Referring to the surrounding ecosystem of the planet Earth, its natural mechanisms and balances, and study of the effects of human interaction with it.
10
votes
0answers
183 views
Does one acre of hemp really yield as much paper as 4 acres of trees?
I saw the following photo on my Facebook news feed:
I asked my friend who posted it for a source, and he gave me a link to a hemp manufacturer. I'm pretty sure it's not a reputable source. I'm ...
-1
votes
0answers
36 views
Methane gas bubbles and Bermuda Triangle [duplicate]
Are there methane gas bubbles in the so called Bermuda Triangle area? Can they sink a ship there or wherever they might be?
-4
votes
0answers
72 views
How to heat my house after Peak Oil? [closed]
Peak Oil is very near or has even already started. How can one heat one's house without using oil or one of its derivatives?
All the boilers all know depend on derivatives of oil. And the ...
4
votes
2answers
295 views
Does physics give a climate sensitivity to carbon dioxide of about 3°C?
A letter to the editor of the Economist from Professor Anders Levermann of the
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research stated the following:
The IPCC’s range on sensitivity is supported by, ...
3
votes
0answers
143 views
Are biofuels environmentally friendly?
Both the EU and the USA have programmes to encourage the use of biofuels in gasoline and diesel. This is supposed to help reduce oil imports and help the environment at the same time.
But government ...
6
votes
1answer
353 views
Are fossil fuels making the world greener?
The populist wisdom on global warming is that it is likely to create environmental catastrophe for reasons such as spreading deserts and environmental degradation (for example, the following quote is ...
9
votes
2answers
354 views
Was Greenpeace ever sponsored by KGB?
I've heard the claim as urban legend many times. Allegedly in 1970s KGB has sponsored various Western "anti-war" movements, especially the ones that could hinder Western nuclear tests. Fact is ...
11
votes
1answer
380 views
Is “peak wind” coming?
The concept of "peak oil" has been bandied about for some time (see this question: Is Peak Oil still set for 2013?) by people who believe the world hydrocarbon stocks will soon be so depleted that ...
10
votes
2answers
405 views
Shouldn't an electric car be thermodynamically at a disadvantage towards one with a combustion engine?
I have the greatest respect for the work of the Rocky Mountain Institute, but this recent blog post triggered my general scepticism towards electric cars, or more specifically, their fuel efficiency. ...
1
vote
1answer
105 views
Does the decision to fly or not has no impact on GHG emissions inside the EU?
A discussion paper published at the University of East Anglia holds that due to the cap-and-trade scheme, a decisions to fly or not has no impact inside the European Union.
Quoting from the press ...
2
votes
0answers
65 views
Does lead used in electronics leach into the environment via landfill at detrimental levels?
Despite being one of the earliest metals exploited by man, lead is an environmental poison. If it gets into the body it causes a variety of acute and chronic symptoms and even low levels are thought ...
3
votes
0answers
219 views
Can humans eradicate all known life on Earth?
Dr Iain Stewart claimed in Earth: The Power of the Planet that despite human's degradation of the environment (e.g. pollution and removing forests) that life would recover in thousands to a million ...
-3
votes
1answer
371 views
Does human water consumption have an environmental impact? [closed]
Fresh water consumption is often mentioned as an important factor of environmental concerns.
It is in particular accused of emptying lakes and rivers.
Many household habits are advised to conserve ...
45
votes
2answers
5k views
Is there a worldwide helium shortage?
I've seen a number of news articles about scarcity of Helium lately, for example:
At the moment, helium is cheap, primarily because the US government built up a large surplus supply, then decided ...
4
votes
0answers
139 views
Could a solar flare cause economic collapse? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Will the Sun's magnetic activity disrupt electronics on Earth?
It seems that solar flares are one of the few things that have any factual weight among the possible ...
5
votes
0answers
99 views
Can boredom at workplace be attributed to poor working conditions?
In an article I read recently the author mentions a certain study. He claims that it showed that people are likely to judge a task "boring", when in truth it was not, but there were low-intensity ...
11
votes
1answer
533 views
Are 100 million sharks killed by humans per year?
I've read from several sources that humans kill 11,000 sharks per hour or 100 million per year, for example :
The Humane Society of the United States, quoting Jean-Michel Cousteau
Look at what ...
7
votes
0answers
271 views
Is 22-23 Celsius (72-73 degrees F) measurably the optimal temperature for office productivity
I must admit that I lost the original reference for the claim, but almost certain it was LifeHacker, so it is notable enough.
The claim is that 72-73 degrees Fahrenheit (or about 22-23 Celsius) is ...
1
vote
1answer
513 views
Would standing next to a lava flow kill you from the heat/gasses even if you did not touch it? [closed]
I recently watched the last lord of the rings film and me and my mum got into a bit of an argument about one of the last scenes, when the ring has just been destroyed. The volcano erupts and Sam and ...
3
votes
3answers
455 views
How often are recyclable items actually recycled?
It seems a bit bold for one to think that everything that he or she throws in the recycling bin is recycled.
I would like to know how often things that are thrown into the recycling bin (assuming ...
7
votes
2answers
671 views
Does recycling protect our resources?
In the essay
Eight Great Myths
of Recycling, Daniel K. Benjamin (formerly a Professor of Economics at Clemson University) lists a number of misunderstanding related to recycling, including ...
5
votes
1answer
430 views
Is global warming irreversible?
I have heard countless times the perils of global warming and how we should all do our fair share to save the Earth for future generations.
Here is but one example from an NPR article: "Global ...
37
votes
1answer
5k views
Is the Amazon rain forest man-made?
An article in the Atlantic quotes several experts who claim that the Amazon rainforest is the remnants of planted and cultivated orchards and farms, and that the land is not naturally conducive to ...
8
votes
1answer
481 views
Do candles emit ten times the carbon dioxide of an equivalent lightbulb?
In Wasteful Earth Hour?, it's claimed that candles emit roughly 10 times the carbon dioxide of light bulbs of the same brightness. While emissions will vary depending on the candle, the lightbulb and ...
6
votes
2answers
840 views
Is wood smoke that bad?
Recently I've read that blog post by Sam Harris and I was quite shocked. I don't have a fireplace or any habit related to a systematic wood-burning. But is wood smoke really that bad as it is ...
13
votes
1answer
1k views
Do Americans use three times as much toilet paper as Europeans?
This article "5 Seemingly Innocent Ways You've Screwed The World Today" on cracked.com contains the following claim:
Delicate American bottoms prefer plush, bleached white, multi-ply paper with ...
7
votes
1answer
510 views
Does individual recycling have no observable global impact?
Maddox in his anti-SOPA statement makes following claim:
[people think that...] Painstakingly recycling every single shred of garbage in your home
makes a difference. It doesn't. Even if you, ...
12
votes
3answers
634 views
Could Global Warming be good for life?
A paper from Nature Geoscience (reported by the BBC here) claims that the carbon dioxide humanity has pumped into the atmosphere is holding off a new Ice Age.
This has revived an old idea best ...
13
votes
2answers
859 views
Was the “hole in the ozone” caused by CFCs?
Burt Rutan (the aviator) has put out a critique of climate change:
An Engineer's Critique of Global Warming "Science"
On page 7, this caught my eye:
Modern Human-Extinction Scares
...
...
6
votes
0answers
178 views
Are there alternative methods of meat production (such as free-range meat) that are better for the environment than factory farmed meat? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Organic food is worse for the environment because it requires more land than non-organic food
Most meat in developed nations is produced by Industrial agriculture ...
13
votes
2answers
890 views
Is being a vegan more environmentally friendly than otherwise?
On their website, PETA claimed the following:
A recent United Nations report concluded that a global shift toward a vegan diet is necessary to combat the worst effects of climate change. And the ...
14
votes
4answers
3k views
Does grass alone produce enough oxygen for life?
Over a work happy hour tonight, two employees were talking about their different lifestyles -- one likes riding four wheelers, which the other considers to be recreational pollution. Somehow the fact ...
9
votes
3answers
6k views
Do electric heaters with open heating elements “dry the air” or “burn up oxygen”?
There is a popular belief in Russia that electric heaters with an open nichrome heating element (red hot) "burn up oxygen" and "dry the air", unlike oil-filled ones.
Is it true that a Joule heater ...
11
votes
1answer
715 views
Do black cars consume more fuel?
Some time in 2009, California passed new regulations, banning black cars (here's one source) on the grounds that black cars have higher emissions than other colors of cars. The theory is that black ...
8
votes
3answers
737 views
Will increased speed limits on motorways (or highways) cause significant harm?
The UK government has recently started a consultation on increasing the speed limits on motorways (roughly the equivalent of highways in the USA) in England.
So it seems appropriate to pose the ...
14
votes
1answer
695 views
Kindle vs Books and ecofriendliness
I was in a conversation with a friend trying to convince her to switch to kindle, so she said that the cost and plastic material and eco footprint of kindle is higher then all the EBooks she could ...
10
votes
1answer
463 views
How much are United Airlines reducing their carbon emissions by giving pilots iPads?
Source article Here: Article
Briefly: United Airlines are giving their 11,000 pilots iPads in an effort to increase efficiency, etc. They're making manuals and other documents electronic.
As a ...
39
votes
4answers
2k views
Is cycling worse for the environment than driving to work if you need to take a shower?
I had an argument with a work colleague. He claims that me cycling to and from work is less environmentally friendly than driving because
I will eat more as a result of expending more energy.
I ...
9
votes
2answers
491 views
Are electric cars beneficial to the environment compared to low consumption modern cars?
Imagine an electric car in a country where most energy come from coal (which i believe is the dirtiest). Add this to the pollution that disposing the batteries will create, or the carbon footprint ...
25
votes
2answers
764 views
Which baby diaper is more Earth-friendly — cloth or disposable?
We have a lot of friends who use cloth diapers, and I've heard some say that cloth diapers are actually more un-ecologically friendly than disposable diapers. I have a hard time buying that. I can ...
15
votes
1answer
595 views
Can indoor plants recycle the air we breathe?
This question on the Gardening SO site suggests that plants can be used to clean the air within a home or office environment.
I know of the research done by NASA on indoor plants which can ...
13
votes
2answers
1k views
Is indoor air pollution higher than outdoor air pollution?
I keep seeing these claims, for example
The indoor air quality is worse than the outdoor air, even in the most industrialised cities.
but I'd believe that air pollution levels are highly ...
18
votes
1answer
368 views
Does the production of a home PV solar panel provide a net benefit to the environment?
Considering everything that goes into producing a single PV solar panel; from obtaining the necessary materials, transportation etc. is there a net benefit to the environment over the lifetime of the ...
4
votes
0answers
160 views
Are storms getting more or less severe in the long term for Australia?
Over the past couple of years people have been claiming that storms are getting more severe in Australia. Some linking this to global warming.
Specifically Professor Ross Garnaut in the opening ...
10
votes
2answers
459 views
Solar energy in place of conventional energy sources
The first time I came across these arguments against solar energy was in "Overload" by Arthur Hailey. Admittedly, this is fiction, but the arguments seems to have some merit.
Using solar cells to ...
37
votes
9answers
3k views
Is public transport less fuel-efficient than cars?
Someone who is opposed towards energy saving and climate change (I did not realise they existed until I met him) has told me that public transport (buses, trains and so on) are less efficient than ...
9
votes
1answer
2k views
Has a meat substitute from human feces been developed in Japan?
A video and some news are spreading like wildfire on the internet about some artificial meat made from human feces. The summary from slashdot, for example, says
Hold on to your hamburgers — ...
10
votes
2answers
1k views
Does the Karpen Pile work, producing continuous energy without refueling?
According to Wikipedia, the Karpen Pile is:
claimed by some to be a battery that has provided continuous energy for over 60 years, making the Karpen Pile either a supremely effective method of ...
13
votes
0answers
278 views
Is there a huge gas bubble below the Gulf of Mexico floor ready to wreak havok?
I was sent the video HERE a bit back, which gave me pause. It was sent by a family member who at least grants plausibility to 9/11 conspiracies and some other, shall we say, "fringe" theories about ...
108
votes
3answers
11k views
Does a webpage with a black background save energy?
Blackle is a search engine that claims to save energy because it uses a black background. Is there any evidence to back up their claim that a website using a black background will save energy, and if ...
