hertenberger.co.za

The fact that mankind is heavily dependant on natural resources should come as no surprise. Electricity, in particular, creates incredible pollution, defaces natural landscapes and wastes plenty of coal and water.

Tonight at 20:30, Earth Hour is being celebrated (or commiserated) by all and sundry. To partake in this activity, the idea is to switch off all lights one would ordinarily use for an hour. As a citizen of South Africa, I feel I’ve had more than enough unwanted electricity interruptions created by Eskom in the past year. Nonetheless, this is a worthy cause.

Eskom has promised to monitor how much electricity is being saved during the period from 20:30 to 21:30. What good that will do, I have no idea. At 21:31, electricity usage will be back to normal peak demands, I am sure.

Welcome to the seed vault, not seedy vault. It looks like something from the ice planet Hoth, but is a lot closer to us than that.

No Imperial Walkers here, just a lot of ice and desolation. Dubbed the Doomsday vault by the popular media, the Svalbard Global Seed facility is a nuclear bomb-proof shelter situated somewhere in the Arctic wilderness. The cavern has been carved into the permafrost, just high enough to ensure rising sea levels don’t fill it up before too long, yet deep enough to protect the cavern and its precious contents from weaponry and bomb blasts. It’s unlikely to withstand a meteor shower, though. The seed vault’s purpose is to safely store a variety of seeds, soon to be extinct. A modern-day Noah’s ark, if you will. The vault has the capacity to hold roughly 4.5 million seed batches, or twice the number of crop varieties believed to exist at present. Whether there’ll be a world worth planting these into remains to be seen…

The price for one barrel of oil has reached the USD 100 mark. One barrel holds roughly 159 litres.

With the price unlikely to drop in future given the various tensions around the world, China’s increased consumption and a wonderful OPEC business model, it’s high time alternate energy sources are sought. Hybrid car, anyone?