'I'm always looking for the Hows and the Whys and the Whats,' said Muskrat, 'That is why I speak as I do. You've heard of Muskrat's Much-in-Little, of course?'
'No,' said the child. 'What is it?'
- The Mouse and his Child. Russell Hoban.

Go here to find out more.

Saturday 19 April 2014

Pure Water from a Billboard

Imagine living in Lima - a city located in a part of Peru so dry it receives less than 1 inch of rainfall a year.
Yet, tantalisingly, the the humid air above you is full of moisture, if only you could get it.

The University of Engineering and Technology of Peru, in an attempt to encourage young people to pursue engineering careers, have come up with a cool idea.

A simple reverse-osmosis condenser in a billboard-sized structure has been constructed and delivers pure drinking water into 20-litre tanks.





Here is the original article.

Wednesday 16 April 2014

Co2 is winning, humans are losing.

This time last year the CO2 in our atmosphere reached 400 ppm.

This is the same as it was about 5 - 3 million years ago in the pliocene age.  You know, the one when we had vast tundra-like areas, and animals were much bigger, the climate warmer, and there was much less summer ice at the poles.

Artist's impression.

Since we have Cee O two-ed ourselves here* in only about 200 years, the world weather systems and climate now has to catch up with this new atmosphere.
You will probably be around to watch it begin.

Dr Maureen Raymo explains the implications:





The carbon dioxide levels in our Earth's atmosphere have increased more than 20% in my lifetime.

Might it be a REALLY good time to go on a LOW CARB(on) diet!?
I'm getting my bike out of the shed.  It will be good for my fitness too!


More here


*and we continue to pump 2% more CO2  every year.