Insects Contribute to Climate Change

Humans are often at the center of the climate change debate. But bugs do their part to warm the planet as well.

In Bangkok, experts met to discuss new ways of controlling 100 kinds of pests, which they say are a major contributor to global warming.

"Each cockroach produces 600 babies in their lifetime and we have more than 100 entrants, so our success to date is that we are reducing 60,000 cockroaches without using any chemicals at all and that's the beauty of it," Suchart Leelayuthyotin, director of the Thailand Pest Management Association, told Agence France Press (AFP).

The event usually discusses new methods of pest control, but this year's summit brought with it a global message -- insects cause climate change.

Suchart said bugs are one of the main contributors to global warming because of the CO2 they emit when passing wind.

"Every termite will emit CO2 from their gut because when they consume the wood and digest it they get wind," Suchart explained.

The summit says that by killing the queens of colonies, they prevent thousands of climate changing insects from being born.


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Australia's New Conservation Discovery

Australian scientists are hoping to put their new discovery of untapped geothermal energy to use. Reports came out today that claim the unused geothermal energy could produce 26,000 years worth of clean electricity. The government announced Wednesday they would spend 50 million Australian dollars to help develop this new potential goldmine.

The project involves converting geothermal energy into base-load electricity. Water would be pumped out of the ground, where it would be heated. The heated energy would be used to generate power. Geoscience Australia has mapped out the nation’s geothermal energy by using “temperature recordings from decades of drilling by energy and exploration firms, sometimes a depth of five kms.” (Three miles) Over 5,000 petroleum boreholes across the continent were used to conduct the map.

Australia, being the world’s largest coal exporter, uses it to generate about 77 percent of its electricity. The Australian government has plans to bring up the Aussie country’s renewable energy target to 20 percent by the year 2020.

“Geothermal energy which is sometimes known as hot rocks has got huge potential for Australia, both as a solution to climate change and in terms of national energy security,” Resource Minister Martin Ferguson said. (Michael Perry, Reuters)

Geoscience’s Anthony Budd told Reuters that “hot rocks” need to be 150 degrees Celsius to produce electricity. An Australian Geothermal Energy Association report forecasted this week claims the company could produce 2,200 megawatts of base-load power by 2020, bringing Australia’s renewable energy goal up to 40 percent. “Geothermal energy provides clean base-load power and is potentially a very important contributor to Australia’s energy mix in a carbon-constrained world,” Minister Ferguson said.

Since last November, Australia’s elected Prime Minister Kevin Rudd won by promising to include the country in the Kyoto Protocol, whose goal is to “cut emissions by 60 percent of 2000 levels by 2050.”

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Pond Scum Solves Biofuel Dilemma

Scientists at the University of Virginia believe that algae may be the best answer to alternative fuel methods. Algae, otherwise known as pond scum, are comprised of little tiny “biological factories that use photosynthesis to transform carbon dioxide and sunlight into energy so efficiently that they can double their weight several times a day.” (ENN)

Algae can produce 15 times more oil per acre than other plants used for biofuels. It can grow in salt water, freshwater, and contaminated water, at sea or on ponds, and even on land not usually suitable for food production. The fungus can grow even better when fed too much carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. It also grows better when fed sewage. “If so,” University of Virginia report writes, “algae could produce biofuels while cleaning up other problems.”

Lisa Colosi, who is a professor of civil and environmental engineering, is part of the University of Virginia’s research team, which has been funded by a 3,000 dollar grant given from the new U.Va. Collaborative Sustainable Energy Seed. The team will try to decipher the true value of algae biofuel production. They hypothesize that by feeding the algae more carbon dioxide they could tentatively boost oil yield production by as much as 40 percent by weight. “The main principle of industrial ecology is to try and use our waste products to produce something of value,” Colosi said.

The U.Va team will experiment with only a few liters of algae to begin with. They will attempt to optimize the oil output by testing basic issues like whether or not it’s beneficial to grind up materials before feeding them to the algae.

If algae can indeed thrive within these means, a door will open to all kinds of ecological possibilities. For example, the new technology would help with wastewater treatment, “where dealing with solids is one of the most expensive challenges.” (ENN) It could even help reduce emissions of CO2, such as coal power-plant flue gas, “which contains 10-30 times as much carbon dioxide as normal air.”

If the team’s efforts prove successful, the group of three, including Mark White and Andreas Clarens, may be looking at even more grants from agencies like the U.S. Department of Energy.

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Elephant Seals Help Global Warming Scientists

By strapping sensors onto elephant seals, scientists are able to see what lies beneath sea ice.

"They have made it possible for us to observe large areas of the ocean under the sea ice in winter for the first time," said co-author Steve Rintoul from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO).

Sea ice reflects sunlight back into space, so less sea ice means that the earth is absorbing more energy, causing more warming.

Sea ice also affects the amount of dense around the Antarctic, which in turn drives ocean currents that transports heat around the globe, in addition to providing a critical habitat for krill, penguins and seals.

The seals have already increased the available information by 30-fold, allowing scientists to more accurately calculate how rapidly sea ice forms during the winter months than by topical devices like monitoring from ships, satellites and drifting buoys alone.

"If we want to understand what's going to happen to climate in the future we need to know what the sea ice is going to do. Will there be more or less and will it form more or less rapidly?" Rintoul told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Both Polar Regions play an important role in controlling the earth’s climate, which is why it is critical to find out why the Southern Ocean is warming faster than the rest of the world’s oceans.

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Amazon Dispute Yet to be Solved

A recent debate has arisen in the Amazon recently, where construction was approved to build one of two dams planned within the giant rainforest. Environmentalists are worried the dams, Jirau and Santo Antonio, will flood up to 494,200 acres of land, “dramatically changing the ecosystem.” (Stuart Grudgings, Reuters)

But the Brazilian government sees the dams on the Madeira River as “crucial to prevent energy shortages in its fast growing economy over the next decade.” The Madeira river, which is the Amazon’s biggest tributary, would have 2 dams built within it for millions of dollars, allowing Brazil’s agriculture exports easier to manage. Brazil’s environmental minister, Carlos Minc, attached 40 provisions onto Monday’s approval of the installation of the Santo Antonio dam, which slowed the process down.

Environmentalists claim the government has not provided enough safeguards for this type of work. They claim that Minc is bluffing in his provisions act, “pretending his agency is demanding a lot of rigorous measures” Glenn Switkes said, Director for a California-based group that protects rivers and communities around them. Activists claim the dams violate the Equator Principles on project financing.

But the government has threatened to reopen the auctions or take over the two projects through “state-controlled generator Electrobas” if no agreement is reached soon. Conservationists at this point have failed to hold up licensing on their part, creating more friction between the two opposing parties.

But Erasto Almeida, an energy analyst at Eurasia Group in New York, played down threats of delay. “The Brazilian government really wants to get these projects done because of concerns about potential power shortages,” he said. He says there may be legal action but the two dueling sides will come to an agreement.

The Amazon has the highest biodiversity of fish and among the highest of birds in the world.

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EPA Says Biofuels Not Risky To Food Or Environment

The fight against global warming has taken several complex turns in recent months. Biofuels made from ethanol-based crops like corn emit zero carbon when burned, but compete with food supply already in crisis levels in many areas of the globe. Most recently the Environmental Protection Agency rejected a request to cut the quota for the use of ethanol in cars, boldly declaring that for the time being, the nation's reliance on oil outweighs any effect on food prices.

According to CNET news, EPA administrator, Stephen Johnson, said that the mandate was "strengthening our nation's energy security and supporting American farming communities," and that it was not causing "severe harm to the economy or the environment." The EPA may have formed their reasoning after concluding that 'only' 3.5 billion gallons of renewable fuel was used in 2004--mostly from ethanol, and that patterns over the past three years project a goal of 5.4 billion gallons by the end of 2008.

But are the EPA's claims entirely accurate? For right now it's difficult to say, but there is a lot of evidence coming from all sides offering a contrary view. Corn prices have risen steadily in recent years. Many farmers have attributed the rise to growing global demand for grain-fed meat, with many Asian countries like India and China consuming more meat products than ever before in history. Another study recently reported in the Guardian found that claim to be false. The World Bank conducted a confidential, and very damning assertion that studied the rises in global food costs on a month by month basis. Claimed as the first, in-depth study of the situation, it concluded that ethanol based biofuels were responsible for rising food prices up to 75%.

The Guardian wrote, "Senior development sources believe the report, completed in April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President George Bush."

America and several other wealthy European nations have downplayed the negative factors of biofuels, and rarely ever mentioned is the fact that harvesting them may actually create enough carbon emissions to negate their benefits as a clean fuel. The Searchinger study that appeared in the February 7, 2008 issue of Sciencexpress made one such claim. The study calculated it's findings based on an approximation of what would happen if corn ethanol production was six times greater that of today. It states that land converted to farming will release 25% of its soil carbon, an average of 351 metric tones per hectare. Based on this, researchers calculated that it would take 167 years to pay back soil carbon losses. This means that corn-thanol would emit double the greenhouse gases of gasoline over the first 30 years of production.

Even though the Searchinger study bases its findings on a hypothetical reality, it makes sense that ethanol production would increase by six times as it would most likely be necessary for biofuel mass-production.

It seems strange to me that the EPA would be ignorant of such studies. They might be catering to the private interests of the renewable energy industry, or they are gathering data from their own scientists who have yet to publish findings. Either way, the global food crisis is a serious issue, stirring violence in some of the poorest nations of the world and even affecting wealthier countries in subtle but growing ways. There's also the simple fact that technology, while it can create efficiency and wealth, is not detrimental to human survival, or even the quality of life--just ask the Amish, or even those who prefer books to video games. The day our cars become more important than our food will be the darkest day we've ever known.

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Ecoliteracy Brings Nutrition Back to the School Lunch Room

Alice Waters is a California culinary fixture. Back in 1994, she helped found a garden program at a Berkley area middle school, called the Edible Schoolyard.

The Edible Schoolyard program provides an educational connection for students to learn more about where there food comes from. They also learn about nutrition and how to make healthy choices as well as eat healthy food in the school’s lunchroom, which are grown right on campus, all of which are important tools for students to know in the growing fight against childhood obesity all over the nation.

The Center for Ecoliteracy has played an important role in developing a curriculum for children to learn more about their ecological impact and how it relates to their health and well-being. Core concepts of the program include: Networks, Nested Systems, Cycles, Flows, Development, and Dynamic Balance.

The Edible Schoolyard Program has grown exponentially from it start over a decade ago, which involved the collaborative efforts of one celebrity chef and the principal of a school. Since then, the school has built a full-time staff and the program has been replicated in schools around the country.

At the edibleschoolyard.org, you can find resources to start your own garden and ecoliteracy program at your local school.

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U.S. Cities Will Measure Carbon Footprint

21 U.S. cities have announced this week that they will be measuring and sharing their carbon footprints with the public, including New York, Las Vegas, Denver, West Palm Beach, St. Paul and New Orleans. The cities will gather emissions data for their “municipal functions” (Reuters) such as fire and police departments, government buildings and waste services. They will also look at the city’s footprint as a whole.

“If you don’t measure these emissions, you cannot manage them,” Paul Dickinson, the chief executive of the UK-based Carbon Disclosure Project, said, who joined forces with these select cities. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has also expressed his wishes for a fully collaborative process. “Working together, and with the best data, we can manage this problem,” he said in a release on Monday.

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) will be conducting the measurements, and have gathered emissions date since the year 2000. The company represents “385 global institutional investors that manage a total of more than 57 trillion in assets,” reports Timothy Gardner for Reuters. The CDP claim they have conduced the most greenhouse gas data in the world, as well as climate change data. The company has also successfully disclosed secret information from large corporations like Wal-Mart Inc., who have just recently agreed to cooperate with their carbon findings.

All 21 cities will report their measurements to CDP by the last day of October and the results will be published by January of next year. At least 9 more cities are expected to jump on the bandwagon before then.

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Invisibility Becomes Reality

In our age of technological gain, we seem to be creeping closer to Science Fiction every day. Soon, scientists may be able to make a working invisibility cloak like the one used in stories like J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter. According to scientists at the University of California Berkeley, certain materials have been developed “that could render people and objects invisible.” (Associated Press) Research is funded by the U.S. Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation’s Nano-Scale Science and Engineering Center.

A demonstration successfully proved they were able to cloak three-dimensional objects “using artificially engineered materials that redirect light around the objects.” The experiment has only been done so far on two-dimensional objects. Xiang Zhang, the founder of this new revelation, will release the details in journals Nature and Science.

This technique could be used for a number of different things, including military control. Scientists are now very close to hiding people and objects from any visible light. Cloaking works by using metamaterials to deflect radar, light or waves around any given object. People see objects because of a certain light that strikes them, “reflecting some of it back to the eye.” The metamaterials are made of metal and circuit board, similar to ceramic, or a fiber composite. It is the only material that can bend visible light to the naked eye by diminishing reflections or shadows.

The sort of geeky playful undertone of the experiment is diminished when you seriously think about the power this device could hold in military and spy warfare. Not to mention if private individuals got their hands on it. There are obvious broad implications to what this “invisible cloak” would be capable of achieving or destroying.

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Loved Elephant’s Relocation Stirs Controversy

African Elephant Jenny may be leaving her longtime home at the Dallas Zoo and relocated to a drive-through wildlife park in Mexico and the subject is generating controversy.

9,000 pound Jenny has lived in the Zoo for 22 years, but now that all her companions have died, zoo officials believe she should be transferred because "African elephants become unhappy when left alone." (Ana Ley, Associated Press) But activists consider the idea cruel, mentioning that Jenny is nervous by nature, fears cars and would be miserable in her new, strange environment. Margaret Morin, leader of a group called Concerned Citizens for Jenny, says, "We've grown up with Jenny. She's our family. She deserves better than getting sent to a drive-through tourist attraction in Mexico."

The activists all gathered in front of the zoo last weekend in protest. City Councilwoman Angela Hunt expressed her personal concern because "the Mexican facility is not subjected to annual inspections and regulations by the U.S. Department of Agriculture." She added that elephants aren't protected by the U.S. Animal Welfare Act there.

But famed zoo keeper Jack Hanna, along with the Africam Safari Park near the drive in zoo in Mexico all claim she would be well cared for. "We know she is a nervous elephant, and with protected contact, she can approach people if she wants to and we can monitor her stress levels easily," Africam owner Amy Carnacho said. The plan would involve Jenny sharing a 5-acre piece of land with a female elephant named Shanty at the new African exhibit in the park near Mexico City.

Activists still claim she would be more comfortable at the Elephant sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee, which inhabits 17 elephants and is known for being "a haven for troubled ones." Jenny would share a 300-acre area with 3 other elephants.

Her current home is only one-sixth of an acre. For now Jenny will stay in Texas as Dallas zoo executives have a difficult decision to make on Jenny's behalf, as well as her many fans and say they will continue to inspect Africam's program.

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Let It Go Green; Don't Force It

In Marburg, Germany, some are wondering if there's such a thing as too much eco-consciousness. The town council recently ruled some mandatory laws regarding solar panels, and it has some believing a "green dictatorship" hurts rather than helps the fight in global warming.

The ordinance, the first of its kind in Germany, requires that solar panels must not only be fixed to new buildings (few oppose this part) but must also be applied to existing homes that undergo renovations or get new heating systems or roof repairs. If citizens don't think the council is serious, it's a $1500 fine to those who fail to comply.


Critics are complaining the rule violates a host of property owners rights, and the regional government in Giessen is warning it might overturn the rule. Some of the critics include renowned town environmentalists too.

The Herald Tribune wrote about Götz Schönherr, a resident who uses solar power to heat his water, allowing him to turn off the high-energy consumption of his water boiler for six months out of the year. He opposes the new ordinance, thinking it's self-defeating. To reinsulate his home as he originally desired, he would now have to install a larger, $8000 solar panel to be in compliance.

"That leads, in my case, and I would think in other cases as well, that people say, 'Well, let's just not reinsulate the roof,"' Schönherr said. "So it's absolutely counterproductive."

Germany is currently one of the world's leaders when it comes to green technology and battling global warming, but many feel victory can only be achieved when the desire of the larger population is true and voluntary--not when it's guided under the views of a select, controlling few.

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1% Of Americans Are In Jails And Prisons

I came across an article in The Correctional News that reported on a law enforcement expo, but it touched on some surprising findings on current US prison data. According to a recent Pew Center study, for the first time in history slightly more than 1% of United States citizens--one in 99.1 persons is held in jail or prison.

Currently the US leads the rest of the world in the number of inmates per capita, with "750 inmates per 100,000 residents." In 2007 the total prison population jumped by more than 25,000 inmates to almost 1.6 million.

At the American Jail Association's 27th Annual Training Conference and Jail Expo, over 2,000 attendees and 230 exhibitors gathered in sunny trenches of Sacramento, CA to address the latest issues facing our growing, overcrowded prison system. Robert Lamkey, director of the Sedgwick County Division of Public Safety discussed issues of overcrowding, re-entry, and recidivism (the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after experiencing negative consequences from it). Citing the Pew study, he told attendees at a conference that the increasing inmate population is "saddling cash-strapped states with soaring costs they can ill afford and failing to have a clear impact on recidivism or overall crime."

According to the Correctional News, "Since 1987 collective spending on state corrections systems has increased from less than $11 billion to more than $49 billion in fiscal year 2007." Approximately 67 percent of state inmates are returning felons who commit another crime within three years of release.

With a growing convict culture and billions of dollars being invested into such programs--just about anyone can put two and two together and conclude something is seriously wrong with America's criminal justice system.

The recent expo wasn't a call-to-arms for a revolution, but it addressed issues that could provide agents of change. Members of the architecture firm Ricci Greene Associates discussed the benefits--for owners, staff, inmates, visitors, and the local community--of pursuing a progressive design approach in the construction of a new jail or facility addition. They believe elements of interior lighting and exterior design can have a subtle impact. A slightly less clinical environment with more emphasis on comfort and artistry can evoke some much needed imagination and humanity.

The firm also touched on environmental considerations such as off-setting carbon footprints. According to their website, "Responsible stewardship of limited natural resources is a key part of our design approach. Focus on life-cycle analysis of costs, human factors, and the “big picture” of how our buildings affect their communities and the planet drive this commitment to sustainability."

Correctional authorities from Lexington, Kentucky and Fort Lauderdale, Florida also held a conference on getting to know the inmates better, or more specifically managing special populations like gangs. Closer identification, classification, and unique housing for managing gang members can prevent radicalization of inmate populations.

America's Criminal Justice system is far from perfect, but there might be hope if such expos can continue to bring thousands together with the interest of improving it.

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Federal Agents Can Now Seize Laptops At The Border

New policies recently disclosed by the Department of Homeland Security allow federal agents to seize travelers' laptops and other electronic devices when traveling to and from the border. Currently the policies only pertain to U.S. Citizens, with DHS officials saying it's a necessary to step to "prevent terrorism."

Apparently the measures have already been in place for some time, but were only disclosed recently after applied pressure from civil liberties and business travel groups. An increasing number of reports were showing up saying international travelers had their laptops, cellphones, and other devices removed and examined for lengthy periods of time. The policies also make hard drives, falsh drives, iPods, pagers, video, and audio tapes--as well as books, pamphlets, and other written materials fair game for seizure.

The policies in place require federal agents to take measures that would protect business information and attorney-client privileged material, and probable cause must be proven to exist for agents to keep materials. But the amount of time for these paperwork procedures to go through is anyone's guess.

Next time you travel out of the country, it might be easier to just forget your luggage and resist the urge to document anything. Although greater numbers of people at airports with no other belongings besides jeans, sandals, and a t-shirt is bound to raise suspicion at some point too.

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Monkeys And Apes Threatened--Tourism Might Help

Deforestation and hunting for food are threatening the world's monkey and ape population. Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International and head of the INternational Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) primate specialist group issued a statement saying, "We Have solid data to show that the situation is far more severe than we imagined."

According to the latest IUCN assessment, 48% of the 634 known species and sub-species of primates are at risk of extinction. Five years ago the percentage was at 39, and the organization ruled that it appears a lot more people are eating monkeys for dinner these days--no joke.

"Gorilla meat, chimpanzee meat and meat of other apes fetches a higher price than beef, chicken or fish" in some African countries Mittermeier told Reuters. He says some species are "literally being eaten into extinction."

A large part of why hunters have been able to persevere is because of deforestation. The burning and clearing of tropical forests not only destroys the creatures' habitats, but newly forming farmlands and roads cut to help loggers are opening up previously inaccessible regions to poachers.

Primates are feeling the most heat in Asia, with 71% of all species at risk, versus Africa where the rate sits at 37%.

Mittermeier believes the trends can "absolutely" be reversed, however. Pushing global warming legislation that would regulate deforestation is certainly a helpful measure, but he also believes "eco-tourism" can play a hefty role. According to his logic, local people will have a greater stake in conservation if their income from tourism is higher than from hunting--saving the planet through straight economics. The only difficulty is trying to generate greater interest in nature-based tourism. Mittermeier plans to do his part by helping to promote a new trend in "primate watching." Bird watching is already extremely popular around the globe, and believes primates can be just as fascinating if not more so to look out for.

He himself has seen 350 out of the 634 known species and sub-species of primate in the wild, making him one of, if not the world's greatest record-holder. He plans to launch a website that lists the the top experts' sightings in hopes of making the hobby more popular. Of course, monkeys and apes aren't nearly as common to spot as birds, and will require expensive plane tickets to exotic lands, so whether or not this becomes a viable method to save endangered primates has yet to be seen.

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Hit Movie Theme Songs a Thing of the Past

Remember the days when a film’s theme song would help sell the movie, not to mention help sell the soundtrack? Never since 1997, when the epic, record breaking Titanic arrived in theatres has there been such campaigning for movie theme songs. There simply aren’t songs for blockbuster films like “My Heart Will Go On,” sung by Celine Dion and written by songwriting pro Diane Warren. Why is this? Why don’t films like the newly released Dark Knight have a song people can subconsciously link to the film? It mainly has to do with money.

Back in the day, the success of a film’s theme song used to be able to gauge the success of the film before release. Bryan Adams delivered the melodramatic tune “Everything I Do (I Do it For You) for the Kevin Costner version of Robin Hood in the 90’s, Whitney Houston sang her heart out in The Bodyguard theme song “I Will Always Love You,” and Aerosmith practically carried the film Armageddon’s success by their mega hit “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing.” But where are the hit songs for franchises like X-Men or Pirates of the Caribbean?

They’re simply too expensive. “Artists want a ton of money now,” Kathy Nelson, president of film music for Universal Pictures, told Billboard Magazine. “I remember the days when I would spend 300,000 dollars for a soundtrack like Pulp Fiction and I thought the cost would put the label under. Now artists want 300,00 just to show up.” Which is particularly why the Spiderman 3 soundtrack was so expensive, as soundtrack producers paid for an original theme song from band Snow Patrol. Another reason why hit theme songs aren’t helping to sell films is because record sales are also at an all time low.

This is why the trend made by writer/actor/director Zach Braff is starting to become successful. His quirky 2004 film Garden State basically compiled a lot of hip, Indie songs on the soundtrack by bands like Remy Zero and Coldplay, selling 1.2 million copies in the states alone. More recent films like Juno and Little Miss Sunshine have been benefiting from the same idea.

Another trend of avoiding the bank-breaking theme song as well as not dating the film is to create an original tune with an original artist that fits “the fabric of the movie.” (Mark Savage, BBC News) For example, Annie Lennox teamed up with Howard Shore to create the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King theme song, “conceived as an Elvish lament for those who have sailed across the Sundering Sea.” Now obviously these types of songs may not make it to the top 40 list, but nonetheless, they compliment the film directly. The new Chronicles of Narnia installment Prince Caspian composer Harry Gregson-Williams had a similar idea, collaborating with quirky Indie singer Regina Spektor to create its theme song.

Hans Zimmer, who co-wrote the score for The Dark Knight, says “there was never any doubt that we were going to be songless, and trust me, we were flooded with requests from every band in the world. I actually had to say no to some really interesting people.” But his reasoning, along with writer/director Chris Nolan’s, wasn’t much about the money. The film’s budget would have been able to yield a pretty hefty soundtrack with big hitters in the music industry. But Zimmer points out that in the first Batman film, Prince songs were added onto the soundtrack, which “really dates the movie.” Directors like Nolan and composers like Zimmer, who are hardly rookies in the entertainment industry, have been following the trends of pairing music with film, and wish for their collaborations to remain timeless.

Scientists Develop Exercise In A Pill

Scientists are currently developing wonder drugs that could theoretically allow people to gain muscles without lifting a finger. The new "lazy man's exercise pill" is found in two drugs tested at the Salk Institute in San Diego: Aicar and GW1516. So far both substances have already excited and frightened enough people to start wondering how to keep it out of the hands of athletes.

Dr. Ronald Evans, leader of the Salk group, tested the drugs on inactive mice. Aicar increased the mice's endurance on a treadmill by 44 percent after just four weeks of treatment. Mice who received GW1516 experienced a 75 percent increase in endurance, but only if they combined it with some exercise. The drugs basically trick the muscles into thinking they went through an intense workout.

According to the Herald Tribune Evans is sure the pills would have the same affect on humans as we have the same underlying genes as mice. If proven safe, he imagines them doing wonders for those enduring physical therapy sessions, and being especially helpful to health problems like diabetes.

On the front page of the article; however, the Tribune writes:

But such muscle-enhancing drugs would also have obvious appeal to athletes seeking to gain an edge in performance. With funds from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland, Evans has devised a test to detect whether an athlete has taken the drugs, and has made it available to the World Anti-Doping Agency, which prepares a list of forbidden substances. Officials at the anti-doping agency confirmed that they were collaborating with Evans on testing procedures but could not say when they would start using them.

Personally, I find it extremely fascinating that tests are already being devised to see if a person is on the drugs--before anyone has even tried them. Aicar is a well known drug that was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for a heart condition, but neither Aicar nor GW1516 have been tested in people for muscle endurance, meaning long term health effects are still unknown.

With a culture obsessed with body image, it can almost go without saying that pharmaceutical companies are keeping a close eye on the pills as they're bound to make big money. It really wouldn't surprise me if the FDA approves them for over-the-counter sale as soon as possible.

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Battling it Out for the Planet

In attempts to stomp the rumor that they're the world's biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, The U.S. Army is looking to cut their emissions to reduce their "bootprint", and in doing so, will save the lives of soldiers in Iraq. Ted Davis, deputy assistant secretary for the environment, safety and occupational health in the Army said, "The goal is to bring Army emissions of climate-warming carbon dioxide down by 30 percent by 2015." (Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters) Davis's goal is to first gauge how much emissions are processed by the army, then work to reduce that number.

The Army has previously worked to environmentally sustain its bases, starting with the massive Fort Brag in North Carolina back in 2001. This involved changing the way training ranges were incorporated for combat. "Each village used to cost up to 400,000 dollars to build. Now they are made of recycled truck-sized shipping containers at a cost of about 25,000 dollars," Davis added. The shipping containers are separated from the solid waste stream.

In the first couple years of the Iraq War, long supply chains stretching from Kuwait to the battlefield put convoys at risk from "makeshift bombs called IEDs." Most of that cargo was fuel. When there's less fuel involved, there's less risk for those soldiers on the frontline. Davis's idea to replace fuel consumption and diesel generators by wind or solar could reduce supply convoys that are being attacked by IEDs.

Poorly insulated Army tents on location in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait and Djibouti showed 85 of the energy going towards air conditioning units. But keeping the tents cool by alternatively placing foam insulation sprayed directly on the tents "cut the loss of energy by 45 percent."

Limiting greenhouse emissions from Army vehicles proves to be a more difficult challenge. But Davis said emerging technology is allowing for lighter-weight armor, as well as hybrid vehicles being designed for large military fleet vehicles.

Mainly, once the Army tackles exactly the magnitude of emissions they are putting out there, people like Davis will be able to better assess their needs. But he admits there is lots of work to be done. For example, Fort Carson in Colorado emits 205,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year, which equals the same as a town of 25,000 people.

Save Some Money With the $5 Bill Plan

Today’s economy is rough and it seems to feel worse every day. Even though I’m young enough that I should still have quite a few working years ahead of me, I’m still always interested in trying to save a few bucks. Which is why I found the $5 bill plan so interesting.

Marie C. Franklin of the Boston Globe recounts in an article how she managed to save a little over $12,000 in three years. She admits that she was always a habitual saver, but that saving became more difficult when she was simultaneously putting two daughters through college. So when she came across an Internet posting with '10 Tips for saving money,' she was especially interested.

Although the advice rather skeptically claimed that there are less $5 bills in circulation than other bills, the author still decided to go ahead and follow the plan: save your $5 bills and put them in a separate bank account. It worked. It is now three years later and Franklin is ahead $12,000.

Franklin admits that she was very disciplined and quite literally saved every $5 bill she had. When she had $50, she would make a deposit. When the account reached $2,000, she would then put it in a CD to earn higher interest.

Sounds good to me. Like a more elaborate piggy bank, with greater results.