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.

The two day EU summit managed to reach an agreement on climate finance. It is expected that developing nations will need 100 billion euros by 2020 to combat climate change, and up to 50 billion of this amount may have to come from the purse of rich nations.

The summit agreed on a formula to split the bill amongst the 27 EU nations. This formula takes into account a country’s “ability to pay” and will foot the bill accordingly. European Union also pledged to cut emissions to 30% below 1990 levels by 2020 if other countries took a similar stance. Clearly though, the success of the Copenhagen talks is dependent on the money and finance aspect.

Source: Reuters

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.

Now, in a letter to the Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh, environment minister Jairam Ramesh has urged the government to break away from the Group of 77 and align itself with the richer G20 nations. The minister goes on to press the need to commit to binding targets without asking for any financial/technological assistance from richer nations.

If India does align with the G20, the unity in the Group of 77 will be affected, and the gap in negotiations between the richer and developing countries could decrease. India and other developing countries have been supporting domestically set targets so that they can work on making their economies stronger, rather than be tied down by binding targets.

Developed nations on the other hand, are not willing to pay the fiscal and lifestyle costs such targets may put forth. The UN has put a December deadline for an agreement on the COP15 meeting at Copenhagen, though it appears the deadline will be missed by months in present circumstances.

Source: TreeHugger

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.

Yes, I know that plants absorb carbon dioxide from the air and use it as an airborne fertilizer to support their growth as well as the nourishment from the roots; the more carbon dioxide in the air, the better it grows.

I did not know that the green plants could also help to remove pollutants from the air.  The Pennsylvania State University performed an experiment on the ability of plants to eliminate ozone from the air.  They discovered that plants cut in half the time it takes for ozone to be reduced in the air.

In a test chamber, it took between 38 to 120 minutes for ozone to reduce from 200 ppb (parts per billion) to less than 5 ppb.  The chambers with houseplants in them showed an average of half that time for the same ozone depletion.

Snake plant (Sansevieria trifasciata), spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum), and golden pothos (Epipremnum aureum) were tested and no differences were detected between the species.

So, if you want less ozone in the air, put a lot of green plants in there.  It does not seem to matter what type of green plants you use, so be creative and use different types just to be sure.

Image courtesy of davidduran

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.

UPS claims to have a broader and more accurate measurement of its carbon footprint. It includes its buildings, trucks, trains, planes, electricity usage and even the fuel burnt by its contractors. FedEx on the other hand, leaves out the emissions from its contractors as they aren’t necessarily a part of the company. Both try to route packages through the most efficient transport, and are working on cleaner technologies for their road going vehicles. While FedEx favors hybrids, UPS has tested a number of vehicles including hybrids, CNG, Liquid Natural Gas, propane and hybrid-hydraulic.

UPS appears to have an edge in its planes which are younger, more efficient and make less noise. And they continue to retire those that have gone old. FedEx on its part, is following the same route, and it also developed retrofit hushkit program that reduces noise and emissions. As of now, UPS appears to have the edge with a Number 85 spot on Newsweek’s green ranking, while FedEx is at 93.

[via ClimateBiz]

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.

Contct info

Name: Dr. B. Sengupta

Position: Member Secretary

Postal Address:
Parivesh Bhawan, C.B.D.-cum-Office Complex
East Arjun Nagar, Delhi 110 032 India

Phone Number: 91-11-22303655
Fax Number: 91-11 22307078
E-mail: vmoni.cpcb@nic.in

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!

Halos are not a weather illusion. They are an optical phenomenon. Halo formation depends on ice crystals that are found in the upper layers of cirrus clouds, provided the atmosphere is not filled with pollutants.

The size and color of halos is determined by:

1. the inclination or course of the ice crystals,

2.  the reflective property of the ice crystals,

3.  the angle of the source of light

4. the law of aeromechanics.

There have been some 60 forms of halo identified till now.

A halo can be either colorful or white, but they are always stunning.

Now if game makers like Halo 3 could create a game where users could make things as magnificent as these images, they’d really have something, no?

Image credits to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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.

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!

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.

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.