<u.Querido DiálogoEcológico: ¿Qué están haciendo las cadenas de comidas rápidas para reducir—o al menos reciclar–la enorme cantidad de papel, plástico y espumilla que usan diariamente? ¿Existen leyes o reglamentos que las obliguen a ser buenos ciudadanos ambientales?
Querido DiálogoEcológico: ¿Cuales son los pros y contras ambientales de abrazar "biocombustibles" basados en plantas para reducir nuestra dependencia en el petróleo?
A December 22 incident in which a homeless man spilled five ounces of mercury on an L.A. subway platform gave the media an opportunity to educate the public on the dangers of mercury exposure. Instead, media outlets focused on the potential for terrorism and missed the mercury story. Joel Hogue, president of Elemental Services and Consulting which specializes in mercury spill cleanups, sets the record straight.
Australia announced a bold step last week in efforts to stave off global warming: banning incandescent lightbulbs and replacing them with more efficient compact fluorescents nationwide. According to Australia’s environment minister Malcolm Turnbull, the goal of the phase out is to reduce the country’s annual greenhouse gas emissions by four million tons while cutting household energy bills by as much as two-thirds. Australian environmentalists praised their government’s decision, but urged even bolder action to stave off global warming.
Last week, scientists from around the world kicked off the Amphibian Ark project, a global campaign to protect the world’s vanishing amphibian species from a ravenous killer fungus, widespread habitat loss and exposure to pollution and global warming. Project organizers are asking zoos, botanical gardens and aquariums around the world to each take in at least 500 frogs from a threatened local species to protect them from the killer fungus, chytrid.
There’s no doubt 2006 has been a great year for green building—at least in terms of PR.
On Easter Monday of 2006, 20 people grabbed their camping gear and left the comfort of their homes to erect a tent city at Eagleridge Bluffs, a scenic area in West Vancouver, British Columbia. They were protesting the state government’s plan to build a four-lane highway through the Bluffs that would destroy rare and sensitive ecosystems and would decimate portions of a popular hiking trail.
The National Park Service (NPS), looking for new dollars to support its research and conservation initiatives, has proposed "bioprospecting" for a fee. Environmental groups have joined together in opposition, claiming that bioprospecting undermines the mission of the national parks.
With financial assistance from the Canadian government and Petro Canada, cellulosic ethanol (the next step from corn-based ethanol) has made the leap from lab bench to demonstration plant. Iogen had progressed far beyond the test tube and Bunsen burner stage.
Dreaming of traveling to Africa to see lions and elephants in the wild? Wait a few years, and you might be able to save yourself the international plane fare. A group of ecologists and conservationists hopes to "rewild" North America by introducing camels, elephants, cheetahs and other big animals to the Great Plains.
Ripples of calamity from Darfur are reverberating across the border into Chad. With more than 200,000 refugees living in camps there and 90,000 East Chadians now displaced by increased violence, mass displacement has wreaked havoc on the already-fragile ecosystem.
