With its massive glass dome, the Plantagon Greenhouse wouldn't look out of place in a sci-fi movie. And if all goes smoothly, one may soon crop up in a city near you. In these days of global warming, its creators argue, it's not a question of if it will become reality but, rather, when. Nestled among the skyscrapers is a gigantic glass sphere housing a mysterious spiral pathway. At first glance, the structure may look like an alien spaceship or a modernist architectural fantasy. But, in fact, it is an unusual response to climate change and the challenges of urbanization. This UFO look-a-like is an ambitious take on the classic backyard greenhouse. Towering up to 100 meters (328 feet), it is designed to grow plants on its carefully lit and heated spiral platform. Crops are planted at the bottom of the sphere and gradually climb higher before ultimately being harvested at the top. The idea for the Plantagon Greenhouse comes from a Swiss-American company of the same name -- and they are confident that their dramatic creation will one day become a reality. "We've moved a long way away from the drawing board," Plantagon CEO Hans Hassle told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "We expect to build the first Plantagon greenhouse within the next three years." The design was dreamt up two decades ago up by Swedish innovator and eco-farming expert Åke Olsson. But now, backed by Plantagon, a business run by the consulting company SWECORP Citizenship AB and North American Indians of the Onondaga Nation, it is finally looking feasible.
With its massive glass dome, the Plantagon Greenhouse wouldn't look out of place in a sci-fi movie. And if all goes smoothly, one may soon crop up in a city near you. In these days of global warming, its creators argue, it's not a question of if it will become reality but, rather, when.
Nestled among the skyscrapers is a gigantic glass sphere housing a mysterious spiral pathway. At first glance, the structure may look like an alien spaceship or a modernist architectural fantasy. But, in fact, it is an unusual response to climate change and the challenges of urbanization.
This UFO look-a-like is an ambitious take on the classic backyard greenhouse. Towering up to 100 meters (328 feet), it is designed to grow plants on its carefully lit and heated spiral platform. Crops are planted at the bottom of the sphere and gradually climb higher before ultimately being harvested at the top. The idea for the Plantagon Greenhouse comes from a Swiss-American company of the same name -- and they are confident that their dramatic creation will one day become a reality.
"We've moved a long way away from the drawing board," Plantagon CEO Hans Hassle told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "We expect to build the first Plantagon greenhouse within the next three years."
The design was dreamt up two decades ago up by Swedish innovator and eco-farming expert Åke Olsson. But now, backed by Plantagon, a business run by the consulting company SWECORP Citizenship AB and North American Indians of the Onondaga Nation, it is finally looking feasible.
ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2009) -- The controversy surrounding the unintended effects of herbicide and pesticide use has intensified as researchers from the University of Ottawa's Department of Biology have identified that atrazine, a heavily-used herbicide, alters the sexual development in frogs. There have been numerous scientific and journalistic reports on the detrimental effects of herbicides, including atrazine, yet investigations by other research teams report no adverse effects of the popular herbicide. In an attempt to help resolve differences between the various reports, Dr. Vance Trudeau and his team at the University of Ottawa's Centre for Advanced Research in Environmental Genomics developed a system to evaluate the effects of a commercial formulation of atrazine. Specifically, PhD student Valérie Langlois applied it to outdoor tanks where tadpoles of leopard frogs were kept for an entire spring and summer. Under these semi-natural conditions in mesocosms, the levels of atrazine were low and comparable to those measured in the Canadian environment. At the end of the summer, the results showed that atrazine levels in the tanks were at levels within currently acceptable guidelines. However, researchers also found that the herbicide reduced the number of tadpoles reaching the froglet stage. Also noteworthy was that atrazine had a feminizing effect on the animal, resulting in sex ratios favouring females, with a reduced number of males.
ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2009) -- The controversy surrounding the unintended effects of herbicide and pesticide use has intensified as researchers from the University of Ottawa's Department of Biology have identified that atrazine, a heavily-used herbicide, alters the sexual development in frogs.
There have been numerous scientific and journalistic reports on the detrimental effects of herbicides, including atrazine, yet investigations by other research teams report no adverse effects of the popular herbicide.
In an attempt to help resolve differences between the various reports, Dr. Vance Trudeau and his team at the University of Ottawa's Centre for Advanced Research in Environmental Genomics developed a system to evaluate the effects of a commercial formulation of atrazine. Specifically, PhD student Valérie Langlois applied it to outdoor tanks where tadpoles of leopard frogs were kept for an entire spring and summer. Under these semi-natural conditions in mesocosms, the levels of atrazine were low and comparable to those measured in the Canadian environment.
At the end of the summer, the results showed that atrazine levels in the tanks were at levels within currently acceptable guidelines. However, researchers also found that the herbicide reduced the number of tadpoles reaching the froglet stage. Also noteworthy was that atrazine had a feminizing effect on the animal, resulting in sex ratios favouring females, with a reduced number of males.
LOCKPORT, ILL. -- The poisoned fish began floating to the surface in the cold Illinois dawn, but as scientists and ecologists began hauling their lifeless catch to shore, they found only one carcass of the predator they targeted -- the ravenous Asian carp. Never before have Illinois agencies tried to kill so many fish at one time. By the time the poison dissipates in a few days, state officials estimate that 200,000 pounds of fish will be bound for landfills. But they say the stakes -- the Great Lakes ecosystem and its healthy fish population -- could hardly be higher. Asian carp have slowly been making their way up the Mississippi River and its tributaries, shifting the ecological balance as they devour enormous quantities of plankton that once sustained other species. Neither prayers nor multimillion-dollar electronic fences have stopped the carp, which commonly grow to a fat-bellied four feet long. Amid fears that the fish are drawing closer to Lake Michigan on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, scientists turned to a poison called rotenone. "It's time to man the barricades. We've simply got to protect the Great Lakes at all costs," said John Rogner, assistant director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which is leading the chemical attack while an electronic fence is being repaired.
LOCKPORT, ILL. -- The poisoned fish began floating to the surface in the cold Illinois dawn, but as scientists and ecologists began hauling their lifeless catch to shore, they found only one carcass of the predator they targeted -- the ravenous Asian carp.
Never before have Illinois agencies tried to kill so many fish at one time. By the time the poison dissipates in a few days, state officials estimate that 200,000 pounds of fish will be bound for landfills. But they say the stakes -- the Great Lakes ecosystem and its healthy fish population -- could hardly be higher.
Asian carp have slowly been making their way up the Mississippi River and its tributaries, shifting the ecological balance as they devour enormous quantities of plankton that once sustained other species.
Neither prayers nor multimillion-dollar electronic fences have stopped the carp, which commonly grow to a fat-bellied four feet long. Amid fears that the fish are drawing closer to Lake Michigan on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, scientists turned to a poison called rotenone.
"It's time to man the barricades. We've simply got to protect the Great Lakes at all costs," said John Rogner, assistant director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which is leading the chemical attack while an electronic fence is being repaired.
They should just block it if they're serious keep to the Fen Causeway
William Patterson, from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, and his colleagues have shown that switching off the North Atlantic circulation can force the Northern hemisphere into a mini `ice age' in a matter of months. Previous work has indicated that this process would take tens of years. Around 12,800 years ago the northern hemisphere was hit by a mini ice-age, known by scientists as the Younger Dryas, and nicknamed the `Big Freeze', which lasted around 1300 years. Geological evidence shows that the Big Freeze was brought about by a sudden influx of freshwater, when the glacial Lake Agassiz in North America burst its banks and poured into the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. This vast pulse, a greater volume than all of North America's Great Lakes combined, diluted the North Atlantic conveyor belt and brought it to a halt. Without the warming influence of this ocean circulation temperatures across the Northern hemisphere plummeted, ice sheets grew and human civilisation fell apart. .... Patterson and his colleagues have created the highest resolution record of the `Big Freeze' event to date, from a mud core taken from an ancient lake, Lough Monreach, in Ireland. Using a scalpel layers were sliced from the core, just 0.5mm thick, representing a time period of one to three months. Carbon isotopes in each slice reveal how productive the lake was, while oxygen isotopes give a picture of temperature and rainfall. At the start of the `Big Freeze' their new record shows that temperatures plummeted and lake productivity stopped over the course of just a few years. "It would be like taking Ireland today and moving it up to Svalbard, creating icy conditions in a very short period of time," says Patterson, who presented the findings at the European Science Foundation BOREAS conference on humans in the Arctic, in Rovaniemi, Finland. .... Looking ahead to the future Patterson says there is no reason why a `Big Freeze' shouldn't happen again. "If the Greenland ice sheet melted suddenly it would be catastrophic," he says.
Around 12,800 years ago the northern hemisphere was hit by a mini ice-age, known by scientists as the Younger Dryas, and nicknamed the `Big Freeze', which lasted around 1300 years. Geological evidence shows that the Big Freeze was brought about by a sudden influx of freshwater, when the glacial Lake Agassiz in North America burst its banks and poured into the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. This vast pulse, a greater volume than all of North America's Great Lakes combined, diluted the North Atlantic conveyor belt and brought it to a halt. Without the warming influence of this ocean circulation temperatures across the Northern hemisphere plummeted, ice sheets grew and human civilisation fell apart.
....
Patterson and his colleagues have created the highest resolution record of the `Big Freeze' event to date, from a mud core taken from an ancient lake, Lough Monreach, in Ireland. Using a scalpel layers were sliced from the core, just 0.5mm thick, representing a time period of one to three months.
Carbon isotopes in each slice reveal how productive the lake was, while oxygen isotopes give a picture of temperature and rainfall. At the start of the `Big Freeze' their new record shows that temperatures plummeted and lake productivity stopped over the course of just a few years. "It would be like taking Ireland today and moving it up to Svalbard, creating icy conditions in a very short period of time," says Patterson, who presented the findings at the European Science Foundation BOREAS conference on humans in the Arctic, in Rovaniemi, Finland.
Looking ahead to the future Patterson says there is no reason why a `Big Freeze' shouldn't happen again. "If the Greenland ice sheet melted suddenly it would be catastrophic," he says.
The assumed period necessary for temperature shifts is actually now thought to be shorter than was first assumed. The earth is not always lumbersome.
Have a nice day. :)
I was referring to the Atlantic pump idea that didn't work in quite the way that was imagined. keep to the Fen Causeway
further study had suggested that it wasn't quite the process they imagined and it fell from fashion after that.
Sigh:
Michael Schlesinger, a climate scientist at the University of Illinois, sends an message to Andy Revkin of the New York Times (via his widely circulated email distribution list) threatening some sort of boycott -- whatever that means -- of Revkin among climate scientists, for having the gall to mention my views and those of my father. The reference to prostitutes in the email presumably comes from this post at Dot Earth where Revkin mentioned a funny news story in his Twitter feed, (emphasis added). Andy: Copenhagen prostitutes? Climate prostitutes? Shame on you for this gutter reportage. This is the second time this week I have written you thereon, the first about giving space in your blog to the Pielkes. The vibe that I am getting from here, there and everywhere is that your reportage is very worrisome to most climate scientists. Of course, your blog is your blog. But, I sense that you are about to experience the 'Big Cutoff' from those of us who believe we can no longer trust you, me included. Copenhagen prostitutes? Unbelievable and unacceptable. What are you doing and why? Michael You'd think that after the actions of certain activist scientists to suppress certain perspectives was revealed in the CRU emails that there would be a little bit more self-awareness in this community. Ironically enough, the public editor of the NYT today cites my father to help justify why the CRU email story is "a story, not a three-alarm story." The irony is that my father is trying to help restore some lost credibility to the climate science community even as these activist climate scientists continue their attacks.
Andy: Copenhagen prostitutes? Climate prostitutes? Shame on you for this gutter reportage. This is the second time this week I have written you thereon, the first about giving space in your blog to the Pielkes. The vibe that I am getting from here, there and everywhere is that your reportage is very worrisome to most climate scientists. Of course, your blog is your blog. But, I sense that you are about to experience the 'Big Cutoff' from those of us who believe we can no longer trust you, me included. Copenhagen prostitutes? Unbelievable and unacceptable. What are you doing and why? Michael
Copenhagen prostitutes?
Climate prostitutes?
Shame on you for this gutter reportage. This is the second time this week I have written you thereon, the first about giving space in your blog to the Pielkes.
The vibe that I am getting from here, there and everywhere is that your reportage is very worrisome to most climate scientists. Of course, your blog is your blog. But, I sense that you are about to experience the 'Big Cutoff' from those of us who believe we can no longer trust you, me included.
Copenhagen prostitutes? Unbelievable and unacceptable.
What are you doing and why?
Michael
You'd think that after the actions of certain activist scientists to suppress certain perspectives was revealed in the CRU emails that there would be a little bit more self-awareness in this community. Ironically enough, the public editor of the NYT today cites my father to help justify why the CRU email story is "a story, not a three-alarm story." The irony is that my father is trying to help restore some lost credibility to the climate science community even as these activist climate scientists continue their attacks.
Follow the link for the version that is more thoroughly back-linked and referenced.
