Get your own Green Bottle

Invest in a thermos. " 1,181,600 tons of wood, 2,040,061,237 pounds of carbon dioxide, and 4,441,093,624 gallons of water would be saved yearly if Starbucks used their own re-usable thermos or mug."

 G E T   Y O U R S   H E R E

http://www.tronmarketing.com/greenthermo.html

Argentina protects its glaciers by law

Argentina enacted a new law that protects the country's glaciers, in a global context where climate change threatens the large bodies of ice and there are risks of different polluting activities.

The law, enacted on September 30, aims to preserve the glaciers as "strategic reserves of water for human consumption, for agriculture and as suppliers of water to recharge basins, for the protection of biodiversity ; as a source of scientific and tourist attraction."
the "National Inventory of Glaciers". It will be updated every five years, and verify the changes on the surfaces of glaciers and periglacial.

The "periglacial environment" is the high mountain area, with frozen soil, that acts as regulator of water resources.
Researchers at the Argentine Institute of Snow Research, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences will have the task to disclose necessary information to control and monitor all glaciers and periglacial areas that act as water reserves.
The law states and prohibits the release, dispersal or disposal of substances or contaminants, chemicals or waste of any kind or size in glaciers and periglacial environments. It also prohibited the exploration and explotacion of mines.

Furthermore, it required an environmental impact assessment of all planned activities which are not prohibited.

"The new Act Glaciers may be an important tool in protecting drinking water sources located in the higher sectors of the Andean Cordillera," told Jorge Rabassa to SciDev.Net, Rabassa is a researcher at the National Council of Science and Technology and Professor head of the National University of Patagonia San Juan Bosco in Ushuaia.
In the periglacial environment are the major water resources in the high mountains that supply throughout the year various river basins, especially during the summer.

Article translated from Spanish by J. Torres, ENN.


 For original article: http://www.scidev.net/en/news/argentina-protects-its-glaciers-by-law-.html

Take Your Caffeine and Make It Green

Every day, morning rather rudely announces itself with the screech of our alarm clocks. Work awaits so hitting the snooze isn’t an option, yet feeling awake and alert seems almost impossible. That’s where caffeine comes in.

Actually  2.5 billion cups of coffee are consumed around the world daily. America alone is responsible for drinking almost one-fifth of all that coffee. So what does that mean?

What’s clear is that the world is addicted to caffeine. What’s a little less known is that our caffeine-guzzling habits are also creating a lot of waste. According to Sustainability is Sexy, an environmental organized based in Seattle, there are a lot of issues with regular coffee cups, many of which you may not be aware of. Most coffee cups aren’t made from recycled materials but are made from new, bleached paper. During its creation, the paper cup is covered with polyethylene, a plastic that can’t be recycled. The entire process from start to finish uses up many resources, including trees and water.

Luckily, there are ways to reduce your coffee waste even if you won’t reduce your coffee intake. Here are a few:

1.Invest in a thermos. " 1,181,600 tons of wood, 2,040,061,237 pounds of carbon dioxide, and 4,441,093,624 gallons of water would be saved yearly if Starbucks used their own re-usable thermos or mug."   G E T   Y O U R S   H  E R E

2.Recycle your coffee grounds. There are countless ways to do so, whether using them as compost for your garden or de-icing your driveway during winter.
3.Buy eco-friendly coffee.

For the more ambitious, you can always try to follow in the footsteps of UK engineer-turned-TV-reporter Jem Stansfield, who converted his car to operate off coffee waste.
To calculate how much coffee waste you create, there is a great calculator here.

Finally, you can always attempt a cool art project, like the one made by organizers of the Rocks Aroma Festival in Sydney, Australia last year. It only took them 3,604 coffee cups to create the masterpiece! Does the face look familiar?


Mona Lisa made from coffee cups

by Karina Grudnikov



Yemen's capital 'will run out of water by 2025'

 Water shortages in Yemen will squeeze agriculture to such an extent that 750,000 jobs could disappear and incomes could drop by a quarter within a decade, according to a report.


Poor water management and the enormous consumption of water for the farming of the popular stimulant That are blamed for the predicted water shortages, which experts say could lead to the capital Sana'a running out of water by around 2025.

The report was produced by McKinsey&Company, an international management consulting firm, which was charged by the Yemeni government with identifying ten governmental priorities for the next decade. A preliminary draft of the report was released last month (24 September).
Yemen has no rivers, so the main sources of water are groundwater and rain. The study warns that almost 90 per cent of the country's available freshwater is used for agriculture.

"Sana'a, the Yemeni capital, located 2,150 metres above sea level and 226 kilometres from the Red Sea shore, is facing depletion of its main groundwater basin," said Mohamed Soltan, a hydrology expert who manages the city's groundwater basins. "Sana'a will be the first city in the world to run out of water by 2025."

"Random drilling of wells and the misuse of drilling technology are the main reasons for the intensive consumption of groundwater in Yemen," said Nayef Abu-Lohom, vice-president of the Water and Environment Center at Sana'a University. "This, in addition to lack of proper management for water resources, as most of these wells are used to irrigate khat plants."
According to the National Agricultural Research Institution, khat consumes around 6,300 cubic metres of water per hectare, whereas wheat consumes 4,300 cubic metres. In Sana'a alone, khat plants consume 60 million cubic metres of water per year — twice the amount consumed by its citizens.
Khat is widely cultivated because it earns farmers far more than other crops — about five times as much as fruit, for example.
Moufeed El Halemy, co-deputy of Yemen's Ministry of Water and Environment, told SciDev.Net that the national water sector reform plan "will enforce regulations on well drilling, and the efficiency of khat irrigation, among other measures".
He added that the ministry is working on a plan to provide enough water for Sana'a, but that no details have yet been announced.
The Yemeni government's ten-point plan includes tackling issues such as corruption, population growth, gender inequality and infrastructure.

http://www.scidev.net/en/news/yemen-s-capital-will-run-out-of-water-by-2025-.html

Water Scarcity in American Southwest Gets Serious

Water scarcity has always been a problem in the southwestern desert, with practically everyone relying on one river, the Colorado, to quench their thirst and the thirst of their crops. Increased water demands coupled with a long protracted drought in the Upper Colorado River Basin has created a potentially dire situation. The effects can be seen in Lake Mead, the giant lake along the border of Arizona and Nevada. Lake Mead has reached its lowest levels since 1937, the year the Hoover Dam was completed.

Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States, created from the construction of the Hoover Dam. It is the primary source of water for much of Nevada and Arizona. Many times, it has fallen below drought level (1,125 feet above sea level). In June of 2010, the lake was at only 39 percent of its holding capacity. As of October 17, it reached its lowest level in nearly 75 years as its high-level mark fell to 43 feet below drought level to 1,083 feet above sea level.

The fastest growing region in the US is the southwest.. Unfortunately, it is the region that can least afford massive population increases. Places like the Las Vegas metropolitan area in Nevada and the Valley of the Sun in Arizona have grown by leaps and bounds in past few decades. Phoenix is now the nation's fifth largest city. Recent economic turbulence may have put a damper on that growth, but the higher water demand is still there.

Increased demand is a key factor, but perhaps not as important as the lack of rainfall across the southwest which feeds Lake Mead. According to the US Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation, the Upper Colorado River Basin has had only 89 percent of its average precipitation for 2010. They predict that this autumn, the temperature will remain above average and precipitation below average, leading to worsening conditions.

The current drought began way back in October 1999. At that point, Lake Powell, the second largest reservoir in the US located along the Arizona-Utah border, was near full capacity. Over the next five years,

inflow into the lake was about half of the average. It has increased somewhat since then, but remains low.

At this point, nobody is able to predict when the drought will end. Normally, droughts occur as a natural climate variation, and the pendulum always swings back towards a wetter climate. However, the current drought has lasted much longer than normal, and local residents have become concerned with possible consequences. 

According to the 2007 Drought Plan, if Lake Mead drops another eight feet, which is likely by next year, major water restrictions will be put in place for Arizona and Nevada. Those first affected by restrictions would be farmers, the greatest users of water. Overall, water deliveries to Arizona will be dropped by about 11 percent, and to Nevada, about four percent. Arizona's losses will be from the Central Arizona Project (CAP) allocation which serves Phoenix and Tucson. This is because water rights for the CAP canal have lower priority than those of the lower Colorado River. Greater cuts in water deliveries would be delayed by releasing water from Lake Powell downstream to Lake Mead.

The upcoming water scarcity will test the laws and politics of the southwest region. Hopefully, the rains will fall and the hardship can be averted. In the meantime, businesses and individuals should prepare for the worst and get ready to curb their water use.

For more information: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2010/10/19/20101019lake-mead-water-level-new-historic-low.html

Striking Balance in the Arctic

The Department of Interior is planning to assess Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve for energy development. Spanning 37,000 square miles across western Alaska, the NPR-A is the biggest piece of public land in the United States. For now, this Arctic landscape is mostly undeveloped and home to caribou, grizzly bears, wolves, and a wide variety of birds, among other northern wildlife.

Sending public comments to the Bureau of Land Management, WCS has asked the government to permanently protect certain places within the NPR-A that are vital to wildlife. WCS also urged the BLM to form a scientific advisory panel for evaluating how to manage the land in the face of energy development and climate change.


"Western Arctic Alaska has the largest wetland complex in the entire polar world, hosting a truly international assemblage of migratory birds that come to breed in huge numbers," said Dr.Steve Zack, a scientist who has led WCS studies of Arctic wildlife for the past decade. "We feel that there is room for balancing wildlife protection with energy development in this landscape rich in many resources, including wildlife. By protecting the existing Special Areas from all future development, that balance can be achieved and wildlife conservation secured."



Permanent "no lease" provisions for the Teshekpuk Lake, Utukok River Uplands, and Colville River Special Areas would offer protection for some of the world's last great wildlife spectacles. Teshekpuk Lake surrounds caribou calving grounds and wetland habitat that draw waterfowl, shorebirds, songbirds, and loons from across the globe. The Utukok River Uplands shelter wolves, bears, wolverines, and the calving grounds of Alaska’s largest caribou herd. And the Colville River protects the Arctic’s biggest populations of breeding birds of prey, including gyrfalcon, prairie falcon, and golden eagles.



Over the summer, WCS CEO Dr. Steven Sanderson, Zack and other WCS scientists traveled up the Utukok River to determine which scientific studies were needed to inform our government of policies that could balance development and wildlife protection in the area. (Read a daily blog of their expedition.) In the past, WCS collaborative studies have shown how oil development can affect wildlife indirectly by attracting predators to areas with garbage and development infrastructure.



Photo shows carribou on lower portion of Teshekpuk lake. Credit: http://akbriefing.alaskacoalition.org/NPRA.htm



Article continues: http://www.wcs.org/new-and-noteworthy/striking-balance-in-the-arctic.aspx

Huge Parts of World Are Drying Up: Land 'Evapotranspiration' Taking Unexpected Turn

Copyright Tron marketing LLC

ScienceDaily (Oct. 11, 2010) — The soils in large areas of the southern Hemisphere, including major portions of Australia, Africa and South America, have been drying up in the past decade, a group of researchers conclude in the first major study to ever examine "evapotranspiration" on a global basis.

Most climate models have suggested that evapotranspiration, which is the movement of water from the land to the atmosphere, would increase with global warming. The new research, published online this week in the journal Nature, found that's exactly what was happening from 1982 to the late 1990s.

But in 1998, this significant increase in evapotranspiration -- which had been seven millimeters per year -- slowed dramatically or stopped. In large portions of the world, soils are now becoming drier than they used to be, releasing less water and offsetting some moisture increases elsewhere.

Due to the limited number of decades for which data are available, scientists say they can't be sure whether this is a natural variability or part of a longer-lasting global change. But one possibility is that on a global level, a limit to the acceleration of the hydrological cycle on land has already been reached.

If that's the case, the consequences could be serious.

Article continues: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101010133630.htm