Australia is having an “Australia 2020 Summit” in which1,000 chosen delegates will gather in Canberra for 2 days to discuss ideas for a better Australia (http://australia2020.gov.au) . Australians had the opportunity of submitted ideas on 10 topics and these have now been placed on the Web (http://australia2020.gov.au). Topic #3 is Sustainability and Climate Change - population, sustainability, climate change and water.
We have recently seen gas and oil prices skyrocket on the global market, but, how do the rising energy costs affect how Americans prioritize and think?
Well, that was the question behind a recent survey commissioned by the Fairfax County (VA) Economic Development Authority, one of the leading economic development organizations in the US.
700 American adults were asked this question:
What do you believe should be the highest priority, in terms of investing money and resources, in order to achieve a meaningful technological advancement in the next 10 years?
The result might surprise. According to the survey Americans wants a solution to the gas crisis more than they want a cure for cancer, heart diseases or other similar medical breakthroughs.
Norway, a rich country in Scandinavia (in northern Europe) with a population of almost five million people enjoy the second highest GDP per-capita (after Luxembourg) and third highest GDP (PPP) per-capita in the world, and has maintained first place in the world in the UNDPHuman Development Index (HDI) for six consecutive years (2001-2006).
Most of the wealth comes from large fields of natural resources such as oil and gas. Norway is the third largest exporter of oil and gas worldwide. Only Russia and Saudi Arabia export more oil than Norway. In 2006, oil and gas accounted for 58% of all the services and products exported.
Apple is now “greener” than its rival Microsoft according to the Greener Electronics Guide from Greenpeace. But both companies have still a long way to go until they can beat Samsung and Toshiba who currently leads the “green race”.
Greenpeace recently released its seventh version of their Greener Electronics Guide where it ranks electronic companies based on their actions against e-waste and harmful toxic chemicals.
Apple has gained 0.7 points since the last update. Apple have gained more points because of new models have been introduced, mainly the new MacBook Air, that contains less toxic chemicals. But Greenpeace emphasizes their “takeback programme still needs to be global”.
Yesterday Al Gore launched the We Campaign. It’s a $300 million 3-year effort “to mobilize Americans on climate change.”
The campaign will focus on sending out its message using mainly TV and print ads. People will be urged to go to the We Campaign website and sign the petition for a global treaty on climate change, urge the press to ask questions about climate change and learn more about global warming, the solutions and how they can personally minimize their environmental impact.
The ads will show, by featuring people like Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich, Pat Robertson and Al Sharpton, that both conservatives and liberals can rally around the climate crisis (You can see the very first advertisement that will be aired on TV after the jump).
Published by Simon Leufstedt on March 26th, 2008 in Green Quote.
Kansas Governor Katherine Sebelius said this when she vetoed a bill last week that would have allowed the construction of two new coal fired power plants:
Of all the duties and responsibilities entrusted to me as governor, none is greater than my obligation to protect the health and well-being of the people of Kansas.
Stephanie Cole, a Sierra Club spokeswoman, said that this…
…sends a message that Kansas is willing to be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem.
Scandic, the Nordic hotel company, have decided to ban water on bottle on all of their 141 hotels this year.
Instead of bottled water their customers will be offered ordinary and carbonated water from water taps from the hotel. It is expected that this will save around 160 tons of carbon dioxide.
Every qualified scientific body in the world, from the American Association for the Advancement of Science to the Royal Society, agrees unequivocally that global warming is both a reality, and caused by man-made greenhouse gas emissions. But this doesn’t make them right, of course. Science, in the best Popperian definition, is only tentatively correct, until someone comes along who can disprove the prevailing theory. This leads to a frequent source of confusion, one which is repeated in the Whitehouse article – that because we don’t know everything, therefore we know nothing, and therefore we should do nothing. Using that logic we would close down every hospital in the land. Yes, every scientific fact is falsifiable – but that doesn’t make it wrong. On the contrary, the fact that it can be challenged (and hasn’t been successfully) is what makes it right.
If you don’t recycle you might spend eternity in Hell. At least that is what the Vatican warns it’s followers.
The Roman Catholic Church recently “modernized” their list of deadly sins and added seven new deadly sins “for our times”. Failure to recycle is one of them.
Other deadly sins is now to play around with genetic modifications, carrying out experiments on humans, polluting the environment, causing social injustice, causing poverty and becoming obscenely wealthy and taking drugs.
Published by Artemis Mindrinou on February 28th, 2008 in Business & Politics.
All developed countries have started taking measures to reduce their bad impact on Earth. Banning incadescent lightbulbs, cars from the city centres, or introducing laws for greener factories and industries. Greece at last followed their example by promoting a greener life in the capital.
After its apathy at Bali’s summit, where the greek spokepersons had no specific proposals or positions, Greece seems to start thinking more about the environment. Such late a start can be partly justified, as the country lacks basic means. Most people are way too indifferent and uninformed about global warming and facilities don’t meet the specifications for major changes (for instance the way buildings had been built makes it impossible to widen the roads and introduce cycle lanes etc).
Possibly the most graphic treatment of global warming that has yet been published, Six Degrees is what readers
of Al Gore's best-selling An Inconvenient Truth or Ross Gelbspan's Boiling Point will turn to next. Written by
the acclaimed author of High Tide, this highly relevant and compelling book uses accessible journalistic prose
to distill what environmental scientists portend about the consequences of human pollution for the next hundred years.
Enviro Space is the ultimate green community!
This is a place to meet, discuss and interact with other people who share your interests and ideas.
Earth Promise is an online community dedicated to bringing
people together who want to take better care of the environment. We provide an easy way for people to
make, track and keep promises about actions that will benefit the earth. Together, we will be a caring
and positive voice for the environment.
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