More Plastic than Fish in Oceans by 2050 ... and more ocean troubles by 1KIKI

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More Plastic than Fish in Oceans by 2050 ... and more ocean troubles

POSTED BY: 1KIKI
UPDATED: Sunday, December 11, 2016 06:42
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Friday, January 22, 2016 4:53 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2016/01/more-plastic-fish-ocea
ns-2050?et_cid=5070391&et_rid=366206770&type=headline&et_cid=5070391&et_rid=366206770&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.laboratoryequipment.com%2fnews%2f2016%2f01%2fmore-plastic-fish-oceans-2050%3fet_cid%3d5070391%26et_rid%3d%%subscriberid%%%26type%3dheadline

More Plastic than Fish in Oceans by 2050

Bakelite, the world’s first synthetic plastic, was created in 1907 in New York by a Belgian chemist. Mass production, and better living through chemistry, fueled a surge in plastic use during and after World War II, in everything from Tupperware to hula hoops.

The economy never looked back. Plastics are now so prevalent, and so polluting, that their mass in the world’s oceans will outweigh all fish by the year 2050, according to a new report.

“The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics” explores how consumerism and productivity have come to rely on this “ubiquitous workhorse material of the modern economy” – and how they’re not sustainable at their current rate.

Plastic packaging in particular is a use of the materials that can be cut back, claims the report, the product of a collaboration between the World Economic Forum, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and the McKinsey Center for Business Environment.

The appetite for the petroleum-based synthetics will consume 20 percent of the of the world’s oil, and 15 percent of the total carbon footprint in the next decades, they found. About 32 percent of plastic packaging escape collection systems – but by implementing a way to reuse and avoid that loss would offset pollution and as much as $120 billion loss to the worldwide economy.

However, a new model of recycling and reuse could turn the tide, according to those same experts.

The proposed “new plastics economy” would radically broaden recycling programs, scale up the use of reusable and standard packaging, and scale up compostable plastics packaging, including that of food containers and biodegradable garbage bags for organic waste.

“This is an important report highlighting some of the key issues related to plastics and their leakage into the marine environment,” said Stephen de Mora, the chief executive of the Plymouth Marine Laboratory in the United Kingdom. “It is also an exciting report that proposes new approaches within a circular economy framework that could re-orient society’s use of plastics and start to address the problems that our current use is creating.”

The garbage floating in the world’s waterways has gotten some increased notice amid the climate-change debate over the last several years. Perhaps the most iconic is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an enormous floating mass of garbage that has been collected by currents in the world’s largest ocean, and which has become a symbolic target for environmentalists worldwide.

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Friday, January 22, 2016 5:55 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

http://www.rdmag.com/news/2016/01/scientists-find-global-ocean-warming
-has-doubled-recent-decades?et_cid=5070283&et_rid=366206770&type=headline&et_cid=5070283&et_rid=366206770&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.rdmag.com%2fnews%2f2016%2f01%2fscientists-find-global-ocean-warming-has-doubled-recent-decades%3fet_cid%3d5070283%26et_rid%3d%%subscriberid%%%26type%3dheadline

Scientists find global ocean warming has doubled in recent decades

Lawrence Livermore scientists, working with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and university colleagues, have found that half of the global ocean heat content increase since 1865 has occurred over the past two decades.

"In recent decades the ocean has continued to warm substantially, and with time the warming signal is reaching deeper into the ocean," said LLNL scientist Peter Gleckler, lead author of a paper published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Changes in ocean heat storage are important because the ocean absorbs more than 90 percent of the Earth's excess heat increase that is associated with global warming. The observed ocean and atmosphere warming is a result of continuing greenhouse gas emissions. Quantifying how much heat is accumulating in the Earth system is critical to improving the understanding of climate change already under way and to better assess how much more to expect in decades and centuries to come. It is vital to improving projections of how much and how fast the Earth will warm and seas rise in the future.

Increases in upper ocean temperatures since the 1970s are well documented and associated with greenhouse gas emissions. By including measurements from a 19th century oceanographic expedition and recent changes in the deeper ocean, the study indicates that half of the accumulated heat during the industrial era has occurred in recent decades, with about a third residing in the deeper oceans.

The team analyzed a diverse set of ocean temperature observations and a large suite of climate models. Scientists have measured ocean temperatures in a variety of ways over time, from lowering pairs of minimum-maximum thermometers to different depths on lines dangled overboard during the H.M.S. Challenger 1872-1876 expedition, to highly accurate modern instruments used on a global array of robotic profiling floats (called Argo) that "phone home" the data using satellites, starting around 1999.

This study found that estimates of ocean warming over a range of times and depths agree well with results from the latest generation of climate models, building confidence that the climate models are providing useful information. "The year-round, global distribution of ocean temperature data collected by Argo has been key in improving our estimates of ocean warming and assessing climate models," notes LLNL oceanographer Paul Durack.

While Argo only samples the upper half of the ocean volume, pilot arrays of new "Deep Argo" floats that sample to the ocean floor are being deployed. This vast ocean volume in the deeper half is only measured infrequently by research vessels. Those deep data also show warming, even in the bottom layers of the ocean in recent decades.

"Given the importance of the ocean warming signal for understanding our changing climate, it is high time to measure the global ocean systematically from the surface to the ocean floor," said NOAA oceanographer Gregory Johnson.

Source: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

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Friday, January 22, 2016 5:58 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Thirty Percent of Global Fish Catch is Unreported, Study Shows

Countries drastically underreport the number of fish caught worldwide, according to a new study, and the numbers obscure a significant decline in the total catch.

The new estimate, released today in Nature Communications, puts the annual global catch at roughly 109 million metric tons, about 30 percent higher than the 77 million officially reported in 2010 by more than 200 countries and territories. This means that 32 million metric tons of fish goes unreported every year, more than the weight of the entire population of the United States.

Researchers led by the Sea Around Us, a research initiative at the University of British Columbia supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts, and Vulcan Inc., attribute the discrepancy to the fact that most countries focus their data collection efforts on industrial fishing and largely exclude difficult-to-track categories such as artisanal, subsistence and illegal fishing, as well as discarded fish.

"The world is withdrawing from a joint bank account of fish without knowing what has been withdrawn or the remaining balance," said Daniel Pauly, a lead author of the study and principal investigator of the Sea Around Us. "Better estimating the amount we're taking out can help ensure there is enough fish to sustain us in the future."

Accurate catch information is critical for helping fisheries officials and managers understand the health of fish populations and inform fishing policies such as catch quotas and seasonal or area restrictions.

For the Nature Communications study, Pauly, his co-author Dirk Zeller, and hundreds of their colleagues around the world reviewed catch and related data from more than 200 countries and territories. Using a method called catch reconstruction, they compared official data submitted to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with estimates obtained from a broad range of sources, including academic literature, industrial fishing statistics, local fisheries experts, fisheries law enforcement, human population and other records such as documentation of fish catch by tourists.

"This groundbreaking study confirms that we are taking far more fish from our oceans than the official data suggest," said Joshua S. Reichert, executive vice president and head of environment initiatives for Pew. "It's no longer acceptable to mark down artisanal, subsistence, or bycatch catch data as a zero in the official record books.

"These new estimates provide countries with more accurate assessments of catch levels than we have ever had, along with a far more nuanced portrait of the amount of fish that are being removed from the world's oceans each year," said Reichert.

"Data are integral to maintaining global fisheries," said Raechel Waters, senior program officer for ocean health for Vulcan Inc. "Without an accurate understanding of fish catch, we risk underreporting or misreporting, which can handicap countries in their efforts to implement effective fisheries policy and management measures.

"This is particularly important for countries that do not have the resources to conduct comprehensive fishery assessments," said Waters.

http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2016/01/thirty-percent-global-
fish-catch-unreported-study-shows?et_cid=5064823&et_rid=366206770&type=headline&et_cid=5064823&et_rid=366206770&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.laboratoryequipment.com%2fnews%2f2016%2f01%2fthirty-percent-global-fish-catch-unreported-study-shows%3fet_cid%3d5064823%26et_rid%3d%%subscriberid%%%26type%3dheadline

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Friday, January 22, 2016 6:43 PM

DEVERSE

Hey, Ive been in a firefight before! Well, I was in a fire. Actually, I was fired from a fry-cook opportunity.

Blade Runner takes place in 2019, in a world ruled by corporations, the environment ruined by man, so where is...... oh wait, never mind, we're on track.

Oh let the sun beat down upon my face;
With stars to fill my dream;
I am a traveler of both time and space;
To be where I have been

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Friday, January 22, 2016 7:12 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Oh touché. So very, very deft imo.

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Sunday, January 24, 2016 4:43 PM

REAVERFAN

This is absolutely frightening.

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Sunday, January 24, 2016 10:05 PM

JAYNEZTOWN

disgusting what humaity is doing to nature

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Monday, March 14, 2016 6:15 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Plastic-eating Bacteria Could Enhance Recycling Methods

Lauren Scrudato, Associate Editor

A team of scientists from Kyoto Institute of Technology and Keio University has discovered the only known species of bacteria that is capable of transforming a common type of plastic into a food source, potentially offering a new way to dispose of the non-biodegradable material.

Fifty-million tons of the plastic, known as polyethylene terephythalate, or PET, is produced globally each year. Yet only half of that amount is actually recycled, meaning the rest accumulates in oceans and elsewhere in nature where it can sit for decades before it breaks down.

It is most commonly seen in most brands of disposable water bottles, among many other consumer items such as clothing and carpet fibers, automotive parts and any containers labeled with the #1 code.

Although PET appeals to product manufacturers for its clear color and durability, it is known to be particularly resistant to decomposing.

For the study, which has been published in the journal Science [2] this week, the researchers scoured through 250 PET-contaminated samples of soil, wastewater and sediment collected from a plastic bottle recycling center attempting to find species of microbes that could eat PET and use it to grow.

The team found a single bacteria species, which they named Ideonella sakainesis, with the ability to break down a PET film. "The bacterium is the first strain having a potential to degrade PET completely into carbon dioxide and water," said Kohei Oda, study co-author and applied microbiologist at the Kyoto Institute of Technology in Japan.

Further analysis revealed that I. sakainesis completes this feat by releasing two sets of enzymes that break up the chemical bonds of the plastic, providing the species with the carbon and energy it needs to grow.

The study determined that a large community of I. sakainesis could break down a thin film of PET over six weeks, as long as the temperature remained at 86 degrees, the researchers reported.

It is still unclear whether this discovery could help keep plastics out of the environment, but the researchers hope the bacterium or its enzymes could be used as a sustainable method of destroying plastic at recycling centers, like the one where they found the species.

The study also raises the question of when and where the bacteria developed the ability to transform plastic into a food source since PET has only existed for the last 70 years – a small window in evolutionary terms. Additional studies will need to be conducted to see if more unknown species have adapted.

http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2016/03/plastic-eating-bacteri
a-could-enhance-recycling-methods?et_cid=5172068&et_rid=366206770&type=headline&et_cid=5172068&et_rid=366206770&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.laboratoryequipment.com%2fnews%2f2016%2f03%2fplastic-eating-bacteria-could-enhance-recycling-methods%3fet_cid%3d5172068%26et_rid%3d%%subscriberid%%%26type%3dheadline

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Saturday, May 28, 2016 10:00 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

http://www.rdmag.com/articles/2016/01/ringing-age-plastic

Ringing in the Age of Plastic

Each year, between 4.8 million and 12.7 million metric tons of plastic waste enter the Earth’s oceans. The midpoint estimate is enough to cover 34 Manhattans, and is on par with how much plastic was produced in 1961.

Publishing in the journal Anthropocene, scientists from the Univ. of Leicester and the Anthropocene Working Group have published a study purporting that by the mid-century the Earth’s oceans and land will be buried in an increasing layer of plastic.

“Plastics were more or less unknown to our grandparents, when they were children,” said Jan Zalasiewicz, who teaches palaeobiology at the Univ. of Leicester. “But now, they are indispensable to our lives. They’re everywhere—wrapping our food, being containers for our water and milk, providing cartons for eggs and yogurt and chocolate, keeping our medicine sterile. They now make up most of the clothes that we wear, too.”

Plastics are abundant, whether as macroscopic fragments or the small microbeads found in soaps. Their presence is an indicator of the Anthropocene, as their remnants are an identifiable geological strata component.

In fact, according to Zalasiewicz, if all the plastic produced in the last few decades was plastic wrap, there would be enough to layer the whole Earth.

“These are dispersed by both physical and biological processes, not least via the food chain and the ‘fecal express’ route from surface to sea floor. Plastics are already widely dispersed in sedimentary deposits, and their amount seems likely to grow several-fold over the next few decades. They will continue to be input into the sedimentary cycle over coming millennia as temporary stores—landfill sites—are eroded,” the researchers wrote.

According to the researchers, buried plastics have a good chance of becoming fossilized. These “technofossils” can persist millions of years into the future, leaving a remnant reminder of a human convenience.

“We have become accustomed to living amongst plastic refuse, but it is the ‘unseen’ contribution of plastic microbeads from cosmetics and toothpaste or the artificial fibers washed from our clothes that are increasingly accumulating on sea and lake beds and perhaps have the greatest potential for leaving a lasting legacy in the geological record,” said co-author Colin Water, of the British Geological Survey.

The Anthropocene Working Group will continue to gather evidence of the Anthropocene Epoch in 2016, which may help determine if the new time unit should be formalized.

Let me just point out that the author left out vital relevant facts in the opinion piece. Doing that is known as cherry-picking. And whether you do that in the news, in discussion, in debate or in opinion, when you distort the facts, you've changed the nature of your communication into propaganda. But WE don't have any of THAT in the US, do we?!

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Wednesday, August 3, 2016 6:06 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

http://www.rdmag.com/news/2016/08/abundant-diverse-ecosystem-found-are
a-targeted-deep-sea-mining

"We found that this exploration claim area harbors one of the most diverse communities of megafauna [animals over 2 cm in size] to be recorded at abyssal depths in the deep sea," said Amon.

Abundant, Diverse Ecosystem Found in Area Targeted for Deep-Sea Mining
Mon, 08/01/2016 - 11:34am

A species of cnidarian in the genus Relicanthus with 8-foot long tentacles attached to a dead sponge stalk on a nodule in the eastern Clarion-Clipperton Zone. These are closely related to anemones. Source: Diva Amon and Craig Smith, University of Hawai'i at Manoa

In a study published in Scientific Reports, scientists discovered impressive abundance and diversity among the creatures living on the seafloor in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ)--an area in the equatorial Pacific Ocean being targeted for deep-sea mining. The study, lead authored by Diva Amon, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), found that more than half of the species they collected were new to science, reiterating how little is known about life on the seafloor in this region.

"We found that this exploration claim area harbors one of the most diverse communities of megafauna [animals over 2 cm in size] to be recorded at abyssal depths in the deep sea," said Amon.

The deep sea is where the next frontier of mining will take place. A combination of biological, chemical and geological processes has led to the formation of high concentrations of polymetallic "manganese" nodules on the deep seafloor in the CCZ--an area nearly the size of the contiguous United States. These nodules are potentially valuable sources of copper, nickel, cobalt and manganese, among other metals, which has led to an interest in mining this region. All of the potential polymetallic-nodule exploration contracts that have been granted in the Pacific are in this region, according to the International Seabed Authority.

This study, part of the ABYSSLINE Project, was the first to characterize the abundance and diversity of seafloor-dwelling animals, a key component of deep-sea ecosystems, in an exploration claim area leased to UK Seabed Resources Ltd (UK-1) in the eastern portion of the CCZ.

Using a remotely operated vehicle, the research team surveyed the seafloor at four sites within the UK-1 exploration contract area and at a site east of the UK-1 area to estimate abundance and diversity of the ecosystems.

The preliminary data from these surveys showed that more animals live on the seafloor in areas with higher nodule abundance. Further, the majority of the megafaunal diversity also appears to be dependent on the polymetallic nodules themselves, and thus are likely to be negatively affected by mining impacts.

"The biggest surprises of this study were the high diversity, the large numbers of new species and the fact that more than half of the species seen rely on the nodules--the very part of the habitat that will be removed during the mining process," said Amon.

Exploitation plans are pushing ahead even though knowledge of the seafloor ecosystem in this region is still limited.

"In order to more effectively manage the area and mitigate the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining in the CCZ and within the UK-1 contract area, baseline knowledge of the abundance, diversity, and species ranges of megafauna--a key component of this ecosystem--is essential," said Craig Smith, oceanography professor at UHM SOEST and ABYSSLINE lead investigator.

The ABYSSLINE team will be publishing many more papers about the seafloor biology of the CCZ, with forthcoming papers from UHM scientists including an atlas of megafauna from the UK-1 exploration contract area, a study documenting extremely high diversity in the community of macrofaunal community (crustaceans, worms, mollusks and other invertebrates between 2 and 0.3 cm in size) in the UK-1 exploration claim area.

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Wednesday, August 3, 2016 6:12 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

http://www.rdmag.com/news/2016/08/antarctic-sea-ice-may-be-source-merc
ury-southern-ocean-fish-birds

Antarctic Sea Ice May Be Source of Mercury in Southern Ocean Fish, Birds
Wed, 08/03/2016 - 10:54am by University of Melbourne

This is an Iceberg in Antarctic sea ice.Source: Caitlin Gionfriddo, University of Melbourne

New research has found methylmercury -- a potent neurotoxin -- in sea ice in the Southern Ocean.

Published today in the journal Nature Microbiology, the results are the first to show that sea-ice bacteria can change mercury into methylmercury, a more toxic form that can contaminate the marine environment, including fish and birds.

If ingested, methylmercury can travel to the brain, causing developmental and physical problems in foetuses, infants and children.

The findings were made by an international team of researchers led by Ms Caitlin Gionfriddo and Dr John Moreau from the University of Melbourne, and also included scientists from the Centre for Systems Genomics at the University of Melbourne, the US Geological Survey and Lawrence Livermore National Lab.

Methylmercury builds up in the food web through a process called 'biomagnification', said Ms Gionfriddo, PhD candidate from the School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne.

"Larger fish eat smaller contaminated fish, and continuously accumulate methylmercury at harmful levels for human consumption," Ms Gionfriddo said.

The team wanted to understand more about how the most toxic form of mercury enters the marine environment, and the food we eat.

Ms Gionfriddo spent two months aboard the icebreaker Aurora Australis to collect samples of Antarctic sea ice during an expedition mounted by the Australian Antarctic Division.

The ice was analysed for different forms of mercury, including methylmercury, at the US Geological Survey in Wisconsin (USA). The DNA and proteins from sea ice microorganisms were studied at the University of Melbourne (AUS) and Lawrence Livermore National Lab (USA).

Mercury is a heavy metal pollutant that can be released into the environment through volcanic eruptions and re-released from vegetation during bushfires. It is also created through human activity, such as gold smelting and burning fossil fuels.

University of Melbourne geomicrobiologist and team leader, Dr John Moreau, said that the results confirmed the presence of bacteria in the sea ice with the genetic ability to convert mercury into the more toxic form.

These findings highlight the importance of eliminating mercury pollution from the environment, and following current recommendations to limit consumption of certain types of fish[1], say the researchers.

"These results are the first to identify a particular genus of bacteria, Nitrospina, as capable of producing methylmercury in Antarctic ice," Dr Moreau said.

"The presence of these potential mercury-methylating bacteria raises an interesting question," he added. "Could they also play a role in forming the methylmercury observed in the oceans worldwide?"

The team are keen to understand this process in the next steps of their research.

"Mercury has a long lifecycle in the atmosphere, up to a year," said co-author Dr Robyn Schofield. "This means that mercury released through fossil fuel burning from countries over 3000 km away goes up in the atmosphere and ends up in Antarctica."

"The deposition of mercury into the sea occurs all year-long but increases during the Antarctic spring, when the sunlight returning causes reactions that boost the amount of mercury that falls onto sea ice and the ocean," Ms Gionfriddo added.

"We need to understand more about marine mercury pollution," said Dr Moreau, "Particularly in a warming climate and when depleted fish stocks means more seafood companies are looking south."

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Thursday, August 4, 2016 10:04 AM

REAVERFAN

So, who's ready to go vegan? I have lots of useful tips.

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Thursday, August 4, 2016 11:36 AM

THGRRI

Quote:
Originally posted by reaverfan:
So, who's ready to go vegan? I have lots of useful tips.

That's not the answer. Cleaning it up and giving the bill to the dumpers of said material would be a good start.

____________________________________________

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Thursday, December 8, 2016 8:38 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Earth's 'Technosphere' Now Weighs 30 Trillion Tons
Thu, 12/01/2016 - 9:20am 3 Comments
by University of Leicester

Earth and cling film. Photo: University of Leicester

"The technosphere is a major new phenomenon of this planet – and one that is evolving extraordinarily rapidly" explained Mark Williams, of the University of Leicester.

An international team led by University of Leicester geologists has made the first estimate of the sheer size of the physical structure of the planet's technosphere – suggesting that its mass approximates to an enormous 30 trillion tons.

The technosphere is comprised of all of the structures that humans have constructed to keep them alive on the planet – from houses, factories and farms to computer systems, smartphones and CDs, to the waste in landfills and spoil heaps.

In a new paper published in the journal the Anthropocene Review, Jan Zalasiewicz, Williams and Colin Waters from the University of Leicester Department of Geology led an international team suggesting that the bulk of the planet's technosphere is staggering in scale, with some 30 trillion tons representing a mass of more than 50 kilos for every square metre of the Earth's surface.

"The technosphere is the brainchild of the USA scientist Peter Haff – also one of the co-authors of this paper. It is all of the structures that humans have constructed to keep them alive, in very large numbers now, on the planet: houses, factories, farms, mines, roads, airports and shipping ports, computer systems, together with its discarded waste," said Zalasiewicz.

"Humans and human organizations form part of it, too – although we are not always as much in control as we think we are, as the technosphere is a system, with its own dynamics and energy flows – and humans have to help keep it going to survive."

The Anthropocene concept – a proposed epoch highlighting the impact humans have made to the planet - has provided an understanding that humans have greatly changed the Earth.

"The technosphere can be said to have budded off the biosphere and arguably is now at least partly parasitic on it. At its current scale the technosphere is a major new phenomenon of this planet – and one that is evolving extraordinarily rapidly," said Williams. "Compared with the biosphere, though, it is remarkably poor at recycling its own materials, as our burgeoning landfill sites show. This might be a barrier to its further success – or halt it altogether."

The researchers believe the technosphere is some measure of the extent to which we have reshaped our planet.

"There is more to the technosphere than just its mass," explained Waters. "It has enabled the production of an enormous array of material objects, from simple tools and coins, to ballpoint pens, books and CDs, to the most sophisticated computers and smartphones. Many of these, if entombed in strata, can be preserved into the distant geological future as 'technofossils' that will help characterize and date the Anthropocene."

If technofossils were to be classified as palaeontologists classify normal fossils - based on their shape, form and texture – the study suggests that the number of individual types of 'technofossil' now on the planet likely reaches a billion or more – thus far outnumbering the numbers of biotic species now living.

The research suggests the technosphere is another measure of the extraordinary human-driven changes that are affecting the Earth.

"The technosphere may be geologically young, but it is evolving with furious speed, and it has already left a deep imprint on our planet," added Zalasiewicz.

How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Sunday, December 11, 2016 5:04 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

I'm going to be working on my own "Gasoline Fumes" lawnmower in the spring using online tutorials I've seen. I'm still skeptical that they work, but I've seen quite a few videos on them and cars that work running on fumes that use nearly 100% of the gas instead of only 17% of it with tons of waste products like we use now.

The thing about this tech is that you never will know truly if it can work or if it's just smoke and mirrors from crazy people and liars until you try yourself. I happen to have a backup mower somebody gave me for free. The engine works, but the self propel mech failed. (I could easily fix that too, although that's not my focus here).

i'm too lazy too look up examples right now, but there is already a bio-degradable "plastic" wrap for packagaing out right now. In fact, there is rice packages that you can buy at Whole Foods that you throw the entire thing in and cook and the packaging dissolves and is completely non-toxic and actually nutritionally positive.

Ironically, some fruits and other non-parisables that Whole Foods sells are individually wrapped in this substance, but still wrapped in non-biodegradable plastic because it takes a long time to teach old dogs new tricks....

As for beer or Cola? Don't buy 6 packs. Anything above that in cans comes in cardboard and everything is easily recyclable.

Batteries? Spring for rechargable ones and a decent charger and they will service you and your children's toys needs almost indefinately.

Power Tool Batteries? I have two methods to revive dead Batteries that I can say 100% work! I had 4 dead power tool batteries, now they all work. That's nearly $160 worth of batteries replaced for free and not in a landfill .

Microwaves? Forget about it. There is easily $100 worth of Radio Shack parts in a dead microwave to an electronics enthusiast, let alone teh copper. Just make sure you know how to short out the possibly still charged Capacitor without killing yourself and do not chip or otherwise scratch the ceramic piece on the Magenetron which contains Beryllium and can give you a serious lung disease called Berylliosis which is uncurable. The piece is harmless if unphased, but don't take a sledge hammer to the magnatron to get the magnets is all.

(I actually thought this was made up when I first heard of it. I thought of "Beryllium Sphere" and it took me a while to remember that was from Galaxy Quest. Turns out Beryllium is real, it's in all of our Microwaves, and in dust form breathed in it's just a ticking time bomb until your lungs shut down.)

I actually tore apart a lot of electronics last summer, and took the time to scrap things. Stuff I didn't even know what it could do, but thought it was cool. I even took the time to wind the copper I got from speakers around cut pieces of conduit. I've easily got hundreds of dollars of uncovered copper wire now that I dont' have to pay for with future experements and builds.

Every microwave has two AWESOME donugt magnets that are super powerful and fun to play with. I only have two now and wish I had 20 more. I can only imagine how much fun I would have had with them when I was a kid.

Not to mention they're super useful. Put one under a steel scrap while you're changing a tire or working on your computer and screws are all over the place and you got a nice receptical to hold them all until you rescrew them.

KMART sold a Craftsman "Bowl" that did the same thing for 15 bucks. It was the size of an ashtray and if it didn't cost me more than two hours of work after taxes I would have bought one. ;)

The most amazing invention man has ever made, at least in my mind, is the Transformer.

When I was a kid, I thought it was just "Robots in Disguise" and the occasional thing on the power lines that blew up when a squirrel bit it....

Voltage is harmless with milliamps...... TESLA.... The unsung Father of Electricity is finally getting recognition now.

The Tesla Gun. As scary as this looks, it's harmless to the touch. 50,000 volts is achieved by so many wingdings to multiply the voltage while the Amperage is divided by the same amount.

You could kill yourself in some inventive ways with a 12 volt DC car battery for sure, but 50,000 Volts? Wouldn't that make you Explode!!!!!!????

Nope...... Amperage is so low it barely gives you a tiny shock. You've probably gotten more of a shock from static electricity walking around in socks and touching a doorknob.

Now that we're all "Doing Tesla", maybe we'll see things in the future where we're using the molecules in the air for energy.

Have you ever noticed that your Garage Door opener works better when it's foggy and humid? I have a cheap 3rd party opener, and I can get it to work from almost a block away when it's early morning and foggy. Conversely, when it's the middle of August and dry and 90 degrees, I need to be almost on top of the door to get it to work.

I do believe that I've found my purpose in life Kiki. :)

I'm a jack of all trades, and I'm very resistant to learning new things I'm not interested in.

Working with things like this and coming up with or at least prooving concepts others have come up with and been buried by "Big Oil" is pretty awesome to me.

I do not believe in any "Unbalanced Wheels" or other "Free Energy" things out there. They look so awesome and I love watching some of the videos on youtube supposedly proving them, but at least in our Universe, Matter Cannot Be Created or Destroyed.

That doesn't mean that you shouldn't watch the scam videos yourself though.

This one is my new favorite.

It doesn't look at all like it has a motor, but I'm an old dog now and have no idea the tricks that are out there. I watched a video where somebody was using a magnet to get a computer fan to turn endlessly when the magnet was close because of supposed magnets attached to the fins. Turns out he had a hidden compartment where he put the tiny batteries and a switches that reacted to magnets.

Until somebody proves me wrong, or I make one myself, a Free Energy Wheel is BS....

But now that we can harness the power of the sun's heat, that's a moot point.

There is no reason why we can't all create the energy our house needs for free with the sun and the wind. Even more if we work out at home on bike and stepper machines. Every pedal and stepper pump you do at home not connected to a battery is a waste of wattage :)

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Sunday, December 11, 2016 5:40 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

It's actually called the Da Vinci Wheel, although he was just extrapolating on a previous thought from some unknown guy before him.

Copyright wasn't a thing until Nintendo made it a thing :)

All of these machines are Bullshit.

But that doesn't negate the fact they're almost hypnotic to watch when thinking about what a world with Free Energy would be like if they worked....

But again, I bring up the point of Solar and Wind Energy.....

Nothing seen in this video couldn't easily be replicated many times in every American Backyard/Rooftop with free solar and wind energy as catalysts and wired to the house and some modern long life batteries.

The price of Solar Energy since 1977 (the Birth of Star Wars) has gone down almost 1000% per watt, installed.

What was once some eyesore that some jack of all trades spent a good buck doing while saving money now comes installed by professionals with beautiful looking panels very cheaply when considering what it cost in the 70's when only Sattelites going into space were equpped with solar cells...

I don't have the money to have a system installed now, but if I did, I could spend about $8,000 for one that would not only meet my needs, but I'd actually make a surplus the power company would pay me for durning the summer until I break down and get an A/C unit.

These cells are guaranteed for at least 20-25 years. That means they can easily withstand the occasional hail storm, or they wouldn't guarantee them for that long. We have no idea how the longevity of the newer cells are in the long term, but all signs point to only losing a few percentage points over decades, and the longer you hold out before buying a system the better teh tech is.

Here's a great site about charts for Solar....

https://cleantechnica.com/2014/09/04/solar-panel-cost-trends-10-charts/

The 1000x's thing I said holds true...

Accoriding to the site, back in 1977, the year that Star Wars came out... 2 years before I was born, the price per 1 Watt Hour of Solar energy was estimated at $76.67 per.

That means that it would cost you almost $80/hr to run one watt of power. I seriously doubt that you could find a single thing people used in 1977 that ran on one Watt. Today you could probably run at least a few LED lights off of 1 Watt, but it would have cost you almost $80 per hour to run three LED lights on solar power 40 years ago...

Today, according to the charts on this site it's about 74 cents per Watt per hour.

They are still Infinately MORE expensive than buying your power from ComEd, unfortunately. Although websites like this will try to tell you otherwise.

As things are, without ANY up-front costs on your part, the most you pay per Kilowatt/Hr is about 16 cents on peak seasons and as little as 9 cents on off months depending where you live.

This means that you could run 10 100 Watt light bulbs 24/7 for $3.84 with ComEd, but to install your own system it would cost you, hrmmmm... that's not right....

I don't get the up-front costs, to be sure. They're a lot cheaper now.

It's unfortunate that setup and installiation is still so expensive. If everyone in America had Solar roofs we'd barely have power bills at all if anything.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Sunday, December 11, 2016 5:55 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

REDACTED.......

I've got, what I believe is a GREAT idea, and I'm going to share it with my brothers and work on it with them.

It's too late since Haken already has the un-reacted post, but I hope he doesn't steal the idea from a poor, pathetic conspiracy theorist like me :)

I'm no physicist or mathematician, but I do believe my admittedly damaged brain came up with an idea that could benefit us all for generations to come until somebody makes Cold Fusion a thing.

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Sunday, December 11, 2016 6:42 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

To anybody wondering what it is, the only thing I have to say is Air Supply!

Out of Nothing At All....

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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