As the Copenhagen talks draw near, nations are working to set their goals and agenda for the summit. So far, a major point of contention has been the demand by developing nations that developed countries subsidize, or pay for their environment efforts. The demand is on grounds that developed countries have contributed greatly to pollution with their industries, and should pay developing countries so their efforts at development are not hampered by environmental norms.
(more…)

India currently is the fourth largest emitter of carbon in the world, and has so far resisted any binding emission targets under an international agreement. India, and the Group of 77 developing nations have been opposing such binding targets unless they come tied with financial and technological support from developed nations which have so far led in carbon emissions.

(more…)

Indoor plants for a brighter day?

In my past I used to specialize in raising dried flower arrangements.  Yes, I said raise.  I would take healthy plants water them, subject them to vast amounts of cigarette smoke and then neglect them.  They would dry out and die.  Eureka!  Instant dried flowers.

As I matured, I saw the benefits of plants (properly taken care of) in the home.  They were pleasant to look at and gave me some relaxation in getting an ivy plant to string all around the room at the ceiling and wall borders.  I would never have imagined they could have improved the air.

(more…)

FedEx and UPS are both major package carriers/shippers, and this time around they are not just battling for business share and growth, but also to beat the other in sustainability targets.

Going green also makes business sense as a number of consumers and clients choose to go with the service offering a lower carbon footprint.

To that end, both are vehemently trying to reduce their carbon footprint, and setting new goals like the 20% reduction of carbon both of them have promised to achieve by 2020.

(more…)

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India has invited applications for recruitment of 32 Junior Research Engineers , 2 Senior Research Engineers and 10 Research Associates under various projects for thier offices in Lucknow, Bangalore, Agra, Kolkata, Shilong and Vadodara and other cities of India.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) India, was formed in September, 1974 under the Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act, 1974.

View the Advertisement and the Application Form (note: .doc file)

The function of the board  is to advise the  Indian Government on any matter concerning prevention and control of water and air pollution and improvement of the quality of air.

(more…)

The halos we think are magnificent are not the kind that comes in a box – think Halo 3 – but the ring of light that can be seen encircling and extending outwards from the sun or moon. The halo is created ( I love this word) when the sun or moonlight is refracted when passing through ice crystals. There are two types -a 22 degree halo which is created via randomly falling ice crystals and 46 degree halo which is a refraction of light through hexagonal column-type ice crystals. And, all that by chance, mind you…..NOT!

(more…)

We all know that in simple words, the Equator is an an imaginary line on the Earth’s surface approximately equidistant from the North Pole and South Pole, but what a chemical Equator is, was out of my league. But now I know …

Scientists at the University of York from the University’s Department of Chemistry, discovered an atmospheric chemical equator some 50 km wide up in the skies of the Western Pacific, which is supposed to divide the polluted air of the Northern Hemisphere from the highly polluted atmosphere in the Southern Hemisphere.

The study, which is part of the ACTIVE project (Aerosol and Chemical Transport in Tropical Convection) funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, revealed that carbon monoxide – combustion – increased from 40 parts per billion to the south, to 160 parts per billion in the north. All these were caused by extensive forest fires to the north of the chemical equator.

I’ll have be honest. I never knew that the two chemical and meteorological air masses of the two hemispheres are different, and even though it may not be that important for you and me, scientists who’ve been studying the movement of pollutants and their impact on climate change, are happy to include this theory in their model simulations that will help with pollution mapping.

If you’d like to read more about it, check out ScienceDaily.

Beijing took steps during the Olympics and before to reduce traffic.

Readers will remember Beijing’s attempt to be like NYC and the government’s move to get half of their cars off the road.

Well … Beijing’s traffic is back. These two pics show the difference.

What GP wants to know is, why can they tell some cars to stay home some of the time to save some of the pollution and not do this ALL the time?

What’s up with that?

Some 400,000 Beijingers are discussing online whether to keep the ban or not. I don’t even live in Beijing and it makes sense to me to keep as many of the estimated 3.29 million cars off the roads as much as possible.

A national holiday is coming … and more congestion will follow, which obviously will result in …

Anyone knows the answer? We all do, it’s more pollution.

Come on Beijing!

As Bush made a move to protect the world’s largest marine sanctuary, on the other side of the world there is another surprise leader in the protection of the marine environment – China. China held its first international drill against oil spills with South Korea off the coast of Qingdao. Some 500 people, one helicopter, one fixed wing aircraft and 29 vessels were involved … none of them leaking anything, of course.

The Northwest Pacific region is at the highest risk of oil spills and a natural place for pollution prevention training. China gets some 400 oil tankers visiting each day carrying some 420 million tons of crude oil annually. In the past 24 years there have been 79 accidents involving oil spills of at least 50 tons of oil. Gosh, that’s about a year’s worth of crude oil wasted, no?

China lags in maritime firefighting capability and oil cleaning equipment. But, perhaps the Middle Kingdom is turning the corner. South Korea had the most serious oil spill in history last year when 15,000 tons of crude oil leaked into the sea near Hong Kong.

I can think of a couple of hundred reasons to drive a car instead of walk, bike, or inline skate.

Pollution, smution…

In Madrid, Spain, protesters stripped down and rode naked on bicycles to protest against the expansion of automobile use instead of riding a bike.

I’m only seeing the backside in these pix, but from what I do see, I am not that interested in what’s up front.

But, then again, I’d like to get a talking to from some of these protesters.

In the meantime, I am somewhat inclined to keep driving depending on who might ride naked to try and stop me.