Posted on January 13th, 2010 by Green Assembly
SINGAPORE ~ Without an intentional cultural shift that values sustainability over consumerism, no government pledges or technological advances will be enough to rescue humanity from unacceptably hazardous environmental and climate risks, concludes the Worldwatch Institute in the latest edition of its flagship annual report, State of the World 2010.
The book, subtitled Transforming Cultures: From Consumerism to Sustainability, defines “consumerism” as a cultural orientation that leads people to find meaning, contentment, and acceptance primarily through what they consume.
“We’ve seen some encouraging efforts to combat the world’s climate crisis in the past few years,” says project director Erik Assadourian. “But making policy and technology changes while keeping cultures centered on consumerism and growth can only go so far. To thrive long into the future, human societies will need to shift their cultures so that sustainability becomes the norm and excessive consumption becomes taboo.”
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Filed under: USA, bottled water, carbon footprint, cars, consumerism, consumption, plastic bottles | No Comments »
Posted on January 12th, 2010 by Green Assembly
ATTITUDES shown at Copenhagen by the world’s major per capita polluters namely the USA, Australia and China, demonstrated that the core thinking has barely changed since Kyoto 20 years ago.
Sure, the presentation is smoother, the denial less strident, and the opposition to change less aggressive; but behind the scenes it is clear that big business is still winning the hearts and minds of the political elites.
Some of the methods they use are pretty basic. Bribery in the form of houses, holidays, political party contributions and the like are well known. But just as the debate about climate change has itself become more sophisticated, so have the methods of the lobbyists, particularly those representing the oil and coal industries.
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Filed under: Australia, CO2 emissions, bribery, carbon emissions, cars, cement, climate change, coal, corruption, energy, environment, global warming, oil, oil companies, power plant, transport | No Comments »
Posted on January 1st, 2010 by Green Assembly
HOPE in a Changing Climate – the groundbreaking BBC documentary that shows how ecological damage can be reversed – may provide one of the key solutions to global warming and climate change, but only if it is adopted as a matter of urgency.
The 22-minute film shows how farming and over-grazing led to soil erosion on a massive scale in China, Ethiopia and Rwanda, but also shows how simple programs can reverse the damage and help to capture carbon at the same time.
Hope In A Changing Climate shows how one of the most devastated landscapes in the world, went from barren to green in fifteen years. Click here to watch the film.
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Filed under: Asia, China, News, carbon capture, climate change, deforestation, drought, environment, forests, global warming, reforestation, tree planting, video, wetlands | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 23rd, 2008 by Green Assembly
BANGKOK ~ Swiss glaciers are melting away at an accelerating rate and many will vanish this century if climate projections are correct, according to a BBC report based on new studies.
One assessment found that some 10 cubic kilometres of ice have been lost from 1,500 glaciers over the past nine years.
The other study, based on a sample of 30 representative glaciers, indicates the group’s members are now losing a metre of thickness every year.
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Posted on December 22nd, 2008 by Green Assembly
SINGAPORE ~ Barack Obama has promised to end George Bush’s “twisting” of science to suit “politics or ideology”, reports the UK’s Independent on Sunday newspaper.
And in an extraordinarily outspoken address to the nation on Sunday, the president-elect announced that he was putting top climate scientists in key positions in his administration, the report says.
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Posted on December 19th, 2008 by Green Assembly
SINGAPORE ~ In a landmark speech to delegates at the crucial climate change talks in Poznan last week, Al Gore had delegates on their feet. He referred to Mahatma Gandhi and to Martin Luther King Jr. and he called for capacity building, not only in developing countries but in industrialised countries as well.
The following is a full and unedited transcription of his speech. If you prefer, you can watch the speech on video - running time is less than 10 minutes.
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Posted on December 18th, 2008 by Green Assembly
The World Resources Institute and the Environmental Investigation Agency have launched a partnership to combat illegal logging worldwide and clean up timber supply chains.
The launch follows the announcement that the United States is banning the import, sale, and trade of all illegally harvested wood and forest products, effective now.
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Filed under: deforestation, wood | No Comments »
Posted on December 17th, 2008 by Green Assembly
TOKYO ~ The year 2008 is likely to rank as the 10th warmest year on record since the beginning of instrumental climate records in 1850, according to data sources compiled by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
In a report issued yesterday, WMO says the global combined sea-surface and land-surface air temperature for 2008 is currently estimated at 0.31°C/0.56°F above the 1961-1990 annual average of 14.00°C/57.2°F., enough to set up catastrophic climate change.
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Posted on December 16th, 2008 by Green Assembly
KUALA LUMPUR ~ Malaysian power producers will soon start burning palm oil instead of coal following the collapse of palm oil prices on the international market.
Under a plan announced last week by the country’s Plantation Industries and Commodities minister Peter Chin, the Malaysian government also aims to ensure that palm biodiesel is available at every gas station throughout the country by 2010.
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Filed under: Malaysia, palm oil | No Comments »
Posted on December 15th, 2008 by Green Assembly
JAKARTA ~ Wind power, solar power and even hydropower are infinitely preferable to biofuels and fossil fuels, according to a study just published by Stanford University.
The best ways to improve energy security, mitigate global warming and reduce the number of deaths caused by air pollution are to adopt energy produced by wind, sun and water; and to abandon biofuels, fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
Coal, even if it were to capture carbon emissions and sequester them in the earth, is a bad option, though not as bad as corn and cellulosic ethanol which emit more global-warming pollutants than fossil fuels, says the study.
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Filed under: solar energy, wind | No Comments »