These are the short movies that I said I would post. We watched the ones in boldface already, on Monday.
1. The Convenient Solution
(The Economics of Abundant Renewables vs. Non-Required Unrenewables)
Greenpeace UK
9 min 27 sec
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfzVQwW_8Jk
2. 1983: Grüne zur Bundestagswahl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cG6iqaZmjI
3. 1990: Grüne zur Bundestagswahl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0QXxafLyKM
4. environment protect xiamen PX China (1 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSjNK1Q4iiA
5. Water Crisis, Wuxi, China 无锡水祸(4 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9YJXm1kqk4
6. Amazon dries up [3 min.] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7gpAy4ivZ0
7. Shocking images from Amazon jungle [4 min.]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqk_sre54WA
8. Tibet is melting and turning into desert
Greenpeace; 4 min 36 sec - Aug 8, 2006
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8600404118213144512
9. Yellow Earth – China [12 min] - Sep 6, 2007 Encroaching desert prompted the Chinese government to re-settle nearly one million people. Ironically they move from old desert homes to new desert homes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1YLx0VcrwI
10. North Pole Ice Cracking
Andrew Revkin, The New York Times
1 min 17 sec - May 23, 2006
The sea ice at the North Pole is only a few feet thick. It floats on an ocean that is 14,000 feet deep. And it's cracking under our feet….Everything you hear -- all the chugging and huffing and banging -- is the ice beneath us.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=846342022276396533
11. Global Climate Change (Part 1) [9 min]
9 min - Sep 3, 2006 - (161 ratings)
Segment from the ABC 20/20 Special, "Last Days on Earth", about global climate change.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60Zk4-JPCdg
12. Global Climate Change (Part 2) [9 min]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XClNHfmFDog
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1. Min Sook Kim
2. Most Sustainable Enterprise in Flanders
3. Ecover is an international company active in the production of ecological cleaners. Founded in 1980 in Belgium, as a pioneering company, marketing a phosphate-free washing powder even before phosphates were branded as a problem.
They have extended the environmental policy to all departments of the company, from production to marketing. One of the most striking results is the world’s first ecological factory. Built in October 1992, it has a grass (sedum) roof extending over more than 10,8002 feet. It received extensive press attention at the time, and draws more than a thousand visitors every year even now. The building was shown on a TV program the other day. The brick building with colorful grass roof uses 100% natural resource for heating and cooling. It was very impressive.
Among various recognitions, perhaps the most prestigious was being named to the Global 500 Roll of Honor of the United Nations Environment Program, in 1993.
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ECOVER chosen as
Most Sustainable Enterprise in Flanders
Malle, 2 October 2007. – ECOVER, European market leader in ecological detergents and cleaning products, receives today the award ‘Sustainable Enterprise’ from Mr Henry De Baets, General Administrator of the Flemish Public Waste association (OVAM) and Mr Yves Lejaeghere, founder of Open Bedrijvendag (Company Open House Day). In the run up to Open Bedrijvendag, this prize was awarded to a company that distinguishes itself through its attention to the social aspect of doing business and care for the environment.
Nine companies were nominated for the title of most sustainable entrepreneur. In the category for companies of more than 50 employees, ECOVER competed against Miko of Turnhout and Nike CSC of Laakdal. OVAM and Open Bedrijvendag not only declared ECOVER the winner in its category. The company also received first prize and was chosen as most sustainable entrepreneur of all the participating companies.
“Since its establishment in 1980 ECOVER has been a pioneer in the area of sustainable and ecological undertakings,” according to Michael Bremans, CEO of ECOVER. “For each investment we take into account the sustainability of the materials and we screen our suppliers with regard to their social, ethical and ecological vision.” In 1992 ECOVER built the very first ecological factory in the world. In the meantime it has added a second branch in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. The efforts that ECOVER puts into the development of ecological detergents and cleaning agents have often been rewarded with diverse awards in Belgium and abroad.
During Open Bedrijvendag on Sunday, 7 October 2007 ECOVER will be offering the public the chance to visit its ecological factory, lab and wastewater treatment plant. Throughout the day, ECOVER will be organising guided tours and providing animation for young and old. Visitors will be able to taste ecological snacks and drinks and purchase ECOVER products. Proceeds from the sale of drinks, meals and products will be integrally donated to vzw Huize Monnikenheide, a not-for-profit organisation that assists mentally handicapped people. The proceeds will be used to purchase environmentally-friendly washing machines and driers.
The Kempen region of Belgium boasts two ecological companies, and those who visit both ECOVER and SunTechnics of Lille on Sunday, 7 October 2007 will be given a free drink. SunTechnics – formerly known as Izen – won the award for most environmentally-friendly enterprise in Flanders last year during Open Bedrijvendag.
About ECOVER
ECOVER, domiciled in Malle, is an international company that manufactures ecological detergents and cleaning products. ECOVER is also active in the professional cleaning sector and its Wellments line of natural cosmetics meet the needs of personal hygiene and body care. In its own lab ECOVER develops ecological products whose effects and user-friendliness are perfectly comparable with conventional products. Long before the current ecological awareness trend, ECOVER realised that sustainability is necessary in the long run. ECOVER is a company that holds ISO 14001 certification. Via its marketing activities, ECOVER strongly contributes to the sport of sailing and it supports the Belgian sailor Peter Laureyssens and the British skipper Mike Golding.
(End of Press Release)
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http://www.ecover.com/us/en/News/Details.htm?ID=161
1. SuJung, Kim
2. UN chief's Antarctic climate tour
3. Many international summit became to concern about environmentl problem, especially global warming. Mr. Ban visited Antarctic area.
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United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has described his alarm at the pace of climate change after wrapping up a two-day fact-finding trip to southern Chile.
Mr Ban, who has vowed to make the fight against global warming a key issue during his tenure at the UN, went to Antarctica on Friday where he heard from scientists how rising temperatures have caused huge ice shelves to collapse into the sea.
He was the first head of the UN ever to visit the frozen continent.
On Saturday the secretary general visited the majestic mountains of the Torres del Paine national park, one of Chile's top tourist attractions.
He flew over the Grey glacier, the facade of which is covered in cracks, which experts blame on changes in the weather.
Mr Ban is gathering information to take to a major UN conference on climate change next month on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Among the scientists who briefed him was Gino Casassa, one of Chile's leading experts on climate change and a member of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which won this year's Nobel Peace Prize for its work on the issue.
"The Antarctic peninsula is one of the three [climate change] hotspots on earth and the temperature increase here over the last 50 years has been up to 10 times the global average," Mr Casassa said, as he stood in thick snow at one of two permanent Chilean bases on the continent.
'Astonishing'
"These are really astonishing changes, and nobody thought they would happen so fast.
"The heat is migrating south, warming up the ice and melting it. And as it does the ice just collapses into the ocean.
"We are having to reshape the whole glacialogical theory thanks to what we've been witnessing on this peninsula."
Speaking to reporters who accompanied him to Antarctica, the UN secretary general said the world had to do more to safeguard the future of the planet.
"I'm not here to frighten you, I'm not scaremongering," he said. "But the world is changing, the glaciers are melting ... the change is now progressing much faster than I had thought. It's alarming."
During his trip to Antarctica, Mr Ban dropped in on his compatriots at South Korea's King Sejong research station, also on the Antarctic peninsula.
There, scientists have monitored the impact of global warming on a glacier which has retreated over 1km (0.62 miles) in the past half century.
"Very, very serious global warming is taking place," said the head of the base, Sang Hoon Lee.
For years, many scientists cast doubt on the existence of global warming but these days the sceptics are dwindling in number.
"Even when I was studying for my PhD I didn't think there was enough evidence," Mr Casassa said. "It was less than 10 years ago that I was converted."
From Chile, Mr Ban flew to Brazil, where he is due to visit an ethanol plant and see how the burning of fossil fuels has affected the Amazon rainforest.
When he travels to Bali next month his main priority will be to kick-start negotiations aimed at agreeing a follow-up to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on cutting greenhouse emissions.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7089290.stm
1. Peaches Park
2. Australia is the loser
3. Interesting how the top 10 emitters in the world consist of all the entirely industrialized and wealthy (GDP) countries. Among the most environmentally unfriendly are countries with the highest standard of living (according to my economics book)...even more interesting. the countries with the greatest power have the greatest responsibility I think.
woops
4
Australians named worst emitters
Power station chimney (Image: PA)
The inventory lists CO2 emissions from more than 4,000 companies
A study of the world's power stations has shown the extent to which developed countries produce more carbon dioxide per head than emerging economies.
Australians were found to be the world's worst polluters per capita, producing five times as much CO2 from generating power as China.
The US came second with eight tonnes of the greenhouse gas per head - 16 times more than that produced by India.
The US also produced the most CO2 in total, followed by China.
The Carbon Monitoring for Action (Carma) website is the first global inventory of emissions and looks at 50,000 power stations.
Its data was compiled by the Center for Global Development, a US think-tank.
Least efficient stations
Carma points out that while US power plants emit the most CO2, releasing 2.5bn tonnes into the atmosphere each year, Australian power stations are the least efficient on a per capita basis, with emissions of 10 tonnes, compared with the US's 8.2 tonnes.
TOP 10 EMITTERS
National power sector emissions (in tonnes of CO2):
US - 2,530 million
China - 2,430 million
Russia - 600 million
India - 529 million
Japan - 363 million
Germany - 323 million
Australia - 205 million
South Africa - 201 million
UK - 192 million
South Korea - 168 million
(Source: Carma/CGD)
China's power sector emits the second-highest total amount of carbon dioxide, pumping 2.4bn tonnes of the gas into the atmosphere annually.
However, its emissions are only one fifth of Australia's when measured on a per capita basis.
The UK's 192 million tonnes make it the ninth highest emitter, with per capita CO2 emissions of 3.2 tonnes.
The nation's largest power station, the coal-fired Drax plant, is deemed to be the 23rd most polluting power station in the world.
Powering change
Kevin Ummel, a research assistant at the Center for Global Development, hoped the online inventory would help the push towards a low carbon future.
"The experience of people in the environmental field has been that supplying the public and markets with information that they did not have has often led to improvements in environmental quality," he told BBC News.
CO2 EMISSIONS PER CAPITA
Electricity pylons (Image:PA)
Australia - 10.0 tonnes
US - 8.2 tonnes
UK - 3.2 tonnes
China - 1.8 tonnes
India - 0.5 tonnes
(Source: Carma/CGD)
"There is no reason why this could not happen for carbon emissions."
He said that the data for power stations in the US, Canada, Europe and India came from official, verified reports.
For the power plants that did not have robust reports, Mr Ummel said a model was used to calculate the volume of emissions.
The figure is derived by taking factors such as fuel type, size, age and various other technical specifications in account.
"It turns out that if you have this information then you can predict emissions from the plants with a high degree of certainty," he said.
"Carma is built from a massive database provided by private sector (organisations). It includes every type of fuel and it includes power plants of almost any size.
"Not only do we have the massive plants, like Drax in the UK, but everything down to the solar panels on the local high school.
"We feel quite confident that no-one else has information in such detail."
The philosophy behind the website is to provide people with information that they currently do not have.
"In this website, we do not push a particular agenda or outcome," explained Mr Ummel.
"In fact, we are very interested to see how people choose to use the data."
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7092989.stm
1. YingQi Fan
2. Japanese favor on Whales
3. Japan’s hunt on whales has been under the controversy for more than two decades. Every year it hunts hundreds of whales in Antarctica under what it claims as a scientific research programme. This year, it will hunt 50 humpback whales - an endangered species - as well as up to 1,000 whales, a move criticized by other anti-whaling nations. On one hand, Japanese people have eaten whale for a long history. On the other hand, whales they enjoy are going into extinction. If the Chinese were asked to not eat pork or chicken, they might do as what the Japanese do. So I have to say it is very unlucky for Japanese to favor scarce food. It seems not so easy to find a good solution to get out of this dilemma.
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Japanese whalers hunt humpbacks
A Japanese whaling fleet has set sail aiming to harpoon humpback whales for the first time in decades.
The fleet is conducting its largest hunt in the South Pacific - it has instructions to kill up to 1,000 whales, including 50 humpbacks.
The mission has drawn strong protests from environmentalists for breaking a 44-year moratorium on humpback hunting.
Japan was forced to abandon commercial whaling in 1986 but has since carried out whaling for "scientific research".
Four whaling ships, including the lead craft Nisshin Maru, set off from the southern port of Shimonoseki on Sunday.
The 239-man mission plans to kill more than 900 minke whales as well as fin whales and humpbacks, in a South Pacific whale hunt that will run until mid-April.
The 8,000-metric tonne Nisshin Maru was crippled by a fire on a whaling mission in the Antarctic in March. One crew member was killed.
A Greenpeace campaign ship will be following the Japanese fleet.
Sensitive mammals
Tokyo's plan to target the humpback - which was hunted to near extinction four decades ago - has drawn condemnation from environmentalists.
"Humpbacks are very sensitive and live in close-knit pods so even one death can be extremely damaging," Greenpeace spokesman Junichi Sato said.
Japanese fisheries officials insist both humpback and fin populations are back to sustainable levels.
"Humpback whales in our research area are rapidly recovering," said fisheries spokesman Hideki Moronuki.
"Taking 50 humpbacks from a population of tens of thousands will have no significant impact whatsoever."
Mr Moronuki said killing whales allows marine biologists to study their internal organs.
Meat from Japan's scientific catch is sold commercially but Japanese officials deny that the mission plans to make a profit.
Tokyo argues that whaling is an ancient Japanese tradition, and has pushed unsuccessfully at the International Whaling Commission to reverse the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling.
Environmentalists say Japan's research programme is a pretext for keeping the whaling industry alive.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7099720.stm
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