photo by Ilpo Torn (source: Flickr Creative Commons)

The municipality of in the region of North Karelia in the east of Finland is home to a remarkably successful health program. Eastern Finland once had the highest death rate from heart disease in the world. In 1972 a Finnish government led project was launched in cooperation with the WHO to combat heart disease in Eastern Finland, starting in North Karelia.

The North Karelia Project focuses on lifestyle factors in non-communicable diseases – primarily diet and exercise.

By 2006 the annual mortality rate of coronary heart disease in North Karelia in the working age population had fallen approximately 85 %, compared with the rate before the Project.

–National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland

Check out this video report on the Karelia health project from NBC:

NBC Nightly News – Creating a healthy community

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by Graham Land

photo by Eva Abreu (source: Flickr Creative Commons)

Meet New York State Police’s Environmental Conservation Officers. For their ‘Green is Universal’ coverage, NBC’s Dateline follows two green-clad cops who enforce environmental law on the streets of New York City. But these ECO Police are no new green trend – NBC’s Chris Hansen reports that they’ve ‘been around for over a century’. A police force that once concentrated on fish and game regulations now also tackles issues such as pollution and food sanitation in America’s biggest and busiest city, as part of the State of New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation. Sounds pretty cool – gun toting, big hat wearing, New York City cops who combat environmental crime and stop people from eating seriously poisonous fish. Watch the NBC Dateline report below.

The few, the proud, the green: Eco-cops

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Additional resources:

NBC’s Green Is Universal

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Police Officers

Nile River Delta, Egypt (source: NASA)

NBC Nightly News continues their environmentally themed segment ‘A Perfect Storm’, this time examining how changes in climate might contribute to violent conflicts among deprived communities. Drought, flooding, population displacement and resulting wars over water and other resources can be caused or exacerbated by climate change, according to this NBC report. Military organizations like NATO and the Pentagon are already conscious of possible future economic, social and political instability, which can be influenced by climate change. One case in point is Egypt’s Nile River Delta. Watch NBC’s latest ‘A Perfect Storm’ installment for more.

Climate change to spark armed conflicts?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

By Graham Land

Additional resources:
C.I.A. takes on climate change
Climate change = military threat?

photo by Gustavo (source: Flickr Creative Commons)

In Malaysia there is a war against mosquitoes. And throughout the world, a warmer and wetter climate is triggering outbreaks of disease carried by the pesky – and in this case deadly – insects. According to experts, as many as 5 billion people could be at risk from dengue fever alone. Last month it even appeared in Florida ­– for the first time in 50 years. Watch this installment of NBC Nightly News ongoing segment ‘A Perfect Storm’ about the effects of climate change on mosquito-borne diseases like dengue.

As temperatures rise, mosquito-borne disease spreads

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By Graham Land

monsoon flooding in Dhaka, Bangladesh, photo by Sumaiya Ahmed (source: Flickr Creative Commons)

In correspondence to the UN summit in Copenhagen, NBC News has begun a new series of segments documenting the front lines of climate change: A Perfect Storm – Climate Change and Conflict.

Located on the world’s largest river delta, Bangladesh has always been vulnerable to flooding, but climate change and resultant rising sea levels are making it all the more so. As usual, it is the poor who suffer the most. The symptoms of climate change in Bangladesh include population displacement, farmlands destroyed by salt water and regional political instability.

Watch the video report from msnbc.com embedded below and read the article ‘In Bangladesh, climate change is a matter of life and death’ by NBC News correspondent Ian Williams.

Sinking below sea level in Bangladesh

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By Graham Land

Andean glacier, photo by Gvillemin (source: wikimedia commons)

NBC Nightly News continues their series ‘A Perfect Storm’ about those who suffer most from climate change – this time with a report on the melting glaciers in Peru. Melting glaciers mean a future shortage of fresh water for Peru, which may lead to ‘water wars’. Those on the front lines of Peru’s melting glacier crisis are naturally poor farmers, who are on the losing end of the South American country’s human geography, in terms of water. In other words, the overwhelming majority of Peru simply doesn’t live near fresh water sources and so it has to be pumped in from the Andes.

Stay tuned for more installments in NBC’s ‘A Perfect Storm’

In Peru, melting glaciers lead to water wars

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

By Graham Land

Photo by moriza (Image source: Flickr Creative Commons)

First – from NBC television’s ‘The Today Show’, a story about two American families who reduce their energy use by taking simple measures in their own homes. The report includes several helpful ways to save energy and save money. Tips range from installing low flow showerheads to weather stripping windows and doors. Watch to see if you can learn something about Greening up your own home that might save you money at the same time.

‘Families go green to save big’

Next, from San Francisco’s NBC News affiliate KNTV – a quick story about eco friendly sex aids. You may want to ask young viewers to leave the room for this story. Just kidding, it’s pretty tame. After all, it is American network news. Many San Franciscans apparently want vegan condoms and to have Green sex – and why not? Green sex is sex free from chemicals and toxins that potentially harm people and the environment – the safest sex of all.

‘Sex goes green: Demand is hot for organic sex supplies’

By Graham Land

Additional resources:
Big Green Switch – Green Living Tips
San Francisco Bay Guardian – Green sex toys? Yep