According to Drive.com.au, two new flower species have been developed by Toyota with the aim of reducing harmful emissions at its Toyota City, Japan factory where it assembles the popular Prius hybrid. Derived from the cherry sage, one of the new species absorbs harmful nitrogen oxides from the air. The other, based on the gardenia, releases water vapor into the air that lowers the surface temperature around the assembly plant, reducing the facility’s cooling needs. These exciting new plants were developed as part of an ongoing program to reduce the environmental impact of Prius production that has already seen emissions at the plant cut by 55%. They will join other green technologies already in place at the factory such as solar power, photocatalytic paint that removes harmful gasses from the air, and especially slow growing grass that only has to be cut once a year as Toyota strives to make the Prius one of the most environmentally friendly cars on the market.

Car maker develops its own flower species [via Gizmodo]

The recent UFO sighting down in Texas and its accompanying media circus prompted Green Daily to look at the UFO phenomena from a perspective that I had never even considered, its impact on the environment. While the article has a slightly condescending tone in regards to people that are open minded enough to believe that we are not alone in the universe, it does raise a good point. If our visitors have the technology to travel across the cosmos, go largely undetected as they fly around the planet, do they have a means of powering their lives without destroying the environment? Do they have the technology to help us fix the environmental disasters we have already completed?

While there is a chance that our cosmic neighbors have screwed up their environment just as badly as we have our own (or worse), there is just as much chance that they have learned to coexist with the natural world and can share with us technologies that will let us step away from dirty energy sources and teach us to live harmoniously with our planet. While I had never really thought about it before, this is just another reason I look forward to the day when the human race makes peaceful and public contact with the extraterrestrial civilizations that have been visiting our planet.

UFOs in Texas: The environmental implications of extraterrestrials