Brazil’s health ministry has announced a plan aimed at reducing its dependence on imported goods, fighting AIDS, providing contraception and … preserving the Amazon rainforest. The highlight of the plan? Natex, a condom to be made from latex from Brazil’s rubber trees.
The top 10 headlines in international environmental news for the week of March 24 - 30.
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.
The city of New York will phase out the use of tropical hardwoods in construction and maintenance projects, and will focus on more sustainable alternatives.
New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg, made the announcement last week during a UN conference on climate change. The city also released a report detailing the short and long term strategies they’ll use to reach this goal.
Prized for its durability and resistance to rot, tropical hardwoods are favored for things like [...]
Biotech company, ArborGen, is taking steps to eliminate the demand for rainforest logging. The plan: cultivate a half-dozen fast-growing, genetically modified tree species that can be harvested and sold for lumber cheaper than trees from the rainforest. The cost: a smooth $120,000 USD per square mile. The downside: it won’t change clear cutting for farming.
Under the watchful eye of the Nature Conservancy, Costa Rica and America have brokered the largest ever debt-for-nature swap in history. The deal, worth $26 million of Costa Rica’s US debt, will go to help revitalize some of the world’s richest natural treasures.
To be enacted on over the next 16 years, the US, in conjunction with Conservation International and the Nature Conservancy, will pool together to forgive $26 million
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Rainforests once covered 14% of the earth's land surface; now they cover a mere 6% and experts estimate that the last remaining rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years. In fact, every minute across the world, nearly 150 acres are destroyed. Makes you pause and consider, doesn't it?
It came with great relief when I read today that nearly one-third of the Borneo Rainforest is receiving permanent protection. A tri-country declaration between
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So much for pristine wilderness. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is building momentum behind the Southern Gas Pipeline; a proposed 21-billion-dollar (U.S.) structure that would connect Venezuela's rich natural gas fields to Argentine markets. Unfortunately, such a pipeline would cross some very ecologically-sensitive areas, including Brazil's Amazon rain forest. Maria Eugenia Bustamante, co-director of AMIGRANSA, a Venezuelan environmental group, had this to say,
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