Pop Culture

Pop Culture

The device that reverses CO2 emissions
he year is 2050. Walk out of the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum in Midland, Texas, and drive north across the sun-baked scrub where a few remaining oil pumpjacks nod lazily in the heat, and then you'll see it: a glittering palace rising out of the pancake-flat ground. The land here is mirrored: the choppy silver-blue waves of an immense solar array stretch out in all directions. In the distance, they lap at a colossal grey wall five storeys high and almost a kilometre long. Behind the wall, you glimpse the snaking pipes and gantries of a chemical plant.
By Gu Wei Di Qi3 years ago in FYI
The rivers that 'breathe' greenhouse gases
At first glance you would assume the New Territories were one of Hong Kong's greenest areas – the region that borders the Chinese mainland and makes up the bulk of Hong Kong's territory seems a world removed from the bustling streets and dense cluster of skyscrapers that tower over much of the city centre. By contrast, the New Territories are mostly rural and home to large swathes of farmland, rolling greenery, wetlands, mountains, parks and rivers.
By Gu Wei Di Qi3 years ago in FYI
The world's first 'infinite' plastic
here is one man-made material that you can find in the earth, the air and in the deepest ocean trenches. It is so durable that the majority of what has been created is still present in our ecosystem. Having made its way into the food chain, it permeates our bodies, flowing from our blood into our organs, even finding its way into the human placenta.
By Lonetoft3 years ago in FYI
The unlikely protector against Bangladesh's rising seas
Nothing could have prepared Mohammed Shah Nawaz Chowdhury for the sobering reality of Kutubdia Island. The island, off the coast of southern Bangladesh, was rapidly eroding into the sea, causing both land and life to retreat. Many packed up and moved. Those who couldn't, stayed – inching back, as the island they had called home for generations changed around them. "These were families I had gotten to know, trust and respect," he says. "It regularly moved me to tears."
By Lonetoft3 years ago in FYI
How waste food can reduce our reliance on natural gas
t a large industrial facility not far south-west of Ireland's capital Dublin, one man says old food waste and pig manure can help Europe fight climate change – and reduce its reliance on Russia for energy. Billy Costello explains that decaying organic matter releases biogas, which firms like Green Generation, the one he directs, can collect and purify to produce methane, or biomethane as it's called when it comes from such sources.
By Holy horse3 years ago in FYI
The revival of a historic journey across Spain
As late May approached, the animals were growing restless. In little more than a day, the heat from the southerly desert winds had turned the grass dry, leaving Jesús Garzón's herd of 1,100 sheep and goats little to eat. Garzón knew – and the animals, nervous and bleating, knew as well – it was time to head north, where cool weather and fresh pastures awaited them.
By Udley3 years ago in FYI
The medieval Dutch solution to flooding
This July, gorged by days of rain, the Meuse River broke its banks, and the Belgian town of Liège was its victim. Waters the colour of old gravy raced through town, leaving residents floating in canoes as their homes vanished about them. In the city and its province, over 20 died, one man drowning in his basement.
By Holy horse3 years ago in FYI
Why climate lawsuits are surging
David Schiepek, a student from the southern German state of Bavaria, has been involved in climate activism for around three years. "After all this time fighting, protesting and talking to politicians, I was losing hope a bit," the 20-year-old says. "I feel like my future is being taken away."
By Udley3 years ago in FYI
The industry creating a third of the world's waste
We now smash, grab and pull some 100 billion tonnes of raw material out of the fabric of the planet in just a single year. That’s equivalent to destroying two-thirds of the mass of Mount Everest every 12 months.
By Baru Ku3 years ago in FYI
Lithium batteries' big unanswered question
As the quiet whirr of electric vehicles gradually replaces the revs and noxious fumes of internal combustion engines, a number of changes are set to filter through our familiar world. The overpowering smell of gas stations will fade away into odourless charge stations where cars can re-juice their batteries as needed. Meanwhile, gas-powered generator sites that dot the horizon may be retrofitted to house massive batteries that could one day power entire cities with renewable energy.
By Holy horse3 years ago in FYI
The environmental case for buying a coal mine
ne day, the Swedish energy company Vattenfall decided to divest itself from a particularly dirty form of coal extraction in Germany, so it advertised that its mines were for sale. It would get an offer from a totally unexpected party.
By Baru Ku3 years ago in FYI
The animals that detect disasters
n 2004, a tsunami triggered by a 9.1 magnitude undersea quake off Indonesia decimated coastal communities around the Indian Ocean, killing at least 225,000 people across a dozen countries. The huge death toll was in part caused by the fact that many communities received no warning.
By Udley3 years ago in FYI