Shell in Nigeria.
Discovered via Platform London
Showing posts with label pollution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pollution. Show all posts
The Majestic Plastic Bag
We featured several good and bad examples of advocacy for nonprofit causes. Here is a type we have not featured before: "The Majestic Plastic Bag" is a "mockumentary": it uses the format of a documentary, in a sarcastic jacket, to drive home a strong message.
The video is made by Heal the Bay, a nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to making Southern California coastal waters and watersheds safe, healthy and clean. They use research, education, community action and advocacy to pursue their mission.
Vogue turns oil spill into fashion
Vogue Italy's August edition frontcovers models in the midst of an oil spill. A shoot by Stephen Meisel, a photographer now infamous for his fashion shoot amongst soldiers in Iraq back in 2007.
In case you are interested:
Kristen McMenamy (...) keeps her skin golden thanks to Self Tan Face Bronzing Gel Tint (to wear alone or with foundation): it takes care of the skin, while giving it a hint of color. Carbon, anthracite, and all of the earthy shades "dress" her eyes: Quick Eyes Cream Shadow, cocoa shimmer, a long-lasting cream eye shadow, worn with brown High Impact Mascara, and her lips feature a nude look. All by Clinique. Tulle dress with beaded embroidery, Ralph Lauren Collection. Rubber necklace, My Sister's Art. Hair by Orlando Pita for Orlo Salon. Make-up Pat McGrath. Fashion editor Karl Templer. Set design by Mary Howard.
And I guess "Oil courtesy BP?" Read the full post...
A glacier a day, keeps the cold away
Back in 1962, we thought this was good publicity...
Discovered via Boing Boing
Sarah Palin better roll up her sleeves
Sarah Palin reminds me of a Belgian artist many years ago. She competed for the pre-selections of the Eurosong festival, but did not qualify. Nevertheless, she made it as a real TV hit, made good money, and eventually ended up as a politician.
I guess Sarah Palin only made it thus far, as she appeals to hidden sexual fantasies of the middle aged US male electorate.
If women had as few braincells as men all Chippendales'd be senators by now. Read the full post...
Picture of the day: And this is how your animals will look like
A Brown Pelican sits in heavy oil on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast.
Picture courtesy Periodismo Humano, AP Photo/Charlie Riedel. Discovered via The Horizon
Picture of the day: And this is how your oceans will look like
"Delicate patterns in the sea breaking on Orange Beach, Alabama".
More than 90 miles from the BP oil spill. (Hires)
Check the latest articles on the Gulf Oil Spill (or read the latest via RSS)
Picture courtesy Guardian UK, Dave Martin/AP. Discovered via @mparent77772 and The Horizon.
How fast are we depleting the earth's minerals?
Click on the image for the full resolution picture
This week, loads of activities popped up around Earth Day, a global event reminding us of the fragility of our planet, and the responsibilities each of us have. Of course we can't miss out on this, here on The Road.
Back in 2007, the New Scientist published an interesting article predicting how long the earth's minerals will last if we continue to consume them at the current level, or if we start to consume them at HALF the level the US currently does.
A pity I only discover the article now, but reading through it, I don't hesitate referring to it. A heads-up to all of us, care-takers of this planet, home for our children and the children of our children.
Without better recycling policies and techniques, it looks like we will run out of silver in 29 years (or 9 years if we start consuming at half the rate of the US). Tin has 40 years left (or 17 at the US' rate). Zinc, 46 years (34 at US rates)... Click on the image above to see the full overview. Each of the bars shows the current rate of consumption in a light colour, and the "US rate" in a darker colour.
Apart from the fact that the earth reserves will run out within a foreseeable time, I see the stimulus for recycling material more in the fact that we have to stop eating, breathing and drinking poison. If we see how little we recycle in the world, and how much of those products get dumped or burned, I can not but think how much of that is dispersed in the air, slips into our drinking water, or gets into the soil used to grow our food.
When I arrived here in the Dominican, one of the first things I wanted to do in the office, is set up recycling bins for plastics, glass and paper. Guess what. In the whole country, apparently there are no facilities where consumers can deposit their recycled material. Beh... And we don't have to look that far. I wrote before about the lack of recycling in Italy while I lived there. And that is Europe, for God's sake.
Even at home in Belgium: when we moved into our house on the countryside, we found that for years, the previous owner had dumped waste - including a huge pile of expired medicines - in the garden. I dug out two containers of waste from that garden, which also has the well: A pipe, going 5 meters into the ground, pumping drinking water for the house. And then we are surprised people get cancer. Beh.
Think people: one way or the other, you are eating, drinking and breathing your waste! So recycle. Refuse that plastic bag at the supermarket. Look for products with a recyclable packaging.
OK, I am getting off my soapbox now!
New Scientist article discovered via The Density of Unresolved Ideas.
Illustration courtesy New Scientist. Read the full post...
The carbon footprint of a Google Search
IT research firm Gartner estimates Google's data centres contain nearly a million servers, each drawing about 1 kilowatt of electricity. So every hour Google's engine burns through 1 million kilowatt-hours. Google serves up approximately 10 million search results per hour, so one search has the same energy cost as turning on a 100-watt light bulb for an hour. (Full)Discovered via Daily Good Read the full post...
Copenhagen Climate Summit Heat: from business to condoms.
The more the December Copenhagen Climate Change Summit comes closer, it is interesting just watching the headlines flashing by. It seems everyone and his dog is starting to claim their stake, and to put their own spin onto climate change trying to ensure they "profit" from whatever comes out. Financially, politically or visibility wise.
If you do "Copenhagen summit, climate change", "business, climate change" or "climate engineering" searches on Humanitarian News, you will see the blogosphere and news heating up:
Politics were first:
US and Europe clash over Copenhagen deal
India will be key player at Copenhagen conference
Maldives too broke to attend climate summit
Chinese adviser: 2C target unrealistic
US climate change bill faces fresh delays
If Obama Can't Defeat the Republican Headbangers, Our Planet is Doomed
E.U. calls on U.S. to do more to tackle climate change
Emissions per person in parts of China above rich nations
Merkel and Sarkozy want carbon tax on imports
The business hook:
Climate Change: Big Business Now, and Fixing to Get a Whole Lot Bigger
Carbon-Capturing Cement Worth as Much As GE’s Power Plant Business
India not to succumb to pressure on carbon emission pact: Govt - Business Standard India
The humanitarian angle:
Doctors Urge Climate Pact To Avert ‘Global Health Catastrophe’
Development v Climate Change: a new UN report tries to square the circle
Global Warming Is A Medical Emergency
UN: Rich Countries Will Suffer Unless They Help Poor on Climate Change
Europe's €15bn climate aid price tag
Diverting Aid for Climate Change Threatens Children
But of course: U.S. Climate Envoy Says Some Calls for Aid 'Wildly' Off Mark (Bloomberg)
And there is the cash factor:
Poor countries need “hundreds of billions” to fight climate change
Scientists Find Net Present Value of Climate Change Impacts of $1240 TRILLION on Current Emissions Path
Africa: Continent Puts Price On Climate Adaptation Aid
When researchers join hands with big business:
(for as far as they are not already owned by the business)
Engineering better than tax climate: economists
Influential U.K. Panel Outlines Possible Geo-engineering Ideas
I won't quote more climate engineering stuff, as it makes me depressive. "Let's not treat the cause of the problem, but engineer a workaround"...
From massive solar panels in the sky, fake carbon sucking trees to spraying sea water in the atmosphere: "Climate engineering" puts dollar signs in everybody's eyes. Companies start drooling and pseudo-researchers get wet dreams.
My all time favourite, though, is:
Condoms could combat climate change
Or how we should encourage the use of condoms in the developing world. Slowing down their population growth will slow down the heating of the planet. I think that is a very sustainable solution, clearly tacking the root cause of the problem. Dah.
Maybe we can arm up both sides from any conflict in the world: the Chad rebels and Sudanese army, Ethiopia and the Somali insurgents, the Taliban and Afghan government troops, India and Pakistan, Taiwan and China, DRC and Rwanda, Japan and North-Korea, Israel and Iran. We encourage wars in the vicinity of the world's largest populations. That should kill a few billions. Voila, problem solved: a few billion less and the carbon offset is no longer relevant. Ozone holes will close, and the world will be green.
It would also generate a lot of business in the arms trade, mega bucks in rebuilding economies. We would all feel good as we would donate to thousands of charities helping the affected population. It certainly stop the upcoming economies from catching up so fast with the Western industries: we let them bomb each other.
Eureka!
Picture courtesy Zazzle Read the full post...
Climate change: The girl who silenced the world for 5 minutes
With the media heating up for the December Climate Change Summit in Denmark, it is time to for some reflection.
Does the name "Severn Cullis-Suzuki" mean anything to you? Severn was 12 when in 1992, she raised money to attend the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. She spoke to the summit members in a speech which became famous. A speech which -sadly enough- could have been given today. It makes one wonder what progress really happened in the past 17 year.
Do we actually make progress on protecting our planet for the sake of our children, and their children? In an age where Green Goes Commercial, where corrupt companies like Monsanto and Cargill start dominating our food chain, and chase the food prices up so the poor no longer have access to food. A world where Western companies buy up fertile land in Africa to grow biofuel crops so less land becomes available for food agriculture?
Did we make progress, or are we still sliding downhill?
Check out the most recent news and blogposts about the Climate Change summit in Copenhagen on Humanitarian News.
We don't want to believe what we know
An excellent video on the state of the earth
Go and join 6 billion others...
Earth Hour, Earth Day, Earth Year, Earth For Ever.
Don't forget: today, we're all standing up for the cause of the Earth. The world’s first global election, choosing between Earth and global warming.
Earth Hour invites all of us to switch off our lights today March 28 between 8:30-9:30pm (local time) in a sign of support. I set my alarm clock. Don't want to miss it. I want to be one of the 1,000,000,000 people who will vote for Earth.
Earth Hour. A simple gesture. An important cause. I should have gone into advertising. Join us. On Earth Hour that is. Not in advertising.
Check out:
- The Earth Hour's photo stream on Flickr as they are being posted.
- Their Twitter updates
- The YouTube Earth Hour channel
- Plenty of Twitter posts about Earth Hour. (at the time US East Coast went into Earth Hour's time zone, tweets came in at 30 per second!)
Update: 20:30 - and off went the lights at The Road.
This post is published as part of the Bloggers Unite, a viral movement of bloggers for a cause.
How green is your Nintendo?
Greenpeace first released their 'Guide to Greener Electronics' in August 2006 and it was recently updated. The guide ranks the 18 top manufacturers of personal computers, mobile phones, TV's and games consoles according to their policies on toxic chemicals, recycling and climate change.
Nokia, Sony/Ericsson, Samsung and Toshiba ended on the green top, leaving Nintendo and Microsoft dangling at the lower end of the 'Green Scale'. (Full)
Rome WWF nature reserve features... a garbage dump
Close to where I live, here in Italy, is the "Oasis Macchiagrande", a WWF (World Wide Fund For Nature) nature reserve which, according to the Italian WWF website features "an interesting combination of Mediterranean scrub behind a Mediterranean forest, making it the most beautiful and best preserved coast of Lazio."
Well, it surely is an interesting "combination of things", plastics mainly. I am not so sure if it is the "most beautiful" and "best preserved" piece of coast line I have ever seen though, when looking at these pictures I took today:
I also doubt if the site is an illustration of WWF's mission statement, "to stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature"...
Shame!
Living in Italy - Part 8: Living with garbage
While I love living in Italy, one of the things that intrigued and bothered me is the lax attitude versus waste management, recycling and garbage collection.
Sure enough, there are many "parts" in Italy, each with their own habits, procedures, administration, and culture, so I can not speak for the parts I have not lived in, or travelled through, but it seems in many parts the garbage collection is done in the same way: People dump their waste in garbage skips scattered along the streets, both in town centers and along the roads in rural areas. A garbage truck comes along every so often to empty the skips.
There seems to be no limit as to what people can dump in these skips. You can find anything from normal household garbage, the contents of entire file cabinets, chemicals like paint, engine oil and cleaning products, leaves and branches from the garden, bicycles, fridges, microwaves and computer screens. Just about anything goes. And if it is too big to put inside, people just leave it next to the skip.
There are mainly three types of skips: one for generic waste, one for paper and cardboard and one for plastic and glass. In many cases, though, you can only find the one for generic waste, so "recycling" is often only a remote thought in Italy. A thought confirmed if you look what people actually dump in the recycling bins. It seems like they are used as an overflow for the general waste skip.
Most of the time, the skips are not emptied fast enough. What is the "well-intended waste generator" to do? He or she put his stinking and leaking garbage bags in the car (guaranteed to leave a smell for the next two months) early in the morning (what else do you need to start off a nice day), drives to the skip only to find it full... Of course people will not drive to the next one, or come back the next day. They will dump it right there.
I was glad to finally see some recycling bins in my neighbourhood. Previously I had to drive 3 km to the nearest place where I could conscientiously dump carefully separated paper, plastic and glass.
Unhappy I was to find the "glass and plastic"-skip is never emptied. It just stands there, full. And has been for the past four months..
More on The Road about living in Italy.
Turning CO2 pollution into fuel
Sometimes I feel there is a glimmer of hope:
Researchers found a way to convert a mixture of carbon dioxide (CO2) into natural gas, using nanotubes powered only by natural sunlight.
According to Craig Grimes, from Pennsylvania State University, such devices offer a new way to take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into fuel or other chemicals, effectively cutting the effect of fossil fuel emissions on the global climate.
"If you tried to build a commercial system using what we have accomplished to date, you'd go broke," admits Grimes, but he is confident that commercially viable results are possible. (Full)
Discovered via The Road Daily
More on The Road about pollution, the environment and climate change.
News: Bush's last days in office: "Let's screw the environment"
While Bush boasts of his efforts to cooperate with President-elect Barack Obama to ensure a smooth transition, his administration is rushing to complete work on regulations to which his successor object. The rules deal with air pollution, auto safety, abortion and workers’ exposure to toxic chemicals, among other issues.
A week ago, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the repeal of a 1983 law that prohibited surface coal mining within 100 feet of flowing streams. The new rule will make it easier for coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys.
Mountaintop removal is an extremely destructive form of coal mining. After clear-cutting all the timber and destroying the undergrowth, mining companies push millions of tons of waste rock and top soil into the valleys below, permanently burying streams. (Details)
"The EPA's own scientists have concluded that dumping mining waste into streams devastates downstream water quality," said Ed Hopkins of the Sierra Club, an environmental activist group. "By signing off on a rule to eliminate a critical safeguard for streams, the EPA has abdicated its responsibility and left the local communities that depend on these waters at risk."
The Environmental Protection Agency is also trying to finish work on a rule that would make it easier for utilities to put coal-fired generating stations near national parks and another allowing utility companies to modify coal-fired power plants and increase their emissions without installing new pollution-control equipment. (Full)
Update Dec 28: I guess the Bush administration did not foresee a coal waste spill like the one from Tennessee this week. Shows the potential impact, though!
More on The Road about Bush, pollution and the environment.
Picture courtesy Vivian Stockman (Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition) and Tennessean.com
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Peter. Flemish, European, aid worker, expeditioner, sailor, traveller, husband, father, friend, nutcase. Not necessarily in that order.
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