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Arctic Seed Vault
Opens Doors for 100 Million Seeds
ENN
LONGYEARBYEN, NORWAY (26 FEBRUARY
2008) — 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.
At the opening ceremony, the Prime Minister of Norway, Jens
Stoltenberg, unlocked the vault and, together with the African Nobel
Peace Prize-winning environmentalist Wangari Maathai, he placed the
first seeds in the vault. The President of the European Commission,
José Manuel Barroso, and a host of dignitaries and agriculture
experts from around the globe deposited seeds during the ceremony. A
variety of Norwegian musicians and choirs also performed in the
opening ceremony held 130 metres deep inside the frozen mountain.
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Biofuel Powers Jumbo
Jet
by
Thomas Wagner, Seattle Times
LONDON -- Virgin Atlantic carried out
the world's first flight of a commercial aircraft powered with
biofuel Sunday in an effort to show it can produce less carbon
dioxide than normal jet fuels.
Some analysts praised the jumbo-jet test flight from London to
Amsterdam as a potentially useful experiment. But others criticized
it as a publicity stunt and noted scientists are questioning the
environmental benefits of biofuels.
"This breakthrough will help Virgin Atlantic to fly its planes using
clean fuel sooner than expected," Sir Richard Branson, the airline's
president, said before the Boeing 747 flew from London's Heathrow
Airport to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport...
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Plug-in Cars Could
Actually Increase Air Pollution
by James R. Healey, USA TODAY
The expected introduction of plug-in
hybrid electric vehicles could cut U.S. gasoline use but could
increase deadly air pollution in some areas, two reports say.
That's because a plug-in's lower tailpipe emissions may be offset by
smokestack emissions from the utility generating plants supplying
electricity to recharge the big batteries that allow plug-ins to run
up to 40 miles without kicking on their gasoline engines. Plug-ins,
called PHEVs, are partly powered, in effect, by the fuel used to
generate the electricity.
About 49% of U.S. electricity is
generated using coal, so in some regions a plug-in running on its
batteries is nearly the equivalent of a coal-burning vehicle. The
trade-off is one that even plug-in backers acknowledge. It could
undercut the appeal of vehicles that appear capable of using no
gasoline in town and hitting 50 to 100 mpg overall fuel economy...
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How to Get Clean
Water: Play on a Merry-Go-Round!
Triplepundit.com
We in the West take it for granted
that you turn on the faucet, and water comes out. But for many
people, it's not a given. In fact, in many places, you have to walk
for miles, scooping it into a large jar, then carry it back. And
there's no guarantee of it's cleanliness. This results in a large
number of deaths each year. But it simply doesn't have to be that
way. The irony is, for many, water can be found, right where they
are, albeit deep in the ground. How? Not via an electricity or
generator powered water pump. Too expensive, and generally there's a
lack of infrastructure in many places to support such a thing. What
then?
How about a merry-go-round and a prefab water tower. Come again?
Yes, it's called the Play Pump. What is it? Basically, it's a water
pump, that utilizes the energy of children (and anybody else who
cares to play on it) spinning around on a playground style
merry-go-round, that serves as the motor behind the pump. Rather
then give them away, these reasonably priced devices whose water
tower has nice large flat surfaces could double as a billboard,
providing income to cover the maintenance of them, and publicity for
local businesses...
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