man and the environment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfGMYdalClU

this is the way we ought to be, ought to be, ought to be

To eliminate food-packaging waste before it even gets into the shopping cart is the idea behind Original Unvertpackt, a new concept supermarket in Germany that takes things into zero-waste territory by encouraging consumers to tote reusable containers to the store.

Nothing that comes in a disposable box, bag, jar, or other container is sold at this store. And instead of shelf after shelf of boxed items, this supermarket utilizes bulk bins, attractively displayed produce that’s not shrink wrapped or stored in tetra packs, and beverage stations for refillable water bottles.

Such a store is the brainchild of Sara Wolf and Milena Glimbovski, two Germany-based social impact innovators. On the project’s website, they wrote that they want consumers to have a choice about how much food they buy, as well as how much waste it creates.

And it’s clear that German shoppers want what Original Unvertpackt has to offer, too! Although a large part of the effort has been financed by private investors, the project’s team took up crowd-funding to raise the final $61,000 it needed to launch in Berlin. In three weeks, they smashed the target goal, raising about $124,000.

Read More: http://www.trueactivist.com/youll-find-no-plastic-or-packaging-at-this-zero-waste-grocery-store

save the environment with sound urban planning

 solution

the impact that planning can have on energy use, carbon emissions and local air pollution. Recent research by Shell shows that the layout of a city has a huge influence on the demand for energy. Compact cities use significantly less energy per person than sprawling ones, as people live closer to amenities.

We can engineer cities for cars powered by electricity, hydrogen and liquefied natural gas and for the better integration of water, sewage and power systems. Switching from coal to gas-fired power stations, in the process reducing carbon emissions by around half, provides a flexible and cleaner energy source.

Galloping urbanisation is one of the most pressing challenges we face. But city design is about more than simply choosing where to put our houses and streets.

one issue...many essay questions

1 conflict is avoidable
2 environment and pollution
3 one country's actions/development can spell potential loss for another
4 why singapore has to pedal harder and be super efficient...because we can lose out to malaysia since they are so much cheaper....

Malaysia assured Singapore that it would observe international law, amid concerns over two massive reclamation projects on the Malaysian side of the Johor Strait.

"The Government of Malaysia remains committed to fulfilling its obligations under the general principles of international law and in particular, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," Malaysia's Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said in a statement on Tuesday in response to Singapore's concerns.

The minister added that Malaysia has engaged Singapore on the issue through a Joint Committee on the Environment, which was co-chaired by the heads of Malaysia's Department of Environment and Singapore's National Environment Agency.

He also said that Malaysia's federal government has been in close consultation with the Johor state government and the property developers involved, reported the New Straits Times.

One of the two reclamation projects, a 1,410ha man-made island near Jurong Island, is intended to be furnished with oil storage facilities to capture the spillover energy business from Singapore, marine construction firm Benalec told The Straits Times.

The other project, the 2,000ha Forest City near the Second Link, is being developed by China's Country Garden Holdings and a Johor state company, Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor.

This island is intended to be turned into a tourist hot spot, complete with hotel, luxurious apartments and recreational facilities.

Singapore had last Saturday voiced concern over possible transboundary impact from the massive projects, given its proximity to Johor.

Back in 2002, Malaysia had similarly objected to Singapore's land reclamation works in Tuas and Pulau Tekong, arguing that the projects could potentially impinge on Malaysia's territorial waters, causing pollution and destroying the marine environment in the Strait of Johor.

The dispute was resolved after the two countries appeared before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, and signed an agreement in 2005.

- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/top-the-news/story/kl-assures-spore-it-will-observe-rule-law-20140626#sthash.75KxJQbW.dpuf

hope the cartoonist does not mind...for the sake of education...the syrian conflict

just saying

LEAVE THEM ALONE!!!!

rticle: The Price of Ivory

Conservationists are working to stop the killing of elephants for their tusks

APRIL 19, 2013

By Suzanne Zimbler

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DAVID WALL—GETTY IMAGES

DOZENS OF AFRICAN ELEPHANTS SLAUGHTERED. That headline has become all too common. Last month, poachers killed at least 86 elephants in Chad and 28 in Cameroon. Both countries are in a region of Africa that has lost more than 60% of its elephants to illegal hunters in the past decade, according to a recent study from the Wildlife Conservation Society.

In 2012 alone, experts say, 30,000 elephants were killed in countries across Africa. "We're seeing the highest levels of poaching since our record-keeping began," Crawford Allan, of the World Wildlife Fund, told TFK.

Why are so many elephants being killed? The answer lies thousands of miles away from Africa, in a handful of Asian countries. In China, business is booming in fancy shops that sell expensive statues and jewelry made of ivory.

The material comes from elephant tusks. But for many ivory purchasers, the gentle giants are not only out of sight but also out of mind. "Surveys indicate that seven out of 10 Chinese citizens don't realize that an elephant has to die in order [for them] to get ivory," says Will Travers, of the Born Free Foundation. In recent years, as China's economy has grown, so has the demand for ivory.

The Trouble with Tusks

The hunt for ivory is not a new problem. In the 1980s, as many as 1 million elephants were slaughtered in Africa. The "Ivory Wars" continued until 1989, when a treaty called CITES banned the sale of ivory from one country to another. Elephant populations began to increase. But that progress was short-lived.

Several African countries had been storing large stockpiles of tusks. To many people, allowing valuable ivory to collect dust in storage seemed like a waste. So CITES officials let a few countries sell their ivory. China bought large quantities of tusks. Today, that ivory is sold legally throughout the country. Unfortunately, this has made it possible for illegal ivory to be sold as well.

Now conservationists are putting pressure on China to crack down on the sale of illegal ivory. Experts say more help is required in Africa too. "A lot of our focus has been on providing training and equipment for the people on the front lines, the rangers," saysKelvin Alie, of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Last year, Gabon, in central Africa, set fire to its ivory stockpile. By burning millions of dollars worth of tusks, the nation made a strong statement. "We don't want our children to inherit an empty forest," said the country's President, Ali Bongo. With allies like Bongo, elephants just might stand a chance.

A SUNNY RIDE

Solar-Powered Plane

An aircraft takes off for a cross-country flight—with no fuel required

MAY 06, 2013

By Cameron Keady with AP reporting

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©SOLAR IMPULSE

Powered only by solar panels on its wings, Solar Impulse will reach its final destination, New York City, in early July.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s the Solar Impulse! On May 3, 2013, aviation history was made when a solar-powered airplane, named Solar Impulse, began a journey across the United States. The plane’s creators, André Borshberg and Bertrand Piccard of Switzerland, are taking turns piloting the aircraft as it crosses the nation.

“All the big pioneers of the 20^th century have tried to fly coast to coast across America,” said Piccard, who was in the pilot’s seat at takeoff. “So now we’re trying to do this, but on solar power with no fuel.”

©SOLAR IMPULSE

Swiss psychiatrist and balloonist Bertrand Piccard is co-piloting the aircraft during its journey.

Across America

Solar Impulse departed from Moffett Federal Airfield, in Northern California, just after dawn on May 3. Traveling at around 40 miles per hour, the plane will make its voyage in five separate trips. Each flight leg will take 19 to 25 hours with 10-day stops in each city. The first leg of the journey, from California to Phoenix, Arizona, was completed in 20 hours. From Phoenix, Solar Impulse will make stops in Dallas, TX, St. Louis, MO, and Washington, DC, before ending its last leg in New York City in early July. Solar Impulse’s journey marks the first time an airplane powered exclusively by solar energy will fly across the country during both the day and the night.

Plane Power

The solar-powered plane is a single-seat aircraft. “Our plane is not designed to carry a passenger, but to carry a message,” Piccard has said numerous times. That message is to use innovative, clean technologies for energy efficiency. Solar Impulse is intended to make its cross-country voyage without using a single drop of fuel. By day, 12,000 solar cells are charged by the sun to power lithium batteries. That enables the plane to fly at night—but it cannot travel through clouds. 

Solar Impulse weighs just 3,500 lbs, about as much as a car. Most of the weight is from the solar panels that cover its wings, which stretch 208 feet. The aircraft has reached an absolute altitude of 30,300 feet and has completed a trip that lasted more than 26 hours. This adventure is Solar Impulse’s final trip before its creators attempt an around-the-world flight in 2015. “We want to show that with clean technologies, a passionate team, and a far-reaching pioneering vision, one can achieve the impossible,” Piccard said in a statement.

well there is hope after all

Super News for Sea Lions

The eastern population of Steller sea lions comes off the threatened list

OCTOBER 28, 2013

By Stephanie Kraus with AP reporting

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U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE/AP

A federal agency says the eastern population of Steller sea lions is recovering.

Steller sea lions have a reason to celebrate today. The eastern population has been taken off the threatened species list. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) decided that the population no longer meets the criteria to be considered endangered. In 30 years, the population has grown by more than 50,000.

The Steller sea lion, also known as the northern sea lion, is the largest member of the Otariid (eared seal) family. The eastern population’s habitat ranges from the coast of Alaska to California. It is the first animal to be delisted by NOAA since the eastern North Pacific gray whale. That creature was taken off the list nearly 20 years ago, NOAA spokeswoman Julie Speegle said.

Experts at NOAA recommended delisting the Steller Sea Lions earlier this year.

"We're delighted to see the recovery of the eastern population of Steller sea lions," Jim Balsiger said in a statement. He is the administrator of NOAA Fisheries' Alaska Region. "We'll be working with the states and other partners to monitor this population to ensure its continued health."

To Protect and Preserve
The delisting of the eastern population does not affect the Steller sea lions’ western population. That group’s habitat ranges from Cape Suckling, Alaska, to Russia. The western population remains on the endangered list.

LUCAS JACKSON—REUTERS

Stellar sea lions relax on a rocky shore near the town of Valdez, Alaska.

NOAA estimated there were about 18,000 sea lions in the eastern population in 1979. The group was listed as threatened in 1990. The decline was blamed on fishermen and other people killing the animals because they were eating fish and considered a “nuisance.” In 2010, the most recent year a count was available, the agency estimated just over 70,000 sea lions.

Although the species is being removed from the list, it will still receive protection under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, Speegle said by phone from her office in Juneau.

When an animal is delisted, the Endangered Species Act requires a monitoring plan that covers five years. NOAA has decided to double that length of time to monitor the sea lions over a 10-year period. "We are just proceeding carefully and cautiously to ensure that this species can be maintained in the recovered status," she said.

hmm so are we being alarmist

A Warming World

A new report warns that climate change may push our planet over the edge

MARCH 31, 2014

By Bryan Walsh for TIME

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PAUL SOUDERS—GETTY IMAGES

Polar bears, who depend on sea ice as a home base for hunting, breeding, and sleeping, are already being impacted by climate change.

There have been thousands of studies published on climate change. The basic message of all those studies is: climate change is real, it is happening, and unless we’re very lucky, we’re not doing anywhere near enough to adapt to it.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently released a large-scale study that focuses on the impacts of climate change, ranging from the effects on endangered species to changes in agriculture. The new report demonstrates just how wide-ranging the effects of a warming world will be. “We have assessed impacts as they are happening in natural and human systems on all continents and oceans,” said Rajendra Pachauri of the IPCC. “No one on this planet will be untouched by climate change.

Sounding the Alarm

The report predicts with high confidence that the negative impacts of warming will be widespread. According to the study, glaciers will continue to shrink as the climate warms. Species on land and in the sea are shifting their range in response to warming, and some will face an increased risk of extinction. Health impacts will be felt from heat waves and from floods in low-lying areas. The seas will continue to become more acidic, destroying coral reefs.

But the report does not try to predict the exact extent of those effects. The world’s scientists are learning just how difficult it is to predict precisely how the planet will respond to rising carbon emissions and rising temperatures.  The report makes clear what can and cannot be known about a changing climate. And it puts climate change in the context of the countless other risks humans face.

A planet that is home to some 7 billion people is already a place that’s on the edge — and unchecked warming could help push us over.

so can i talk to my plants without being JUDGED

We tend to think of plants as the furniture of the natural world. They don’t move, they don’t make sounds, they don’t seem to respond to anything—at least not very quickly. Grass doesn’t cry when you cut it, flowers don’t scream when they’re picked. But as is often the case, our human view of the world misses quite a lot. Plants talk to each other all the time. And the language is chemical.

Over the years, scientists have reported that different types of plants, from trees to tomatoes, release compounds into the air to help neighboring plants. These chemical warnings all have the same purpose—to spread information about one plant’s disease or infestation so other plants can defend themselves. But exactly how plants receive and act on many of these signals is still mysterious.

food environment animals ....sigh ...we are to blame

Goodbye, Bamboo

Endangered giant pandas are facing a new threat: the loss of their food source, bamboo.

JANUARY 11, 2013

By Kelli Plasket

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BURRAND-LUCAS/BARCROFT MEDIA/LANDOV

A giant panda feeds on bamboo in China's Qinling Mountains. The bears get water and nutrients from the plant.

In China's Qinling Mountains, giant pandas spend most of their day eating bamboo. The plant makes up 99% of the bears' diet, with some pandas eating about 40 pounds of it a day. But Qinling's pandas may soon have to find another food source. A new study published in the science journal Nature Climate Change reports that warming temperatures may cause the loss of most of the region's bamboo by the end of the century.

A team made up of researchers from Michigan State University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences used climate models to project the effects of climate change on the region's three main bamboo species. They studied the impact of rising temperatures on the spread and growth of bamboo. Bamboo is sensitive to temperature changes. "Even with a 3.6° Fahrenheit increase in temperature, we found that 80% to 100% of bamboo would be gone by the end of the century," Jianguo Liu, one of the study's authors, told TFK.

Protecting Pandas

The Qinling Mountains, located in eastern China, are home to about 270 pandas. That is about 17% of the world's wild panda population. The bear is one of the world's most endangered species.

In recent years, China has stepped up efforts to protect pandas from deforestation and poaching. But Liu says the country has yet to consider the long-term effects of climate change in its conservation planning. Aside from increasing nature reserve areas where pandas are protected, Liu wants China to lower its use of fuels that release greenhouse gases—as should the rest of the world. "The future of pandas," he says, "is in our hands."

saving cheetahs

As fast as a cheetah. Whether it's describing a car, a computer or the best runner in the race, the comparison is made all the time. It's for good reason, too. The cheetah is the speediest runner on Earth.

Quick as the cheetah may be, though, it is far from invincible. The pale-yellow cat with black spots was once a common sight throughout Africa and much of Asia. Just over 100 years ago, there were about 100,000 cheetahs in the world.

But in the the 20th century, that number dropped. Poachers captured cheetahs to sell as pets. Hunters shot them for sport. And people built cities and towns where the cats' habitat used to be. Today, there are only about 10,000 cheetahs left (see Map It Out!).

Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), has spent nearly 40 years studying the wild cat and coming up with ways to help it. She says it is still possible to save the cheetah. "I do believe we can turn back time," she told TFK. "We now have the tools, and we know what to do."

PETER BLACKWELL—NATUREPL.COM

A cheetah has black "tear marks" that run from the inner corners of its eyes to its mouth.

A Brighter Future for the Cats

In 1977, Marker moved to Namibia, a country in southern Africa where a once-thriving cheetah population was quickly shrinking. Farmers were killing the wild cats. "It's not that the people wanted to kill cheetahs," says Marker. They were trying to protect their farm animals.

Marker had an idea. She knew that for thousands of years, farmers in Turkey had used special dogs, called Anatolian shepherds, to protect their livestock. These guard dogs scare away predators without hurting them. "They bark loudly," says Marker. "They stand their ground."

About 20 years ago, Marker and her team began placing the dogs on Namibian farms. Since then, she says, "we've stopped the killing and doubled the country's cheetah population."

Another major challenge facing cheetahs is habitat destruction. When farmers keep too much livestock in the same place for too long, overgrazing occurs. Without grass to eat, many wild animals—including those that the cheetah preys on—cannot survive. And the cheetah too is left without a meal.

In Namibia, CCF is teaching farmers how to take care of their livestock without harming the land. The organization has worked with more than 3,000 farmers. "Our farmers are very interested," says Marker. "They want that information."

The goal, Marker says, is for people, livestock and wild cheetahs to live in harmony. "That's my vision," she says, "and it's doable."

government and economy

Pt "While many economists and pundits from the West remain skeptical about the efficiency and innovative capacity of state-owned organizations, China is exploding that myth. Some of China’s most powerful companies are state-owned companies."


Eg China is moving ahead of the United States rapidly in the production and manufacturing of green technology. There is no doubt that China’s leadership in this area is occurring.

Pt The government is pushing for green technology;

Eg You can see the investment everywhere throughout China: as you travel the country, houses everywhere have solar panels on their roofs; several second tier cities are building their economies around “clean energy” technologies (e.g., Xi’an); social awareness of the issue is extremely high among the general population.

can we be like sweden?

Sweden, birthplace of the Smörgåsbord, Eric Northman, and the world’s preferred solar-powered purveyor of flat-pack home furnishings, is in a bit of a pickle: the squeaky clean Scandinavian nation of more than 9.5 million has run out of garbage. The landfills have been tapped dry; the rubbish reserves depleted. And although this may seem like a positive — even enviable — predicament for a country to be facing, Sweden has been forced to import trash from neighboring countries, namely Norway. Yep, Sweden is so trash-strapped that officials are shipping it in — 80,000 tons of refuse annually, to be exact — from elsewhere.

 

You see, Swedes are big on recycling. So big in fact that only 4 percent of all waste generated in the country is landfilled.

 

Good for them! However, the population's remarkably pertinacious recycling habits are also a bit of a problem given that the country relies on waste to heat and to provide electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes through a longstanding waste-to-energy incineration program. So with citizens simply not generating enough burnable waste to power the incinerators, the country has been forced to look elsewhere for fuel. Says Catarina Ostlund, a senior advisor for the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency: “We have more capacity than the production of waste in Sweden and that is usable for incineration.”

 

protecting biodiversity

2010 ended with a ray of hope for species. At the meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity in the Japanese city of Nagoya, countries from around the world pledged to expand the percentage of the world's land and water under some form of protection to 17% and 10%, respectively, while promising to work again to cut the loss of species. Time will tell whether these goals are met, or whether they will join the long list of broken promises by humanity to its fellow species — but at least it's a start.

recyling of a new kind...great

the trend towards "collaborative consumption" — technology-enabled sharing and renting of goods — is one of the most heartening environmental trends. Startups like Swap.com allow users to arrange trades of books, movies and CDs, letting us share media rather than buy it. And new sites like SnapGoods can help you rent stuff — iPads, robot vacuums, camping equipment — from others in a peer-to-peer fashion. You can even rent out your car — or rent another person's car — by the hour with RelayRides. It's green, but it also appeals to the desire for community we all feel. That's win-win.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2035319_2034098_2034146,00.html #ixzz2AEFrwGzz

In 2006 the filmmaker Chris Paine had an unexpected hit with the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?, which detailed how General Motors abandoned its potentially revolutionary EV1 electric. Well, it could be time for a sequel. 2010 will go down as the year that the long-promised electric vehicles finally hit dealer showrooms. From GM's much-anticipated plug-in Volt to Nissan's all-electric Leaf, electric cars from mainstream auto manufacturers are now being produced and sold in real numbers. Electrics are still expensive and range-limited, and real expansion will require a network of public charging stations that has yet to be built. But the automobile world will never be the same. Which is why Paine is working on a new documentary: The Revenge of the Electric Car.

water issues in the west of usa

Las Vegas is a city that shouldn't be — but somehow is. The desert metropolis of nearly 2 million people survives thanks only to the intricate system of irrigation and reservoirs that tap the flow of the Colorado River. Much of the water is kept in the artificial Lake Mead, 30 miles south of Las Vegas. But Lake Mead could be slowly drying up. The region is in the grips of a back-breaking 11-year drought, and in October the reservoir fell to its lowest level since it was filled nearly 75 years ago. If it keeps falling, an official shortage will be declared, and the water level could impact hydroelectric production from the nearby Hoover Dam. But this is just a symptom of a larger threat to the future of the West. The combination of climate change — likely to result in warmer and drier weather — continued agriculture and population growth in the West is straining water supplies. Eventually, something will have to give.

so do these talks matter at all

The UN global warming summit in Copenhagen at the end of 2009 was meant to be a climate coronation. It turned out to be a funeral. Thanks in part to the fact that the U.S. was unable to come up with its own climate legislation in time, hopes were already dim for a global deal on carbon at Copenhagen. But once the meeting commenced, things went downhill fast. The conference was a logistical nightmare, with crowds pressing outside the Danish capital's Bella Center, which was filled beyond capacity. There were angry protests in the streets, but stasis inside the conference center, with negotiations dragging on for days with little progress. Developing countries complained that they were being shut out of the talks, even though their citizens would suffer the worst effects of climate change.
Not until President Barack Obama and scores of other world leaders arrived at the end the summit was a last-minute consolation deal clinched — with a vague agreement to keep the global temperature rise to less than 2°C — but one that fell far below the expectations of environmentalists.

How much do these conventions cost? Could the money be better spent on targetted solutions ... not matter how small, it spending money on transportation and food and air-condition and see practically no resluts