California sea levels to rise 5-plus feet this century, study says: As climate change expands the oceans, sea levels will rise more than average along the California coast because much of the state is sinking, according to a new report.
Photo: The Wedge at Newport Beach. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times
The GOODEST: Coal, The Poison We Never Talk About in School
- Alessandra Rizzotti and Jessica De Jesus contributed in Environment, News and Climate Change
The GOODEST can be so many things, but why not just narrow it down to one thing each week? We’ll change it up and keep it fresh. After all, we consume so much daily, so for the weekend, why not just take away one big learn and do from the week?
This might be shocking but…
Coal is The Poison We Never Talk About in School
James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and arguably the world’s foremost climatologist, has called coal “the single greatest threat to civilization and all life on the planet”, yet kids think it’s just a 19th-century phenomenon.
Can you DO anything about it?
Of course, and we’re going to help you through it. Energy month at GOOD begins now, and each day we’ll be sharing how you can contribute to a better climate reality. Get on the Energy hub to learn more.
Illustration by Jessica de Jesus. Photo via (cc) Flickr user -0-.
Infographic: Mapping Our Oil Pipeline
- Focus the Nation and Oliver Munday contributed in in Environment, Energy and News
It’s Energy month at GOOD, so we’ve teamed up with Portland, Oregon’s Focus the Nation, an organization that’s empowering youth to make smart environmental choices in their communities. This infographic is part of a series exploring our use of energy resources.
Where does gasoline come from? Believe it or not, it’s not just one system that makes it possible for you to fuel up at your local gas station. From gathering pipelines that include oil wells on land and tankers overseas, to hundred-mile-long crude oil trunk lines that transport from gathering systems to refined product lines, oil still doesn’t reach the consumer until storage and distribution terminals are involved. And, in case you’re picturing these pipelines as similar to the water pipes in your home, oil pipes can range in size from 2 to 42 inches in diameter, and are owned and operated by companies that are regulated by federal and state governments.
In the United States alone, there are roughly 150,000 miles of crude oil pipelines, 55,000 miles of which are trunk lines and 95,000 miles of which are refined product pipelines. Perhaps the most well-known American trunk lines are the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, and most recently, the Keystone XL Pipeline, which has become a point of contention in our federal government. Click on the infographic above to see how an oil pipeline system works.
This month, challenge a neighbor to GOOD’s energy smackdown. Find a neighbor with a household of roughly the same square footage and see who can trim their power bill the most. Throughout February, we’ll share ideas and resources for shrinking your household carbon footprint, so join the conversation at good.is/energy.
Infographic: From Energy Production to Electricity Consumption
- GOOD Partnerships and Focus the Nation and Oliver Munday contributed in Environment, Energy and News
It’s Energy month at GOOD, so we’ve teamed up with Portland, Oregon’s Focus the Nation, an organization that’s empowering youth to make smart environmental choices in their communities. This infographic is part of a series exploring our use of energy resources.
Powering on your computer is more than just pressing a button. The flow of electricity is made possible from multiple energy sources, whether they’re imported and exported fossil fuels, like natural gas, petroleum, and coal, or domestically-produced nuclear electric power and renewable energy. Check out our latest infographic above that shows how the electricity around us flows from source to consumption. You can follow the U.S. electricity flow from production on the left to consumption on the right, with energy’s measured in quadrillion British ton units (Btu). With all this electricity wasted, it is clear we need to conserve our energy sources.
What is primarily fueling the activities of our modern economy today are the fossil fuels which have stored the sun’s energy over more than a millenium, coupled with nuclear power, which has been around for only the last five decades. If the United States is to prepare for a more sustainable future, it must start turning to renewable energy to meet our energy needs, using sources like hydroelectric power, biomass, geothermal, solar-photovoltaic, and wind.
To learn more about the Energy discussion on GOOD, visit our Energy hub and follow Focus the Nation.
#forthelove of the GOOD Outdoors
- GOOD HQ wrote in Environment, Exploration and News
This month on GOOD.is, we are focusing on the topic of exploration—embracing the spirit of discovery and exploring areas near and far. We will be posting on the subject all month at good.is/exploration and encourage you to tag your own posts “exploration."
For our monthly challenge: Join our community effort to discover, share, and protect the places we love. Take this opportunity to expand your horizons and embark on an adventure, whether it’s venturing to a new place that’s close to home or trekking across the planet—no matter what hemisphere you’re in. You know that moment when you pull out your phone and snap a photo because you can’t believe how awesome the view is and you want to share it with everyone you know?
Illustration by Corinna Loo
On Monday, the Supreme Court ordered California to reduce overcrowding in its prisons. So just how bad is it? California’s 33 state prisons are designed to hold a total of 80,000 inmates. As of Monday, they held 143,435 inmates, nearly 180 percent of their intended capacity, resulting in one preventable death every week. Prison overcrowding has been a problem in California for decades.
Infographic: Just How Crowded Are California’s Prisons? - Politics - GOOD
Hey guys! One of our community members has this great project. Donate a dollar or two and the happiest person you know can become a part of his documentary!!
Who’s the Happiest Person You Know?
- Nicholas Kraft wrote in Health, Culture and News
As you enter through the front door of Kraftland, a seemingly quiet single-family home in the hills of Encino, California, you are greeted by a life-sized Bob’s Big Boy statue—the kind Dr. Evil used as a cryogenic freeze chamber in the Austin Powers films. Above him, suspended from the ceiling, is the original bike from Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, though it’s easy to miss this holy grail of movie memorabilia because hanging from the ceiling in the adjacent room is an 800 pound plastic elephant—more specifically, a Dumbo ride vehicle from the Disneyland attraction of the same name. Kraftland is a museum of 60s pop culture, a favorite spot of Hollywood parties, and the home in which I spent half my childhood.
This project is part of GOOD’s series Push for Good—our guide to crowdfunding creative progress.
Citizen Building Block #4: Measure Your Carbon Footprint
- Adele Peters wrote in Energy and Environment
Almost everything you do impacts your carbon footprint, from what you eat for breakfast to where you go on vacation. So which things matter most? Use this handy calculator from the Nature Conservancy to figure out what you’re doing well and what you can improve. It’s one step in fighting climate change and being a good, global, citizen.
Illustration by Jessica De Jesus
Infographic: The Future Global Supply of Rare Earth Elements
- Column Five contributed in Environment and Energy
It’s Energy month at GOOD, so we’re bringing you infographics that explore our use of energy resources.
Up until the mid-1980s, the United States was the lead global producer of rare earth elements—materials that are used to make the technology that powers everything from laptops to hybrid cars—and have come to define our high-tech lives. Now, America is 100 percent dependent on imports of these elements and China is the primary world supplier. How does China’s domination impact the future global supply of rare earth elements?
This month, challenge a neighbor to GOOD’s energy smackdown. Find a neighbor with a household of roughly the same square footage and see who can trim their power bill the most. Throughout February, we’ll share ideas and resources for shrinking your household carbon footprint, so join the conversation at good.is/energy.
Reduce Your Waste, Starting With a Reusable Cup
- Stef McDonald wrote in Environment and Building Blocks Of Citizenship
Sometimes small actions you take can make a difference. Let’s start with your coffee cup. If it’s paper or foam, it’s going to join billions of other cups that are discarded and dumped in landfills every year. (And don’t get us started on those cardboard sleeves.)
Simply put: Disposal here means destructive. Creating disposable cups is a drain on resources and energy, and discarding them means filling our landfills and further polluting the atmosphere with methane—making climate change an even scarier prospect.
So, enough already. Get a reusable cup and take it with you from home to coffee shop to office—or wherever your day takes you. (And if you already have one, remember to use it!)
Dear Tumblr,
We are writing to ask you to consider adding a ‘Conservation’ or ‘Environment’ featured tag.
We’re not outright asking. We know that featured tags are those that have a certain amount of traffic, but please consider the following:
1. The field of conservation is wide-ranging. As a result related content is tagged under a mix of terms. Combining the traffic for the following (and related) tags could amount to enough traffic for a featured tag. Like Science, with it’s different fields, combined under one umbrella term.
- Conservation
- Environment
- Sustainability (already featured in your directory)
- Eco-friendly
- Nature
- Climate Change
- Global Warming
- Wildlife Trade
- Recycling
- Renewable energy
- Endangered Species
Followers, please feel free to add to this list any tags that may have missed out.
2. It’s the right thing to do. Conservation issues are as pertinent to modern society as Science, Politics, Film, Fashion…….even Nail Art which has it’s own featured tag.
3. Tumblr is opening up as a platform for high profile conservation organizations, much as Facebook and Twitter are now the most used platforms for sharing conservation news.
- WWF
- ARKive
- National Resources Defence Council
- Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoot programme
- Scubazoo
[Edit] Forgot Earth Hour. How silly!
Social media is a powerful tool in conservation, and can make a difference in the “real world”. We’d hate to see Tumblr left out of the excitement. Especially with it’s viral powers.
4. Tumblr has been an essential part of publicizing social and political changes in several countries during protests and revolutions last year. The content that would be featured in this tag involve changes that affect us globally, and deserve a share of the spotlight.
We hope you will consider looking at the combined content of the above tags to see if they merit a featured tag.
As there is no central email to contact Tumblr on, please reblog and spread the word if you agree!
I totally agree and have suggested this to tumblr staff as well. In its absence, I’ve often felt a responsibility to post environmental and conservation issues in the science tag - cause, without its own category, where else would it go? And while I think it does OK there, I think “environment” is broad enough and important enough a topic to deserve its own category.
I mean, it’s gotta be at least as worthy as Robots. (And I do love me some robots!)
We are so in agreement here and we also tag much of our environment content in science. (Also, some fine Tumblrs here to follow.)
Co-signed. (Energy and/or Climate would be nice buckets as well.)
Make it so, Tumblr!
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