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A new machine that pasteurizes milk by using solar energy was recently installed in Nicaragua, thanks to researchers from the Agrarian University of Nicaragua and Spain’s University of Lérida. The primary goal for the machine is to help communities to save money. With its use of clean energy, it will also help to curtail global warming and perhaps will eventually help Nicaraguans to start new businesses.

Right now, the machine is primarily used like a small factory to make cheese as well as other dairy products. It is currently housed in the Agrarian University of Nicaragua’s Department of Animal Sciences. Solar panels contribute the energy for a mechanical system that heats the milk to 185° Fahrenheit (85° Centrigrade). Approximately 240 liters of milk can produced in 6 hours using the prototype.

The machine’s arrival and its probable success is good news for Nicaragua and many other developing countries. The prototype was made from resources found locally, and will hopefully serve as a model for others who might want to make such a machine from easy to find materials. The design plans for the invention will eventually be made public via the internet. Read the rest of this entry »

Paso del Istmo is a 20 kilometer-long land bridge in Nicaragua. Conservationists believe that the narrow strip of tropical forest could absorb some 170,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases over the next 40 years. What’s more, carbon offsets might make these forests worth more as trees than as lumber.

For millennia, the land bridge has been a corridor allowing animal migration between North and South America. It now has some of the most highly concentrated biodiversity in Nicaragua. Conservation group, Paso Pacifico, wishes to permanently protect the land bridge from developers, but where could they find funding to make this dream a reality?

Enter the carbon offset company, CarbonFund. In league with Paso Pacifico and the Rainforest Alliance, carbon offsets offer the funding to make conservation of the Paso del Istmo land bridge a reality; and they’re not stopping at just conservation.

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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.

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