The results of the latest World Glacier Monitoring Service report, showed that 30 glaciers around the world lost a record amount of ice in 2006. These are the obvious repercussions of global warming and Professor Wilfried Haeberli, director of the monitoring service, told The Observer that “glaciers melt at fastest rate in past 5,000 years“.

Glacier melting into the sea near the southern tip of Greenland by Silversprite

Biggest concerns about melting glaciers are risen sea levels, floods, avalanches and drought that not only put people’s lives in jeopardy but are threatening eco-systems, too.

“We’re talking about something that happens in your and my lifespan. We’re not talking about something hypothetical, we’re talking about something dramatic in its consequences” said Achim Steiner, head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

The problems are real and the melting glaciers are highly relevant to what we are about to face. Tony Blair an ambassador for action on climate change in the ‘Breaking the Climate Deadlock’ initiative, began a series of high-level environmental meetings in Japan, China and India.

“We have reached the critical moment of decision on climate change. Failure to act now would be deeply and unforgivably irresponsible. The scale of what is needed is so great that the purpose of any global action is not to ameliorate or to make better our carbon dependence, it is to transform the nature of economies and societies in terms of carbon consumption and emissions.

If the average person in the US is, say, to emit per capita, one-tenth of what they do today and those in the UK or Japan one-fifth, we’re not talking of adjustment, we’re talking about a revolution”, Tony Blair said yesterday in Chiba, Japan.

Will we do anything about it? Sure hope so.

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photo by juanpg

The newest museum in Madrid, CaixaForum, got a vertical garden on one of the exterior walls. Designed by Swiss architects Herzog & Meuron, there are 15,000 plants from more than 250 different species that are now covering a 1899 converted former power station.

They managed to get a “very unusual encounter between the rough and the natural” with a high contrast between the restored building that has a rusted iron top and the beautiful green plants.

photo by Funksturm

CaixaForum is a sociocultural center was inaugurated in the very heart of Madrid on February 2008 and serves as museum, auditorium, art gallery and bookshop.

The creator of the vertical garden is Patrick Blanc, already known for its work in France (the Quai Branley Office Wing) is expected to install the next one in China or probably in the UK. Actually he said that such gardens could be created anywhere, even in “those difficult spaces where you don’t expect to see greenery”. His experience comes from studying rainforests and you can see the results. - via - TreeHugger

“Hello”. Tony Blair has become an ambassador for action on climate change in the ‘Breaking the Climate Deadlock’ initiative. Climate change is a serious problem and a new deal is going to be signed when the Kyoto protocol expires. The former prime minister is working with the independent not-for-profit organization The Climate Group. Blair is arriving in Tokyo today and will meet influential business and political people in its “tour” that includes visiting Japan, China and India.

Does it mean that Tony Blair is now in the same group of ecologists that include Al Gore? Even so, I think this is a positive thing, don’t you?

via Celsias

“Tactical Biorefineries” is what they call these new portable generators roughly the size a small moving van that weighs about 4 tons and turn trash into electricity. They’ve been mainly designed for the U.S. military and could be used outside the military shortly after, when the technology evolves (translated: “when they want to”) in the future.

The biorefineries are designed to use multiple types of garbage at once; first it has to separate organic foods from residual trash (paper, plastics, etc). Food waste is sent to a bioreactor and ferments into ethanol while the residual materials are used in a gasifier and turned into low-grade propane gas and methane. But wait, that’s not all because the propane and methane are also being used in a modified diesel engine that powers the generator which produces electricity.

“At any place with a fair amount of food and scrap waste the biorefinery could help reduce electricity costs, and you might even be able to produce some surplus energy to put back on the electrical grid,” said Michael Ladisch, the professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Purdue University who leads the project.

The first unit (it costs $1 million)  has been tested in November and the results have been great. Though it works on diesel fuel for a few hours until the gasifier and the bioreactor begin to produce fuel it produced 90 percent more than it consumed.

I’ll have to agree it’s a great piece of technology and lots of places could use one.

If we want our kids to become environmental conscious citizens, campaigns like Nickelodeon’s “The Big Green Help” are great. It was designed to make children aware that we need to live a greener life and use gaming and grassroots activities to teach them about recycling, reusing waste and so on.

“We know that kids can truly be agents of change on important issues, and the environment is an issue that affects 100% of our audience […] Whether it’s addressing kids’ health and wellness through our Let’s Just Play campaign, or promoting volunteerism with The Big Help, Nickelodeon has a history of talking to kids and engaging them on issues that affect their lives, and encouraging them to take action. With The Big Green Help, we want to provide them with the necessary tools and information so they can become part of the environmental solution.” said Marva Smalls, Executive Vice President of Public Affairs, for Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group.

The main reason behind the Nickeloden campaign is a study that showed more than 50 percent of the kids these days are concerned about the environment. More, they revealed that half of the children between 8 and 14 years old don’t know what to do for a better environment, even so 80 percent of them think they can stop global warming.

The campaign is going live in April and will include Nicktropolis, an online eco-friendly game, where the kids can start their own green virtual community and partnerships with Wal-Mart where they will sell “green seed packs”. I sure hope they will stick to the main idea of making kids aware of environment issues and not about selling products.

EarthTimes (photo by paigewatkins)

General Electric has been working for the last four years to get their project involving roll-to-roll printing (like a newspaper) of OLEDs, live. The newly printed Organic Light Emitting Diodes are extremely energy efficient, with high performances and are supposed to be pretty cheap. I already have a few ideas of using the prints from extremely big sizes to very weird designs.

“Because this had never been done before, we faced some real technical challenges - especially given our program time constraints that often meant we had to start designing machine modules before we had the device fabrication process completely figured out! Anyway, in the end it all came together and we were successful in making our deliverable” said Anil Dugall on the GE Global Research blog.

First demonstration of the roll-to-roll printing method, by General Electric

OLEDs (organic light emitting diodes) are a type of LEDs, made of thin films of organic molecules. They are supposed to be a common thing in the green gadgets of tomorrow with the main advantages being: no need for a backlight to function, they draw less energy and are thinner than LCDs.

via GroovyGreen

Tuna is a very expensive fish for sushi restaurants and the staggering price it sells for is the main reason why more and more boats are fishing in the Mediterranean. Environmental group WWF published their report yesterday and noticed that the legal international agreement quotas regarding the number of fishing boats is higher by 35%. This is why the bluefin tunas (”floating goldmines”) are threatened with extinction because of over-fishing.

“It is crazy […] The numerous new fleets are so modern and costly that fishermen are forced to fish illegally just to survive and worse, still, they are fishing themselves out of a job.” said WWF’s Sergi Tudela.

The quotas the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) have set are still very high but even so, the limits are being flouted. Some of the countries not declaring their full catches of tuna include Italy, Spain, Croatia and Libya.

via Reuters (picture by justaddwater2001)

… this is what you can read on the newest print ad Paul McCartney did for PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals). He’s also telling people why he wanted to choose a vegetarian lifestyle and it has something to do with fishing.

“Many years ago, I was fishing, and as I was reeling in the poor fish, I realized, I am killing him - all for the passing pleasure it brings me. Something inside me clicked. I realized as I watched him fight for breath, that his life was as important to him as mine is to me”.

If you like the t-shirt he’s wearing (I know I do) and want to support PETA’s “Eat no animal” project then go ahead and order one for $18. Limited edition guys, grab one as you can.  - via - Ecorazzi

Haile Gebrselassie a 34 years old Ethiopian runner, the guy that managed to break over 25 world records and won numerous Olympic and World Championship titles, has recently declined going to the Beijing Olympics because of air pollution.

The marathon champ who suffers from asthma told Reuters in a phone interview:

“The pollution in China is a threat to my health and it would be difficult for me to run 42 kilometers in my current condition.”

He will race on track though, probably in the 10,000 meter race.

Though Beijing has 17 million residents, 3 million cars and sandstorms from time to time the authorities said they’re are taking all the measures to ensure a cleaner air by the time the Summer Olympics start. I sure hope they get it done because I’d enjoy a good run.

via GreenDaily (photo by minuano12)

I really wonder if a green beer tastes better than a normal beer because when I look at these prints I can already feel down my throat. In the picture above, is Cascade Green the first 100 percent carbon neutral beer produced by Cascade Brewerey in Tasmania.

Using all sorts of sustainable practices, local ingredients the company managed to reduce energy usage by 16% and water usage by 30% in the last 6 years. The bottles are built with recycled glass and are supposed to be the lightest possible, the labels are painted with bio-degradable vegetable inks and is going to be delivered in 100% recycled cartons.

Cascade Brewery is producing some of its energy on their own extracting methane-rich gas from decomposing organic waste and generates up to 7,500 MWh of electricity each year. The whole project of the Cascade Green beer is supposed to save 35,000 tones of CO2 yearly.

I’d love to taste it.

via TreeHugger