Factory Farms

The worldwide trend is to replace small family farms with “factory farms”. Do you know what is it really? You don’t want to know! Many people believe that animals raised for food must be treated well because sick or dead animals would be of no use to agribusiness. This is not true. The competition to produce inexpensive meat, eggs, and dairy products has led animal agribusiness to treat animals as objects and commodities. According to Professor Bernard E. Rollin: “Individual animals may ‘produce,’ for example, gain weight, in part because they are immobile, yet suffer because of the inability to move.” In the case of battery-cage egg production, Rollin explains that “though each hen is less productive when crowded, the operation as a whole makes more money with a high stocking density: chickens are cheap, cages are expensive.” Factory farming is for profit. In animal agriculture, this attitude has led to institutionalized animal cruelty, massive environmental destruction and resource depletion, and animal and human health risks. The most visible symbol of factory farming is the animal feeding operation (AFO) or concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO). By federal definition, an AFO is a facility that "congregates animals, feed, manure and urine, dead animals, and production operations on a small area of land." The major difference between the operations is based on how many animals are involved in the confinement areas with no pasture or grazing land. Highest efficiency is all above. The productivity and profits are maximized. The animals are kept in the smallest space possible and fed the cheapest food that will quickly and effectively fatten them up. As I know governments support corn and soya (soyabean meal) in general. That’s the reason why prices of these feeds are low. Although corn and soya are not healthy for neat, cattle, pig and for chicken. Before the growth of these feeds, especially corn and soya were not present in the earth in high numbers. These are not the natural feeds of animals like the grass. Thus animals remain backwards although breeding facilities ensure a constant supply of replacements. “Modern technology is employed whenever it is economically feasible.” Females are artificially inseminated rather than mated. Pregnancies are spaced close together to increase production. Mothers and offspring are separated quickly to keep the process moving. Antibiotics, hormones, and growth-enhancing drugs are administered to ensure rapid growth and to prevent deadly diseases. Slaughterhouses are run like assembly lines with an emphasis on speed and meat quantity.” How could we eat healthy meat? If you have a nice garden with enough free place… But unfortunately far too many have no idea where their food comes from, and many have no desire to find out. But to tell the truth each shopping is a vote for or against factory farms. Bio is the right choice! Every bite we take has had some impact on the natural environment, somewhere in the world. As the planet grows more crowded, and more farmers turn to industrialized methods to feed millions of new mouths, that impact will only worsen. But we are liable for it! Remember one shopping is one vote!

Read more:

http://www.farmsanctuary.org/issues/factoryfarming/

Farm Animals - Factory Farming - Farms, Corporations, Agricultural, Farmers, Cattle, and Facilities http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/2170/Farm-Animals-FACTORY-FARMING.html#ixzz1MuayrF3g

http://www.greenmuze.com/reviews/news/2338-excerpt-from-animal-factory-by-david-kirby.html

http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/animals.html

http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/2170/Farm-Animals-FACTORY-FARMING.html

Clean air with pump?

It is inevitable to reduce the amount of energy used in buildings to improve the energy balance of Hungary and to reduce air pollution of towns (settlements). Heat pumps are world-wide known as a heating-cooling technology being most effective in energetic point of view, thus they compose a key element of energy efficiency and of CO2 emission reduction. Related to the technology of today - and of tomorrow - it is important to mention as well, that not only the heat source but also running of the heat pump and the input energy can originate from non-fossil sources. Potentialities of my country, namely its solar and soil heat energy reserves and its biomass energy potentials in a wide sense and its high level intellectual capital are favourable to the popularisation of heat pump technology utilising renewable energies. I am still in the renewable energy business, join me!

Gas or what else?!

Gas network is extremely dense in Hungary. More than 80% of the flats have access to the gas network. This would imply that fairly large number of biogas installations could feed in biogas to the pipeline.
Unfortunately the practice of gas service providers in the near past discouraged investors of biomass plants. The conditions of linking to gas pipeline were so severe that large scale or medium sized biogas stations project were stopped, or re-designed to lower output and supply neighboring facilities.
Strangely enough the dense gas network and the easy accessibility of clean and easy to use natural gas is a barrier itself. As non-commercial users shifted to natural gas in large numbers and so made all necessary changes in their houses/flats, can not afford another investment to fulfil the criteria of Renewable Electricity Standard (RES). (Bohoczky, 2010)

The relatively large share of grey/black market in Hungary

It is a commonplace in Hungary that the relatively high level of taxation prevents many investments others are implemented in large numbers on the grey/black market. The examples of last years’ energy efficiency tenders targeting general public provide good examples. The available sources were limited both in percentage (usually 30%) and in total sum as well (often less than 50 000 EUR). Since Value Added Tax (VAT) is 25% in Hungary, it was often easier and feasible not to spend time and effort on an uncertain application but get goods on a grey/black market without VAT. It is a general consensus that there is a strong political and also economic counter interest between conventional or fossil fuel and renewable energy sources. (Bányai, 2010; Ádám and Tóth, 2010) Almost all sources claimed that there is a strong opposition of strengthening or helping Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) to grow among those circles interested in fossil fuel.
I hope renewable energy will become the only possible energy source for developing in every single politicians mind in the future.

Ádám, B., Tóth L., HGD Ltd. personal communication on 3 March, 2010

Wikipedia. Market penetration of district heating, http://en.wikipedia.org, last modified 10 Marc, 2010.

"If They Really are that Good, Electric Cars will Prevail"

“Unlike a hybrid car, which is fueled by gasoline and uses a battery and motor to improve efficiency, an electric car is powered exclusively by electricity.” Germany has already produced some electric cars, such as this BMW, but is lagging behind other countries in developing the technology. Angela Merkel has announced plans to drive up the number of electric cars from 20.000 to one million by 2020 and six million by 2030. She said that Germany must be a "market leader" in the new technology. The government would spend for it two billion Euros by 2013. It’s a nice plan but where will the money come from, and what will be the reactions of large car manufacturers. But she has ruled out subsidizing sales of electric cars, which still retail for a significantly higher price than conventional cars. "A premium to buy isn't the right answer," the chancellor said. Propulsive conceptions: “Cars emitting less than 50 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer will be exempt from the road tax for ten years, and electric cars will be granted use bus lanes and some free parking. Taxes on company vehicles will be reformed to encourage using electric cars, and the government itself plans to power 10 percent of its vehicles with electricity.” But to tell the truth Germany is behind with developing this new technology. And who is the market leader, of course China. Merkel herself admitted that it would "not be easy" for Germany to become a market leader in electric car technology. And Willi Diez, head of the Automobile Marketing Research Institute, told the Handelsblatt: "We must make sure that expertise remains based in Germany." I believe in German cars, tally-ho!
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,763049,00.html
http://www.hybridcars.com/electric-car

Red Sludge Disaster...6 months later

October 4th, 2010, Devecser, Kolontar, Somlovasarhely. This date and these places mark a great disaster for all Hungarians: the flood of toxic red sludge from the Hungarian Aluminium Production and Commerce Company's plant. Upon reaching these three places, it devastated everything that stood in its way, including people (10 people died, among them one baby). When the dam burst, 600-700 thousand m3 of this red sludge was set free to burn the earth, houses and animals, like acid.
Since then, most people who were evacuated, resettled in their homes and started to rebuild their lives (they all had to wear masks in order to prevent the inhaling of toxic dust). 41 houses have been demolished, and a new set of houses have been built. The Hungarian HACCP is monitoring the amount of toxins in the water each day. However, the dam keeping the toxic sludge in was not fortified (even after such a disaster) , leaving a chance of leakage that might even lead to another burst.
Although many say that this was an industrial tragedy, and that nobody could have seen this could happen and nobody is responsible. I strongly disagree, because if the dam's condition was monitored, the tragedy could have been predicted and the lives of so many people would not have been ruined. There is a responsible and he/she must be found and brought to justice.
VT

Europe's Nuclear Waste

Nuclear energy is becoming ever more contentious. especially with the current crises unfolding at Fukushima, Japan. there are several issues and criticisms levelled against nuclear energy, of those issues, the need to have safe storage for nuclear waste material is paramount, as these wastes remain radioactive for thousands of years after disposal.
of the 27 member states of the EU, 14 states have operational nuclear reactors with France at the lead with 58 reactors. in the EU there is a total of 143 nuclear reactors and storage of waste material becomes an issue. the problem is long-term storage of these materials, these storage facilities are very expensive and are unfeasible for small countries that have a small number of reactors which produce a small amount of waste. as a result, the EU commission has been discussing the very likely possibility of setting up an EU storage facility, built and funded by the member states and used by them. now the obstacle is "not in my back yard", what country would be willing to take on such a hazard. until the facility is set up, most countries such as Switzerland will place the responsibility of storage on the local producers of nuclear energy in their respective countries.

K.K
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,478309,00.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11684571

Green IT

Computers appear so innocent and clean, sitting there on the table, doing nothing but buzzing quietly, without any weird emissions. However, computers, like almost everything else electronic, needs power, and currently most of our power comes from natural gas, crude oil and coal, also known as fossil fuels. For years, no one ever considered Computers and IT as a carbon source, but it is a fast growing industry, representing about 2% of global emissions now, a number that could possibly double within the next decade.

Be it more energy-efficient server bases and laptops, or software that automatically powers down our desktops when they’re not being used, computer parts made from other recyclable pieces, or even computer factories choosing a more environmental friendly way of producing these products. There are many different ways to restrain the IT sector’s energy use, without losing performance.
Nowadays computers have the option to turn off the hard-drive or screen, after a certain set idling time, but there are also some energy-saving software in the market now, like Granola or Gabi Software, for example, which runs in the background of your operating system, making sure you’re not wasting volts unnecessarily.
Kind of like the energy-saving lamps, these software’s do not only decrease the energy usage, but also improves the performance of your daily tasks on your computer.

A.K

http://www.greenit.net/
http://www.gabi-software.com/index.php?id=2019&L=9&gclid=CN2r-7ivkqgCFck03wodKDuTCQ

No cars in the city...

It appears that the EU is studying the possibility of banning cars from the city centers across Europe over the next few decades.

As I do not drive, for me this is actually quite interesting and positive news, as I believe cities will be much more attractive without all the massive traffic that usually floats around. I do believe however that this will be a major setback at all levels if it is not done properly and taking into account a number of factors that will allow for life to flow as normal without cars.

If they prepare the cities to have proper and frequent public transportation networks at a price that is accessible to all, if they manage to come up with plans on how to supply cities with the minimum possible impact, if they ensure that there are enough parking solutions and at affordable costs to the car owners to leave their cars in the outskirts during the day, then we can make a smooth transaction to car-free city centers, otherwise chaos and misery will surely come our way!

JSC

Ozone layer news...

Ozone layer news.

JSC

Makes you wonder...

...if the means justify the ends!

As carbon taxes become increasingly more common and begin being introduced around the world it becomes also clearer that most likely they will solve nothing, increase profits for a few while most of us will be left with the bill of radical climate agendas being pushed by goverments and fuelled by special interests. Is it worthwhile?

JSC

Nigerian Nuclear Ambitions and World Nuclear Debates

Nigeria aims to use nuclear energy for the generation of electricity due to its 20,000 mw projected demand for the future. The country had made plans to start building its first nuclear energy plant in 2011, and begin power generation in 2017. However the Japan Fukushima nuclear accident and subsequent radiation fears may bring the nuclear plans of Nigeria and other developing countries to a halt, especially as it had seem to be the popular alternative for clean energy generation.
At the IAEA 54th General Conference in Vienna Austria,Nigeria had made a strong showing as its delegate and president of the Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Agency, Professor Shamsideen Elegba presented a paper " Radiotherapy Practice in Africa:Safety and Efficacy", delegates discussed the issues of safe use of radiation in medicine, and importantly safety regulations and infrastructure in the build up of nuclear potentials. And earlier in 2009 Nigerian Minister for Environment Jhon Odei had lauded the need for Nigerian build up of nuclear generation in a conference held in Nigeria, and which was attended by Experts from South Africa, Germany, Russia, Spain and Italy. While in 2008 Nigeria had a Nuclear deal with Iran aimed at sharing Nuclear Technology and to help Nigeria increase its generation of electricity.
The current nuclear crisis may come to affect the efforts of a country like Nigeria and the global efforts to fight climate change, especially as a country like Germany had in the past made plans to phase out its nuclear reactors by 2020, choosing a path of sustainable energy in using renewable energy in what it terms Energiewede.
S.I
http://www.nnra.gov.ng/nnra/part2/index2.php
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/230127/nuclear-crisis-to-affect-climate-battle
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4357238.stm
http://nubiancheetah.blogspot.com/2007/07/nigeria-countrys-nuclear-power-plant.html

Japan's Nuclear Crisis

For those following the unfolding crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, here are some helpful graphics from the Washington Post.

M.A.

The World Watches Fukushima in fear

the recent earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit Japan recently is causing concern in Japan and abroad. the 6 nuclear reactors at Fukushima have been badly damaged, strangely enough the crises is not because the tsunami damaged the nuclear reactors, which it did. But because as the reactors went offline, the backup generators used to cool the reactors were disabled by the tsunami. resulting in overheating and fears of a meltdown.

even though radiation levels in neighbouring areas tested higher than the normal levels, Japanese officials are claiming that the situation is improving and that 2 out of 6 reactors are now stable.

this crisis seems to have caught the world's attention as developed countries including France, U.S.A and Russia including others are running tests on all of their nuclear facilities, especially the facilities that have been built in similar design and that use similar equipment like the Fukushima plant which was built in part by the American company; GE, which has also served in the construction of dozens of nuclear reactors in America.

with this crises at hand, it is time think hard about nuclear power and how the reactors can be built to with stand such catastrophes in the future.

K.K.

Ex-EPA Administrators Voice Their Opinion

Two former EPA administrators, William Ruckleshaus and Christine Todd Whitman, defend the EPA in a Washington Post editorial. Their sharpest comment against House Republican proposals to cut the EPA budget by a whopping one-third:

It has taken four decades to put in place the infrastructure to ensure that pollution is controlled through limitations on corporate, municipal and individual conduct. Dismantle that infrastructure today, and a new one would have to be created tomorrow at great expense and at great sacrifice to America’s public health and environment.

Some House Republicans are motivated by the conviction that the scientific findings linking greenhouse gas emissions to global warming are wrong, or, more to point, wrong and deliberately so, and thus a conspiracy against industry and the American Way of Life. Others are simply caught up in a rather mindless wave of deregulation. As Ruckleshaus and Whitman note, should we just take them back to 1970? To note: the two both served under Republican presidents.

M.A.

The Environment, Grilled by Congress

Lisa Jackson, EPA administrator, has appeared seven times before the House of Representatives this month. The GOP is determined to interrogate her and other Obama administration officials involved in environmental policy. But why?

Part of the answer is constitutional. Congress has the perfect right to oversee the Executive branch, and any opposition party worth its salt would do well to systematically follow presidential policy, in every branch of the Executive bureaucracy. The Democrats did this after they swept into power in the Congress in 2006. Now the Republicans have their turn. The Obama administration should know its coming.

Part of the answer, however, is political, and in the view of this writer, perfectly cynical. Hearings involving Jackson, Ken Salazar, etc., have little to do with environmental policy, and next to nothing to do with a concern for the environment. They should be seen instead as a complement to the Republican strategy to emphasize the budget deficit and the need for budget cuts in order to do what really interests the GOP: cut what they regard as liberal programs, ease regulations that arguably limit business profits, and maintain tax cuts that benefit the very richest slice of Americans. Practically speaking, cutting the budget means nothing: why else would the GOP care to keep the Bush era tax cuts? Why would they leave Social Security and Medicare untouched?

Another question while the GOP tosses the blame for job losses to environmental protection: do the Republicans practically speaking care any more about jobs than they do about the budget deficit? Not with a straight face: while the National Association of Manufacturers claims rather ludicrously that ozone regulation will cost America 7 million (!) jobs, the Republicans don't flinch when they learn that their proposed budget would cost 700,000 jobs through 2012, according to Moody's Analytics.

Environmental policy indeed merits consensus between Congress and the President; the most effective such policies of the last 40 years have had this. Was the Obama administration ever interested in such consensus? Perhaps so, perhaps not. Another question now arises, however: are House Republicans interested in environmental protection at all?

M.A.

Al Gore's “An Inconvenient Truth” an Oscar documentary!

“Chicken Little was in the woods one day when an corn fell on her head. It scared her so much she trembled all over. She shook so hard, half her feathers fell out. “Help! Help!” she cried. “The sky is falling! I have to go tell the king!”
The chicken story turned into Hollywood blockbuster movie by Al Gore`s “An Inconvenient Truth”.
Most of us do not understand the relations between global warming, and its uncertain etiology, while they blame our way of living as a cause of it, and the unrealistic result will be that if we don’t take a mission to protect our planet now, the sky will fall and our will collapse!
Fluctuating weather patterns have been with us forever, but our ability to study them is only quite recent. Even if a significant warming is actually happening, but by Nature, not us humans, then there is no point to throw the world’s economy down.
Global warming by its believers is a theory that burning fossil fuels like oil and coal (hydrocarbons) releases gases like Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Methane into the atmosphere in such large amounts that the planet is warming up uncontrollably.
Al Gore has some valid points in his provoking documentary, for example that temperatures are actually rising, the adverse effects of CO2 for our health and environment, and that global warming will cause serious damage if left unchecked, and that there are many things governments and people can do to reduce its impact.
Nine inconvenient untruths were found in his documentary by the judge in the High Court of London, saying that some of the claims were wrong and had emerged “in the context of alarmism and exaggeration”.

I believe the fact that we humans are polluting the earth, but I do not believe and accept the fact that climate change is totally anthropogenic. I agree with the fact that we should protect our planet, and our environment from CO2 together with any other harmful gases, in order to live in a cleaner and healthier environment.
At the same time I believe than many like Mr. Gore are not lying, they are just exaggerating facts like the chicken Little story for their on benefits, or because they really believe it.

I’m not discussing whether global warming exists or not, but rather that the facts are exaggerated and we humans do not have to go back to riding camels to save the world, and make wealthy the initiators of all this. If global warming is true, then it is one of the biggest crisis mankind has faced, however there are good reasons to believe it is utterly wrong and thus swallowing the lie that global warming is totally anthropogenic and in the near future our world will collapse will cost each of us thousands of dollars a year and cause the collapse of western civilization.


A.K

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article2633838.ece

Can small nuclear reactors really be the green way forward?

in a world where nuclear power is a very controversial issue, it seems that having nuclear powered cars, planes and even freezers might be the right way forward.
Hyperion Power Generation Inc. has developed a small and portable nuclear reactor that can fit on the back of a pick up truck, this might be a nightmare scenario for some who envision terrorists easily stealing those reactors and using them to spread death and destruction, but not according to John Deal, the CEO of Hyperion Power, who claims that these reactors would be smarter, more environmentally friendly and against conventional thinking, that these reactors would be used in the third world more than the first.
seeing as how that most of the third world don't have the infrastructure to handle to immense output of a regular nuclear reactor, these smaller reactors would be very convenient for micro-grid solutions.
the company is still gathering funds and doesn't have the permission to begin development on the 100 million dollar reactors.
as rough as the debate over these nuclear reactors will probably get in the future, the portable reactors should not be dismissed right off the bat, they might be the way forward on supplying abundant energy to power starved countries without the release of the dangerous pollutants released into the air by fossil fuels.
K.K.

Time Magazine, February 28th, 2011, page 43; "Nuclear Reactors, by Eben Harrell.

Extinct in 2011: Eastern Cougar

By March 5th, 2011, the US Fish and Wildlife Service finished its research in North America concerning the Eastern Cougar.
The conclusion of their research was quite worrying: the Eastern Cougar became extinct.Not even in the present, but more than 60 decades ago. Before that, Eastern Cougars were common mammals: there were large numbers of them living from Canada to South America. However, people started to hunt them in large numbers and now, according to the research, there is none. There are some people who contradict the results and say that they have in fact seen a cougar, but there is no firm evidence.
What will happen to the 'circle of life' if all of the predators are hunted down in the future (just like the Eastern Cougar)? Will it stop, is there a limit?
http://greenanswers.com/news/224556/eastern-cougar-extinct-north-america

VT

If we go nuclear we may have a chance...

It appears that NASA scientists have came up with a new solution to global warming...a nuclear war!

http://gawker.com/#!5771929/global-warming-can-be-cured-by-small-nuclear-war

Looking forward to hearing your views on this one :)

JSC

Time's up NYC

Time's up NYC is an NGO operating in New York City with the aim of raising awareness next to its citizens on how lo live a more sustainable, less toxic, life and by thus improve the quality of life and the environment of the city.

It is a grassroot movement that gathers concerned citizens and invites the overall community to take action through a number of initiatives. Currently they are organizing a Central Park Moonlight Ride (where people are invited to go for a group bike ride throughout the park during the night with guides who will introduce the participants to the environmental side of the park), the 4th Annual Doggie Pedal Parade (an effort to promote bycicles equipped to transport pets, adoption of homeless pets, among others), a campaign to save the community's gardens, among many other activities.

It appears to be an interesting and dynamic organization, and certainly one that enables the citizens to take small but important steps into living more sustainable lives.

For more information visit: http://times-up.org/

JSC

An Inconvinient Truth: The Debate on Global warming

Al Gore has been at the forefront of the campaign against Global Warming since the release of An Inconvenient Truth in 2006. However he has come under much fire recently due to high amounts of snowfall in the U.S southern New York.He has been asked to explain why there has been higher snowfalls when the earth is supposed to be going through an alarming Global Warming period.
Skeptics of Global warming maintain that a day of much snow does not prove Global Warming so doesn't a hot day says Meteorologist Art Horn to the Daily Caller in response to Al Gore, who claims the heavy snowfalls can be attributed to changes in the climate. Skeptics also claimed that Al Gore based his credibility on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) and the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) both which predicted less winter snow in the past and therefore contradicts his claim that the Tundra in Southern New York can be attributed to Global Warming.
However Al Gore seem to point to the view that some Scientist in the past have claimed that Global Warming will lead to irregularities in snowfall. A book published by the National Academies Press titled Abrupt Climate Change:Inevitable Surprises 2002, in its Paleoclimatic Proxies table Pg 21 suggests that Snow accumulation rate will thicken in its annual layers. This leads to the problem of being able to know exactly what is being predicted, or how we are to read this predictions. What seems to be the clear and needed approach to the issues of climate change now is credible research which will collect data and understand threshold in ecological,geophysical measures without too much emphasis on market and environmental issues.
I.S

Silent Spring, Rachel Carson

Silent Spring is not a typical literature book written for bedside-entertainment, but for a purpose of not only informing the public about the hazardous effects of pesticides and herbicides, but to change the mentality of the average American, and for new bills in the senate to be considered. It started as her personal war in a magazine, to a full-blown bestseller book that took more than 4 years of research to make.

At first glance it might sound like the author has a personal vendetta against pesticides by her harsh language, as she may seem biased writing from a subjective perspective, but I personally think it was her only option to attract attention from the public and to be heard.

The author seems to be ahead of her time, warning the public about excessive use of chemicals like pesticides and herbicides harming not only the surrounding nature and animals, but every living thing, including us humans. It took several years to prove that these chemicals cause severe health effect like birth defects, fetal death, neurological disorders, and lately proven to be very carcinogenic.

Nowadays there are many alternative manners of pest control. It surely wasn’t the author who produced these less harmful methods; nonetheless, I believe we should be thankful to her alerting the public about the ugly truth of pesticides and the consequences of their excessive and irresponsible use.

A.K

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/history/lecture31/r_31-3.html

Silent Spring and the effects of insecticides

The Silent Spring

in 1962, acclaimed author, Rachel Carson wrote the book "silent spring." the book tackled the controversial issues of the proliferated use of insecticides and especially DDT.
In "Silent Springs" Rachel, explores the history of insecticides and how a connection has been made to its negative effects on the environment, from birds, animals and even to humans.
she comes to explain the discovery of insecticides which she claims is a "child of the second world war." when testing certain chemical agents in the creating of chemical weapons leading to the point of world war 2, some of these chemicals were found to be fatal to insects. insecticides are not a new invention, they existed before in the forms of naturally occurring chemicals, what makes these new synthetic insecticides particularly harmful is the fact that they are designed with one aim in mind and are extremely biologically potent. of these modern insecticides, they are divided into 2 major groups, DDT and "chlorinated hydrocarbons".
the reason why it was thought that DDT was not harmful to humans was because during world war 2, the drug was used to clear out areas in the pacific theatre of war to clear out mosquito s carrying malaria and also to spray thousands of soldiers and prisoners of war to rid them of lice. because DDT in powder form is not readily absorbed by the skin, the effects caused by it were delayed and as a result it was thought that the harmful effects of DDT on humans was negligible.
she continues to explain that DDT is fat soluble and as a result it is stored in the fats of humans and animals, and is continually stored in the body as it is not easily excreted by the body. because of this, the drug continues to accumulate in the body until it reaches a dangerous level.
as early as 1958, Rachel Carson was interested in writing an essay concerning the harmful effects of DDT, but as her opinion on the matter was seen as near blasphemous to her contemporary's line of thought that she was refused to be given an article space on a magazine to write her research paper. As time went on and she accumulated more research and information on the drug, she was finally able to tackle the issue in her own book in 1962.
it seems that Rachel Carson was decades ahead of her time in her research and line of thought. and even though she makes a good case against pesticides that are poisoning our environment, I don't think use of insecticides such as DDT will come to an end as there are no real alternatives to these pesticides and because the demand for food is growing, the only way for farmers to be sure of a good harvest is to use these chemicals. our only hope is that some time in the near future scientists will discover a less harmful way of protecting our crops from insects without harming the consumers of those crops.
K.K.
http://www.nrdc.org/health/pesticides/hcarson.asp

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

The third chapter of Rachel Carson's book mainly shows us the technological background of pesticides and herbicides. I personally agree with her in that pesticides and herbicides are harmful to us and our surroundings, since they are poisons, but also there is no other effective way to protect our crops and plants and houses from pests such as insects and for example, rats. The happenings that occured (deaths of children and pets) linked to these substances are certainly true, but one would think that if these herbicides and pesticides can be utilized without anyone or anything dying but pests, something must have gone seriously wring in the cases cited by the author. The link below shows that even the Natural Resource Defense Council agrees with the common opinion of newpaper editors, that Rachel carson's claims were often controversial. After having read only one chapter of her book, I cannot state that her claims are untrue or controversial, what I see is an attempt to start a war on pesticides and herbicides. While one half of me agrees with her entirely, the other half cries for more background on the death cases (did these people have for example a user's manual that told them exactly how to use the herbicide and what to be careful about; did they even read it?)

http://www.nrdc.org/health/pesticides/hcarson.asp

VT

Friends of the Earth

This organization is a network of environmental organizations with a mission in key areas as climate change, environmental justice, green economy, and natural resources.
It provides legal support and political voice for environmental advocacy, proffer innovative and energy efficient alternatives for recycling and deforestation, and campaigns for healthy living and foods. Friends of the Earth gets to the root causes of environmental problems and suggests possible solutions to policy makers.
I.S

The Rain Forest Action Network

The Rainforest Action Network

The rainforest action network or RAN was founded in 1985 and since then it has worked to protect rain forests and preserve them and also to protect the right of the people living in and around the protected area. the main aim of the RAN was to bring public attention to the destruction of rain forests around the world through education programs and communication. The RAN use media to bring attention to the destruction of the rain forests to the public, which leads to market changes and pressures on banks, logging companies etc. the head quarters of the RAN is in San Fransisco.

The organisation also uses direct action to protect the rainforest, for example the RAN led a boycott of burger king because the fast food chain was importing cheap beef which was fed by clearing rain forests to provide cattle pasture. This boycott worked effectively, after a loss of 12 percent in sales, burger king has stopped importing rainforest beef from south America.

The RAN also works with grass roots movements in different areas, these movements help educate and inform the public about the rain forests and the destruction they are facing. Through these local groups, enough pressure is exerted to carry out effective change to protect the environment.

By keeping the public informed about the different assaults being carried out on rain forests, they are able to inform people how they can individually help to protect the ecosystem, also by informing the consumers about which products are using old growth trees and which are using sustainable and responsible logging.


The organisation depends on the people to protest and apply pressure on corporations and organisations for them to stop excessive cutting of the rainforest, and as a result, public education and to be able to inform the public of the current issues facing preservation is the most important aspect of the RAN.

The methods used by the RAN seem to be very effective and anticipating of modern trends. the results achieved by them seem to be very promising, by only bringing public awareness to certain issues and organising protests the RAN has won many concessions from several different corporations

K.K.

EarthJustice. Because the Earth Needs a Good Lawyer

EarthJustice was founded as the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund in 1971. Since then, it has become the leading nonprofit environmental law firm in the America. In 1997, they got independent from the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund and changed their name to EarthJustice, to better reflect their role for not just the Sierra Club, but hundreds of others all around the nation and throughout the world as well.

Mission statement:
”EarthJustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations and communities.”

EarthJustice has nine regional offices spread around the United States in the Northwest, Northern Rockies, Northeast, California, Rocky Mountains, Washington DC, Alaska, Mid-Pacific, along with an international program in their headquarters in Oakland, with more than 150 employees working voluntarily.

EarthJustice focuses on three major priorities: maintain wildlife, national parks and forests; protecting our communities by ensuring a clean and non-toxic environment; and fight against global warming.
Climate and energy: EarthJustice has put into position a plan to promote alternative energy policies.
Wildlife and places: Polluted rivers, national parks, forests, close to extinction animals, these are the places and organisms EarthJustice protects.
Health and toxics: EarthJustice has been promoting a safe environment for human health, conserning the air, food and water.

EarthJustice in short is a non-profit organization, dedicated to protect and preserve our planet. To fight for the rights of those whose voices cannot be heard, be it whether dirty waterways in Florida, coal mines in Otter Creek, gas pipelines in Pennsylvania, they are struggling every day to make our world a better place to live, for us. This is what makes EarthJustice such an inspirational organization, as they represent hope and justice for us, other organisms we share this earth with, and perhaps most importantly, our future generations.

A.K

http://earthjustice.org/

Earth Island Institue

Earth Island Institute was founded by David Bower in 1982. It is a non-profit, public interest organisation that encourages individual groups and people with innovative ideas in promoting ecological sustainability. Over their 29 years of operation, they have provided over a hundred of these group projects with fiscal help. A couple of projects that can thank their success to Earth Island Institute:
-International Rivers
-Rainforest Action Network
-Bluewater Network.
The organization operates across the U.S. and around the world, providing sponsorship to various groups, such as: Fiji Organic Project, Ethical Traveller and the International Marine Mammal Project. Earth Island Institute serves as an organization that supports individual groups (it supports over 40 grassroots organizations) from all over the world (rather than founding its own groups and sponsoring only them).
The strategy that Earth Island Institute uses is good because this way it can take part in all kinds of projects and groups, all around the world, and not only in those that its own activists plan (which would be much less than the enormous amount of projects and groups it helps now).
Earth Island Institute also provides public education and is basically a meeting place and supporting point for all of those who want to make a difference by working for the restoration of the damaged environment and ecological sustainability.


Link: http://www.earthisland.org/index.php/support/
VT

Australia: Cyclone Yasi

Australia: Cyclone Yasi



Cyclone Yasi hit Australia last week , its wend hit Queensland coast with nearly 200 mph. Thought its state's well organization warning system made possible to save the life's of its habitants. Only one death was registered after the category 5 storm Cyclone left the country but for its misfortune many damage in properties and agriculture where made. Up to 4$billion damaged caused are to be paid by the green party which won a record number of voting in the summer election .After the floods huge tax the government promise no more further rising. After this second natural disaster the government will have a bit difficulties in keeping its promises.
On the fortunate side of the disaster gap is that this storm hit a rich country like Australia. In the past we have seen Cyclones even smaller than Yasi hitting poor countries and taking thousands of life's. One of them that can be mention is Cyclone Nargis- a huge storm but smaller than Yasi hit the poor country of Burma and left at list 138,00 people dead. Australia one of the most non religious countries used to be called the sin country but as it seem its is protected by god more than they believe.

A.K

Global Warming and Food Commodities

Paul Krugman speculates that the spike in food prices is connected to global warming. Some will go apoplectic at the suggestion, but many elements fit the expected picture all too well.

M.A.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/opinion/07krugman.html?src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB

Nigeria is poised towards an effective environmental policy

In 1987, toxic waste was unlawfully dumped in Delta State Nigeria through the local Koko seaport. The culprit was an Italian businessman, Gianfrance Raffaelli who had imported them under the false pretence that they were industrial materials.
Immediate public outcry motivated the military government to evacuate the toxic waste from the area. The Federal Environmental Protection Agency was decreed in 1988 to look into the managing and regulation of harmful waste, and it has later been repealed and replaced with a more effective and environmentally oriented National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency(NESREA) in 2007.
NESREA is poised towards conserving the environment through a process of sustainable development. Its aims are natural resources and soil conservation,water resources managment to control shortages, land degradation and pollution, and to protect Nigeria's wildlife from deforestation as a result of timber felling and accidental fires. while its institutional and legal framework exist, NESREA is faced with the problems of not having adequate baseline of information and data, and the necessary manpower to undertake its mandate.
I.S

The poor bear the brunt of climate change

the effects of climate change due to pollution seems to be at the forefront of most peoples minds, from those who believe it is the biggest challenge facing humanity to those who believe that it doesn't exist.
Thomas C. Schelling takes a look at the problem from different angle in his article, "the economics of global warming ; melting glaciers, rising incomes, and food." in Newsweek magazine ( January 31st Issue ).
Schelling claims that the biggest issue would be trying to help those countries and people that are most affected by global warming, and according to him that would be the poorest people in the poorest countries. he claims that climate change will affect food production in poor countries, where more than half of the population grows its own food.
even though estimates to world food production loss is low, this is not the full picture. it is estimated that between 1 and 2 billion people live on "the equivalent of 2$ per day". if half of them were to lose half their income, statically speaking, that would be less than 1 percent of the worlds income, but to those losing half of the income, which barely amounts to anything in the first place, it would be disastrous.
it seems that the poor will suffer the most as they would not have the resources to adapt to a changing climate, while the west will barely suffer at all in comparison. the developed world has to look for ways to help the poor countries that will suffer the effects of climate change due to the developed worlds energy consumption and production levels, including china's production levels, which led to the problem in the first place.
K.K

"Fog Cleans Air Pollution"

When we think of fog, we imagine walking or driving around blinded by it, mysterious objects and creatures crossing our roads, the whole image resembling a nightmare. But, we are told by a song to "always look on the bright side of life", and Jeffrey Collett, the atmospheric chemist of Colorado State University does just this: he shows us evidence that fog is not a bad thing at all. Radiation fog, in fact, cleans the air of pollution by capturing the floating particles that cause us to breathe heavily and sneeze, and bringing them to the ground. As a result of this, the air becomes (relatively) clean again. This article describes profoundly this self-healing procedure Mother Nature came up with a long time ago.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2005/0604-fog_cleans_air_pollution.htm

VT

Cap and Trade - Why not just Cap? http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/g/greenhouse_gas_emissions/cap_and_trade/index.html

One of the measures that have been introduced lately to combat climate change/ global warming is the Cap and Trade mechanism.
The idea is to introduce limits on carbon emissions and then allow for these limits to be negotiated and traded among polluters. However, if the problem is to reduce/limit the emissions why do we need a mechanism to trade these? And, by trading them do we actually work on reducing them? It seems to me that by introducing a trading system will not correct the bad practices that currently exist among industry and emitters, for these will be able to buy the extra credits of others to continue polluting at the same level as before, creating inequalities between companies and maintaining current practices to appear as "acceptable" if a fine is paid. Fines, however, as I see them do not reduce any emissions, now do they?

JSC

Environmental Policy Around the World, 2011

Dear Readers,

For the next five months, visit our site to find commentary, news updates, and thematic posts on environmental problems and solutions, written by students at McDaniel College Budapest.

For starters, recognize the photo accompanying this post? It's a satellite image of the Ajka alumina plant spill, taken five days after the disaster itself. A trail of red sludge is still visible coming from the empty reservoir. Since then, we've learned much about how the dangerous, highly alkaline sludge was not properly classified as a dangerous substance, and the lethargy with which people's lives in Kolontar and Devecser have been reconstructed.

More to follow...

M.A.