IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Who will build the World's Largest Solar Farm? Right. China!; Air pollution is bad for you. Who knew? ... PLUS: Oil, Oil, Toil and Trouble ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': Are blackboards more environmentally friendly than whiteboards?; Waste Not, Watt Not: Energy efficiency cuts pollution while lowering energy bills; World's first off-shore floating wind turbine opens in Norway; ‘Once in a century’ downpour kills 20 in Turkey ... PLUS: The least sustainable seafood in the world, and why you should avoid it ....

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

• Chinese solar plant expected to be the biggest: First Solar CEO says planned 2-gigawatt plant would be 'impossible' to build in US (AP)
• How Air Pollution Can Damage the Heart (Time) [emphasis added]:
  
  Brook's data suggest that particulates are more active players in heart problems than ozone, and that two different processes may be occurring as we inhale unclean air. First, the fine matter triggers changes in the central nervous system, causing a switch from the more controlled regulation of body processes to a more instinctive, automatic fight-or-flight response. This revs up the heartbeat and causes blood pressure to spike as the body may be responding to the presence of foreign, potentially dangerous particles in the air.

  Once the immediate onslaught of pollution is gone, blood pressure drops back down. But the damaging effects persist. Particulates can lodge deep in the lungs, where they activate another process - inflammation, which kicks in over the 24 hours after exposure. The inflammatory response can stiffen blood vessels and cause longer-term damage to blood-vessel flexibility and their ability to absorb changes in blood flow from the heart. Weakened blood vessels can increase the risk of heart disease or stroke.

• BP Finds Giant Oil Field Deep in Gulf of Mexico (NY Times)
• What BP’s giant oil strike means (MSNBC): Gulf of Mexico discovery signals success of a high-risk, high-reward strategy
• Oil edges higher on weak dollar, forecast: OPEC confirms it will keep crude output unchanged (MSNBC)
• Exxon, Shell post worst earnings in years: Slumping global demand threatens to slow exploration and production (NBC, July 30)
• BP Unveils 'Giant' Oil Discovery in Gulf of Mexico (AFP)
• The (Not So) Hidden Costs of Crude (Dot Earth):
  
  It’s clear the Timor Sea spill will keep spreading for weeks to come, given that the company announced last month that it plans to stanch the flow by sending a new rig to drill a temporary well, hopefully lowering the pressure driving the leak in the failed platform. But that plan has been delayed.
• Australia to Probe Timor Sea Oil Spill, Minister Says (Bloomberg)
• Oil Spill Off West Australia ‘Appalling,’ Rudd Says (Bloomberg)
• Oil spill off Kimberly Coast 'poses fire hazard' (Western Australian News)
• Oil spill emergency off WA coast (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
• Big Oil creates phony climate denial site, lies about it (Grist.org)

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': More green news not covered in today's audio report... See below!

• Are blackboards more environmentally friendly than whiteboards? (Green Lantern):
  
  Over the summer, the high school where I teach had a complete makeover—which included replacing all our old chalkboards with whiteboards. I'm happy not to be breathing in any more chalk dust, but with all those plastic pens I'll be throwing away, is the new system really any better for the environment than the old?
• Waste Not, Watt Not: Energy efficiency cuts pollution while lowering energy bills — that’s why it’s a core strategy of the climate and clean energy bill (Climate Progress)
• World's first floating wind turbine opens in Norway (AFP)
• ‘Once in a century’ downpour kills 20 in Turkey: Surging 6-foot floodwaters sweep through parts of Istanbul, flipping buses (MSNBC)
• The Least Sustainable Seafood in the World And Why You Should Avoid It: Avoid this seafood at all costs and make a huge difference in our oceans (Planet Green)

                 

Article Categories: Green News