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Playlist: Daves picks

Compiled By: Radio Newark

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Cool Concrete

From KXCI | Part of the The Weekly Green series | 04:42

Modern science and ancient culture meet over CO2-negative cement.

Playing
Cool Concrete
From
KXCI

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Concrete is actually just one of the many applications of cement. Cement is a mix of lime and water that is an excellent binding agent, first discovered by the ancient Macedonians some 3,000 years ago. The discovery ranks with fire, the wheel and sliced bread among the great game changers in human history.

If cement is mixed with gravel, it becomes concrete, billions of tons of which are poured annually into buildings, roads and other infrastructure. In other configurations, it becomes mortar or plaster.

The manufacturing process of cement is highly energy-consuming: to turn the raw material, limestone or chalk, into lime, it has to be heated to temperatures exceeding 2,000º F for about ten hours. The heat is predominantly produced by burning coal. Coal burning produces CO2 and in the case of cement, the ratio is 1:1. For every ton of cement produced, one ton of CO2 goes up into the air. Globally, 4,000,000,000 tons of cement or produced every year, accounting for about 6% of the total global CO2 emissions.

What if we could make cement without all that heat?

David Stone, working on his graduate degree as an environmental scientist at the University of Arizona in the 1990's, found a way, using iron as the base material instead of lime. The process he invented is so chemically reactive, that no other energy input is required. Then he found also that his compound would readily bond with silicate, a.k.a. glass, creating a cement with as much as 5x the strength of regular 'Portland' cement. Moreover, not only does this new type of cement, called 'Ferrock', not produce any CO2, it actually absorbs it.

By a serendipitous turn of events, he was invited to the Tohono O'odham Community College to talk to its students about sustainability. And there, he met Richard Pablo.

~o~o~o~o~o~

The degradation and dispossession inflicted upon Native Americans in the 18th and 19th century is still manifest today. One grave consequence is that the rate of alcoholism is extremely high among them. Alcohol is absolutely prohibited on the reservations., but just outside the reservations, along the highway, there are entire fields of empty bottles giving witness to the distressed condition imposed upon them.

In his younger years, Richard Pablo was one of the many who left their empties there. But he turned his life around and started looking for a constructive way to spend his days.

Then he met David Stone, who was looking for glass. Richard knew where to find glass. Moreover, he was able to translate David's scientific approach into concepts acceptable to the Tohono and draw them in to the endeavor of collecting it.

Now the fields of glass are being cleared by the seventh generation and the debris is ground into the powder that lends David's iron-based cement its tremendous strength.

The Weekly Green spoke with David Stone about his invention, his collaboration with Richard Pablo, and the meeting of modern science with ancient culture.

 

The Earth Optimism Summit

From World Ocean Observatory | Part of the World Ocean Radio series | 04:42

In September of 2016, World Ocean Observatory began a collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution's Ocean Portal to promote the Earth Optimism Summit in Washington, D.C. during Earth Day weekend in April. For the past six months we have searched for and reported on examples of ocean optimism and innovative projects around the globe. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, our final episode in the Earth Optimism Series, host Peter Neill hails the work of the Smithsonian Institution and the Ocean Portal in their preparation for this global event, and outlines the mission of the summit as well as the need for optimism and why it should be celebrated.

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In September of 2016, World Ocean Observatory began a collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution's Ocean Portal to promote the Earth Optimism Summit in Washington, D.C. during Earth Day weekend in April. For the past six months we have searched for and reported on examples of ocean optimism and innovative projects around the globe. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, our final episode in the Earth Optimism Series, host Peter Neill hails the work of the Smithsonian Institution and the Ocean Portal in their preparation for this global event, and outlines the mission of the summit as well as the need for optimism and why it should be celebrated.

About the Earth Optimism Summit
April 21 - 23, 2017
Washington, D.C.

The Earth Optimism Summit , sponsored by the Smithsonian Institute’s Ocean Portal, will be an unprecedented gathering of thought leaders, practitioners, pioneering scientists and researchers, major civic and industry participants, national and international media, and philanthropists who make up the conservation-minded citizens of our world. They will convene to discuss and share solutions – what are the best minds, boldest experiments, and most innovative community practices telling us about how to preserve biodiversity, protect natural resources, and address climate change?

The Earth Optimism Series has been brought to you by the World Ocean Observatory in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution’s Ocean Portal , to raise awareness of the Earth Optimism Summit during Earth Day weekend, April 21-23, 2017 in Washington, D.C. and around the world. Share your ideas at earthoptimism.si.edu .

This Week in Water for March 19, 2017

From H2O Radio | Part of the This Week in Water series | 06:59

After 140 Years, Indigenous People Win a Major Victory. That story and more on H2O Radio’s weekly news report about water.

H2o_logo_240_small Physicians warn about the health effects of climate change.

In Peru about 70 people have been killed and many made homeless from the deadliest rains in decades to hit the country.

It's this nation’s third longest river, and last week it was given legal status just like a human.

Yoga pants and fleece jackets are harming ocean wildlife.

There was cake; there were balloons and streamers—everything you’d expect at a birthday party....