Stimulating coral growth with electricity

Can electricity give declining coral reefs a new lease on life? It may seem counter-intuitive, but it apparently has been effective for the last decade, thanks to marine biologist Thomas Goreau and engineer/architect Wolf Hilbertz, who have been experimenting with regenerating coral reefs using electricity in a technology called Biorock.

From treehugger.com

Bush Outlines Proposal on Climate Change

Of interest for some contemporary context issues:

Artic Hunt

More on the sea bed grab.

Scalable Textures?

China is drying up

Chinese cities are drying up in the North East because of record economic growth. See this NYT special features for more details.

Posts from BLDGBLOG

“It’s sci-fi regionalism – architectural design in an era of global climate change.”

“The future of architecture lies in weather control.”

Recent Links from WIRED

New book from Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger on “post-environmentalism”,
Break Through: From “The Death of Environmentalism” to the Politics of Possibility.

One Molecule Could Cure Our Addiction to Oil.

Rising Oceans.

Top 5 weirdest ways(really) to power your house

http://architecturelab.blogspot.com/2007/07/top-5-weirdest-ways-to-power-your-house.html

Grabbed it from one of my favorite sites (that also leads you to all other great sites and blogs like Daily does of architecture).

Enjoy~

India’s Greenest Skyscraper?

This website runs slow even @ midnight. . . be patient when browsing it

http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/08/23/india-tower-indias-greenest-skyscraper/

Half Full or Half Empty?

This blog is full of useful information for all the water-related teams.

Renewable Energy?

MIT student project harvests human energy.

Alternative effects of water vapor?

Not directly relevant but certainly interesting effects.

Infographics

NYT Infographics collection from pruned.

Janine Benyus @ TED

The champion of biomimicry.

Imitation of Life

Since the days of Vitruvius, architects have turned to nature for inspiration, but today’s designers are thinking about the way a sea sponge behaves, not just the way it looks. Biomimicry, or the imitation of nature’s functions and systems, is helping push the boundaries of structure and sustainability. By Lisa Delgado

Cradle to Cradle @ TED

William McDonough speaks at TED.

“Today, with our growing knowledge of the living earth, design can reflect a new spirit. In fact, when designers employ the intelligence of natural systems—the effectiveness of nutrient cycling, the abundance of the sun’s energy—they can create products, industrial systems, buildings, even regional plans that allow nature and commerce to fruitfully co-exist.”

Short Cut

The most direct shipping route from Europe to Asia is fully clear of ice for the first time since records began, the European Space Agency (Esa) says.

Black Maps

In case anyone is going down to DC in the next couple of months. Interesting photography show of David Maisel to check out.

If not check them out online here

Online Article Database

I found this site, The National Academies, while searching for coastal erosion articles/information. You can read most of their articles online (for free!) or purchase the PDF. Easiest way to navigate the site is to use the search link (on my browser its in the upper right hand corner) of their front page- it should bring you to a list off their database of relevant articles.

Welcome

Welcome to the online discussion forum and resource for Crisis Fronts, the Degree Project studio and seminar led by Michael Chen and Jason Lee at Pratt Institute’s Undergraduate School of Architecture. This site will be updated regularly. Please check back often.