Take a look at your water environment


EEA, June 23, 2010

What are the nutrient levels in your coastal waters or nearby lake? Do you live in an area where urban waste water treatment fails to meet the EU requirements? The European Environment Agency (EEA) provides the answers through its interactive maps, which have been updated with new water quality data. Read more...

Indonesia's plan to save its rainforests


ENN, June 15, 2010

Late last year Indonesia made global headlines with a bold pledge to reduce deforestation, which claimed nearly 28 million hectares (108,000 square miles) of forest between 1990 and 2005 and is the source of about 80 percent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Indonesia would voluntarily cut emissions 26 percent — and up to 41 percent with sufficient international support — from a projected baseline by 2020. Last month, Indonesia began to finally detail its plan, which includes a two-year moratorium on new forestry concession on rainforest lands and peat swamps and will be supported over the next five years by a one billion dollar contribution by Norway, under the Scandinavian nation's International Climate and Forests Initiative. Read more...

Green Revolution's diet of big carbon savings


BBC News, June 14, 2010

The Green Revolution of the 1960s raised crop yields and cut hunger - and also saved decades worth of greenhouse gas emissions, a study concludes. US researchers found cumulative global emissions since 1850 would have been one third as much again without the Green Revolution's higher yields.Although modern farming uses more energy and chemicals, much less land needs to be cleared.The study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read more...

New Emissions Measurements Show "Green" Consumerism Failing


WorldChanging, June 07, 2010

Has "green consumerism" reduced climate emissions? Not according to John Barrett. Last week Barrett (from the Stockholm Environment Institute's York (England) office) gave a talk in Seattle titled "A Sustainable Consumption and Production Approach to Climate Change Mitigation.” Barrett presented his team’s latest research on consumption-based, community-scale greenhouse gas emissions inventory methods, policy implications, and lessons learned from his work with the United Kingdom government and over 40 local governments throughout Europe. Read more...

Νερό-δηλητήριο σε όλη την Ελλάδα


Ελευθεροτυπία, 06 Ιουνίου 2010

Τοξικά βαρέα μέταλλα σε πόσιμο νερό, ποτάμια, λίμνες και υπόγεια ύδατα, σε συγκεντρώσεις που υπερβαίνουν κατά πολύ τα ανώτατα επιτρεπτά όρια που έχει θέσει η Ε.Ε. ή σε τιμές δυνητικά επικίνδυνες για την ανθρώπινη υγεία, ανιχνεύονται σε πολλές περιοχές της χώρας. Επιστήμονες εκφράζουν φόβους ότι νερό «δηλητήριο» σε Αττική, Βοιωτία, Εύβοια, Πτολεμαΐδα, νησιά Β. Αιγαίου, Πηνειό και αλλού επηρεάζει την αγροτική παραγωγή και θεωρούν επιτακτική την ανάγκη δειγματοληψιών, κυρίως σε τρόφιμα-στόχους όπως οι βολβοί, προκειμένου να διερευνηθούν ενδεχόμενοι κίνδυνοι από την κατανάλωσή τους. Την έρευνα διεπιστημονική επιτροπή από το Γεωπονικό και το Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών για λογαριασμό του ΕΦΕΤ και παραδόθηκε τον Σεπτέμβριο του 2009 στην πολιτική ηγεσία του υπουργείου Αγροτικής Ανάπτυξης και Τροφίμων. Διαβάστε περισσότερα...

BISE and baseline: new tools to combat biodiversity loss in Europe


EEA, June 01, 2010

At the opening session of the Green Week conference in Brussels, the European Commission and the European Environment Agency (EEA) unveiled two new tools to combat biodiversity loss: BISE (the Biodiversity Information System for Europe) and 'Biodiversity baseline'. BISE is a web portal centralising information about European biodiversity in a single location. The baseline offers a comprehensive snapshot of the current state of biodiversity and will be used to monitor progress in the renewed efforts to halt biodiversity loss. Read more...

EU greenhouse gas emissions: more than half way to the '20 % target by 2020'


EEA, June 02, 2010

The European Union's greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory report, compiled by the European Environment Agency (EEA), shows that emissions have not only continued their downward trend in 2008, but have also picked up pace. The EU-27's emissions stood 11.3 % below their 1990 levels, while EU-15 achieved a reduction of 6.9 % compared to Kyoto base-year levels.
'The GHG inventory report shows that the EU is well on track to meet its emission reduction targets with domestic policy measures only. Our policies and tools seem to be working' said Professor Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of the EEA. Read more...

A New Source Of Dioxins: Anti-Bacterial Soap Combining with Chlorine in Wastewater Sewage Plants


ENN, May 25, 2010

Manufacturers have been adding the germ fighter triclosan to soaps, hand washes, and a range of other products for years. But here's a dirty little secret: Once it washes down the drain, that triclosan can spawn dioxins. And, before you ask: No one knows how toxic triclosan's dioxins are. Read more...