The World fires

The environmental organization Greenpeace has released a video in which a lawn of matches is destroyed by fire in order to report that the length of a burned match in Spain, a forest area in excess of twenty football fields.

Under the slogan 'The world of fire' Greenpeace has taken the World Cup held in South Africa to recall that, only in the last decade it has lost the area equivalent to more than 123,000 football fields, as reported in a statement.
Forecasters have warned that this will be a summer "especially" warm, so from the organization want to appeal for citizens to "extreme" precautions, do not make imprudent and abide by the prohibitions.
110 783 hectares burned in 2009

Last year was particularly bad when burned 110 783 hectares, the third-worst record of the decade, recalled from this organization.

Despite the enormous economic losses, environmental damage, the dead and the alarm that large fires occur every year there are oversights, accidents and other negligence that increase the disaster of the intentional fires, has lamented the campaign leader forests and climate of the environmental organization, Miguel Angel Soto.

Thus, stressed Soto, "Spanish society must win the battle the fire on the mountain and this summer, played a key match."

Whales produce millions of dollars without fishing

For countries that do not hunt, the whales that come to its shores has a value that is not measured in tons of meat, but in millions of tourists and billions of dollars.

Last year, more than 13 million onlookers watched them in 119 countries, generating U.S. $ 2,000 million, on Thursday reported Australian Ecology Minister, Peter Garrett, to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Agadir (southwestern Morocco) until Friday.

This organization founded in 1946 to regulate whaling is also the only one who manages the populations of these large whales.

For 14 years, created a working group of scientists dedicated to the "whale watching" or "whale watching, tourism in full expansion to admire the whales from a boat.

According to the first study on this subject, conducted by the Fisheries Center at the University of British Columbia (Canada), the observation of whales, the IWC euphemistically called "non-lethal use of whales" - could generate 3,000 million dollars annually and 24,000 jobs worldwide.

Latin America is very active in the CBI: the observation of whales, increasing more than 11% annually since the late 1990s, three times the world average, represents $ 278 million and attracts a million and a half amateur.

"On the Peninsula Valdes (Patagonia Argentina), over 200,000 tourists come to see the whales between June and December," said Roxana Schteinbarg, director of the Whale Conservation Institute in Buenos Aires. "There is no need to kill them to take advantage of them."

Most countries in the region, he added, observing adopted rules. To be heard, one hundred American and Caribbean operators presented at the initiative of Argentina, a statement to the CBI claiming to maintain the moratorium on commercial whaling, the enforcement of whale sanctuaries and the creation of a new sanctuary in South Atlantic.

In New Zealand, where he sails to see blue whales and sperm whales, "produces more than 80 million dollars," said Karena Lyons, a member of the delegation. "This ensures maximum benefit for local communities and a minimum effect on the whales".

On Thursday, the Commission gave its approval for a five-year strategic plan to observe the whales, whose objective is to frame the development of this activity and reduce impacts on cetaceans.

"The five-year plan estimated Ridoux Vincent, a French expert scientific committee of the CBI, should be possible to assess the discomfort in the different sites and the impacts of the accumulation of these problems."

It should also help the small teams in the best possible conditions. In the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic, with 25,000 tourists on board a season, is best placed.

The Pacific states are also great applicants and more than a dozen of them created whale sanctuaries.

"This activity could be a billionaire, estimated Sue Taei, the Pew Environment Group of Samoa. "But there is in Fiji and whale watching in Tonga, boats queuing because there are not enough whales due to intensive poaching led by the Russians."

Feces of sperm whales 'help' the oceans to absorb atmospheric CO2

Australian scientists have discovered that the faeces of whales 'help' the oceans to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, because they are released about 50 tons of iron annually.

The work, published in the journal Proceedings B 'of the British Royal Society, explains that in this way stimulates the growth of small marine plants known as' phytoplankton', whose mission is to absorb carbon dioxide during photosynthesis.

This is obtained by the absorption of 400,000 tons of carbon, more than double what the whales 'manufactured' for their breath. Researchers have also seen that, with this stimulation, the plants produce more food for the whale, about 12,000 tons.

As the BBC explains, the phytoplankton is part of the base of the food chain of marine animals and the growth of these small plants is limited by the amount of available nutrients, including iron.
Fertilize plants

Recently, scientific groups have made some tests to try to alleviate the effects of climate change by injections of iron in the ocean, but not all the experiments have proved successful. For example, in 2008 a German expedition inserted tons of iron in the Southern Ocean without success.

The total numbers of sperm in the world is hard to tell, although it is known that in the same way they do in the Southern Ocean, fertilize the plants and the process is repeated in different parts of the world.

These animals feed mainly on squid in the deep sea and defecate in the surface waters where phytoplankton grows, the access of sunlight finally the scientists suggest that this mechanism could also be repeated with the "krill."

U.S. calls for more emergency aid to Europe to curb oil spill

U.S. authorities requested more urgent assistance from the European Union (EU) in their efforts to contain the oil slick to the Gulf of Mexico, confirmed to dpa vierns spokesman humanitarian aid and crisis management of the European bloc, Ferran Tarradellas .
"Last night in Brussels has received a new order for the U.S. side. So far, the European Commission has received confirmation of support from Sweden, Germany, Norway, United Kingdom, and the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA ) "he said.
Among the teams that these countries have made provision, as Tarredellas, are "different pumping systems to try to stop the oil slick."
The Brussels executive is confident that "soon" over EU countries join the effort. The request for new U.S. aid has been sent to the European Civil Protection Mechanism (MIC), which coordinates Brussels, the spokesman said.
The second request

This is the second time in less than a month that Europe extends a hand to the U.S. to contain the spill.

Last month, EU commissioner for humanitarian aid and international cooperation, Kristalina Georgieva, responded positively to an urgent request from U.S. to European Union (EU), with Spanish media and the Netherlands, assist in the clearance of areas affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
"We wanted to show our solidarity with those affected by this tragedy. As one would expect, Europe is next to his American friends," said the curator.
On the other hand, Ferran Tarradellas said that Europe is "shoulder to shoulder" with U.S. President, Barack Obama, and yet the American people to try to mitigate the ecological catastrophe.

"At this time particularly difficult for the United States, the European Commission, and by extension the whole EU, we are hand in hand with our American friends," he said.The spokesman said the U.S. has asked Europe to install three systems in the area of suction and pumping of oil that can operate from ships specially prepared for these tasks in deep water, for example at the point where it is produced from crude oil leak the platform of the British multinational BP.

The earthquake in Chile reduced the duration of the day and shifted the axis of the Earth

The earthquake of 8.8 degrees on the Richter scale occurred on Saturday in Chile, which has left at least 700 dead, very slightly reduced the length of day and shifted the axis of the earth in eight centimeters, according to agency data Space Administration (NASA).

In an article published in 'Business Week, the Geophysical Laboratory in Pasadena, California, Richard Gross, said that earthquakes can move hundreds of kilometers of rock in very confined spaces, which changes the distribution of mass on the planet, affecting Earth's rotation.

This small change is enclosed "in larger changes due to other causes, such as air mass moving over the Earth," the dean of Geophysics, National Central University in Taiwan, Benjamin Fong Chao.
Based on calculations made using computerized methods, NASA has found that because of the earthquake in Chile, the Earth's axis has moved three inches and that "the day length should be shortened 1.26 microseconds (millionths of second).

It is not the first time that similar changes are detected after an earthquake. The day fell by 6.8 microseconds in late 2004 because of the 9.1-degree earthquake registered off Sumatra that caused the biggest 'tsunami' of history.
The effect of ice skater

David Kerridge, at the helm Geological Survey Edimburgoe UK British Geological Survey in Edinburgh, explains: "When a skater goes up their arms when turning to go get more and more speed. It's the same idea: Earth is spinning and if you change the distribution of mass, time of rotation changes.
According to Professor at the University of Liverpool Andreas Rietbrock, who has been studying the area where the earthquake hit Chile, the island of Santa Maria, near Concepcion (second largest city and one of the most damaged by the earthquake) could have been raised about two meters due to the tremor.

It could also be true. According to CNN collected, based on scientific estimates, if the Three Gorges Dam in China was filled, adding 40 cubic kilometers of water, produce, due to their weight, an increase in day length of 0.06 microseconds.

Apple shareholders reject environmental measures

Apple Inc. shareholders rejected two proposals seeking to force the computer maker to undertake further action to analyze its impact on the environment.

One proposal would have asked Apple to issue a detailed report on environmental sustainability. The other called for a board meeting on the subject.

Bloom Energy provides fuel cells

Bloom Energy Company presented on Wednesday, with fanfare, its fuel cells, but kept secret their plans for increased marketing of their expensive power generating apparatus.

At a press conference, executives from Bloom Energy disseminated not many new details about their strategies for the promising technology of fuel cells is cheap and affordable homes.

This is an important point because the company sells $ 700,000 a cabinet of fuel cell that looks like a filing cabinet.
With funding by nearly $ 400 million, Bloom Energy is one company that attract attention among which are installed in the "Valley of the Semiconductor in California.

Large corporations have been the first customers, but Bloom Energy wants to reduce the price in thousands of dollars for equipment that are affordable for families.
The company president, K.R. Sridhar said the cuts could take a decade or more as technology advances, as happened with computer chips, which increased its capacity and was cheaper to over the decades.

"We are very confident that we can activate the economic precepts," said Sridhar at the press conference at the offices of the company sales and auction site eBay.
Since its founding in 2001, the company has maintained its discretion regarding the progress of technology.

The lack of product details raised questions among experts, for whom it is still impossible to measure the true cost of power generation with the cabinet of Bloom Energy cells and whether this technology is substantially different from those of other companies in the industry.

"I would try to take a healthy dose of skepticism," said Bryan Pivovar, manager of the fuel cell division of the Center for Hydrogen Technologies and Systems, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

"What we showed the managers of Bloom Energy is to have these systems and have achieved market them," he added.

"I have not seen anything from Bloom to make me believe that there is something special in the way they have armed your system and what their innovation," he said.

According to Bloom Energy, the fuel cell cabinet produces more energy with less environmental damage than other similar products on the market because it not only uses hydrogen to start the chemical reaction that generates electricity.
The system could be activated by wind, sunlight and what is available, which can vary from community to community, said the directors of the company without elaborate on details.

One of the easiest ways to activate the cabinet Bloom would connect directly to a natural gas pipeline.
Bloom Energy said its customers include companies Google Inc. and eBay Inc., which have cheaper energy.

Cabinets with fuel cells, both companies get electricity to nine to 10 cents per kilowatt hour, whereas if the network buy would cost between 13 and 14 cents.

The Vermont Senate voted for the closure of nuclear plant

Bloom Energy Company presented on Wednesday, with fanfare, its fuel cells, but kept secret their plans for increased marketing of their expensive power generating apparatus.

At a press conference, executives from Bloom Energy disseminated not many new details about their strategies for the promising technology of fuel cells is cheap and affordable homes.

This is an important point because the company sells $ 700,000 a cabinet of fuel cell that looks like a filing cabinet.
With funding by nearly $ 400 million, Bloom Energy is one company that attract attention among which are installed in the "Valley of the Semiconductor in California.
Large corporations have been the first customers, but Bloom Energy wants to reduce the price in thousands of dollars for equipment that are affordable for families.

The company president, K.R. Sridhar said the cuts could take a decade or more as technology advances, as happened with computer chips, which increased its capacity and was cheaper to over the decades.

"We are very confident that we can activate the economic precepts," said Sridhar at the press conference at the offices of the company sales and auction site eBay.

Since its founding in 2001, the company has maintained its discretion regarding the progress of technology.

The lack of product details raised questions among experts, for whom it is still impossible to measure the true cost of power generation with the cabinet of Bloom Energy cells and whether this technology is substantially different from those of other companies in the industry.

"I would try to take a healthy dose of skepticism," said Bryan Pivovar, manager of the fuel cell division of the Center for Hydrogen Technologies and Systems, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

"What we showed the managers of Bloom Energy is to have these systems and have achieved market them," he added.

"I have not seen anything from Bloom to make me believe that there is something special in the way they have armed your system and what their innovation," he said.

According to Bloom Energy, the fuel cell cabinet produces more energy with less environmental damage than other similar products on the market because it not only uses hydrogen to start the chemical reaction that generates electricity.

The system could be activated by wind, sunlight and what is available, which can vary from community to community, said the directors of the company without elaborate on details.

One of the easiest ways to activate the cabinet Bloom would connect directly to a natural gas pipeline.
Bloom Energy said its customers include companies Google Inc. and eBay Inc., which have cheaper energy.
Cabinets with fuel cells, both companies get electricity to nine to 10 cents per kilowatt hour, whereas if the network buy would cost between 13 and 14 cents.

Climate change becomes promiscuous to a monogamous frog in Peru

There in the Amazon jungle of Peru, a poisonous frog species that, because of climate change, has left to throw practice monogamy in promiscuous attitude to the hunt for suitors that guarantee their survival.

Explains the professor of the Natural History Museum of Peru Ricardo Palma University, Victor Morales, these frogs have changed their reproductive behavior, primarily due to decreased water in the ponds they inhabit.
Climate change and habitat destruction are behind the phenomenon that Morales in March detailed in the publication 'The American Naturalist', with researchers Jason Brown and Kyle Summers.
Most frogs are polygamous

According to the professor, most frogs are polygamous but this particular species, called 'Ranitomeya variabilis', only a couple pairs with beneficial environmental conditions, ie when there is enough water in the tanks of bromeliads where you live.

For thousands of years, the mother only made one or two eggs and neither she nor the male left the home when it came to care for the young.

However, current environmental constraints have changed this behavior, so now think only males and females to ensure their offspring and have been reproduced more individuals.

To demonstrate this new stage adaptation in frogs, Professor Peruvian conducted in recent years, analysis of water and larvae in the tropical forests of Tarapoto and the conservation area of the Cordillera Escalera in northern Peru.
The aforementioned poison frog is abundant in these forested areas where it has been found promiscuity traditionally monogamous species because genetic differences have been found within the same brood.
Included in the red list of threatened species

Toxic skin and colorful, these amphibians are prey diurnal snakes and other predators, but now they face a hostile environment in which the tadpoles are dying and even eat each other over the lack of space and water.

Peruvian biologist Marina Rosales said that global warming and the destruction of the Amazon particularly affect the flora and fauna of wet environments, including this frog is found, including in the red list of threatened species.

In his view, this scientific discovery, apparently "anecdotal" should be interpreted as an indicator that environmental conditions are changing, forcing the amphibians to be more concerned than before about leaving a larger number of offspring and thereby ensure the survival of their genes.

Faced with this predicament, much like Professor Rosales Morales found that amphibians, like other species, they adapt and fight for their survival, but this flexibility is limited and in any case, it is not beneficial in the long term.

Therefore, the specialist of the National Natural Protected Areas by the State (SERNANP) warned that this is not an isolated case, as humans must take actions necessary to mitigate adverse effects on climate and biodiversity .

Clean energy for the poorest of Kenya

Oddly enough, the electricity is still a luxury for many Africans. A luxury that a group of youths from Kibera, one of the most miserable shantytowns of Africa, wants to make available to all. Sarah breast Beginning, the famous African grandmother of U.S. President, Barack Obama.

Robert and his friends realized one day that they were sick of being poor. Their twenties, had no profession or property and tired of seeing that, despite the many NGOs that are flooding the black continent, the reality around them remained the same as always: abject poverty, the lack of any infrastructure and basic service.

Eight years after that sharing, Robert Kheyi-29-year-leads with his friends a youth organization in Kibera, Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, which aims to get solar power, clean, quality, people under the planet's resources.
Obama's grandmother

The first to receive the benefits of supply through solar panels was the grandmother of President Obama, who gave 80 years for the first time a switch. It was in August last year, when the army of volunteers arrived in Kibera Kogelo-Obama African people near Lake Victoria to install eight large solar panels on the roof of the illustrious neighbor, which, together with the school principal the light zone clean-enjoy.

The flagship product created and devised by the 'Program for youth in Kibera "is a portable lamp light range of up to six hours. It is a small tool, easy to use and durable. His only problem: price. "We sell the unit to 3,500 shillings, a still very high cost to the purchasing power of the people of Kibera," laments Robert Kheyi, who is preparing to solve the difficulty by introducing an unprecedented small installment payment system, which is very rare in Africa.

"We started taking all this in common: we left school, but not for lack of talent. Some had no money to pay school fees, others were orphaned and had to feed and take care of his brothers," says Robert Kheyi from the small and humble workshop now become an assembly plant sunlamps.
Free courses

"We wanted to organize, do something, but we refused to accept the help of NGOs or ask for charity. It was there where he was born the idea to start with solar energy, an investment for the future". Investment in the future no doubt few can imagine how helpful it is in poor and rural Africa. Today, nearly a decade later, Robert Kheyi get in his humble office made of tin and no running water. But with clean energy.


Today, the organization provides training to young people like the founders, were eager and few resources. "A six-month course in solar energy easily cost $ 1,500 [$ 1,000]. Here we give free." For now, young people are in training, but very soon these pioneers who will lead by example.

Besides being a social and innovative, sunlamps workshop is a perfect solution in a world in need of remedies against the effects of climate change. In African cities kerosene is the main fuel for power generation. In rural areas of Africa, what replaced coal. In both cases, harmful to health and also for the environment. Work and effort that since 2005 have been recognized by various institutions promoting clean energy in South Africa, Switzerland and the UK, and shows that everything can be witty.

Chinese farms pollute even more than companies

Chinese factories are notorious but farmers and ranchers even pollute more than they. So says the first official census of China on the pollution in the country, which was made public this week. The study also shows that water pollution is twice as severe than previously thought, since the figures available so far had been omitted from agricultural waste.

In preparing the report have been taken two years of work. 570,000 people have participated and have collected six million data sources, which include factories, farms, households and waste treatment facilities. The next census will not be available until 2020.

According to the report, land cultivated by farmers more water polluting emissions from its factories. According to some sources quoted by 'The Guardian', the publication of the census was postponed due to opposition from the Chinese Agriculture Ministry, which in the past had insisted that farmers were responsible for only a small part of the environmental problem.

Some environmental groups believe that this report represents a small step on the path to the transparency of the Chinese system.
Heavy reliance on fertilizers

During the presentation of the census, the Agriculture Ministry spokesman Wang Yangliang, acknowledged the problems arising from intensive farming methods, "Fertilizers and pesticides have been important for increasing productivity but its misuse has also had a serious impact on the environment, "he said. "The rapid development of animal husbandry and aquaculture has produced lots of food but are major sources of pollution in our lives."

While the high numbers of rural pollution is partly explained by the enormous size of China's agricultural sector also reflect the heavy dependence on artificial methods such as fertilizers.

The Government asserts claims that are necessary because China has only 7% of land area to feed 22% of world population. And a 'lobby' industry is pushing for more use of chemicals.

Another serious problem is the unreliability of the data. Many businesses and local governments offer emissions figures well below reality. It is not yet measure different forms of pollution and some data are not made public. The deputy minister of environmental protection, Zhang Lijun, said that over the coming years will increase the measurement systems.

Future deserts on Earth

The Mediterranean is one of the areas most likely to become a desert, a danger ahead for 38% of the land surface. The alarming conclusion belongs to a Spanish research study published in International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment '.

The scientists measured the impact of human activity in their environment through a method known as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and a geographic information system (GIS, its acronym in English). For the first time, included indicators of desertification and classified 15 natural areas according to their degree of aridity.
Of the areas studied, eight were listed as areas at risk of desertification, which represents 38% of the Earth's surface.

"In the case of Spain, the Jucar basin, the Segura and the southeastern Ebro are some of the areas most at risk of desertification due to climatic conditions," said Montserrat Núñez, lead author of the study.
Overall, North Africa, Middle East, Australia, southwest China and western South America are the most threatened areas. On a scale of 1 to 10, these subtropical desert regions have a risk of desertification of 7.6, according to this research. In the case of the Mediterranean, the risk would be 6.3 out of 10. Marine areas and grasslands were a 4 on this scale.

The overexploitation of aquifers, aridity, erosion and fire risk are primarily responsible for desertification. "The unsustainable use can lead to soil degradation. If it occurs in arid, semiarid and dry sub-humid, like Spain, the degradation is called desertification and the effects may be irreversible, because they create totally unproductive areas," said Nunez.

The first part of the study, the scientists who worked at the Technological University of Mendoza (Argentina) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, has focused on developing the research method, which can also compare the impact of a single human activity different places. Currently being implemented in Argentina and Spain.

The UN admits he was wrong in predicting the melting of Himalayan glaciers

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has admitted that not enough scientific evidence about the rapid melting of Himalayan glaciers, as predicted in the Fourth Assessment Report published in 2007, and has apologized for his mistake.

For the year 2035 these glaciers could be gone altogether, the report of the IPCC, a body set up by the UN. This is the paragraph in question: "Glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than anywhere else in the world and if the current pace continues, the probability of disappearing by 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high if the Earth keeps warming at the current rate.

However, this forecast was made without properly implement control standards required by the IPCC, the agency said. As explained, it was erroneous both the calculation of the mass of ice melt as the estimated date of disappearance of glaciers. These data came from, "the testimony of an expert" and not a reference article that has been reviewed by another expert, as required by the IPCC.
The general conclusion remains valid

The IPCC said that despite this, the report's overall conclusion is still valid. It is not known if the Himalayan ice will run out but you lose it. The mass loss of glaciers in Asia and Latin America will accelerate during the twenty-first century.

Because the glaciers have an important role in the hydrological cycle, the melting could lead to water shortages as well as changes in the seasonality of flooding in areas that receive water from melting ice.

This error could be an argument for the deniers of climate change in order to undermine the credibility of the climatologists.

Environment ministers from the EU to postpone its decision on cutting emissions

Europe has the "vocation" and "will" to reduce its CO2 emissions by 30% in 2020 compared to 1990 levels, but that goal will take place only if other countries make efforts "comparable" to the European Union, Efe reported.

The problem is that the EU itself has not yet defined what "comparability", a term that can be interpreted as equal effort or effort within the capacity of each country.

This was recognized by Secretary of State for Climate Change, Teresa Ribera, after chairing the informal council of environment ministers of the EU, meeting in Seville today.

In the same press conference, the EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said the EU's objective remains to reach agreement "global, ambitious and binding", something "we could not get in the Copenhagen Climate Summit .

However, "the disappointment that came out of this Summit can now be used to advance and ask everyone and get a stronger commitment at the meeting in Mexico (November 2010), the agreement we all want," he said.
Diplomatic efforts

For his part, Minister of Climate and Energy of Belgium (a country that will chair the EU after Spain), Paul Magnette, has said that Europe must take advantage of their networks and international contacts to make a great diplomacy scale and get far more concrete progress in the Copenhagen agreement.

Magnette meant that Europe must continue working to ensure that all countries that attended the Copenhagen summit will announce their emission reduction commitments, which is still unknown, since the agreement was signed at the summit was only Danish a statement of intent that countries must be accomplished before next January 31.

The emissions reduction target to be carried out in Europe will be fixed, in fact, next week at the meeting of the Council of Permanent Representatives in Brussels, called Coreper, which is to decide whether the EU finally committed to a reduction emissions of 30% in 2020 compared to 1990 levels or remains at 20%.

For now, it appears that only has taken clear that the target of 20% is "clear", but a commitment beyond that number will depend on what other countries do, something that will not be known next week .

But even apart from what other countries decide, as the most polluting emerging, it appears that within the EU there is little consensus on the possibility of reducing emissions by 30%, as is the case in Poland or Italy , as environment minister even said, in comments reported by EFE-Dow-Jones, that "after the failure of Copenhagen, raised 30% is surreal."

Others, however, as Spain, Britain, Germany and France are in favor of that goal.
UN Advocacy

What I do agree that the 27 is that the UN is the "only place to be conducting" negotiations on climate change.

"From Europe, the sentiment is clear that the place must perform these negotiation processes is large United Nations," which is "the only forum for global reach," said Teresa Ribera.

"If there are other forums or restricted spaces, from a sectoral or geographical reasons, should be forums that help, forums complementary to the UN, never substitutes," he underlined.

Bank was responding to Jonathan Pershing, the United States representative at the last summit in Copenhagen, who recently described the meetings of the UN to "chaotic" and has advocated that the climate negotiations take place only between most polluting countries.

The 'reincarnation' of plastic bags

The smell is detected long before through the door. It is dense. to waste. Inside, tons of containers of all colors and shapes fall from the trucks, including thousands, millions of plastic bags, those films that are caught as easily on the shelves for the most trivial objects and only 13 % ends up in a yellow container to be reincarnated in a container or a pipe.

We are in the plant selection and the recycling of plastics Amorebieta, just outside Bilbao, one of the largest in the country.

The Spanish are still primary pupils in the subject of recycling, but slowly we are passing exams. From 1997 to extend have recovered 10 million tons of packaging his life turned into something else. It is the equivalent of 10 stadiums like the Bernabeu clogged.
Of these, eight million were recycled, because there is a 25% of the waste (unfit, they are called) that goes wrong and located at home. Still, this simple gesture of separating waste meant a saving of 7.7 million tonnes of CO2 or annual water consumption of four million people.

"It is therefore important to select good household waste, but so is reducing the containers used or that companies take steps to save on raw material and do: since 1996 have managed to save 75,000 tonnes saving measures, explains Antonio Barron, director of communications Ecoembes, a nonprofit company that manages recycling.
Population not in containers

With 12,400 associates, Ecoembes ensures that covers 90% of the packaging market, all bearing the green dot indicates that they can be recycled and therefore pay a fee.

However, for this conversion takes place must be near a yellow container. Adolfo, who lives in Guardo (Palencia) is part of 1.5% of the population who, according Ecoembes, does not. "It's a shame, not even paper," he complains. So their plastics are not among that 38% is recycled.

Bamboo houses to store CO2

The Altran Foundation on Monday presented a natural storage of CO2 through the use of bamboo for building construction material would quickly build sustainable housing and create a new source of business for the producer countries underdeveloped.

The capture of CO2 by using bamboo as a construction project is the 2008 winner of the Altran Foundation for Innovation, which aims to decrease the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere naturally and allow the opening of a source business to producing countries, mainly developing countries.

Its creator, Francis Gallo, explained at a press conference that the system involves the transformation of bamboo into a moldable material with which to build prefabricated modular buildings allow the lifting of very quickly.
Benefit the producing countries

Gallo says, "bamboo absorbs 30% more carbon dioxide than coniferous species commonly used in construction," and added that the project aims the development of bamboo industry whose benefits have a direct impact on the productive population.

The inventor suggests that the limits on the giant bamboo that grows in line with the borders of many underdeveloped tropical countries would find this plant a new source of revenue, plus a quick and natural way to build their own buildings up to five stories.

The first home built with bamboo rate will rise in the Colombian city of Pereira in mid 2010, when another prototype will be ready also to the drivers of Altra Foundation trust that is placed in Barcelona, which also have been built sustainable housing designs .

Gallo notes that CO2 capture is a "technological and economic challenge" expensive if done artificially, so it aims to build on existing natural methods such as capturing carbon dioxide by plants as part of its vital functions.

Although the initial price of bamboo housing will exceed the usual concrete, energy savings outweigh the initial expenditure and be more competitive when placed "immediately" on a large scale, says the creator.

Hotels also are converted to renewable energy

Soon be launched in Chile the first hotel that works 100% on solar power, while elsewhere in Latin America is already bearing resorts rates of "carbon neutral".
The energy saving and low carbon footprint are concepts that are already reaching the hotel business, and this line is that adopting them means a reduction in operating costs as well as a plus marketing level.

The first example delivers local gallery hotel, just deploy technology for solar water heating, which in practice will mean a saving in energy consumption 80%.

This is how Marco Torres, Head of Chilectra eco-energy, which states that have already detected the interest of other hotel companies to implement this technology in their facilities.

"There are several projects we are working with some companies and not only in Santiago, so we are already at the level of budget and negotiations," he says.

Thompson states that in Galerias Hotel is the first in Chile to operate on solar power, there are 90 collectors installed on the roof of the enclosure, which will reduce annual spending on energy consumption of $ 59 million to $ 11 million approximately.

It is important to record though, that during the first 3 to 5 years of operation of the system could only recover the initial investment, while during the 15 years remaining useful life of the collector collected projected profits.

The Head of eco-energy Chilectra adds that with these measures the hotel center eliminated the use of gas in their units and with it emissions of CO2 to the environment, which is strategic for the company in terms of marketing.

"For the hotel industry, in addition to being profitable is a plus installation of this type of system-level marketing, and indeed Galeries has planned a launch to show this conversion to their customers and the general public," says Torres.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE IN PERU

The Inkaterra hotel complex is also another case of Latin America showing its transformation to sustainable business development, and actively working to keep carbon neutral rates.

This is pointed Jose Koechlin von Stein, Chairman of Inkaterra, adding that they promote sustainable tourism through Inkaterra Machu Picchu, in the heart of Andean cloud forest, the Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica, along the Madre de Dios River in the Amazon rainforest and the Inkaterra La Casona, a few steps from the Plaza de Armas in Cusco.

This pioneering work in South America has allowed them to receive support from the International Finance Corporation World Bank Group, the Global Environmental Facility of the United Nations, and the National Geographic Society.

Thanks to these funds in their resorts promote the use of clean technologies, directly and indirectly protect the forests with the respective offset carbon emissions and teach their guests how to offset the CO2 emitted individually.

"We know that tourists travel because for a unique experience and be a better person, so we offer a trip which is in contact with nature and learn about the natural riches of Peru," said Jose Koechlin Von Stein.

She adds that in Inkaterra Machu Picchu Hotel, for example, not only aims to show guests the imposing work of man but also the environment in which it is constructed this World Heritage Site.

"The Incas built there, although it was a place of difficult access, because for them it was a beautiful natural environment and that's what we tell the tourists too."

The Arctic will be navigable in the summer of 2020

The Arctic ice could melt in the summer of 2020, which would allow its navigation, as affirmed an expert from the University of Cambridge, which considers that this may be the most visible impact of climate change. "It's as if the man was removing the cap from the northern part of the planet," said the British media physics professor Peter Wadhams.
This is one of the conclusions of the study conducted Wadhams, the Polar Ocean Physics Group at Cambridge, having considered the measures of the ice collected by the British nuclear submarine HMS Tireless' in 2007 and those taken this year by an expedition led by polar adventurer Pen Hadow.

According to Wadhams, freighters do not have to rely on boats to break the ice to cross the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean through the so-called Northwest Passage. This route will be ice free for several months a year, which will reduce the over 4,800-km route to do the boats that are in the Far East to Europe via the Suez Canal, the study adds.
"The North Pole will be exposed in ten years. One can navigate in a Japanese freighter car through the North Pole and into the Atlantic. The ice will retreat to an area north of Greenland and Ellesmere Island in 2020" Wadhams said. According to the expert, "the change in the Arctic ice in summer will be the biggest impact that global warming will have on the physical appearance of the planet."

The explorer Pen Hadow and his two teammates-Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley-spent 73 days between 1 March and 7 May of this year walking 450 kilometers in the Arctic while taking measurements. They made holes and 1500 found that the average thickness of ice floes was only 1.8 meters. Hadow said the newspaper 'The Times', techniques for future expeditions to the Arctic during the summer will have to be modified to adapt to frequent open water areas.

The gorillas, forest guards against CO2

In the fight against climate change, any contribution is positive. Therefore, conservation experts have drawn the attention of the world authorities on the protection of great apes in support of reforestation programs, provides a simple and effective tool to combat CO2 emissions.

Gorillas eat fruit and plants, to be digested and redeposited in the soil, help seeds germinate. Although not yet fully known the importance of these apes in their ecosystems, the UN ambassador for the Year of the Gorilla, Ian Redmond, said that many species of trees and plants would not survive without them, the elephants and the other large mammals.

Currently, several industrialized countries work with different programs for the reforestation of forests in Africa, Southeast Asia and South America, as a measure to help contain the effects of global warming. In the same vein, several economists have said that the cheapest way to reduce emissions is to invest in the rehabilitation of large forest areas.

Redmond said that the major nations will meet in the forthcoming World Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen would commit a grave error if not commit to specific funds to protect the gorillas. "If we save the trees but not animals, we witness a long agony of forests," said Redmond told The Guardian. "I ask participants in Copenhagen that the gorillas do not consider a luxury item."
Natural sink for CO2

Forests are a natural sink for carbon, absorbing about 4,800 million tonnes each year. "That's what these animals are not mere decoration, or interesting objects of study. They are part of an ecosystem". As reported by the Endangered Species Fund, two gorillas in the Congo die each week and their bodies are sold for their meat consumption. Although most individuals live in National Parks, are rapidly losing their habitat.

The areas inhabited by gorillas are in many cases, the scene of civil wars. It is also an endangered species by poachers and habitat destruction caused by mining and illegal timber used by local guerrillas to finance itself. Nearly two decades of civil war in the Great Lakes area of Africa, which includes areas of Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Kenya, have had a serious impact on the population of these animals.

Renewable energy can generate 8 million jobs

Around 6.9 million people could work in the renewable energy sector and 1.1 million jobs would be created due to the increased efficiency of electrical appliances.

This is reflected in the report "Working for the weather. Renewable energy and the (R) evolution of green jobs," prepared by Greenpeace and the European Council on Renewable Energy (EREC), which shows that in Spain would have at least 170,000 jobs in the industry if one hundred percent renewable electricity was in 2030.

To this we must add at least another 18,000 jobs created by energy efficiency and renewable technology from dedicated to the export, which could be about 200,000 more.

Therefore, the environmental organization has asked the prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, to defend a model of development based on renewable energy in the meeting to be held today with the U.S. president, Barak Obama.

Renewables would employ 6.9 million people by 2030, "if world leaders seize the opportunity to invest in a greener future by ensuring a strong treaty on climate summit to be held in Copenhagen in December.

"It is time that world leaders, starting with Zapatero and Obama's speeches leave empty of content and lead the urgent action against climate change," said Juan Lopez de Uralde, director of Greenpeace Spain.

According to Sven Teske, energy expert of Greenpeace International and author of the report, said: "For every job lost in the coal, the energy revolution creates three new jobs in renewable energy. We can choose jobs and green growth or unemployment, and collapse social and economic development ".

Change coal with renewable energy for electricity generation not only avoid the emission of ten billion tons of CO2, but it would create 2.7 million jobs over 2030, that continued with the current energy system, the report said.

By contrast, the coal industry, which currently employs about 4.7 million people worldwide, will reduce more than 1.4 million jobs by 2030, due to rationalization measures in the mines today.

"Renewables have come to give direct employment to over 80,000 people in Spain, but the refusal of the Government reservation policy has caused many of those jobs are lost," Greenpeace complaint.