”The most tangible of all visible mysteries – fire.” Leigh Hunt. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons From Mexico’s Mixtec ritual of Fuego Nuevo, to Africa’s creation story of Kaang whose dictum regarding fire might be heard as one of the earliest energy environmental policy statements, human use (and misuse) of the volatile is one of civilization’s [...]
Tag Archive for 'environment'
http://www.publicdomainfiles.com/images_view/51/13525742419998.png Did the United States become a society driven by electricity because of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)? Tesla proved water could produce electricity; the Hoover Dam, followed closely by the Tennessee Valley Authority, supplied it. But it took Norris town to show people how to use this new energy. Designed as housing for the [...]
The name, Schiphol, means “ships’s hell.” The spot where Amsterdam’s airport lies is the drained lake bed of Haarlemmermeer (Lake of Haarlem). This lake had increased over centuries and regularly flooded, to the detriment and damage of Amsterdam and Leiden. In the seventeenth century, 170 windmills were estimated to be needed to drain the lake [...]
Genghis Khan, responsible for an extension of the Grand Canal, is often vilified for the brutal tactics used to expand his Mongol Empire. As one might imagine, the expanse of this empire did have a lasting impact on the world, although perhaps not as violent as one might imagine. The UK newspaper, The Guardian, reports [...]