Mobile phone recycling needs industry standards
by David Masters
Mobile phone recycling needs to be governed by new set of Europe-wide standards, according to the continent's biggest handset recycler. Regenersis said standards must be set to ensure that all data is removed from re-sold handsets. It also called for a ban on the export of non-working handsets, and a zero landfill policy. Regenersis said those who have willingly returned an unwanted handset must be protected by a data removal policy. A recent survey ...
US government to cut offshore energy red tape
by Alan Harten
The Interior Department has announced that it and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will now cooperate in resolving an outstanding dispute about which agency monitors alternative energy offshore projects. Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior told the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee that the two agencies have signed an MOU which will permit progress in locating renewable energy systems on the outer continental shelf. Salazar said that there is no ...
Europe Wasting Water
by Alan Harten
Supplies of fresh water in Europe are becoming exhausted and water is being over used, warned the head of the European Environment Agency on Tuesday. Too much is being taken from lakes, rivers, and underground water resource, which can take thousands of years to refill, says an EEA report given at the World Water Forum in Istanbul. The report advocates that all European local authorities create enticements for more use of ...
China wants the world to pay for its pollution
by Alan Harten
China will reduce pollution from its manufacture of exports provided the richest countries of the world pay for it. The head of China's department for the climate, Li Gao, said on Monday in Washington D.C. that this is part of his country’s plan to cut greenhouse gases in a fast growing economy. The gases are said by scientists to be responsible for increasing temperatures. He was addressing the all party ...
Recession ‘nothing’ compared to climate change
by David Masters
The global economic crisis is 'nothing' compared to the future impacts of climate change, Prince Charles warned this week. Speaking to Brazilian business leaders during his tour of the Amazon rainforest, the Prince said: "We are, I fear, at a defining moment in the world's history. "The global recession is far worse than any seen for generations." More concerning, however, is "the threat of catastrophic climate change calls into question humanity's continued survival ...
Greed to blame for global warming
by David Masters
The greediness of individuals within the world's richest nations is pushing people in poorer countries to the 'edge of existence', a Christian relief group said this week. The Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) is urging people in Britain to take up 'simpler' lifestyle choices in solidarity with the poor and to compensate for 'massive overconsumption' by people in the world's wealthiest nations. Greedy economic policies and selfish personal lifestyles have had ...
Oxford given £36m to research climate change
by David Masters
Oxford University has been pledged up to £36 million by a former student to help it investigate global problems such as climate change. Dr James Martin, a 75 year old IT tycoon and graduate of Keble College, said he will match any donations given to the James Martin 21st Century School in the next year, up a maximum of £36 million. The James Martin 21st Century School was founded in 2005 using ...
Tesco axes ClubCard points for recycling
by David MastersTesco has reduced the loyalty points it gives for recycling after customers were found to be abusing the system. The supermarket giant said some customers had broken up plastic bottles into tiny scraps so they got more ClubCard points for recycling. Points were given for individual items recycled at the reverse vending machines, meaning that broken bottles were awarded as many points as the number of pieces they'd been broken into. A Tesco ...
Will Wall Street need a wall to keep sea back?
by Alan Harten
Wall Street once had a wall running along its length to keep Dutch-owned New Amsterdam safe from those nasty invading British troops - that's how it got its name. Now it is the centre of American finance, but it may become necessary to build a new wall, not to keep out us pesky Brits, but to hold back the rising sea. Areas of lower Manhattan in New York City are only ...
World getting darker with global dimming
by Alan Harten
A research group from the University of Maryland has prepared the first database for many years of aerosol quantities over land, opening a door to new research into the effect on climate of air pollution. The research indicates that during the last 30 years visibility over land has decreased worldwide, meaning more pollution or aerosols in the air. Aerosols are solids or liquids in the air, comprising mainly dust, soot and sulphur ...
EPA shuts down Bush company environment scheme
by Alan Harten
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is shutting down a scheme started in 2000 but mostly managed by the Bush administration. The National Environmental Performance Track Program, brought hundreds of companies into the project provided they introduced steps to cut pollution and use less energy. The programme was one of various public and private combinations iconic of the Bush administration’s policy for the environment. Membership of the EPA’s scheme was allegedly only ...
Is your baby using toxic shampoos?
by Alan Harten
Recent research into soaps, shampoos and lotions designed for use by children shows that over half incorporate the chemicals formaldehyde and 1, 4 dioxane, which are believed likely to be carcinogens. Traces of 1, 4 dioxane remain derived from the production process. Formaldehyde comes from preservatives in the products. A Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (CSC) report called 'No More Toxic Tub' claims Johnson & Johnson and other companies add these chemicals to ...
Age of Stupid, solar powered film premiere
by Alan Harten
The Age of Stupid had its very unusual premiere on Sunday in Leicester Square. The film, comparable to Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth', was shown in a solar powered tent in the square with a green carpet, not a red one. The star and narrator, Pete Postlethwaite of The Usual Suspects fame, arrived by solar car, others on bikes. The event was transmitted to cinemas nationwide and the Eden Project ...
Oil spill nightmare for Queensland coast
by Alan Harten
A cargo ship has lost tons of fuel oil off Queensland’s coastline, resulting in one of Australia’s greatest environmental disasters. The Hong Kong-registered Pacific Adventurer, owned by Swire Shipping Ltd (SSL) of London, released what was initially said by the company to be over 11,000 gallons of heavy oil into the sea after containers of ammonium nitrate, a fertiliser, crashed onto the deck holing the fuel tank. The ship was ...
Cardiff turns to bicycle power
by Alan Harten
The city of Cardiff will benefit from an exciting new concept radically altering the transport system into a modern efficient infrastructure. If the proposed system is successful it will be set up through out the country. The investment is coming from the Welsh National Assembly and Cardiff Council. The sum of £28.5 million was announced by the Minister for Economy and Transport. Ieuan Wyn Jones explained that the Sustainable Travel Towns ...
Gore upbeat about political climate change attitude
by Alan Harten
One time American vice-president, Al Gore, has given an optimistic evaluation of the international attitude towards climate change. He believes a crucial political trade off point has been reached, which will open the road to prevent an environmental disaster to all nations’ leaders According to an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Gore, a Nobel peace prize-winner, believes that the election of Barack Obama as President, together with increased understanding ...
Prince Charles receives climate change award
by Alan Harten
Prince Charles received an award on Friday for his work in preventing world climate change. The government of the Brazilian state of Amazonas and an environmental sponsorship group, The Friends of the Forest and Climate, presented it jointly. Prince Charles was said to be deeply honoured to win the award. He has crusaded on climate issues for twenty years and started his Rainforests Project in 2007. The Prince and the ...
Soil is vital in climate change battle
by David Masters
Poor soil management could make climate change worse than it already is, a new European Commission report has warned. Soils across Europe are a massive carbon reservoir, the report said, holding between 73 and 79 billion tonnes of carbon. Around half of this carbon is stored in the peat bogs of Sweden, Finland, Britain and Ireland. Just 0.1% of this carbon released into the atmosphere through poor soil management would be equivalent to ...
Europe increases illegal exports of toxic waste
by David Masters
Europe's exports of illegal hazardous waste to developing countries are on the rise, according to a new report by the European Environment Agency. The report, "Waste Without Borders in the EU", states that statistics from EU member countries "show a growing number of illegal shipments. Illegal waste that gets reported is just the tip of the iceberg, the report said, and the real problem could be much bigger. "It is expected that reported ...
Greenpeace: bail out the planet, not the banks
by David Masters
Three hundred and fifty Greenpeace activists were arrested outside the European Union headquarters this week because their demonstration was unauthorised. The activists chained themselves to the gates outside the EU Council shouting "Save the climate, bail out the planet". Inside, ministers were discussing how much Europe should contribute to a climate change fund. Activists from 20 countries joined in the protest. Those who were arrested could be prosecuted for taking part in an unauthorised ...