Innovation Toronto

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Last year, a private company proposed “fertilizing” parts of the ocean with iron, in hopes of encouraging carbon-absorbing blooms of plankton. Meanwhile, researchers elsewhere are talking about injecting chemicals into the atmosphere, launching sun-reflecting mirrors into stationary orbit above the earth or taking other steps to reset the thermostat of a warming [...]

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Plans to use a state-of-the-art camera onboard a satellite to monitor deforestation levels in Africa’s Congo Basin have been unveiled.
The high resolution RALCam3 camera, designed and built by UK scientists, will provide the first detailed view of the area’s rate of forest cover loss.
The project is part of the Congo Basin Forest Fund, [...]

photo credit: bamakodaker
Perhaps there is no greater societal need for scientific know-how than in finding new ways to meet future energy demands. Skyrocketing gas prices, an uncertain oil supply, increasing demand from around the world, and the looming threat of climate change have made identifying and developing realistic energy alternatives a national priority.
For Biodesign [...]

If energy conservation both saves money and is good for the planet, why don’t people do more of it?
In wonkish circles, energy efficiency used to be known as “the fifth fuel”: it can help to satisfy growing demand for energy just as surely as coal, gas, oil or uranium can. But in these environmentally conscious [...]

photo credit: wabberjocky
Research has cast new doubt on the wisdom of using Sun-blocking sulphate particles to cool the planet.
Sulphate injections are one of several “geo-engineering” solutions to climate change being discussed by scientists.
But data published in Science journal suggests the strategy would lead to drastic thinning of the ozone layer.
This would delay the recovery [...]