North American Environmental News

CANADA — Ontario Bans Lawn and Garden Pesticides

Canada has proven once again that it is way ahead of the rest of world with its progressive government. Ontario has banned the use and sale of lawn and garden pesticides for homeowners. Quebec instituted a similar ban on 20 some pesticide products back in 2006.

The new ban is set to take effect by spring of 2009. Home Depot has already agreed to stop selling the pesticides by the end of 2008! This is a huge victory for anti-toxic supporters all over the continent. If only someone in the United States government could take such affirmative action we could all be spared. Ontario will basically phase out some 80 different chemicals and over 300 products that contain them.

Continue reading this article at the Environmental Blog. Join the discussion about this article at Care2.

South American Environmental News

CHILE — Thousands evacuated as Chile volcano spews ash

Chilean authorities were evacuating the last of thousands of residents from the vicinity of a volcano in southern Chile on Saturday, as it continued to spew fine ash for a second day after a surprise eruption.

More than 4,000 people have been evacuated from the Patagonian town of Chaiten and its surroundings since Friday, many by boat to the town of Castro on the island of Chiloe, slightly further north and Puerto Montt on the mainland.

Continue reading this article at Reuters. Join the discussion of this article at Stumble Upon. Via ENN.

BELIZE — Environmental NGO’s partner to promote organic cacao and ‘Race against Fire’

Fauna and Flaura Insternational’s partner in Belize, the Ya’axché Conservation Trust (YCT), recently held several educational events to support their efforts to conserve the Golden Stream Watershed, one of Central America’s most important stretches of rainforest.

YCT’s agroforestry training programme is designed to encourage local people to manage their forests in an eco-friendly way and consider options for more sustainable livelihoods. In the recent events, men and women from three rural Maya communities in Belize learned new skills in harvesting, fermenting, and drying organic cacao, in a bid to lessen their impact on the fragile forest habitat.

Continue reading this article at Fauna and Flora International. Join the discussion of this article at Care2.

CUBA — Cuba puts first computers on sale to the public

Cubans are getting wired. The island’s communist government put desktop computers on sale to the public for the first time Friday, ending a ban on PC sales as another despised restriction on daily life fell away under new President Raul Castro.

A tower-style QTECH PC and monitor costs nearly US$780 (euro505). While few Cubans can afford that, dozens still gawked outside a tiny Havana electronics store, crowding every inch of its large glass windows and leaving finger and nose prints behind.

Continue reading this article at the Chicago Tribune. Join the discussion of this article at Digg.

Asian Environmental News

IRAQ — Contractors Gone Wild

Allegations of widespread mismanagement and corruption among private contractors in Iraq are nothing new; if anything, tales of cronyism, over-billing, and embezzlement have become so frequent that our national tolerance for them seems only to have increased as the Iraq War has drawn on. Even so, the testimony earlier this week of three whistleblowers before the Senate’s Democratic Policy Committee (DPC) stands out for the sheer outrageousness of their accusations—namely that U.S. private contractors looted Iraqi palaces and ministries, stole military equipment, fenced supplies destined for U.S. troops, and even operated a prostitution ring that may have contributed to the death of fellow contractor. Yet despite its focus on such salacious matters as sex and corruption, the session earned little media attention.

Continue reading this article at Mother Jones. Join the discussion about this article at Digg.

RUSSIA — The World’s Largest & Deepest Lake, 25-million-Years Old, is in Trouble

Already there has been a rise in more common water organisms in the lake—a sight that does not bode well for the lakes original inhabitants.

“We know that Siberia is one of the most rapidly warming regions of the world - the air temperature in Siberia has warmed at a rate that is about twice that of the average global rate of temperature increase. So when we approached this work with the Lake Baikal temperature data, we knew that the lake would have been exposed to a greater ambient temperature increase than lakes in other regions, but I certainly will admit to being surprised that the lake had warmed so rapidly since 1946. Why is it warming so much faster than the air?

Continue reading this article at The Daily Galaxy. Join the discussion of this article at Digg.

INDIA — “TreeCycle” Cyclist To Travel India End-to End For Pledge of 10 Million Trees

In a calorie-burning 3,900-kilometre cycle journey from one end of India to another, a man plans to raise awareness and to gather pledges to plant more trees worldwide. Cycling in the wake of the United Nation Environment Programme’s (UNEP) successful Billion Tree Campaign last year will be Shrenik Rao, creator of the TreeCycle project, CEO of a media company and an avid cyclist.

In partnering up with the UNEP, the aim of the TreeCycle campaign is to raise awareness about global warming and to raise a pledge of 10 million trees for the calories Rao will expend during the cycle ride. Though the project is already on target with pledges from six different continents and walks of life ranging from a few trees to a couple million, they are still looking for more sponsors to publicly support the effort.

Continue reading this article at TreeHugger. Join the discussion about this article at MindBodyGreen.

Oceania Environmental News

PAPAU NEW GUINEA — Papua New Guinea Admits Illegal Logging

As it is prone to do when the donors come a-calling, the Papua New Guinea (PNG) government “has admitted its forestry sector is riddled with corruption” [ark] . This occurred during aid talks with the Australian government, and reflects political posturing to access donor funds on the basis of their rainforest’s carbon holding potential. PNG contains the third largest expanse of tropical rainforests [search], though much diminished through years of heavy industrial mismangement.

Sadly there seems to be little acceptance by those pushing avoided deforestation [search] payments that to be effective, this will require an end to industrial logging of primary forests. Astonishingly, while Australia provided donor funds to PNG this week to protect its forests for carbon benefits, Australia continues to log their own primary forests [action]! To pay carbon monies for rainforest protection without ending barbaric first time logging of ancient forests would be meaningless in terms of both biodiversity and climate protection.

Continue reading this article at the Rainforest Portal. Join the discussion of this article at Care2.

European Environmental News

ESTONIA — Estonians scour country for junk in big clean up

Tens of thousands of Estonians scoured fields, streets, forests and riverbanks on Saturday to amass tonnes of rubbish in the Baltic state’s first national clean-up.

Using Google maps from the Internet and Global Positioning technology to locate junk, people collected every kind of garbage from tractor batteries to plastic bottles and paint tins and ferried it, often in their own vehicles, to central dumps.

Continue reading this article at Reuters. Join the discussion about this article at Stumble Upon. Via ENN.

Global Environmental News

Public Bike Programs Surging

A surge in public bicycle rental programs is giving cycling a shot in the arm in a growing number of cities around the world. Copenhagen, Berlin, and other municipalities in Europe have offered public bikes for several years, but Paris took the concept to a new level last year when it made 20,000 bikes available in its inaugural effort. Some 100,000 Parisians are now subscribers.

Barcelona and Lyon have also started programs in the last two years, with thousands of bikes each, and major new initiatives are planned for Rome and London. Smaller efforts have been started in Cordoba, Seville, Vienna, and other cities.

Continue reading this article at the World Watch Institute. Join the discussion of this article at Stumble Upon. Via ENN.

Following, organized by region, are the top international environmental news for during the week of April 20 - 27. See an archive of top international environmental news here.

Asia

Working the land the natural way: Organic farming in China

It’s been almost four years since the project was launched, and of the nine households who have tried organic farming, only four are still at it. The others decided it just wasn’t worth it. Organic farming requires much more labor, the yield can be half or less of that of conventional farming, and besides, hardly anyone in Chengdu is eating organic. Our stock broker-turned-farmer estimates their customer base to be only 0.01% of Chengdu’s population.

Anlong farmer Gao Shengjian believes there’s a link between the use of pesticides and fertilizers on farms and the growing incidences of various diseases among the rural population.

Source: Crossroads China. Vote for this article in social media: StumbleUpon.

China down to 12 days worth of coal

China only has enough coal for 12 days of consumption, three days less than a month ago, state media reported Wednesday, sounding the alarm bells over the nation’s most important source of energy.

In certain parts of China, such as densely populated Hebei province in the north, reserves are down to less than a week, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the China Electricity Regulatory Commission.

In the period since early March, coal reserves have slumped by 12 per cent to 46.7 million tonnes, according to the commission.

Source: News.com.au. Vote for this article in social media: Digg.

Chinese execute Tibetans

Note: The above video contains long-distance video footage of people being killed. Please watch at your own discretion. Vote for this article in social media: Digg, Care2. Get involved: Students for a Free Tibet.

Europe

Europeans using cars less

Europe generally has far better public transportation than the United States, with workers in countries like Britain, Be

Asia

Two “Extinct” Species Discovered

First there was Swinshoe’s softshell turtle, and then the Javan Elephant. Is this more commonplace than we might believe?

Frankly, no. Despite the occasional hubbub over an animal science has lost track of– say, the Coelacanth– we’ve witnessed something extraordinary. Swinshoe’s turtle was previously believed to be extinct in the wild, with only three remaining in captivity, and therefore every one of these 300-pound turtles is a critical find.

Continue reading: Environmental Graffiti. Hot in media: Stumble Upon.

Building Ban for Beijing Olympics

All building sites in Beijing will be shut three weeks before the start of the Olympic Games, as the city tries to clear its skies of pollution.

Digging, pouring of concrete and outdoor spray-painting will also be banned under plans announced by the Environmental Protection Bureau.

The move follows mounting concern that athletes may suffer from Beijing’s noxious atmosphere.

Continue reading: BBC. Hot in media: Care2 News Network.

China ‘Now Top Carbon Polluter’

China has already overtaken the US as the world’s “biggest polluter”, a report to be published next month says.

The research suggests the country’s greenhouse gas emissions have been underestimated, and probably passed those of the US in 2006-2007.

The University of California team will report their work in the Journal of Environment Economics and Management.

Continue reading: BBC. Hot in media: Digg.

South America

Amazon Tribe Enlists Google in Battle with Illegal Loggers

You may know it as Google, but in bamboo-and-thatch roundhouses deep in the Amazon rainforest the iconic brand goes by another name. The Surui people, one of the most remote on Earth, call it ragogmakan – “messenger” – and they’re banking on the search engine to save them and their ancestral lands from extinction.

The tribe – whose first contact with the modern world was less than 40 years ago – are replacing their bows and arrows with hi-tech gadgets in their battle for survival. They have already begun using satnav on their traditional trails through the trees. And Google Earth has just agreed to provide high-resolution satellite images of their forest home.

Continue Reading: The Independent. Hot in media: Digg.

GOING, GOING, GONE? New Satellite Images Reveal a Shrinking Amazon Rainforest

Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon may be on the rise, according to high-resolution images released by an agency of the Brazilian government. The images suggest an end to a widely hailed three-year decline in the rate of deforestation and have spurred a public controversy among high-level Brazilian officials, writes Tim Hirsch, author of “The Incredible Shrinking Amazon Rainforest” in the May/June 2008 issue of World Watch magazine.

Deforestation accounts for approximately one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions and is responsible for significant species loss worldwide. Recent anti-deforestation measures under the administration of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have led to a marked drop in the rate of forest loss over the past three years.

Continue reading: ENN. Take action: Petition to save the Amazon.

Africa

Dockers Refuse to Unload China Arms Shipment for Zimbabwe

South African dockers are refusing to unload a Chinese cargo ship carrying 77 tonnes of small arms destined for Zimbabwe.

The arms, including three million rounds of ammunition suitable for AK47s and 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades, were ordered by the Zimbabwean military at the time of the March 29 election – which Britain and other Western powers have accused Robert Mugabe of trying to rig.

Continue reading: Times Online. Hot in media: Digg.

Middle East

Bahrain World Trade Center Activates Wind Turbines

You may remember that about a year ago we brought you news of the Bahrain World Trade Center, which was designed to have three giant turbines provide power to the building. Well, this past Tuesday, the project was finally completed, with the final testing and installation of the enormous wind turbines which power the building. This week, Bahrain WTC has, for the first time, activated all three 29m-diameter turbines at the same time!

Continue Reading: Inhabitat. Hot in media: Digg.

North America

Canada Leads Way with Ban on Baby Bottles Containing Bisphenol A

The government announced Friday that Canada will be the first country to ban plastic baby bottles with bisphenol A after concluding the chemical is toxic.

Health Minister Tony Clement unveiled the “precautionary and prudent” move while trying to calm fears with a limited ban of the widely used chemical, also found in hard plastic sports bottles and tin cans of food and infant formula. Most Canadians “need not be concerned” about the health effects of bisphenol A, but Clement said “this is not the case for newborns and infants.”

Continue reading: The Gazette.

Europe

Biofuel Rule Will Do More Harm Than Good, Oxfam Says

U.K. fuels for cars and trucks must contain biofuels starting today, a move that may do more harm than good to the environment and drive food prices higher, charities including Oxfam and Greenpeace said.

Under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, suppliers must ensure that 2.5 percent of fuel sold at U.K. pumps consists of biofuels, which are made from crops and grasses. The requirement will rise to 5 percent by 2010. The Department for Transport says the plan will cut carbon-dioxide emissions by 2.5 million metric tons a year.

Continue reading: Bloomberg. Hot in media: Digg.

Global

Millions Of Pounds Of Trash Found On Ocean Beaches

Ocean Conservancy released its annual report on trash in the ocean with new data from the 2007 International Coastal Cleanup the most comprehensive snapshot of the harmful impacts of marine debris. The mission of Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup is to engage people to remove trash from the world’s beaches and waterways, to identify the sources of debris and to change the behaviors that cause pollution.

This year, more than 378,000 volunteers participated in cleanups around every major body of water around the globe. Volunteers record the trash found on land and underwater allowing Ocean Conservancy a global snapshot of the problem.

Continue reading: Science Daily. Hot in media: Care2 News Network.

Europe — World’s first commercial tidal turbine installed (EcoGeek)

“The world’s first commercial tidal turbine has been installed in its home in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough.

Though it has yet to be turned on, it will be the first commercial power-producing tidal generator when it is (sometime later this year). The turbine has two 16 meter-wide rotors and will be able to run for 18-20 hours a day. The turbine was installed off the coast in an area known for fast moving waters, and because the rotors will only spin 10-20 times in a minute, it is unlikely to disturb marine life.”

Source: EcoGeek. Hot in media: Digg EcoGeek, Digg TimesOnline.

Africa — Tree-Nation (Tree-Nation)

“Tree-Nation is an ecological project with a focused objective: To plant 8 million trees in Niger, Africa to fight desertification! Large-scale plantation of trees will increase the land’s productivity and re-generate the soil.

Tree-nation is an online community in which you can buy your own tree and become the guardian of a real and happy tree that we will plant in our park in Niger.

Our objective is two-fold. Primarily environmental, but also closely linked to the humanitarian aid that it will provide in the long term. The project will benefit local populations in terms of welfare, education and farming practices. And that’s not all.”

Source: Tree-Nation. Hot in media: Care2.

Middle East — 1,000 acres of giant solar mirrors to rise in Israel’s desert, finally (Solve Climate)

“After seven years of dead-end negotiations, Israel will soon turn 1,000 acres in the Negev Desert into giant solar thermal stations.

The $700 million enterprise will comprise two plants to supply 250 megawatts of power in total, equal to 2.5 percent of the nation’s electricity needs.

When the plants come online in 2011, the project will be one of the biggest concentrating solar power (CSP) operations in the world. It will be a lucrative deal for the chosen builder, and an international bidding frenzy over who gets the contract could be just around the corner.”

Source: Solve Climate. Hot in media: Digg.

Asia — Should recycling be mandatory? (EcoWorldly)

“Should recycling be a feel-good choice or a legal requirement? CNN and EcoWorldly compare recycling in South Korea and the United States of America. Take a look at some of the benefits that South Korea has reaped as a country through its successful recycling program.

See the video on CNN.”

Source: Ecoworldly, CNN. Hot in media: MindBodyGreen.

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Oceania — Man uses hedgehog as deadly weapon (Environmental Graffiti)

“A man from Wellington, New Zealand has done something that I’m certain I would never see outside of a video game: picked up a hedgehog and thrown it at another person.

William Sighalargh, apparently out of other options to express his displeasure with a 15-year old boy who was several yards away, picked up the nearby creature and heaved it, striking the victim in the leg. He has been arrested for assault with a deadly weapon - but as of yet no animal cruelty statutes have been invoked.”

Source: Environmental Graffiti. Hot in Media: Digg Environmental Graffiti, Digg BBC.

South America — Galapogos Islands go green (NECN)

“It was a tough assignment: figure out how to bring renewable energy to one of the most environmentally sensitive places on the planet. That place is the Galapagos Islands — home to a large number of rare and endangered animals. Those animals are threatened by increased tourism and a growth of island residents.

An engineer in Maine took on the challenge of saving them by bringing in wind power. Jim Tolan is back at his engineering firm in Portland, Maine, but for the last five years he’s spent much of his time working to bring wind power to the islands.”

Source: NECN. Hot in media: Care2.

South America — In Brazil, Violence Looms at the Forest Edge (ENN)

“In Mato Grosso, as in other parts of the Amazon, the rapid expansion of agriculture is triggering mounting tensions between locals and environmental authorities. Satellite imagery released in January showed that as much as 2,700 square miles (4,345 kilometers) of the massive Brazilian Amazon was cleared between August and December of 2007-about 60 percent more land than during the same five months in 2006. Experts attribute the rising deforestation to growth in global meat consumption, which is driving soybean and beef production, and to a lesser extent to the boom in biofuels, which is reportedly pushing cattle ranchers off conventional farmlands and deeper into the Amazon.”

Source: ENN. Hot in media: Care2.

North America — Canada unleashes first carbon tax in N. America (Gas 2.0)

“British Columbia will be the first in North America to institute a comprehensive carbon tax on nearly all fossil fuels. It’s a groundbreaking move that could prove the feasibility of taxing greenhouse-gas emissions.

Beginning July 1st, 2008, businesses and residents of British Columbia will be taxed $10 per metric ton of carbon emitted by fuels such as gasoline, diesel, natural gas, coal, propane, and home heating fuel. The tax will increase yearly by $5 per ton to $30 per ton in 2012, at which point the government will reevaluate the tax rate.”

Source: Gas 2.0. Hot in the media: Stumble Upon.

World — Earth in crisis, warns NASA’s top climate scientist (Physorg)

“Global warming has plunged the planet into a crisis and the fossil fuel industries are trying to hide the extent of the problem from the public, NASA’s top climate scientist says.

‘We’ve already reached the dangerous level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,’ James Hansen, 67, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, told AFP here.

‘But there are ways to solve the problem’ of heat-trapping greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, which Hansen said has reached the ‘tipping point’ of 385 parts per million.”

Source:Physorg. Hot in media: Digg.

Space — Space is full of crap (Gizmodo)

“The European Space Agency has just released images showing all the satellites and human-made debris now orbiting space as a result of 51 years of launching stuff since Sputnik. That’s about 6,000 satellites up there—of which only 800 remain operational—plus thousands of other objects from launches and accidents. According to their mindblowing simulations things are getting a lot worse:

About 50 percent of all trackable objects are due to in-orbit explosion events (about 200) or collision events (less than 10).”

Source: Gizmodo. Hot in media: Digg.

Read all weekly top international environmental news reviews.

Plus, did you know? This week, April 7, was World Health Day! It was also intercultural & anti-racism week in North and South Ireland.

1. Asia — United Nations Climate Change Talks: “Kyoto II” climate talks open in Bangkok

“The first formal talks in the long process of drawing up a replacement for the Kyoto climate change pact opened in Thailand on Monday with appeals to a common human purpose to defeat global warming.

‘The world is waiting for a solution that is long-term and economically viable,’ U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said in a video address to the 1,000 delegates from 190 nations gathered in Bangkok.

The week-long meeting stems from a breakthrough agreement in Bali last year to start negotiations to replace Kyoto, which only binds 37 rich nations to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by an average of five percent from 1990 levels by 2012.” (Source: Reuters)

Europe held a the European Climate Conference as well this week in Rovigo, Italy, “to encourage capacity-building from city to city regarding climate change.”

2. Africa — The Play Pump and the Electric See-Saw

The Play Pump is back in the headlines with an article at TreeHugger, Hybrid Merri-Go-Round Water Pump Saves Lives in Africa. EcoWorldly’s Sam Aola Ooko recently covered the Play Pump from Kenya:

“Hailed by the World Bank as ‘one of the world’s most innovative designs capable of providing self sustainable free clean water to poor communities, as well as being an effective delivery system for social messages’, the PlayPump system is a merry go round that pumps water from a ground source as children spin, and they like working hard at it.”

This Week, Sam followed up on the Play Pump concept with news of another breakthrough invention, “a see-saw that generates electricity when played on by children.” (Sources: TreeHugger via Digg; EcoWorldly Play Pump; EcoWorldly Electric See-Saw)

3. North America — $3 Billion Solar Power Deal Signed By California Utility

“Pacific Gas & Electric today will announce a deal to buy as much as 900 megawatts of electricity. It will be enough to power 540,000 California homes each year, and involve the construction of five solar power plants during the next decade. The company to build the solar-thermal power plants in the Mojave Desert is BrightSource Energy.

Building all five plants in the Mojave will cost $2 billion to $3 billion, Woolard said. The project, which faces regulatory and financing hurdles, could mean 2,000 construction jobs, and employ about 1,000 workers to operate the plants.” (Source: MetaEfficient via ENN; More Reading: LA Times)

4. Europe — New Wind Power Record in Spain: 40.8% of Total Demand!

“Last year we wrote about Spain’s wind power production record, which was 27% at the time. That seemed like a lot, but a week ago, Spain’s wind turbines produced 40.8% of total demand, or 9,862 megawatts of power.

Spain, which along with Germany and Denmark, is among the three biggest producers of wind power in the European Union, is aiming to triple the amount of energy it derives from renewable sources by 2020.

Spain’s wind power industry currently enjoys a 30% annual growth rate.” (Source: TreeHugger via Reddit)

5. Australia — Farmers Invest In Diesel-Producing Trees

“Farmers in Northern Queensland, Australia, are investigating another approach to producing renewable fuel: growing diesel trees. As weird as that sounds, it’s real, and it isn’t a scientific breakthrough. We’ve actually known about the trees for over 300 years.

As Treehugger reported earlier this week, farmers in the more tropical region Queensland purchased about 20,000 Brazilian diesel trees, or Copaifera langsdorfii, with the intention of having a living oil-mine in 15 years. According to Purdue University, a 100 acre plot of trees could produce about 25 barrels of oil per year.” (Source: Gas 2.0)

This week also witnessed the Fourth Annual Biofuels Americas Conference and Expo in Mexico City.

6. South America — Prefab: Residencia RR Sustainable Style in São Paulo

“Just off the Brazilian coast in São Paulo, architect Andrade Morettin has created Residencia RR - a stunning summer abode nestled amidst the dense vegetation and semi-tropical, hot, humid climate of Itamambuca in the state’s north coast. Responding to the local environment, House RR is selectively protected from and open to the elements. Under a primary “shell” the home shelters from intense sun and rains but allows much desired natural cross-ventilation to permeate through living spaces. With prefabricated components and an elevated foundation, the construction sits lightly on its site with a low ecological impact.” (Source: Inhabitat via MindBodyGreen)

7. Asia — Olympic Commission Says Air Quality at Beijing Games Can Cause Athletes Health Damage

“Olympic Commission Says Air Quality at Beijing Games Can Cause Athletes Health Damage. More news from the Olympic drama in Beijing. While Beijing has stated that they plan to take half of its 3.5 million cars off the roads and partially shut down industry in the capital and surrounding provinces for two months for the Olympics (to improve air quality), concerns continue that no shut down will do enough to allow for athletes to safely compete.

In the most recent turn of events, just yesterday, Hein Verbruggen (Chairman of the IOC coordination commission) said that there is a chance that athletes involved in endurance events can suffer health damage if they partook in the events for longer than an hour.” (Source: The LOHASIAN)

8. South America — Patagonia’s Pascua River Threatened By Massive Dam Project

“Few people in the world have ever seen the pristine, 62-kilometer Pascua, which until as recently as 1898 was completely unknown to European settlers. Nor is the river completely anonymous, thanks to a controversial hydroelectric project being planned by Endesa, a Spanish-Italian enterprise, and Colbún, a Chilean energy company owned by the influential Matte family.

Via a joint entity called HidroAysén, the two companies look to build five massive dams in Aysén (Region XI) that would together generate some 2,750 MW of electricity – roughly equivalent to 20 percent of Chile’s current overall generating capacity. Three of those dams are slated for the Pascua. The other two would be built along the Baker River, Chile’s most voluminous, which is located farther north” (Source: Toward Freedom via Care2.)

9. World — Indigenous people should be involved in climate policy

“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report published in early 2007 confirmed that global climate change is already happening. The report found that communities who live in marginal lands and whose livelihoods are highly dependent on natural resources are among the most vulnerable to climate change. Many indigenous and traditional peoples who have been pushed to the least fertile and most fragile lands as a consequence of historical, social, political and economic exclusion are among those who are at greatest risk.

On the other hand, people living in marginal lands have long been exposed to many kinds of environmental changes and have developed strategies for coping with these phenomena. They have valuable knowledge about adapting to climate change, but the magnitude of future hazards may exceed their adaptive capacity, especially given their current conditions of marginalization.” (Source, PDF: International Union for Conservation of Nature via ENN)

10. Antarctica — Airborne Study Of Arctic Atmosphere, Air Pollution Launched

“This month, NASA begins the most extensive field campaign ever to investigate the chemistry of the Arctic’s lower atmosphere. The mission is poised to help scientists identify how air pollution contributes to climate changes in the Arctic.

The recent decline of sea ice is one indication the Arctic is undergoing significant environmental changes related to climate warming. NASA and its partners plan to investigate the atmosphere’s role in this climate-sensitive region with the Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) field campaign.” (Source ENN)

This Week: Bus Transit

Bus Rides to Jungletown, Africa are Fun by Sam Aola OOko

British Busses: Actually Worse Than British Trains? by Mark Seall

What Makes a Good Bus Ride? by Gavin Hudson

Where the Damned Gather by Pem Charnley

Read more Green Options articles on public transportation.

Tell our international team of journalists what to focus on next: What issues matter to you?

1. World — Earth Hour 2008

As the clock struck eight in the evening, people across each time zone turned off their lights on March 29. It’s activism en mass and it’s called Earth Hour. The purpose: to inspire people to take action on climate change and to demonstrate that massive and immediate action is possible.

Earth Hour began as a city-wide voluntary blackout in Sydney, Australia, in 2007. This year, they’ve moved the date ahead two days and invited the world to join in. Even Google’s joined in. People from roughly 35 countries participated in this global event, which has become a yearly call to action. Read more: EcoWorldy, CNN.

2. Asia — Japanese Man Crosses Pacific with Wave-Powered Boat

A Japanese man named Kenichi Horie is attempting to be environmentally friendly by boating across the Pacific without sails and without fossil fuels.

How does he do it? With a wave-powered boat. Wave power has been discussed quite a bit recently, with a lot of applications including traditional grid energy generation. However, Kenichi is taking things to the next level by powering his ocean going vehicle with the very thing it bobs atop. Read more: Gas 2.0.

3. Antarctica — Huge Arctic Ice Chunk Collapses

A chunk of Antarctic ice about seven times the size of Manhattan suddenly collapsed, putting an even greater portion of glacial ice at risk, scientists said Tuesday.

Satellite images show the runaway disintegration of a 160-square-mile chunk in western Antarctica, which started February 28. It was the edge of the Wilkins ice shelf and has been there for hundreds, maybe 1,500 years. Read more: CNN.

4. Asia — Third Annual ‘World Renewable Energy Summit’ Held in Kuala Lumpur

The third annual ‘World Renewable Energy Summit (WRES)’ was held at the JW Marriot hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from March 27 to 28.

The surge in energy demand and oil prices combined with the depletion of fossil fuels has the world turning to renewable energy as a solution. Research and insights to the latest developments and trends are vital to the renewable energy market. Read more: Energy Asia.

5. Africa — South Africa Considers Elephant Culling

Elephant population in South Africa has increased to more than 20,000 from 8,000 thirteen years in 1995 when the country was talking tough against culling. With overpopulation, the elephants come into conflict with people as they search for their daily diet of about 300 kilograms of grass, leaves and twigs.

South African environment minister, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, says: “Our simple reality is that elephant population density has risen so much in some southern African countries that there is concern about impacts on the landscape, the viability of other species and the livelihoods and safety of people living within elephant ranges.” Read more: EcoWorldly, BBC.

6. South America — Continued Pressure on the Amazon Rainforest

A six-year study of Amazonian small farmers and their responses to climate change shows the farmers are vulnerable to natural catastrophes and risky land use practices, say Indiana University Bloomington anthropologists Eduardo Brondizio and Emilio Moran. Read more: ENN.

Several other threats to the Amazon cropped up elsewhere in the news this week. Time Magazine focused on the threat of certain biofuels to forests. In addition, EcoEarth passed around a petition to keep soybean farming out of the Amazon.

7. Europe / Asia — Soviet Pollution

Camels cross the dry bed of the Aral Sea… A gloss of oil and chemicals sheens standing water in an oil field near Baku… Hospital staff cares for an infant plagued by immune deficiencies… Nuclear fallout from the Semey test site has resulted in a plague of birth defects… Homey décor does little to ease young fears at a medical diagnostic center… Area residents suffer nightmarishly high rates of cancer and other diseases linked to fallout from nuclear tests… These children, all from two city neighborhoods, were born with missing forearms. Many scientists suspect their congenital deformities to be caused by Moscow’s bewildering mix of pollutants… In winter, men drill fishing holes in the ice of the Ural River. Knowing that the river is badly polluted by the Steel Works looming behind them, they often sell their catch to markets rather than consume it themselves… Children play in the inky pools of runoff from leaky oil pumps. Read more and see the photos: Gerd Ludwig Photography via Digg.

8. Europe — 1000 Activists Close Down NATO

About 1,000 people from 17 European countries went to the NATO headquarters in Brussels on the 23rd of March to take part in the international non-violent action NATO GAME OVER. 5 years after the start of the Iraq war and 10 days before the Bucharest NATO summit, peace activists from all over Europe demonstrate that preventing war starts in Europe. Read more: Independant Media Center, Sherwood Gazette.

9. Asia — Buy A Tree and Watch it Grow Thanks to Google Earth

Your $5.50 donation will buy a tree, lifelong care and feeding, scientific study of the forest that it becomes a part of, and the exact coordinates of where that tree is on our big beautiful Earth. Linking that data with Google Earth shows the precise location (on the island of Borneo) of the tree, as well as all of its hundreds of neighbors.

You can buy trees that will be planted in Indonesia today at MyBabyTree.org. Read more: EcoGeek.

10. Africa — Local Communities Use Science to Re-green Tanzanian ‘Desert’

Two decades ago former President Julius Nyerere characterized it as the ‘Desert of Tanzania.’ Today much has changed in Shinyanga and Tabora provinces, a dryland region in western Tanzania.

Gradually and steadily, residents are reclaiming large parcels of land through the efforts of their communities and public sector agencies. They are rehabilitating once-thriving dryland ecosystems using science-based agroforestry techniques. Read more: World Agroforestry Center via ENN.