Earth Feature

Burj Dubai is going to be the worlds tallest building once it is completed in 2009. It is currently the tallest free standing structure in the world according to its developers, surpassing the CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario, Canada which previously held the record for 32 years. When it is completed in late 2009, it is predicted to be the tallest man-made structure in the world with 162 floors.

Using 1:500 scale models, the design of the Burj Dubai was optimized for wind through an iterative sequence of wind tunnel tests and design progressions such that the results from the wind tunnel tests were fed into each step of the design and vice versa.

For these developmental tests, a rigid model on a dynamic base balance was used. As a result of these studies, major reductions in the wind loads and building motions were achieved.

Climate change over the next 50 years is expected to drive a quarter of all land animals and plants into extinction, according to the first comprehensive study into the effect of higher temperatures on the natural world. The sheer scale of the disaster facing the planet shocked those involved in the research. They estimate that more than 1 million species will be lost by 2050.

It took two years for the largest global collaboration of experts to make the first major assessment of the effect of climate change on six biologically rich regions of the world taking in 20% of the land surface. The results are described as "terrifying" by a professor of conservation biology at Leeds University, who is lead author of the research from four continents published recently in the magazine Nature.

The United States is committed to reducing the greenhouse gas intensity of the American economy by 18 percent over the 10-year period from 2002 to 2012. This initiative puts America on a path to slow the growth of greenhouse gas emissions, 'and as the science supports' to stop, and then reverse that growth. The United States government has established a comprehensive policy to address climate change. This policy has three basic components:

• Slowing the growth of emissions
• Strengthening science, technology and institutions
• Enhancing international cooperation

To implement its climate policy, the Federal government is using voluntary and incentive-based programs to reduce emissions and has established programs to promote climate technology and science. This strategy incorporates know-how from many federal agencies and harnesses the power of the private sector.

One of the biggest causes of the endangerment of animals is deforestation. Rain forests once covered 14% of the earth's land surface; Now they only cover 6%. Studies show that the rainforest loses 137 different species every day due to deforestation. Not only do animals rely on the rainforest, but we rely on them for producing a substantial part of the earth's oxygen. Preserving the rainforests will help keep animals and ourselves alive.

An estimated 20% of the Amazon rainforest has already been destroyed, and about 6,500 square miles more was lost between 2005 and 2006. Brazil is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate changes in the world because of its invaluable biodiversity. If the Amazon loses more than 40% of its forest cover, we will reach a turning point from where we cannot reverse the savannization process of the world's largest forest. Amazonian deforestation and fires account for more than 75% of Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions and place it amongst the top four contributors to global climate change.

This is the largest land vehicle (a trencher or rotating shovel) in the world. It was built by Krupp and is shown here crossing a road in Germany on the way to its destination, an open air coal mine. Although at the mine the treads are unnecessary, it was cheaper to make the machine self-propelled than to try and move it with conventional hauling equipment or other means of transportations.

For excavation, it uses a very large rotating wheel located at the end of the long arm and a series of buckets on the outer edge of that wheel. With every turn of the wheel, every bucket picks up a big chunk of rock or soil and carries it to the back of the wheel. There, the materials fall onto a conveyor belt and is then carried up the arm toward the body of the massive excavator, where more conveyor belts, usually mounted end-to-end, move it to the dumping site.

The machine is 95 meters high and 215 meters long. (almost 2.5 football fields in length) Weight is 45,500 tons. (that's equivalent to a bumper to bumper line of jeeps 80 miles long) It took 5 years to design and manufacture at a cost of $100 million. Maximum digging speed is 10 meters per minute. Can move more than 76,000 cubic meters of coal, rock, and earth per day.