Subways going green

In this article by Jonas Dalidd and Autoblog, he writes about Warsaw, Poland. He is writing about how the metro system in Warsaw is now going green. It is doing this because of the new recyclable subway cars. The subway cars, named the Siemens Inspiro, will be about 97% recyclable and will be made out lightweight aluminum, which will also make it more energy efficient then the previously used subway cars. Although these cars are great, they won't be put to use until 2012.

I believe this relates to class because we are always talking about new ways to make the planet much more green. By doing this it could spread throughout the world, like in New York and London.

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/12/03/bmw-and-siemens-design-lightweight-recyclable-subway-car-for-war/

Trees Telling Time

Adam from Life Goggles wrote an article about WeWOOD and their sick new watches. The shells of the watches are made entirely from wood! You might think its stupid to cut down a tree just for a watch, but for every watch sold WeWOOD (the company that makes the watch) plans to plant a new tree. Plus you don't need to dig up the earth to find a certian type of metal to make the watch. These watches have a varitey of styles and types of woods the watches can be made from.

Even though you are affecting an ecosystem in the short term you aren't doing damage to it. As a matter of fact you will actually be helping in grow stronger in the future. So all in all I am ok with what WeWOOD is doing.

Life Goggles

The Purple Life Saver

In the article by ecogeek, written by Megan Treacy, it states that the current color of the world's wind turbines (white or grey) attracts small bugs, which attracts the birds that eat the bugs, which in turn kills the birds by the turbines propellers. In a study to support this scientists developed a test to find which were the more attractive colors. In there findings they concluded that white, light grey, and yellow were some of the most attractive colors. However they also found that purple was one of the least attractive colors to the bugs. Even with these findings they don't suggest painting everything hazardious purple but rather changing the color of things to make them less attractive. The scientists do think however that the heat generated by the turbines could also be attracting the bugs.

I believe this is related to class because in the last few days we have been talking about an ecosystem, and what factors can affect the living things in an ecosystem. With the loss of the birds and the bugs it reduces the population in the ecosystem and also the turnbine itseld affects the surrounds things.

http://www.ecogeek.org/wind-power/3333-should-wind-turbines-be-purple

Plant Killer!

It is now being said that humans are killing plants. In this article it is being estimated that 20% of the world's plant species are being treatened by people. However many people would assume that the U.S, who has the largest ecological footprint in the world, would be responsable but no. In fact that the majority of the endangered plants live in tropical areas. In tropical rainforests to be more specific. The endangerment is caused by the scale of human activity and expansion, which is pushing extinition levels to unseen levels.

This is related to class because for the past week or two we have been talking about man ecological footprint. And since the world's population is expanding so is the footprint we create, which in turn is killing the plants.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/09/20-percent-world-plant-species-threatened-extinction.php?campaign=th_rss

about me

my name is nick and i do not enjoy sitting in class for how ever long class is. i enjoy sleeping in and chilling out. i would like to learn how to use renewable resources in environmental class this year and how to save the planet.