These batteries alone contain heavy metals and corosive materials, the speakers of course had magnets etc in them and all this for a 30 second song.

I couldn’t think of a single thing these could be used for (although we could at least play the song again once I worked out how to reset them. once the contacts were closed on the device, the IC stays running and using power even once the song has finished.

This seems to me, to one of those things that in 100 years time, we (ok not us, but someone) will look back and look at the sort of things we do, like christmas lights, and wonder what the hell we were thinking to decide that was a good idea.

Linda, on hearing my amazement, said that they must be ok for the environment as they clearly had to pass a standard to be allowed to be sold didn’t they ?

Maybe we should have such standards. It seems the only thing stopping items like this being sold are people thinking and doing some research on whats in them and thats really too much to ask of people with lives to lead. We need some standards or at least an easy way of knowing whats good and bad to buy.

Anyway, its fun to look at the meter and measure how much we are generating. Any spare is just being passed back to the grid and can actually make the meters spin backwards.

It is not known how much longer the mollusc might have lived had it been left on the seabed.

Well, at least its dead now. We won’t have to worry about how long things can live for.

I guess it didn’t think far enough in the future to protect itself from modern fishing practices.

With all these people talking about global warming etc, I think I’ve found a trend that may have escaped other peoples notice. If you look at the graph below you will probably notice what I did. It seems to get warmer towards the end of the year and colder again in the middle.

I know this is only 5 years worth of data but it seems pretty clear to me that there is a definite pattern emerging. Of course I’ve been wrong in the past. Click on the image for a larger version if you need more detail.

Weather spreadsheet

Much like the christians touting fossil gaps as  proof that evolution is false, they fail to understand that even with no fossils at all, theres still overwhelming evidence for evolution. Similarly with the global warming discussion, theres still far to much evidence to be ignored. While is possible it all could be wrong (as with evolution) the evidence points to a particular conclusion.

RealClimate » 1934 and all that

This week we talk about;

• Home vegetable gardens and chickens. (Kevin got Chickens !)
• Clipsal cent-a-meter. (a little more detail)
• Only a very little bit about the Prius. (Kevin got the second family Prius)
• More details about how green power works
• Some basic info on carbon credits and purchasing other peoples green options. We are looking at setting a carbon purchasing facility in australia.
• Some basic water bore discussion

Over the next few episodes, we will be discussing….

• Sea Shepheard
• Water tanks (rain water)
• Grey Water
• Bores
• Clipsal CBUS (and why it can be, but isn’t always good for the enviroment)
• Renta-bike and community bicycle programs.
• Mud brick houses (With a special guest who is in the process of building it).

Any questions you would like to have discussed or feedback on the show, you can email us here or call (02) 42270001 in Australia and +61 2 4227 0001 from everywhere else!

This week we talk about;

• Al Gores’ movie. (www.climatecrisis.net)
• Home vegetable gardens and chickens.
• Clipsal cent-a-meter.
• Only a very little bit about the Prius.
• Integral energy green power options
• Some basic info on carbon credits and purchasing other peoples green options.

Over the next few episodes, we will be discussing….

• Sea Shepheard
• Water tanks (rain water)
• Grey Water
• Bores
• Clipsal CBUS (and why it can be, but isn’t always good for the enviroment)
• Renta-bike and community bicycle programs.
• Mud brick houses (With a special guest who is in the process of building it).
• A more detailed discussing about the carbon purchasing

Any questions you would like to have discussed or feedback on the show, you can email us here or call (02) 42270001 in Australia and +61 2 4227 0001 from everywhere else!

This week we talk about;

• More about the Toyota Prius (We know its getting old but its the most commented on item)
• Some solar power options and what they cost.
• A new solar manufacturing company Nano Solar, and why what they are doing is quite exciting.
• Solar hot water and why its better than electricity based hotwater. Natural Gas also gets a look in.
• Wind power (briefly)
• Green Power, how it works, where to get it, and some issues Kevin had getting it for the company where he works.
• Kevins new bicycle (If you saw Kevin, you would know why this is funny)
• The TV Series “It’s not easy being green” on BBC2 that we have heard is available on mininova. This series is well worth watching and if its ever available for sale, we would definitely buy a copy.

Over the next few episodes, we will be discussing….

• Water tanks (rain water)
• Grey Water
• Bores
• Hopefully less talk about the Prius
• the Clipsal Cent-a-meter and why its cool
• Clipsal CBUS (and why it can be, but isn’t always good for the enviroment)

Any questions you would like to have discussed or feedback on the show, you can email us here or call (02) 42270001 in Australia and +61 2 4227 0001 from everywhere else!

• How disturbing articles in New Scientist magazine got Jason thinking about green issues.
• The good work Animals Asia is doing with their Moon Bear rescue, and Doctor Dog programs
• Believe it or not, George Bush creates the world’s largest ever marine sanctuary
• Kevin discusses his Toyota Prius Hybrid and whether or not he should buy the new hybrid Lexus.
• And we realize that Tim Flannery’s Book “The Weather Makers” while being an excellent book may not be good bed time reading!

Any questions you would like to have discussed or feedback on the show, you can email us here or call (02) 42270001 in Australia and +61 2 4227 0001 from everywhere else!

Partially taken from (and well worth reading in full)
Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: The Flipping Point — How the evidence for anthropogenic global warming has converged to cause this environmental skeptic to make a cognitive flip

These books are considered by many to be the ‘ones to read’ if you want more indepth knowledge about enviromental impact and enviromental science.
In episode 001, we will discuss briefly some of these books and what impact they have had.

• Archaeologist Brian Fagan’s The Long Summer (Basic, 2004)
• Geographer Jared Diamond’s Collapse (Penguin Group, 2005)
• Journalist Elizabeth Kolbert’s Field Notes from a Catastrophe (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2006)
• Biologist Tim Flannery’s The Weather Makers (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006)

Not listed on the sciam site, but well worth spending the time to listen to, is an audio book that really explins the science behind the issues. The Modern Scholar: Global Warming, Global Threat is a great thing to listen to in the car (hybrid, of course) going to/from work.