Published on April 21st, 2008
Following are the top international environmental news for during the week of April 13 - 20. See an archive of top international environmental news here.
Asia
Two “Extinct” Species Discovered
First there was Swinshoe’s softshell turtle, and then the Javan Elephant. Is this more commonplace than we might believe?
Frankly, no. Despite the occasional hubbub over an animal science has lost track of– say, the Coelacanth– we’ve witnessed something extraordinary. Swinshoe’s turtle was previously believed to be extinct in the wild, with only three remaining in captivity, and therefore every one of these 300-pound turtles is a critical find.
Continue reading: Environmental Graffiti. Hot in media: Stumble Upon.
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Published on April 13th, 2008
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.”
Source: EcoGeek. Hot in media: Digg EcoGeek, Digg TimesOnline.
Africa — Tree-Nation (Tree-Nation)
“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.
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Published on April 12th, 2008
Lets keep visiting the biggest green spaces of the world, so we can remember what we are fighting for.
This time we will visit the second largest natural reserve of the American continent, a jungle known as Selva Misionera or Paranaense (also called Mata Atlántica in Brazil, and Atlantic Forest in english). This jungle has an enormous biological diversity, with more than 2000 floral species, 150 vegetal species per hectare, 400 bird species and a great variety of mammals, reptiles and insects.
Only one hundred years ago, the jungle enlarged over a million square kilometers covering different lands of the Paraguayan , Brazilian and Argentinean territory. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on April 5th, 2008
In case you missed them the first time around, here are the top 10 international environmental headlines that made news in the blogosphere for the week of March 31 - April 6.
1. Asia — United Nations Climate Change Talks: “Kyoto II” climate talks open in Bangkok
“The first formal talks in the long process of drawing up a replacement for the Kyoto climate change pact opened in Thailand on Monday with appeals to a common human purpose to defeat global warming.
‘The world is waiting for a solution that is long-term and economically viable,’ U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said in a video address to the 1,000 delegates from 190 nations gathered in Bangkok.
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Published on March 30th, 2008
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.
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Published on February 14th, 2008
What makes the energy consumption survey at Bosquevirtual.com unique–if you can get past the Forest Gump theme song in the site’s video promo–is the ambitious, tech-heavy cyber-activism sponsored by the survey’s Spanish creators, Union Fenosa.
For each person who takes the survey, Union Fenosa donates 1 Euro to Acciónatura, a Spanish organization that uses the money to reforest the Atlantic Forest in Brazil.
Bosquevirtual, or “Virtual Forest,” has also teamed up with Second Life, a 3D web Mecca for internet socializing. Along with the actual donation to reforestation, then, every two surveys completed generates the planting of a virtual tree in a virtual forest in the Second Life 3D world.
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Published on February 10th, 2008
I’m a huge supporter of the separation of church and state, and get very antsy whenever the line is stepped on or crossed. However, sometimes I’m willing to turn a blind eye when it is done this way. Hopefully, in the near future, our thanks will go out to Brazilian Catholic Bishop Guilherme Antonio Werlang.
Last week the senior Roman Catholic bishop struck out at the Brazilian government’s continued deforestation of the Amazon. He criticized their energy and agriculture policies, accusing them of destroying the Amazon forest and threatening the livelihood of local populations.
“We cannot ignore deforestation by loggers who violate the country’s laws and … threaten tribal Indians and others who depend on (the Amazon),” he said. He was launching the church’s annual Lent campaign to mobilize followers on issues of social concern.
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Published on January 26th, 2008
Not many of us link our soy chai latte or our occasional fast food splurge with Amazon deforestation. However, travel up the Amazon river and you’ll be greeted not by endless lush forest, but by soy farms and cattle ranches.
We’re all familiar with the statistic: every minute, an area of forest the size of five football fields is clear-cut in the Amazon. But a report just released from Brazil’s National Space Research Agency (INPE) reveals unparalleled deforestation in the last part of 2007. To make things worse, this follows three years of some of the heaviest clear-cutting ever. Despite world-wide attention, the Amazon rainforest is disappearing faster and faster.
In the wake of the report, Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, called an emergency meeting to formulate a plan for saving what’s left of the Brazilian rainforest.
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