EcoWorldly

For a continent that has more than 22 million of its kids overweight or obese, fighting obesity may require concerted efforts of both parents and national governments within the European Union.

And the Europeans are ready to spend US$ 130 million annually to enliven the old adage - an apple a day keeps the doctor away - as well as improve their carbon footprint by promoting greener consumption.

But Europe is also grappling with weight as a serious health issue and now a strategy to fight obesity in kids is being pushed through European parliament to provide free fresh fruits and vegetables to school children.

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In today’s world, is it really possible for a family of four to completely eliminate waste and still enjoy a normal healthy lifestyle?

The Strauss family are about to find out as they undertake a Zero Waste Challenge during the first week of September, in an attempt to cut their household waste altogether. The idea first came about following concerns over the impact of plastic bags on marine life, said Rachelle Strauss in an interview with EcoWorldly;

“..In May of this year I read an article about the effects of plastic on marine life. When I showed this to my husband he was clearly shocked and moved by what was happening. From that moment he declared ‘no more plastic bags’ and here we are 4 months later carrying out the idea of reducing our waste to the ultimate.”

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Being sticklers for detail, the British are crying foul that internet cartographers are making unmarked ruins of UK historical sites that landmarks such as Stonehenge have taken direct hits from internet and satellite navigation systems.

Their beefs is that they cannot be found on online maps.

Apart from the fact, as stated by Mary Spence, president of the British Cartographic Society, that online maps missed out on important or key points of interest such as centuries old cathedrals, royal castles and other stately homes, they were also effectively diminishing from national consciousness the British sense of nationhood.

You see, monuments that describe the British pride like Stonehenge, a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about 3.2 kilometers west of Amesbury and 13 kilometers north of Salisbury, should be found on any serious map. But it is not referenced on Google Map for instance.

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A fleet of scientists, business leaders, and policy makers have convened at the 2008 World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden for the past week to exchange views on the world water crisis and promote initiatives to build a clean and healthy world.

Organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute, the conference this year focuses on sanitation and hygiene issues related to water, which compliments the United Nations’ 2008 International Year of Sanitation theme.

“Sanitation is one of the biggest scandals of all times,” Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, who heads the UN Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, was quoted in an article by news agency Agence France-Presse. “It’s something that we have to put on our radar screen. Some 7,500 people die every day due to this lack of sanitation,” he added.

According to the UN, 2.6 billion people around the world lack access to adequate sanitation, while half the world’s population lacks access to clean water. Consequently, citizens in underdeveloped countries experience premature deaths, illness, a degradation of living quarters and damage to the environment and local economies at alarming rates. Combined with the effects of global warming and the world water crisis, this creates cause for alarm.

A goal of World Water Week is to encourage the 2,500 international conference attendees to strategize ways to advance best practices, scientific understanding, and policy making processes related to water, health, poverty, and the environment.

Using preventive medicine, building sustainable cities, changing human behaviors, and comprehending sanitation’s link to global warming are other items highlighted during the week.

Another honorable mention for WWW is its commitment to arranging an environmentally responsible conference; using less bottled water, promoting carbon off-setting, recycling, providing organic and fair trade food, and supporting eco-hotels are all part of the conference’s plan to bring the issues home.

More information on conference topics:
WWW press releases

Photo: Stockholm International Water Institute

Tongues have been wagging recently following reports that a team at the Barcelona Institute of Microelectronics in Spain had developed an electronic tongue -or a robot, if you like- that could easily pick excellent wines from a line of fakes.

The tongue was invented by Cecilia Jiménez-Jorquera and her colleagues at the famed institution and is reported in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal, The Analyst. She said of her innovation: “The device is based on similar principles to the human tongue and is sensitive to just five different tastes: sweet, salty, bitter, acidic and umami (savory).

Our results have demonstrated the potential of using multi-sensors as electronic tongues not only for distinguishing the samples according to the grape variety and the vintage year, but also for quantitative prediction of several sample parameters.”

Could these be “green” attributes of the new tongue, someone? It is said to be fast, portable, cheap to manufacture, and can be trained to “taste” new varieties as required.

As expected, since the reports, views and counter-views (over a glass of wine, of course) have been parlayed in hundreds of forums including blogs and even radio and TV talk shows in Spain but this certainly does not mark the death of the art of wine tasting.

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The construction of  31 offshore wind farms, to be ready by the year 2012, is not being totally accepted by Spaniards.

People from Cadiz, Galicia and Tarragona, Spain, are not very comfortable with the project. The objection: offshore wind farms may spoil the view.

Certainly big wind turbines make the landscape uglier, not only in the mountains but also in the sea, at least if they are not well planned.

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The New York Times’ Thomas L. Friedman sent a postcard from Copanhagen recently.

In an Aug. 9 op-ed column titled “Flush with Energy,” Friedman drew a stark contrast between America’s energy policy and that of Denmark.

That the United States – the all-powerful, lone (for now) superpower –  can so easily be trumped by little Denmark is shameful.

It only adds salt to the wound that so many foolish, ignorant and willfully oblivious Americans still insist that they live in the “Greatest Nation on Earth” despite so many shortcomings, such as displayed by this stay-the-course mentality that leaves us in the energy policy dust of forward-thinking nation’s like Denmark. Read the rest of this entry »

This post was originally published on Eco-Libris blog on August 6.

Greenpeace has an important mission for you: to show the European Commission how much you love forests! Why? they explain it on their website:

The European Commission has delayed a vital vote on protecting forests from illegal logging till September. We want to make sure the commissioners don’t forget about it during their summer holiday. We need you to help us make an extra impression before the September vote.

We all love the forests, and we would like to showcase all that love to the EU (and we know for a fact that the EU doesn’t have anything against some loving). The forests already have made an effort themselves!

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Surrounded by water, with strong winds blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean, Great Britain is a blustery place. There’s nothing quite like an invigorating walk along the cliff-tops to blow away the cobwebs.

I was reminded of this on a recent Sunday afternoon visit to the Portland Bill lighthouse on the South coast of England (pictured), since despite the brilliant sunshine one needed a concerted effort to walk headlong into the howling wind. Talking above the constant noise of wind and sea was almost impossible, and local people tell me this is by no means unusual here.

Yet despite being a desolate place with enough wind energy blowing through every day to provide a significant portion of local energy needs, you won’t find a single wind turbine at Portland today. Nor anywhere else along the windy Dorset coast for that matter.

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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 »