Author: Brittany Flynn (Page 1 of 2)

The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, is working towards a goal for the city to be a “semi-pedestrianized” zone, where walking and biking will be encouraged, and automobile access will be limited to emergency vehicles, residents’ cars, and delivery trucks.  This spring the city put a temporary ban on cars in the city in an effort to fight the smog over the city.  They have even been paying people to bike in the summer!  Paris has the second largest bike share system besides China.  The mayor hopes to increase the bike sharing and eliminate diesel cars by 2020 to curb carbon emissions.  Hopefully this will spread to all the cities in the world and will actually make a difference in helping the environment.

http://grist.org/list/paris-plans-to-ban-cars-from-its-city-center/

http://natureisspeaking.org/home.html#Films

This website has really great videos about water, mother nature, forests, soil and other elements in nature.  The videos feature famous actors specking on behalf of nature.  Actors like Harrison Ford, Julia Roberts and Robert Redford are giving a voice to nature and telling humans that they are ruining the earth.  Each video ends saying “Nature doesn’t need people.  People need nature.”  Conservation International is the organization that has put these videos together and the purpose is to raise awareness about conserving the earth.  Great videos!! Watch Them!!

WE NEED THIS!! It is so helpful in multiple ways.  Lets hope that in a few years we have solar roadways and a more sustainable future!

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/10/science/earth/climate-tools-seek-to-bend-natures-path.html?_r=1

The solution to global warming is mining more rocks says on geochemist, Dr. Schuiling.  This green-tinted mineral, olivine, is abundant around the work and can slowly take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  Spreading this around roadways, play grounds, gardens etc. can help reduce global warming.  In Norway, they have already begun to spread olivine around and there is a company called greenSands that sells olivine sand for home and commercial use.  Critics of this solution say that this process will take too long to make a difference.  There are other carbon sequestering solutions people have come up with, like spraying sulfuric acid droplets into the atmosphere so it can reflect the suns rays.  The solar radiation management could be a quick fix to reduce global temperatures but result in dire consequences.  Overall, I think olivine is a better route to take because the best and safest results require patience and happen over time.

http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/environment-and-nature/20141027/activist-vandana-shiva-speaks-in-redlands-about-dangers-of-pesticides

Vandana Shiva is an environmental activist from India.  Her mission is to promote natural agricultural practices and environmental justice in India.  Shiva works against large multinational corporations that produce GMO and use large amounts of pesticides.  This article was about her visit to the Memorial Chapel at the University of Redland where she voiced her vision of a world that feeds everyone with food grown as nature intended.  Shiva’s Ph.D. thesis was on quantum physics, which is very complex but in Shiva’s own words is shows how the “world is not separate. Everything is interconnected.”

Shiva’s work connects to the reading we did about the environmental movement in India.  Shiva is trying to bring about environmental justice, especially to farmers and women.  Hopefully she can bring about change that will be helpful to the health of the people and the world.

A Swiss non-profit technology company has invented white solar panels.  These panels can be used as the walls of buildings, produce energy and cool the building.  The panels also have no visible connectors or cells, making them more desirable. This is a great invention, but we are still waiting for solar panel windows.

http://www.treehugger.com/solar-technology/white-solar-panels-could-blend-buildings-cool-them-down.html

This article is about the dumping of electronic waste in Ghana, Africa.  The recycling process for e-waste costs too much, so there is illegal shipping to African countries like Ghana. European countries illegally label their e-waste as “functional” or “repairable” before shipment. This dumping has caused irreparable environmental damage to this village in Ghana.  Now the villagers can not be fishers and instead sort through the electronic good to sell. These villagers are exposed to toxic fumes that cause terminal illnesses and are usually physically wounded while sorting through the e-waste. Experts predict that this illegal dumping of e-waste will only increase and cause even more damage.  They say it will double by 2020.  http://www.dailysabah.com/features/2014/10/17/ewaste-a-death-sentence

This article states that the Pentagon sees climate change as an immediate threat to national security, with increased risks from terrorism, infectious disease, global poverty and food shortages.  The Pentagon is implementing new strategies to help with rising sea levels, extreme weather, draughts and food shortages.  They are saying that the lack of water in the Middle East can be related to the increased extremists groups.  These extremist groups have seized water supplies to gain control and power.  The Pentagon’s increased emphasis on the national security threats of climate change is aimed in part at building support for a United Nations agreement, to be signed next year in Paris, that would require the world’s largest producers of planet-warming carbon pollution to slash their emissions, while increasing aid to help the world’s most vulnerable populations adapt to the effects of global warming. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/14/us/pentagon-says-global-warming-presents-immediate-security-threat.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSum&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Killing the Lorax: 900 Environmental Activists Slain in the Past 10 Years | Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

This article talks about a study that revealed more than 900 environmental activists were killed as a direct result of their work defending environmental and land rights between 2002 and 2013.  Latin America and Asia-Pacific have been particularly hit hard and these numbers might even be low because of the shortage of information available.  It is amazing that I have not heard more about this, but governments and big business have the money and resources to cover things up.  I find this relevant to our class discussion about terrorism.  The harm against humans is not done by the environmentalist but it is done to them.  Money and power can do horrible things and then place the blame on others who do not deserve it.