Top international environmental news for during the week of April 6 - 13:
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.”
“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.
As it rages on five years later, perhaps one should spare a moment to reflect on the environmental effects of the war in Iraq.
How much has the war contributed to global warming? We can now debate the war on the scales of environmental justice and evidence is emerging that the damage on the environment and the global warming effects that this war has caused calls for all of us to pause and think.
“If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound with mine, then let us work together.” This phrase, from an activist Aboriginal group in Queensland, Australia, seems to sum up perfectly a solar energy movement led by women a world away from Queensland.
Barefoot College, in India, is training middle-aged women from rural villages in Bolivia, Afghanistan, Gambia, Ethiopia, Mali, Cameroon, and Sierra Lione to be solar engineers. After training, the women return to their homes to install solar electricity units with the support of the communities.
For those of you like me – with a sizeable Star Trek/Sci-Fi fetish – then this news is going to make your heart leap. The world’s first zero-carbon city will begin construction soon in the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi, starting in February.
Named Masdar City, the city will be able to house 50,000 people and will run entirely on renewable energy. This will include using solar power to its limits in the sun drenched desert. "This is a place that has no carbon footprint and will not hurt the planet in any way," Khaled Awad, director of the Masdar project’s property development unit of the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (ADFEC), told AFP. "At the same time the city will offer the highest quality of life possible for its residents.”
The first snows in memory drifted softly through the eastern part of Baghdad this Friday, falling on Shiite as well as Sunni houses. For these hours of snowfall, no violence was reported and no mortar shells flew. Baghdad was blanketed in a wintry peace.
An NBC local journalist reported hearing the delight in his niece’s voice as she woke him up to look at the view. He writes, “It was much more beautiful than can be described; a scene I have not seen before in my lifetime in Baghdad. … I thanked God for granting Iraqis the chance to watch the snow falling and I prayed that God will bring peace, happiness, success, and love in each white pure piece of snow.”
The Arava Institute plans to show the world that lasting peace can be achieved by working together to solve shared environmental issues. They are training Israeli and Palestinian youth leaders to find collaborative solutions to environmental issues that afflict both peoples. The result, they hope, will be a sustained peace through cooperation.
But in one of the most conflict-ridden regions of the world, what chance does the institute had in promoting peace through environmental studies? Just read the experiences of one Jordanian alumnus named Zein and judge for yourself.
EcoWorldly brings you news on sustainable successes and ecological failures in other countries that offer lessons for green progress in America. Find perspectives and news on the environmental movement from around the world.
“The world’s first commercial tidal turbine has been installed in its home in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough.
“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.
Solar thermal energy plants focus the glare of the Sun’s rays on a central location to create heat, which is then turned into electricity. Various methods exist to concentrate the solar radiation, including 
