Ecoclimax

NASA sought to visualize the so-called 'ocean garbage patches' using data collected over 35 years in partnership with NOAA. The result is simply mesmerizing.  

Sure it's set to That One XX Song, but the beauty of computers is you can mute this video and play whatever music you like while you watch a drone fly high above Norway's verdant cliffs.

Biocapacity is way to measure an area's ability to produce biological materials necessary for life, such as food, and to absorb its carbon dioxide emissions. Deficits and reserves are determined by measuring an area's capacity against its ecological footprint - the area required to support an ecosystem's population.

The noise pollution map shows the noise levels along major English roads and railway lines.

The shape of the world's demography is changing (1970-2060).

Via washingtonpost.com

Antmaps.org is a new interactive map visualizing and interacting with the Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics database of ant species around the world.

The above gridded equal-population cartogram shows the satellite image resized according to how many people live in an area. Depopulated areas disappear, while the map gives the most densely populated areas the most space. The world’s largest city regions such as the Nile Delta in the north-east of Africa, or the Pearl River Delta in the south-east of China become visible in stunning detail.

Via geovisualist.com

Snøhetta Norwegian-American construction company Snøhetta in collaboration with the Norwegian research centre for the creation of buildings with net zero energy (Research Centeron Zero Emission Buildings) built an extraordinary house. Eco-friendly buildings with minimum energy consumption are not rarity for Norway, but this time the engineers from Oslo created a home that consumes two times less electricity than generates. Thus, a network of similar houses can be completely self-sufficient and have no need for any external power supply. Production of energy in the house is carried out by the ideal location of solar panels, a method of production of which will save 90% of their value. Professor Ursula Gibson and PhD Frederick Martinsen of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) suggested the use of solar panels for production of crude silicon. In addition to the direct savings due to the materials, this method of production is much less energy-intensive. The new tech...

Independent house, which benefits the planet and creates all the amenities for human is not a dream but a reality! Today MKmagazine talks about what it is, and shows some remarkable examples, so read with pleasure. Eco-house is an energy saving, energy efficient or passive dwelling that does not require the consumption of energy or requires it at a minimum level (this also applies to electricity, and heating). It is only 8-10% more expensive than usual, and even easier to build: it is not necessary to make the pipe water heating, store fuel, make boiler, etc. All costs repays fully within 7 years. Eco-house features - Compactness, integrity, competent geometry and layout, thoughtful placement relative to the cardinal. - The most practical and safe materials, natural insulation (100% non-toxic). - More efficient insulation to avoid thermal bridges in materials and components, as well as to reduce heat loss almost to zero. - Heating occurs due to heat generation by people, an...

It's been 70 years since the detonation of an atomic bomb at Hiroshima. You would think that the horrifying after-effects of the bomb would teach the world not to play with nuclear weapons, but unfortunately it did not. Here's a video that maps every single nuclear weapon detonation since 1945. There have been a lot.

In the XXI century, when the environment has already suffered enough, more and more attention is paid to the environmental solutions. Construction of houses of adobe is becoming increasingly popular not only in hot dry countries, but also in the CIS. Everyone today wants to have their own house, well-furnished in accordance with their own habits. But not everyone can afford it, because it is assumed that a private house is expensive. Construction of a house of adobe does not require any sufficient costs, as it is built literally of what is underfoot. Furniture can also be fashioned from the same material as the house itself. House heating requires lower costs, as this ecological material retains heat well during cold weather, and cool – during hot summer. Adobe is a clay building material that is diluted with water in pre-prepared holes, and then kneaded. Chopped straw is added to increase the density, sand is added to reduce the shrinkage, lime facilitates acceleration o...

Longwood Gardens hired gardner Yoko Arakawa to help them create a single mum that blooms into a magnificent sphere of 1,167 flowers. This difficult art is hardly practiced anymore, making this plant the largest of its kind in North America.

A team of Yale University environmental researchers just released a map tool that shows concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) across the whole world in pretty astounding detail: each pixel represents a 10-by-10 kilometer square. They also included visual representations of the world’s dirtiest power plants—a timely feature as the U.S. announces a sweeping new plan to reduce carbon emissions from power plants, especially coal-fired ones. Via citylab.com

The change in levels of the Earth's largest aquifers, in millimeters per year The study, published this week in the journal Water Resources Research , used 11 years of satellite data to measure water depletion. Eight aquifers, primarily in Asia and Africa, were qualified as "overstressed," meaning they had nearly no natural replenishment. The most stressed basin was the Arabian Aquifer System, beneath Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Other quickly disappearing aquifers were the Indus Basin aquifer, between India and Pakistan, and the Murzuk-Djado Basin, in northern Africa. Five other aquifers, including California's Central Valley Aquifer, were "extremely" or "highly" stressed, with some natural replenishment but not enough to make up for growing demand. Via motherjones.com

0 million years ago 20 million years ago Neocene Period. Mammals and birds continue to evolve into modern forms. Early hominids emerge in Africa. 35 million years ago Mid Tertiary. Mammals have evolved from small, simple forms to a diverse group. Primates, cetaceans, and other groups evolve. The Earth cools and deciduous plants become more common. The first grass species evolve. 50 million years ago Early Tertiary. Following the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs, surviving birds, mammals, and reptiles diversified. Early whales evolved from land mammals. 65 million years ago Late Cretaceous. A mass extinction occurs, leading to the extinction of dinosaurs, many marine reptiles, all flying reptiles, and many marine invertebrates and other species. Scientists believe the exintction was caused by an asteroid impact on the present-day Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. 90 million years ago Cretaceous Period. Ceratopsian and pachycephalosaurid dinosaurs evolv...