Category: Equality

Ford Predicts Saving $1.2 Million by Using Off Buttons

Ford is looking to save up to $1.2 million dollars by shutting down their computers over night and over weekends. When a company the size of Ford commits to such a simple action the overall effect can be huge.

The new program, called PC Power Management, utilizes energy saving settings provided by Microsoft Windows. The energy settings will be used on company laptops and desktops to reduce energy waste. A managed shutdown will occur each night and during the weekend period. Additionally, computers will be awake to receive updates during pre-selected non-business hours, freeing up time previously used for updates throughout the working day.

According to Ford, an estimated 60 percent of the company’s computer remained on after business hours resulting in wasted energy. The new managed shutdown will eliminate waste to the tune of over a million dollars in savings for the company and reduce its carbon footprint by an estimated 16,000-25,000 metric tons per year. Hit the jump for the full details on the program.

Keep reading at AutoBlog

Using Trees To Provide Clean Water.

It turns out that trees can do more than just provide power! The Moringa tree, which grows in Africa, India, South East Asia, and Central and South America, is drought resistant and capable of producing cooking and lighting oil, soil fertilizer, and nutritious food.  In addition, it has be recently publicized that the seeds can reduce the bacteria count in previously untreated water by 90.00 – 99.99%! Although the process can be quite involved, it still has the potential to allow people to have unrestrained access to clean water.

Read a bit more at Gizmag.com, or read the entire article as published in Current Protocols in Microbiology.

How CoP-15 Changed the World

Depressed about the Copenhagen Accord? While the action on climate change may have been less than you were hoping for, Worldchanging.com has an article explaining how the conference signaled a different kind of sea change. According to Alan Akisson, this was the first major event where developing nations had voices as loud as the developed, in a truly democratic process.

The Earthquake in Copenhagen truly marked the end of one historical era, and the beginning of a new one. It is an era of more democratic global governance (at least in the sense of how power, actual and perceived, is dispersed among nations). An era of continuous struggle to understand what is happening to our planet, and continuous effort to share that understanding. An era of nations being forced to collaborate, more and more closely, and over several decades, on planetary management. In the hindsight of future history (especially environmental history), CoP-15 will likely loom large indeed as an inflection point, a time when everything changed — or rather, was finally seen by all as changed.

Read the whole article

Uganda Bans Female Circumcision

From the BBC:

Ugandan MPs have voted to outlaw female genital mutilation – also known as female circumcision.

Anyone convicted of the practice, which involves cutting off a girl’s clitoris, will face 10 years in jail, or a life sentence if a victim dies.

The BBC’s Joshua Mmali in Uganda says it is not officially condoned but is still practised in several rural areas.

Read the complete article

Bolivia Bans Circus Animals

In order to protect animals in the country, Bolivia has banned all circus animals. Sadly, circus animals were being abused in Bolivian circuses and even being killed once the animals were passed their prime. It’s really good to see that the government has protected the animals from further harm.

The law, which states that the use of animals in circuses “constitutes an act of cruelty”, took effect on 1 July with operators given a year to comply, according to the bill’s sponsor, Ximena Flores.

The law was proposed after an undercover investigation by the nonprofit-making London-based group Animal Defenders International (ADI) found widespread abuse in circuses operating in Bolivia.