Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Qcarbo With Eliminex 2010

" Confessions of an eco- sinner "by Fred Pearce


Did you know that to make a wedding a few grams of gold on average it takes 2 tons of rock excavated to a depth of several kilometers and 5 tons of water? And
third of the products sold in our supermarkets contains palm oil in the manufacture of the forests are destroyed?
Did you know that is the production of cotton to have caused the disappearance of the Aral Sea, once the 4th largest lake in the world?
Here are just some of the information that you can discover by reading "Confessions of an eco-sinner" by Fred Pearce, (Edizioni Ambiente Euro 22.00).
Despite the title the book is not only interesting but presents a wide-ranging and well-documented strictly, the origin and destiny of all the products of common and daily use of which we can not (it seems) do less to live.
Pearce is a British journalist who works as an environmental consultant for the New Scientist. It took several years to visit many different places on our planet in order to know where they come from, who made them and at what cost to the environment, the products we use every day.
The survey of the gold mines of South Africa, to continue in the rainforests of Indonesia, Australia, Uzbekistan addressing all the issues that concern our daily consumption: food, clothing, computing, energy consumption, waste.
In these pages we find for example that the banana, one of the most eaten fruit in the world, being a mutant sterile and free from seeds and cultivated worldwide in a single variety in America, Asia and Africa, (the "Cavendish"), is seriously threatened by insects and diseases that may cause extinction.
Do not believe us? E 'already happened in the '50s when the banana varieties that were not power but the current one called "Gros Michel", according to experts richer and sweeter than today. It is unfortunately vulnerable to a fungus that caused definitive disappearance.
And again, the process of production of aluminum is one of the most expensive in energy terms and in terms of emissions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
in the world are produced around 250 billion cans per year! Pearce, (which quotes several times in the book studies the Friends of the Earth) along the entire journey to discover the stages of production of a can from the region of Queensland (Australia) where one of the largest mining companies in the world, the Rio Tinto, extracts bauxite, which is then transported to Gladstone where it is refined to alumina. The production of aluminum has boundless ecological footprint. I quote a single fact: the production of a single tin results in the emission of 260 grams of CO2 or a quantity of gas sufficient to fill 300 cans!
The last part of the book is devoted to possible alternatives, namely the possibility that the second man Pearce has yet to save the planet and himself, as long as you decide to change course immediately. So we learn the importance of recycling: the recovery of aluminum from the return to the market which may result in energy savings of up to 3 / 4 of the cost of virgin aluminum production, the example of Tanzania where there is a trade fertile based on the recovery of used Western clothing, to arrive in Nairobi where the "Computers for Schools Kenya" recycles old computers from Europe and North America giving us then to schools across the country. Pearce finally gives us a framework of good examples to imitate, and already adopted by several cities in the world: the development of so-called "urban agriculture" in Valencia, the cooling system of buildings built in Toronto using the waters of Lake Ontario, the truck San Diego's trash fed with methane produced in landfills, and much more.
If the part dedicated to the research documented ineccepibibile is, of course not all the British journalist's personal views can be shared: as rightly pointed out in the preface to the book meteorologist Luca Mercalli, makes little sense to support the purchase of beans produced in Kenya and exported to the major European countries in the name of fair trade, much better choose to buy local seasonal produce. But apart from any conclusions, perhaps a bit 'rushed the book is really interesting and useful for those who want a complete picture of production processes and their impacts on the planet. I think it could be easily adopted by teachers in schools and in particular I find it useful to that process of acquisition of awareness and sense of responsibility that we set as its primary goal. In
fun latest film W. Allen the main character, (among other things supports the extension of capital punishment in all dog owners who do not collect the excrement of their pets!), argues that the human species is now composed only of individuals losers, selfish and cowardly, and therefore it is hopelessly doomed to extinction. Maybe by reading this uplifting as we try to give a glimmer of hope in the younger generation more ...

Michele Salvadori

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Thursday, September 10, 2009

Sore Throat Blood In Phlegm

" Florence I would like to "by Giovanni Rodella

In anticipation of the day dedicated to Florence and promoted by the new City Council, and gladly receive public a letter from John Rodella, an activist of the Friends of the Earth away from 1998.
John, a professional photographer, kindly gave us some of his photos, which we publish in support of the article, taken in the city and unfortunately shows what he says.

"Dear Michael, I'm glad
's initiative" Give a kiss to Florence "carried out by' current mayor, which allows me to make some considerations. The first is, I think, to awaken in us the" sense Civic "dormant now forgotten by many previous administrations: one of the involvement of all citizens, in other words those who would like a city, (our) most 'liveable and who will fight sincerely against the deterioration now it' s obvious a few years ago, enough to make us feel powerless in the face of prevailing laxity, often due to not taking account of the few forces that had a glimmer of initiative "to do"!
You know better than me, in attempts to make us promoters, when ten years ago we started with the 'Councillor then to' Environment Sergio Paderi with the implementation of "Environmental Watch" in the Florentine squares, in gardens, for " Forte Belvedere "for the" Loggia dei Lanzi "All the Real and the District Councils.
We had some little experience, then, but we wanted to start another path that seemed to say, "come out" even by those places in our members to be vigilant, to see the document and not to solve problems along the streets, sidewalks, trails those related to mobility 'light (pedestrians and bicycles). The first of our association and the Environmental Surveillance intended only make "recommendations" to the authorities, especially the Municipal Police, which at first we could find available, (remember the detachment of Porta Romana) with specific verification of abandoned motorbikes, ferrous scrap bike abandoned both in racks and on sidewalks, potholes in the pavement or asphalt missing, dead pigeons, fountains, dirty, dog faeces and not, flowerbeds trampled by various camps, road signs damaged or no longer 'readable etc ...
Unfortunately, all this hard 'little ... Maybe we gave annoy someone or felt that there claims the right to services that were commonly delegated to the traffic police, or those were too many "reports" that the city could not support? It 's so we were deprived even of what the historical site that was for us a very important observation in piazza S. Spirit given to us in that command of the brigade in a free loan. When I arrived in Florence in '85 Mantua, everything seemed fine, palaces, churches, ancient streets, I say to everyone: a city on a' man. I chose this city ', not for work (though they possessed one) and even to love someone.
I was bewitched by his light colors of its landscape, its hills e. .. also the sense of freedom that a single life I could give.
Sometimes during the 'year came to visit my mother and I remember that she went to visit museums, churches and then wander through the old streets of downtown. And I invite you to observe all that for me was the "beautiful" once told me: "But if I look in the air I do not see where you're going!" A safe distance of time I realized (now that my mother has disappeared and I have a few more years'), the difficulty of walking on uneven streets and sidewalks ... and girotondi between a bike and Gymkhana on allucchettata (already) narrow sidewalks or scooters on pedestrian crossings. And if you go by bike you can not go to that nonsense as the "sense right "it just gives the motorized vehicle, as if riding a bike in the center was a sport for someone to time wasters who have nothing to do. A cyclist has to pay attention to a myriad of details including the coach of tourists lost if air always take it very comfortable. so long now I enjoy more 'this city, I try to leave the house as little as possible ... What a shame! I thought something had improved over the years and yet it is precisely those "little things" that contribute to improving the quality of life that make you feel those who live in the heart a person is "lucky" that had been distorted.
with you Michael about these things we talked about it many times, but now I want to once again to express confidence in this new council, because the hope and the only thing I have left. I believe that many Florentines have left the old town to build a new home elsewhere, beyond the boulevards or in other metropolitan suburbs, for the reasons described above, because they understood that we live a bit more 'outside the village and interest (the houses in the center are too expensive!). Today the town is mainly inhabited by a humanity that pout pourry various exploits Florence for their own ends, but that often does not love her. This we can easily be found by looking at doors, the shutters, the sidewalks of homes often dirty, from which we get only a sense of abandonment. We see from 'misuse where waste bins are placed are not compatible, the rudeness of patrons of nightclubs that until then 'alba do not make you sleep, why come out of these, continue to speak out loud as if the decibels of the music were still present there, for not to mention the fact that makes the 'alcohol, urinating anywhere, leaving dirt everywhere. The times, we know, have changed and it is right to pursue the fashion to have the SUV or large-displacement motorcycles darting at night in the streets of Florence, just because it is especially important to "show" and "own" more 'to appreciate the world around us.
You can tell from this tourism "hit and run" where no one is prevented from bringing home some souvenirs, and when I see the "junk" or those ugly posters that make up the carpet in the center, where almost no image as Florence is concerned, I feel defeated by the culture of bad taste. To observe the tourists taking pictures without looking first, (because if so then they will see on the PC at home), it seems to me that we have lost the sense of emotional admire to know.
And, as a result of your post on the issue "rounds" to your blog: http://chepianetafaremo.blogspot.com/2009/07/tra-ronde-e-intendenti.html are d 'agreement that we can , we must react against a reaction that we recognize as instrumental to a more 'police (see the name) with a form of environmental surveillance as the 'we understood we had to first in the late nineties and that reminds me of the "Hells Angels" in Milan where even the "diversity" and minority groups (such as immigrants or homosexuals) are considered of these groups committed to solidarity. Here, it is from this basis that I would go to anti-discrimination even try to turn back to Florence a liveable city. "
Love, John Rodella

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Wednesday, September 2, 2009

My Hand Hurts When They Put Shots Mt Hand

Effecorta, a sale of all products on tap


The area could only be that: Capannori, the first town in Tuscany in 2008 to have achieved and exceeded the considerable share of 60% of collection and where it has long been the practice for domestic waste collection system called the "Porta a Porta."
The forward-looking administration of this town in the Province of Lucca has set itself the goal of becoming by 2020 a "zero waste town" and is also in this context that the initiative was born Effecorta.

This is the first shop in Tuscany and one of the first of its kind in Italy, which markets products that are on tap: wine, oil, beer, cereals of all kinds, as well as detergents and dairy products like cheese and dairy products. Already on sale are more than 100 different products on tap. But not only. How did
kindly explained Peter Angelini, one of six founding members of the cooperative at the head of this beautiful entrepreneurship: "All products purchased from us come from short chain, or from companies that produce them to no more than 70 km away from Capannori."
"Among the goals we have set ourselves is also what - Angelina continues to offer our customers the opportunity to purchase a product in the quantities that need really to each family and not to those which often require us to market and supermarkets and bargain always reusing the same container.

According to a survey Federconsumatori choosing instead of packaged products on tap, an average Italian family can save more than € 700.00 per year.
goes without saying then that this type of spending, removing cartons, bottles, and in general most of the packaging is not only cost-effective but prevents the production of a good chunk of our household waste and therefore pollute less.

In the future, the creators of Effecorta would be able to open several new stores of its kind in Tuscany and the wish to do them is what they really can do it.
Effecorta at the point which is located in Viale Europa, 224 loc. Marlia (Capannori - Lucca) was also activated an ATM environment where you can get all the useful information on new sustainable technologies, installation of photovoltaic panels on tax breaks.

For more info visit the website at : http://www.effecorta.it

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