InDenialEarth.com

The cost keeps rising for BP:

BP’s costs over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill have soared above $3.56 billion, while a giant Taiwanese ship provided hope of revolutionising on-sea skimming operations.

“The cost of the response to date amounts to approximately $US3 billion dollars, including the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid, and federal costs,” BP said on Monday.

The latest estimate is far higher than the $US2.65 billion ($A3.15 billion) given by the energy firm one week ago.

We can only hope the skimming vessel brought in by BP can start to make a difference.

A major boon to the clean-up effort could come in the form of A Whale, a giant ship converted by its Taiwanese owners into what they call the world’s largest oil skimming vessel.

Owners TMT Shipping Offshore say the ship can suck up to 500,000 barrels of oily water a day through its “jaws,” a series of vents on the side of the ship.

By comparison, more than 500 smaller vessels in 10 weeks have only managed to collect some 671,428 barrels of oil-water mix between them.

Read the full article here

One of the best things we have found about re-evaluating our lives has been the complete change in our mindsets regarding buying things.

We are very different people now to what we were 10 or so years ago. Back then, if we wanted something we would buy it. Issues like did we really need it, was it going to really enrich our lives, did we already have one or more of the same thing already in the house just wasn’t something we considered.

Today, we are loathe to replace anything in our home without first considering the impact it has on us, the environment and our wallet.

For instance, we still have an old TV. It is a 68″ CRT TV, big and bulky and perfectly fine. We have considered upgrading to a flat screen plasma or LCD but for us, we still can’t justify the purchase. In terms of energy consumption it appears that plasma is still way too high and apparently our home is best suited to this particular technology.

We also have a really big problem with throwing out a perfectly good TV. It seems, to us anyway, to be just down right wasteful not to mention the guilt we would feel taking it to the tip to be disposed of.  From what I can gather, they don’t do much more than put it in landfill. So it’s just more plastic and glass and whatever else is inside the TV just being buried with millions of other rubbish and waste. Not good.

We can’t even give it away. In Australia charity groups will not take electical devices because they can’t be 100% sure they are safe. I totally understand this policy but it does seem like they are missing out on an opportunity to give less fortunate people appliances that may put a smile on their faces and make life a little more enjoyable.

So until our TV dies a natural death, it will remain in our loungeroom. We are happy about this, makes us feel good.

Telegraph.co.uk reports:

A revolutionary device that can harness energy from slow-moving rivers and ocean currents could provide enough power for the entire world, scientists claim.

The technology can generate electricity in water flowing at a rate of less than one knot - about one mile an hour - meaning it could operate on most waterways and sea beds around the globe.

Existing technologies which use water power, relying on the action of waves, tides or faster currents created by dams, are far more limited in where they can be used, and also cause greater obstructions when they are built in rivers or the sea. Turbines and water mills need an average current of five or six knots to operate efficiently, while most of the earth’s currents are slower than three knots.

The new device, which has been inspired by the way fish swim, consists of a system of cylinders positioned horizontal to the water flow and attached to springs.

As water flows past, the cylinder creates vortices, which push and pull the cylinder up and down. The mechanical energy in the vibrations is then converted into electricity.

Read rest of article.

I’m looking forward to seeing how Benjamin goes giving up gasoline!

WAtoday.com.au reports:

Leading conservationist Jane Goodall has called on Australia to think about urban sprawl and the effect it has on native animals.

Preparing to launch a book on species that are on the brink of extinction, Dr Goodall said Perth, like many other places around the globe, needed to arrest urban sprawl to protect native wildlife.

“One of the problems here, as with so many, many, many places in the world, is urban sprawl,” Dr Goodall said.

“And when you have developers going in and paying absolutely no attention to anything that’s out there, just going in thoughtlessly ripping up the natural habitat to put in their developments, then you get all types of animals who are endemic, at risk of extinction.

“It’s something people need to think about - we should think about this terrible urban sprawl and arrange things so that animals have corridors so they can continue living there.”

I couldn’t agree more. Developers will listen if people insist on only buying in developments where consideration has been given to things that concern them.

Many developers in Perth are now building quality housing estates that have taken into consideration things like technology access, parks and other social requirements. It isn’t much of a stretch to consider that they could include things like corridors for our wildlife to continue living in their habitat.

In Perth, it is devastating to see what developers do when they clear an area for housing. The land is stripped bare with a few token trees left at the entrance. It is essentially one big sand pit quickly filled with fancy new homes and parks with grass and play areas. They look terrible and people pay a fortune to buy a block of land. Madness!!!

Developers should be held accountable, after all they make a small fortune developing the land. For too long they have been given free license to do what they want with little to no consideration for the impact they have on the environment. People are becoming more aware and hopefully the developers will see the cost justification to appeal to this new market.

We are finally back after a lovely time away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

In recent years I have felt a really strong need to get away from our current life in the suburbs and move to the country. For me it’s a case of returning to life as it was as a child. I spent the majority of my childhood in a country town, however my partner has always lived in the city originating in San Antonio, Texas.

We have been together over 10 years now and it was pretty much a case of *not open for discussion* whenever I mentioned moving to the country. But as we have gotten older and wiser, my partner is slowly coming around to the idea.
I’m pretty sure it has a lot to do with our concern for the environment and our impact on it. We both love nature and infact this recent break away involved nature walks every day. I think we are our happiest when outdoors and experiencing what nature has to offer. We were certainly rewarded this trip with sightings of a seal colony and humpback whales not to mention an abundance of bird life and wildflowers.

We are not in a position to move to the country at the moment mainly because of work opportunities but I can say that if we suddenly came into money tomorrow that we would be out of here pretty quick and back walking the many trails around the South West of Western Australia that make us so happy and content.

It has strengthened my resolve to make positive changes in our lives that reduce our impact on the environment.

Here are some pics of our trip away:

CNN Reported: ‘Extinct’ frogs survive devastating fungus

A tiny frog species thought by many experts to be extinct has been rediscovered alive and well in a remote area of Australia’s tropical north, researchers said Thursday.
The Armoured Mistfrog had been seen since 1991 until it was found in Australia’s tropical north.

The Armoured Mistfrog had been seen since 1991 until it was found in Australia’s tropical north.

The 40 millimeters-long (1.5 inch) Armoured Mistfrog had not been seen since 1991, and many experts assumed it had been wiped out by a devastating fungus that struck northern Queensland state.

But two months ago, a doctoral student at James Cook University in Townsville conducting research on another frog species in Queensland stumbled across what appeared to be several Armoured Mistfrogs in a creek, said professor Ross Alford, head of a research team on threatened frogs at the university.

Conrad Hoskin, a researcher at The Australian National University in Canberra who has been studying the evolutionary biology of north Queensland frogs for the past 10 years, conducted DNA tests on tissue samples from the frogs and determined they were the elusive Armoured Mistfrog.

Alford’s group got the results on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency also confirmed Hoskin’s findings.

“A lot of us were starting to believe it had gone extinct, so to discover it now is amazing,” Hoskin said. “It means some of the other species that are missing could potentially just be hidden away along some of the streams up there.”

DeviceInn reports:

Scientists from the Kyushu University in Japan have designed a massive floating power plant that will combine photovoltaic arrays with windmills. This power plant will be deployed off-shore and it will measure 1.25 miles by 0.5 miles and preliminary tests showed that it’s possible and a new generator like this should be ready in about three years.

Besides generating clean energy, the power plant will feature LEDs which will provide lighting for the sea therefore seaweed growth will be stimulated and the fish will be attracted there.

The modular floating power plant will feature units shaped like a hexagon and will generate electricity thanks to wind turbines and photovoltaic generators.

Read the full article

I think this is really amazing and I hope he doesn’t make it all the way through!

This is an interesting idea and one I think I’ll contribute to. It’s called the 551 Project and they want you to make a whale tail, take a picture of it and post your snapshot to their website.

The basic idea behind the project is to show just how many people oppose whaling.

551 whales were killed by Japanese whalers in 2008 in the Australia Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. It is an issue that concerns many Australians partly because the killings occur in our waters and in sanctuaries. We love whales and want to enjoy watching them grace our waters year after year without threat from humans.

Feel free to head on over to the 551 Project and make a whale tail! Oh, and please do leave a comment to let us know you contributed :-)