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Posts Tagged ‘environment’

More on Canada’s polluting ways

more-on-canadas-polluting-ways

Not to Canada bash, but the North American Country ­– known the world over as much kinder, gentler and more just in comparison to its neighbor, the big bad US of A – has been grabbing a few headlines lately for its deteriorating (or at least more conspicuously poor) environmental record. And let’s be real. Environmental pollution is also a social justice issue. Coal kills people as well as animals and plants. Never mind greenhouse gases. Likewise the tar sands in Alberta. Likewise poisonous emissions from chemical plants on Canada’s Great Lakes. So, without further ado, on to the bashing,…

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Bad ads: Commercials kill your soul

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A new report by WWF-UK and the Public Interest Research Centre finds that advertising is killing our sense of social justice and concern for the environment. The late comedian Bill Hicks used to say, ‘if you work in marketing or advertising, kill yourself’. I remember watching that part of his routine while I was up for a job at an ad agency. I didn’t really want the position (sour grapes perhaps, since I didn’t get it) but I know what he means. In advertising, you have to lie and convince people they need things which they don’t. What ads do…

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Surf eco-friendly!

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As the sport of surfing grows, so does its environmental impact. Surfing equipment made of non-biodegradable materials such as synthetic resin surfboards, neoprene wetsuits and petroleum-based surf wax are just some of the products used by surfers that can have a negative ecological footprint. Environmentally conscious surfing companies such as Envirosurfer are attempting to address some of the ecological issues with surfing products and offer green alternatives. For example, wooden or epoxy boards, as well as surfboards made with bamboo-based resin, last longer, are less wasteful and less toxic than typical polyurethane boards. Other tips include using thinner and more…

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Why Occupy Wall Street is Green

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(And why it’s just plain right.) The protesters at Occupy Wall Street have been criticized for being a scruffy bunch of hippies with no clear central message. Indeed, if interviewed they usually preface their answers by explaining how their movement is a broad tent: grass roots, without leaders and based on a variety of premises and complaints. In short, there is no one key demand that functions in the way that anti-Vietnam War sentiments galvanized the protest movements of the 1960s. So what. The US is entrenched in two wars, neither, of which have a definitive end in sight. There…

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Planet Blow: Surfers warm about coming ecological disaster

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Nick de Wannemaeker, Belgian windsurfing champion and O’Neill rider who – I’m very proud to say – is my cousin (well actually my husband’s cousin but who’s counting), stars in a dark, epic surf movie highlighting the ecological disasters at hand if we don’t evaluate and change our approach to and relationship with nature. The movie called Planet Blow is a small independent film, produced and directed by Sylvain Demercastel (artist, musician, director and also an O’Neill rider), about the adventures of a group of riders (surfing, windsurfing and kitesurfing) who, in their quest for surfing excitement and idyllic spots…

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Pets and the environment: Cute or catastrophic?

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On an episode of the UK comedy quiz show QI it was once mentioned that the worst thing you could do for the environment was own a pet. The show claimed that a large dog, for example, creates more greenhouse gases than an SUV (from its meat consumption presumably, rather than its biological functions). I’m assuming the numbers referenced in QI were crunched based on averages, and did not account for individual lifestyle choices of pet owners, like becoming vegetarian, not having kids, feeding their pets home grown organic mealworms, keeping their cats locked inside or whatever. There is no…

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Google Earth Engine to help scientists track changes in Earth’s environment

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Last week, at the beginning of the COP 16 Climate Conference in Cancun, Google launched its Google Earth Engine, a new tool by Google.org (the technology-driven philanthropic part of the gigantic organization). The Engine, a planetary-scale platform for environmental data & analysis, merges the world’s satellite imagery (more than 25 years of data good for trillions of scientific measurements) and makes it available online. The purpose of the tool is to help scientists, conservationists, environmentalists and independent researchers to track changes in the Earth’s environment and to map trends and quantify differences to the Earth’s surface. Possible applications include mapping…

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: The Parabolic Toilet of the Environment

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“This is the most shocking thing I have seen” – Oprah Winfrey In the middle of the Pacific Ocean there is a maelstrom of debris twice the size of Texas. It has been affectionately given a variety of clever names: the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the Sea of Trash, the Eastern Garbage Patch, the Asian Trash Trail and (my personal favorite) the Trash Vortex. It is, in short, a spiraling swirl of rushing refuse, mostly of the non-biodegradable plastic variety: shampoo bottles, grocery bags, disposable razors, toys… you know, stuff made out of plastic. Which unfortunately, means just about everything…

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New podcast from Lloyd & Land – Armageddon in a hexayurt: Gaia is having a laugh

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Is an environmental catastrophe on its way? How would you fare in a world where ecological disaster tests the limits of your archery and tent-setting-up skills? Would you be the rugged survivalist, the cannibal or the brainy nerd in the Hawaiian shirt? Saci Lloyd and Graham Land have fun discussing climate change-induced end of the world scenarios, Gaia theory and the Dark Mountain Project. To download this podcast in mp3, AAC or Ogg Vorbis click here Join the Facebook group for El Pod of Cast Saci Lloyd’s Carbon Diaries website


UK: Climate change ‘inevitable’, now what?

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The UK’s top business lobby group CBI released a major report on Monday regarding climate change. The report stressed that both the British government and climate scientists need to improve their communication skills if they want businesses to adapt to a changing climate and that businesses themselves should include ‘climate risks’ as part of their corporate reports. From a report in the Guardian: In particular, the report recommends that the existing UK Climate Projections should be repackaged so that they can be easily understood by non-climate specialists and that the government’s upcoming Climate Change Risk Assessment should feature specific recommendations…

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Recycling bins with microchips

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The City of Cleveland is spending $2.5M to equip recycling bins with microchips in an attempt to become more green. The municipality is going to give each household two different garbage cans: one for rubbish, one for recyclables. Each will have a micro-chip inside. This is all part of a new automated trash collection system. Micro-chips will be placed in both your recycling bin and your waste bin. Each chip generates a report that tells the city how efficient their waste collection services are. But it will also tell them if you’re using your recycling bin. Click here to read more about…

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Brominated Flame Retardants: Cause for Concern?

brominated-flame-retardants-cause-for-concern

The European Union (EU) established the REACH system (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) and the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) an integrated system for Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals and establishing a European agency for these products. This system requires companies that manufacture and import chemicals to assess the risks arising from their use and take the necessary measures to manage any risk to be identified. The burden of proof with regard to the safety of chemicals manufactured or sold is on the industry. The regulation aims to ensure a high level of protection of human health…

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El Niño explained

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El Niño, one of the most impressive natural phenomena affecting our planet, is also changing appearance


The environmental situation of the Tiber River

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The circulation of groundwater  in Rome is being threatened by great transformations in natural physiographic systems completely upset by great peripheral urban settlements. Rome is supplied by springs located several hundred km’s from the city. Local sources contribute marginally to the supply, such as the Acqua Vergine Spring and some other mineral water springs. The groundwater quality is consistently damaged by extensive urban development, characterised by large new districts developed without respect to regulations (average dimension of thousands of inhabitants), and by the excessive quantity of wells connecting upper water tables that are often polluted with the deep water tables,…

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Japan, golf, pollution

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Many think that the environmentalists are overstating the case, and that golf is hardly in the same league as the other pollutions strangling Japan.


The back steps of Nature

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When you look closely then nature has weapons to deal with a lot of what mankind throws at it.


Find Out How Drinking Tropicana Juice Can Help Save The Rainforest!

find-out-how-drinking-tropicana-juice-can-help-save-the-rainforest

Many companies are trying to do something to help the environment these days. Maybe their factories are all solar powered. Maybe their workers help to restore wildlife habitat. Or maybe their delivery trucks are making the switch to EV. Whatever the case may be, it’s a growing phenomenon (and hopefully not the latest passing trend). Jumping on the green wagon this time is Tropicana Juice. The company has already made great effort in recycling and reducing their carbon footprint. Now, their latest mission to save the earth requires your help. If you’ve bought any Tropicana Juice lately, you’ve probably noticed…

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NGOs warn against ‘contaminated’ whale meat

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Environmental and animal-welfare groups are urging the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to persuade the World Health Organization (WHO) to act against the eating of whale meat. These groups say that whale meat is highly contaminated with mercury and should not be eaten. But whaling nations say they already have health guidelines in place. For the past weeks, anti-whaling activists have been trying to draw attention on the issue of consuming meat of smaller whales and dolphins, known as small cetaceans. Small cetaceans, like tooth whales and pilot whales, are among those mostly contaminated and therefore a lot more toxic compounds…

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Q: I’ve heard eating less meat and dairy products could help the environment. How?

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A: The environmental impact of meat and dairy products is a complex problem. The livestock industry is damaging our planet in many ways. It is polluting the air – according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report, it generates more greenhouse gas emissions, including CO2 (18%) and methane, than the whole world’s transport (13,5 %). It is polluting the water – gigantic containers called “lagoons”, where livestock animals’ manure and urine are stored, may leak or even break under heavy rains and storms. The waste is highly toxic and very often contains lots of antibiotics and dangerous bacteria….

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Tory-Lib Dem govt ‘greenest ever’? Some think not

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Former UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband thinks the new coalition government’s energy policies are a ‘huge disappointment’ to industry and to the country. Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he? He’s in the shadow cabinet and that’s sort of their job. Yet it seems Miliband is indeed more pro-active in terms of helping green industry than his replacement, current Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne. From BBC News: On a range of issues such as wind power, renewable heat and the green investment bank the government was going “backwards not forwards” compared to the Labour administration,…

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