I wrote in February about how Mankind polluted space near our beautiful planet. I was then quoting the European Space Agency (ESA) which believed that there are 13,200 trackable objects larger than ten centimeters; Now comes the NASA estimates that there are no less than 19,000 objects larger than ten centimeters in outer space, and […]
NASA brings more facts and figures on space junk Read More »
We have seen last year that CO2 emissions rose by 3.1 percent in 2007. According to the International Economic Platform for Renewable Energies (IWR) they rose in 2008 by 1.94 percent to reach no less than 31.5 billion metric tons. The document released by this institution in interesting as it provides data by country. This
World CO2 emissions rose by nearly 2% in 2008 Read More »
India is known for planting thousands of trees in single days but it seems that Pakistan is also working on massive afforestation projects as it planted no less than 541,176 trees in 24 hours. Meanwhile, Bangladesh is ready to invest billions in environmental protection and received $19 million from Germany and the United States for
Asian nations working on reforestation Read More »
We have seen it before, biodiversity is impressively rich in places where Mankind isn’t too much present. Indeed, the WWF wrote in December 2008 that the Greater Mekong is a biodiversity treasure. Now the organization notes : Over 350 new species including the world’s smallest deer, a “flying frog” and a 100 million-year old gecko
350 new species discovered in Eastern Himalayas Read More »
Science Magazine published an interesting article on how deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest provides only a temporary increase of living conditions to local populations. To the article: (…) on the basis of an assessment of 286 municipalities in different stages of deforestation, we found a boom-and-bust pattern in levels of human development across the
Local populations don’t profit from deforestation Read More »
Last week, Fortune Magazine published a most interesting article on the Chinese high speed rail project. By 2020 over 25,000 km (16,000 miles) of new tracks will be built for a cost of $300 billion (210 billion €). The People’s Republic government launches this huge project to answer to it’s citizens’ needs of alternative to
China’s huge high speed rail project Read More »
Urban sprawl poses many problems in terms of infrastructures to maintain, increased energy consumption and last but not least important health and environmental issues. With the economic downturn and high energy prices, people are sometimes returning to the urban cores. This leaves empty houses and even districts. In some cases these suburbs are litterally bulldozed
The end of urban sprawl ? Read More »
We have seen it previously, the Amazon Rainforest could become a desert because of deforestation and climate change. As I noted in May a three degrees Celsius increase would destroy it by up to 75 percent. But could global warming help the Sahara region becoming green again ? To National Geographic it could be the
Could the Sahara desert become green again ? Read More »
China has been asking developed countries to commit themselves to cut by 40 percent their greenhouse gases emissions by 2020 at the Copenhagen talks in December. We have seen previously that such targets are reachable. Meanwhile, the People’s Republic is increasingly working on slowing its own carbon emissions by using all means, from energy efficiency
China is getting ready for Copenhagen Read More »
According to a new study by Mc Kinsey, the USA could save up to $1.2 trillion (833 billion euros) by 2020 thanks to energy efficiency. Homes and businesses could cut by 28 percent their bills while industries could cut theirs by 20 percent. The more data I gather, the more I believe America could become
Energy efficiency could save America $1.2 trillion Read More »
