Our Environment

Over the next few weeks Our-Environment.com will be releasing our very own school project material. Of course it will be all about climate change and the environment.

All this information will be FREE and downloadable and is the culmination of over 12 months of solid work by one of our top project specialists.

The information is aimed at High School and College level students and will be available in 10 – 12 different modules. We are still finalising the topic categories and project titles though we are sure you will find all the information extremely valuable.

If there is any topic in particular that you would like us to cover please feel free to let us know. If we haven’t already covered your topic of interest in the first series of project packs we will sure to be including the more innovative subject in our next issue.

The scheduled release date in for mid March though if we can we will release the first few Environment School Project packs as soon as we can.

Thanks for reading.

Greenie – TeamMember  – Our-Environment.com

In these days of alloy, plastic and mass production it is nice to find a product that dares to be a little different.

The Ezy-Chair created by Jim Wadley in Australia is just such an item. I recently got hold of one of the Ezy Chair – camping chairs myself a few weeks ago, and to my satisfaction, it really did live up to all my expectations.

I have spent a lot of time in the wilderness and I must have tried a dozen different types of camping chair. I admit many of these were purchased at the local K-Mart or Target store and they were all plasticy mass produced etc. etc. A few of them were quite good, though they always seemed to be? over the top.

I am a simple guy and I don?t need a cup holder, remote control holder and a place for my beach umbrella or anything else. If this is what you are looking for forget the Ezy Chair.

When I stumbled on Jim Wadley?s web page, it occurred to me I was after exactly what he had created. After a couple of emails with Jim, I decided to get one myself.

The Ezy chair is made from timber 100%, plantation grown timber (this caught my interest immediately). It is simple light weight, can be assembled and disassembled in 2 or 3 seconds literally. I love it!

Now I am a ? larger individual and weigh in at about 320lbs (that?s a little over 145 kilograms) and my Ezy chair doesn?t even creak under the load.

The chair is small enough to back pack, yet is comfortable enough to rest in while waiting for that perfect nature shot or ?the Billy? to boil (that?s what we Aussie?s call our bush kettle). I don?t think I will be looking any further for a camping chair again.

Jim makes all his chairs by hand (he is a retired master Cabinet Maker by trade so you know they?re good) and he uses one himself. He is currently putting together a photo diary of the Australian Satin Bower Bird (Jim?s an expert on these creatures). And he has promised to give us a peak at his project as soon as it is complete.

So that said, I do endorse the Ezy-Chair, you can find a link to his website here (camping chair). Check it out for yourself.

Be warned they are not cheap they come in at about $60 (Aussie Dollars) each, though frankly I think they are worth it. If you are interested in getting your own chair and live outside Australia you will have to email Jim so he can work out a freight price for you.

They are unique, they work and they are green? very green.

All the best to you and yours for the festive season, and have a very happy & safe New Year.

A toxic brew of smog, carbon particles and noxious chemicals is blotting out the sun, fouling the lungs of millions of people and altering weather patterns in large parts of Asia, according to a report released Thursday by the United Nations.

Over the last couple of weeks India and China have topped the news again by demonstrating their complete disregard for the environment.? The Asian brown cloud a layer of air pollution up to one mile thick. The Brown Cloud now covers parts of the northern Indian Ocean, India, Pakistan, and parts of Southern Asia, and of course China.

Viewed from NASA satellite photos, the cloud appears as a giant brown stain hanging in the air over much of Asia and the Indian Ocean every year between January and March. Lately though this period seems to be getting longer with the density of the brown cloud also increasing.

The foul cloud is caused by when a certain level humidity forms haze in the atmosphere and combines with a range of airborne pollutants from a variety of sources including wood fires, motor vehicles, factories and especially (where China is concerned) the production of electric power via the burning of coal.

China switches on a new Coal Burning Power Station at the rate of about 10 new plants a month. The expected life of these power stations is reported as being up to 50 years. The total damage to the environment by these plants over the next few decades can hardly be estimated, safe to say that the impact will be devastating.

Research indicates that some of the local Chinese results include glaciers that feed into the Yangtze, Ganges, Indus and Yellow rivers are absorbing more sunlight and melting much more quickly than they were during the middle of last century.

According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, those glaciers have shrunk 5 percent since the 1950s and at the current rate of retreat could shrink by an additional 75 percent by 2050.

Veerabhadran Ramanathan leader of the UN scientific panel said “We used to think of this brown cloud as a regional problem, but now we realize its impact is much greater. When we see the smog one day and not the next, it just means it’s blown somewhere else.”

The Brown Cloud now is having its effects felt as far a field as California and shows no sign of getting any better. A recent CSIRO study found that the Asian Brown Cloud is also affecting rainfall in Australia.

TheTeam – Our-Environment.com

Recent studies in Australia has shown that climate change will have an adverse impact on the already vulnerable Australian Koala.

Studies have shown that increasing temperatures due to climate change pushes up the level of toxins and lowers the nutritional value of the Koala?s only food source, the Eucalyptus gum leaf.

Global warming also has an indirect effect on these cute Australians. Dr Lunney, a leading koala expert with the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change says. “The further they have to travel, the more frequently they [the Koalas] are on the ground, the more likely they are to be attacked by dogs. And if there is a road in between the patches of trees, they’ll die on the roads,”.

To study how far the Koalas are now travelling in search of food scientists have fitted a population of Koalas with GPS tracking and radio equipment to monitor their nocturnal habits.

The twelve koalas involved in the study, four males and eight females, is being conducted in Gunnedah (about 350 km northwest of Sydney in New South Wales). All the animals have been fitted with collars containing radio transmitters linked to a GPS tracking unit.

An initiative in New South Wales to plant more Gum trees along the banks of creeks and rivers by local farmers looks like it may be having a beneficial effect on the Koalas. Originally developed to help combat soil salinity in Australia, a welcome by product of the program is providing more food for the Koalas and minimising the distance they need to travel to find food.

Climate change or global warming is being recognised more and more as the cause to many of these problems we are seeing around the globe. The good news is that by acting locally we can all help minimise climate changes impact and move to a more sustainable existence, enjoying our lifestyles without penalising our environment.

James – TheTeam@our-environment.com