Muse on Low Impact

Green jobs showed strong growth in California in 2008, data show

2011-01-19T10:56:00.000-08:00

By Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times

January 19, 2011

Jobs at clean-tech or alternative-energy companies have flourished in California, with nearly a quarter of them based in Los Angeles, a new study has found.

Employers offering jobs in fields such as solar-power generation, electric-vehicle development and environmental consultation added 5,000 jobs in 2008, the latest data available. In all, about 174,000 Californians were working in eco-friendly fields by early 2009, compared with just 111,000 in 1995, said nonprofit research group Next 10.

The study, which culled data from government and private reports, was released late Tuesday.

The so-called green workforce expanded 3% from January 2008 to January 2009 — three times the growth of overall employment around the state.

A new seal aimed at bio-based products

2011-01-19T10:37:00.000-08:00

Jan 19, 2011
By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY

Eco-friendly consumers a new way to be green is coming out: a new seal aimed at bio-based products

Eco-minded shoppers will soon see a new new U.S.-approved label on many products, including household cleaners and skin-care items, made with bio-based ingredients.

CAPTION

Gannett

The new seal, to be announced Wednesday and rolled out this spring, aims to do for bio-based products what the government's Energy Star program has done for energy-efficient appliances, reports the Des Moines Register's Philip Brasher. He says it will be similar to the seal that appears on organic foods and will be administered by the same agency -- the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"We know we have consumers who are looking to do better environmentally, and are trying to find some way to guide their purchasing decisions," Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan says in the story.The "USDA Certified Biobased Product" seal will list how much of the product is made from corn, soy or other renewable sources, the Register reports. But to qualify, products will need to meet minimum bio-based content standards.

Arca hotel

2011-01-19T10:26:00.000-08:00

«Inspirado» en el calentamiento global y en el consiguiente aumento del nivel del mar, el arquitecto ruso Alexander Remizov ha realizado un proyecto de hotel totalmente sostenible.
Se llama «Ark» y ha sido ideado en colaboración con una empresa de ingeniería alemana y el científico moscovita Lev Britvin. Para su construcción se necesitarán madera, acero y plástico Etileno-TetraFluorEtileno.
La estructura ha sido diseñada con el objetivo de ser completamente autosuficiente gracias a un sistema de generadores de energía eólica y solar.
Este hotel flotante mediría cerca de 14.000 metros cuadrados y estaría pensado para albergar a 10.000 personas.
«Podría ser construido en sólo 3 o 4 meses y en cualquier parte del mundo» ha declarado Remizov, quien abrió su primer estudio en 1991.

Award-winning architects have designed a modern day Ark to withstand floods caused by rising sea levels.

The floating Ark Hotel is a man-made ‘biosphere’designed to be a safe, self-contained haven in case of disaster.

Ambientalisti in Francia contro il treno delle scorie nucleari

2011-01-05T06:17:00.000-08:00

Planning for a competitive / Sustainable Destination

2011-01-04T08:18:00.000-08:00

If a chance to travel comes your way, jump at it!

We have always reasons to travel

Enjoy some special event

Discover and cut across all human cultures and races

Top Ten Agencies

2011-01-04T07:12:00.000-08:00

1 American Epress Travel

2 Carlson Wagonlit Travel

3 Expedia

4 BCD Travel

5 Hogg Robinson Group (HRG)

Coldplay

2010-09-06T08:54:00.000-07:00

James Lovelock - The Vanishing Face of Gaia

2010-09-04T02:39:00.000-07:00

Professor James Lovelock, the scientist who developed Gaia theory, has said it is too late to try and save the planet.

Mankind was not aware it had "pulled the trigger" on global warming as it built its civilizations.

Skål International

2010-08-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

Skål International: professional organization of tourism leaders around the world, promoting global tourism and friendship. Skål founded as an international association in 1935 and with its headquarter in Terremolinos (Spain) has 22.000 members in 500 location.

It's an affiliate member of UNWTO and supports UNTWO's mission to promote the development of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.

more details http://skalnet20.skal.org/

World Tourism Day Message 2010 by Taleb Rifai, UNWTO Secretary-General

2010-08-27T07:12:00.000-07:00

United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO): the most widely recognized and the leading international organization in the field of travel and tourism.

Its membership includes 150 countries and more than 300 affiliate members.

Its headquarter is in Madrid and had its beginnings in 1925.

UNWTO is well known for its statistics and market research.

more details http://www.unwto.org/index.php

WTTC 20th Anniversary Documentary

2010-08-27T07:03:00.000-07:00

World Travel and Tourism Council : global business leaders' forum for travel and tourism. Its members are chief executives from all sectors of the travel and tourism industry, including accomodations, catering, cruises, entertainment, recreation, transportation, and travel-related services.

It's central goal is to work with governments to realize the full economic impact of the world's largest generator of wealth and jobs, travel and tourism.

more details http://www.wttc.org/

COP 15 -

2010-06-03T08:47:00.000-07:00

Join the energy revolution

2010-06-02T08:37:00.000-07:00

The time for action is now

We must convince our leaders to face this challenge

It's the small change that could make the difference

Sounds of nature

2010-05-30T04:44:00.000-07:00

Adbusters: The Journal of Mental Environment . Un movimento contro l'inquinamento mentale

2010-05-20T16:55:00.000-07:00

Adbusters- Media Foundation is a not-for-profit, anti-consumerist organization founded in 1989 by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The foundation describes itself as "a global network of artists, activists, writers, pranksters, students, educators and entrepreneurs who want to advance the new social activist movement of the information age."^[1]

The foundation publishes Adbusters- Journal of Mental Environment , an activist magazine with a circulation of 120,000 devoted to numerous political and social causes, many of which are anti-consumerist in nature. Adbusters has also launched numerous international social marketingcampaigns, including Buy Nothing Day and TV Turnoff Week, and is known for their "subvertisements" that spoof popular advertisements.

Lasn: “Over-consumption has ecological consequences… over-consumption is, in some sense, the mother of all our environmental problems.”

CNN: “Oh, c’mon, environmental problems?”

more http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/give-thanks-and-buy-nothing-2009-buy-nothing-day/

Jean-Luc Godard son art parle pour lui.

2010-05-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

Film Socialisme

Ecosystem equilibrium

2010-05-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

Innovation technologies, progress and studies through medicine and science don't bring to a better quality of life anytime.

The mutual habitude of human beings, the growing industrialization and the density of the populations may deeply modify the natural ecological dynamics.

As a result of these modifications, the equilibrium of Ecology has long put under pressure, and by the assumption that populations and communities typically exist under equilibrium conditions in habitats saturated with both individuals and species. However, much evidence contradicts these assumptions and it is likely that nonequilibrium is much more widespread than might be expected.

The city represents an Artificial Ecosystem, made by man, and in continous transformation

To make the city safe and confortable to live in, it is necessary to know how to regulate the equilibrium mentioned above; through the relationships between the many differents species, the environmental conditions that help its growth and reproduction, and the negative mechanisms that work against it.

The study of ecosystems mainly consists of the study of certain processes that link the living, or biotic (biocenosi) , components to the non-living, or abiotic (biotopo), components.

from http://www.dipartimentodizoologia.it/public/admin/did/dis125/mat/Eco_Tarsitano.pdf

Rather than worrying mainly about particular species, we try to focus on major functional aspects of the system. These functional aspects include such things as the amount of energy that is produced by photosynthesis, how energy or materials flow along the many steps in a food chain, or what controls the rate of decomposition of materials or the rate at which nutrients are recycled in the system.

ABIOTIC COMPONENTS	BIOTIC COMPONENTS
Sunlight	Primary producers
Temperature	Herbivores
Precipitation	Carnivores
Water or moisture	Omnivores
Soil or water chemistry (e.g., P, NH₄+)	Detritivores
etc.	etc.

from http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange1/current/lectures/kling/ecosystem/ecosystem.html

I videogiochi per l’ambiente premiati (e venduti) da Microsoft

2010-05-12T17:02:00.000-07:00

La Imagine Cup è una competizione organizzata da Microsoft e dedicata a oltre 200.000 studenti provenienti da più di 100 nazioni che premia chi, attraverso la tecnologia, realizza i migliori progetti per cambiare il mondo proteggendo l’ambiente.

from http://media.panorama.it/

Supermodels Take It Off For Climate Change - Le modelle si spogliano per il surriscaldamento globale.

2010-05-12T16:43:00.000-07:00

Supermodels Take It Off For Climate Change -
dieci modelle che improvvisano uno striptease liberatorio per manifestare contro il surriscaldamento globale. È il video che Russell Cameron, super top da copertina e ambientalista convinta, ha prodotto e girato insieme alle sue amiche e colleghe per promuovere la campagna di350.org, l’associazione che si occupa di sensibilizzare la popolazione mondiale sui pericoli provocati dal diossido di carbonio.

from http://www.350.org/

Bolivia:" la terra non ci appartiene, ma siamo noi ad appartenerle”

2010-05-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

Durante l'Assemblea dell'ONU del 22 aprile 2009, il Presidente Costituzionale dello Stato Plurinazionale di Bolivia - Campagna Amazzonia senza Petrolio -

ha ottenuto che si dichiarasse la Giornata della Madre Terra, perchè “la terra non ci appartiene, ma siamo noi ad appartenerle”, segnalando a questo proposito quattro diritti della Madre Terra:

il diritto alla vita degli ecosistemi,

il diritto alla rigenerazione della biodiversità,

il diritto a vivere senza inquinamento

ed il diritto alla convivenza armonica con la natura.

Il Foro Boliviano sull'Ambiente e lo Sviluppo (FOMOBADE) è un'organizzazione nazionale impegnata nel settore dei diritti umani ed ambientali dei boliviani e delle boliviane, da ormai più di 15 anni. Si compone di organizzazioni sociali, di produzione, accademiche, gruppi giovanili, parlamentari, ecologisti, di consumatori e di persone che lavorano nelle loro comunità per la protezione dell'ambiente e delle risorse naturali. L'agenda di intervento pubblico include l'elaborazione e l'assistenza nell'applicazione di politiche socio-ambientali, l'appoggio alle comunità per la gestione dei conflitti ambientali, l'esercizio di diritti ambientali e l'ingresso di tematiche quali la sostenibilità e la sovranità alimentare all'interno del dibattito politico nazionale, attraverso la promozione di attività che prevedono un uso sostenibile delle risorse da parte degli attori locali.

from http://www.asud.net/test/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=568%3Abolivia-campagna-amazzonia-senza-petrolio&catid=5%3Amondo&Itemid=39&lang=it

Un mundo no-hegemónico

2010-05-12T12:20:00.000-07:00

Testo canzone Manu Chao - Por El Suelo | LyricsKeeper.it

from http://tal.tv/

Say "No" and cushion Apulia region, Tremiti Islands, Monopoli and the Gulf of Taranto against the risk of oil spill

2010-05-04T11:15:00.000-07:00

The Irish company Petroceltic Elsa made the request for oil exploration off Gargano while targeting the sea off Monopoli is the British Northern Petroleum. ''It is not true that accidents on oil rigs are extremely rare: they are instead very frequent. At least 20 cases have been recorded over the past twenty years - at least one per year - some of which also resulted in casualties,'' said the head of the research department at the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Silvio Greco.'' We must take into account the fact that an accident of the sort that has occurred off the American coastline could also happen to us here in the Mediterranean,'' said Greco. ''It has very little waters replacement and is a closed body of water: it is clear that the impact from an accident like the one that happened in the Gulf of Mexico could be devastating.''

more details http://www.ansamed.info/en/top/ME13.XAM12084.html

The worst offshore spill in history of USA

2010-05-02T08:07:00.000-07:00

News By Dan Shapley

The Gulf of Mexico oil Spill, caused by a BP oil-drilling project (by the Transocean Deepwater Horizon rig), is an environmental catastrophe requiring an unprecedented response. Eleven workers were killed by the blast on the rig April 20, and the open well is gushing 5,000 barrels or more every day from three leaks so deep underwater that BP and federal agencies say it could take three months or more to fix the leaks. If the oil continues spilling for two months, it would be larger than the infamous Exxon Valdez spill 21 years ago (if it hasn't already).
Booms, at the mercy of weather, are deployed along the Gulf Coast, suspect chemicals are being sprayed to disperse the oil, and massive structures are to be dropped over the leaks in an attempt to contain and pump out the oil before it spreads. But the oil slick is already nearly the size of Jamaica, and on the doorstep of coastal communities in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida. Critical habitat for 400 species of birds, fish and other marine life is threatened, at a critical breeding time; up to half of the U.S. supply of some popular seafood, like shrimp, oysters and bluecrabs at risk; and oil-soaked creatures have already begun washing ashore.
It's easy to feel hopeless in the face of such disaster. Taking action is one of the best antidotes for that feeling. What can individuals do to help?

Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/gulf-oil-spill-2010-0503#ixzz0muXiiSwp

A few of the 40 Greatest Nature Photographs of All Time

2010-05-02T06:28:00.000-07:00

Sea lions playing in the sea grass beds off Little Hopkins Island Australia, by David David Doubilet

Water lilies, Nymphaea nouchali, Okavango Delta, Botswana, by Frans Lanting

Tortoises at Dawn, Galapagos Islands, 1984, by Frans Lanting

Botswana 1989, by Frans Lanting. The image has been selected for the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP) 40 Greatest Nature Photographs of All Time

Immigrants in Rosarno: Never forget!

2010-04-29T08:48:00.000-07:00

Try yourself no getting angry reading the article written by Frederika Randall.

Something should change in our society and maybe could be a point of start showing a feeling for the suffering of others.

This cunsuming hatred for immigrants is a step backward once a time. Immigrants in Rosarno were "paid some$30 for ten to fourteen hours picking oranges and clementines, minus $7 to $8 in kickbacks to the bus driver and the caporale, the gang boss. Some were new arrivals, undocumented, from Mali, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal, Morocco"

People should climb down and admit its cliché on immigrants are wrong. Get informed with this document taken by Civati's blog: http://www.civati.it/mandiamoliacasa.pdf and get lost your false impressions on immigrants living in Italy.

-from http://www.thenation.com/

(italian version on http://www.medarabnews.com/)