Lifeboat Foundation

The idea of deploying enzymes to break down plastic waste is gaining momentum through a string of breakthroughs demonstrating how they can do so with increasing efficiency, and even reduce the material to simple molecules. A new study marks yet another step forward, with scientists leveraging machine learning to engineer an enzyme that degrades some forms of plastic in just 24 hours, with a stability that makes it well-suited to large-scale adoption.

Scientists have been exploring the potential of enzymes to aid in plastics recycling for more than a decade, but the last six years or so has seen some significant advances. In 2016, researchers in Japan unearthed a bacterium that used enzymes to break down PET plastics in a matter of weeks. An engineered version of these enzymes, dubbed PETase, improved the performance further, and in 2020 we saw scientists develop an even more powerful version that digested PET plastics at six times the speed.

Continue reading “Fast-acting enzyme breaks down plastics in as little as 24 hours” »

“The Earth has entered a radically new era, understood by scientists as the Anthropocene: a time when humanity reckons with massive geologic and biospheric forces we, as anthropos, have set in motion. The agency of Nature and the reality of humanity as a collective geologic force is becoming understood differently, even within the Western paradigm. It is a new world our children will inherit, for if humanity is to survive, we must come into new realizations of our place within the planetary life-support systems. To lay a path for future generations through the evolutionary steps that humanity must now take to learn to live in balance with the planet, science must come to balance with Spirit.” ―Oberon Zell, GaeaGenesis.

#OberonZell #GaeaGenesis #GaiaHypothesis #SyntellectHypothesis #GlobalMind #theosophy #consciousness

In the early 1970s, celebrated philosopher and mystic Oberon Zell was the first to propose the radical idea that the biosphere of Earth was a single living superorganism. His initial article on the subject electrified the emerging modern movement of Earth-based spirituality, generating volumes of correspondence, lecture tours, and further articles in various journals and books.

Continue reading “Gaia-Based Theosophy: Conception and Birth of the Living Earth” »

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World Economic Forum.

They’re autonomous, self-cleaning and powered entirely by solar energy.

Elon talks about x-risks and making us a multi-planetary species, amongst other things.

What’s on Elon Musk’s mind? In this exclusive conversation with head of TED Chris Anderson, Musk details how the radical new innovations he’s working on — Tesla’s intelligent humanoid robot Optimus, SpaceX’s otherworldly Starship and Neuralink’s brain-machine interfaces, among others — could help maximize the lifespan of humanity and create a world where goods and services are abundant and accessible for all. It’s a compelling vision of a future worth getting excited about. (Recorded at the Tesla Texas Gigafactory on April 6, 2022)

Continue reading “[Exclusive] Elon Musk: A future worth getting excited about | TED | Tesla Gigafactory interview” »

Alex Pourbaix, the CEO of Cenovus, Canada’s second-largest oil and gas company, spoke up in a call with industry analysts where he criticized the plan and the money being offered to the industry. He called for a much large commitment from governments if the industry were to build large-scale CCUS. Pourbaix suggested that there were examples from other countries where the industry was being given up to 70% of the capital costs on new CCUS projects and was receiving additional money to offset operating costs.

While Pourbaix was complaining about the lack of money to build CCUS projects, he also announced to analysts that Cenovus had earned a seven-fold jump in its quarterly profits, and was tripling dividend payments to shareholders. This wasn’t mentioned in Jones’ article but did appear in the same edition of the paper, two pages later, tucked away well below the fold. It reported Cenovus had announced per-share dividends rising from $0.14 US to $0.42, with earnings exceeding analyst estimates at $0.79 per share. In the same report, Cenovus announced production output of synthetic crude from oil sands operations growing from over 769 to almost 800,000 barrels a day. There was no mention of GHG emissions contributions. And when I went to look at the company’s annual and quarterly reports, there was no reporting on GHG emissions or even intensity per barrel or per cubic metre related to production although there was a pledge to sustainability and best ESG practices. A 2020 Bloomsberg report states that GHG emissions at Cenovus continue to rise.

Cenovus is one of the founding members of the Clean Resource Innovation Network (CRIN). Its mission is to keep Canadian oil and natural gas companies competitive in world markets. Other members are fossil fuel companies, think tanks, academics, and government departments. CRIN acknowledges a low-carbon future but seems to lack a roadmap to get there. As I perused the website there was little information on strategies for carbon emission reductions. There was content related to intensity per unit of production as well as discussion about cleaner fuel standards. But I found nothing about CCUS.

MIT researchers have developed a portable desalination unit, weighing less than 10 kilograms, that can remove particles and salts to generate drinking water.

The suitcase-sized device, which requires less power to operate than a cell phone charger, can also be driven by a small, portable solar panel, which can be purchased online for around $50. It automatically generates drinking water that exceeds World Health Organization quality standards. The technology is packaged into a user-friendly device that runs with the push of one button.

Continue reading “From seawater to drinking water, with the push of a button” »

Money manager Invesco on Wednesday launched an exchange-traded fund aimed at providing exposure to industrial metals needed to make electric vehicles, as commodity prices have surged and the market for EVs continues to expand.

The Invesco Electric Vehicle Metals Commodity Strategy No K-1 ETF began trading Wednesday under the EVMT ticker and is the first of its kind, with the non-equity fund offering investors access to key metals needed by all EV manufacturers, the company said in a press statement.

EVMT will invest in derivatives and other instruments financially linked to exposure to aluminum, cobalt, copper, iron ore, nickel, and zinc. EVMT is the “only ETF that considers metals necessary for whole car production, rather than a focus on battery production,” said Jason Bloom, head of fixed income and alternatives ETF strategy at Invesco, in the statement.