Human Thinking/Human Concepts

Solar Thermal Factory Opened in Vegas, Triples Worldwide Manufacturing Capacity

11thhouraction — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:25:52 -0500

While Ausra CEO Robert Fishman was far from excited yesterday about the BLM solar moratorium policy, he was perfectly happy to tout his company’s new 130,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Las Vegas. “This is a crossover point for this industry. Ausra’s factory is accelerating Nevada’s and America’s solar future by tripling worldwide manufacturing capacity, relieving the supply constraint that has slowed the industry, and continuing to drive down costs,” Fishman said in Ausra’s press release.

The factory will be the Palo Alto-based companies first North American manufacturing and distribution centers and will supply reflectors, absorber tubes and other components for the company’s solar thermal power plants. At full capacity, the facility will produce more than 700 MW of solar collectors annually.

Site provided by www.treehugger.com

WALL-E is Wonderful and Heart-Warming

AZ_Sun — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 12:01:03 -0500

I wanted to see the new Disney-Pixar movie WALL-E ever since I saw a trailer for it last January. I saw this sweet and charming film yesterday and just LOVED it. I highly recommend seeing this film no matter what age you are.

All the top film critics are raving about WALL-E. Here is what some of the other film critics are saying.

Gary Thompson, Philadelphia Daily News
WALL-E is probably the sweetest movie ever made about humans destroying the earth.

Stephan Whitty, Newark Star Ledger
WALL-E is a surprisingly moving parable of what we waste, and what we should cherish -- and wrapped in a romance so absurdly moving it could wring a tear or two even from Gort and Robby the Robot. Or a parent and child.

MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher
WALL-E is art. Hell, it's philosophy -- it's practically religion.

Sean Axmaker, Seattle Post-Inteligencer
WALL-E, an animated robot love story with an environmental message and a slapstick delivery, is a charmer of a film and a delightful piece of storytelling.

Austin Kennedy, Sin Magazine
Not only is this a great Sci-Fi film, it's also easily one of the most romantic! Dismissing this as just another kid’s film is not only unfair to the movie, it's unfair to you.

James Rocchi, Cinematical
Too many kid's movies are created to give kids things to buy; WALL-E is a kid's movie that might, perhaps, give you and your kids pause to think about what things truly cost.

Carla Meyer, Sacramento Bee
Offers a touching robot romance, visuals as artful as they are state-of-the- art, and vital messages about environmental and personal health.

David M. Kimmel, Worcester Telegram & Gazett
...an immensely appealing film for all ages.

Jeff Vice, Deseret News, Salt Lake City
WALL-E is not only a triumph in terms of style, it's also a triumph in terms of story. There's a real emotional resonance and depth to this material

Ken Fox, TV Guide’s Movie Guide
It can hardly be called a children's film, but a masterpiece of feature-film animation for all ages.

John P. McCarthy, Boxoffice Magazine
The genius of WALL-E is how so many disparate influences...are incorporated and evoked while creating something unique...What a wonderful world it would be if the talents they manifest here could somehow be marshalled to address real-life problems.

Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
By turns sad, hilarious, exciting and, ultimately, hopeful, this is a film of Great Truths masquerading as child's play.

Erik Childress, eFilmCritic.com
Not since Titanic will you have heard two prospective partners cry out each other's names with as much longing (and frequency) and if there's any karma, fate, or pure love out there to believe in than WALL-E will equal its attendance and then some.

Ethan Alter, Film Journal International
While the film's social message comes through loud and clear, it never detracts from the heart of the picture--the unlikely romance between WALL-E and EVE.

Adam Fendelman, HollywoodChicago.com
Though perfection in film is a highly unlikely proposition, WALL-E indeed has become 2008's first perfect film and one of the best Pixar projects of all time.

Source: RottenTomatoes.com

First Solar Powered Rickshaw

11thhouraction — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:41:16 -0500

London-based research and design company SolarLab is developing a solar-powered rickshaw. The vehicle, which is due to be launched next year, will derive up to 75% of its power from photovoltaics mounted on its roof, and the rest from pedal power.

"As a London-based company, we understand the tangible effects of pollution and congestion in our city. Our solar rickshaw will offer a radical transport solution for tourists and residents of any major metropolis. More importantly, our design is modular enabling easy conversion to load-bearing vehicles for inner city logistics and supply-chain requirements."

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Site provided by www.dezeen.com

Japan Airlines To Make Biofuel Test Flight

11thhouraction — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:21:50 -0500

Japan Airlines will join Air New Zealand, Continental Airlines, Lufthansa, and Virgin Atlantic on the list of airlines investigating biofuels in an attempt to improve their environmental image and hopefully reduce costs.

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Site provided by www.treehugger.com

NEW SEARCH ENGINE SEEKS TO BUILD A GREEN FUTURE!

mhaney — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:13:38 -0500

The first Flash Search Engine is an Environmental Search Engine!! http://www.greenplanetsearch.com is now live!

When Mike Haney first presented the idea behind the technology behind

www.greenplanetsearch.com, he was laughed down. Virtually, of course. “Everyone can

dream,: scoffed one, erroneously.

A few people were intrigued. The combination of Haney’s vision of a Flash-driven search

engine, and the plan to create a dazzling environmental education resource, eventually

attracted a loose-knit corps of collaborators, most of whom have never met in person first

among them Andre Roussille, a French computer programmer, and now part owner of the

company.

The upshot from this collaboration, apart from the stunningly beautiful homepage, is the

only people involved in the creation of the search engine, is that the only people involved

in the development devoted environmentalists, who genuinely wish to disseminate good

information to students and educators.

Later, through a similar serendipity, Mr. Haney teamed up with a veteran journalist who

agreed to lend his services to the site, building from scratch a source of environmental

news and policy analysis.

Advertisers will be strictly vetted by the companies shareholders, limited to companies

that are making a meaningful contribution the planet’s health.

The final result, which was launched this week, is the culminating of thousands of

hours of work, and more than a few false starts.

It boasts easily navigable information, experiments, lesson plans, presented in an interactive and graphically enhanced format,

and has an exclusive global climate change resource section for teachers and kids.

If you would like more information about greenplanetsearch.com, or to schedule an

interview with Mike Haney, please call Mike Haney at 305.531.3746 or e-mail info@greenplanetsearch.com.

TV Alert: “GREENSBURG” Premiers Sunday June 15th on the Planet Green Channel

AZ_Sun — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:51:33 -0500

Just a reminder that GREENSBURG premiers this Sunday, June 15th at 9pm ET/PT on Discovery's new Planet Green channel. The 13-part series follows the green rebuilding story of Greensburg, Kansas after a devastating EF5 tornado traveled through the area on May 4, 2007 destroying at least 95 percent of the city. The series features Leonardo DiCaprio as its executive producer, and will be a behind-the-scenes look into the rebuilding of Greensburg as an eco-friendly community which will showcase as a model for the rest of the world to follow.

I have been feeling a little guilty about looking forward to this new series since a disaster had to happen in order to make this series possible. But now with all the recent disasters happening all over the country with more tornadoes and severe flooding causing people to lose their homes, businesses and towns, a series like this is hitting the airwaves at exactly the right time. The community of Greensburg can give hope now to other people by showing how they turned life’s challenges into personal triumphs.

Since Planet Green debuted this past June 4th I have had the opportunity to watch a few of the shows. My eco-ego has enjoyed watching WA$TED the most. I have to admit that watching this show gives me an air of superiority, in that I feel I’m very green compared to the people they profile on the show. LOL

Then I watch Living with Ed and my air of superiority gets diminished very quickly, because my actions pale in comparison to Ed’s actions. I don’t do anything even close like riding a stationary bicycle every morning to generate enough electricity to make toast like Ed does.

Compared to Ed, I’m a very light shade of mint green.

No one can do everything, but everyone can do something...and that's what counts.

Neil Young Focuses Energy on Electric Car

11thhouraction — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:55:06 -0500

WICHITA, Kansas (AP) -- Neil Young, the rocker who provided some of the soundtrack to Vietnam-era protests, is again trying to change the world -- with his car.

Neil Young wants to use his convertible as a template to make electric cars more mainstream. Young has teamed up with Johnathan Goodwin, a Wichita mechanic who has developed a national reputation for re-engineering the power units of big cars to get more horsepower but use less fuel.

Future Apple Devices Looking to Solar Power

11thhouraction — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:23:19 -0500

Employees at Apple have filed a patent for integrating solar cells into portable devices by placing them underneath the layers of a touch-sensitive display, according to the filing.

Solar power could help make devices truly portable, freeing from the need for wires to connect them to a power supply.

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Site provided by www.nytimes.com

What Would Jesus Buy?

AZ_Sun — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 14:45:03 -0500

A Movie That Santa Does Not Want You To See!

What Would Jesus Buy? is a serious docu-comedy about the commercialization of Christmas that just came out on DVD. I rented it last night and found it quite hilarious and very thought-provoking as well.

What Would Jesus Buy? follows Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir as they go on a cross-country mission to save Christmas from the Shopocalypse: the end of mankind from consumerism, over-consumption and the fires of eternal debt!

Bill Talen (aka Reverend Billy) was a lost idealist who hitchhiked to New York City only to find that Times Square was becoming a mall. Spurred on by the loss of his neighborhood and inspired by the sidewalk preachers around him, Bill bought a collar to match his white caterer's jacket, bleached his hair and became the Reverend Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping. Since 1999, Reverend Billy has gone from being a lone preacher with a portable pulpit preaching on subways, to the leader of a congregation and a movement whose numbers are well into the thousands. Through retail interventions, corporate exorcisms, and some good old-fashioned preaching, Reverend Billy reminds us that we have lost the true meaning of Christmas. What Would Jesus Buy? is a journey into the heart of America – from exorcising the demons at the Wal-Mart headquarters to taking over the center stage at the Mall of America and then ultimately heading to the Promised Land … Disneyland.

Will we be led like Sheeple to the Christmas slaughter, or will we find a new way to give a gift this Christmas? What Would Jesus Buy? may just be the divine intervention we’ve all been searching for.

The Shopocalypse is upon us … Who will be $aved?

I thought the film had a nice mix of serious & relevant information, as well as outrageously funny scenes. The 11th Hour film expert Bill McKibben is featured in the film under the section called “Malling of America.” Bill talks about how he feels in a 100 years from now we won’t be doing the things that we are doing now. We will have figured way more interesting things to do than just go shopping as our main activity. Unfortunately, he thinks we don’t have a 100 years to make that transition. We have to make it more quickly than it would happen naturally or else we will derail the Earth’s physical systems – especially the climate.

One of my favorite scenes is when Reverend Billy and his Choir go Christmas caroling door to door. They sing these popular Christmas songs to families using new lyrics.

Deck the Malls with Folks with Money!
FA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA
Tis the Season to be Dummies!
FA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA

AND

Joy to the World!
In the Form of Goods!
Consume! Consume! Consume!
Bright Plastics This and That’s!
For Screaming Little Brats!
Take the SUV to the Mall
Take the SUV to the Mall

I also loved the part where Reverend Billy hears peoples’ confessions out of a confessional booth that he sets up on a street corner with a sign that reads, “Confess Your Shopping Sins.” Alright, I will come clean and confess my biggest shopping SIN from the past few years. I bought one of those big exercise balls, and only used it twice. It sat in my closet for a couple of years, then I finally gave it away.

I feel much better now that I confessed.

Lizards, whales inspire high-tech biomimicry

11thhouraction — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:01:56 -0500

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO (Reuters) - Whale hearts hold clues to making pacemakers and lizard skins are showing how to cut friction in electrical appliances as companies mimic nature to develop high-tech goods, a U.N.-backed report said on Wednesday.

Among other advances that could save hundreds of millions of dollars, the wings of desert beetles could improve water collection and the drought-resistant African "resurrection plant" indicates ways to store vaccines without refrigeration.

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Site provided by www.reuters.com