Eric Vogel » Conservation

MIT lab creates giant robotic tadpoles for oil spill cleanup | Clean & Green News – Betanews

eric — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:30:13 +0000

By Tim Conneally | Published August 26, 2010, 3:08 PM

The Sensable City lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is developing a solar-powered robot whose sole purpose is to clean up oil spilled into the water.

MIT lab creates giant robotic tadpoles for oil spill cleanup | Clean & Green News – Betanews

BP Is Working Very Hard To Keep Reporters Away From Dead Marine Animals – The Consumerist

eric — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 01:10:32 +0000

BP Is Working Very Hard To Keep Reporters Away From Dead Marine Animals

By Laura Northrup on June 3, 2010 2:20 PM 0 views
According to a BP contractor who took a few reporters on a secret tour of the oil-soaked dead wildlife of the Gulf Coast, the company’s post-oil-spill logic makes perfect sense. Keep reporters and dignitaries far, far away from dead and dying animals, and if they wait long enough, the evidence (i.e. the animal corpses) will wash out to sea.

BP Is Working Very Hard To Keep Reporters Away From Dead Marine Animals – The Consumerist

Oil Demonstration: A Call for Clean-Up

eric — Thu, 06 May 2010 02:58:10 +0000

As you may or may not know, I am a avid supporter of wildlife and animals. This is the second screw-up BP made. How can a company not have a way to immediately cap it till they can permanently cap it? And contain the oil that has already spilled? This is totally ir-responsable. I am not sure if I will make it to this, but I can guarantee you I am going to avoiding BP because of the last irresponsible oil contamination to a full out boycott. We have animals, plants, and fragile ecosystems at stake here. BP does not care. The government does not move fast enough. I am so glad BP will be stuck with the bill. I will hope you will too do the same and find another responsible gas company to buy your gas from.

But don’t get me wrong, this oil spill will send gas prices souring and BP will make sure we pay for it in gas prices being the greedy people they are.

Date:	Thursday, May 6, 2010
Time:	5:00pm – 6:00pm
Location:	BP Gas Station at 12 and Woodward in Royal Oak
Street:	28992 Woodward Ave.
City/Town:	Royal Oak, MI
	View Map

Description

Do you support clean energy? Are you angry and upset about the tragic oil spill off the Gulf Coast? Do you want offshore drilling to end? Do you live in Southeast Michigan??

Come and voice your opinions with us, loud and clear. We’ll be demonstrating at a BP Gas Station in the Royal Oak, MI area. Help us demand a moratorium on all off-shore drilling and hold BP accountable to cleaning up the Gulf Coast.

We will provide some signs but please consider making your own as well – or bring a mop or broom as part of our “Clean it Up” message.

Ideas for signs:
“Clean Energy NOW,”
“Moratorium on Off-shore Drilling”
“Off-shore Drilling is Dirty”
“Polluters Should Pay.”

This is our chance to stand together and make our message heard – let’s fight for a cleaner energy future!

PARKING:
Street parking is available on Linwood Ave, behind BP and the school, with entrances on both 12 Mile and Woodward.

www.facebook.com/reqs.php#!/event.php?eid=114460741924249

Ignore Expiration Dates

eric — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:02:04 +0000

“Best by,” “Sell by,” and all those other labels mean very little.

By Nadia ArumugamUpdated Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010, at 10:18 AM ET

There’s a filet mignon in my fridge that expired four days ago, but it seems OK to me. I take a hesitant whiff and detect no putrid odor of rotting flesh, no oozing, fetid cow juice—just the full-bodied aroma of well-aged meat. A feast for one; I retrieve my frying pan. This is not an isolated experiment or a sad symptom of my radical frugality. With a spirit of teenage rebellion, I disavow any regard for expiration dates.

www.slate.com/id/2244249/

Feds Raid Gibson Guitars

eric — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:23:04 +0000

By Chris Walters on November 18, 2009 3:37 PM

Yesterday, US Fish & Wildlife Services agents issued a search warrant on Gibson Guitars’ manufacturing plant in Nashville, TN. The Nashville Post writes that they “seized wood, guitars, computers and boxes of files from Gibson Guitar’s Massman Road manufacturing facility.”

At issue is whether Gibson violated the Lacey Act, which prohibits the importation of rosewood from Madagascar because it serves as a home for lemurs; the Nashville Post suggests Gibson may be suspected of routing the wood through Germany first.

http://consumerist.com/2009/11/feds-raid-gibson-guitars.html

West Africa’s giraffes make a big comeback

eric — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:37:23 +0000

By Todd Pitman
Associated Press
updated 7:48 p.m. ET, Sat., Nov . 7, 2009

KOURE, Niger – A crisp African dawn is breaking overhead, and Zibo Mounkaila is on the back of a pickup truck bounding across a sparse landscape of rocky orange soil….
…It’s easier for humans to spot giraffes in Niger these days since there’s less forested cover for them to hide in. Africa’s most endangered giraffe subspecies is in Niger, and by all accounts it should be extinct. Instead, their numbers have quadrupled to 200 since 1996…
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33753490?Gt1=43001