wastewater

The Pacific Ocean is becoming caffeinated

While the concentrations aren't exactly espresso-level, it's still cause for concern.

Critical List: Meat consumption must drop 50 percent; Los Angeles the Energy Star of cities

We going to have to eat half as much meat as we do now in order to curb climate change. After Deepwater Horizon, throughout the Gulf “things are just a little bit out of kilter,” says the head of NOAA’s restoration team. With 659 certified Energy Star buildings, Los Angeles has the most of any […]

Your new offshore energy source: Floating algae farms

Forget offshore oil drilling. NASA’s working on a project that would generate clean, renewable offshore energy, by growing algae in floating plastic bags. These floating algae farms would take in wastewater from treatment plants. For algae, wastewater is like the nectar of the gods: The ammonia and phosphates act as a fertilizer. So the algae […]

Critical List: The gas boom scam; Bieber’s electric car

In Rolling Stone, Jeff Goodell looks at “the scam behind the gas boom.” What really makes money for a natural gas company? “Buying and flipping the land that contains the gas,” Goodell reports. A team of scientists has discovered how to use wastewater’s bacteria to create electricity. For his 18th birthday Justin Bieber received (among […]

Critical List: IG blesses State’s Keystone work; fair trade gasoline

The State Department’s inspector general has delivered his report on the Keystone XL environmental review process, and concludes that TransCanada did not improperly influence the assessment. The gist of the report is that the review wasn’t corrupt, just incompetent. Two nuclear new reactors have been approved, the first ones since 1978. The Pennsylvania government could […]

Critical List: Connecting climate change to the Texas heat wave; ditching plastic straws

Climate scientist James Hansen says he can prove that climate change caused the Texas heat wave. Maine fishermen caught more lobster last year than ever before. Wave and tidal energy could provide enough electricity to meet 15 percent of current demand in the United States. In London, plastic straws are the new plastic bags. No […]