A short film by Danielle Lurie, a filmmaker who happened to be in the right place at the right time.
Gulf Waters Open For Recreational Fishermen
As the BP fix continues to keep oil from leaking in the Gulf, there is a bit of new hope in the area with some waters reopening to recreational fishing.
For people in Louisiana, this weekend has been very good, the first good weekend in months. Recreational fishermen were given the green light to head out on the water and cast away.
As NPR’s Russell Lewis reports now from Grand Isle, Louisiana, it’s the first time in a long time people had news to be happy about.
(READ or listen to the story on NPR)
IPhone App Scans Food For Better Health
A new iPhone app dissects packaged food ingredients to provide information on harmful additives, toxic ingredients and genetically modified foods. The iScanMyFood app was released by IQ Advanced of San Diego, CA to allow consumers to learn more about the ingredients in the food and beverages purchased every day at the supermarket.
Not a bar code reader, it is rather an OCR (optical character reader) using advanced technology using the iPhone camera. The photo is then converted into text and processed through a proprietary software which pulls matching additives from a database and presents them to the end user as results. These results can then be named and saved in a personal database and also emailed for further research.
Westerners Rally to Bring Free Hay to Horse Owners in Need
Horses cost much more to feed than normal house pets — at least one hundred dollars for bales of hay every month. Out of the recent recession a Colorado woman has emerged to help horse owners keep four-legged family members fed.
Since January, her non-profit Hay Bank has helped 30 horse owners who have fallen, due to illness or job loss, on hard times. Recently Amy drove four hours to deliver hay to a woman she’d never met.
WATCH the Making a Difference video below, or on MSNBC…
Westerners Rally to Bring Free Hay to Horse Owners in Need
Horses cost much more to feed than normal house pets — at least one hundred dollars for bales of hay every month. Out of the recent recession a Colorado woman has emerged to help horse owners keep four-legged family members fed.
Since January, her non-profit Hay Bank has helped 30 horse owners who have fallen, due to illness or job loss, on hard times. Recently Amy drove four hours to deliver hay to a woman she’d never met.
WATCH the Making a Difference video below, or on MSNBC…
BP Oil Cap Shows No Sign of New Leaks
BP was encouraged Saturday as the final hours ticked away on a two-day trial run of a massive cap on its busted Gulf of Mexico well, saying there no signs of new leaks and oil was being kept out of the water.
Kent Wells, a BP PLC vice president, said there was no evidence from an array of pressure, temperature, sonar and other readings that oil was escaping through the sea floor or anywhere else in the well.
(READ the AP story at NPR)
Tesla to Build Electric Rav4 for Toyota
Tesla Motors will produce the electric Rav4 crossover SUVs for Toyota Motor Co. beginning in 2012, the two companies announced Friday.
A fleet of electric Rav4 prototypes will be delivered later this year, while the first prototype has already been built, they said, and is undergoing evaluation. The SUVs will be built in California.
Toyota announced in May that it planned to invest $50 million in Tesla Motors upon the completion of the electric car maker’s initial public offering, which took place on June 29.
(READ the story in CNN Money)
Image by mediaguru, Creative Commons license (2.0)
Ford Invents Eco-Friendly Soy Rubber
Ford Motor Company researchers have engineered a formula to use renewable soy oil to improve rubber car parts making them more environmentally friendly.
By using renewable soy oil as a replacement for 25 percent of the petroleum oil used in rubber, Ford more than doubles the material’s stretchability and helps reduce the carbon emissions from its raw materials. The new formula can be used in automotive parts such as deflector shields and baffles, radiator deflector shields, cupholder inserts and floor mats.
Ford also was the first automaker to demonstrate that soy-based foams could be formulated to pass stringent requirements for automotive applications, starting with seats for the 2008 Ford Mustang later on Ford Escapes and Mercury Mariners.
Using bio foam on more than 2 million vehicles, Ford has annually reduced its petroleum oil usage by more than 3 million pounds and its carbon dioxide emissions by 11 million pounds.
The use of soy content in automotive applications also supports American farmers. The United Soybean Board works with Ford in an effort to get more soy-based products to market.
Ford also is looking at the use of other renewable sources for foam, including grape seed and sunflower oil. In addition to bio foam, the company is working with post-consumer recycled resins to make underbody systems, post-industrial recycled yarns for seat fabrics, repurposed nylon carpeting made into nylon resin and molded into cylinder head covers, and wheat straw-reinforced plastic parts.
The use of recycled or renewable content is making a positive impact on the environment and Ford’s bottom line. In 2009, Ford reduced the amount of automotive-related plastics to landfills by nearly 30 million pounds and saved approximately $4.5 million by reusing recycled materials.
Ford Invents Eco-Friendly Soy Rubber
Ford Motor Company researchers have engineered a formula to use renewable soy oil to improve rubber car parts making them more environmentally friendly.
By using renewable soy oil as a replacement for 25 percent of the petroleum oil used in rubber, Ford more than doubles the material’s stretchability and helps reduce the carbon emissions from its raw materials. The new formula can be used in automotive parts such as deflector shields and baffles, radiator deflector shields, cupholder inserts and floor mats.
New York Opens its First Electric Vehicle Charging Station
Mayor Bloomberg opened the city’s first electric-vehicle charging station at a commercial parking lot, adding some spark to a nationwide push to boost infrastructure for electric cars.
Forty chargers will be installed for New York City-owned electric cars and hybrid fleets, alone. Chargers will also be installed in public parking lots so cars can be recharged while people work and in private garages, such as those under apartment buildings — more than 100 stations throughout the NYC metropolitan area by 2011.
With matching grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Coulomb Technologies will provide nearly 5,000 of its ChargePoint charging stations in nine US cities: Austin, Texas, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Fla., Sacramento, California, the San Jose/San Francisco Bay Area, Bellevue/Redmond, Wash., and Washington DC. The program, called ChargePoint America, is a strategic partnership between Coulomb and three leading automobile makers: Ford, Chevrolet and Smart USA.
ChargePoint Network is open to all drivers of plug-in vehicles and provides:
* Charging status by SMS text or email notification
* Location of unoccupied charging stations via smart phones
* A ChargePoint iPhone and Blackberry App
* Authenticated access to eliminate energy theft and optimize safety
The NYC charging station was unveiled yesterday at an Edison Properties parking facility at 451 9th Avenue in Manhattan.
(READ more of the story in CS Monitor)
New York Opens its First Electric Vehicle Charging Station
Mayor Bloomberg opened the city’s first electric-vehicle charging station at a commercial parking lot, adding some spark to a nationwide push to boost infrastructure for electric cars.
Forty chargers will be installed for New York City-owned electric cars and hybrid fleets, alone. Chargers will also be installed in public parking lots so cars can be recharged while people work and in private garages, such as those under apartment buildings — more than 100 stations throughout the NYC metropolitan area by 2011.
With matching grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Coulomb Technologies will provide nearly 5,000 of its ChargePoint charging stations in nine US cities: Austin, Texas, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Fla., Sacramento, California, the San Jose/San Francisco Bay Area, Bellevue/Redmond, Wash., and Washington DC. The program, called ChargePoint America, is a strategic partnership between Coulomb and three leading automobile makers: Ford, Chevrolet and Smart USA.
ChargePoint Network is open to all drivers of plug-in vehicles and provides:
* Charging status by SMS text or email notification
* Location of unoccupied charging stations via smart phones
* A ChargePoint iPhone and Blackberry App
* Authenticated access to eliminate energy theft and optimize safety
The NYC charging station was unveiled yesterday at an Edison Properties parking facility at 451 9th Avenue in Manhattan.
(READ more of the story in CS Monitor)
Seeds of Peace Camp: Sowing Tolerance Among Former Foes
While governments can do important work to promote it, peace, tolerance and understanding come mostly from people. That’s why the South Asian Seeds of Peace participants will be important messengers in countries back home — Afghanistan, India and Pakistan.
This week, teenagers complete a three-week camp program in Maine designed to promote conflict resolution and mutual understanding. They were joined at the camp by Palestinian, Israeli, Egyptian and American teens.
2010 camp photo by Bobbie Gottschalk
“During your weeks at camp you established new friendships that cross borders and barriers,” a State Department official told the campers in a gathering on Wednesday.
Seeds of Peace “is more than a summer program,” said Under Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy Judith McHale. “It is dedicated to empowering young leaders from regions of conflict with the leadership skills required to advance reconciliation and coexistence.”
With support from the State Department, the program was expanded to include participants from South Asia, beginning in 2001.
Now ambassadors for the program, each of the participants began their journey at a flag-raising ceremony on the first day of their camp experience. A second-year female participant from Egypt told the participants who are idealistically expecting peace that it will be an elusive goal, but that the program nevertheless asks them to courageously pursue it.
“The only thing you can do is carry on,” she said. “We live in a world of atrocities. The journey you are embarking on is not easy. But if you want to enjoy the honey, you must endure the sting of the bee.”
“Be brave. You are blessed to be here. Bloodshed and hate and war are not inevitable. We are the Seeds of Peace.”
According to a July 14 State Department media note, participants remain in touch with each other after their camp experience, both online and through digital videoconferences, as well as face to face through home stays and regional programs.
The visit to Washington at the conclusion of their camp experience allows them to share their experiences and gain exposure to U.S. policymakers. Along with the State Department, the ‘Seeds’ also visit the White House and meet with members of the U.S. Congress.
Addressing the Seeds, Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake said, “All of you are really going to be serving as important bridges between all of your three countries.”
(Produced by seedsofpeace.org, edited by Good News Network)
Seeds of Peace Camp: Sowing Tolerance Among Former Foes
While governments can do important work to promote it, peace, tolerance and understanding come mostly from people. That’s why the South Asian Seeds of Peace participants will be important messengers in countries back home — Afghanistan, India and Pakistan.
This week, teenagers complete a three-week camp program in Maine designed to promote conflict resolution and mutual understanding. They were joined at the camp by Palestinian, Israeli, Egyptian and American teens.
2010 camp photo by Bobbie Gottschalk
Paul Allen Pledges Majority of his Billions to Philanthropy
Wealthy Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has taken up his friend Bill Gates’ challenge to publicly pledge the majority of his wealth to philanthropy.
Allen, who is 57, said yesterday that he plans to leave the majority of his $13 billion estate to philanthropy to continue the work of his foundation and to fund scientific research. It was also a way of marking the 20th anniversary of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, which he started in 1990 and has since given 3,000 grants totaling about $400 million.
His total giving over the years has reached about $1 billion, reflecting eclectic interests in science, the arts and education, including nonprofits he founded: the Allen Institute for Brain Science and the Experience Music Project.
(READ more in the Seattle Times)
BP Strikes Success, Stops Oil From Leaking
This afternoon, BP was able to test a containment cap on the blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico, after a series of problems and delays. Now, for the first time in months, there is no oil flowing into the Atlantic Ocean, the company says.
NPR’s Richard Harris said that, half an hour ago, he was watching live footage of the well when “the huge clouds of oil just simply stopped flowing.”
This was part of the test, as BP measures pressure in the well to see how it’s holding. Higher pressure readings mean the well is containing the oil, while lower pressure means some is leaking out. At the moment, it is “too soon” to conclude results, BP said. BP will formally review data from the test with government officials every six hours, Suttles said, so a key time will occur later Thursday night, said CNN on their website.
(READ the story at NPR.org)
Solar Powered Roads Can Collect Electricity, Melt Snow, and Wake Sleepy Drivers
An Idaho man envisioned “electric roads” way back in his early childhood. Now, in his own state-of-the-art electronics lab, he is building the panels for a solar roadway he hopes will make petroleum-based asphalt obsolete.
Scott Brusaw’s Solar Roadways company is busy with a prototype incorporating all the best ideas for highway design: Roads and sidewalks embedded with solar cells to collect energy, which could pay for the cost of the panels; heating elements in the surface to eliminate the need for snow plows; and LEDs embedded to provide illuminated road lines that light up the road for safer driving at night.
Solar Powered Roads Can Collect Electricity, Melt Snow, and Wake Sleepy Drivers
An Idaho man envisioned “electric roads” way back in his early childhood. Now, in his own state-of-the-art electronics lab, he is building the panels for a solar roadway he hopes will make petroleum-based asphalt obsolete.
Scott Brusaw’s Solar Roadways company is busy with a prototype incorporating all the best ideas for highway design: Roads and sidewalks embedded with solar cells to collect energy, which could pay for the cost of the panels; heating elements in the surface to eliminate the need for snow plows; and LEDs embedded to provide illuminated road lines that light up the road for safer driving at night.
Father and Son Team Hoyt Inspire Other Families to Run With Disabled Members
If you have not heard the inspiring story of Team Hoyt, watch this update from NBC about how other families have picked up the baton and started running races with their disabled children.
Feeling the wind in their faces, they experience real participation in sports, from their front row seat in jogging wheel chairs.
WATCH the Making a Difference video below, or at NBC Nightly News…
RELATED: When Doctors Say Your Child Will be ‘a Vegetable’ (Team Hoyt, Oct. 2006, GNN)
Push to Save Tigers Leaps Forward at Bali Meeting
Tigers in 13 countries will be safer after a critical meeting this week laid the foundation for world leaders to agree to a historical global plan to double the number of tigers in the wild.
The Tiger Summit in Bali produced solid plans to double the number of tigers in the wild by 2022 along with commitments to raise the $356 million to implement the Global Tiger Recovery Program.
“Hosting this meeting in Bali – where the Balinese tiger went extinct in the 1940s – is a symbol of Indonesia’s commitment to help with this global effort to protect tigers and bring them back from the brink of extinction,” said WWF Indonesia CEO Dr. Efransjah.
“Now that these countries have shown their willingness to act, the success of any global plan launched in St. Petersburg will depend on financial support from the international community and the tiger nations themselves,” said Michael Baltzer, leader of WWF’s Tiger Program.
The meeting is a prelude to the Tiger Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia in September.
Governments also agreed to elements for a Leader’s Declaration. Calling the Tiger Summit “unprecedented,” the Declaration will include:
- An agreement that tigers are key to healthy ecosystems
- That tiger conservation efforts are primarily a national responsibility, but that “financial and technical support of the international community ” is still needed to save wild tigers
- That the 13 governments will collaborate on issues that affect tigers across borders, including ensuring the uninhibited movement of tigers and the management of joint tiger conservation areas
- Increasing enforcement efforts to eradicate poaching, the main driver of tiger loss, and to reduce the trafficking of tiger parts
- Identifying and better protecting key tiger habitats, such as critical breeding areas
- Improving protection efforts by implementing systematic patrols of tiger areas, and protecting their prey
World tiger experts and representatives from other NGOs, including the Global Tiger Initiative, also are in attendance this week.
The Bali meeting is a follow up to earlier governmental meetings on tiger conservation, including one in Thailand in January where the goal of doubling the number of wild tigers was adopted.
Tigers are in a dire situation. The global wild population is reduced to an estimated 3,200 individuals. From nine tiger sub-species, six exist today — the Sumatran, Bengal, Amur, Indochinese, South China and Malayan tiger. Threats to the tiger include poaching and illegal trade, massive habitat fragmentation and destruction.
With an estimated 400 Sumatran tigers left, or 12 percent of the global tiger population Indonesia has a key role to play in the global tiger recovery program.
(Source: WWF)
Recovery of Persian Gulf From Oil Spill Should Encourage US
It was the worst oil spill ever. And it happened in the Persian Gulf, fewer than 20 years ago. What clues does the 1991 Gulf War oil spill hold for the recovery from the continuing blowout of BP’s Gulf well?
On January 22, Iraqi soldiers occupying Kuwait began opening valves at the Sea Island oil terminal. Up to 11 million barrels of oil poured into the Gulf, compared with between 2.8-4.8 million barrels from BP’s well.
Clean-up operations were impossible at first due to continuing fighting and the risk of mines. But eventually 1.5 million barrels of it were skimmed up by Saudi ships and winds drove the rest southwards until it beached along the Kuwaiti and Saudi coast.
The initial impact was devastating with calm salt marshes suffering the most, but recovery was in places encouraging.