Green and Blue Planet

Drinking From the Sky: Turning Rainwater into Pure Drinking Water

greenandblueplanet — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:43:45 +0000

Maybe your bottled water isn’t to clean, maybe you don’t feel like buying gallons of ‘purified’ water from your local supermarket, or maybe you just feel like you shouldn’t have to pay for clean water like I do. On the market today, there are several systems that collect and purify rain from roofs and gutters, which turn it into safe drinking water. Home delivery. The idea is very simple and inexpensive. The basic idea: rain falls on the roof of your home. Gravity feeds it to the gutter, down the spout and that’s where the system kicks in. A hose redirects the water into a collection barrel, where finally, it is purified (there are different ways to do this part). Purified water can now be dispensed from the barrel, ready to drink.

Below is a simple system for $20. This one is actually intended for a garden, but it’s all the same idea.

http://www.metaefficient.com/rain-water-harvesting/a-clever-rainwater-diverter.html

Posted in Living Green at Home

Offshore Dumping, Do You Know What You’re Swimming In?

greenandblueplanet — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:45:21 +0000

Here is an article in L.A. Times that I found regarding the dumping of toxic chemicals like DDT, PCB’s and cyanide, into the Santa Monica Bay from the 1930′s until the 1970′s. This is so important because the people in the city and surrounding waterways are seeing the ramifications of offshore dumping even 30 years later.

http://articles.latimes.com/1985-03-28/news/we-29386_1_report-confirms-toxic-dumping

This article is about ocean dumping, but with the idea of being environmentally friendly in mind. In 1972 millions of old tires were dumped off Florida shores which covered 35 acres of the ocean bottom. The idea was to create an artificial reef for marine life. But decades later the “tire reef” is void of all marine life and the tires are actually rolling along the ocean floor, bumping into natural reefs and actually causing damage. Here’s the entire article…

http://www.nova.edu/ocean/tire_reef_washpost.html

Posted in Black and Blue Planet

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

greenandblueplanet — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 18:32:30 +0000

Texas sized floating trash formed by ocean currents.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is formed by the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. This is a slow, circular, clockwise moving ocean current formed by high pressure air systems. There are 5 of these in the world. The North Pacific Gyre, due to currents, accumulate millions of pounds of trash, most of it consisting of plastic. Scientists estimate that the Great Garbage Patch, actually consisting of two trash masses referred to as the Eastern and Western Pacific Garbage Patches, hold 3.5 million tons of trash.

The Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch is located between California and Hawaii, which is estimated to be twice the size of Texas. The other, the Western Pacific Garbage Patch is located between Japan and Hawaii. Overall, the trash extends one hundred feet below the surface of the ocean. Often times it is not visible by satellite because the debris sits just below the surface.

Most of the trash, about 80 percent comes from land. The other 20 percent is disgarded by ships and other oceanic vessels. Tons of trash escape from the outer edges of the swirling debri and currents, and end up on land masses, especially the Hawaiian Islands. Sometimes burying the beaches in up to ten feet of trash.

Marine and other wildlife are devestated by plastic especially the Albatross. The Albatross, a bird, roams much of the Northern Pacific. On the Midway Islands which comes in contanct with the Great Pacific Garbage Patch give birth to around 500,000 chicks each year. Two-fifths of the chicks die mostly from consuming plastic which is given to them by their parents mistaking the plastic as food.

Posted in Black and Blue Planet