tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11798307832525016542024-02-22T11:51:56.598-08:00Go Green! Go Eco!!News, Going Green, Climate Change, Mitigation & Adaptation, Ecochallenge, Partner UsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-33163565930600846932013-12-09T03:12:00.001-08:002013-12-09T03:12:50.811-08:00Stakeholders In Gambia Meet to Develop National Greenhouse Gas Inventory<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUtPeZh7S7erMRcoMB3bwhVAhhT3OphQPedDrpuIfUbXBcp-u7M-8jhIKuN5_ybHAHFTMniCAUW17GTupNVi0-H34bz0Iq9q93tNHxzph1m9s6S-OWmM5tbbavv6FobCmPQA-SpsTeCUiS/s1600/GreenhouseEffect2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUtPeZh7S7erMRcoMB3bwhVAhhT3OphQPedDrpuIfUbXBcp-u7M-8jhIKuN5_ybHAHFTMniCAUW17GTupNVi0-H34bz0Iq9q93tNHxzph1m9s6S-OWmM5tbbavv6FobCmPQA-SpsTeCUiS/s400/GreenhouseEffect2.jpg" width="400" /></a>Stakeholders under the aegis of the Ministry of the Environment, Parks and Wildlife and its partners have gathered at the conference hall of the National Nutrition Agency (NaNA) for a training workshop, designed to build the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory. The Inventory guidelines are expected to be used to ensure that The Gambia meets the demands of all the international conventions and treaties it has so far ratified on climate change and its related issues. The Environment, Parks and Wildlife minister, Fatou Ndey Gaye at the event, described the workshop as an important milestone in the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in The Gambia. The minister hastened to thank all the members of the National Climate Committee (NCC), the UNFCCC focal point and secretariat, as well as various national experts for their solid engagement in the development of the National Greenhouse Inventory Report (NIR) of the Third National Communications of The Gambia. She informed that The Gambia has prepared and submitted two Green House Gas (GHG) Inventories as a component of its Initial and Second National Communications. In line with the more recent developments of the UNFCCC, namely more regular reporting and emphasis on emissions/sinks and mitigation, she said it is felt that this process should now be institutionalised. The minister used the opportunity to reiterate that The Gambia has emitted about 20 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2000, representing only about 0.01% of global emissions. Minister Gaye however lamented that the 'temperature warming' in The Gambia is projected to increase by about 4OC, while rainfall is projected to decrease by about 54% in 2100. Food and nutrition security of The Gambia, she added, would be seriously threatened by climate change, as crop production is likely to reduce by about 30%. "Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the single most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, contributing 64% to radioactive forcing by Long-Lived Greenhouse Gases (LLGHGs). It is responsible for 84% of the increase in radioactive forcing over the past decade and 82% over the past five years. Atmospheric CO2 reached 141%of the pre-industrial level in 2012, primarily because of emission from combustion of fossil fuels, deforestation and other land use," she explained. The minister reminded participants that their task is to develop the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory in The Gambia, stressing that they have to ensure that specific tasks relating to the national GHG inventory are carried out in a timely manner and ensure efficient coordination of outputs of consultants and national institutions. "The activities undertaken by the national institutions will contribute to strengthening institutional arrangements for compiling, archiving, updating and managing GHG inventories," she maintained. The UNFCCC focal person in The Gambia, Pa Ousman Jarju, who is also the director of Water Resources, said the objective of the UNFCCC is to achieve the stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. He stressed that in order to achieve this, all parties shall develop and periodically update national greenhouse gas inventories, formulate, implement, publish and regularly update programmes containing mitigation and adaptation measures, while communicating information to the conference of the parties that is related to the implementation of commitments.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-32892543646998280372013-12-08T12:57:00.001-08:002013-12-08T12:57:09.419-08:00President Jonathan of Nigeria Opens International Palm Produce Conference<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Liberation Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<a href="http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/palmoil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/palmoil.jpg" width="400" /></a>President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria has declared open the 1st International Palm Produce Conference (IPPC) in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Southern Niegria with a call on stakeholders in the sector to explore available investment opportunities in the palm produce industry in Nigeria. The 3-Day conference which was jointly organized by the Country's Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in collaboration with the National Palm Produce Association of Nigeria (NPPAN) has as its theme: "Investment in Oil Palm and Its Derivatives - A Panacea for Economic Growth and Sustenance." In his address read by the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Samuel Ortom, President Jonathan pointed out that the aim of the landmark conference was to bring together global stakeholders to share ideas on new technological development and ways of improving the quality and availability of palm produce. This, he said is to maximize the growing investment opportunities in both domestic and international palm produce trade as well as to utilize the investment-friendly climate and the incentives put in place by the present administration. He expressed satisfaction with the timing of the conference, saying it held at a time when the government has established the necessary policies towards creating the enabling environments and frameworks for sustainable businesses and economic growth in agricultural produce such as oil palm in which the country has significant comparative advantage. <span style="background-color: transparent;">President Jonathan identified the stimulus for the creation of over 3.5 million jobs along the agriculture value - chains; noting that his government has recognized oil palm as one of the important commodities and key drivers to promote and has intensified efforts to provide enabling environments for accomplishing this task. </span><span style="background-color: transparent;">In the address, the President pointed out that Nigeria is an oil palm producing nation and was a foremost producer and exporter especially in the fifties and sixties when the nation dominated the palm produce industry and became world largest producer and marketer between 1961 and 1965. He added that the country as at then contributed an average world production share of 39 percent. He however, regretted that the Government allowed this position to slip away from the country.</span></div>
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Nigeria<a class="page-end-close" href="" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://allafrica.com/static/images/structure/cross_grey_small.png); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #10579f; cursor: pointer; height: 10px; left: 524px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 5px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 10px;" title="close"></a></div>
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The draw for the 2014 World Cup has been made in Brazil. And it is Ghana which is housed in the worst group alongside …<a data-aa_source="slideout" href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201312080132.html?aa_source=slideout" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #10579f; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> see more »</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-37986356331218949232013-12-08T12:45:00.004-08:002013-12-08T12:45:45.237-08:00 Bottling Pollution? Liberia Coke Firm Mute Amid Accusations<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<a href="http://www.businesscalltoaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/MDC-bicyclist-Namvula-RENNIE-ps11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://www.businesscalltoaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/MDC-bicyclist-Namvula-RENNIE-ps11.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;">The Liberia Coca Cola Bottling Company (LCCBC) has remained tight lip for two days following a huge protest action against the institution by students and community dwellers. Reporters who had gone to hear the company's side of the story were stopped from entering the compound or told that executives of the company were in meeting that could not end. The company is accused of pollution caused by a black liquid with foul odor that runs at the back of the industrial complex into the community. The young people who stalled the movement of people in and out of the main entrance chanted, "Factory Pollution -We're Tired With It". Yea Akoi, a resident of the Coca Cola factory area lamented: "Yesterday evening a snake dropped into this gutter here and it died quick, quick." "Even when chicken drink this water it can die. This thing has been going on for years we tired now. When they released that bad chemical water it can't be easy here. The scent can take over the whole place". Akoi's statement is in support of the protest that began when students and youth of community gathered before the main entrance of the LCCBC to demand an end to the pollution that is said to be hindering their learning, proper growth and development. Hannah W. Saah, a 10th grader, told reporters she is hoping that the company will agree to their demands and stop polluting the area. "The chemical they have smells like toilet. It is hard to learn when you have that thing going through your noise. If the company doesn't say anything we will continue to come here." "I don't live in this community but I can come to school here and the pollution is very terrible," says student Josiah Cooper. "The students thought it wise to join the community in the process because they are greatly affected by what is going on." "We have been dismissing school on many occasions because the company can release that their chemical and there can be no way to breathe," says James P. Mulbah Principal of the Factory Community Christian Academy who part the protest. "We are calling on stake holders in our country and others who have influence to come to the aid of community." "There is a need that this factory be relocated or else it will create a huge health hazard. We are going to continue this action peacefully until the government can address our plight," Mulbah stressed. According to the community their lawmakers past and present are aware about the situation. "We had meetings with Kuku Dorbor." "We have also engaged honorable Henry Fahnbulleh but they have all been on a slower pace with regards to the issue that is why we are here to tell central government that we are dying, embarrassed and constrained to do what we are doing and it is impossible to learn here," Mulbah says shaking his head.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-54392985301396625282013-12-08T12:04:00.001-08:002013-12-08T12:04:49.245-08:00Angola denies impact of severe drought<div style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px;">
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<a href="http://www.dw.de/image/0,,16425715_303,00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://www.dw.de/image/0,,16425715_303,00.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">The Angolan government has been accused of being in denial over a drought that has affected 1.8 million people because the crisis threatens to tarnish the country's image as a booming economy. Children as young as nine are digging wells to fetch water, amid a severe drought in southern regions of Angola that has forced people to use unclean water for consumption and cooking, according to the UN. Neighbouring Namibia, which has also been badly affected, has declared a drought emergency and appealed for humanitarian aid. Angola has done neither, although it has appointed a special inter-ministerial commission to respond to the drought, delivered food aid and drilled boreholes. Government sources have told the UN that funding requirements are between $150m (£242.3m) and $350m, but amounts disbursed so far have not been confirmed. International relief agencies, including Unicef, the World Health Organisation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation, began responding to Angola's drought in 2012, but the Angolan government was slow to respond, according to aid officials. Unicef, the UN agency for children, says approximately 3 million children under five will potentially be affected by the effects of the prolonged drought. Between December last year and June this year, 17,746 malnourished children went through outreach community programmes, 5,337 with severe acute malnutrition and 11,097 with moderate acute malnutrition. Drinking water is a concern, particularly in Cunene and Namibe. Cunene has been the hardest-hit province, where an estimated 542,979 people – half of Cunene's population – have been affected, especially farmers, including semi-nomadic communities, and children under five. Almost 1.2m livestock are at risk. Provincial authorities have indicated that 430 water points are not working, affecting 100,000 people. The wells are as deep as 15-25 metres, and dug where a stream has dried up. Children, mostly boys between the ages of nine and 18 have to cover distances of 15-30km to dig wells and fetch water. Malnutrition has reached 24.4% of the population in Cunene, with a prevalence of severe acute malnutrition of 5.7%. Food production has been badly hit. In some areas – Cunene, Namibe, Benguela coast and the southern part of Huila – almost all production of cereals and legumes was lost. Poor rainfall has particularly affected five southern Angolan provinces: Cunene, Namibe, Kuando Kubango, Benguela and Huila. Rainfall during the 2011-12 season was 60% below average. Rainfall in 2012-13 was also well below average in large parts of the country, particularly in the southwest on the Namibian border. The drought comes against a backdrop of strong economic growth. According to the World Bank, Angola's gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have grown by more than 8% in 2012, spurred by high oil export price and rising production volume. According to the UN Committee for Development Policy, Angola's gross national product was more than double a threshold of $1,190 per capita a year to qualify for the move from least-developed country status.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-80243159920228164192013-12-08T11:24:00.001-08:002013-12-08T11:26:24.883-08:00Climate change predictions should stimulate us into action<br />
<a href="http://media.salon.com/2012/12/global_warming_square.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="382" src="http://media.salon.com/2012/12/global_warming_square.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The question about climate change is no longer whether it is real. The question is what the world is going to look like for generations yet unborn. Despite the global community's best intentions to keep global warming below a 2C increase from the pre-industrial climate, higher levels of warming are increasingly likely. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Scientists agree that countries' current emission pledges and commitments under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change would most likely result in 3.5-4C warming. And the longer those pledges remain unmet, the more likely it is that we will be living in a world that is four degrees warmer by the end of this century. The lack of action on climate change not only risks putting prosperity out of reach for millions of people in the developing world; it also threatens to roll back decades of sustainable development. Care must be taken so as not to focus only on doomsday scenarios. In fact, there are tremendously exciting possibilities in what it would look like to live in a very low-carbon world. Our work on inclusive green growth shows that, through more efficient and smarter use of energy and natural resources, there are opportunities to drastically reduce the climate impact of development without slowing poverty alleviation or economic growth. Those initiatives include: putting of fossil fuel and other harmful subsidies to better use; factoring the value of the natural environment into economic decision-making; expanding public and private expenditures on green infrastructure that is able to withstand extreme weather; investing in urban public transport systems designed to minimise carbon emission and maximise access to jobs and services; supporting carbon pricing and international and national emissions trading schemes; and increasing energy efficiency – especially in buildings – and the share of renewable power produced. That is our challenge. The best and brightest companies and developed and developing countries should be encouraged to seize new opportunities connected to inclusive green growth. They must know that the path to economic growth could very well be engaging in finding new technologies and new approaches of mitigating climate change. Can we create an enormous market for new technologies focused on mitigation of climate change? I think there's only one answer: we simply must. We at GreenEco hope that the vision of economic opportunity arising from the need to create a low-carbon world inspires us to create new technologies. It is these technologies that can become drivers of economic growth as well as saviours of our planet from catastrophe.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-84108648358008173062013-12-08T10:58:00.000-08:002013-12-08T10:58:20.410-08:00African Countries and Cost of climate change adaptation: Destabilisation ensues<div style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px;">
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<a href="http://b.vimeocdn.com/ts/271/230/271230754_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://b.vimeocdn.com/ts/271/230/271230754_640.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">African countries are increasingly vulnerable to climate change and could struggle to feed and defend their people as temperatures rise, according to a major UN report. The cost of developing drought-resistant crops, providing early-warning systems for floods, droughts and fires, and building seawalls, dykes, and wave breaks will be vast, says the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP) emissions gap report, launched at an African environment ministers' meeting in Warsaw. It will cost Africa approximately $350bn a year to adapt its farming and infrastructure to climate change if governments fail to hold temperatures to less than 2C and allow them to rise to about 4C, according to the report. The higher temperatures rise, the greater the financial and human challenge to adapt, says the report, which argues that present policies point to temperatures rising to 3-4C by 2100, a turn of events it claims would be catastrophic. The report claims coral reefs will die, sea levels will rise, freshwater reserves will decline over wide areas, and rainfall in southern Africa will decrease by 30%. Countries that fail to adapt to even the minimum expected temperature increase of 2C will be in dire straits, the report says. "Climate change in Africa is a reality," said Ephraim Kamuntu, Uganda's minister for water and environment. "We have to adapt or perish, but our capacity to respond is limited. The cost of waiting to do something is far greater than doing something now. How many super-typhoons do we need before we have to take action. This is a matter of survival; what are we waiting for?". "The plight of Africa is not of our making," said Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, lead negotiator for the Africa group of nations. "The developed countries have caused the problem and Africa are asking for the funds to help but so far they are not forthcoming. "One billion Africans are in harm's way. We witness instability in rainfall, diseases spreading, sea level rise and floods. One of the effects of climate change is to send Africans further and further to seek water. This brings them into conflict with other Africans. We are faced with wars on African soil that are not created in Africa." The report warns: "Even with a warming scenario of under 2C Africa's undernourished would increase 25-90%. Crop production would be reduced across much of the continent as optimal growing conditions are exceeded. The capacity of African communities to cope will be significantly challenged." It suggests the magnitude of adaptation requirements could destabilise countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, water supply, infrastructure, and agriculture can be expected to incur the highest costs. In north Africa, infrastructure and adapting to extreme weather events are expected to prove costliest.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-81040962134750228022013-12-07T23:56:00.003-08:002013-12-07T23:56:49.090-08:00Biodiversity: Knowledge is key, not technology<br />
<a href="http://blog.lib.umn.edu/denis036/thisweekinevolution/MaineSoybeans.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://blog.lib.umn.edu/denis036/thisweekinevolution/MaineSoybeans.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Agricultural biodiversity entails growing a variety of plants on a smallholding or farm instead of a large expanse of a single plant in monocultures of maize or soybean or plantations of oil palms. Biodiversity can not only provide food and a nutritious varied diet, but also fodder and ecosystem services like pest control by encouraging beneficial predators and fertilization by planting legumes and fertilizer trees. Biodiversity is also the basis and the result, of a good forest conservation policy. A common misconception is that sound agricultural policies cannot go hand in hand with the protection of forested areas. A smallholder rotating cereals and vegetables, growing coffee under a canopy of fruit or cocoa trees or oil palms will contribute to their household’s food security and nutrition by hedging their bets – if one crop fails, others can fill the gap and provide the family with a varied diet. Furthermore forest canopies continue to be protected and important corridors maintained for wildlife. Any surplus fruit or cash crops of coffee and cocoa can supplement the family income. By relying on biodiversity to deter pest infestations and provide fertilisation, the smallholder reduces reliance on external inputs, like expensive chemical fertilisers and pesticides, which in turn prevents the pollution of soil and water and even improves the household balance sheet. Ecological farming relies on agro-biodiversity by working with nature. In contrast, uncontrolled industrial agriculture threatens to suppress biodiversity by promoting an agricultural model that relies on monocultures of plants like GE cereals or plantations of oil palm or cocoa, to the exclusion of any other plant. The lack of biodiversity increases the vulnerability of the monoculture to pest infestations, that industrial agriculture usually "solves" by selling toxic chemical pesticides, which often kill organisms indiscriminately, including beneficial insects like pest predators and pollinators such as bees .By following a strategy of "Zero deforestation" countries that are home to large forested areas can ensure food sovereignty for their people by making the most of their natural resources without putting them at risk. If smallholders are growing a variety of plants that provide a varied diet, they won’t be suffering from nutrient deficiency. This will sap demand for one of the latest technology fixes being developed by Big Food to make more money from our broken food system - biofortification. It would also provide a raison d’etre for releasing GMOs into the environment. There will be no market for these false solutions if smallholders embrace agro-biodiversity. "The best solution to tackle Vitamin A Deficiency already exists and it’s called vegetables."</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-87415312908843622112013-12-07T23:23:00.002-08:002013-12-07T23:25:51.936-08:00Having healthy food for all Africans<br />
<a href="http://www.south-africa-tours-and-travel.com/images/healthy-food-southafricacuisine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="302" src="http://www.south-africa-tours-and-travel.com/images/healthy-food-southafricacuisine.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Thinking about farming in Africa, one of the major goals is to see local farmers being able to grow safe and healthy food in balance with nature. It is called ecological farming, and it would not only feed Africa’s people but also maintain livelihoods, alleviate poverty, and prevent the corporate takeover of agriculture currently happening across the continent. Ecological farming is about nurturing our soils, cultivating diversity, and supplying families with safe and nutritious food. It is the only way to effectively address the serious triple crises of food insecurity, water scarcity, and climate change. Today Africa is increasingly being targeted as the new market for industrial agriculture: an agriculture driven by corporate interests and supported by governments in the North and South. Industrial agriculture relies on farmers using inputs for their crops. These inputs include synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides, and genetically engineered (GE) seeds – and they are very expensive. Using them often results in debt and economic insecurity for farmers. This debt-driven agriculture is also a big contributor to global climate change, and it destroys biodiversity, degrades soils, and pollutes land, freshwater, and coastlines. From field to fork, chemically intensive industrial agriculture is bad for Africa. The invasion of agribusiness in Africa’s agriculture is threatening this control and the ability of small-scale farmers, who are mostly women, to continue feeding the majority of Africa’s people. Stakeholders who are contributing to agricultural development in Africa support and the millions of farmers who grow Africa’s food and feed Africa directly, have supported ecological farming. Using ecological farming, local farmers can nurture the soil that feeds the crops and which ultimately feeds the continent. Voices of African farmers should be heard on the development of our continent’s agriculture.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-77542194308805820112013-12-07T22:51:00.001-08:002013-12-07T22:51:48.908-08:00Stabilization of food supply: The grain reserve approach<div style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Droid Serif', Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">
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<a href="http://cdn-wac.emirates247.com/polopoly_fs/1.308530.1287974146!/image/1745199379.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="http://cdn-wac.emirates247.com/polopoly_fs/1.308530.1287974146!/image/1745199379.jpg" width="400" /></a>Given the challenges posed by climate change, here is an idea that makes a lot of sense: grain reserves. Why? Because grain reserves are a relatively cheap public insurance policy in the face of tremendous uncertainty, when the risks of failure include starvation. Governments can use a reserves policy to invest in storage and transportation infrastructure; to work with the private sector to cover gaps and market failures; to provide farmers with guarantees that encourage investment; and to increase transparency to discourage hoarding and speculation.</div>
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Confronted with the reality of climate change, governments must take a smarter approach towards managing our food supply. Grain reserves have an impressive pedigree. For thousands of years, households and governments have stored some of each harvest as an insurance against the uncertainties of the next. Food reserves respond to inherent characteristics of agriculture, particularly the presence of relatively constant, inelastic demand coupled with much more variable short-term supply. Unregulated agricultural markets often over-produce, leading to a pattern of many years of declining prices, interrupted by short, sharp, upward spikes. Food reserves can lessen the unwanted consequences of unstable agricultural markets.</div>
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There are many models to choose from—indeed, most governments have some form of reserve in place—though most have been scaled back considerably since the days when food reserves were the norm. In the past, some of the major exporting countries (notably Canada and the U.S., in the case of wheat) held reserves that effectively both established a price floor for their growers and gave wheat importers confi dence that the grain supply was safe, even if one year’s harvest was poor.</div>
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In other cases, national governments have operated domestic focused reserves. Many such national reserves in sub-Saharan Africa were troubled by poor finance and oversight. Even those that worked relatively well were dismantled over the 1990s, largely because they did not fi t in the model of economic liberalization that dominated donor thinking at the time. But there are compelling reasons to consider their re-establishment given the vital nature of food security, the effects of climate change on agricultural production, and the failure of purely market-based approaches to provide an adequate and appropriate food supply and distribution. Countries can learn from their experiences in establishing independent and accountable central banks, which in the past were similarly crippled by poor governance and a lack of accountability. They can also benefit from the dramatic changes in information technology, communications and transportation to build reserves that are flexible, and that are responsive to change in market conditions.</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-42489829738060136612013-12-07T22:45:00.000-08:002013-12-07T22:45:04.760-08:00Electronics companies can lead the way on clean energy<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Electronic gadgets can make our lives better, but the rate at which we collectively purchase and discard them is having a serious impact on our planet. So people often ask us: "Who is the greenest tech company?" Often the greenest option for people is to buy only what they truly need, to buy used electronics, and to extend the life of their devices by upgrading parts or replacing a weak battery. The greenest electronic gadget is usually the one you don't buy.</span></span><br />
<a href="http://www.unep.org/gpwm/portals/24123/images/eWaste.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.unep.org/gpwm/portals/24123/images/eWaste.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">However, when people do need to purchase a new product, there is some good news to report: many electronic companies have improved at removing toxic chemicals from mobile phones, computers and tablets, an important step in the right direction. This change did not happen by accident or altruism; companies changed in large part because of creative people-powered campaigns. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">The next big challenge for the tech sector is to address the dirty energy embedded in the devices’ manufacturing and supply chains that causes climate change. With an expected 1 trillion USD in sales in 2012, the industry can prevent a lot of global warming pollution if it moves to clean energy in its manufacturing processes. These companies need to lead so that they can prevent electronic waste from piling up in places such as China, and can ensure that their products are made from clean power, not dirty energy. Electronic companies have also gained political power in many countries, meaning their advocacy for clean energy can have a big impact on government policies. All of us – companies and individuals alike – have a responsibility to make our planet more sustainable.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-71631544207825693712013-12-07T22:28:00.001-08:002013-12-07T22:33:04.389-08:00Fighting World Hunger: The Agroecology Perspective<br />
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<a href="http://vipmedia.globalnews.ca/2011/09/a68e81bb-eb71-4de2-a36b-7b3ed88851a0-e1369969584339.jpg?w=620" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://vipmedia.globalnews.ca/2011/09/a68e81bb-eb71-4de2-a36b-7b3ed88851a0-e1369969584339.jpg?w=620" width="400" /></a></div>
Now, in 2013, almost one in seven people in the world experience chronic hunger – which doesn’t include those who face hunger due to “short-term” emergencies such as natural disasters or war. Women make up a little over half of the world’s population, but they account for over 60 percent of the world’s hungry. The vast majority of people suffering from hunger and malnutrition are living in rural areas – where food is produced – with up to 60 percent living in poverty.<br />
The causes of hunger range from extreme weather events, predictable cycles of drought, food price volatility, ineffective or discriminatory distribution of food supplies, corporate dominance of the global food system and international trade policies, to chronic poverty and lack of social protection. Taken together, they point to national and international policies that fail to adequately address – let alone ensure – food and nutrition security.<br />
Now the response.<br />
We produce enough food, but our production, distribution and consumption patterns are neither just nor sustainable. Continued high rates of hunger demonstrate that most mainstream approaches to food production have failed us.<br />
Large-scale, industrial agriculture and GMOs have not been successful in solving global food security challenges. Rather, these practices have degraded our soils, polluted our water, and reduced biodiversity through the extensive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and through clear-cutting practices for monocropping. Sustainable agroecological food production methods (also called ecological farming) aim to increase productivity through enhancing natural and sustainable processes, using local knowledge and resources.<br />
In contrast to industrial and chemical agriculture, which is a linear system that relies on costly external inputs (pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, etc.), agroecology is a closed loop system of production, which recycles organic materials into the soil to increase nutrients over time, making food systems less dependent on fossils fuel-based fertilizers.<br />
Therefore the answer is leveraging the potential of sustainable agriculture methods with policies designed to scale up and mainstream the systems that have proven records of success in terms of sustainable productivity and resilience, and linking these systems to markets that enhance livelihoods and communities. This will not only preserve land and other natural resources for future generations but help restore depleted soils and protect the precious biodiversity that still remains to us. Such a holistic and ecological approach to food security is needed now more than ever.<br />
Agroecology is simply a better way to fight hunger while protecting the environment and helping communities to prosper.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-76163533510021481862013-12-07T22:14:00.001-08:002013-12-08T10:23:16.266-08:00Kenya’s challenge: How best to manage its new-found water wealth! <a href="data:image/jpeg;base64,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" 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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">In the midst of worrisome news about droughts, desertification, unreliable monsoons and growing concerns around water security around the world, the announcement by the UNESCO and Kenyan officials at the recent International Water Security Conference in Nairobi was anything but gloomy. The finding of potentially huge groundwater resources in northwestern Kenya is indeed a blessing, not only for the herding communities of drought-prone Turkana, but also for the region as a whole. Until very recently the region was best known to the global water community both for the lack of access to water that mark the lives and livelihoods of indigenous communities that live there, and for their efforts to save Turkana Lake, the largest permanent desert lake in the world according to International Rivers. But a recent survey by RTI, a company hired by U.N., found groundwater systems with a potential of storing about 250 billion cubic meters (or about 66 trillion gallons) in the Kachoda, Gatome, Nkalale and Lockichar areas, with the largest aquifer being located in the Lokitipi Basin—all of them in Turkana county, one of the 47 counties in Kenya. Of these, the three smaller aquifers combined are estimated to store about 30 billion cubic meters of water, once confirmed by drilling. But the Lotikipi Basin Aquifer, the largest of them—it has already been confirmed—is likely to store about 207 billion cubic meters, and has a recharge rate of 1.2 billion cubic meters or about 317 billion gallons a year, equivalent to 40 percent of the current annual water use in Kenya. Kenyan water resource planners, with their ability to estimate the recharge rate, are in a better position today to plan and keep the water withdrawal below this rate. The Kenyan government, which has ushered in policy reforms in several sectors, might be in a position to ensure this environmental cap. Yet, some of the issues I raised in an earlier blog come to mind. Referring to a Guardian report on a study that looked at rising sea levels from a new angle, we urged caution. That study found that efforts to meet increasing freshwater demand by harnessing “fossil” groundwater [which cannot be replenished for millennia under current climate conditions] contributes more to rising sea levels than melting glaciers. The authors were particularly concerned about deep tube-well drilling—a technology adapted from the oil industry—which has contributed to a number of problems associated with irrigated agriculture. New initiatives in groundwater development could learn from past lessons (India, China and the United States to list a few), and in view of these experiences the temptation to promote groundwater development in Kenya needs to be tempered with caution. This is especially important in the Kenyan context. Along with the new ground water resources, RTI has also located some oil reserves in the region. As far as the Kenyan government is concerned, the temptation to exploit oil will be high, as will the temptation to extract water to ensure food security. As far as international investors and international institutions are concerned, the temptation to appropriate the newfound wealth for global good will be high. Turkana is also the poorest county in the country, ranking 47th in poverty rate (94.3 percent, while the national average is 47.2 percent as per the Kenya Household and Budget Survey). Most people who live there, especially in the rural areas, belong to herding/ fishing communities which have a different relation with natural resources as well as with cash economy. As the state and private sector begin investing in the region, it is up to democratic institutions in Kenya to ensure that marginalized groups amongst the Turkana inhabitants have a say in the development of these water resources. </span></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-71413607063258068002013-12-07T22:00:00.001-08:002013-12-07T22:00:44.908-08:00False Solutions in Agriculture & Climate Change<br />
<a href="http://www.gaiafoundation.org/sites/default/files/resize/gallery/DSC_0275-250x376.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Palm oil plantation, Uganda. Photograph by Will Baxter." border="0" src="http://www.gaiafoundation.org/sites/default/files/resize/gallery/DSC_0275-250x376.JPG" /></a><span style="color: #686868; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">False Solutions to refer to those solutions which reinforce the systems which have resulted in climate change and the food and energy crisis. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #686868; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Industrial agriculture and the food system, which are becoming larger and more centralised, not only destroys biodiversity, soils, nutrition and local food systems, but are responsible for at least 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which trigger climate change. And in addition to this destruction, an estimated 20 million tonnes of food is wasted in Britain during its journey from chemical drenched fields to the plate. Research shows that a third of the world's entire food supply could be saved by reducing waste - that's enough to feed 3 billion people.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #686868; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Why then do advocates for industrial agriculture continually raise the alarm about feeding the growing global population, and the need for them to have more land, technology, investment so that they can "feed the world"? Is this because they have become charitable organisations? Or because they have to find ways to grow their markets, to grow their profits? </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #686868; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Genetically Modified crops are patended because corporations claim that they have engineered a new variety of seed by introducing foreign genes into the seed. They therefore claim that they can "own" seed - and treat it as any other patented commodity. But Nature's Laws defy ownership and control. These seeds multiply and cross-polinate with other non-GM seeds. The companies controlling their patents have reacted to this by suing farmers with land where there are any who have traces of "their" GMO seeds without license or purchase. These farmers have little chance of survival against the corporate legal teams who push for ever more stringent laws to further the interests of their clients, against all odds.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #686868; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">These monocultures offer farmers and our increasingly fragile food system, little resilience to the volatile climate of today. Resilience is found in the diversity of locally adapted seeds. With the loss of seed diversity comes the loss of local and indigenous knowledge and practices which enhance seed diversity. These complex farming systems, which have evolved over thousands of years, have stood the test of time by following the laws of Nature. The GMO experiment, driven by corporations rather than independent scientists, is a few decades old, yet its proponents want us to put our food security in their hands.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #686868; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Agrofuels - or Biofuels - are fuels produced from organic matter, such as palm oil plants. They are cultivated in large-scale monocultures and have been promoted as the answer to our fossil fuel dependent societies; a 'green' fuel which can be used in place of petrol or diesel. They may purport to be a solution to climate change, but in actual fact they emit more CO2 in their production and processing than fossil fuels. The push for biofuels is leading to large-scale deforestation, and a global land grab which has contibuted to the global food crises as land for food is converted into land for fuel.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #686868; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">There are numerous other 'solutions' being proposed to deal climate change and food insecurity. These are founded on the same principles as industrial agriculture, GMOs and agrofuels; large-scale moncrops, hi-tech investment, and chemical input systems which require capital and centralised control. All believe the market will deliver the solutions.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #686868; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Carbon offsets, Geo-engineering, Biochar, Synthetic Biology and Nanotechnology are all promoted at the expense of the decentralised, culturally and biologically diverse systems and responses which peoples movements across the world are re-building from the grassroots up. These systems provide solutions which are challenging the thinking that has driven us into the multiple crises we now face. They are demonstrating that there is a more socially, ecologically and economically just way to solve these problems; a way which decentralises control and capital. This goes to the heart of the challenge.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-10178582555433390652013-12-05T15:02:00.001-08:002013-12-06T00:03:23.887-08:00Norway, UK, US chip in to help halt deforestation<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRLWG_gGcxdQYFepTN9glcONj7RXbXljsdFCmVIFQmPb8CLEYTqXA" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRLWG_gGcxdQYFepTN9glcONj7RXbXljsdFCmVIFQmPb8CLEYTqXA" /></a>The governments of Norway, Britain and the United States said they will allocate $US280 million ($299 million) of their multi-billion dollar climate change finances to a new initiative aimed at halting deforestation.</div>
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The announcement was made at U.N. talks in Warsaw, where more than 9,000 delegates are meeting to hammer out the foundations of a new global treaty to combat climate change.</div>
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The money, part of the nations' previously announced climate finances, will be administered by the World Bank's BioCarbon Fund and aims to fund sustainable farming and better land use.</div>
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Agriculture drives around 80 per cent of the planet's deforestation, causing nearly a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions as forest roughly the size of Costa Rica is chopped down worldwide each year.</div>
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"This isn't just an environmental issue. It's an economic issue. It's an energy issue," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a video message at the launch.</div>
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Norway will contribute up to $US135 million to the initiative, Britain $US120 million and the United States $US25 million. The fund also hopes to attract further private and public funding.</div>
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The U.N. summit is struggling to make progress on an effort to protect forests and cut carbon emissions, known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+).</div>
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Nations had aimed to set up a mechanism for funding forest projects to help unlock greater investments from governments and the private sector, but with only three days to go negotiators remain bogged down in a quarrel over institutional arrangements.</div>
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"Parties are focusing all their energy arguing about the politics of who governs REDD+ finance, when the real issue is a lack of demand," said Matt Leggett, head of policy at forest think-tank Global Canopy Programme.</div>
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He said the programme must create demand for nearly 1.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent to cut deforestation by half, but current projects are only set to cut emissions by 160 million tonnes.</div>
<span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-57014900878497653262013-12-05T14:58:00.003-08:002013-12-05T14:58:41.458-08:00India rejects US, EU moves to limit powerful greenhouse gases used in fridges<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Flag_of_India.svg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Flag_of_India.svg" width="400" /></a>India opposed using the Montreal Protocol ozone-protection treaty to restrict powerful greenhouse gases called hydrofluorocarbons, pouring cold water on efforts by the U.S. and the European Union.</div>
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“It's honestly beyond me how a non-ozone depleting substance like HFCs can be taken into the Montreal Protocol, which deals only with ozone-depleting substances,” Indian Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan told envoys at United Nations climate talks in Warsaw today. “We are unable to fathom what prevents addressing this issue” under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.</div>
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U.S. and EU envoys have suggested using the ozone treaty to pare back the gases. That would bypass slow-moving UN climate talks, which often deadlock on unrelated issues. The gases are made by companies including Honeywell International Inc. and DuPont Co. in a $US4 billion ($4.4 billion) global refrigerant industry.</div>
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Tackling HFCs is important because the gases are up to 11,700 more powerful agents of global warming than carbon dioxide, according to the UN. Phasing them down has the potential to slash 90 billion tons of greenhouse gases through 2050, said Todd Stern, the U.S. special envoy on climate change. That's almost two years of greenhouse-gas output at current levels.</div>
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“The Montreal Protocol is made for this kind of task,” Stern said today. “It's what it does, It phases down industrial chemicals. Let's start making progress here instead of making excuses.”</div>
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The Montreal Protocol, touted as the most successful environmental treaty, was rolled out in 1987 to eliminate the use of CFCs, once a mainstay of air conditioners, refrigerants and aerosols. Ratified by all nations, it has cut CFCs and other regulated chemicals by 98 per cent, replacing them with HFCs.</div>
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India also blocked discussions on the proposed transfer of responsibility at talks of the Montreal Protocol last month. The opposition contradicts a Sept. 6 declaration in St. Petersburg by G-20 members, including India, supporting use of the Montreal Protocol to curb the gases. U.S. President Barack Obama and Indian Premier Manmohan Singh issued a statement later that month agreeing to discuss using the treaty.</div>
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“The transfer of mandate of phasedown of HFCs is simply not possible unless we have complete clarity on identified substitutes, costs, safety and economic feasibility,” Natarajan said. “It will very adversely impact our people and our countries.”</div>
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While HFCs don't deplete ozone, they're substitutes for the chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, which the Montreal Protocol has been successful in curtailing. The EU estimates that while HFCs make up about 1 per cent of greenhouse gases now, they may account for more than 20 per cent by 2050, and the 28-nation bloc is also pushing to regulate them under the ozone deal</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-57954641885812165792013-12-05T14:56:00.000-08:002013-12-05T14:56:02.662-08:00Methane emissions from gas far exceed estimates, US study finds <div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<a href="http://images.smh.com.au/2013/11/24/4951127/AB-th-epa-20131124211918177332-420x0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="COAL SEAM GAS." border="0" src="http://images.smh.com.au/2013/11/24/4951127/AB-th-epa-20131124211918177332-420x0.jpg" /></a>US emissions of methane - a greenhouse gas - are probably 50 per cent higher than current estimates show, according to a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.</div>
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The study estimated emissions in 2007 and 2008, using measurements on the ground, in telecommunications towers and from aircraft for a comprehensive inventory of the second most abundant greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide.</div>
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It found that the US now underestimates methane releases from the raising of livestock and the extraction of oil and natural gas.</div>
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That may mean methane has a bigger role in climate change than now thought, as state officials and the US Environmental Protection Agency consider new rules designed to limit emissions that may lead to global warming.</div>
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“Methane is a powerful climate change pollutant, and the study gives greater impetus to the EPA and states to establish stronger standards to reduce leaks from the oil and gas system,” Dan Lashof, who directs the climate and clear air program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said.</div>
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Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas represent a significant source of domestic methane emissions, Scot Miller, a co-author of the study, said.</div>
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“The fossil fuel industry are probably an important source of methane gas emissions in that part of the country,” said Miller, who's pursuing a doctorate in Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.</div>
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Emissions of methane, the main component of natural gas, have newfound prominence with the rise of hydraulic fracturing and the sharp growth of oil and natural gas production in the US In the fracking process, water, sand and chemicals are shot underground to break apart rocks and free trapped natural gas or oil.</div>
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Methane accounted for 9 per cent of the greenhouse gases emitted in the US in 2011, according to the EPA. While methane is 21 times more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere, it stays in the atmosphere for less time than carbon dioxide.</div>
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Burning natural gas emits about half of the carbon that coal does when burned, but its climate benefits can be undercut by methane leaks at well sites and in transporting the fuel. Carbon dioxide accounted for 84 per cent of US greenhouse gas emissions in 2011, according to the EPA.</div>
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Miller said the study's authors are now examining more recent data, which would account for the sharp increase in oil and gas drilling in the US in recent years.</div>
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In a statement, the EPA said it was “encouraged that more methane emissions measurement data are now available to the public.”</div>
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Colorado said last week that it would become the first state to limit methane emissions from oil and gas production.</div>
<span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-32882796462170373322013-12-05T14:51:00.004-08:002013-12-05T14:51:40.363-08:00UK to invest $73b in renewable energy by 2020<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ae/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ae/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg" width="400" /></a>The U.K. government said it expects 40 billion pounds ($73 billion) of investment in renewables by 2020 after shifting incentives toward offshore wind power and away from projects on land in areas where residents object.</div>
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The Treasury published a list of final “strike prices” for electricity from renewables in its national infrastructure plan today, cutting support for solar parks and onshore wind farms and raising them for turbines at sea. The sums represent the guaranteed amount that generators earn under long-term contracts designed to stimulate investment in low-carbon energy.</div>
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“This package will deliver record levels of investment in green energy by 2020,” Energy Secretary Ed Davey said. “Our reforms are succeeding in attracting investors from around the world so Britain can replace our aging power station and keep the lights on.”</div>
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Prime Minister David Cameron has faced opposition from rural communities to expanding wind farms and solar parks, which some residents say are a blight on the countryside. The government must balance those concerns with the need to attract 110 billion pounds ($200 billion) to replace aging power stations and meet renewable energy and carbon targets.</div>
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The government is trying to spur offshore wind in an effort to boost U.K. jobs and manufacturing. Those have been set back in the past month after RWE AG scrapped a 4.5 billion-pound offshore project, and Centrica Plc said it's still deciding whether to push ahead with another.</div>
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The energy department said today that deployment of 10 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2020 is “achievable,” while emphasizing that figure doesn't represent a target.</div>
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Sixteen renewable power projects are in the pipeline to receive contracts guaranteeing energy prices, Davey's department said. Almost 11 gigawatts of onshore and offshore wind have planning consent and are awaiting construction, compared with total installed renewable capacity of over 20 gigawatts at present, the department said.</div>
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Two of Drax Group Plc's units were included in the list of projects that have progressed in their bids for contracts. Shares of the company, which runs the U.K.'s largest coal-fired power plant and has already converted one of six units to run on biomass, rose to their highest since October 2008. The government confirmed incentives for those biomass plants would be unchanged from an earlier draft proposal.</div>
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Eggborough Power Ltd. has also progressed to the next stage in its bid for contracts guaranteeing power prices for coal units converted to run on biomass, the Energy Department said. Denmark's Dong Energy A/S advanced with bids for three offshore wind farms.</div>
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The guaranteed price for onshore wind was cut to 95 pounds per megawatt-hour from 2015 and 90 pounds from 2017. That's lower than draft levels proposed in June for 100 pounds and 95 pounds in those years. Support for large-scale solar farms was cut by 5 pounds in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and by 10 pounds in 2018.</div>
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“The price we're willing to pay for onshore wind and large-scale solar plants is coming down,” said Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander. Even so, “the need for investment in our energy sector is enormous.”</div>
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The level offshore wind will get from 2018 was raised by 5 pounds to 140 pounds.</div>
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“Today's cuts to onshore wind and solar support schemes show how quickly the cost of clean energy technologies are falling,” Greenpeace Policy Director Doug Parr said. “It's right ministers should now put emphasis onto helping drive down the cost of offshore wind so that the U.K. can reap the rewards of new turbine factories and thousands of new jobs.”</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Offshore wind</span></div>
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The U.K., with almost 3,000 megawatts of wind turbines installed at sea at the end of 2012, has more offshore wind power than the rest of the world put together, though at present none of the turbines are made domestically.</div>
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Government spending on environmental measures has become a political focal point after five of the nation's “Big Six” energy providers raised bills to consumers.</div>
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Ed Miliband, leader of the opposition Labour Party, pledged to freeze prices if he wins the election due in 2015. The government responded by reviewing surcharges to energy bills that pay for green and social programs, resulting in changes to energy efficiency programs announced two days ago.</div>
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The revisions also show a continued push-back against large-scale renewable projects on land.</div>
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Energy Minister Greg Barker said in July that the government planned guidelines for large-scale photovoltaic plants designed to “preserve heritage assets and beautiful countryside.” Former energy minister John Hayes last year made similar comments about onshore wind, saying more weight should be given to aesthetics when making planning decisions.</div>
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The government also in June announced higher payments to communities that host onshore wind farms, and introduced guidance for planning authorities to ensure local residents are consulted earlier about applications for the installations.</div>
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In a separate announcement, the Department of Energy and Climate Change proposed raising incentives to companies and communities that install renewable heat facilities, including biomass boilers over 1-megawatt, deep geothermal, combined heat and power plants, ground-source heat pumps, solar thermal installations and biogas burners.</div>
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“It is vital that we get the level of support right so that the market can invest with confidence, cost reductions can be achieved and the market can grow sustainably,” Barker said today in a written statement to Parliament.</div>
<span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-53451317796289876752013-12-05T14:35:00.001-08:002013-12-05T14:35:47.292-08:00Living Greener: A Checklist for Creating An Environmentally Friendly Home<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px;">
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<a href="http://livinggreenmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/window-treatment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="window-treatment" border="0" height="265" src="http://livinggreenmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/window-treatment.jpg" width="400" /></a>Some of the most minor changes around your home can benefit our planet, increase your own wellbeing, and bring happiness to your wallet. With green products and techniques no longer part of a boutique industry, the chance to plant your own footprint into making a difference has never been easier.</div>
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Here are few ideas to improve your home’s efficiency so you can live in an environmentally friendly home.</div>
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<b>Window Treatments</b></div>
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When greening your home the number one consideration is windows. Because much of your home’s energy loss is through them, ensuring you have coated glass or energy efficient curtains or blinds is important.</div>
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Most window coverings offer some sort of insulation, but some perform more efficiently than others—lowering heating and cooling costs without compromising your décor and design. For those that want the best of both worlds, curtains and blinds, such as <a href="http://www.superblindsmart.com.au/roman-blinds-readymade.html" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153) !important; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">readymade roman blinds</a>, make for a fantastic choice giving the luxurious appearance of curtains combined with the mechanisms of blinds.</div>
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The amount of light that enters the room can easily be controlled through the type of fabric providing an energy efficient solution. To keep your home cooler in summer it’s a good idea to make sure your east and west windows are shaded.</div>
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The frame of your windows can also play a big part in green living as the commonly used material UPVC (unplasticized poly vinyl chloride) can release toxic compounds. Wood-framed windows are a much greener alternative – they are more insulated, easier to repair and last longer.</div>
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<b>Green Up Your Appliances</b></div>
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If your appliances are more than 10 years old, it’s a good idea to start working towards replacing them with energy efficient models that display the “Energy Star” logo. Every device normally has a label that shows how much power it consumes, so the old fridge out the back holding just a carton of beer could be costing you $200 a year.</div>
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Once you have studied your power bill, cross checked with these labels, you will be able to figure out how much each appliance costs to run and whether replacing it would be a cheaper option. For appliances that don’t require replacing, make sure you do a regular check for leaky parts and get them repaired as soon as possible. This will help significantly on your water saving too.</div>
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<b>Energy Efficiency Lighting</b></div>
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LED are the most durable and eco-friendly of lighting options. Not only will they save you on the power bills, but they are low maintenance and super pleasant on the environment.</div>
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As opposed to standard halogen lights, LEDs consumer a fraction of the energy, providing more light and less heat and energy. Because of the significant drop in temperature from these lights, it lowers the use of air conditioning making it very cost effective.</div>
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<b>Reduce Your Water Use</b></div>
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To reduce your outdoor water use, optimize your lawn watering schedule and adjust your sprinklers to minimize waste.</div>
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Running your washing machine and dishwasher only when they are full will also help in reducing water wastage.</div>
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<b>Clean Air Conditioning</b></div>
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When you’re doing your regular spring clean, not many people will think to put the air conditioner on the list of things to do – but you should. Cleaning out the filters of your air conditioning or replacing them regularly will ensure the airflow is doing its job properly.</div>
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<b>Keep Your Garden Green</b></div>
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Creating compost is a great way to keep your garden even greener with its multiple eco-friendly benefits. Scraps such as eggshells, fruit and vegetable peels, tea bags and stale bread are the perfect food for your compost pile and can improve the health of your soil whilst giving back to the environment and controlling household waste.</div>
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Going green isn’t a tough task to achieve and even just applying one or two of the above points can make a world of difference. What are you going to do to leave your imprint on the environment?</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-70854487447647748212013-12-05T14:13:00.000-08:002013-12-05T14:13:09.775-08:00Large Companies Prepared to Pay Price on Carbon<div itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
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<a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/12/05/business/Enviro/Enviro-articleLarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/12/05/business/Enviro/Enviro-articleLarge.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">More than two dozen of the US biggest corporations, including the five major </span><a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/energy-environment/oil-petroleum-and-gasoline/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" style="color: #666699; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;" title="More articles about oil.">oil</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"> companies, are planning their future growth on the expectation that the government will force them to pay a price for carbon pollution as a way to control </span><a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/globalwarming/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" style="color: #666699; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;" title="Recent and archival news about global warming.">global warming</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">.</span></div>
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The development is a striking departure from conservative orthodoxy and a reflection of growing divisions between the Republican Party and its business supporters.</div>
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A new report by the environmental data company CDP has found that at least 29 companies, some with close ties to Republicans, including <a class="meta-org" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/exxon_mobil_corporation/index.html?inline=nyt-org" style="color: #666699;" title="More information about Exxon Mobil Corporation">ExxonMobil</a>, Walmart and American Electric Power, are incorporating a price on carbon into their long-term financial plans.</div>
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Both supporters and opponents of action to fight global warming say the development is significant because businesses that chart a financial course to make money in a carbon-constrained future could be more inclined to support policies that address climate change.</div>
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But unlike the five big oil companies — ExxonMobil, <a class="meta-org" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/conocophillips_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org" style="color: #666699;" title="More information about ConocoPhillips">ConocoPhillips</a>, <a class="meta-org" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/chevron_corporation/index.html?inline=nyt-org" style="color: #666699;" title="More information about Chevron Corporation">Chevron</a>, <a class="meta-org" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/bp_plc/index.html?inline=nyt-org" style="color: #666699;" title="More information about BP Plc">BP</a> and Shell, all major contributors to the Republican party — Koch Industries, a conglomerate that has played a major role in pushing Republicans away from action on climate change, is ramping up an already-aggressive campaign against climate policy — specifically against any tax or price on carbon. Owned by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, the company includes oil refiners and the paper-goods company Georgia-Pacific.</div>
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The divide, between conservative groups that are fighting against government regulation and oil companies that are planning for it as a practical business decision, echoes a deeper rift in the party, as business-friendly establishment Republicans clash with the <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/t/tea_party_movement/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" style="color: #666699;" title="More articles about the Tea Party movement.">Tea Party</a>.</div>
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Tom Carnac, North American president of CDP, said that the five big oil companies seemed to have determined that a carbon price was an inevitable part of their financial future.</div>
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“It’s climate change as a line item,” Mr. Carnac said. “They’re looking at it from a rational perspective, making a profit. It drives internal decision-making.”</div>
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Companies do not know what form a future carbon price would take. Congress could one day vote to directly tax emissions. President Obama is moving forward with plans to regulate carbon pollution from coal plants, with or without action from Congress — and states could carry out those regulations by taxing carbon polluters. At climate change talks at the United Nations, State Department negotiators have pledged that the United States will cut its carbon emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, and 80 percent by 2050.</div>
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Mr. Carnac said: “Companies see that the trend is inevitable. What you see here is a hardening of that understanding.”</div>
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Other companies that are incorporating a carbon price into their strategic planning include Microsoft, General Electric, Walt Disney, ConAgra Foods, Wells Fargo, DuPont,<a class="meta-org" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/duke_energy_corporation/index.html?inline=nyt-org" style="color: #666699;" title="More information about Duke Energy Corporation">Duke Energy</a>, Google and Delta Air Lines.</div>
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During the 2012 election, every Republican presidential candidate but one, Jon Huntsman, questioned or denied the science of climate change and rejected policies to deal with global warming. Opponents of carbon-pricing policies consider them an energy tax that will hurt business and consumers.</div>
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Mainstream economists have long agreed that putting a price on carbon pollution is the most effective way to fight global warming. The idea is fairly simple: if industry must pay to spew the carbon pollution that scientists say is the chief cause of global warming, the costs will be passed on to consumers in higher prices for gasoline and electricity. Those high prices are expected to drive the market away from fossil fuels like oil and coal, and toward low-carbon renewable sources of energy.</div>
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Past efforts to enact a carbon price in Washington have failed largely because powerful fossil-fuel groups financed campaigns against lawmakers who supported a carbon tax.</div>
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In 1994, dozens of Democratic lawmakers lost their jobs after Al Gore, who was vice president at the time, urged them to vote for a <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/energy-environment/climate-and-energy-legislation/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" style="color: #666699;" title="More articles about climate and energy legislation.">climate change bill</a> that would have effectively taxed carbon pollution. In 2009, President Obama urged House Democrats to vote for a <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/g/greenhouse_gas_emissions/cap_and_trade/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" style="color: #666699;" title="More articles about carbon caps and emissions trading programs.">cap-and-trade</a> bill that would have required companies whose carbon-dioxide emissions exceeded set levels to buy emissions rights from those who emitted less. The next year, Tea Party groups spent millions to successfully unseat members who voted for the bill.</div>
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But ExxonMobil, which last year was ranked by the Fortune 500 as the nation’s most profitable company, is representative of Big Oil’s slow evolution on climate change policy. A decade ago, the company was known for contributing to research organizations that questioned the science of climate change. In 2010, ExxonMobil purchased a company that produces <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/energy-environment/natural-gas/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" style="color: #666699;" title="More articles about natural gas.">natural gas</a>, which creates less carbon pollution than oil or coal.</div>
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ExxonMobil is now the nation’s biggest natural gas producer, meaning that it will stand to profit in a future in which a price is placed on carbon emissions. Coal, which produces twice the carbon pollution of natural gas, would be a loser. Today, ExxonMobil openly acknowledges that carbon pollution from fossil fuels contributes to climate change.</div>
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“Ultimately, we think the government will take action through a myriad of policies that will raise the prices and reduce demand” of carbon-polluting fossil fuels, said Alan Jeffers, an ExxonMobil spokesman.</div>
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Internally, ExxonMobil now plans its financial future with the expectation that eventually carbon pollution will be priced at about $60 a ton, which Mr. Jeffers acknowledged was at odds with some of the company’s Republican friends.</div>
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“We’re going to say and do what’s in the best interest of our shareholders,” he said. “We won’t always be on the same page.”</div>
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It remains unlikely that any climate policy will move in today’s deadlocked Congress, but if Congress does take up climate change legislation in the future, Mr. Jeffers said ExxonMobil would support a carbon tax if it was paired with an equal cut elsewhere in the tax code — the same policy that Mr. Gore has endorsed. “ExxonMobil and many other large companies understand that climate change poses a direct economic threat to their businesses,” said Dan Weiss, director for climate policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal research group with close ties to the Obama administration. “They need to convince their political allies to act before it’s too late.”</div>
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Koch Industries maintains ties to the Tea Party group Americans for Prosperity, which last year campaigned against Republicans who acknowledged the science of climate change. The company also contributes money to the American Energy Alliance, a Washington-based advocacy group that campaigns against lawmakers that it claims support a carbon price. This year, the American Energy Alliance says it has spent about $1.2 million in ads and campaign activities attacking candidates who it says support a carbon price.</div>
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Robert Murphy, senior economist at the American Energy Alliance, said his group was not concerned that it had taken a different position from the major oil companies. “We’re not taking marching orders from Big Oil,” he said.</div>
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In fact, Koch has a longtime resentment of the biggest oil companies.</div>
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According to company history, Koch’s founder, Fred Koch, the father of Charles and David, invented a chemical process to more efficiently refine oil but was blocked from bringing it to the market by John D. Rockefeller, the owner of Standard Oil — the company that was later broken up to make some of the major oil companies of today, including ExxonMobil.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-60097017960927583292013-12-05T14:02:00.002-08:002013-12-05T14:02:28.150-08:00Air Pollution Linked To Autism?<div style="background-color: white; color: #494949; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Lucida, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22.234375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-top: 0.6em; padding: 0px;">
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" 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" /></a>Epidemiologists are saying exposure to air pollution appears to increase the risk for autism among people who carry a certain genotype genetic disposition for the neurodevelopmental disorder, a functional promoter variant (rs1858830) in the MET receptor tyrosine kinase (MET) gene.</div>
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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disability characterized by problems with social interaction, communication and repetitive behaviors. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in 88 children in the United States has an ASD and there are recent claims that it is highly heritable, which would suggest that genetics are an important contributing factor, but many questions about its causes remain. There currently is no cure for the disorder.</div>
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They studied 408 children between 2 and 5 years of age from the Childhood Autism Risks From Genetics and the Environment Study, a population-based, case-control study of preschool children from California. Of those, 252 met the criteria for autism or autism spectrum disorder. Air pollution exposure was determined based on the past residences of the children and their mothers, local traffic-related sources, and regional air quality measures. MET genotype was determined through blood sampling. </div>
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"Our research shows that children with both the risk genotype and exposure to high air pollutant levels were at increased risk of autism spectrum disorder compared to those without the risk genotype and lower air pollution exposure," said the study's first author, Heather E. Volk, Ph.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of research in preventive medicine and pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.<br /><br />"Although gene-environment interactions are widely believed to contribute to autism risk, this is the first demonstration of a specific interaction between a well-established genetic risk factor and an environmental factor that independently contribute to autism risk," said Daniel B. Campbell, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and the behavioral sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the study's senior author. "The MET gene variant has been associated with autism in multiple studies, controls expression of MET protein in both the brain and the immune system, and predicts altered brain structure and function. It will be important to replicate this finding and to determine the mechanisms by which these genetic and environmental factors interact to increase the risk for autism."</div>
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Independent studies by Volk and Campbell have previously reported associations between autism and air pollution exposure and between autism and a variant in the MET gene. The current study suggests that air pollution exposure and the genetic variant interact to augment the risk of ASD.</div>
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They will continue to study the interaction of air pollution exposure and the MET genotype in mothers during pregnancy.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-27640645533631490852013-12-05T13:54:00.001-08:002013-12-05T13:54:33.906-08:00Oil spill coats river, sea near ENI Nigeria facility<div style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQgMfcL4DOq-59j7YX7l86vbfCSL7mQ_P1taUIo7te25a9S3I7X" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQgMfcL4DOq-59j7YX7l86vbfCSL7mQ_P1taUIo7te25a9S3I7X" style="background-color: transparent;" /></a>A large oil spill near Nigeria's Brass facility, run by ENI, has spread through the sea and swamps of the oil producing Niger Delta region, local residents and the company said on Monday.</div>
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ENI said it was not yet possible to determine the cause of the spill.</div>
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There are hundreds of leaks every year from pipelines that pass through the delta's creeks, damaging the environment and the profits of oil companies including ENI and Royal Dutch Shell , especially when production has to be deferred.</div>
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Vast stretches of the delta's unique mangrove swamps are blackened and dead from oil pollution.</div>
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"During loading operations on a tanker on Nov. 27, an oil spill in the sea was seen. Operations were immediately suspended and resumed only after it was verified that the vessel's structures were not damaged and were not leaking," the company said in an emailed statement.</div>
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Nigerian legislators are considering a law to impose new fines on operators responsible for oil spills, a measure that could land major foreign companies with penalties running into tens of millions of dollars a year.</div>
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Francis Clinton Tubo Ikagi, chairman of the Odioama fishing community in Bayelsa, where a large part of the Niger river fans out through creeks into the Atlantic, told journalists on the scene that he saw a large oil slick on Nov. 20.</div>
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"I saw a very thick layer of crude oil on the river," he said. "The community is affected seriously. Our women and men whose main livelihood source is fishing are complaining bitterly to us that the whole river is full of oil."</div>
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Many oil spills are caused by theft and pipeline sabotage, a crime committed daily in the Niger Delta, where millions live in poverty. A number of spills are also caused by loading accidents or decrepit infrastructure.</div>
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Oil companies are required to fund the clean-up of each spill and usually pay compensation to local communities affected, if it was clearly the company's fault.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-62727734584175878682013-12-05T13:48:00.001-08:002013-12-05T13:48:08.913-08:00Japan food scandals, poor regulation hurting premium food export push<div class="first" style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25em; line-height: 1.3334; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">
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Japan wants to double its shipments of agricultural, marine and forestry products by 2020. Nearly three-quarters of shipments head to Asia - mainly greater China and South Korea.</div>
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But a recent food labelling scandal and ongoing concerns over nuclear contamination in the wake of the Fukushima disaster have damaged the country's reputation for safe, high-quality produce.</div>
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"They immediately stopped sales of anything that was contaminated so it's not really something that's in the media a lot here," Martin Frid, from the Consumer Union of Japan (CUJ), said.</div>
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"Although some of the seafood has been banned by other countries like South Korea.</div>
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"I think there is a concern, but nobody really knows the full extent of the contamination of the ocean."</div>
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Despite the bans placed on food from the affected region, several countries have curbed purchases from Japan.</div>
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Fish imports in particular have fallen by about a quarter since the nuclear disaster at Fukushima in 2011.</div>
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Mr Frid says the government needs to become more transparent and take food inspections more seriously if it wants to restore confidence in Japan's food safety.</div>
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"If Japan wants to be seen as a reliable exporter of food, it will have to be much more transparent," he said.</div>
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"The government will have to be much quicker in responding to these concerns.</div>
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"They need many more inspectors, they need many more people, looking at these issues immediately."</div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Food labelling scandal</span></h2>
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Wakako Takasaka's family has been importing and distributing Japanese food in Australia for more than thirty years.</div>
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She says the family business Japan Foods Trading in Melbourne has been hit by tighter importing restrictions after the 2011 Fukushima disaster.</div>
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"Once we had the earthquake happen in Fukushima there was restriction where the stock was coming from," she said.</div>
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"And even still, once they gave us the areas that were restricted, anything that came from those regions would be tested by lab services once it got to Australian shores."</div>
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Ms Takasaka says Australian customers are also very wary of the potential nuclear contamination Japanese food products.</div>
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Japan's reputation for high-quality food has also been severely undermined by a recent labelling scandal.</div>
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Last month several major hotels and department store restaurants admitted that they had been regularly replacing the premium food products listed on their menus with inferior products.</div>
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Cheaper whiteleg shrimp was sold as premium Japanese Shiba shrimp, imported beef was touted as high-end Wagyu and orange juice from cartons was described as freshly-squeezed.</div>
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The CUJ's Martin Frid says the revelations left a bitter taste in the mouths of the Japanese public.</div>
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"[It was] maddening in fact. They were selling these foods as high-prized specialised shrimp that was better than any other shrimp in the world," he said.</div>
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"They were clearly lying to the public and that is illegal."</div>
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When it comes to the Australian market, Wakako Takasaka believes there will continue to be a demand for 'Made in Japan' high-end food products but meeting that demand might not be possible.</div>
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"We definitely know that there's a demand for Japanese products, but in terms of the type of items we bring in, it's restricted," she said.</div>
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"Coming into Australia, we can't do all the beautiful dairy stuff that comes out Hokkaido. For us, the issue is what the Australian Government will put restrictions on."</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-80998687127594754762013-12-05T13:44:00.003-08:002013-12-05T13:44:53.963-08:00Germany Expands Renewables Targets, Considers ‘Virtual Baseload’<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: museo-sans, 'helvetica neue', helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
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<a href="http://dqbasmyouzti2.cloudfront.net/assets/content/cache/made/content/images/articles/dardesheim_germany_solar_panels-360x260_310_224.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Germany Expands Renewables Targets, Considers ‘Virtual Baseload’" border="0" src="http://dqbasmyouzti2.cloudfront.net/assets/content/cache/made/content/images/articles/dardesheim_germany_solar_panels-360x260_310_224.jpg" /></a>Germany is expanding its renewable energy targets under a grand coalition agreement by the country’s two major political parties, but is also toying with the idea of introducing the concept of “virtual baseload.”</div>
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In a 168-document released by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right CPD party and the smaller center-left SPD, it is clear that the two parties remain committed to the “Energiewende,” the transition away from nuclear and into an electricity grid dominated by renewables.</div>
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The document confirms that nuclear will be phased out by 2022 at the latest, and introduces new “renewable energy corridors” that call for renewable penetration to be lifted to 40 percent to 45 percent by 2025, and to 55 percent to 60 percent in 2035.</div>
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This expands and upgrades the current targets, which are for 35 percent by 2020 and 50 percent by 2030. The long-term target remains 80 percent by 2050.</div>
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One of the key issues is the cost of the Energiewende, and the structure of the energy market, which analysts say has been broken by the impact of renewables, because their short-term marginal cost is pulling down the wholesale price of electricity. The two parties have agreed that there will be no retrospective changes to the feed-in tariff payments.</div>
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The new government is looking at introducing a capacity mechanism, but not before 2018. One interesting new aspect is the idea of creating “virtual baseload capacity.”</div>
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The government intends to investigate whether large renewable energy producers would need to guarantee a contribution to reliable baseload supply to enhance the security of supply.</div>
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They could possibly do this with contracts and individual agreements with storage operators, or by getting “insurance” from other electricity producers, such as gas-fired generation.</div>
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“This could mean that renewable generators may be forced to buy 'insurance' from conventional stations to provide this baseload capability (given the strong intermittency of wind, solar); this could likely imply some sort of a capacity payments from renewable generators to utilities,” a note from Deutsche Bank analysts said.</div>
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This could be positive for the some of the large centralized generation companies such as RWE and EON and it could have an impact on earnings for solar and wind operators. However, the analysts say that because this is likely to slow the growth of renewables, “and thus the whole Energiewende,” it probably won’t happen.</div>
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However, Deutsche Bank also says the new renewables corridors could result in a “banding” strategy of having specific technology targets for renewables. There has been a lot of discussion in Germany about the need to ensure that the right technology is built in the right place.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-70752960646896252292013-12-05T13:38:00.001-08:002013-12-05T13:38:49.811-08:00Mandalay villagers fall ill from contaminated lake<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 14px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<a href="http://www.obsts.com/var/albums/Burma/To-watch-villagers-bathed-in-Myanmar-village/To%20watch%20villagers%20bathed%20in%20Myanmar%20village%20(17).jpg?m=1366636229" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://www.obsts.com/var/albums/Burma/To-watch-villagers-bathed-in-Myanmar-village/To%20watch%20villagers%20bathed%20in%20Myanmar%20village%20(17).jpg?m=1366636229" width="400" /></a>The use of pesticides for fishing in Mandalay division’s Thabyaw lake is contaminating the freshwater supply for local villagers in Sintgu township, Burma.</div>
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The residents of Kyauknganwar village rely on the lake for drinking water and domestic use, but many are becoming ill with hepatitis and diarrhoea.</div>
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Village resident, Nyunt Thu, said hepatitis is now common among the villagers.</div>
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“I have it and many other people do too,” he said. “Doctors warned us that drinking contaminated water could be the main cause.”</div>
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In 2004, the township’s governing body built a driven-well in the village but it did not produce enough water for the 800 people who rely on it – due to an underground layer of rock.</div>
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Local resident, Ohn Lwin, said neither the lake water or well-water supply were adequate to accommodate the village.</div>
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“The groundwater is not as good as the lake-water as it tends to get condensation when boiled,” he said. “It’s not good to drink and it makes the rice turn yellow when cooked. And when we boil the lake-water, it produces fumes and a bad smell.”</div>
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Recently, the charity We Love Monywa brought a team of medics to the village to provide free healthcare to the village. The group’s doctor urged the township authorities and health officials to inspect the lake and help the residents get access to clean drinking water.</div>
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The presiding doctor on the team, Dr Thiha, said the villagers urgently needed a clean water supply.</div>
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“The villagers are suffering from long-term health problems such as diarrhoea, enlarged liver and hepatitis, according to specialist doctors. So it is vital to provide the villagers access to clean water.”</div>
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The residents believe the well can be improved with modern drilling machines that are able to penetrate the rock layer.</div>
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They have called on sympathisers to help raise funds for the drill but until they make enough money, they still run the risk of becoming ill from drinking unsafe water.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02630770498032659525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1179830783252501654.post-85651773681054636662013-12-05T12:48:00.003-08:002013-12-05T12:48:56.627-08:00Climate change and Impacts on Women<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
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" 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" /></a>Women on Marau in East Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands have been facing numerous problems related to climate change.</div>
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The issue is becoming a global problem and it is the low lying islands such as Alite in Marau that is seeing and experiencing the evidence.<br /><br />Although there is little evidence on coastal erosion, food for consumption has become a problem for them.<br /><br />Here women of Tawa’ihi Island share their hardship faced today as oppose to over many years ago when food can easily grow even on coastal land.<br /><br />The Island is big enough to play host to three separate village communities.<br />The women expressed and recalled those days when harvests from their food gardens and catches from the sea were plentiful.<br /><br />Janet Puiri’au, a woman originally from the Western province, married to a man from that Island and settled there since 1981.<br />She told the Sunday Star of what women on the island have experienced now and questioned why the situation has become today.<br /><br />Her story revealed the women knew very little about climate change until recently. Yet they knew nothing about what causes climate change.<br /><br />“We heard about climate change and living on an island raises more questions to us,” Puiri’au said.<br />“We started to experience shortage of food on the island unlike in the past, salt water intrusion to where we use to do gardening is becoming evident during extreme high tides.<br />“This has put the rich soil fertility on where we use to do gardening at risk,” Puiri’au added. <br /><br />“Sweet potato, cassava, yam and taro in the past we use to plant them on the island but after year 2000 we start to experience and see sea water coming out from inland where we used to plant.<br />“Today we have to travel to the main land to do gardening.”<br /><br />She said gardening on the main land also cost them.<br />“We pay $30 for a small piece of land for a new garden whilst replanting on the same plot cost as $20.”<br /><br />She said this is another burden, having to have money before we do gardening.<br /><br />Ms Puiri’au said since experiencing such extreme happenings they have notified the responsible authorities through their village elders.<br /><br />Emily Okai, a women in her 50’s who settled on Alite Island since 1974, expressed similar sentiments on food gardening.<br />She also shared the experiences of harvesting sea food along the coastal reefs, but which is no longer the case today.<br /><br />“In the past we use to fish and collect sea food along the nearby coastal reefs, unlike today we have to search further out.”<br /><br />She said there may be other human factors related to this decrease together with what they thought of as impacts of climate change.<br />“We have had some form of control over sea resources for sometime but overtime the declining sea resources remain a surprise to us,” Okai said.<br /><br />She added clam shell, which they used to find everywhere on the reefs, have now almost reach a state of extinction.<br />“You cannot find clam shells any more on the reefs up there,” she said, pointing out to the ocean.</div>
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