Dubai Gets A Synthetic Beach

Cool sand and gentle breezes will always be available in Dubai, but vacationers will have to pay extra. The renowned fashion house, Versace, is to create the world's first refrigerated beach in a plan that has environmentalists up in arms.

According to Times Online:

The beach will be next to the the new Palazzo Versace hotel which is being built in Dubai where summer temperatures average 40C and can reach 50C.

The beach will have a network of pipes beneath the sand containing a coolant that will absorb heat from the surface.

The swimming pool will be refrigerated and there are also proposals to install giant blowers to waft a gentle breeze over the beach.

The problem with the synthetic beach, however is that it's likely to draw on a lot of energy, which means a great deal of greenhouse gas emissions. Times Online quoted Rachel Noble of Tourism Concern, an organization catered to sustainable tourism:

"Dubai is like a bubble world where the things that are worrying the rest of the world, like climate change, are simply ignored so that people can continue their destructive lifestyles."

Dubai, which attracts roughly 800,000 British tourists a year, is competitive market place for businesses catering to the wealthy. Versace hopes its innovative beach will keep them on the cutting edge of luxury lifestyles, and believes it can even make it sustainable. While plans on how to do that, exactly, are vague, the company is hiring Hyder Consulting, a British construction consultancy, to oversee the engineering of the project.


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Happy Holidays Everyone!

Melamine Detection Program Launched

In an effort to prevent contaminated milk products from China from harming American consumers, a new melamine detection program is being launched.

Melamine is toxic chemical used in plastics, and it is believed that it was deliberately placed in milk products to falsely increase protein levels. The tainted milk caused illness in over 50,000 infants, reaching the international marketplace and still may not be fully contained.

Humans and animals are unable to process melamine in their systems. It can lead to kidney stones, damage the reproductive system and cause cancer, and it also lead to the death of some infants in the recent contamination incident. Melamine has been found in eggs, chickens, produce and pet chow, in addition to the recent milk and formula products.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. recently launched a program that assists governments and companies in the detection of melamine in food products imported from China. Through a form of biochemical analysis known as liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry or TSQ Quantum LC-MS/MS System for short, the company plans to aid countries in detecting melamine in incoming products from China. Similar technologies are already being used to detect melamine in China.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. provides an array of scientific instruments and testing equipment to companies and governments in need of their services.

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Indigenous Tribe in Chile is on its Last Legs

Since the introduction of disease by European settlers centuries ago, indigenous peoples in the Western world have begun facing extinction. Now, in southern Chile's Patagonia region, there are only an estimated 12-20 pure-blooded members of the nomadic Kawesqar tribe.

Francisco Arroyo, estimated to be around 66 years old by a state census, is one of the last survivors of the tribe. He remembers being a boy and wending the icy channels and fjords with his father, tending a fire lit on dried earth on the bottom of their canoe and diving naked for giant mussels to survive.

Now, Arroyo hawks sea lion skin souvenir canoes and other trinkets, earning about $10. He says "It ends with our generation. We are old now. We can't go out in the channels any more. I am not sad. Life is easier now.” The region where he lives sees very few tourists, as it is accessible only by boat or helicopter.

The youngest full-blooded tribe members are two brothers aged around 40.

Arroya lives a very different life from his ancestors’, who lived in their canoes, even sleeping and cooking in them, wearing nothing other than a piece of sea lion skin on their backs and smothering themselves in grease and fat when diving for food.

Eugenio Aspillaga, a bio-anthropologist at the University of Chile, seeks to preserve the culture and language of the Kawseqars, explains the decline of the tribe, and others like them. He says, “They are in decline because the historic causes (illnesses) have continued until relatively recently." "Another factor is restrictions on their movement," he added, referring to a program in the 1960s to settle survivors in Puerto Eden. "There is a lesson in survival and human adaptability that we are losing. It is a part of humanity we neither know nor understand. Their culture is becoming extinct, and their language is also in danger," said Aguilera, who has studied the tribe since 1975. "Once the few survivors in Puerto Eden disappear, the oldest ones, then the culture will be lost and the tongue will no longer be spoken," he added.

Many of the tribe have married outside and there are an estimated 200 people of Kawesqar descent living elsewhere in Chile.

To read more about the extinction of Chile’s indigenous peoples, read the original article here.


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Global Warming Adaptation Plans Begin

Global warming is happening, and we better start preparing for it--so says new reports from the World Bank and Oxfam International. According to the World Bank study that was published in the journal Climatic Change, countries like Vietnam, Egypt, and the Bahamas are just some of the countries likely to face the most catastrophic results of rising sea levels.

The Bank says that a one-meter rise in seal level would flood more than 7% of Vietnam's agricultural land, and wreck nearly 30% of its wetlands--causing living and economic chaos. To make matters even more frightening, many climate experts think a one-meter rise by the year 2100 is a conservative estimate, and perhaps several more are to be expected at current levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

The study which also highlights how a one-meter rise could destroy more than a tenth of the Bahamas, as well as 13 percent of Egypt's Agricultural land, is part of a 50-page document published by the Bank last year. It's currently being used to support Oxfam International's request for at least $50 billion a year to be channeled from international carbon trading schemes into adaptation efforts.

The Guardian quoted Heather Coleman, a senior climate change policy adviser with Oxfam:

"Helping vulnerable people cope with the effects of climate change is desperately needed today because they already face increasingly severe and ever-worsening climate change impacts...

"With a global financial crisis unfolding, these mechanisms could raise enough money from polluters without governments having to dip into national treasuries," Coleman says. "Many negotiators agree that this is one of the more practical approaches. Billions of dollars can be raised and invested to prevent future climate change and to help poor people adapt to the negative impacts of global warming."

Oxfam suggests these countries could prepare themselves with upgraded national flood early-warning systems, plant mangrove "bio-shields," along coasts to diffuse storm waves, and grow drought-tolerant crops. The charity argues that there is little evidence that the international community has seriously considered the implications of sea level rise for population location and infrastructure planning in many developing countries. And since many of these countries cannot afford to fully help themselves, it should be a responsibility of rich countries to avoid catastrophic losses of life.


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Gifts for Guns

Since 2005, Gifts for Guns has allowed residents of especially violent areas to trade in guns for gift cards, but this year, the most popular cards were for grocery stores, not retail stores, like in prior events.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department allows residents to anonymously relinquish firearms in return for $100 gift cards for Ralphs supermarkets, Target department stores or Best Buy electronics stores. Assault rifles double the amount

The event took place in a grocery store parking lot in the Compton neighborhood of Los Angeles, an area with a long and notorious history of violence and gang-related incidents. Although in the past, most guns were turned in for gift cards to Target and Best Buy, this year the cards of choice were to Ralphs. Sheriff's Sgt. Byron Woods explained, "People just don't have the money to buy the food these days.” "One guy said he had just got laid off from his job," Woods said. "He turned in five guns and said it would really help him to put food on the family's table."

About 1,000 weapons were expected to be collected and 590 guns and two hand grenades were handed in during the last weekend in November, more than the total collected in any year and eclipsing last year's 387 guns. The event also turns up antique weapons and one man brought in a Soviet-era semiautomatic carbine.

The drive was started after an increase in killings in 2005, which has since tapered off. After first checking to see if any weapons were used to commit crimes, the firearms were destroyed.

Similar events are held in New York and San Francisco.


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Look for a Green Gift at the Eco Gift Festival

The Eco Gift Festival is the largest environmentally conscious consumer gift show in the world. Sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, this year’s event, held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, will bring together more than 15,000 consumers and 200 environmentally conscious vendors under one roof from Dec. 12th- 14th from 11 am - 8 pm.

The Eco Gift Festival includes an array of eco-conscious gift options as well as live entertainment, socially conscious speakers, an organic food court and on-site eco gift-wrapping and shipping.

Notable speakers at this year’s event include Arianna Huffington, Shallom Berkman of the Urth Caffe in Los Angeles, Seane Corn, the "National Yoga Ambassador" for YouthAIDS as well as a multitude of other experts on sustainable and socially-conscious living. Exhibitors at the event are all companies and businesses with green or organic practices and range from cosmetics companies to coffee to clothing to companies with a message or green interest.

The event strives to be a zero-emissions event and employs green event experts to continue to achieve their goal. A percentage of the profits received goes to various charities.

Although the event is currently only held in Los Angeles, there are hopes to expand it so that similar events are held internationally, as early as next year.

Tickets are $10 per day/$20 per weekend pass and free for children under 12 and seniors over 65. More information about the unique event can be found at www.ecogift.com.



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Paralyzed Guitarist Gets Bionic Hand

When guitarist Dorian Cox lost the feeling of his right arm, one of his first thoughts turned out to be the most crushing: "I might not be able to play anymore." The UK musician suffered from a stroke this previous summer, and when his body became partially paralyzed, it forced his band, the Long Blondes, to break-up.

Cox is about to rise again, however with the help of a new glove that works and resembles something like a "bionic hand." Made by the PhysioFunction center in York, England, the SaeboFlex glove is entirely mechanical and uses springs and levers instead of electricity. It works out the weakened muscles in the wrist, hand, and fingers--spurring Cox to remark, "It's almost like a gym for my hand."

While the musician still lacks the strength to play guitar at the moment, the glove is helping him regain the ability to grasp and release objects again. "I know things might never be the same again and nobody can give me a definite answer about whether I'll play guitar again but I'm getting back on track," Cox told the Guardian.

The Long Blondes were an up-and-coming band from England, who built a loyal fan base over the course of two albums. Cox's stroke came entirely unexpectedly, causing a major upset amongst indie rock fans across the globe. But hopefully, not for much longer.


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Hawaii Prepares For Electric Car Future

Hawaii--when we hear the state mentioned, we tend to think of luaus, clear blue oceans, tropical plants, and hay skirts. But the state also wants electric cars to become a part of it's global image. Governor Linda Lingle unveiled a plan for the island to create an entire electric car network by the year 2012, in effect battling global warming and ending the state's heavy reliance on foreign oil.

Daily Tech writes:

Electric car company Better Place will be the company responsible for building the electric car network that will cost an estimated $200 million to $250 million in construction. Better Place has not signed any investors for the project, but will intensify its search in the immediate future...

Consumers who purchase or lease electric cars will be able to visit Better Place supply recharging service locations to switch out their lithium ion car battery for a full-charged new one. Better Place will then recharge the new battery during off-peak electricity hours.

I can't help but think of Hawaii as the ultimate island paradise when the plan is in full effect. Noisy, exhaust-spilling engines would be replaced by the quiet hum of electric vehicles, allowing the ocean waves to be heard from almost anywhere in the state. Any smog in the air would clear up, and instead of getting out of the car to pump gas, an assistant would come over and install a new battery instead.

Better Place anticipates it will build somewhere around 50,000 to 100,000 charge spots across Hawaii by 2011, with Governor Lingle hoping to cut at least 70 percent of the state's fossil fuel use by 2030. With Hawaii stepping up to be the U.S. pioneers of the green revolution, we may expect other electric car networks to start trickling their away across the rest of the states.


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L.A.’s Ambitious Solar Plan

Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has just unveiled an ambitious plan to install solar panels on house rooftops that he says will "meet 10 percent of the city's energy needs" by 2020. According to utility officials, the energy plan will cost each L.A. resident 2 more dollars a month once complete. Details of the cost breakdown will be established within the next 90 days.

"Our solar initiative is the largest of any kind anywhere in the world. When it takes full effect, L.A. will have 1,280 megawatts more capacity -more than exists in the entire United States today," Villaraigosa said. Not only will it improve the polluted metropolis's skies but L.A.'s mayor claims that with "every 10 megawatts" of solar power, 200 to 400 new jobs could be created.

At the moment, not even 1 percent of L.A.'s energy supply comes from solar sources, while the ASH (American Safety and Health) Institute claims 76 percent of the city's energy is still generated from coal and natural gas.

The city is known for its ghastly smog and California lawmakers have recently founded the South Coast Air Quality Management District in order to get it under control. Some of its controls include monitoring clean construction and eco-friendly paint products, as well as "inventing methods of recovering the vapors released when petroleum products are burned." (Encycomedia.com)

380 megawatts of power will be generated from the solar panels through the SunShares Program, and another 500 megawatts will come from "utility-scale solar power projects that would feed into two transmission stations run by the city's Department of Water and Power." (ENN)

The project will cost between 1.5 to 3 billion dollars, which is meant to be completed by 2014. "The L.A. solar plan represents the generation of renewable energy in Los Angeles, by Los Angeles and for Los Angeles," said David Nahai, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Nahai also mentioned he has high hopes that more cities jump on the solar industry bandwagon since it will bring prices down, making the market both more competitive and affordable.

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Invest in the World This Christmas

Looking for unique ideas on what to get loved ones and friends for Christmas this year who already have it all? Worried about the state of the world, and the flailing economy? Why not give a gift that would satisfy all of the above? Websites like Good Gifts, Oxfam and Solar Aid provide some excellent alternatives to gift giving that spread the wealth, help the economy and invest in people of the future.

Solar Aid reminds us that "there are nearly two billion people around the world with no access to power" so why not try to remedy that by spending £15 (25 dollars) on a solar lantern to go to a child in rural Africa so they can use it for their studies. The lamps will also allow families in Africa to cook indoors, which can prevent respiratory diseases caused by toxic smoke. It also creates jobs to the people in the region, as they make the lanterns from raw materials. To get more information on how to give a lantern as a gift, as well as ordering one, go to Solar-Aid.org.

Another good site that provides a plethora of goods, both expensive and inexpensive, is GoodGifts.org. Here you can purchase a variety of gifts that go directly to those in need or you can purchase things for yourself or family that go directly to charity. Products like 'peace oil' which combines Palestinian and West Bank oil, can be purchased for as little as £9. ($15)

Or if your funds are extremely limited, buy a stocking-filler for less than $10 such as a warm jumper, cooking pot, or a medical fund donation for street children. If you're looking to make a bigger contribution, and a way to support the world economy, you can set up a camel dairying business for under $500, or give the gift of sight by paying for a child's surgery for under $3,000 or start a village library for under $2,000. The website even offers a guarantee for your records.

Oxfam also has a great website where you can purchase animals, food, trees, school supplies, hygiene kits and even educational skills. (Teach a teacher for under $50)

These are a few websites out of many, so there are plenty of opportunities to give the gift of charity this Christmas. And in the meantime, you could be helping the economy and the environment both inland and overseas.


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Indonesia To "Tag" AIDS Patients

Some are calling it the actions of a "Hitler wanna-be," but the government of Indonesia thinks it's a win-win solution: known HIV/AIDS patients in a specific region of the country will be tagged with radio frequency identification chips as an effort to combat the spreading disease.

Lawmakers in Indonesia's remote province of Papua are set to pass the controversial legislature that aims to track those with "sexually aggressive behavior." Authorities argue that the micro radio chips would put them in a better position to identify and track those who deliberately infect others, with punishment ranging from up to six months in jail or a $5,000 fine. The idea is to scare people into abstinence.

The Associated Press writes:

Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country and has one of Asia's fastest growing HIV rates, with up to 290,000 infections out of 235 million people, fueled mainly by intravenous drug users and prostitution.

But Papua, the country's easternmost and poorest province with a population of about 2 million, has been hardest hit. Its case rate of almost 61 per 100,000 is 15 times the national average, according to internationally funded research, which blames lack of knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases.

According to Nancy Fee, the UNAIDS country coordinator, she was unaware of any other country in the world with initiatives to combat HIV/AIDS with microchips. Like many other health care workers and activists in Indonesia, she believes it will only push the problems further underground and off the radar.

Other activists have cited Indonesia as extremely poor when it comes to sexual education. Condom use is hardly promoted, birth control methods are barely available, and few resources exist providing education on STDs or even planned parenthood. Ritual "swinging," or group sex, also occurs fairly regularly amongst Papua tribes.

One columnist on the Gizmodo blog wonders if lawmaker's "Plan B" is to just put AIDS/HIV patients "in camps, or shoot them straight away."



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Gas Prices Lowering; Bus Riding Still Rising

In dozens of cities across America, gas is lower than $2.00 per gallon, which is the lowest I've seen prices since I first started driving in 2000. A new study released this week shows Inter-city bus service jumped 9.8 percent between the fourth quarters of 2007 and 2008, the highest growth rate in more than 40 years. While it credits much of the spike to the higher gas prices felt earlier this year, it seems that the basic economic efficiencies of bus travel are still proving themselves more attractive, especially with younger generations that are finding more entertainment and job opportunities in reviving downtown districts.

Reuters writes:

The study, released by the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University in Chicago, includes all arrivals and departures of all conventional intercity bus companies, such as Greyhound Lines and Continental Trailways, as well as curbside bus operators, but not commuter-bus operators.

Much of the growth was driven by two companies, Megabus and Boltbus, a joint venture of the Greyhound and Peter Pan bus companies, which started curbside pick-up service in northeastern states in spring 2007.

The two companies offer high-frequency service between major U.S. cities and wireless Internet service on board.

As somebody who rarely ever rides buses, I'm now turned on by the idea for free wi-fi access alone. But along with people's ability to check e-mail while they commute, it turns out the increased bus service has also made some headway in the battle against global warming. The study found that over the past year, reduced carbon dioxide emissions are estimated at about 36,000 tons . Air travel also dropped by about 8 percent in the same time period.

It seems more and more Americans are getting on the bus, both literally and metaphorically.

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