Ecoclimax

What's In Your Trash?

2012-02-10T22:04:00.000-08:00

The cleaning services industry brings in more than $50 billion a year, from commercial janitorial services to residential cleaning agencies, and the industry is projected to continue growing as the baby boomer generation continues to age and older Americans seek help with housework.

NASA: Temperature Data: 1880-2011

2012-01-31T22:31:00.000-08:00

The global average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since 1880.The finding sustains a trend that has seen the 21st century experience nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern meteorological record. NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York released an analysis of how temperatures around the globe in 2011 compared to the average global temperature from the mid-20th century. The comparison shows how Earth continues to experience higher temperatures than several decades ago. The average temperature around the globe in 2011 was 0.92 degrees F (0.51 C) higher than the mid-20th century baseline.

World coal consumption by region, 1980-2010

2012-01-10T06:40:00.000-08:00

Total World Demand for Coal Doubled Since 1980.

Fishing under ice

2012-01-03T19:41:00.000-08:00

Some under ice views from beautiful lake Saarijärvi in Vaala, Finland.

Pelicans and Flying Rays

2011-12-30T21:17:00.000-08:00

Pelicans in the Sea of Cortez are our guide to the incredible flying Devil Rays.

The TOP 10 countries using solar

2011-12-26T01:01:00.000-08:00

Despite a shaky European and the recent prominent failure of a U.S.-based panel manufacturer, the solar market at large has continued its upward trajectory of rapid growth in the last two years. Lower costs, new applications, and plenty of investor interest have helped these 10 countries become the world's leaders in installed solar.

Kelvin-Helmholtz Wave Clouds Over B'ham

2011-12-19T00:14:00.000-08:00

The Kelvin–Helmholtz instability, after Lord Kelvin and Hermann von Helmholtz, can occur when velocity shear is present within a continuous fluid, or when there is sufficient velocity difference across the interface between two fluids. One example is wind blowing over a water surface, where the wind causes the relative motion between the stratified layers (i.e., water and air). The instability will manifest itself in the form of waves being generated on the water surface. The waves can appear in numerous fluids and have been spotted in clouds, Saturn's bands, waves in the ocean, and in the sun's corona.

The theory can be used to predict the onset of instability and transition to turbulent flow in fluids of different densities moving at various speeds. Helmholtz studied the dynamics of two fluids of different densities when a small disturbance such as a wave is introduced at the boundary connecting the fluids.

Food Forest in Morocco

2011-12-13T00:13:00.000-08:00

2000 year old food forest in Morocco.

Via www.ecofilms.com.au/

How Bikes Can Save Us

2011-12-12T23:45:00.000-08:00

The two-wheeled key to better health and a better world.

Carbon Dioxide Emissions on the Rise

2011-12-12T00:24:00.000-08:00

Emissions of CO2, a greenhouse gas, have risen steadily for the last 30 years.

The burning of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. CO2 is a greenhouse gas, and is primarily responsible for human-induced climate change. The trend: upward—sharply—especially among emerging nations such as China, India, and Brazil.

Colors represent total CO2 emissions by year between 1960 and 2007.

Red circles differentiate the top ten and top 50 emitters of CO2 in 2007. Click on the circles to see graphs of emissions over time.

Click the play button on the time slider at the bottom of the page to see emission rates between 1960 and 2007.

Via esri

Wonderful World

2011-12-09T02:52:00.001-08:00

David Attenborough - Wonderful World.

What Is Santa's Carbon Footprint?

2011-12-08T20:42:00.000-08:00

metric tons of carbon emissions. We take a look at where these emissions are coming from and what can be done to make this Christmas joyful for children and the environment.

Some Interesting Facts About Our Contaminated World

2011-12-02T01:25:00.000-08:00

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms.

A History of the Sky

2011-12-02T01:03:00.000-08:00

This is a year-long time-lapse study of the sky. A camera installed on the roof of the Exploratorium museum in San Francisco captured an image of the sky every 10 seconds. From these images, I created a mosaic of time-lapse movies, each showing a single day. The days are arranged in chronological order. My intent was to reveal the patterns of light and weather over the course of a year.

Wrong Climate for Damming Rivers

2011-11-30T00:19:00.000-08:00

The "Wrong Climate for Damming Rivers," with Right Livelihood Award Winner Nnimmo Bassey, explores the impacts of climate change and hydropower on the world's rivers.

Finding Oregon

2011-11-29T23:16:00.000-08:00

Finding Oregon is the compilation of six months of timelapse photography across the state of Oregon, punctuated by a 1600 mile road trip in September. We've filmed the Columbia River Gorge, Mt Hood, Mt Jefferson, the Southwestern Coast, the Alvord Desert, Leslie Gulch, Blue Mountains, Crater Lake, Eagle Cap Wilderness, Deschutes River, and more. We're proud to have touched all four corners of the state; however Oregon is the kind of place that the more you see, the more places there are to still discover.

The greatest challenge with this project was being in the right place at the right time. Night timelapse sequences particularly have an unexpected number of requirements to get the bright, stunning payoff. First, the moon should be around the New Moon phase (no moon) so as not to compete with outshining the stars, so that means we get about 5 days a month window. Next, weather must be cooperative with a dependable expectancy of cloudless skies. Here in Oregon, only the Summer months have good chance of clear skies, so only 1/4 of the year offers good chance of clear skies. So that means, we have three months in the year, with a 5 day window each month to plan with fingers crossed for epic star shooting conditions. That's only 15 days in a year. Then, you hope that something doesn't come up in regular life to pull you away to other obligations on those few days. It is a maddening challenge getting all the factors to line up to be in the right place at the right time. But, when it does happen- it is such a satisfying feeling!

Crushing the Myth of Global Cooling

2011-11-29T00:06:00.000-08:00

Dr. Benjamin Santer is one of the world's most respected climate scientists.
He is a researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a frequent expert witness before the US Congress, and a tireless researcher. In a recent lecture at California State University at Chico, he addressed one of the enduring myths of climate denial.

Visualizing empires decline

2011-11-25T00:44:00.000-08:00

This is mainly an experimentation with soft bodies using toxi's verlet springs. The data refers to the evolution of the top 4 maritime empires of the XIX and XX centuries by extent. The visual emphasis is on their decline.

10 centuries in 5 minutes
Centennia Historical Atlas: a dynamic, animated atlas of the history of Europe and the Middle East from 1000AD to the present.

The world in the last 200 years.

The Inner Life of a Cell

2011-11-25T00:23:00.000-08:00

Medical animator David Bolinsky presents 3 minutes of stunning animation that show the bustling life inside a cell.

'Brinicle' ice finger of death filmed in Antarctic

2011-11-24T00:09:00.000-08:00

As brine from the sea ice sinks, a 'brinicle' forms threatening life on the sea floor with a frosty fate.

A bizarre underwater "icicle of death" has been filmed by a BBC crew.

With timelapse cameras, specialists recorded salt water being excluded from the sea ice and sinking.
The temperature of this sinking brine, which was well below 0C, caused the water to freeze in an icy sheath around it.
Where the so-called "brinicle" met the sea bed, a web of ice formed that froze everything it touched, including sea urchins and starfish.
The unusual phenomenon was filmed for the first time by cameramen Hugh Miller and Doug Anderson for the BBC One series Frozen Planet.

Creeping ice

The icy phenomenon is caused by cold, sinking brine, which is more dense than the rest of the sea water. It forms a brinicle as it contacts warmer water below the surface.
Mr Miller set up the rig of timelapse equipment to capture the growing brinicle under the ice at Little Razorback Island, near Antarctica's Ross Archipelago.
"When we were exploring around that island we came across an area where there had been three or four [brinicles] previously and there was one actually happening," Mr Miller told BBC Nature.
The diving specialists noted the temperature and returned to the area as soon as the same conditions were repeated.
"It was a bit of a race against time because no-one really knew how fast they formed," said Mr Miller.
"The one we'd seen a week before was getting longer in front of our eyes... the whole thing only took five, six hours."

Against the odds

The location - beneath the ice off the foothills of the volcano Mount Erebus, in water as cold as -2C - was not easy to access.
"That particular patch was difficult to get to. It was a long way from the hole and it was quite narrow at times between the sea bed and the ice," explained Mr Miller.
"I do remember it being a struggle... All the kit is very heavy because it has to sit on the sea bed and not move for long periods of time."
As well as the practicalities of setting up the equipment, the filmmakers had to contend with interference from the local wildlife.
The large weddell seals in the area had no problems barging past and breaking off brinicles as well as the filming equipment.
"The first time I did a timelapse at the spot a seal knocked it over," said Mr Miller.
But the team's efforts were eventually rewarded with the first ever footage of a brinicle forming.

How Does a Brinicke Form?

Dr Mark Brandon
Polar oceanographer, The Open University

Freezing sea water doesn't make ice like the stuff you grow in your freezer. Instead of a solid dense lump, it is more like a seawater-soaked sponge with a tiny network of brine channels within it.

In winter, the air temperature above the sea ice can be below -20C, whereas the sea water is only about -1.9C. Heat flows from the warmer sea up to the very cold air, forming new ice from the bottom. The salt in this newly formed ice is concentrated and pushed into the brine channels. And because it is very cold and salty, it is denser than the water beneath.

The result is the brine sinks in a descending plume. But as this extremely cold brine leaves the sea ice, it freezes the relatively fresh seawater it comes in contact with. This forms a fragile tube of ice around the descending plume, which grows into what has been called a brinicle.

Brinicles are found in both the Arctic and the Antarctic, but it has to be relatively calm for them to grow as long as the ones the Frozen Planet team observed.

Via http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/15835017

Octopus Walks on Land at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve

2011-11-23T23:47:00.000-08:00

This guy came out of the booth to gift us a crab.

Anthropocene Mapping

2011-11-23T03:53:00.000-08:00

This video is based on the map experiments I have done to illustrate the Anthropocene. It shows several features of our global civilization: cities, built environment, transmission lines, pipelines, main paved and unpaved roads and railways.

Via globaia.org

Conception to birth

2011-11-21T01:08:00.000-08:00

Image-maker Alexander Tsiaras shares a powerful medical visualization, showing human development from conception to birth and beyond.

24 Hours: Baby's first division. The fertilized ovum divides a few hours after fusion... And divides anew every 12 to 15 hours.

25 Days: Heart chamber developing.

32 Days: Arms & hands are developing.

36 Days: Beginning of the primitive vertebrae. These weeks are the period of the most rapid development of the fetus. If the fetus continues to grow at this speed for the entire nine months it would be 1,5 tons at birth.

32 Days: Embryo's heart is beating twice as fast as the mother's.

52 Days: Developing retina, nose and fingers. The fetus continual movement in the womb is necessary for muscular and skeletal growth.

12 Weeks: Indifferent penis - girl or boy yet to determined.

Ask The Mountains

2011-11-18T00:56:00.000-08:00

Amazing clips from BBC Documentary 'Planet Earth', Episode 'Mountains'.

Land Temperature Anomaly Video

2011-11-11T00:49:00.000-08:00

Berkeley Earth video representation of the land surface temperature anomaly, 1800 to the present. The map of the world shows the temperature anomaly by location over time. The chart at the bottom, shows the global land-surface temperature anomaly. The Berkeley Earth analysis shows 0.911 degrees Centigrade of land warming (+/- 0.042 C) since the 1950s.

Via http://berkeleyearth.or