It’s that time of year again folks! Blog Action Day is here again. For those of you who don’t know, Blog Action Day is an annual event where bloggers from around the world join together to write about some issue.

This year it’s Climate Change.

So what will I focus on?

Well, it’s a broad topic ranging from greenhouse gas emissions, to pollution, to melting ice caps, to alternative fuel sources.

I think it would be best to present some of my opinions on how to tackle Climate Change.

But put aside whether or not we humans are causing Global Warming, even if we aren’t, take it as a sign that we need to change our habits of gas-guzzling vehicles, atmosphere-destroying factories, and ecosystem-devastating deforestation.

The biggest solution I think is just to raise awareness. Climate Change has gotten a lot of attention recently, and I’ve noticed in particular, a lot of awareness throughout the younger population. President Barack Obama already has placed a lot of attention on the issue.

If people know about how their daily actions are impacting the world, they’ll change.

For Non-Sibi (not for one’s self) Day, one group went through a week’s worth of trash at the school and discovered all that could have been recycled just thrown away. Our dorm did something similar; Retrieving water bottles, paper, cans, etc, from the trash.

Recycling plastics reduce the carbon dioxide spewed into the atmosphere to create new plastics. It would allow us to make completely new bottles, or even clothing out of these.

You hear about all the “carbon capping”, “carbon trade systems”, etc. but I think rather that focusing so much on limiting our emissions, we should focus on the roots: how we get our energy.

Although I approve strongly of wind turbines, solar panels, hydroelectric dams, etc, I’d like to point your attention to nuclear power.

Nuclear power has received a lot of bad attention. An accident like Chernobyl changed people’s view of nuclear power drastically. Nuclear bombs don’t help that image either.  But in Europe, nuclear power plants are sprouting up everywhere, yet here in the US, we still don’t like the idea. About 14% of the world’s energy comes from nuclear power, which produces virtually no emissions.

But lets face it. The Chernobyl disaster occurred in 1986. It’s 2009 now. It occurred because of one major thing: human error. The operators of the nuclear plant violated operating procedures and this caused the reaction to go out of control. Now, with sophisticated technology, this can’t happen again. Sensors would detect something wrong, with several levels of redundant protection, and would immediately stop the reaction. There, no Chernobyl.

Also, people worry about a nuclear power plant just blowing up like a huge atomic bomb, but this can’t happen.

So just to wrap it up. We have one Earth, and if we destroy it, we’ll have no place to live. (yes, you can argue about terraforming, but leave that behind you) We ALL need to take action to prevent the devastating effects of climate change. And you don’t have to do much. Start with simple things like switching conventional lightbulbs for fluorescent ones, recycling, and turning off your electronics when you don’t need them. These may seem small, but when multiplied across the amount of people around the world, it makes huge difference.

Happy Blog Action Day!

If you are interested, the promo video for Blog Action Day 2009:

More info:

http://www.world-nuclear.org/

http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book/BOOK.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power

Well, Earth Day passed about a week ago, and I never got a chance to write a post. So here is the post I was supposed to write on April 22, 2008.

All of us have to type up documents and often times, we have to print out multiple copies for others to review and then that person has to edit them and print them again. The paper used in this process could easily be saved by online document apps.

Google Docs Screen-shot (From Wikipedia.org)

I know many of you, the readers, use Gmail. Did you know that Google also has a office suite online? And amazingly enough, it is called Google Docs. It is simple and easy to use. And one of the most shining parts of it is that you can collaborate with others on one document. Save paper, eliminate multiple copies, and best of all it is free! Included in the program is a word processor, spreadsheet editor, and even a presentation creator. All you need to use it is a Google Account, and go to http://docs.google.com/, so try it out. The interface is simple, quick, and clean. The experience is really enjoyable.

Microsoft Office Live Workspace (From ZDNet.com)

There are also many other apps online that help you accomplish this. Microsoft has the product Office Live Workspace. This integrates the Microsoft Office Suite with the internet. But the thing about the app is that you can’t actually write and edit on the site. But you can share, comment, and upload your document to the site. If you have Microsoft Office, I would recommend installing the plugin into Office. I personally don’t like having to have to go through so much to work on a document. I like how on Google Docs, everything is just there for me, or a collaborator, to go and work on it.

Zoho (From Wikipedia.org)

Zoho is currently one of my favorite online office apps (But, I do mainly use Google Docs because I can easily collaborate with my peers since many of them also have Google Accounts). It does a very good job making Microsoft Office users feel at home. The interface is much like Office (not the 2007 version) and is fast and easy to use. This is the most filled app with almost everything you can think of. It has the typical word processing and spreadsheet apps. But it also has a wiki creator, a database maker, a people manager (I have not tried this yet), and a few more. I would highly recommend trying this one out.

ThinkFree (From LifeHacker.com)

ThinkFree is another online app. I actually just found out about this one. Although this isn’t my favorite, it is still pretty good. The main thing that I don’t like about it is that it is slower than Google Docs or Zoho. It uses Java to run the editors and the loading times are just too long for me. But the product is well bundled with a easy to navigate interface, again similar to Microsoft Office, like Zoho, but is much, much more alike (look at the screenshot and you’ll see). It even has the whole ruler thing and a toolbar with the File, Edit stuff. It comes with apps similar to Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Another app for notes is also coming soon. In Firefox, I have an issue with it in that the bottom toolbar is slightly cut off by Firefox’s own toolbar, but I’m not sure if it is the same for IE.

But if you have to print out drafts, please do it on the back side of another paper. This way we eliminate the cutting down of trees and help reduce waste. Of course, for a final draft, print it out on clean sheets of paper.

So those are the four main apps for online office work. If you already have a Google account, I would say to go with Google Docs. If you have Microsoft Office and would like to easily upload things onto the net, you could try Office Live Workspace. For an “at home feeling” for Office users, you can go with Thinkfree. But for an all purpose, easy to use program, go with Zoho. But the choice is up to you. All of them are free for personal use and allow you to bring your office docs online. Please leave a comment on which one you prefer, you own thoughts, or if you have another service you would like to mention. Again, Happy Earth Day and continue to keep our Earth clean and alive.

As most of you probably know, I am a very environmentally conscious person and I would do almost anything to help stop Global Warming. To know more about how to slow climate change, you can check out one of my previous posts for “Blog Action Day” (See here). But I just found out about a cool website called Breathing Earth that allows you to see the approximation of C02 emissions as well as the birth and death of people around the world, by country. It is a flash animation (done very well) with notification of death, birth, and when a country releases 1000 tonnes of CO2. The site also tracks the statistics from when you started watching the presentation. I hope this presentation gives you a good idea on what is happening on our “breathing planet” and that you’ll enjoy watching it too. Please spread the news about Global Warming and what people can do to stop it. And as always, I hope that you, the reader, will also try and prevent our planet from being destroyed by humans.

From Green-Blog.org

Today is the 2007 Blog Action Day where bloggers around the world all write about how to help save the environment. It is an event supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Opera, Mokono, Reddit and a few other organizations and the website development, hosting and promotion is done by Eden.cc.
I’ve decided to discuss about renewable and clean resources. One, because it is the best way to clean up the atmosphere, and two because I can still talk about some technology!

Ethanol

First, I’ll start with my favorite, making energy with plants, Ethanol! Yes, energy from corn or other high in cellulosic plants. This is basically the best way to cure our oil addiction. Although it is not completely clean, it is 80% cleaner (according to Wikipedia) meaning it will help our planet a lot if it replaces oil, and it won’t be too hard to convert existing cars to work on ethanol. Thus, making this the best way to replace oil. The only problem right now is that we can’t get enough to totally replace gas. The actual process is simple enough to understand: Take a plant, extract the cellulose, and some enzymes to it and turn that into sugars. Then ferment the sugar and it turns into alcohol and distill into usable fuel. The only problem is that although cellulose is everywhere in plant cell walls making it a unlimited fuel source, cellulose is hard to break down. Nature has given many animals the power to do this, but harnessing them to do it quicker is not easy.

Right now, it is made mostly from corn, which is not the best source (It only produces 30% more energy that it takes to grow and process it (According to Wired Magazine)). Scientists now think that switchgrass is our best bet. This plant will produce 80% more energy than growing and producing it, much more than corn. The problem is, it can’t be produced at a cheap enough price to challenge gas.
Some people like Lee Lynd are approaching it as making an all-in-one factory. He is trying to create a bacterium that will take cellulose and spit out ethanol. People think he’ll do it, but how long it will take is the question.

Others are like Joel Cherry who want to make a cheaper enzyme. Cherry and his team after four years say that they have reduced the cost of the enzyme mixture from $5 per gallon of ethanol to under a dollar.

And finally the companies who want to find a better enzyme, like Verenium. Nature’s creations like termites process cellulose easily. They have taken the termite and removed the insides and together with the Department of Energy they want to find the genes that make it so good at breaking the tough molecule. After that they’ll try and find the best mix of celluloses.

Wind and Solar Energy

Wind, you feel that everywhere. The Sun, that’s just about everywhere too. Why not use it? According to Wikipedia, only 1% of the world’s energy is produced through wind turbines. There is an estimated 50 to 100 times more wind energy than biomass (Ethanol), most of which is at high altitudes.

Most wind turbines right now are firmly attached to the ground, and only harnessing the power of the wind close to the ground. Others that are attached to the ground under the sea are most effective since the wind come from the sea, but the most effective is in the air, preferably the jetstreams where winds are continuously over 100 mph.

A modern Wind Turbine near Aalborg, Denmark

Solar energy is using the sun’s rays to make energy. The main reason why they are not used very commonly is since they are expensive to make, thus making the prices of electricity higher, which US citizens don’t want. Now as the prices drop they are becoming more popular. In many places the solar panel will cover the cost in only five to ten years, and after that, it’s free electricity!

A Solar Power Plant near Surpa, Portugal

What YOU can do

As global warming becomes more of a problem, we need to take action. If we want to have our children live normal lives without higher than normal temperatures, more hurricanes, or sea level, we have to change what we are doing now. The Earth could be destroyed if we continue what we are doing, but that won’t happen. Everyone needs to take action whether it is doing research in a lab or just changing your light bulbs to the more efficient kinds or just turning off the light when you are not using it. This way, Earth will stay a wonderful place with a wide diversity of life. I hope you will decide to help save the world!

All Images from Wikipedia.
Special Thanks to Wired magazine for providing info on Ethanol.