Very Important Information about Science And Mathematics, Social Science And More

My friend couldn’t be more environmentally if she tried! For a start her children wear the most beautiful organic hats when it is cold weather, I am sure that most of their other clothes are organic as well. I know that my friend makes sure that she always recycles everything that she can and will not use plastic bags, she always has plenty of reusable organic cotton bags with her so that she can use those instead of having to take a plastic one.

When she had a party in the summer I was really impressed that she managed to find disposable plates which were made from recycled material and even some biodegradable cups. It was fantastic how she made everything look so beautiful and the organic food was all really delicious, but then she has always been a great cook. I sometimes wonder how she manages to look after her family, keep a job going and look after the environment! I guess it gets easier as you practice more and get to understand more about what you should be doing to care for the environment then it probably becomes habit just to buy environmentally friendly products and recycle and reuse things wherever you can.

Geologists monitoring Alaska’s Mount Redoubt say the volcano is rumbling and emitting steam but has shown no dramatic burst of energy in the last 24 hours.

Geologist Tina Neal at the Alaska Volcano Observatory said no flyovers were planned for Sunday unless activity increased significantly.

Flyovers on Saturday found a quickly growing area of vigorous steaming at the 7,100-foot level on the north side of the mountain.

The area is just below a dome that formed the last time Redoubt erupted in 1990.

The activity adds to concerns that Redoubt is close to an eruption. An eruption in December 1989 sent an ash cloud 150 miles that flamed out the jet engines of a KLM flight carrying 231 passengers on its way to Anchorage.

Too many rich farmers continue to receive U.S. farm subsidies in spite of income caps designed to restrict their participation, and the Agriculture Department needs to do more to enforce the rules, the auditing arm of Congress said on Tuesday.

More than 2,700 people whose gross income topped $2.5 million — making many of them ineligible for farm programs — received more than $49 million in payments between 2003 and 2006, the Government Accountability Office said in a report.

“If this is true, it is a prime example of the kind of waste I intend to end as president,” President-Elect Barack Obama said in a news conference on Tuesday.

Obama has complained about subsidies to “millionaire farmers” during his campaign, and said he would like a “hard” cap of $250,000.

About 2 million farmers and farm entities receive about $16 billion per year in programs designed to help stabilize incomes when prices fall or to help protect sensitive land.

The farm programs have long been criticized for spurring overproduction and hurting world markets, as well as for giving money to people who don’t need it.

For example, the GAO previously rapped the USDA for paying $1.1 billion between 1999 and 2005 to more than 170,000 people who were no longer alive.

The GAO used tax filer data to see how well the USDA enforced the cap — giving the GAO a “distinct advantage” over the USDA, which lacks the power to access the same data, USDA official Teresa Lasseter said in a letter responding to the GAO report.

A USDA spokesman could not be reached for further comment.

The report recommended the USDA should work with the Internal Revenue System on a new verification system.

“The bottom line is if the department feels it needs more authority to access IRS data, it ought to come to Congress and ask me for more authority,” said Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the finance committee who asked for the GAO audit.

Grassley told reporters he was most troubled that the GAO found 87 people who received payments despite being flagged in the USDA’s own database as being ineligible.

Other potential infractions included a former insurance company executive who received more than $300,000, an owner of a professional sports team who received $200,000, and a top financial services executive who got $60,000, the GAO said.

The $49 million in potential overpayments is a small percentage of total farm payments, but “that’s a lot of money that can go for school lunch programs for low-income kids, or it could be a bottom-line on the deficit,” Grassley said.

Earlier this year, the new farm bill lowered the cap for farm subsidies, denying all payments to people grossing more than $500,000 and “direct” payments to people with more than $750,000 in farm income.

The GAO said the new caps increase the risk that the USDA would pay people who don’t qualify.

If the new rules had been in place in 2006, it’s likely the USDA would have paid as much as $90 million to 23,500 people who didn’t qualify for payments, the GAO said.

Macadamia trees store more carbon than others and can be used to remove excess greenhouse gases from the earth’s atmosphere, according to a new research project.

The study, led by Graham Jones, associate professor at Centre for Regional Climate Change Studies of Southern Cross University, found that macadamia trees were able to store four tonnes of carbon dioxide per hectare per year, as against half a tonne emitted by the industry per hectare in the same period.

Across the industry, which consists of more than 900 growers who collectively farm 17,000 hectares in Queensland and northern New South Wales, this equates to around 68,000 tonnes of gross sequestration per year.

At $20 (Australian) per tonne this could be $1.36 million dollars per year to growers across the industry if they were able to claim it, according to a statement from Southern Cross University.

“This is a significant benefit in terms of carbon sequestration but it’s not recognised at the government and policy level,” Jones said. “This industry will be feeling the impact of increased energy prices, but at the moment horticulture is not included in the emissions trading scheme for 2010.”

The research was completed using 38 macadamia trees, each 23 years old, at Knockrow, supplied by Greg James at the Deenford macadamia farm near Ballina. The trees were measured, weighed and analysed for timber and carbon properties to determine the sequestration rate.

Jones said this research project had led to the development of a framework for measuring carbon sequestration which could now be used in other horticultural industries in Australia and elsewhere.

A rise in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is leading to climate change, which is adversely affecting farm output, leading to more frequent and more severe droughts, floods and storms and raising the sea level.

Jackie Shroff was in Chandigarh on Saturday evening - to be part of golden boy Abhinav Bindra’s birthday celebrations. “It is Abhinav’s birthday and I am his father’s buddy.

Despite such a momentous achievement, he (Abhinav) is still so grounded and humble,” said Jackie. Jackie’s son, Jay, is also a National level basketball player.

Jackie nods, “I would love to watch him win gold for the country one day.” But isn’t Jay keen on doing films? “No and #8230;he is just 17 and it is too soon to decide.

But I would want him to be the next Abhinav Bindra for India,” he says. On his forthcoming projects, the actor says, “You will see me in Sai Baba, Kisan, Chehre and Ek Second (a thriller).

” Jackie, who’s shifting base from Mumbai to Khandala, because he wants to get away from the noise of the city and listen to the silence of the hills says, “I want to do my farming there and start an orphanage for children and a senior citizen’s home.”.

Arctic Ocean sea ice has melted to the second lowest minimum since satellite observations began, according to scientists at the US National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Sea ice had melted recorded on Monday exceeded the low recorded in 2005, which had held second place. With several weeks left in the melt season, ice in summer 2008 has a chance to diminish below the record low set last year, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Environmental groups said the ice melt was another alarm bell warning of global warming. “It’s an unfortunate sign that climate change is coming rapidly to the Arctic and that we really need to address the issue of global warming on a national level,” said Christopher Krenz, Arctic project manager for Oceana.

“This is not surprising but it is alarming,” said Deborah Williams, a former Interior Department special assistant for Alaska. “This was a relatively cool summer, and to have ice decrease to the second lowest minimum on record demonstrates that global warming’s ongoing impact is profound.”

The National Snow and Ice Data Center, based at the University of Colorado, reported the ice Monday melted below the 2005 minimum of 5.3 million square kilometers set on September 21 that year. Exact figures will be released on Wednesday.

Through the beginning of the melt season in May until early August, daily ice extent for 2008 closely tracked the values for 2005, the center said.

In early August 2005, the decline began to slow. In August 2008, however, the decline has remained steadily downward at a brisk pace.

Vast swaths of U.S. Pacific Ocean waters could be protected as marine sanctuaries or monuments, the White House said on Monday, drawing praise from environmental groups.President George W. Bush started the process by directing the U.S. secretaries of the Interior, Defense and Commerce departments to assess whether certain locations in the Pacific should be designated as marine protected areas, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

The areas being considered for protection in the new plan are a group of islands and atolls in the remote central Pacific, including the Rose Atoll near American Samoa, and some of the waters around the Northern Mariana Islands in the western Pacific.

The move comes a month after Bush in a symbolic move lifted a White House ban on offshore drilling closer to home as gas prices soared. Environmental groups said expanded offshore drilling, which would still require congressional approval, would not cut gas costs and could hurt wildlife.

If all the new places mentioned by Bush were protected, the territory would total more than 891,000 square miles, an area larger than Texas and Alaska combined.

“These areas are host to some of the world’s most biodiverse coral reefs and habitat and some of the most interesting and compelling geological formations in all of our oceans,” Fratto said, speaking from Crawford, Texas.

Some of these areas are also of military and strategic importance, and Bush advised his cabinet secretaries that their recommendations should not limit military activities and should be consistent with freedom of navigation and international law.

“HOPEFUL SIGN”

Bush said any recommendations should take into account cultural, environmental, economic and “multiple use” implications, including whether to keep access to recreational and commercial fishing, energy and mineral resources and scientific study.

Bush established a national monument in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands in 2006, creating the largest marine protected area in the world. Monday’s announcement sets a process in motion that could result in more such protected ocean areas by the end of Bush’s presidency in January.

Joshua Reichert of the Pew Environment Group called the announcement “a hopeful sign for ocean conservation” but said designation as a marine sanctuary or monument could still permit commercial fishing and deep sea mining.

“However, if the president establishes these new sites as no-take reserves, where no extractive activity is allowed, it would be one of the most significant environmental achievements of any U.S. president,” Reichert said in a statement.

“The president is on the cusp of conserving more territory than any leader has ever done. That’s an amazing legacy to leave the nation,” said Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund.

Environmental Defense Fund noted in a statement that seabirds, turtles and other wildlife could be harmed if energy development, mining and fishing are allowed in these areas, but said it expected full protection for these species.

Bush’s environmental record has drawn chronic complaints from activists, notably for failing to mandate limits on climate-warming carbon dioxide and limiting designation of endangered and threatened species during his tenure.

need some simple information about solar energy and power. Do solar panels absorb the suns rays? what are the benefits of solar energy? and other basic information

The panels absorb light from the sun, and convert directly into electricity. They are used in outer space, and remote locations on earth to generate power over long periods of time without maintenance. Anyplace else they are used, they are not cost effective.

To supply a small house with 3600 watts (when the weather is good and the sun shines) costs over $30,000. This isn’t enough power to air condition a home or do much of anything else. (It will power 36 100 watt incandescent light bulbs … when the sun is shining and the weather good.)

If you lived up north where no a/c was needed, used propane to heat and run a refrigerator (yes you can refrigerate just using propane as the energy source), used LED lighting, had some deep discharge storage batteries, a back-up propane generator, notebook computer, etc. you might possibly be able to sort of get by with solar cells.

But cost effective? No. And being an engineering to tie it all together and keep running would be helpful.

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Solar panels absorb the suns rays and store the energy. The benefit is that your power bill will drop. When I lived in Covina I had solar panels on the roof and during the summer we could run are house air all day and the bill for power was never over like 50 bucks. Its a great savings and I think we all should convert over to it.

I do jumps and drive on dirt and grass

Watch the videos and then you decide.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKdWLC9eE…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXC5f2doc…

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Phoenix SUT http://www.phoenixmotors.com
or Mitsubushi Lancer rally car http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/08/…

but probably best option at the moment is convert your own.
electric will give you much better traction & torque and weight distribution,
see drag bike http://killacycle.com for insperation

http://www.batteryvehiclesociety.org.uk

12 medium ones have just flew into my breakfast area,and are eating the crispies,,,are they all trained?????????????????????????????????…

Yezzz und I am zee von who trains zem (German accent !)
I am General von kampff of ze fifth Antz flying corp,
Have you got a complaint if zo i vill send in the big mommas to drop somzing very nasty in your soup !
you av been varned !

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they are clearly a highly specilised task force sent by some secret organisation to take over your breakfast cereal so that you will go hungry for the rest of the morning and not be able to perform at any particular task very well. i would be extremely careful - they are dangerous.