Coca-Cola unveiled on Thursday a new plastic bottle made partially from plants. Trademarked the PlantBottle, it is fully recyclable like other plastics yet eases the company’s reliance on petroleum resources, while reducing their carbon emissions by up to 25%.
The PlantBottle is made through a process that turns sugar cane and molasses, a by-product of sugar production, into a key component for PET plastic.
The world’s first completely solar-powered stadium, located in Taiwan, is set to be completed in time for July’s World Games. Every inch of the massive roof is covered in solar panels — enough to power the structure’s 3,300 lights, two huge TV screens, and maybe sell some electricity back to the grid. It even incorporates the ancient art of Feng Shui.
Stadiums in the U.S. are becoming increasingly energy efficient too. The Philips Arena in Atlanta and the American Airlines Arena in Miami, became the first to receive LEED certification last month thanks in part to energy-efficient underground parking, water-conserving toilets, and carpeting made from recycled materials. Owners expect to shave $500,000 off yearly utility bills as a result of the conservation measures. (Right: artist’s rendering of Dragon stadium)
Habitat for Humanity has been given a $100 million gift from Atlanta developer J. Ronald Terwilliger, who said his work in the housing industry affords him an understanding of the struggle of poor people to find decent housing.
The nonprofit group announced Thursday it will be able to build 60,000 homes around the globe with the gift — the largest individual contribution in its history.
Mr. Terwilliger is a former chief executive of housing developer Trammell Crow Residential Co. and a longtime member of Habitat’s board of directors.
(Read more in AP report at MSNBC)
Habitat for Humanity International has helped more than 300,000 families move from deplorable housing into simple, decent homes they helped build and can afford to buy and live in.
It was founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller. By the organization’s 25th anniversary, tens of thousands of people were volunteering with Habitat and more than 500,000 people were living in Habitat homes.
Click to get involved in your locality, volunteer, and help build a home.
Hazel and Nazih Zebian were sitting in their office doing what they described as the “usual whining and complaining” about how bad business had become and questioning how much longer they could last.
Then, they saw a story about a poor Egyptian farmer caring for a family of 14 whose herd of pigs was ripped away from him without compensation by a government in a “misguided attempt to prevent swine flu.”
Hazel’s heart ached for the man, and she wished that she could replace the herd herself.
The sad story added a perspective to her life and finances. She talked to her husband and sent the money – more than $1,000.
A struggling single mother from Washington state recently discovered that more than 270 thousand dollars had “magically” appeared in her bank account. But, honesty forced the Washington woman to return it.
Video below may take a moment to load, or see it at the NewsRoom …
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced today that it will provide uninterrupted prescriptions for free to unemployed Americans and their families who have recently lost their jobs and are without health insurance. The inspiration for the new program was generated by Pfizer employees who were witnessing friends, family and neighbors struggle to maintain their prescriptions after losing their jobs.
More than 70 Pfizer primary care medicines will be available in the program, which will be open for enrollment through December 31, 2009. Regardless of prior family income, uninsured Americans who have become unemployed since January 1, 2009 and who are taking Pfizer medicines will be able to continue treatment for free for up to one year.
Led by the Smithsonian Institution, zoos in the US, Panama and Mexico are reenergizing the effort to save frogs from a deadly fungus blamed for the death of dozens of species.
The new Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project was announced Monday, to raise money and deploy scientists armed with the latest research to a small slice of Panama that is the only area in Central America that appears to be untouched by the disease.
Researchers are excited by new studies into the fast-spreading chytrid fungus which shows that a frogs’ own bacteria can be used to fight the fungal infection. Scientists from James Madison University in Virginia who bathed frogs in a mixture containing the bacteria recorded a 100 percent survival rate.
DONATE to help save the frogs at amphibianrescue.com.
Major Phil Packer lost both his legs in Iraq. Doctors back home said he would never walk again.
Not only is Phil walking again (with canes), he has just finished the London marathon, walking two miles per day. Determined to raise a million pounds for charity, he is taking on other challenges — rowing the channel and pulling himself to the top of El Capitan mountain.
Watch the inspiring video from ITN and the UK Telegraph, below, and get the latest updates at PhilPacker.com.
There are lots of creative ways to produce biofuel from algae, but NASA’s takes the cake. The space agency is growing biofuel in plastic bags of sewage floating in the sea. The Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae (OMEGA) bags are based on technology used to recycle astronauts’ wastewater.
The bags are filled with sewage and algae. The algae eat nutrients in the sewage, clean up the water, and produce lipids for fuel with help from water, solar energy, and CO2. At the end of the process, oxygen and fresh water are released from the bags.
(Learn more from Ariel Schwartz at Fast Company)
Displaying an iron will that vexed the bureaucrats, the 5-foot-tall, 90-pound monk waged a one-woman battle that included dozens of sit-ins and hunger strikes.
Despite condemnation and indictment, a determined woman has devoted herself to helping preserve the natural environment in her native South Korea. Following her own beliefs, and not always meeting with external success, she continues her work.
Clayton Homes’ new industrial-chic “i-house” is about as far removed from a mobile home as an iPod from a record player.
The solar-powered, energy efficient prefab house features decks and bamboo floors, and was conceived as a moderately priced “plug and play” dwelling for environmentally conscious homebuyers. It went on sale nationwide Saturday with its presentation at the annual shareholders’ meeting of investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire-Hathaway Inc. in Omaha, Neb.
“This is truly a home of the future,” Buffett wrote his shareholders. “Estimated costs for electricity and heating total only about $1 per day when the home is sited in an area like Omaha.”
Mayor Gavin Newsom announced yesterday that San Francisco has attained a US recycling record by keeping 72% of all recyclable material out of landfills — up from 70% the year before.
The city is closing in on its goal of 75 percent landfill diversion by 2010. The most significant gains came from the recycling of material from building sites – due in large part to its 2006 mandatory Construction and Demolition Debris Recovery Ordinance.
South Africa’s declaration to establish one of the world’s largest Marine Protected Area’s around its Prince Edward Islands, is a marine conservation achievement of global significance that will help protect a suite of spectacular wildlife, including albatrosses, penguins and killer whales.
The Islands, which consist of Prince Edward and Marion Islands, are located almost 2000 km south of South Africa in the Southern Ocean, and form an important global biodiversity hotspot, which was subject to rampant poaching during the late 1990’s because of its remote location.
Every household in Britain should by 2020 be able to cut its energy bills and carbon footprint using “smart meters” and handheld devices to control energy use closely, the government said on Monday.
Britain plans to replace all existing electricity and gas meters — often clunky objects hidden away amid domestic clutter in dark understairs cupboards — with easily viewed devices that show consumers exactly how much energy they are using, including by individual appliances.
John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, opened a new exhibition on the former Beatle’s life in New York City. Included in the collection, on display in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame annex, are personal instuments, clothing, and even a photo of the smashed and bloodied glasses worn on the day he was killed.
Video may take a moment to load, or see it at TheNewsRoom…
A baby boom in the Atlantic for the endangered right whale has naturalists cheering. A record 39 calves born this spring shatters the old record of 31. For comparison, in the spring of 2000 only one calf was born.
Each birthing season is important because right whales number fewer than 400 and are among the most endangered whales in the world.
(Read more in AP story from LA Times)
ABOVE: The right whale with baby calf in spring of 2009, photo courtesy of the New England Aquarium
Michael Jordan’s Nike commercial heralds (in a whisper) the inspiring message that failure is the path to success.
Although this advertisement is not new, the message is as relevant today as it has ever been: Just do it!
(Thanks to DarynKagen.com for the link!)
The last survivor of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 is getting a hand from Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. The “Titanic” stars, along with director James Cameron, have contributed to a $30,000 fund for Millvina Dean, 97, to help pay her nursing home bills.
Dean was the ill-fated ship’s youngest passenger — only nine weeks old upon being carried unto the Titanic from Southampton, England — and is now its last remaining survivor.
Women who take folic acid supplements for at least one year before they become pregnant may cut their risk of having a premature baby by half, according to research published this week in the online journal, PLOS Medicine.
The study links pre-conceptional folate supplementation of at least one year to reduced early premature delivery rates of 50 to 70 percent, regardless of age, race or other factors. Of particular note is the drop in very early premature births, those babies who are at the greatest risk of complications such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation, chronic lung disease, and blindness.
The study is an observational analysis based on the self-reporting of folate supplementation by 38,033 participants in an earlier trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH.) The current study only examined singleton pregnancies and excluded pregnancies with medical or obstetrical complications such as preeclampsia, chronic hypertension, or other abnormalities.
“The NIH provided highly accurate evidence of gestational age which enabled us to determine that folate supplementation for at least one year is linked to a 70 percent decrease in very early preterm deliveries (20 to 28 weeks gestation) and up to a 50 percent reduction in early preterm deliveries of 28 to 32 weeks,” said Radek Bukowski, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology, at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, the lead study author.
“We already know that folic acid supplementation beginning before pregnancy and continuing into the first trimester helps prevent serious birth defects of the brain and spinal cord, such as spina bifida,” said Alan R. Fleischman, M.D., senior vice president and medical director of the March of Dimes. “Dr. Bukowski’s research makes us optimistic that taking folic acid for at least one year before pregnancy also may greatly reduce the risk of premature birth and reinforces our message that every woman of childbearing age should consume 400 micrograms of folic acid daily.”
The March of Dimes honored Dr. Bukowski’s study in January 2008 during the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine. “Preconceptional Folate Supplementation and the Risk of Spontaneous Preterm Birth: A Cohort Study ” by Bukowki, is available online.
Evidence is piling up that the worst part of the recession has ended…
A better-than-expected unemployment report Friday — job losses declined to the lowest level in six months — capped a week of encouraging news, including firmer home sales, a revival in consumer spending and fresh optimism about the biggest U.S. banks.
That doesn’t mean the pain is over, but confidence is building that the recession, the longest since the Great Depression, will end this summer or fall, setting the stage for a slow recovery.
