Rock On, Young Scientist

Rock On, Young Scientist

Karl Burkhart

"Boy Discovers Microbe that Eats Plastic"

Mother Nature Network

Reported earlier by

Brandon Keim

"Teen Decomposes Plastic Bag in Three Months"

Wired Science

Wired News

At age 16, Daniel Burd discovered a bacteria that decomposes plastic. His method was clever. He ground plastic. Then he submerged it in a yeast solution. This encouraged microbe growth. He selected the most productive microorganism species. He interbred them. His microbes now can digest almost half a piece of plastic in six weeks.

Rock on, Daniel

[Another solution to the plastic problem is to only use it when it is necessary. For example, it might be necessary for certain uses in space flight or medical equipment. Plastic is not merely a disaster for the environment. It keeps us dependent on oil.

Consider this too. Look-at a glass bottle filled with water. Then compare it to a filled plastic bottle. Which one gives you a better feeling? Tap the glass bottle, and then tap the plastic one. Which sound gave you a better feeling? Now drink from the glass and also from the plastic. Does not the sensation of glass just feel right? We do not even need logical arguments against plastic. It gives us a bad vibration, so to speak. Does it not? Is it really justified for us to make so many plastic things in the first place?]

http://www.mnn.com/technology/research-innovations/blogs/boy-discovers-microbe-that-eats-plastic

and

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/05/teen-decomposes/

De-Industrialized Food

De-Industrialized Food

Andrew O'Hehir

"Behind the Food Industry's Iron Curtain"

Beyond the Multiplex

Salon.com

Friday June 12, 2009, 06:25 ETD

Our food might seem ok. It sure can be cheap. But in fact the damage it does is not worth the money we save at the grocery counter. Michael Pollen, with Robert Kenner and Eric Schlosser, created a movie about this problem. Pollen investigated American industrialized food production. Most of us prefer not to know how our food is made. That knowledge can make food less appetizing. And it faces us with moral questions we find too difficult to resolve.

Corporate food manufacturers refused Pollen's requests. He wanted to learn how they handle the food they sell us. They must be hiding something.

He discovers that the food damages our health and environment.

[Perhaps organic farming should be subsidized enough so that organic foods equal the price of corporate produce.]

http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/btm/?last_story=/ent/movies/btm/feature/2009/06/12/food_inc/

Save the Planet from American Oil Consumption

Save the Planet

from American Oil Consumption

Ken Thomas

Congress to Consider 'Cash for Clunkers' Plan

June 9, 2009

AP

American auto sales are way down. Yet there are still many on the road. And they are terribly inefficient. Congress is considering a remedy. They are offering auto-owners around $4,000. All they need to do is trade-in their car or truck: a fuel-inefficient one for a high gas-mileage one. This will boost auto sales. Also it will decrease oil use and pollution.

[Hummers are a god-awful sight.

[Image credits below]

I wonder: what are the psychological motives for buying such an ugly vehicle? We need to discover its redeeming qualities. People who buy them have certain values. They think something is more important than fuel-efficiency. We should discover what that is. Then we could devise a means to communicate alternate values.

My guess: Hummers can do more than other cars and trucks. In fact, if war came to the American streets, a hummer driver is automatically prepared for combat situations. Often Americans look for utility above aesthetics or nature-conservation. Strip malls get the job done. But they are nauseating and forest-consuming. Americans look at their world. It is made of tools. Americans ask: what can this thing do? Perhaps the question should also be: what will this thing do? The Hummer will pollute excessively. However, the fuel-efficient car will decrease our dependence on oil-producing nations. Many of these countries "harbor terrorists." So Hummers really are not the vehicle with true combat power. Fuel-efficient ones will get our soldiers out of Iraq. This will help conserve our military resources instead of depleting them in Arabia. Environmentalism is the new patriotism.]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/09/congress-to-consider-cash_n_213037.html

Image obtained gratefully from: http://wallpapers.pixxp.com/17__Hummer_H2_Geiger.htm