A new report, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), attempts to bring to the world’s attention the truly great economic value of ecosystems and biodiversity, as well as the benefits of taking these into account when making policies.
The value of the world’s natural ecosystems and biodiversity is something lacking in most economic analyses. Lack of value for what is truly priceless doesn’t just hurt the environment, however. It is also a sort of economic suicide. This new report, hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme and supported by key EU, UK, German, Swedish, Dutch, and Norwegian bodies, attempts to bring all of this to our attention more and show some positive case studies of how taking the environment into consideration can actually save us money.
As the report says: “the failure of markets to adequately consider the value of ecosystem services is of concern not only to environment, development and climate change ministries but also to finance, economics and business ministries.”
Norway committed to cut their greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2020 this week. This is the most ambitious goal of any rich nation to date.
Norway’s prime minister Jens Stoltenberg (just re-elected) is meeting the requests of many developing nations and environmental NGOs with this commitment.
Mazda, one of the few manufacturers to stay out of the hybrid car craze, has announced they will raise over $1 billion for hybrid research by issuing 315.2 million shares of their stock. As someone who questions the practicality of hybrids, this news is rather disappointing to me personally. You might call me a “hybrid hater.”
A new report by Maplecroft, a world leader in global risk assesment, lists the countries at the greatest and the least risk of climate change problems.
The new study examined 166 countries in total. With climate change, it is hard to guess who will be hit the worst, but here is one scientific attempt at ranking the countries’ vulnerability to climate change.
The Scandanavians are a resourceful lot, and they have to be, having inhabited one of the most inhospitable regions on Earth for centuries. They have given us Vikings, demonically infused death metal, and of course, Nokia. But hydrogen-powered sports cars? Well technically, those are coming from Mazda, in the form of their rotary-powered RX-8 sport coupes. But the first examples of these wunderkin are being shipped off to Norway for field testing, as Norway is the first country to have built an extended hydrogen-based infrastructure to support these cars.
Norwegian Finance Minister, Kristin Halvorsen, and her Socialist Left Party have put forth a plan that would disallow the sale of new cars that run solely on gasoline after 2015.
Under the plan new cars such as hybrids, that run partially on gas, would still be allowed to be sold in the country, but any cars that only use gas as their power source would be illegal. Cars already on the road would be unaffected.
The move is likely to ruffle a few feathers amongst GM executives, who had grand plans that the Opel Ampera (the Chevy Volt’s European cousin) would become the first major player in the region, following its launch in 2011.
Perhaps bloggers need to be more visual and less wordy. Those were some of the first thoughts that crept into my head when I got wind of this new CCS (CO2 capture and storage) Web and interactive map from the Bellona Foundation.
Before even going further I had to check out Bellona, which we discovered is an Oslo, Norway based NGO that primarily functions as a nuclear watchdog focusing on developments in Russia. More recently they have moved into other sectors including technology and the environment. That’s where the colorful and helpful new CCS Web comes into play.
Free, friendly and non-fossil – biomethane from human waste will soon power public transport in Oslo, the capital city of Norway.
It is available for free in huge quantities, is not owned by Saudi Arabia and it contributes minimally towards climate change. The latest green fuel might seem like the dream answer to climate crisis, but until recently raw sewage has been seen as a waste disposal problem rather than a power source. Now Norway’s capital city is proving that its citizens can contribute to the city’s green credentials without even realising it.
In Oslo, air pollution from public and private transport has increased by approximately 10% since 2000, contributing to more than 50% of total CO2 emissions in the city. With Norway’s ambitious target of being carbon neutral by 2050 Oslo City Council began investigating alternatives to fossil fuel-powered public transport and decided on biomethane.
Biomethane is a by-product of treated sewage. Microbes break down the raw material and release the gas, which can then be used in slightly modified engines. Previously at one of the sewage plants in the city half of the gas was flared off, emitting 17,00 tonnes of CO2. From September 2009, this gas will be trapped and converted into biomethane to run 200 of the city’s public buses.
Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant and author Michael Pollan agree to disagree over the world’s food crisis…kinda.
In an unlikely pairing, both Michael Pollan and Monsanto’s CEO Hugh Grant sat down with Google.org and YouTube for a discussion on the world’s food crisis. The two had met and became friends upon visiting the Doomsday Seed Vault in Norway.
