Illegal whaling ships have been roaming the oceans of the world literally scotch-free for the last couple of decades and most often the only little hindrance they get is from those tiny little ships that have brave volunteers from ‘eco-friendly’ groups trying hard to stop the fast paced giants. Well, finally the huge ships and their sharp harpoons have finally met their match and its is the Ady Gill (formerly known as Earthrace) that will teach them a lesson or two about sneaking up and spoiling the party. Out to nab the bad guys of the world’s oceans, this ultra-sleek and Hollywood-esque mean machine on waves will be used by conservation group Sea Shepherd in their effort to combat whaling.

Sea Shepherd is currently preparing for it’s 6th Whale Defense Campaign Operation Waltzing Matilda. About to be launched in Australia the campaign will man the Southern Ocean and Ady Gill along with another mean machine ‘Steve Irwin’ will try to sneak up and ruin as many whale hunts as possible. Silent, efficient and with a top speed of over 50 knots this amazing piece of engineering and design is sure to finally give the conservation groups a much needed edge over the poachers.

So, come this Christmas time expect the Southern seas to and its mighty giants to receive a dark and dazzling visit from this avenger of those who wish to slaughter the innocent. (You, that was dramatic!) Let’s just hope that at least now that the endangered species is protected from the illegal meat market.

Boingboing/ Life

London’s largest airport is looking forwards to the start of construction of its new Terminal 2 as per the plans designed by Foster + Partners and under development by Ferrovial Agroman and Laing O’Rourke’s joint partnership company HETCo. The Terminal 2 expected to cost around £1 billion would play the new domicile for the Star Alliance airlines.

Heathrow’s Terminal 2 being developed as a part of the £4.8 billion investment across the airport would have 185,000m2 of floor space that would provide an anticipated 20 million passengers every year. The new terminal is designed to emit 40% less carbon than the already existing ones. The large north facing windows on the roof would provide the building with ample natural light and also prevent the temperatures inside from rising too high. The solar panels on the roof will cut down on the buildings energy consumption. Besides, the heating and cooling system of the building would run on energy extracted from renewable sources.

This two phase construction expected to be ready by 2019 would not only give the airport an opportunity to provide better services to its customers, but also do good to the city’s power grid and environment.

Via WorldArchitectureNews

The conservation of wild lands is well documented and neatly archived in history. Eviction of indigenous people from their homeland in the wild for the sake of conservation is only found in collective memory and oral history. Through a hundred years, indigenous people have often been seen by conservationists as a problem, and the solution has always been eviction.

On a widely more publicized scale, the battle to protect nature and biodiversity has been between transnational conservationist organizations and their nemesis, those insatiable industries that deplete or destroy nature. There is, however, another conflict: transnational conservation vs. the worldwide movement of indigenous peoples.

‘Big conservation,’ a very strong global movement, is often seen as arrogant by the native people. Indigenous people have always regarded big conservation agencies as agents of imperialism.

The conflict has given rise to a distinct group called conservation refugees. These people are not officially recognized and counted as refugees even if ‘the number of people displaced from traditional homelands worldwide over the past century in the interest of conservation is estimated to be close to 20 million, 14 million of them in Africa alone.’

The resolution to the century-old conflict in the wild is not about to be apparent to its stakeholders. The result is lamentable: thousands of protected land in the most biologically rich areas of the world cannot be managed.

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Via guardian.co.uk/Native Solutions to Conservation Refugees

World Wild Life Fund, Brazil has shifted campaign from saving endangered species like Panda and many others, saving forests to saving a single tree and reef!  The two ads in the campaign ‘Tree’ and ‘Reef’ depict life supported by a single tree and a reef. The message in the ads asks one to imagine how much life forest and an Ocean can support.

DDB Brasil has come up with an intelligent reductionist campaign. The two pictures show tree and reef and all kinds of species and life forms they can sustain. The message is clear. One must become proactive in saving single tree and reef before thinking about saving the disappearing forests and heated Oceans. And only then all the endangered species which are becoming extinct can be saved. Habitats must be protected.

The conservation campaign has finally changed the approach. It has really gone to the root of the whole issue. Environmental awareness should be about saving every single tree and reef. It is both locally and globally relevant campaign too. Amazon trees and forests are disappearing fast. Hope everyone learns to treasure each single tree and reef!!!

Via Addshots/Creativity -Online

Promoting green products is de rigueur for the betterment of future generations, and one of the best ways for doing it is through green toys. This year’s CES seems like it’s not only focusing on some green stuff for adults, but also brings forwards exciting ecofriendly toys like 6-in-1 OwiKits Solar Building Kit  for children.

Comprised of an assortment of 21 parts that can be easily snapped together to create two planes, an airboat, a car, a puppy, and a windmill, the kit comes complete with a solar panel and a small motor and costs around $15 to $20 which sounds quite within our means. The president of OwiKits, Craig Morioka says that their kits are designed to involve, engage and educate and that the mere feeling of being able to say ‘I built this myself’ would give kids a great sense of accomplishment.

I agree with Morioka and appreciate OwiKits for creating something so special to inspire and edify kids about the use of clean, green energy and applaud CES for showcasing such wonderful creations.

Source: Trendhunter/ RobokitsDirect

The whole revolves around ENERGY- generation, usage, loss, gain, conversion and what not. Engines are among those devices, which contribute and participate largely in the process. The conventional engines used now convert chemical energy to mechanical energy through friction and greater the friction, greater is the energy loss. Mike Brickley, a Texas based inventor has come up with a new engine that reduces this energy loss.

Brickley’s engine has a couple of pistons and bearings assembled in way that fabricates 35% less friction compared to the usual ones. This patented car engine has 15% to 20% additional fuel efficiency and cuts down CO2 emissions by 15% to 20%. The engine can pull any automobile from trains, tractors to trucks and cars that run on diesel and four or more cylinder engines.

Brickley’s creation was reported in the New York Times, Year of Ideas issue, 2008 and he hopes the people of the future would accept his creation. In addition, why wouldn’t they? Nobody would ever discourage something that’s so advanced and environmentally friendly.

Source: Dwell

Water scarcity will hit the world real badly in the coming years. Though the governments have foreseen this problem and have aimed to harvest rainwater in order to have a source of water that is not from water bodies, the plan has not really kicked off due to corruption and red tapism. However, this simple design by Evan Gant called the RainDrops seems to solve many problems related to harvesting rainwater.

All that the concept needs are empty plastic bottles, which catch rainwater, and the bottles are certainly the cheapest way of storing water. These bottles can be cleaned easily and maintained easily too, when compared to larger storage units. An attachment to the bottles allows free flowing water with which people can wash their hands and stay clean. RainDrops makes use of UV rays and the pathogens in the water would be killed easily.

The ultimate goal of this system is to collect water and purify it, and help people to access clean water for various purposes. The system comes with nozzles and waterproof bottles that don’t leak and make sure water is not wasted. This must be a hell of a design, which would help people living in poorer nations.

Via: YankoDesign