Written by Sam Aola Ooko
Published on July 24th, 2008
The British Media regulator, Office of Communications or Ofcom has affirmed that a documentary on UK’s Channel 4 last year debunking Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and the theory about human influence on climate change was out of touch with reality.
The watchdog this week ruled The Great Global Warming Swindle unfairly portrays several scientists and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and that it broke rules in the Broadcasting Code.
Ofcom’s investigation found that the IPCC, the former government chief scientist, Sir David King, and Professor Carl Wunsch, were treated unfairly in the documentary that attempted to use a cast of the world’s top scientists to debunk the global warming theory.
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Written by Masimba Biriwasha
Published on July 24th, 2008
According to a news report recently published in the UK’s Guardian newspaper, European nations are planning to harvest the sun in the Sahara desert in Africa to “provide clean electricity for the whole of Europe” but there is no mention of how such a development will also benefit Africa.
“Vast farms of solar panels in the Sahara desert could provide clean electricity for the whole of Europe, according to EU scientists working on a plan to pool the region’s renewable energy,” reports the newspaper.
As the world continues to investigate energy sources that are environmentally friendly, there is a need for developed countries to actively promote both technology and skills transfer to poorer nations. The fact is the problem of climate change is a sum of its parts. If one part of the world lacks appropriate solutions, the problem will still come back to haunt even those countries that have access to perceived technological solutions.
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Written by Levi Novey
Published on July 24th, 2008
According to CNN, the European Union has proposed a ban on importing seal products from countries that kill seals using inhumane methods. Seal products can include their pelts, meat, and oils. While still requiring approval from EU nations, the proposed ban would impose the biggest economic blow and reprimand on Canada, whose citizens sometimes use spiked clubs and guns to kill seals.
This proposed ban is no small deal. Even International Rock God Paul McCartney has publicly stated he is an advocate of the ban, and that Canada’s seal hunt is a “stain” on Canada. He made these remarks several weeks prior to playing at a concert in Canada that took places several days ago. As CNN reports: “Canada’s east coast seal hunt is the largest of its kind in the world, with an average annual kill of about 300,000 harp seals. The Canadian slaughter of some 335,000 seals in 2006 brought in around $25 million (15.7 million euros).” Read the rest of this entry »
Written by Jake Kulju
Published on July 23rd, 2008
Building sustainable enterprise. Protecting the environment. Investing in social equity.
Doesn’t sound like your bank? That’s because it probably isn’t. The soon-to-be-new e3bank in Philadelphia is positioned to be the first green triple bottom line bank in New England.
From infrastructure to product and service offerings, everything the organization is involved with will be built upon the triple bottom line values of people, planet and prosperity. The bank is mobilized around a green economy and a sustainable environment, as well as supporting growing consumer and business demands around these issues.
“A commitment to the future is embedded in the DNA of e3bank,” chairman Sandy Wiggins said. “The financial industry has a large role to play in the societal shift to a sustainable world. The emerging green economy needs to be fueled by financial products and services specifically designed to accelerate its growth, and serviced by financial experts who ‘get it’ and who understand the urgency of this shift.”
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Written by Megan McWilliams
Published on July 23rd, 2008
This is not my usual blogging area with GreenOptions. I keep it on the lighter side of green (more humor and fluff than science, research and serious global news), but from time to time I get serious especially when deeply inspired as I have been with this particular group of elders.
It just may be that rock n roll/music will indeed save the planet. In 1999 Peter Gabriel and Richard Branson decided that we as a global village were missing the essential survival ingredient – the wisdom of our elders. So they set about to identify a few of them. It didn’t take long for them to approached Nelson Mandela and Graca Machel, both who have done amazing work beyond what I can even describe here in this brief blog post. If you’ve been under a rock for the past 20 years, you will want to read up on Mr. Mandela, but I would encourage everyone to please see the brief, but inspiring biography I’ve linked you to for Graca Machel.
While it took several years for them to put this group together, they launched these elders as facilitators of powerful global change last July. Read the rest of this entry »
Written by Sam Aola Ooko
Published on July 22nd, 2008
Since Marc Koska, a self confessed former beach bum, thought of a single use, auto disabling syringe, many injection milestones have come and passed but he had every reason to celebrate the latest one – that 1 billion K-1 syringes have rolled out towards a safer world.
But it has taken six painstaking years to achieve this milestone with 10 syringe factories licensed in between. Health experts estimate that more than half of the 16 billion annual injections in poorer countries are done with non sterile syringes or needles, many of which are often just rinsed in tepid water between injections.
“There have been too many set backs to remember now, but also a steady recognition, acceptance and ground swell of demand for Auto-Disable syringes especially in developing world countries. At times we have all felt that we were going backwards faster than forwards”, he says.
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Written by Levi Novey
Published on July 22nd, 2008
According to the Associated Press, the government of Chile has chosen to build three new volcano monitoring centers. Several of the country’s 122 active volcanoes have erupted this year, the most notable event being a sustained eruption of the Chaitén Volcano that started on May 2nd.
After the initial volcanic activity began, approximately 4,500 people were evacuated from the town of Chaitén, which sits at the base of volcano. The eruption lasted through various levels of intensity through July, and several amazing, cool, and intriguing photos depict an electrical storm that occurred one evening directly above the volcano. Currently, a different eruption that commenced on July 2nd within the Llaima Volcano has other Chilean communities on alert. Read the rest of this entry »
Written by Ariel Schwartz
Published on July 22nd, 2008
Calling all sustainability hounds: EcoTuesday, the sustainable business leaders networking forum, is launching its highly anticipated Ambassador Program. Through the program, people can produce EcoTuesday events in their city and generate income from event sponsorships. Ambassadors are responsible for organizing events, securing venues and speakers each month, and developing relationships with companies that want to sponsor EcoTuesday events.
EcoTuesday is currently held on the 4th Tuesday of every month in San Francisco, Marin/North Bay, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis. The event features opportunities for sustainable business leaders to network and learn about green issues from visiting speakers. Don’t be shy about attending; participants come from areas as varied as real estate, organic food, and climate change policy, just to name a few.
For more information on getting started with EcoTuesday, check out their website.
Photo Credit: EcoTuesday
Written by Masimba Biriwasha
Published on July 21st, 2008
At food stalls and in supermarkets in Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second largest city, plastics of all shapes and sizes are dolled out like confetti when you make a purchase of items. The fascination with plastic is so amazing that with a single purchase of several items you can end up with over five plastic bags when less could do.
What is surprising is the plastic bags come at no cost, so customers gladly accept the packaging.
There is no doubt that the plastic bags which are probably handed out in their millions throughout Chiang Mai, and other parts of Thailand come at a great cost to the environment.
In Thailand, as in many parts of the world, the use of plastics is at epidemic levels with serious consequences for the environment. According to www.reusable.com, a website that promotes fighting the massive over-consumption of plastic shopping bags, the world has consumed over 276 billion plastics this year and the number is rising by the second.
Kicking the addiction to plastic bags is one of the single most important positive things that individuals can do to both protect and keep the environment clean. But it appears that it will take the world a long time to rid itself of the plastic habit because there are too many financial interests vested into the continued production of plastic.
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Written by Timothy B. Hurst
Published on July 20th, 2008
Will last-ditch efforts help alleviate Beijing’s air pollution problem?
There have been serious concerns about air quality in the Chinese capital of Beijing ever since it was awarded the Olympic Games in 2001. Since then, the Chinese government has spent an estimated $15 billion dollars to address the air pollution problem in Beijing. The cash has been spent on shutting down factories, unleashing cloud seeders to encourage rain, and now, on paying people to not drive their cars.
Beginning today in Beijing, cars with license plates that end in an odd number are banned from the roads every other day, alternating with cars that have even-numbered plates. It is estimated that there are about 3.5 million vehicles on the roads in Beijing and the ban will reduce the numbers of cars on the road by about one million per day. Drivers will be compensated by not having to pay road and vehicle taxes for three months.
Beijing officials claim to have significantly improved air quality, with just over two-thirds of the days last year meeting national health guidelines, up from only 20% a decade earlier. But some question the validity of the data. An article in the Wall St. Journal suggests that pollution standards may have been loosened, air-quality-monitoring stations moved and data possibly manipulated with to show better results.
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