Chemistry for a sustainable world

Regarding the previous post on “The French Chernobyl”, it has caused some unfortunate confusion. The title of that post was coined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to refer to the extremely serious PCB contamination of the Rhone river in France. These chemicals are or were used as coolants and insulators for [...]

Note:  please see also my Feb 24 post, which clarifies this article a bit more.
“Years of unchecked pollution in France’s Rhone River have taken their toll with the recent discovery of PCB levels 10-12 times the safe limit in the river’s fish.” The World Wildlife fund has called this the “French Chernobyl”. Please read [...]

“Just a great video from CBS that covers the high and low end of electric cars. There’s tremendous promise that these vehicles will help us achieve (sustainable) energy independence,” sustainable products, and sustainable design, helping the environment and society at the same time. The video also presents the most challenging part of the sustainable [...]

CTSI, the Clean Technology and Sustainable Industries Organization, is organizing CTSI Policy Day in Washington D.C. on March 5, 2008. CTSI is a non-profit organization that acts in support of sustainable technologies and “reduced footprint” technologies, including a wide range of topics.

Under sustainable technologies, CTSI lists the obvious renewable energy sources, but goes much [...]

Original story by Alexis Madrigal of the Wired Blog network (click on “read more” below).
If we made the globe warm, we can make the globe cool. That’s the premise and promise of geoengineering, the name given to intentional attempts to alter the climate.
“Ken Buesseler a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute spoke on [...]

As reported by Environmental News Service and noted on DIGG by carbonneutral and rhedhed, the “New York City Council passed legislation Wednesday that makes New York the first major municipality in the nation to tackle the rising tide of discarded electronics in the waste stream. Manufacturers of computers, TVs and MP3 players will have to [...]

An environmentally friendly technology using temperature differentials in the Tropical Ocean combined with other technologies could enable global Hydrogen distribution, by Mahesh Basantani for Inhabitat.
“Ocean waves are already being used as a source of renewable energy, but could differences in water temperatures in the sea be our next source of green power? A decade old [...]

Steven Chen has started a discussion on Treehugger.com that encourages people with environmental blogs to write in and describe their sites. I recommend that you take a look at the wide variety of blogs represented.  My blog roll also has a list of relevant sites, but it isn’t comprehensive. OneWorldUS is well worth a [...]

The Antarctic Sciences Division of the National Science Foundation (NSF) provided a grant to author Kathleen Keeley to visit the Antarctic and write a novel that helps improve the scientific literacy of young adults. Ms. Keeley writes fiction for a target audience aged 10-13, more specifically for girls in this age group, and has [...]

It is nice to see that Air Products has discovered a way for removing mercury and acid rain components from coal-fired electrical plants and other coal-burning facilities. I wonder how practical this will be? Air Products is certainly a very capable and innovative company. From Yahoo News:
“Air Products is a world leader in the [...]