Blue Planet News

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened today on a remote island in the Arctic Circle, receiving inaugural shipments of 100 million seeds that originated in over 100 countries. With the deposits ranging from unique varieties of major African and Asian food staples such as maize, rice, wheat, cowpea, and sorghum to European and South American varieties of eggplant, lettuce, barley, and potato, the first deposits into the seed vault represent the most comprehensive and diverse collection of food crop seeds being held anywhere in the world.

Built near the village of Longyearbyen on the island of Spitsbergen, the vault at its inception contains 268,000 distinct samples of seeds

There’s a washing machine suited for the environment. It doesn’t use any electricity, just the power of your arms. I don’t know how it works, but you just spin it and it pressurizes itself and washes as well as a regular washing machine. It’s named “WonderWash”, just google on this word and you’ll be able to buy one (i’m not affiliated with them in any way). From their description on the site, this is it:

• Washes a 5-lb. load super clean in just a couple of minutes.
  
• Only $42.95
• Has a patented pressure system that forces detergent into the fabric at high speed for a fast, efficient, economic and very easy wash
• Is ideal for campers, boaters, single persons and even for the housewife with small frequent loads like hand washables and diapers.
• Is ideal for delicates such as woolens, silks, knitted dresses and cashmere garments.
• Uses far less water than even hand washing.
• Uses 90% less detergent and water than conventional machines
• Has received excellent independent reviews in a large number of publications, including dozens of large national magazines and newspapers.
• Capacity is just as large or larger some of the much more expensive, larger apartment washing machines being sold.

About two weeks ago I bought myself a new washing machine, an electrical one. It’s got A-class energy consumption, but it took 4 men to carry it to the 4th floor where I live. I guess this one I could have carried myself… still… I’m proud of mine.

Did you know that bamboo trees are more beneficial to the atmosphere in terms of oxygen production, than regular trees? They produce 35% more oxygen than them and “eat” a lot more CO2 than trees. For example, 1 hectar of bamboo consumes 62 tons of CO2/year, while 1 hectar of young forest consumes only 15 tons of CO2/year! See it for yourself in the chart below:

Click here to continue…

PG&E has “launched” a billboard which is in fact a power plant. It’s solar powered and furnishes about 3.4kW/day, the average consumption of a normal 4 persons family. Nice initiative! They also sustain a project in the Mojave desert, building the biggest solar power plant in the world at the moment. Click here to continue…

A new nuclear plant is about to be built in Bulgaria. The environmentalists say the place is not safe for building such a plant, because of the risk of earthquake (there was one in 1977 that devastated especially the south part of Romania and a lot of Bulgaria). Still, the local scientists say it’s safe and they go on with its construction.

Bulgaria’s geophysical institute, found the 30km zone around the Belene site had never been subjected to any earthquakes equal to or exceeding magnitude four on the Medvedev-Sponheuer-Karnik scale. Magnitude four caused moderate ground shaking and no damage to buildings. “If there is an earthquake, flooding by the Danube, or even if a plane goes down on the site, the construction (of the plant at Belene) is designed to sustain this with no consequences,” said the chairperson of the non-governmental Bulgarian Atomic Forum, Bogomil Manchev.

This power plant would cover a part of Bulgaria’s economical crisis and debts. I don’t know what to say, whether it’s safe or not. I only know that the earthquake from ‘77 did a lot of harm to many people in Romania. And that’s a fact.

Vegware, a company from England, has made up some cutlery by using starch and potato. They also make lunch carrying bags, bags, and a lot of other handful tools when it’s time for lunch. As it’s already known, a lot of plastic residue comes from plastic cutlery. It’s pity of all that plastic being thrown out.

Really, it is.

The tools Vegware makes are humidity resistant, degrade themselves in 6 months and resist up to 105 degrees Celsius (221 degrees Fahrenheit).

You may also purchase, if interested, from them.