Comments Johan has made

  • Response from IKEA

    Btw:
    the response I received from IKEA/Swedwood when asking them about this was along the lines of stating that it is very common to requalify protected areas in Portugal ... Requalify meaning removing the status as protected area.

    Recently the land planning law was changed in Portugal so now the authority to change the status of any land is almost entirely in hands of the municipality. So with progessive politians it might  even lead to improvements, alas, not all politicians are all that progressive ...On An interview with IKEA sustainability director Thomas Bergmark posted 1 year, 3 months ago 9 Responses

  • Protecting bioversity - not in Portugal

    "We're focusing more and more on that. First of all, we are setting up an IKEA standard, which includes the different steps in establishing a store. The first step is to look into a site, the land and such, to make sure we are not stepping into any sensitive areas that should be protected for biodiversity or other reasons."

    Perhaps infuse some of ideas into IKEA subsidiary SwedWood?

    IKEA/SwedWood were blacklisted by Quercus (enviro NGO in Portugal) for building a plant in an area of national ecological interest (Reserva Ecológica Nacional) in Paços de Ferreira in northern Portugal in 2007 (or was it 2006?). On An interview with IKEA sustainability director Thomas Bergmark posted 1 year, 3 months ago 9 Responses

  • carbon free also mean saying no to biofuels

    I was at first a bit puzzled about his focus on the rejection of carbon based fuels since I would assume that he would put the blame on only fossil fuels. But nowhere does he mention biofuels. I think he only used the word "renewables" once.

    @by christophersj:
    A quote from the speech:
    "We could further increase the value and efficiency of a Unified National Grid by helping our struggling auto giants switch to the manufacture of plug-in electric cars. An electric vehicle fleet would sharply reduce the cost of driving a car, reduce pollution, and increase the flexibility of our electricity grid."

    So after all no liquid or gas fuels of any kind in his vision?!
    On Gore calls for carbon tax, 100 percent renewable electricity by 2018 posted 1 year, 4 months ago 13 Responses

  • Even the Pope

    Vatican adds pollution, genetic experiments to list of 'new sins'

    http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2008/03/ ...On Queen Elizabeth II encourages environmental protection posted 1 year, 8 months ago 2 Responses

  • article on wikipedia

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_coolerOn Swamp coolers posted 1 year, 11 months ago 9 Responses

  • Regulatory capture

    It seems that the FDA has a long history of regulatory capture starting from the beginning of the FDA itself ...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100,000,000_Guinea_Pigs

    So sadly nothing new under the sun ...On EPA sued by 12 states over relaxed toxic-chemical rule posted 2 years ago 1 Response

  • Method Home and cosmeticdatabase.com

    Method Home has not yet made into the cosmeticdatabase.com. The result of the analysis  will perhaps come as a surprise to Danny Boy and the rest of us?
    On An interview with green-style guru Danny Seo posted 2 years ago 1 Response

  • boll weevils and jaguars

    the above message "hand build jaguars ..." is that a spam? anyway odd choice of "pest" ie the boll weevil. It is primarily attacks cotton plants and has a fair amount of natural enemies, see more on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boll_weevil
    So does not seem to be a problem for food production ...

    Apparently there is a boll weevil monument to celebrate that turmoil (in this case BV infestations) might lead to constructive changes, in this instance an increase in crop diversity to decrease the impact of any future "pests":
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boll_Weevil_Monument

    This is of course one of big points of organic farming ond agroforestry. Biodiversity!On Organic food is better for you posted 2 years, 1 month ago 4 Responses

  • mistake

    Of course I meant current DEforestation in the first sentence of the 2nd paragraph.On Emphasis on the 'rare' posted 2 years, 4 months ago 23 Responses

  • Effect of deforestation

    You mostly mention the use (or lack of use) of planting trees as means to do carbon offsetting (inverse chimney effect?).

    How much effect has the current reforestation on global climate change? I read recently (on paper) that the ever increasing deforestation of Brazilian (rain) forests to increase the available land for soy bean industial agriculture could lead to removal of the sef-regenerating rains in the Amazonas and thus lead to droughts ...

    See also UNEP articles on forest loss and combating deforestation.
    On Emphasis on the 'rare' posted 2 years, 4 months ago 23 Responses

  • DMZ as a biodiversity haven

    I guess for any area that has been earmarked for military exercises over longer time periods the original biodiversity basically remains unchanged (in the case of "pristine" ecosystems) compared to similar areas that have been invaded by human inhabitation ...

    so lets transform all military exercise fields to national parks. gotta to be a lot cheaper than shelling out "smart" missiles on oak trees :-)

     On From Wild Life to Wildlife posted 2 years, 5 months ago 1 Response

  • put the engine in the wheels

    that is what PML flightlink are doing with their Hi-Pa drive. http://www.pmlflightlink.com/archive/news_mini.html

    the solectria above is another example of an extremely ugly car. perhaps the guys behind the car knew how to make batteries and electric engines but they seemed to forgot to have brought in any industrial designer ...

    this shows most of all shows that electric cars should be built be standard car makers. they have all the knowledge except how to make electric engines and batteries. perhaps they should do like most other companies do: buy the expertise e.g. by buying a company like PML ... or Altair with their nanosafe battery : http://www.altairnano.com/markets_amps.html

    i dunno if any of these two technologies are cheap. they have been put together by the http://www.lightningcarcompany.com/ but just as Tesla their cars come with a rather hefty price tag.

    btw: hypercar.com is down.On How to transform personal transportation with existing tools posted 2 years, 5 months ago 29 Responses

  • timeline and put a bell in their collar

    how has the amount of cats and kittens varied over the years? large changes in one year would imply a large change in something but the weather has been more or less the same. so then dont blame climate change.

    but then it has been noted before that changes in the length and timing of seasons will also change the breeding seasons for a large number of animals.

    if i had a cat i would let it go out. imagine sitting couped up inside everyday of the year. i would go soggy in my brain ... poor cats let them go out.

    if you are afraid your cat will kill all birds in the neighbourhood: put a bell in its collar and put up bird houses where the cat cannot reach them.On I'M IN UR PLANET, GETTIN ALL HOT N BOTHERED posted 2 years, 5 months ago 7 Responses

  • compare the amounts

    The amount of food per person was a bit mindboggling. Especially compared with those that had the least to eat.

    Oddly, the English family had some large packs of candy (mars bars etc) in the front row but no soft drinks, only wine and milk. I wonder how many of the others that omitted their candy consumption?

    How come nearly all western families (except that English) drink so much sugared drinks? They would have excellent tap water, all of them!On Lots of fruits and bread in Sicily; lots of junk in North Carolina posted 2 years, 5 months ago 6 Responses

  • some other golf courses

    the site http://eco.psfk.com/sports/index.html mentions one in...  
    On Umbra on greener golfing posted 3 years, 2 months ago 4 Responses

  • Plant a tree to curb overflying ...

    High Ed and everyone else,

    some people claim that planting a (or many) tree is a good remedy for flying airplanes. there are even companies that sell trees as part of the airplane tickets.

    well, all trees and forest do not behave as carbon sinks, but some do so it might be good thing after all, especially if the site and species are chosen wisely ...

    good luck
    //JohanOn An interview with actor and solar advocate Edward Norton posted 4 years, 7 months ago 4 Responses