Environment

Carbon-Neutral Buildings by 2030?

- Adam Clare

A Sante-Fe based architect has started the 2030 Challenge to encourage sustainable architecture. Modern buildings are notoriously inefficient when it comes to energy use and hopefully we’ll all benefit from green buildings in 2030.

“Simply put, he challenges architects, engineers and contractors to cut the carbon intensity of buildings by 50% from the average of their peers today, 60% below peer average in 2010, 70% below peer average in 2015, and so on, until 2030 by which all buildings should be carbon neutral (zero net carbon emissions).”

India Blows Coke

- Adam Clare

india flagCoca-Cola and Pepsi Cola can no longer be purchased in some states in India. This is after the Centre for Science and Environment, a Delhi-based NGO, discovered that pesticides were inside the drink. The level of pesticides in the drink are technically legal, but also against voluntary standards set in India.

It’s good to see that some states in India are taking this public health issue seriously and banning the poisonous drinks. Still, it is not a complete ban; however it is very symbolic. Banned is the selling of colas a certain distance around schools because of health concerns for children.

“The sale of Pepsi, Coca Cola, Mirinda, Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Blue, Fanta, Limca, Sprite, Thums Up, and 7up will be banned within 100 metres of all schools, colleges and hospitals across the state, they said.”

This is getting a lot of media attention and should pave the way for more stringent health and environmental concerns in the country.

Boiling Point Reached in Global Warming

- Adam Clare

Global warming is happening, whether we like it or not. For the most part, corporations, politicians, and “scientists” have been proclaiming that global warming isn’t happening, and that if it is happening, humans are not to blame. Well, the good news is that this is changing!

New York State Governor has called for a 25% reduction in oil consumption over the next 10 years.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has had enough of politicians ignoring the truth of global warming. Now the paper is demanding action to protect the environment.

The best article is from the Montreal Gazette. They have an article written to show how some politicians, like Arnie and Blair, and some corporations are making change right now.

I know all of this is not perfect, but we are here to celebrate the good that is happening in the hopes that people don’t get discouraged.

Kayapó Tribe Fights Deforestation

- Adam Clare

The International Herald Tribune has a really nice article about a tribe in the Amazon that is fighting deforestation. The author recounts his previous experience of going into the Amazon and compares that to what it is like today. It actually starts off rather depressing since the environmental destruction is so prominent, but what makes the article so good is how hard the Kayapó is working to protect this invaluable natural resource.

“The Kayapó grand chief, Megaron, is leading the fight to preserve their lands that form the largest tropical rain forest reserve in the world.”

The tribe has had quite a few success in defending the forest from “development.” Let’s hope they never give up!

Brazil and India Defend Nature

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Last year India saw that biopiracy was damaging to the country and they reacted by documenting every plant and will release an encyclopedia of all the plants. They are specifically recording how these plants are used in traditional medicine in India, making it much harder for large foreign corporations to proclaim the use of plants as their idea.

Brazil is now doing something similar:

“Brazil has published a list of more than 5,000 generic terms from the Portuguese language related to Brazilian plant biological diversity to raise awareness and prevent further misuse of trademarks that hinder Brazilian exports.

The Brazilian government has been, and is, involved in a number of trademark disputes with companies that, for example, take a name of a fruit in Brazilian Portuguese and trademark it to get exclusive rights to commercialise it under that name in a certain country or region.”

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