Environment

Fashionista’s after the latest in leather bags could soon have a ‘greener’ selection to choose from. Scientists in India have modified the tanning process making it far more eco-friendly, reports Anne Pichon in Chemistry & Industry. Tanning is a complex chemical process used to transform perishable raw hides and skins into durable leather. Unfortunately, as a result, high levels of pollution are released into the water. Raghava Rao and his team at the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) in Adyar have modified the process to make it into an eco-friendly, cost-efficient method. The…

Ford Motor Company announced that soy-based polyurethane foam will be used in seats in the 2008 Ford Mustang. Ford spent seven years researching biomaterials with various industry representatives. Partnerships with Urethane Soy Systems Company (USSC) and Lear Corporation made flexible foam technology a reality in Ford vehicles. "Consumers may not realize that petroleum is a major ingredient in auto applications such as seating," says Todd Allen, United Soybean Board (USB) New Uses chair and a soybean farmer from West Memphis, Ark. "The move by Ford to replace petroleum in auto interiors with…

Over the years, two strands of thought on sustainable development have emerged; ecologism and environmentalism. Ecologism offers a solution by emphasizing the need for major socioeconomic reform aimed at a post-industrial era. Environmentalism focuses on the preservation, restoration, and improvement of the natural environment within the present framework. Writing in International Journal of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Rasmus Karlsson suggests that space could provide us with a third alternative; a sustainable future not possible from an earthbound only perspective. An…

Lubrication oil appears to be an important yet little-recognized source of toxic particle emissions from motor vehicles -- even those fueled by clean-burning hydrogen, according to a joint study by government and academic researchers in Washington State and Minnesota. Scientists have long recognized diesel-fueled vehicles as important sources of air pollution that can increase the risk of asthma, bronchitis, and other health problems. Most research, however, has focused on diesel soot, rather than emissions produced by lubrication oil. In the new study, Arthur L. Miller and colleagues…

Acid rain was one of the world’s worst pollution problems of the 1970s and 1980s, affecting large areas of upland Britain, as well as Europe and North America. In Wales, more than 12,000 km of streams and rivers have been acidified, harming fish, stream insects and river birds such as the dipper. Over the last 20 years, action has been taken across Europe to clean up acid pollutants from power generation and industry, which was widely expected to bring recovery. However, new research led by Cardiff University’s School of Biosciences shows that the expected improvements in rivers are far short…

Retrieving material for composting from open dumps across the developing world could reduce the environmental impact of growing mountains of waste, according to researchers in India. People in the developing world are encouraged to compost garden waste or dispose of it in "green" garbage bins for collection and processing. In the developing world, the problems are very different. Open dumps are prevalent and have a poor environmental record, according to environmental engineer Kurian Joseph and colleagues at Anna University in Chennai, India. Joseph's team is proposing landfill mining as a…

A workshop organized by European Action on Global Life Sciences (EAGLES ) issued a report on the Chinese consumption and production of meat and it states that meat consumption in China is expected to reach 73 kilo per person per year in 2020 compared with just over 26 kg in 2004. Nearly triple. This increase in meat consumption means that the environmental impact of the Chinese population will skyrocket if the rapid growth continues. More meat means a wealthier population overall, something that society has worked to create, but the report says the consequences for the environment due to…

Increased solar radiance and decreased snowfall have been implicated as the true culprits in Kilimanjaro's glacier loss. The temperatures on Kilimanjaro's summits almost never rise above freezing, leading researchers to look for other causes for the ongoing glacial recession on Kilimanjaro's peak. Other studies have suggested that deforestation has severely impacted the arboreal microclimates that provide recharge precipitation to Kilimanjaro's glacial packs. With reduced snowfall the summit's glaciers suffer degraded albedo (perhaps coupled with dirty snow) that progressively furthers the…

Soot's global impact on atmospheric warming: NASA researchers found the amount of sunlight absorbed by soot is two-to-four times larger than previously assumed. Reducing sulfates without reducing soot will exacerbate soot's effect because sulfates' high reflectivity index (albedo) counterbalances soot's heat-trapping effect to varying degrees. ..and... "...The calculated global warming in an 1880-2000 simulation is about one-quarter of observed global warming." ..and.. 90 percent of Arctic warming is due to soot causing dirty snow. A soot particle Credit: D.M. Smith, Univ. Denver…

It's like car-pooling, but only for the rich and famous who want to show their green credentials. Madonna, the Prince of Wales and 3000 other beautiful people have been invited to join the world's first private flight sharing club. This will allow them to still get around in style but reduce the environmental impact and cost of private jets that are currently flying empty 40% of the time. The Flightshare Private Members Guild is the brainchild of Farnborough UK based David Lacy, an aviation veteran of 26 years who was the first to introduce carbon offsets to the European private jet…