4/17/2014

Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal

Newark, New Jersey, USA

40°40′54″N 74°09′02″W

In 2013, The Port of New York and New Jersey handled 745,419 new and used automobiles.

4/16/2014

Willamina Lumber Co. Yard

Willamina, Oregon, USA

45.07959, -123.493769

The sawmill at the Willamina Lumber Company has the third highest production capacity in the United States.

4/15/2014

Durrat Al Bahrain

Bahrain

25°50′17″N 50°36′18″E

Durrat Al Bahrain consists of 15 connected, artificial islands (including six atolls, five fish-shaped, and two crescent-shaped). Construction costs are estimated at $6 billion and the project is slated for completion in mid-2015.

4/14/2014

Fishing Nets

Quanzhou, China

24.61815, 118.504629

4/13/2014

Tolk Station (Coal-fired Power Station)

Sudan, Texas, USA

34.195475, -102.573681

Today, a report released by a committee of U.N-appointed experts stated that countries of the world have dragged their feet so long on global warming that the situation is now critical and only an intensive worldwide push over the next 15 years can stave off potentially disastrous climatic changes later in the century.

The committee found that if countries keep stalling on tougher climate rules, trillions of dollars will be invested in coming years in power plants, cars and buildings that use too much energy from fossil fuels. The result would be an emissions path that would be almost impossible to alter in time to get to the very low carbon pollution levels that scientists think are necessary by 2050.

"The widespread perception that a scarcity of fossil fuels will lead to the development of alternatives in time to salvage the climate is wrong" said Ottmar Edenhofer, a German economist and co-chairman of the committee. That is because higher prices and improved drilling technology are leading to an intensified hunt for new fossil energy, and it effectively means that policies have to be found that will leave much of the world’s coal, oil and gas reserves in the ground.

“The scarcity of fossil fuels will not solve our problem,” Dr. Edenhofer said. “We are in the middle of a fossil fuel renaissance.”

Excerpts from The New York Times

4/12/2014

Residential development

Killeen, Texas, USA

31.079844, -97.80145

In 2013, there were 923,400 home construction projects in the United States.

4/11/2014

Los Caracoles Pass

Los Andes, Chile

32°51'6"S  70°8'16"W

Los Caracoles Pass (or “Snails Pass”) is located in a remote section of the Andes Mountains on the Chilean side of the border with Argentina. The twisting road climbs to an elevation of 10,419 feet, has no roadside safety barriers, and is frequented by large trucks.

4/10/2014

Hutt Lagoon

Western Australia, Australia

28°08′S 114°13′E

Hutt Lagoon is a "pink lake" that gets its color from a particular type of algae (Dunaliella salina). The lagoon contains the world's largest microalgae production plant, where the algae is farmed for its beta-carotene (used as a food-coloring agent and source of Vitamin A).

4/9/2014

Alang Ship-breaking yards

Alang, Gujarat, India

21.412082°N 72.202749°E

The ship-breaking yards located on the shores of the Gulf of Khambat in Alang, India, recycle approximately half of the world's salvaged ships. Supertankers, ferries, container ships, and ocean liners are beached during high tide. Once the water recedes, hundreds of manual laborers dismantle the ships, recovering whatever parts they can and reducing what's left to scrap. Click on the link above to view a documentary about the perils and hazards of ship-breaking.