Malaysia has begun using satellites to monitor forest cover in the nation in an effort to stop illegal logging. They’re doing this to protect their own legal logging industry and not because of moral outrage on behalf of the environment. But still, the end result is the same, the environment will benefit. Legal logging can be planned & sustainable while illegal logging is erratic & destructive.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081228/wl_asia_afp/malaysiaenvironmentlogging
This doesn’t have anything to do with the environment, I just wanted to highlight something.
Apparently the Australian government is in the process of creating a censorship filter which will cover the entire country’s internet access, & possibly slow browsing speeds up to 85%.
It’s disheartening that a first-world democracy would enact such an illiberal move.
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081226/ap_on_hi_te/tec_australia_internet_filter
The Hong Kong government is always looking for new & profitable ways to exploit the harbour & reclaim the land for commercial use. Someone has to fight on behalf of the waterway & that someone is The Society For Protection Of The Harbour.
Check out their website for more information on how you can help preserve one the world’s greatest beauties for future generations.
http://www.harbourprotection.org/
Check out this blog on BBC, it’s pretty interesting. It’s a lot like this blog, except factual and with basis.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/
A dike holding back a retention pond broke in Tennessee this morning contaminating hundreds of acres with a mix of water & coal ash.
When asked to comment a TVA spokesperson had this to say: ‘Fuck the environment’.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/12/29/tennessee.sludge/index.html
Check out the Arbor Day Foundation’s website where you can have trees planted in the name of loved ones. It’s a gift that gives for a lifetime.
Remember how bad you always felt at the end of ‘The Giving Tree’, well imagine feeling the complete opposite. That’s what it feels like to plant a tree.
http://www.arborday.org/shopping/giveatree/giveatree.cfm
If you need more convincing:
‘As the trees grow and prosper, so does the meaning of your gift.
Over the course of 50 years, a single tree can generate $31,250 of oxygen, provide $62,000 worth of air pollution control, recycle $37,500 worth of water, and control $31,500 worth of soil erosion.
Your trees will be silent sentinels, honorable monuments, and for decades to come, active participants in nature’s plan.’
American labor unions have teamed up with environmental activists ahead of this week’s UN Conference on climate change. It seems that big labor is finally coming around to the idea that going green doesn’t mean losing jobs or hurting the economy.
I always hear people say that if stricter carbon emission regulations are enacted the economy will hemorrhage millions of jobs. But that’s simply not true, jobs are created anytime there is a demand.
When the automobile first came about I’m sure there was a voice of opposition from people claiming that jobs would be lost. Carriage manufacturers & horse ranchers most likely went out of business all across the nation, but millions of other people eventually found work in the automobile industry. The same will hold true for the green movement.
http://www.bluegreenalliance.org/site/c.enKIITNpEiG/b.3227091/k.E4AB/Blue_Green_Alliance.htm
Good news coming out of Brazil this afternoon. The Brazilian forestry service has announced plans to cut deforestation in the South American nation by 70% over the next decade. They’re doing this in partnership with a new Amazon fund in which first world nations can contribute financially to the conservation of the rainforest.
I think it’s very good rich countries are finally starting to live up to their monetary obligations. The Amazon rainforest is important to the world and the world should share in the cost of its protection. Brazilians should consider the rainforest an asset to their nation, and not a burden.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7759192.stm