Category: Globalism

Impact Lab > Globalism
Analysis, Big Problems, Crazy Stuff, Globalism, Health & Fitness, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues, Science & Technology News

Dispersants used on BP Spill contain chemicals associated with cancer: new report

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What a non-surprise.

Many of us sounded the alarm as soon as we learned of BP’s plans to dump huge quantities of the chemical dispersant Corexit into the Gulf in an attempt to break up the oil slick. Experts were concerned, seeing as how the chemical had never been used in such quantities before, nor in such a manner — until the federal government made them stop, BP was blasting the stuff directly into the source, seeking to disperse the oil before it even reached the surface.

Well, now Earth Justice has completed a report on the chemicals that were used in the different blends of dispersant, and it appears that at least some of those fears were well-founded…

Continue reading… “Dispersants used on BP Spill contain chemicals associated with cancer: new report”

Analysis, Big Problems, Crazy Stuff, Current Events, Globalism, government, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues, New Discoveries

Brazil builds $127 billion “Offshore City” to harvest oil in the deep sea

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Brazil is set to start gathering oil in new places.

Want to get a feel for how crazy the post-peak oil fossil fuels industry is getting? Here’s as good an example as any: Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petrobras is about to embark on an unprecedented oil-gathering mission. It’s about to attempt to extract 30 billion barrels of oil from reserves that are locked in deepwater sub-salt fields at least 60 miles off the coast and up to five miles underwater. In order to get at the incredibly hard-to-get oily good stuff, Brazil is spending an estimated $226 billion — and $127 billion will be spent on exploration and production alone.

The product of that venture is already taking shape: a veritable floating “offshore city” has sprung up over 100 kilometers (62 miles) off the coast of Brazil, and it will lead the effort to drill into the deep sea sub-salt…

Continue reading… “Brazil builds $127 billion “Offshore City” to harvest oil in the deep sea”

Big Problems, Breakthrough Thinking, Globalism, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues

Wikileaks releases thousands more cables Covering China, Taiwan and Libya

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More Wikileaks released!

Wikileaks just dropped thousands more embassy cables today. These centered around China, Taiwan, and Libya.

The first batch to drop were 2170 cables about Taiwan. Some 3004 cables from China followed quickly behind…

Continue reading… “Wikileaks releases thousands more cables Covering China, Taiwan and Libya”

Analysis, Big Problems, Crazy Stuff, Food, Globalism, Health & Fitness

Researchers identify food price tipping point linked to rioting

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Rising food costs are a key reason behind rioting.

There’s no doubt that rising food prices in a specific area can lead to rioting. We have plenty of current and historic examples of that. But some interesting new research highlighted in Technology Review shows that once average global food prices cross a certain threshold a tipping point is reached after which “almost anything can trigger a riot, like a lighted match in a dry forest.”

Check out this graph which plots the UN Food Price Index against the dates of riots around the world…

Continue reading… “Researchers identify food price tipping point linked to rioting”

Analysis, Big Problems, Culture, Global Warming, Globalism, Health & Fitness, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues, Human Behavior, Latest News, New Discoveries

Growth of cities endangers global environment

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Manhattan at sunset.

The explosive growth of cities worldwide over the next two decades poses significant risks to people and the global environment, according to a meta-analysis published August 19 in PLoS ONE.

Researchers from Yale, Arizona State, Texas A&M and Stanford predict that by 2030 urban areas will expand by 590,000 square miles — nearly the size of Mongolia — to accommodate the needs of 1.47 billion more people living in urban areas…

Continue reading… “Growth of cities endangers global environment”

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Google Street View is using canoes and tricycles to map the Amazon

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Trecking down the Amazon on your computer thanks to Google.

Google has teamed up with Amazon for a new project. Well, not Amazon, as in the company that sells the Kindle. No, we’re talking about the great, untamed wilderness of the Amazon rainforest. In a partnership with the Sustainable Amazon Foundation, Google aims to use its Street View technology to raise awareness of the world’s largest rainforest and its important ecosystems.

To do this, Google is mapping the byways of the Amazon River…

Continue reading… “Google Street View is using canoes and tricycles to map the Amazon”

Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, Current Events, Education, Famous Inventor, Global Warming, Globalism, Green Friendly, Historical Perspectives, Latest News, New Discoveries, New Inventions, Science & Technology News

Genius 13-Year-Old has a solar power breakthrough

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Would you believe this could be the new look of solar power?

7th grader Aidan Dwyer was walking in the woods during the winter, and looking up, he noticed something about the bare branches above him. They didn’t appear to be growing randomly. So he took some measurements of the angles of the branches, crunched some numbers, and wouldn’t you know it, he found that the ubiquitous Fibonacci Sequence was behind it all. He suspected there was a reason behind this. That trees were using this pattern to gather more light.

So he did an experiment. Using the same number of solar cells, he built two working models. One was a traditional, flat array will all of the panels on a single plane. The other used the Fibonacci Sequence to create the same spiraled pattern he observed in the trees. The results? The little man himself reports…

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Analysis, Big Problems, Current Events, Globalism, Historical Perspectives, Internet, Latest News

Hulu and MSN caught using supercookies to track user data

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Supercookies are not a good thing for the user.

The WSJ says that Hulu and MSN, among others, have been found using supercookies to monitor the info of those who visit their sites. Extremely difficult to detect and erase, supercookies can provide significantly more information than standard cookies.

Supercookies can be used to steal a users entire browser history, which can provide highly valuable information on their financial and health status. Microsoft claims they don’t know why supercookies were being used…

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Breakthrough Thinking, Corporate Manipulation, Crazy Stuff, Globalism, government, Historical Perspectives, Latest News, New Viewpoints

Silicon Valley Billionaire funding creation of Artificial Libertarian Islands

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Seasteading Institute city design (Anthony Ling)

The Seasteading Institute has plans to build floating cities out in the ocean. Now Paypal founder Peter Theil has recently  given  1.25 million dollars to the group in an effort to create Libertarian countries out of these floating cities…

Continue reading… “Silicon Valley Billionaire funding creation of Artificial Libertarian Islands”

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