First Landsat 8 satellite images

First Landsat 8 satellite images

And so here it is, the first public Landsat 8 image. The geographical honours goes to Wyoming and Colorado and the area where the Great Plains meets the Rocky Mountains in USA. I wrote about the…
Logging - The Ecological Upside

Logging - The Ecological Upside

Unless we want continued runaway wildfires in dry regions like California, logging makes sense. But there is also an ecological upside, according to a new study.  Retaining moderate levels…
How To Make Siberia A Lot Less Scary

How To Make Siberia A Lot Less Scary

Evidence from Siberian caves suggests that a global temperature rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius could see permanently frozen ground thaw over a large area of Siberia, which would threaten to release…
The Hazardous Waste Of Solar Panels

The Hazardous Waste Of Solar Panels

There is a good reason I was not a fan of Energy Secretary Steven Chu's nationalistic claim that we are in a 'race' to beat China in creating cheap solar panels.   It wasn't that we can't win…
Soil Building: The Key To Sustainable Farming

Soil Building: The Key To Sustainable Farming

Will we will be able to meet the growing global demand for food over the next few decades?  Will we be able to do that in a way that does not degrade the environment?  Surprisingly, the…
South Pole: Garbage Dump At The End Of The World

South Pole: Garbage Dump At The End Of The World

When you think of the South Pole, you probably don't think of garbage.   Yet according to a report commissioned by the Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt) in Germany, the Antarctic is…
The Best Of Earth Observations 2012

The Best Of Earth Observations 2012

Our Earth observation capacity is growing. Not only are star satellite data providers such as NASA and ESA improving their high quality products, new economies such as China and Brazil invest parts…