to us.

Sources:

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=80f80713-d6ee-48b0-b174-9a546f1a63db

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12605

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_energy

You might be wondering what exactly I mean by the title “Go Tap!!!” Well the truth is that people should start drinking more tap water in order to help the environment. Huh?!? It was recently said by United States Environmentalists and I quote, “bottled drinking water is contributing to global warming.” In order to decrease the progress of global warming we need to start drinking bottled water and go tap!

Pile of Poland Spring Bottled Water

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Bottled water companies generate an estimated profit of $11 billion in sales. Why?? Because more than 8 billion gallons of bottled water is being consumed annually in the United States.

The production of plastic bottles alone burns more than 1.5 million barrels of oil. All of these barrels could power 100,000 cars for a full year. We, as human beings, need to think about all of the unnecessary energy costs that go into making a bottle of water. A bottle that will most likely end up in the trash.

Tying in with our lesson on the “ecological footprint,” one of the easiest ways to lower our footprint is by drinking tap water instead of buying bottled water. Being a regular bottled water drinker myself, I am going to begin drinking and replacing my bottled water with tap water. Such a small change in someone’s life can fuel 100,000 cars for a year. I hope that everyone, including myself, will try to better our ecological footprint by drinking tap water.

Sources:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20070420-20592100-bc-us-bottledwater.xml

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Science/2007/04/20/environmentalists_blast_bottled_water/

http://media.www.dailyfreepress.com/media/storage/paper87/news/2007/01/17/News/A.BottledWater.Blast-2651112.shtml

Two years ago, a strong earthquake struck Indonesia’s Sumatra island killing nearly 1,000 people. Not only did this earthquake bring grief amongst the people, but it also caused one of the biggest coral reef die-offs ever recorded. Scientists from the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society and the government-backed Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies found that the earthquake had raised the island of Simeulue up to 1.2 metres. This rise caused the coral reef to be exposed over approximately 300 km of sea floor.

Coral Reef

Photo Credited to: Wikipedia

Although some sites in Simeulue have recovered, none of the coral that was raised during the earthquake survived. Because the reefs are beginning to look like what they were before the earthquake species are beginning to recolonize, but it may take years for the reefs to fully recover. Scientists and researchers took advantage of this one in a life time opportunity. In order to ensure that the reef remains alive and in great conditions the Australian government banned the use of chemicals to catch fish. I think that it’s great that many scientists and researchers get to be involved in this once in a lifetime opportunity and that its great that parts of the coral reef are recovering, but it also allows the viewers to see what great damage something such as an earthquake can cause.

Sources:

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12567

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSJAK25142920070412?feedType=RSS

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/41364/story.htm

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,265920,00.html

What difference can one person make? As the world continues to stretch its finite resources because of rapid population growth, air, water and soil pollution, problems are continuing to increase. The biggest of all is global warming. Global warming threatens to push our planet overboard unless humans can meet the growing need and create a sustainable environment. So how can one person contribute to this enormous environmental problem? Well, let’s look at some examples.

Photo Courtesy of: Wikipedia

Rachel Carson was just one person who was accredited for starting the environmental movement in the United States just by writing Silent Spring. John Muir was just one person who inspired generation of conservationists by saving the Yosemite Valley and founding the Sierra Club. Wangari Maathai (refer to my November 11, 2006 post about her, entitled “Campaign to Fight Global Warming Launches to Plant 1,000,000 Trees in 2007″) was just one person who started planting trees in Kenya and for her contribution was awarded the Noble Peace Prize for 2004. Al Gore was just one person who made his voice heard and presented it in a slide show by the name of An Inconvenient Truth, which became an Academy Award Winning Film and best-selling book.

It only takes ONE person to have a huge impact on the Earth and its environment. We all have to power to control our actions and do what is more environmentally friendly in our daily lives. We need to use products that will help sustain the Earth rather than erode it. So TAKE ACTION and MAKE CHANGES in your daily life. Use less water, plant a tree, eat locally grown food, and use reusable shopping bags. Do anything that will be beneficiary to the Earth, DO SOMETHING!

Sources:

http://environment.about.com/b/a/256887.htm

http://environment.about.com/od/globalwarming/tp/globalwarmtips.htm

Because we have been working on the ecological footprint of a human being, I thought that it would be interesting to do some research on what we can do to make our footprint smaller as well as help the environment. It is known to most that a lot of the food that we eat from the grocery store contains pesticides and many are grown in single crop plantings. It is a belief that these pesticides increase the productivity of crops by 40 percent. Because of its ability to grown, pesticides are now being introduced into poor countries with the hopes that it will end world hunger.

Will pesticides alone end world hunger?? Holistically, this is not true because organic farming produces significantly higher yields of crops at a lower cost. It was proven by England’s Essex University that countries such as India, Kenya, Brazil, Guatemala, and Honduras have doubled or even tripled their yields by switching to organic agriculture.

Organic Farming

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Organic-vegetable-cultivation.jpeg

Not only does organic farming produce higher yields of crops but it also “increases soil fertility and prevents loss of topsoil to erosion, while conventional methods have the opposite effect.” Organic farming is also a financial benefit. By not wasting money on pesticides and fertilizer, farmers are putting the extra money in their pocket. According to the Organic Consumers Association, with sales of domestic organic food growing at about 20 percent annually, organic farms are said to have a boost in the years to come.

Organic farming alone can’t stop world hunger, but with the help of environmental leaders and human rights workers this problem can be tackled. The government just needs to focus on “the social and political factors involved in poverty and food distribution” in order to prevent millions of people from starving.

I think that by introducing and allowing organic farming to take over pesticides, the world would have a better chance of solving the issue of world hunger. We need to think about the future. With millions of people hungry everyday we need to focus on the issue as a whole and what we could do to end it entirely. Pesticides not only destroy soil but also cost money. By growing rice, corn, and wheat the organic way we can not only guarantee a brighter future but also a healthier lifestyle.

Sources:

http://environment.about.com/od/healthenvironment/a/organicfarming.htm

http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/indexNet.htm