Climate weapon

Turning the climate into a weapon: bad idea. The Russians thought the HAARP was going to be used for this. Personally, I wonder if the U.S. government's inflexibility is just their way to close the "climate-destruction gap" with other countries. I mean, c'mon, it seems like everything is going extinct already. Darfur, in case you don't remember, was partially due to climate change. I don't see how much worse things could get. Random Link: I like this idea. It gives me warm fuzzies to know that someone is going to be taking advantage of all that melting polar ice!

Roundup: Birds, Pandas and Chairs

Green energy tradeoff I: Trees vs. Solar Panels

Green energy tradeoff II: Birds (and bats) vs. Turbines (and here, and here)

Personally, I'd like to see more helix-shaped turbines which don't have these same problems.

Climate change is... good for the environment?

Cool prefab furniture.

My favorite plant family fights fires.

This guy is at MOMA for a few more weeks.

Green roof/ramp in Singapore.

Panda's best friend.

Saving the other built environment.

Green Tradeoffs: Fuel Efficiency vs. Urban Planning

Nice sails

I may be a little slow on this one, but I just discovered GigaOM Network's excellent Earth2Tech blog. It covers the cleantech beat from all angles. Check it out here. Cool items of note from that blog: Sail-powered ships returning to the ocean (kinda) and this awesome people-powered bike that filters water (winner of Google's Innovate or Die! challenge). Kudos!

More! Hidden costs of global warming

Dengue fever in Italy.

Mental Illness = No school for you!

The Chicago Tribune just ran a special report about increasing numbers of college students who are being forced out of school. Not because they have poor grades, not because they violated any school regulations, but rather because they have a mental illness -- such as bulimia, PTSD, or depression. I'm not an expert, but I have a strong opinion on this. More to come later.

Well, the whole "international penpal" thing just got easier. Look at TechCrunch.....

The OTHER Digital Divide

I'm sick of everyone talking about the digital divide between the haves and have nots as if as soon as you give kids laptops they stop starving/getting malaria/being killed on a grand scale. The real digital divide is between people. With everyone spending more and more time inside their own networks, where's the understanding going to come from? Where's the love? Just because we all watch the same YouTube videos or LOLCats doesn't mean that we're going to make the world a better place. What's the point of connectivity... if there's no connection. Someone should create an app that gets kids interested in having digital pen pals. BTW: Blogger may soon be using OpenID which I think is a great move. Finally, we will be free of the GOOG! (Except for our blog hosting, e-mail, search, RSS reader, internet connection....)