105 Search Results for "ecological"

• The climate deniers of the lef The climate deniers of the left

  • From: yiehk21
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    Coca Cola greenwash at the Copenhagen climate summit.

    The scientific community has never been more united in its conviction that climate change is well on the way to rendering planet Earth a vastly less hospitable place for most species, including our own. Yet doubt about the gravity of the problem is, paradoxically, on the rise.

    Recent polls in the US, Britain and Canada reveal that fewer people take the threat of climate change seriously than five years ago.

    One likely reason is the insidious effect of the ongoing campaign — largely orchestrated and funded by the fossil fuel industry, and drawing support from a cast of right-wing pundits and politicians — to sow doubt about the existence of climate change or at least about the contribution of human activity to it.

    The contrarians don’t all line up with the forces of reaction, however.

    Alexander Cockburn, veteran left journalist and co-editor of online journal Counterpunch.com, resigned this year from a more than 40-year stint on the editorial board of the New Left Review.

    His resignation was in response to the publication of Mike Davis’ “Who Will Build The Ark?”, a reflection on the implications of climate change, as the lead article of the illustrious journal’s 50th anniversary issue.

    There are few issues that get Cockburn as hot under the collar as global warming.

    He is by far the most extreme in his wholesale denial of the very problem of climate change, but Cockburn is not the only prominent leftist to dismiss the urgency accorded to global warming by progressives.

    York university’s David F. Noble, historian of science and technology, critic of the corporate usurpation of the university and occasional contributor to Canadian Dimension, is equally irate over the Left’s attention to climate change.

    And Slavoj Zizek, one of the world’s most prominent left-wing intellectuals, dubbed the “Elvis” of cultural theory, has at times articulated an agnostic position on global warming.

    Each of these thinkers, who reflect a real, if marginal, minority opinion on the left, come at their climate change scepticism from different angles.

    Cockburn maintains that global warming is a “non-existent threat” based on flawed science. He approvingly cites naysayers such as Patrick Michaels of the right-wing Cato Institute, fingered as a paid consultant of the fossil fuel industry.

    Against the prevailing scientific consensus, Cockburn insisted in an April 2007 Counterpunch.org article: “There is still zero empirical evidence that anthropogenic production of CO2 is making any measurable contribution to the world’s present warming trend.”

    In his view, climate change is a fiction fostered by capital as part of a strategy to profit from higher energy costs at the expense of the poor — a notion bearing more than a passing resemblance to the type of conspiracy-thinking he elsewhere denounces.

    He treats the left with contempt for not only being hoodwinked by the global warming “dogma”, but for being naive in seeing it as a tipping point in the direction of radical social change.

    Noble’s emphasis is different, although he pursues the general theme of climate change as a false crisis fabricated by elites for their own purposes.

    Tracing the history of the corporate world’s warming to the issue of climate change, he depicts it as a deliberate and successful effort by a faction of the ruling class to co-opt and derail the anti-globalisation movement of the 1990s.

    He is especially contemptuous of the left for adopting what he sees as an uncritical view of science in relation to climate change, one that disconnects science from politics, and of buying into the dominant either/or logic.

    Noble argues corporate interests have succeeded in creating a false polarisation of positions that leaves no space to reject both sides: he complains that one can either accept climate change as the principal problem of our time, along with the green capitalist solutions, or join the much maligned “deniers”.

    Zizek, too, cautions against a naive view of science. However, he seems lately to be conceding more to the scientific consensus than in previous pronouncements, where he opposed any limits to development on the grounds of uncertainty about the science.

    He argued that nature is inherently unstable and crisis-ridden and that ideas about any natural balance being upset by human activity are misguided.

    He said ecology, insofar as it emphasises our finitude and calls for us to treat the Earth with respect, is inherently conservative and expresses a deep distrust of change, development and progress. He thus characterised it as “a new opium of the masses”.

    In an April 29 New Statesmen article, Zizek seemed to shift gears. On the one hand, he repeated the assertion that nature is chaotic and there is no underlying natural balance to be perturbed by human activity. Science, he reiterated, is unreliable and its conclusions are subject to the pressures of capital.

    But he asserted that our survival as a species depends on “a series of stable natural parameters that we tend to take for granted ... The limits to our freedom become palpable with ecological disturbances, as our ability to transform nature destabilises the basic geological conditions of life on earth.”

    He appeared to jettison his opposition to placing limits on development when he wrote: “What is demanded, first, is strict egalitarian justice: worldwide norms of per capita energy consumption should be imposed, stopping developed nations from poisoning the environment at the present rate while blaming developing countries, from Brazil to China, for ruining our shared environment.”

    Of course, both scepticism and the ability to change one’s mind are signs of intellectual vigour. And dissent, as US socialist Norman Thomas said, is “essential to the search for truth in a world wherein no authority is infallible”.

    But there is a question of what motivates these dissenters.

    Scepticism about climate change on the right is fuelled, particularly in the US, by the belief that global warming is a socialist Trojan horse, designed to destroy the free market by the stealth of environmental regulation.

    What seems to unite the climate change sceptics on the left is the opposite belief — that climate change is distracting and deflecting the left from the project of radical social transformation.

    It is reminiscent of the response of a significant part of the socialist left to the emerging environmental consciousness in the 1970s, which discounted concerns about pollution and the rate of resource consumption as a “petit bourgeois” affair with no bearing on the world’s masses.

    But as countless scientists have stressed, the most devastating effects of climate change will be felt first of all by the poor in the global South, who are more directly and immediately dependent on the natural world for their living.

    The sceptics are legitimately concerned that the ecological crisis will be manipulated by capital as a business opportunity.

    There is no doubt that climate change will be exploited for profit by the corporate elite — just as the oil catastrophe in the Gulf is being turned to economic advantage by some of the companies responsible for the disaster who are now cashing in on the clean-up activities — but this fact should not lead us to discount the reality or gravity of the crisis.

    What is called for is an anti-capitalist response to the ecological threat — not only to the survival of our own species but to the innumerable other species now at risk.

    Left climate change sceptics seem to ignore the emerging ecosocialist current, which has taken up the challenge of wedding the critique of capitalism to an analysis of the ecological crisis.

    As one pamphlet produced the time of the December 2009 Copenhagen climate summit pointed out: “Climate change is not just an environmental issue. It is but one symptom of a system ravaging our planet and destroying our communities.”

    Far from being distracted by climate change, ecosocialists understand it as intimately related to the reigning global system of production that endlessly reproduces the unjust disparities of wealth and power that have always been the object of the left’s opposition.

    How can Cockburn, Noble and Zizek argue with that?

    http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/45269

     

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• Use Innovative Techniques To P Use Innovative Techniques To Preserve The Global Environment

  • From: yiehk21
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    The significant changes in world environment have made people realize the disastrous effects of depleting green cover. This had led to a world wide movement aimed at minimizing any further ecological damages and creating awareness about saving planet Earth.

    With the changing world environment and increasing threat of global warming, the awareness about preserving the green zones of the planet has led many industrialists to use innovative technologies for reducing the emission of harmful gases. People have now begun to understand the importance of green technology and hence are not shying away from taking steps necessary to avert any sort of environmental pollution.

    People have begun to understand that preserving the environment is the only way in which they can sustain themselves. Hence, whether it is using solar energy for generating power or finding alternative sources to conserve energy, everyone is eager to take part in reducing any further damage of environment. The necessity of preserving the ecological balance has led to development of many new green energy technologies.

    Numerous researchers around the globe are trying to find ways through which green energy technologies can be implemented in a practical manner. Scientist are frantically trying to find a means of running automobiles on water, using a series of alternators as generators for producing energy and numerous other ideas that can help contain the depletion of natural resources besides causing little or no harm to the environment.

    In addition to the efforts made by the heads of states and various governments, there are numerous NGO’s and social organizations that are putting in a lot of effort to raise general awareness about the disastrous effects of depleting green house resources. In this common cause of saving the world environment from any further damage, people from all walks of life, including industrialists, politicians and celebrities are joining hands to spread the message across to the common people.

    The good thing is that most industrialists have started using photocatalytic laser technology to ensure a significant reduction in the emission of gases and toxic substances that can harm the environment.

    http://www.deejayjp.co.cc/use-innovative-techniques-to-preserve-the-global-environment/

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• Sustainability is Not Black Or Sustainability is Not Black Or White - "More Sustainable" is Possible

  • From: ashleysoon
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    Image credit: D'Arcy Norman & timtak (Creative Commons)

    When I wrote about industrial agriculture exploring sustainability, commenter Ruben suggested that the idea of something being "more sustainable" was illogical. Citing Bill Rees, the inventor of Ecological Footprinting, he claimed that sustainability was like pregnancy—"either you are or you aren't". I'd like to politely disagree.

    Like the soil versus dirt debate, there is a danger of getting too caught up in semantics here. After all, Ruben was not rejecting the idea that incremental progress was important. In fact, he stated explicitly that transition was important, and that "we need to get from here to there". On that, I'm in total agreement.

    Nevertheless, I think it's important to counter the argument that calling something like industrial agriculture "more sustainable" because it has reduced resource use or increased efficiency is inherently greenwash. Before we greens cast the first stone, it's important for us to remember that even some of the leading green projects, schemes and technologies in the world are very far from being "sustainable" in the truest sense of the word. Backyard farmers still rely on petroleum. Solar panels still rely on scarce and energy intensive resources. Yet a civilization that truly embraced renewables, and diverse, small-scale, low impact farming would, I believe, be much more able to sustain itself into the future than the status quo.

    In fact, if we are going to be totally dogmatic about it then true sustainability is, in some ways, a complete impossibility. Unless we follow Stephen Hawking's advice and leave earth to survive (and presumably keep moving), absolutely everything imaginable—from coal-powered giant hummers made of ivory, to solar panels made from dew drops—is on a continuum of being either more, or less, sustainable. Because once our sun gives up the ghost, the most sustainable system on the planet will be less than useless.

    From high-end luxury eco-condos to big organics as the enemy, perfect as the enemy of good is a recurring theme on TreeHugger. So while I applaud efforts to keep our ambitions high (and our BS detector engaged at all times), we should be wary of a black-and-white approach to sustainability. The end prize is too important for that.

    By: Sami Grover | August 31, 2010

    Original Source: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/08/sustainability-black-and-white.php?campaign=th_rss

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• Top 10 green discussions and c Top 10 green discussions and controversial ideas

  • From: arboinks
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    1.    1. ROI of 30-50 years for a renewable energy source? Isn’t it just a bit too much?  Right now, the (bloom box) energy servers currently being used are about the size of a parking spot and cost nearly three quarters of a million dollars.  Yes, that’s right – between $700,000 and $800,000.  

     http://www.adannews.com/11711/bloom-energy-fuel-cells-a-clean-energy-alternative-but-at-what-cost/

     

    2.    2. Can a practice or a product be “A little bit Sustainable”, “Pretty Sustainable” and “Very Sustainable” ?  commenter Ruben suggested that the idea of something being "more sustainable" was illogical. Citing Bill Rees, the inventor of Ecological Footprinting, he claimed that sustainability was like pregnancy—"either you are or you aren't". I'd like to politely disagree. But is that really the case?  http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/08/sustainability-black-and-white.php?campaign=th_rss 

     

    3.    3. Is a large carbon footprint on the short run better than a large one on the long run? Or how to check who to really boycott?  Are Walgreens, The Gap, Levi Strauss and Timberland are aware that they may be contributing to global warming by joining the Forest Ethics boycott of fuel derived from Alberta's oilsands? According to a study released earlier this month, the implementation of a low-carbon fuel standard in the U.S. would increase global greenhouse gas emissions by up to 19 million metric tonnes because it would force U.S. refiners to import more oil in tankers from the Middle East, Venezuela and elsewhere.

    http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Credibility/3462809/story.html#ixzz0yGOrRdZj 

     

    4.      4.  Will Sustainability reporting do well for the stock market?

    The Singapore Exchange (SGX) is going green. It is encouraging all listed firms to undertake ‘sustainability reporting’ - or the disclosure of the social and environmental aspects of their business. But SGX added that this disclosure of the social and environmental aspects of a listed company’s business will not be mandatory at this stage.  http://www.eco-business.com/news/2010/aug/29/singapore-exchange-issues-guidelines-green-reporti/

     

    5.     5.  Can BPO and call center be the embodiment of being green?  Many green leaders resent the practice of BPOs, claiming that like in farming, local is always better. However, there are numerous examples that show the opposite might also be true, sometime. For example, Genpact has a history of innovation that has defined the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in India. It’s an end to end service provider applying science to managing business processes. It has a similar approach to its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities as well. It is a BPO driven by its workforce; this workforce is also the army that drives its corporate citizenship programmes.

     http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/genpact-instilling-social-responsibilityits-staff_481764.html

     

    6.     6.  Building more data centers, moving into cloud computing, is it really as clean and energy efficient as it is presented?  Microsoft has confirmed plans to build a large new (high standard energy efficient) data center in Mecklenburg County, Va., as the company is once again expanding its data center operations. In a press release from the Virginia governor's office, Microsoft said it will spend up to $499 million to open the facility, which will use its latest modular, fourth-generation approach and will be located near the town of Boydton. The governor's office touted the plant as "the largest economic investment in Southern Virginia history." http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20015071-56.html#ixzz0yGeAajKE

     

    7.      7. Is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) a good idea? Is it a green one? CSR is as old as business itself, and companies are doing amazing things to help the communities around the world. However, how it is being done, and how it should be compensated, is a whole different issues.
    Against : The idea that companies have a responsibility to act in the public interest and will profit from doing so is fundamentally flawed.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703338004575230112664504890.html 

     

    For:  The Case against the Case against Corporate Social Responsibility http://www.justmeans.com/-Case-against-Case-against-Corporate-Social-Responsibility/29072.html

     

    8.    8.   If you do discover new oil or gas while you are in the middle of developing new renewable sources, what should you do? Exploring some more, will probably affect negatively (on the long run) with regards to the shift towards Renewable energy. Not exploring, means giving your country less of an energy edge on. This is the dilemma Israel is facing these days, and maybe other countries soon, as the race for renewable energy sources development is on the go. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704421104575463552570631976.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

     

    9.    9.   What are some of our most un-green or environmentally products and practices? Did you know that cardboard moving boxes, Frozen food and synthetic fiber for cloths are some of the most controversial products which many green forums argue for and against?   http://www.ecosalon.com/energy-hungry-products/

     

    1010.   The Biggest discussion of all – why we do not do enough about global warming and how can we do more?

    A new survey of Americans on the most effective ways to save energy indicates that the climate crisis is not seen as a problem severe enough to warrant aggressive action. The survey also raises the question of how well people who understand the problem are communicating its seriousness.  http://www.triplepundit.com/2010/08/do-energy-consumers-understand-how-and-why-to-save/

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• How to live Green Life How to live Green Life

  • From: yiehk21
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    Green life is a little like fashion that is kind of style. But the former will never be out of fashion. Even if you don’t chase for fashion, you would like to keep on living green life as it not only protect the enviroment and save money for you, but also kind of taste. Not every one can do it. So how to live green life? You can learn from six tips below:

    

    Green Technology

    Green technology basically means the technology that is eco-friendly. It includes any type of technology, which can help the environment and save our planet. Green technology allows us to come up with better green building techniques, preserve soil fertility and health, develop eco-friendly power grids etc. It is only due to green technology that there are alternative-energy home fueling systems. There are talks about the hydrogen economy too, which will benefit the environment a whole lot.

    Green Lifestyle

    If you want to truly lead a green life, you need to consider how each action of yours impacts the environment and the eco-systems. Your main aim should be to minimize the ecological footprint, so that you can protect the planet and the environment. You need to remember that our planet needs our help now, and we have to protect it for our future generations.

    Green Energy Resources

    It is important to protect coal and other fossil fuels, and use other eco-friendly renewable energy resources. If you follow green living, you will be using wind, solar and other forms of renewable energy. Solar energy is a great form of green energy, and can be very useful in sunny areas. In case of solar energy, sun’s rays are converted into energy and then, this energy can be used for heating, lighting etc.

    Green Building Strategies

    To save the environment and go green, you need to use eco-friendly materials in designing and building homes/offices. Some buildings are called ‘zero-energy buildings’. What this means, is that the total energy consumption of these buildings over an entire year is zero. They make use of alternative sources of energy such as wind and solar energy. Such buildings are wonderful for the environment, and form an integral part of green living.

    Green / Eco-friendly Foods

    Eco-friendly/organic foods are those food products, which are processed and packaged without the use of any chemicals. These foods are extremely good for your health and so, several people are turning to organic foods. These days, there are several reports confirming how chemicals that are present in our food chain, affect us. Thus, organic food is a great choice for healthy living.

    Sustainability

    Green living is about protecting the environment, natural resources and finally, the planet, for future generations. It’s all about having a small ecological footprint, so that you don’t leave behind effects that can harm our planet. Under sustainability, there are several aspects like sustainable agriculture, sustainable development and so on.

    http://www.happyfeel100.com/how-to-live-green-life

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• 'Maximizing urban cores' vital 'Maximizing urban cores' vitality and infrastructure must be the basis for any definition of sustainability'

  • From: yiehk21
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    There’s a terrific article on cnn.com titled “Green Buildings Won’t Save the Planet,” written by architects Joshua Prince-Ramus, Randolph Croxton, and Tuomas Toivonen.  It states in broad, manifesto-like strokes the same concept I was trying to illustrate in my post last week on “net zero” Prairie Ridge Estates in Illinois:  ‘green’ isn’t always what it appears, and seldom is when it involves sprawl.  Some excerpts from the new article:

    “The American building-design community's vision of sustainability is myopically focused on increasing the energy efficiency and reducing the embodied carbon of individual buildings. So-called 'green' buildings are simply not sustainable if, for example:

    • Their occupants drive long distances every day.
    • The energy they consume is carbon-intensive.
    • Their technology is too complicated to use or too difficult to maintain.
    • Their impact stops at the property line.
    • They deny the use of pre-existing infrastructure or building fabric.
    • They are conceived in isolation from larger, systemic environmental change . . .

    “Only by changing behavior -- particularly suburban sprawl and its accompanying carbon intensive lifestyle -- can the United States reach ecological balance.

    “Strategies for maximizing the potential of our urban cores' existing vitality and infrastructure must be the basis for any definition of sustainability.

      

    “In short, we must make the most of what we already have. We must overcome the growing perception that new ‘green’ is our salvation [emphasis mine] . . .

    “Updating and/or adaptively reusing existing buildings close to the infrastructure our nation has built over the last 100 years is often far more sustainable than constructing new ‘green’ buildings in the suburbs (or even downtown) . . .

    “The following strategies can effectively incentivize U.S. growth and migration to move toward more dense and diverse cities, while simultaneously enriching natural resources:

    • Establish growth boundaries between city and nature that allow both to reach their full potential . . .
    • Create regional and nationwide marketplaces that allow rural and suburban landowners outside growth boundaries to transfer their development rights to areas where urban growth is desirable . . .
    • Develop a national ecological balance plan that steers development at the scale of buildings, infrastructure and ecosystem services through a comprehensive framework of guidelines and indicators.
    • Devise a quantitative indicator that analyzes and coordinates population density, programmatic diversity and low-carbon travel. This metric would provide policy makers, planners, developers and citizens with a common understanding of the underlying patterns that shape their community's carbon footprint, and inform consensus-driven systemic action, such as the drawing of growth boundaries.
    • Develop new types of urban structures that, by design, can adapt to a rich variety of unanticipated uses and accommodate new construction technologies as they evolve . . .”

    Applause, please.  The whole article is well worth reading and taking to heart. 

    To be clear, NRDC strongly supports green technology and green buildings, and so so I.  My former colleague Rob Watson has been honored as "the father of LEED" and deserves tons of credit for his work creating standards and incentives for efficient and resource-conserving buildings.  Many of my colleagues at NRDC and the US Green Building Council are still on the case, and we should all be glad of it.  I'm also not entirely comfortable with the authors' unabashed vocabulary of "behavior" modification.  Especially given market and demographic trends, I see much of our task as making it easier to satisfy demand, and taking advantage of opportunity in disinvested urban cores and town centers, rather than changing people.

      

    But the authors have emphasized something fundamental that more environmentalists - including Al Gore, if he's still around somewhere - need to grasp:  technology can help, but only if it is part of a more holistic approach that includes land use, equity, and a lot more.  Technology can even hurt if it lulls us to sleep, dreaming that sprawl is just fine if it's "green" sprawl.  It isn't fine, and let's be real about that.

    Back to the article, there is also a TED video on the site showing part of a lecture by Joshua Prince-Ramus discussing his firm’s design for an immensely flexible theater in Dallas.  Curiously, it seems unrelated to urban cores, adaptive reuse, development patterns or even green architecture (in other words, the subjects of the article), but it is still interesting if you are an architecture junkie. 

    http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kbenfield/maximizing_urban_cores_vitalit.html

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• Why Cities are Better for Gree Why Cities are Better for Green Living Than Suburbs

  • From: ashleysoon
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    With once in a lifetime storms happening every other year and abnormal weather conditions occurring in all parts of the world, more and more people are becoming concerned about the size of their ecological footprint. The environmental impacts of our lifestyle choices. A significant part of that is where we choose to live, for those of us that still have the financial wherewithal to actually be able to make such a choice.

    

    The vast majority of the world’s population live in cities, either the built up central areas of “downtown” or the suburbs surrounding it. Given the choice, which is the better type of location for maintaining an eco-friendly lifestyle, for living “green”?

    Typically, people move to the suburbs when they intend to have children, as suburbs are perceived, and usually are, more kid-friendly than inner city areas. But it is much harder to keep our ecological footprint small in the suburbs than it is when living centrally. The primary reason for this is energy usage.

    The lowest common denominator of energy conversion is heat energy. Whether this is from burning fossil fuels in motors, nuclear power generation or using electricity in our homes and businesses. All the energy we produce and use ends up as heat energy, because energy is not used up, it cannot be destroyed, it is converted. And the end product of every energy conversion process is eventually heat.

    When it comes to energy use in the suburbs, transportation is an obvious culprit, but not the only one. Driving our car is the easiest and most convenient way to get around when we live in the suburbs, but is rarely so for the city-dweller. Even when public transportation is readily available, it is never as convenient as that in town and always has a higher energy expenditure per person. It is simply a matter of demand and distance traveled. City residential areas have a much higher concentration of inhabitants per square mile than the suburbs; so services are more frequent and heavily utilized while journey distances are shorter. The energy expenditure per city-dwelling person for travel purposes is therefore significantly lower.

    In addition to our personal transportation energy usage is that required to meet our needs. Because inner city areas have a much higher concentration of people, the energy required to deliver goods and services to the area is lower because such are delivered in bulk and at shorter distances from central dispatch centers.

    This can be offset to an extent when the suburban household makes use of their garden to grow a significant proportion of their own food. An ability rarely available to the apartment dweller. But traveling time often limits the amount of personal time available to do this, and stress often weakens the suburbanite’s motivation to keep it up.

    The same applies to electricity supply. The further electricity travels over power cables the greater the resistance, so more electricity needs to be supplied to power a television 10 miles from the generating station than is needed for one 2 miles from it. Being more spread out, suburbs require considerably more electricity than that needed by the same number of people living in city apartments.

    City apartments are typically smaller than suburban houses and therefore require less energy to heat them in winter and cool them in summer. They have the added benefit in winter of many people generating body heat and sharing building heating, which increases the difference. In summer that works the other way, but air-conditioning requirements will still be lower.

    Land usage is also a significant factor. We can usually grow our own vegetables and fruits in our garden because many suburbs are built on what used to be farmland before city expansion swallowed it up. By moving to the suburbs we generate demand that is likely to result in more productive farmland being converted into residential subdivisions. The global population is still growing and conventional farming methods are producing less food per acre now than they were 30 years ago. We need all the productive farmland we can keep in production, preferably converting it to sustainable agricultural methods.

    It is, therefore, considerably easier to live a green lifestyle in the city than it is in the suburbs. But it is also usually better to raise a family in the suburbs. We do want our children to have a viable future though, so we just need to plan and work harder at minimizing our ecological footprint when living there than we would in the city.

     by karu jagodage | August 14, 2010

    Original Source: http://scienceray.com/technology/why-cities-are-better-for-green-living-than-suburbs/

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• Get Your Green MBA With Online Get Your Green MBA With Online School!

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    Those who are interested in getting their MBA degree are discovering a new possibility besides such standard fare as Accounting and Economics. It’s an MBA in a discipline called Sustainability; i.e. examining the economic aspects of investing in replenishable resources and green technology. A number of universities, both online and on campus, have programs devoted to it, and it is growing.

    As someone with even the slightest green consciousness is starting to realize, the world is facing an ecological crisis of epic proportions. The planet can not simply replace the resources as fast as the human population is depleting it. Those who getting their MBAs in Sustainability are studying the economic costs of replacing current wasteful methods with ones that are “sustainable;” i.e. easily replenishable. If this interests you, then you should read more about university english degree.

    How they do it is to divide problems into thee particular categories, entitled “the Triple Bottom Line,” defined as economic, environmental, and social sustainability. The current oil crisis is categorized as an economic issue. Global warming is considered environmental, while overpopulation is a sustainability matter.

    There are those who call this program “Green MBA.” Despite this “colorful” description, anyone interested in pursuing an MBA Sustainability degree still needs to get a BA or BS degree in an appropriate business curricula and also pass a GMAT. From there, they should pay very careful attention to the schools that offer programs. As it happens, more and more institutions are offering them every year. Search the internet and learn about online master.

    Due to this, it’s a good idea to examine a school before one enrolls in it. Talk to a career counselor, but also go on the internet and do a little research, ask how long the program has been in existence and don’t be afraid to ask for referrals.

    One thing one will do if taking the course is expect a number of post-grad courses in such standard classes as accounting, auditing, marketing and traditional business curricula. They should also be ready to take courses in the environmental sciences and their economic implications. One should also be aware that on the technical side there is a degree called Environmental Economics, but this is a STEM-related course load, not business.

    There is also some controversy developing over this career tract. More traditional business graduates feel this career tract is should really not be considered an advanced business education. They feel those going for an MBA should only be concentrating on only economic matters; the world’s ecology has nothing to do with it. You may also find interest in university english degree.

    As it stands, it should be remembered that this is a very new area for those who once considered themselves the masters of the universe. They realize the economic costs of a global ecologic disaster would make something like the BP Oil spill in the Gulf Coast look picayune in comparison. So while there may be some controversy about this new form of business degree, it looks like Sustainability will be a career path with one incredible future ahead of it.

    Source : http://www.africanamerican-scholarships.com/african-american-scholarships/get-your-green-mba-with-online-school

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• First example of Green+ Hospit First example of Green+ Hospitals in Germany

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:

     

    

    The Ethianum in Heidelberg is one of the first clinics in Germany to align itself consistently according to sustainability criteria, thus making it a hospital in keeping with the spirit of Siemens' Green+ Hospital Program. Working in partnership with the Ethianum, Siemens has developed and implemented comprehensive solutions: These include energy management, patient care, and the communications infrastructure. In this way Siemens supports its customer in integrating factors like environmental protection, quality of treatment, and efficiency into the day-to-day processes of its organization. The Ethianum opened its doors in July 2010.

    The Ethianum is a Heidelberg-based clinic specializing in plastic surgery, aesthetic surgery and preventive medicine. It is one of the most advanced clinics in Europe. Green+ Hospitals is a program launched by Siemens to align its healthcare portfolio toward sustainability. Siemens thus provides its customers with environmentally friendly solutions in harmony with economic efficiency and high quality for patients.

    "A major concern for us, particularly also with regard to ecological aspects, was to act responsibly and develop a clinic that sets standards in healthcare in terms of sustainability," explained Dr. Peter Görlich, Director of the Ethianum. "Thanks to the solutions from Siemens we don't just reduce our energy requirements to a minimum. More importantly, they support our objective of establishing short examination times and structured treatment paths as the standard in healthcare," added Görlich.

    "Traditionally a pioneer of new developments, Siemens faced up to its social responsibility for mankind and the environment years ago. Today, Siemens is a market leader in green technology. With its Green+ Hospitals portfolio, our company sets standards in terms of sustainability. Green+ Hospitals is the key to more "green", quality and efficiency, from which the environment, hospital operators and patients will benefit in equal measure," said Wolfgang Bayer, Healthcare Sector CEO, Siemens Germany.

    "The Ethianum is comprehensively geared to patient-friendly treatment and intelligent examination workflows, to the benefit of our patients and our staff," said Prof. Dr. Günter Germann, Medical Director and co-founder of the Ethianum. "Our multimedia terminals installed directly at the patient's bedside also contribute to high standards in patient quality, enabling the patient to interact with clinic staff and access personal examination appointments or treatment plans."

    Energy management
    As a solutions provider, Siemens ensures cost-effective and energy-efficient operation of the Ethianum's building technology, including e.g. heating, ventilation and cooling systems. The investment in leading-edge building technology is calculated over the entire lifecycle. About 80 percent of the costs for a building are incurred in the operating phase, with 40 percent of this being energy costs alone.

    Building automation systems from Siemens also ensure seamless interaction of all components and technical systems. Intelligent building management enables the complex processes in the technical systems to be visualized and the operating characteristics to be optimized accordingly. This puts the clinic in a position to achieve savings without sacrificing convenience. Siemens also provides data for what are called "green building monitors". In this way the company creates the basis for displaying all current energy consumption in the building at a glance, and also keeps users informed with weather forecast data and energy-saving tips.

    Quality for the patient
    The Ethianum aims to make diagnostic examinations as pleasant as possible for the patients. With this in mind, Siemens has supplied the Magnetom Verio, a high-field magnetic resonance (MR) tomography scanner with a particularly large 70-centimeter opening bore. This is especially considerate of patients who tend to suffer feelings of anxiety. Siemens' innovative Tim (Total imaging matrix) technology significantly shortens examination times in the MR scanner and so helps patients and staff complete the examination more efficiently. Magnetom Verio delivers clinical images of very high quality and at the same time operates extremely economically in terms of resource usage, and is environmentally friendly since the magnet has a closed helium cycle. This means that no helium escapes and so there is also no need to replenish this expensive raw material.

    Previous experiences from real-world practice show that many patients feel more at ease and relaxed if the examination room is not decorated in a clinical white. Specialist medical staff and physicians also affirm that they feel a colorful ambience creates a much more pleasant working environment. Accordingly, Siemens has designed the MR room with a light installation. A 1.77 by 1.40 meter Ethianum logo bathes the room in different colors, thus creating a friendly atmosphere for all involved.

    Radiography, too, stands under the aegis of "sustainability" in the Ethianum: The Axiom Aristos VX Plus digital X-ray system requires neither X-ray films nor developer chemistry and saves technicians having to perform many of the usual operating steps. A detector, similar to the photo chip in a digital camera, captures the image data and converts it into electronic X-ray images. At the same time the radiation dose can be reduced considerably compared to conventional film and cassette based technologies. The images are then sent directly from the X-ray system over a data network to the examining physician's workplace, where they can be post-processed and viewed. The physician can then immediately discuss the results with the patient. Additionally, Ethianum procured an Acuson S2000 from Siemens. The primary use of this high-end ultrasound system will be for vascular examinations as well as those of the abdomen and heart. The ultrasound system is a highly versatile device. The clinic can ensure the investment through upgrades in the future and the deployment of additional options for the Acuson S2000.

    Efficient communication
    An intelligent communications network supports the physicians and specialist medical staff in delivering the best possible care to patients in the Ethianum. The HiMed Cockpit, a 15-inch monitor with keyboard, gives patients their own multimedia console, with television, video and internet access, at their bedside. Thanks to a personalized chipcard, physicians and specialist medical staff have secure access to the sensitive data of the hospital information system. This optimizes processes in the hospital, with energy savings as an added bonus, makes the latest patient information available faster, and smoothes the way to a paperless hospital. What's more, the Cockpit also allows patients to control the climate in their room.

    All the data runs via the Enterasys LAN and WLAN network. All communication, from telephoning to calling a nurse, is IP (Internet Protocol)-based. The Ethianum uses IP telephones from the OpenStage and Gigaset series as terminals in its departments. These have a reputation as the most energy-saving devices of this type on the market.

    Background information: Green+ Hospitals
    Green+ Hospitals is a program launched by Siemens to align its healthcare portfolio toward sustainability. Siemens thus provides its customers with environmentally friendly solutions that are in harmony with economic efficiency and optimum quality for patients. This means, for example, that Siemens helps its customers

    • to comply with emission regulations and at the same time respond to increasing electricity and gas prices with new solutions
    • to respond to changes in the compensation system with optimized workflows and greater sustainability
    • to generate competitive advantages through higher quality and patient comfort.

    There are three key priorities facing Green+ Hospitals to assure the long-term infrastructure in the healthcare sector: environmental compatibility, efficiency, and quality.

    Source : http://www.ehealthnews.eu/siemens/2200-first-example-of-green-hospitals-in-germany

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• Radio City turns green for Mar Radio City turns green for Maruti

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:

     

    

     

    The day when Maruti Suzuki planned to launch its CNG technology in the Indian market, Radio City 91.1 FM, nation's first ecological FM radio brand turned Green.

    It is to be mentioned here that while the campaign was in association with Maruti Suzuki, Radio city 91.1 FM altered their name to Green City 91.1FM. In fact, the 'Green n Clean is the way of life ran for the entire day to celebrate green technology in the cars on Aug 13, 2010.

    It is not the first time that Maruti has done such an innovative campaign on Radio. It may be noted here that the comp\any launched a similar campaign even for the WagonR where a radio station turned to blue to match with the 'Blue-eyed boy' theme of the product.

    Ashit Kukian, COO, Radio City said that going green is surely the need of the hour and the company has supported the green imitative of Maruti Suzuki in the Indian market.

    Shashank Srivastava, CGM Marketing said that the company has always launched ground breaking campaigns in the Indian market and the recently launched campaign was a part of the same.

    Source : http://cw.topnews.in/content/21743-radio-city-turns-green-maruti

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• Anti Stress Work Environment t Anti Stress Work Environment through Green Technology

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:

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    Many corporates are now introducing "green technology" to provide a healthy and stress free environment to their employees in order to increase their productivity and reduce stress.

     

     

    
    

     

    As a result of current lifestyles, people are bound to be affected by stress. People today are more active than in the past and therefore people also suffer from stress. Stress is a biological term, which refers to the consequences of the failure of human body to respond appropriately to mental or physical threats, whether actual or imagined.  Common stress symptom includes irritability, muscular tension, inability to concentrate and variety of physical reactions, such as headaches and accelerates heart rate. By adopting healthy habits one can avoid stress. It is necessary to cope with work environment to avoid high stress levels.

    Stress is found at all workplaces, and can affect individual’s performance, health and well-being. An effort to control or manage stress levels at workplace should be an integral part of all corporate houses. Many corporates are now introducing "green technology" to provide a healthy and stress free environment to their employees in order to increase their productivity and reduce stress. They have set a new motto for themselves as well as for their employees i.e. "the cleaner air you breathe, smarter you work and the longer you live" and based upon this motto they are modifying the work environment to reduce high levels of stress by improving indoor air quality. A full-fledged Indoor Air Quality division, CleanAir is equipped with lab facilities to monitor and improve indoor air quality.   Air purification methods include:

    • Removal of Nox / SOx & SPMs
    • Removal of VOCs
    • Removal of Bacterias & Fungus
    • Addition of natural O2 by using bio-technology

    ·         One can dramatically improve the air quality in their homes or offices with only three varieties of plants. These are Areca palm (living room plant) that produces oxygen during the day, Mother-in-law’s tongue (bedroom plant) produces oxygen at night and money plant which is used to remove VOCs from the air.

    ·         Generally, air purification through plant is done scientifically. Air from a height of 120 feet iscrubbed with purified / treated water and is pumped into green house  that enrich it with oxygen and increase its humidity. The water is UV treated to kill bacteria or any kind of fungal growth. The oxygenated air is then fed into the AC plant for cooling. Another innovative technology used  is Hydroponic culture. Here plants thrive on nutrient solution rather than on soil, produces healthier plants and increase oxygen efficiency than traditional gardening.

    ·         These technologies improves office environment and takes care of the health of the occupants. Green technologies are all the more effective to de-stress employees so that they can contribute more effectively to their work. Research conducted also reveals that people working in clean atmosphere have 10-12% less lung impairment as compared to people working in atmosphere where the indoor air is not clean and pure. The incidence of eye irritation reduced by 52%, respiratory symptoms by 34%, headache by 24% and asthma by 9% at this type of working atmosphere. It also shows that there is an amazing increase in human productivity resulting by having green plants in the office building, almost >20% and Energy Costs   reduce by an extraordinary 15-20%. 

    ·         Study has also shown that employees are less prone to diseases, which automatically means fewer sick days. The reason behind this is an increase in blood oxygen levels, which ensures that even after a strenuous eight working hours, the employees remains fresh and relatively stress free. These special indoor plants not only add oxygen but also help in reducing pollutants and increase oxygen supply as per demand.

     

    One of the corporate houses using this bio-technology to cleanse its indoor air is Paharpur Business Centre (PBC), New Delhi. Paharpur Business Centre's management has revolutionized the serviced office concept by undertaking several endeavors to improve Indoor Air Quality. Since 1996, the building's indoor air quality has been maintained conforming to standards laid by American Society for Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). The company has slowly become environment-friendly and holds the distinction of being one of the healthiest buildings in India.

    Care for environment has been intrinsic to Paharpur Business Centre's approach to business since its inception. Taking ecological well being a step further, they follow the 3 Rs approach, "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle". This helps maintain a healthy ambience around the office space as well as in the mind, body and soul of the building's inmates. This novel concept can be one of the ways that a person can adopt or apply to manage one’s life better and avoid stress.

    With its air-filtering plants and sustainable architecture, the office park is a model of green business. 

    Source :http://www.indiainfoline.com/Markets/News/Anti-Stress-Work-Environment-through-Green-Technology/4904051768
    

     

     

     

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• Environmental concerns about t Environmental concerns about the use of geothermal energy

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:

    by L.B. Woodgate

    • 

     

    

    One of the best sources of green technology information and their impact on climate change is the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC).  According to the NRDC “geothermal energy, which taps into reservoirs of steam and hot water beneath the earth's surface, is among the least explored sources of renewable energy in the United States. In 2005, geothermal energy produced just 0.36 percent of the electricity used in this country, about 3,000 megawatts of energy.”  The potential for geothermal development as an energy source could provide as much as 100,000 megawatts of power by 2025 according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

    So what are the drawbacks to utilizing our vast reservoirs of geothermal energy?

    Geothermal power works very much like the steam engines of old that most of us are familiar with.  Heat up a boiler tank of water and the pressure built up will be released as energy that then by design can move mechanical parts to serve various tasks.  But unlike steam engines utilizing bio-mass materials to create the heat for steam power, geothermal sources are stationary and the means to move the force of that energy to areas that need to be served will require a large investment up front.  The return on this economic expense will be quickly gained but once these initial costs are sourced the environmental concerns that geothermal energy creates needs to be dealt with.

    Most geothermal sources in America are in our Western States.  They happen to reside in what are also some of our most beautiful and pristine habitats that are protected by law, like Yellowstone National Park and the Cascade Mountains.  Extracting this source of energy from certain sensitive sites would not only draw public opposition but risks harming these protected areas permanently.  Thus any compromise that governments and entrepreneurs create to develop geothermal power supplies in these areas must work through the delicate issues of preserving habitats centuries old and the rare species that dwell there. 

    Costs will be affected by plant site locations in order to avoid distracting from or damaging the ecosystems where efforts are made to gain the greatest access and benefit from geothermal reservoirs.  Transmission lines will have to be planned to avoid similar ecological destruction as they carry this power source from the generator station to the distribution sources.  Further environmental damage can also result from the type of extraction process used.

    In the process of taking geothermal steam or hot water and converting it into electricity, some waste products will be created.  How much and what kind depends on the method used.  There is the more expensive “closed looped” system that contains pretty much all of the gases and fluids it extracts from a well and re-injects them after it removes the heat.  Essentially nothing is lost.

    “Open-loop systems, on the other hand, can generate large amounts of solid wastes as well as noxious fumes. Metals, minerals, and gases leach out into the geothermal steam or hot water as it passes through the rocks. The large amounts of chemicals released when geothermal fields are tapped for commercial production can be hazardous or objectionable to people living and working nearby.” (Cool Energy: Renewable Solutions to Environmental Problems, by Michael Brower, MIT Press, 1992)

    To first time visitors at California’s The Geysers, the country’s largest geothermal development, the odor of “rotten eggs” will hit you almost instantly.  This comes from the hydrogen sulfide (H2S) that comes with the steam vented near the surface, along with elements of ammonia, methane, and carbon dioxide.  Though the CO2 that is emitted from these open-loop systems can make their way into the atmosphere they make up only 10% of the CO2 that are generated through the use of any coal-fired or oil-fired power plant. 

    Other waste issues that can occur are the result of “scrubbers”; a means to reduce air emissions.  Watery sludge high in sulfur and vanadium, a toxic substance in high concentrations, can be produced through scrubbing and needs to be managed through a costly drying process that allows this toxic mix to be transported to licensed hazardous waste sites. 

    Clearly the safer method is the closed-loop system that recycles all waste products back to their source.  Care must be taken however to inject this waste by-product “well below fresh water aquifers to make certain that there is no communication between the usable water and waste-water strata. Leaks in the well casing at shallow depths must also be prevented.” (Ibid)

    Water conservation can be an issue also with developing geothermal sites.  It requires tons of water for cooling and other purposes to operate a geothermal power plant.  Limited resources of water in a given area could be the single biggest environmental concern when it comes to a decision of where geothermal wells can be dug.

    Though faced with these environmental conflicts, geothermal energy is still environmentally much safer and cleaner than extracting coal and oil.  It is not only a source of job creation but one where worker safety is more pronounced.  It is an abundant resource and unlike solar and wind, it is a renewable source of energy that is constant.  With careful and thoughtful planning the prospects for adding geothermal energy to the nation’s often-stretched electrical grid will put us that much closer to lowering our carbon footprint and ending our dependence on foreign oil.

    
    

    RESOURCES:

    Environmental Impacts of Renewable Energy Technologies

    NRDC - Geothermal Info

    Source: http://www.helium.com/items/1919200-environmental-concerns-about-the-use-of-geothermal-energy

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• Going Green Tips: 5 More Easy Going Green Tips: 5 More Easy Things to Do At Home

  • From: arboinks
  • Description:

    Eco friendly living, sometimes also referred to as going green, is a growing trend in the United States and around the world.  People are becoming more conscious of the negative impact that our daily actions and choices can have on the environment around us.  If you want to participate in the movement to go green, but aren’t quite sure where to get started, then this article is for you!  Read on to learn about five easy things you can start doing at home today to make a real difference in the world around you.

    1.  Compost.  Composting is a great way to send less waste to the landfill.  Furthermore, compost is the best possible fertilizer you can add to your plants.  Compost bins are readily available for purchase through internet and catalog stores.  Stop throwing away those yard clippings and food scraps, and put them to good use in a compost bin instead.

    2.  Plant a vegetable garden.  Produce purchased at many grocery stores has traveled hundreds, if not thousands of miles to get to your dinner table.  Growing your own produce at home is not only eco friendly, but it will save you a lot of money, too.  For every invested in planting a vegetable garden, you’ll reap an average of -5 in fresh produce.  Your vegetable garden is also a great way to use the compost you’ll be making with your new compost bin!

    3.  Install a programmable thermostat.  These thermostats will automatically adjust the temperature up or down when you’re asleep or away from home.  They are inexpensive, can be easily found at most hardware stores, and can save you as much as 10% on your heating and cooling costs.

    4.  Turn off the lights.  This is such an easy way to save energy, and yet so easy to forget to do.  A lot of energy is wasted every year when we leave lights on in rooms after we’ve left.  Making a conscious effort to always turn out the lights will not only save energy, it will save you money, too.

    5.  Install low flush toilets and low flow shower heads.  A huge amount of water that is used in U.S. households goes down the drain in the bathroom.  Low flow shower heads will cost you less than each, and will save thousands of gallons of water every year.  Furthermore, low flush toilets can save as much as 3 to 5 gallons per flush!  Multiply that by the number of people in your household, assuming each person flushes several times per day, and the water savings will really begin to add up.  For an even more ecological option, next time you need to replace a toilet, consider installing a composting toilet instead.  These toilets cost more up front, but many of them use no water at all, so the savings in the long run can be huge.

    Going green is something that every American household can take part in, even if we just choose a few simple things to participate in.  Remember, eco friendly living habits are learned young, so get your kids involved now; they’ll be learning things that will stay with them for a lifetime.  With just a few easy steps and changes every day, we can all save some water or electricity, and start impacting the environment in a positive way!

    For more information on waterless toilets and how they can save you money, visit The Composting Toilet Store at http://www.composting-toilet-store.com/Compost_Toilets_s/34.htm

    WatchMojo.com presents… Some tips and suggestions for going green and doing your part to save the environment.

    Source: http://greeneasy.net/

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• Renewable Energy Fair is Aug. Renewable Energy Fair is Aug. 7-8 at the Ogle County Fairgrounds

  • From: arboinks
  • Description:

    

    Students of Elgin Community College’s energy management program will bring “Destination: Green,” an 18-wheeled semi-truck classroom powered by wind turbines and solar panels, to the Illinois Renewable Energy and Sustainable Lifestyle Fair on Saturday, Aug. 7 and Sunday, Aug. 8 at the Ogle County Fairgrounds. Photo supplied

     

    Students of Elgin Community College’s energy management program will arrive at Ogle County Fairgrounds in grand fashion for the Ninth Annual Illinois Renewable Energy and Sustainable Lifestyle Fair on Saturday, Aug. 7 and Sunday, Aug. 8
    
    They will be traveling in “Destination: Green,” an 18-wheeled semi-truck classroom powered by wind turbines and solar panels.
    
    Students use power outlets inside and outside the trailer to demonstrate their renewable energy projects.
    
    The students will speak on Saturday, Aug. 7 about the viability of home heating solar systems and will present a homemade solar heating system that they designed, built and installed.
    
    Destination: Green will be among the more than 100 exhibitors and 60 workshops featured at the event.
    
    Fair organizer Robert Vogl, Oregon, said the three keynote speakers will be a highlight of the event.
    
    Dave Rollo from the University of Indiana will talk about ways to cope with rising oil prices.
    
    "What they're doing is developing a plan to respond on a community level if oil supplies get tight and very expensive," Vogl said.
    
    Keynote speakers will be:
    
    • Howard Latin, Professor, Rutgers Law School, Newark, N.J., speaking on International Negotiations Stalemate on Global warming on Saturday, Aug. 7 from 12 to 1 p.m.
    
    • Dave Rollo, Bloomington, Ind. speaking on Peak Oil: The Community Response on Reaching a Fundamental Ecological Limit on Saturday, Aug. 7 from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
    
    • William Miller, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tenn. speaking on Testing
    Energy Efficiency of Building Materials and Designs on Sunday, Aug. 8 from 12 to 1 p.m.
    
    Nearly 60 additional speakers will fill out the program of six concurrent speakers each hour for both days.
    
    Renewable energy installations, government programs, do-it-yourself workshops and personal experiences will be addressed.
    
    Many new topics will be offered, including home efficiency improvements, “new” yet ancient building techniques, growing and preserving vegetables, handicrafts and finding green
    careers.
    
    More than 100 exhibitors will address the many aspects of renewable energy and sustainable lifestyles.
    
    "Something for everyone is offered - from technology experts to seekers for natural home products," said Vogl. "The fair is an excellent opportunity to meet others with similar interests and enjoy informed conversation.
    
    "Visitors may chat with PV, wind, geothermal, biomass and other renewable energy installers," he said.
    
    Energy efficient transportation options will also be presented and natural living products, native plants and crafts will be for sale.
    
    Events for children including making solar ovens and building with cob as well as camping and a wide variety of foods are available, making it a family friendly event.
    
    Field trips to selected energy efficient homes will be offered on Saturday and Sunday evenings.
    
    Major sponsors are the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the Rock River Times, ComEd and Clean Line Energy Partners.
    
    The workshop schedule, exhibitors, field trips, sponsors and special events are posted on IREA’s web site at www.illinoisrenew.org.

    Source: http://www.oglecountynews.com/

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• Robotic Storage Facility Prote Robotic Storage Facility Protects Exotic Collectibles with Onset Wireless Environmental Sensors

  • From: ashleysoon
  • Description:

    

    BOURNE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--When your primary worker is a 70-ton robot, you try your best to stay out of its way. Such is the case at RoboVault, an ultra-modern, high-tech storage facility in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which uses the largest and tallest robotic crane in the United States to move exotic vehicles and other precious items that it houses for clients worldwide. Items are stored a minimum of 30 feet above sea level in an area of the warehouse where there is no human access – there are no staircases or elevators to the storage floors.

    “When there is a hurricane in Florida, this is the safest place for us and our families to be. We do not vacate, but stay here and ensure the security of the stored items”

    Since the facility also stores rare paintings, historic documents, vintage wine, antiques, forensic evidence, sports memorabilia and other climate-sensitive items, RoboVault carefully monitors the humidity and temperature within its hurricane-proof walls. But each time a human enters the vault to check environmental readings, the automated robot must halt its work to ensure safety.

    To put an end to this disruptive practice, RoboVault recently installed wireless environmental sensors from Massachusetts-based Onset Computer Corp. to measure the climate at the self-storage facility. With the new sensors – Onset’s HOBO^® ZW Series – RoboVault employees can now see in real time any changes that occur in temperature or humidity, without having to enter the vault, because the remote network of data nodes sends the climate information wirelessly to an office computer.

    “We need to maintain climatic conditions that are conducive for the longevity of items that are rare and valuable,” said Marvin Chaney, RoboVault’s president and chief operating officer. “So we have to ensure on a daily basis that there are no issues with our climate control systems. Transmitting the data to our office is so much more convenient than sending a person down to check temperature and humidity manually every day.”

    In addition to monitoring temperature and relative humidity, the wireless data logger devices can accommodate sensors that measure air conditioning voltage, amperage, kilowatts, kilowatt hours, gauge pressure, and more. One network can support up to 100 data nodes, creating a self-healing system that can monitor many different points. Thus, the data nodes are ideal for storage facilities, museums and office buildings.

    RoboVault placed its data nodes throughout the 155,000 square foot storage facility to monitor the environment in special modules for wine, vehicles, and other items as well as safe deposit boxes. The data system allows RoboVault to make sure the building maintains a museum quality climate of 72 degrees Fahrenheit with humidity around 50 percent. In its wine storage units, the temperature is 55 degrees with humidity levels of between 68 and 70 percent.

    The wireless data nodes work together in a wireless network to send logged data automatically to a remote computer at regular intervals. This provides greater convenience than conventional, standalone data loggers, which must be retrieved so the collected environmental data can be manually offloaded onto a computer.

    The data nodes come with advanced software for managing the sensor network, called HOBOnode™ Manager. The software allows RoboVault to view the data and plot it to analyze trends in interior climate change.

    As an extra level of assurance, RoboVault has configured the data nodes with alarm settings that will notify employees via email or text messaging if temperature or humidity levels fluctuate beyond levels the company prescribes.

    “The wireless data nodes are new but functioning nicely so far in our warehouse. It has been interesting to see the fluctuations from daytime to nighttime – just a couple of degrees. I set the parameters to alarm when a change of one degree happened and was alerted. It has given us another level of comfort that in the event of significant atmospheric change in the warehouse, we will be alerted immediately,” said Matt Pici, RoboVault’s director of business development.

    For security and convenience, the facility keeps human entry to a minimum. The robotic crane and rail system delivers possessions out of the facility. Clients activate the process by first entering a personal PIN into a kiosk built into the advanced security system, which uses biometrics, motion sensors, photoelectric beams, door contacts, networked closed circuit televisions and card access.

    The facility was built to protect its contents not only from wily thieves, but also Category 5 hurricanes with 200 mph winds. “When there is a hurricane in Florida, this is the safest place for us and our families to be. We do not vacate, but stay here and ensure the security of the stored items,” Chaney said.

    Chaney conceived RoboVault after two decades in the storage business and study of robotic parking in Europe. The Onset^® data nodes are his latest high tech addition to make the facility a one-of-a-kind structure that engenders worry-free storage of valuable possessions.

    ABOUT ONSET

    Onset is the world’s leading supplier of data loggers. The company’s HOBO data logger and weather station products are used around the world in a broad range of applications, including building energy performance monitoring, water resources management, and ecological and agricultural research. Based on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Onset has sold more than 1.5 million data loggers since the company’s founding in 1981. Visit Onset on the web at http://www.onsetcomp.com.

    ABOUT ROBOVAULT

    RoboVault is the world’s premier provider of climate controlled high security storage for fine art, antiques, collectibles, exotic cars, fine furnishings, wine, business and forensic property or smaller items such as jewelry, precious metals, currency or important documents. Visit RoboVault online at http://www.robovault.com.

    Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6384383&lang=en

    Original Source: http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100803007307&newsLang=en

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• Energy efficient TVs save mone Energy efficient TVs save money

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:

    Considerable differences between savings potentials

     

    Consumer electronics are increasingly focusing on the issue of energy efficiency. On a European level, the EU Commission is intending to introduce energy labels for televisions by 2011 at the latest. Depending on their size, the manufacturer and the technology, televisions in particular offer considerable savings potentials for consumers.

    The size of the TV screen is the most important criterion for TV power consumption. In Germany from January to May 2010, the average power consumption specified by manufacturers of LCD flat screen televisions was 123 watts for a 32 inch/81cm screen. For a 42in/107cm screen size this figure increases to 187 watts, and 47in/120cm TVs consume 235 watts.

    In the longer term, a considerable difference is evident if a TV is switched on for an average of four hours per day and left in standby mode for the rest of the time. A 32 inch/81cm TV consumes 179 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year compared to 342 kWh by a 47in/120cm model. This equates to CO₂ emissions of 100kg per year for the smaller model and 200kg for the larger screen size. In addition to ecological aspects, consumers will also be interested in the economic advantages. Over the course of a year, a 32 inch/81cm TV generates a saving of around half the electricity cost of a 47in/120cm model.

    Energy consumption varies according to manufacturer

    There are also major differences according to the model and manufacturer among televisions in the same screen size category. The average power consumption of a 32 inch /81cm flat screen TV varies considerably between the top 10 manufacturers. The most energy efficient televisions only consume around 75 watts, which is half the electricity of those with the highest consumption of 151 watts. Over a seven-year service life, electricity costs therefore differ by almost EUR 200, which can certainly compensate the higher cost of acquisition.

    Saving electricity with LED technology Technical innovations have contributed to the significantly lower electricity requirements of televisions today. LED technology, in which light diodes provide a uniform backlight source, has also played a major part in this change. This technology reduces the energy consumption of a 32 inch /81cm TV by around 30%. However, here, too, energy efficiency can vary by as much as 50% depending on the manufacturer. The average price of a TV with LED technology is currently around EUR 720, which is approximately EUR 190 more than the cost of other devices. However, if the total average service life is taken into account, the difference between the flat screen technologies falls to just under €80 (about R765).

    The survey

    Energy Efficiency Tracking is a market analysis conducted by GfK Retail and Technology. As part of the retail panel, the published power consumption data of products in the consumer electronics, IT and major household appliance segments is continually compiled and monthly reports configured. The evaluation identifies the differences in energy efficiency between different products, models and manufacturers. The latest analysis is based on data from January to May 2010.

    Source: GfK

    Thumbnail caption: The more efficient a TV set, the smaller its carbon footprint. (Image: Benutzer: Stilfehler, via Wikipedia Commons)

     

    Source : http://www.questinteractive.co.za/

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• Ecohome Improvement, Inc. to O Ecohome Improvement, Inc. to Offer ClearLite®'s ArmorLite® A Safer CFL™ Product Line

  • From: dyepoy05
  • Description:

    BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Clear-Lite Holdings, Inc. (“ClearLite”) (OTCBB: CLRH), a leading innovator of eco-friendly lighting and the appreciably safer ArmorLite® CFL, announced that its line of ArmorLite® A Safer CFL™ product line will soon be offered on www.ecohomeimprovement.com, an ecommerce site that offers ecological and healthy home improvement products.

    “We at Ecohome Improvement are very happy to start offering ClearLite’s novel ArmorLite CFL bulbs to our customers. The ArmorLite CFL bulb is the perfect answer to our quest for a safe, healthy, and energy-efficient light source, without the inherent risks of mercury exposure”

    Based in Berkeley, California, Ecohome Improvement, Inc. offers ecological and healthy home improvement products that are inspired by innovation, driven by sustainability and enhanced by the Ecohome experience. For more information, please visit: http://www.ecohomeimprovement.com

    “We at Ecohome Improvement are very happy to start offering ClearLite’s novel ArmorLite CFL bulbs to our customers. The ArmorLite CFL bulb is the perfect answer to our quest for a safe, healthy, and energy-efficient light source, without the inherent risks of mercury exposure," said Nina Boeddeker and Taja di Leonardi, owners of Ecohome Improvement. "Ecohome Improvement has always been committed to the highest standards in environmentally friendly and non-toxic product selection, and ClearLite’s new CFL technology is an obvious match for us and our customers."

    "Ecohome Improvement is a leading retailer for environmentally responsible and healthy building products in the San Francisco Bay Area. We carry everything from paint to flooring, from cabinetry to countertops and tiles, stains, sealers, plaster and much more. We have been serving our customers with ecological products, meaningful advice, and fair prices, since 2005. Our services include design as well as installation, and we offer full project management as well.” added Boeddeker.

    "Our ArmorLite product line is grabbing the attention of many environmentally responsible companies that are looking for innovative, earth-friendly, energy-saving products to offer to their customers," said Thomas Irvine, president and CEO of ClearLite. "Ecohome Improvement is a great example of an ecommerce enterprise that understands there is not only a need for 'greener' and more energy-efficient products, but more importantly the need for safer products for your family, at home and at work."

    ClearLite constantly embraces innovation; its cutting-edge products are focused on earth-friendly, energy-saving “natural” lighting. ClearLite offers a wide range of green lighting solutions for both retail and commercial clients and offers A Safer CFL™, the patent-pending ArmorLite SAFETY ECO CFL™.

    About Clear-Lite Holdings, Inc.

    Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, Clear-Lite Holdings, Inc. is a leading innovator of cutting-edge, eco-friendly CFLs, lamps, and commercial lighting products. The Company’s current line of CFLs are Energy Star® qualified and designed to meet RoHS standards (Reduction of Hazardous Substances), as well as UL approved in the US and Canada. In addition, ClearLite’s newest offering of a patent pending technology called ArmorLite® SAFETY ECO CFL™ helps capture broken glass and mercury, which is becoming a concern with many. ClearLite® has strategic partnerships with major global manufacturers and has established cost-effective sales and logistics channels with offices in Florida, Illinois, California and Canada.

    For additional information, please visit ClearLite’s corporate website: http://www.ClearLite.com

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Pursuant to The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements in this press release that relate to the Company's expectations with regard to the future impact on the Company's results from new products in development are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. Words such as "expects", "intends", "plans", "may", "could", "should", "anticipates", "likely", "believes" and words of similar import also identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current facts and analyses and other information that are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determined and assumptions of management. Readers are urged not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond our control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. We assume no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements in order to reflect any event or circumstance that may arise after the date of this release, even if new information becomes available in the future. Additional information on risks and other factors that may affect the business and financial results of Clear-Lite Holdings, Inc. can be found in the filings of Clear-Lite Holdings, Inc. with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

    Source: http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100720006387&newsLang=en

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• 10 ways vegetarianism can help 10 ways vegetarianism can help save the planet

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:
    
    
    

    
    

    If we really want to reduce the human impact on the environment, the simplest and cheapest thing anyone can do is to eat less meat. Behind most of the joints of beef or chicken on our plates is a phenomenally wasteful, land- and energy-hungry system of farming that devastates forests, pollutes oceans, rivers, seas and air, depends on oil and coal, and is significantly responsible for climate change. The way we breed animals is now recognised by the UN, scientists, economists and politicians as giving rise to many interlinked human and ecological problems, but with 1 billion people already not having enough to eat and 3 billion more mouths to feed within 50 years, the urgency to rethink our relationship with animals is extreme.

    1 Overheating the planet

    We humans eat about 230m tonnes of animals a year, twice as much as we did 30 years ago. We mostly breed four species – chickens, cows, sheep and pigs – all of which need vast amounts of food and water, emit methane and other greenhouse gases and produce mountains of physical waste.

    But how much stress does our meat-eating put on ecological systems? The answer is a lot but the figures are imprecise and disputed. In 2006, the UN calculated that the combined climate change emissions of animals bred for their meat were about 18% of the global total – more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together.

    The authors of the report, called Livestock's Long Shadow, did not just count the methane from the belching, farting cattle, but the gases released from the manures that they produce, the oil burned taking their carcasses to markets often thousands of miles away, the electricity needed to keep the meat cool, the gas used to cook it, the energy needed to plough and harvest the fields that grow the crops that the animals eat, even pumping the water that the cattle need.

    The figure was revised upward in 2009 by two World Bank scientists to more than 51%, but attempts to fully account for meat-eating are condemned as simplistic. Should the studies have been based on giant US factory farms, or on more sustainable breeding in Europe? Should you include all the knock-on emissions from clearing forests? What about the fertiliser used to grow the crops to feed to the animals, or the emissions from the steel needed to build the boats that transport the cattle; or the "default" emissions – the greenhouse gases that would be released by substitute activities to grow food if we were to give up meat? And is it fair to count animals used for multiple purposes, as they mostly are in developing countries, from providing draught power to shoe leather or transport, and which only become meat once they reach the end of their economic lives?

    It's an accounting nightmare but depending on how it's done, livestock's contribution to climate change can be calculated as low as 5-10% of global emissions or as high as 50%. Last year, a Food Climate Research Network report concluded that UK meat and dairy consumption was responsible for 8% of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions. But however it's counted, livestock farming ranks as one of the three greatest sources of climate changing emissions and one of the largest contributors to environmental degradation.

    2 Eating up land

    A human population expected to grow by 3 billion, a shift in developing countries to eating more meat, and global consumption on track to double in 40 years point to the mother of all food crises down the road. How much food we grow is not just limited by the amount of available land but meat-eaters need far more space than vegetarians. A Bangladeshi family living off rice, beans, vegetables and fruit may live on an acre of land or less, while the average American, who consumes around 270 pounds of meat a year, needs 20 times that.

    Nearly 30% of the available ice-free surface area of the planet is now used by livestock, or for growing food for those animals. One billion people go hungry every day, but livestock now consumes the majority of the world's crops. A Cornell University study in 1997 found that around 13m hectares of land in the US were used to grow vegetables, rice, fruit, potatoes and beans, but 302m were used for livestock. The problem is that farm animals are inefficient converters of food to flesh. Broiler chickens are the best, needing around 3.4kg to produce 1kg of flesh, but pigs need 8.4kg for that kilo.

    Other academics have calculated that if the grain fed to animals in western countries were consumed directly by people instead of animals, we could feed at least twice as many people – and possibly far more – as we do now.

    To make matters worse, our hunger to eat animals has led to overstocking of fragile lands and massive soil erosion and desertification. Overgrazing, from the downlands of southern England to the uplands of Ethiopia and mountains of Nepal, causes great loss of fertility, as well as flooding.

    But the figures must be treated with caution. Animal manures can revitalise the soil and millions of animals live on marginal land that is quite unsuitable for crops.

    But before we leap to conclusions and lump all livestock rearing together, consider this: in western countries animals are bred and reared to put on as much meat as possible in the shortest time after which they are slaughtered. But in poorer regions, cattle – especially in dry areas – are central to human life and culture and often the only source of food and income for many millions of pastoralists. The ceaseless movement of these nomadic herders over vast areas is the backbone of many African economies and, a major new study from the International Institute for Environment and Development suggests, a far more ecologically efficient method of farming than the way cattle are reared in Australia or the US.

    3 Drinking too much water

    Eat a steak or a chicken and you are effectively consuming the water that the animal has needed to live and grow. Vegetarian author John Robbins calculates it takes 60, 108, 168, and 229 pounds of water to produce one pound of potatoes, wheat, maize and rice respectively. But a pound of beef needs around 9,000 litres – or more than 20,000lbs of water. Equally, it takes nearly 1,000 litres of water to produce one litre of milk. A broiler chicken, by contrast, is far more efficient, producing the same amount of meat as a cow on just 1,500 litres.

    Pigs are some of the thirstiest animals. An average-sized north American pig farm with 80,000 pigs needs nearly 75m gallons of fresh water a year. A large one, which might have one million or more pigs, may need as much as a city.

    Farming, which uses 70% of water available to humans, is already in direct competition for water with cities. But as demand for meat increases, so there will be less available for both crops and drinking. Rich but water-stressed countries such as Saudi Arabia, Libya, the Gulf states and South Africa say it makes sense to grow food in poorer countries to conserve their water resources, and are now buying or leasing millions of hectares of Ethiopia and elsewhere to provide their food. Every cow fattened in Gambella state in southern Ethiopia and exported to Abu Dhabi or Britain is taking the pressure off water supplies back home but increasing it elsewhere.

    4 Causing deforestation

    Global agribusiness has for 30 years turned to tropical rainforests – not for their timber but for the land that can be used to graze cattle or grow palm oil and soya. Millions of hectares of trees have been felled to provide burgers for the US and more recently animal feed for farms for Europe, China and Japan.

    In its latest food report What's Feeding Our Food? Friends of the Earth estimates that around 6m hectares of forest land a year – an area equivalent to Latvia or twice the size of Belgium – and a similar acreage of peat and wetlands elsewhere, is converted to farmland a year. Of that, it says, most goes to livestock or to grow the crops to feed the cattle.

    As soya becomes the world's major crop for chicken feed, so the industry is driving cattle ranching deeper into the forests.

    5 Poisoning the earth

    Industrial-scale agriculture now dominates the western livestock and poultry industries, and a single farm can now generate as much waste as a city. A cow excretes around 40kg of manure for every kilogram of edible beef it puts on and when you have many thousands crowded into a small area the effect can be dramatic. Their manure and urine is funnelled into massive waste lagoons sometimes holding as many as 40m gallons. These cesspools often break, leak or overflow, polluting underground water supplies and rivers with nitrogen, phosphorus and nitrates.

    Tens of thousands of miles of rivers in the US, Europe and Asia are polluted each year. A single spill of millions of gallons of waste from a North Carolina pig factory lagoon in 1995 killed about 10 million fish and forced the closure of 364,000 acres of coastal wetlands to shellfishing.

    The sheer quantity of animals now being raised for humans to eat now threatens the earth's biodiversity. More than one third of the world's 825 "ecoregions" identified by conservation group WWF are said to be threatened by livestock and giant US group Conservation International reckons that 23 out of 40-odd global "biodiversity hotspots" – the places considered most valuable for life – are now seriously affected by livestock production.

    6 Spoiling the oceans

    The present oil pollution disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is not the only problem that the region faces. Most summers between 13,000-20,000 sq km of sea at the mouth of the Mississippi become a "dead zone", caused when vast quantities of excess nutrients from animal waste, factory farms, sewage, nitrogen compounds and fertiliser are swept down the mighty river. This causes algal blooms which take up all the oxygen in the water to the point where little can live.

    Nearly 400 dead zones ranging in size from one to over 70,000sq km have now been identified, from the Scandinavian fjords to the South China Sea. Animal farming is not the only culprit, but it is one of the worst.

    7 Ruining the air

    Anyone who has lived close to a large factory farm knows the smells can be extreme. Aside from greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide, cows and pigs produce many other polluting gases. Global figures are unavailable but in the US, livestock and animal feed crops are responsible for 37% of pesticide use, more than half of all the antibiotics manufactured and a third of the nitrogen and phosphorous in fresh water. Nearly two thirds of the manmade ammonia – a major contributor to acid rain – is also generated by livestock. In addition, concentrated factory farming of animals contributes to ozone pollution.

    8 Making us prone to disease

    Animal waste contains many pathogens including salmonella, E coli, cryptosporidium, and fecal coliform, which can transfer to humans through water run-off or manure or touch. In addition, millions of pounds of antibiotics is added to animal feed a year to speed the growth of cattle. But this contributes to the rise of resistant bacteria, and so makes it harder to treat human illnesses.

    9 Draining the world's oil

    The western animal farming economy is based on oil, which is why there were food riots in 23 countries when the oil price peaked in 2008. Every link in the chain of events that brings meat to the table demands electricity, from the production of the fertiliser put on the land to grow the animal feed, to pumping the water they need from the rivers or deep underground, to the fuel needed to transport the meat in giant refrigerated ships and the supermarket shelves. According to some studies, as much as one-third of all fossil fuels produced in the United States now go towards animal agriculture.

    10 Meat's costly, in many ways

    Polls suggest that 5-6% of the population eats no meat at all, with many millions of others consciously reducing the amount of meat they eat or only eating it occasionally. This is backed by new government figures which show that last year we ate 5% less meat by weight than in 2005.

    But the quantities are still staggering: according to the Vegetarian Society, the average British carnivore eats over 11,000 animals in a lifetime: 1 goose, 1 rabbit, 4 cattle, 18 pigs, 23 sheep and lambs, 28 ducks, 39 turkeys, 1,158 chickens, 3,593 shellfish and 6,182 fish.

    For this, say the vegetarians, the meat eaters get increased chances of obesity, cancers, heart diseases and other illnesses as well as a hole in the pocket. A meat diet is generally considered twice as expensive as a vegetarian one.

    Source : http://www.guardian.co.uk/

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• Wind-Powered Memorial Park Env Wind-Powered Memorial Park Envisioned For Turkey

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:

    

    We just saw this beautiful concept for a memorial park in Turkey at ArchDaily and were very excited to see a number of small-scale wind turbines incorporated into the lawn of the park. Designed by Turkish firm 1/1 Architecture, the “Murat Gunduz July 2nd Canlar Memorial Park” won 2nd prize in a national design competition. Compared to the 1st prize winner, we definitely prefer 1/1 Architecture’s concept, especially considering their inclusion of wind energy and their ecologically-sound design for the monument square.

    

    The national design competition was held to find a plan for the Murat Gunduz – July 2nd Canlar Memorial Park in Sivas, Turkey. The design is focused around a central monument-square, which is made up of a series of curvilinear walls with water fountains. Writing on the walls memorializes those who lost their lives during the Sivas Massacre in 1993. The Memorial Park will also serve as a culture and arts center.

    Around the monument square are native gardens, hybrid energy modules (small-scale wind turbines), an easel installation with an outdoor workshop, observation terraces, and activity meadows for cultural activities. The center, which is conceived in response to the tragic events seen as major assault on free speech and human rights in Turkey, is also centered around ecological and sustainable design.

    
    Read more: Wind-Powered Memorial Park Envisioned For Turkey | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World
    
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• Why tree planting is crucial Why tree planting is crucial

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:

    As 10/10/10 approaches, we are hearing more and more from organizers around the world who are planning work parties. In many parts of Africa, particularly along the edge of the Sahara Desert, climate change and deforestation are causing vast areas of formerly arable land to become desert, a scary development in an already poverty-stricken area. Just a few weeks ago, international donors gave $119m to build a "great green wall" to hold back the continuing desertification.

    Sometimes, it may seem like small efforts like planting a tree are insignificant. Here's a guest post from Landry Ninteretse, who works with school groups in Uganda and Burundi, on the importance of planting trees and forests. Also, don't forget to register your 10/10 tree-planting work party -- and check out our easy how-to guide for tree planting.

    

    While lecturing in secondary schools on climate change, we strongly encourage students not only to protect existing forests and woodlots but also to plant more trees in their school premises, homes and communities.

    Once could argue:’’ Is tree planting so important?’’ Absolutely. Unfortunately, the whole value of trees and forest is till now not well understood by people, especially those relying on natural resources for their daily survival. Many people use trees to get firewood and charcoal for cooking, to obtain poles to fence their properties. Trees are also used as building materials and provide employment opportunities in carpentry and furniture.

    However, the value of trees goes beyond that. There are number of ecological services we get from trees without realizing it. Forests are home to different types of animals and plants. They protect water catchment areas by acting as filters for run off hence contributing to the sustenance of ground water system. Forests are source of basic ingredient for medicines used to treat diseases. They cover land to prevent soil erosion and land slides and acts as wind breakers.

    Regarding climate change, forests are very critical as they act as carbon sinks by absorbing carbon dioxide. More trees mean more carbon dioxide absorbed and more oxygen produced through photosynthesis and hence moderates the greenhouse effect responsible of global warming.

    When we fully understand this importance of forest to human kind and its well being, we must act. Protect existing forests becomes a duty for everybody. Better, we realize as ordinary citizens, we can play a role in mitigating global warming. If each citizen on this planet commits to plant a least one tree per year, the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed will be considerable. Encouraging such initiative and well as the use of clean energy worldwide is definitively the solution to overcome the current climate crisis.

     Source : http://www.350.org/
    
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