Friday, December 14, 2012

Forget Sustainability. It’s About Resilience. - NYTimes.com

Forget Sustainability. It’s About Resilience. - NYTimes.com

Yet today, precisely because the world is so increasingly out of balance, the sustainability regime is being quietly challenged, not from without, but from within. Among a growing number of scientists, social innovators, community leaders, nongovernmental organizations, philanthropies, governments and corporations, a new dialogue is emerging around a new idea, resilience: how to help vulnerable people, organizations and systems persist, perhaps even thrive, amid unforeseeable disruptions. Where sustainability aims to put the world back into balance, resilience looks for ways to manage in an imbalanced world. 

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Researchers report major advance in using sunlight to produce steam without boiling water

Researchers report major advance in using sunlight to produce steam without boiling water
"We're not changing any of the laws of thermodynamics," Halas said. "We're just boiling water in a radically different way."

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-11-major-advance-sunlight-steam.html#jCp
"We're not changing any of the laws of thermodynamics," Halas said. "We're just boiling water in a radically different way."

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-11-major-advance-sunlight-steam.html#jCp
"We're not changing any of the laws of thermodynamics," Halas said. "We're just boiling water in a radically different way."

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-11-major-advance-sunlight-steam.html#jCp
"We're not changing any of the laws of thermodynamics," Halas said. "We're just boiling water in a radically different way."

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-11-major-advance-sunlight-steam.html#jCp

"We're not changing any of the laws of thermodynamics," Halas said. "We're just boiling water in a radically different way."

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-11-major-advance-sunlight-steam.html#jCp

Friday, November 16, 2012

Commentary: China's ecological progress determines more than its own future - Xinhua | English.news.cn

Commentary: China's ecological progress determines more than its own future - Xinhua | English.news.cn
"If the U.S. lifestyle, which features vehicles with large displacement and big houses, prevails in China, other planets might be needed besides Earth to provide enough resources."

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Germany Has Built Clean Energy Economy That U.S. Rejected 30 Years Ago | InsideClimate News

Germany Has Built Clean Energy Economy That U.S. Rejected 30 Years Ago | InsideClimate News
"The fight now, to the extent that there is one, is over the speed of the transition," Jens Kendzia told me as we stood on the Reichstag roof. Kendzia is chief of staff for a leader of the center-left Green Party, which crafted the legislation responsible for the Energiewende's success.

Friday, August 3, 2012

BioThink: Self-Sufficient Iranian Smart Vehicle Powered by Magnets and Sun | Green Prophet

BioThink: Self-Sufficient Iranian Smart Vehicle Powered by Magnets and Sun | Green Prophet: Looking ahead to over-populated mega-cities in a world of higher temperatures and mandatory carbon cuts, the Iranian designer conceived two different kinds of narrow, self-sufficient 2-seaters that use up less space than conventional vehicles and produce zero

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Africa Progress Panel calls on African governments to drive towards MDGs | Global development | guardian.co.uk

Africa Progress Panel calls on African governments to drive towards MDGs | Global development | guardian.co.uk: On agriculture and food security, the report urged rich countries to deliver on commitments made at successive climate change summits at Copenhagen and Cancun to mobilise $100bn by 2020 for the Green Climate Fund, with half of that amount earmarked for adaptation. Investment for irrigation, terracing, rural roads and research would prevent annual losses of several hundreds of millions of dollars, the report said, a point highly pertinent for regions such as the Sahel, which suffers repeatedly from drought.

WWF - WWF calls for China and Africa to go green

WWF - WWF calls for China and Africa to go green: “This Forum is an opportunity to establish a new model of cooperation between emerging economies and developing countries,” says Jim Leape, WWF International Director General. “After the failure of Rio 20 and other major international summits to agree on ambitious action for a healthy planet, we hope FOCAC will signal new leadership for the creation of green and sustainable economies.”

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The climate of the climate change debate is changing | Myles Allen | Environment | guardian.co.uk

The climate of the climate change debate is changing | Myles Allen | Environment | guardian.co.uk: The climate may have changed this week. Not the physical climate, but the climate of the climate change debate. Tuesday marked the publication of a series of papers examining the factors behind extreme weather events in 2011. Nothing remarkable about that, you might think, except, if all goes well, this will be the first of a regular, annual assessment quantifying how external drivers of climate contribute to damaging weather.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Earth may be near tipping point, scientists warn - latimes.com

Earth may be near tipping point, scientists warn - latimes.com
"We have created a bubble of human population and economy … that is totally unsustainable and is either going to have to deflate gradually or is going to burst," said co-author James Brown, a distinguished professor of biology at the University of New Mexico. "If it's going to burst, the consequences are really going to be grim for people as well as biodiversity and the rest of the planet."

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Pakistan’s renewable energy awaits tapping - SciDev.Net

Pakistan’s renewable energy awaits tapping - SciDev.Net The report on solar energy said although the source was abundant, with the country receiving 200-250 watts per square metre daily with an estimated potential of 2.9 million megawatts of solar power per annum, the country generates less than seven megawatts.  
Solar energy was hampered by poor integration of techno-economic and socio-political aspects and inconsistent government policies, although it was ideal for the remote areas of Balochistan, Cholistan and the Thar desert where grid connectivity was difficult.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Friday, May 11, 2012

Game Over for the Climate - NYTimes.com

Game Over for the Climate - NYTimes.com: Canada’s tar sands, deposits of sand saturated with bitumen, contain twice the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by global oil use in our entire history. If we were to fully exploit this new oil source, and continue to burn our conventional oil, gas and coal supplies, concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere eventually would reach levels higher than in the Pliocene era, more than 2.5 million years ago, when sea level was at least 50 feet higher than it is now. That level of heat-trapping gases would assure that the disintegration of the ice sheets would accelerate out of control. Sea levels would rise and destroy coastal cities. Global temperatures would become intolerable. Twenty to 50 percent of the planet’s species would be driven to extinction. Civilization would be at risk.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Nasa scientist: climate change is a moral issue on a par with slavery | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Nasa scientist: climate change is a moral issue on a par with slavery | Environment | guardian.co.uk: Averting the worst consequences of human-induced climate change is a "great moral issue" on a par with slavery, according to the leading Nasa climate scientist Prof Jim Hansen.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Fast Track Creation of New Global Environment Agency, Says Distinguished Scientist

Fast Track Creation of New Global Environment Agency, Says Distinguished Scientist: “there is urgent need to reorganize our system of environmental governance. The planet is in peril and we must do something about it.Otherwise, human beings will be the ultimate losers.”

Friday, February 17, 2012

China warns on growing water shortages - FT.com

China warns on growing water shortages - FT.com: Environmentalists say many water policies have had a limited impact, because of the difficulty in enforcing rules on the ground, where local officials may prize GDP growth – long a consideration for official promotion – over meeting environmental guidelines.