September 18: World Water Monitoring Day

What is the World Water Monitoring Day?

It is a celebration that commemorates and educates the public to develop an understanding of water resources and develop an interest in conserving water resources across the Globe. The monitoring itself is encouraged all the way from March 22, which is World Water Day to December 31st of each year. September 18 just happens to be the day that was chosen for the celebration itself.

Goal for 2012

WWMD, the abbreviation for the day, is organized by the World Environment Fund (WEF) and the International Water Association (IWA). They plan to have over 1 million people participate in the event by the year 2012. Talk about lofty!

Test kits galore

The organizers provide an easy to use test kit that allows a set of basic measurements on their local water supply. These include:

1. Temperature

2. pH

3. Clarity (Turbidity)

4. Dissolved Oxygen.

For the uninitiated, pH refers to how acidic or basic (the opposite of acidic) water is. Clarity is important to ensure that the water supply is not polluted. Dissolved oxygen shows how much micro-organisms have taken over the water supply. All these can educate and inform about the quality of local water supply.

Events

Apparently, events are being conducted across the Globe and more are encouraged.

More Information

More information is available here: http://www.worldwatermonitoringday.org/

For other interesting days and dates: http://www.itshothere.org/?page_id=117

September 18, 2011 · admin · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: Causes, environmental issues, events, water, World Water Monitoring Day

September is Glass Recycling Month

It has been a while since I posted here. However, September is a special occasion and I thought this would be a good time to get back to blogging.

Did you know glass is recyclable? There are certain types of glasses that can be recycled 100%. According to the Glass Packaging Institute, as reported by Earth 911, about 80% of all recovered glass containers are made into glass bottles. The Glass Packaging Institute lists the top 1o reasons to recycle glass, and rather than regurgitate all that here, I am going to provide you with the link:

http://gpi.org/recycle-glass/top-ten-reasons-to-recycle-gla.html

You can also watch this video:

Recycle Glass Month 2011

For more dates and commemorations:

http://www.itshothere.org/?page_id=117

References:

1. The Earth 911 Article:

http://earth911.com/news/2011/07/11/glass-packaging-institute-recycle-glass-month/

2. The Glass Packaging Institute:

http://gpi.org/

 

September 3, 2011 · admin · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: carbon footprint, Causes, environmental issues, Recycling

Solar Day is back…

It has been such a warm day, it has slowed me down – making me wonder what would happen if we could really take advantage of the solar energy – both light and heat! The solar industry has seen its own ups and downs with a bubble and a drop in investments and enthusiasm. Yet, companies like Enphase are going public, creating massive amounts of interest. So, after the correction, a few good companies will emerge that will be able to harvest energy efficiently, and hopefully without rendering landscapes ugly!

A challenge to the solar industry – landscape modification

Currently, the focus of the solar industry is in achieving and/or inflating the sense of efficiency that particular commercial systems put out. Against this backdrop is the fact that legal battles are now allowing humongous solar farms to be set up in California and elsewhere. If you drive across the countryside today, ugly electric and telephone poles seem to be on a perennial supply. These lines may never cease to exist, and there in  lies the problem. Solar plants can be quite an eyesore, so I believe this is an hitherto untapped challenge – smaller profiles for the plants, that can eventually be modified, upgraded and disposed as necessary.

Gemasolar Power Plant

The Gemosolar Power Plant in Southern Spain near Seville has 2650 panels spread out over about 185 hectares of “rural” land. It uses solar energy to heat molten salts and then generate steam and electricity. While 25,000 homes will receive power, if you see the attached image of the plant and its formidable spread, it makes you wonder who will pay for clean up and will there ever be a clean up when the whole thing becomes obsolete.

Business Opportunities

As renewable energy harvesting techniques mature, it will become essential to clean up after these massive projects which are being installed with abandon. There are two tiered business opportunities out there:

1. Solar plant decommissioning projects that can take out the farms and bring a source of restoration to the environs while harvesting all the expensive materials and structures that go into the construction of the solar farms.

2. The efficient design of solar farms so that they are easily serviceable, and can be disposed of with ease when no longer required.

There are probably more business opportunities, and it is important to remember that while renewable technologies are being developed with a sense of urgency across the globe, it is essential to consider the impact of these installations to the environment and society. Until next Solar Day…

Reference:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1393879/Gemasolar-Power-Plant-The-worlds-solar-power-station-generates-electricity-NIGHT.html

June 19, 2011 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Energy Economics, environmental issues, Renewable Energy Politics, Science and the Environment, Solar Energy

The World Environment Day is June 5th

It is a little late, I know, but I thought I would post about the World Environment Day. June 5th did not get picked for any numeric trickery. According to Wikipedia, June 5th was the commencement of the United Nations Conference on Human Environment, all the way back in 1972.

The first World Environment Day was commemorated in 1973, on June 5, as you may expect.

So, here we are…have you thought about the environment today?

Have you tried to reduce, reuse and recycle?

Think about the environment, do something, write a blog, save some energy or cut down on your paper costs…

June 5, 2011 · admin · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: environmental issues, Sustainable Events

Website of the Week – 4. Pulp Mills

Note: I finally slipped on week 4. So technically this is getting posted on week 5. If you are interested in finding out why, please have a look at http://yamanoor.com/blog/ where I have detailed some of the information on my beloved cat Squeaky’s passing. I should be back to speed as soon as physically possible.

Pulp Fiction, er Facts: We all know where paper comes from, or we think we do – we have a generic idea: trees. Of course, there is so much more to it. The pulp mills are the ones that cut down the trees and turn them into pulp and then paper and paper-related products.  In this process, the right, sustainable process would be to ensure that forests, especially endangered, old growth ones are spared.

An ongoing project, pulpwatch uses a detailed list of criteria and comes up with a color-coded list that shows you how sustainable and environment friendly paper mills are. As you might guess, red is definitely in what you might want to think of as the “bad” category and green means meets criteria, or “good” in a colloquial sense. Be sure to remember that such criteria are subjective,  subject to change and using words such as “bad” and “good” can be over-simplification.

The criteria are divided into how they affect endangered forests, the bleaching technology, forest certification(they use FSC certification, and someday I will write about this in detail, but the SFI criteria have currently gained popularity, although this may change in the future) and social rating (social issues caused by and/or affecting the mill).

Pulpwatch itself is a project of the Environmental Paper Network and appears to have some impressive partners, making it a good yardstick of where paper mills are, with respect to the environment, fair business behavior and such.

Categories: Causes, Projects, Sustainable Paper, Environmental Issues

Newsletter: There appears to be none so far.

Rating: 8.5/10

An excellent website.  It presents a lot of well researched information. Yet, some explanation of the criteria might have helped. A lack of a newsletter, an RSS feed, a twitter feed etc., means that users have to manually check back on the project progress. The status of the project, frequency of updates etc., are not very clear either. And yet, since everything ties back to the Paper Planet, maybe there is some connectivity, so I left the rating for this otherwise excellent website at 8.5/10.

Social Media: None

Supplementary Website: The Paper Planet Blog is associated with this website. I am not sure if there is a chicken and egg situation going on, but the blog is definitely worth a read, has a twitter account and much much more.

http://thepaperplanet.blogspot.com/

Rating: 10/10

January 31, 2011 · admin · No Comments
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: Causes, Sustainable Forest Management, Website of the Week

Website of the Week – 3. Sustainable Food Jobs

A quick note: It appears to be a time of testing. Every week something new comes up. Last week it was the book chapter, and the multiple business plan contests, this week, a personal tragedy of sorts broke out. Some of you might know of my feline compadre Squeaky, and you may have read about his adventures on a blog where I write about him. Well, he appeared to be limping a few days ago, and after a few days of unsuccessfully waiting to see if he heals by himself, I took him to the vet. The news they delivered puts us in an narrow alley between a rock and a hard-place. On Monday, we await a biopsy which will give us more leads into the kind of decisions I have to make about Squeaky’s future. It has been one heck of a wake up call about life’s priorities, and while all that is going on, I have decided that I am going to fight it out.

Why? It’s simple, as I was grappling with how I should handle this sorrowful situation, Squeaky proved that life must go on – on Thursday, he killed a rat and left it on my bed as a gift. Of course, right now, we await a new mattress, but it taught me that Squeaky is no less a cat because he is sick, and the best thing I can do is let him be himself and be myself at the same point. And thus, a tad late, but yet, here I am with the edition of the third week…

Jobs, jobs, jobs…

This coming Tuesday, President Obama will talk about jobs and competitiveness in his State of the Union Address. Of course the jobs and the economy is on the mind of everyone.   While the government grinds it’s gears much in need of lubrication, there are resources out there. This week’s website focuses on jobs related to sustainable foods. The economic disaster is slowly clearing up. The dynamics of the world have changed – China and India (where I hail from) have gained more importance.

Yes, I agree it is important to stay competitive. However, I feel it is even more important to try and get creative. Some of these jobs are not coming back, at least not for a long time. Regardless of the political urge to remain inactive or impervious, sustainability is gaining in popularity among the common public. This is a great time to capitalize on this popularity. Consequentially, this boosts the jobs picture within the industry. Different things appeal to different people and for some of us, the food industry represents a lot of excitement. This is exactly what websites like Sustainable Food Jobs cater to.

Sustainable Food Jobs

I came across this website a few weeks ago, and I immediately added it to this list. I also subscribed to their newsletter and found this to be quite a productive website. There are several job posts that come through this website from across the country. Yes, they are not sit-in-a-cool-room-wearing-a-suit-playing-with-excel consulting jobs…they are more of the get your hands dirty and grow some sustainable food type of jobs.  I find that there is a high level of relevance and jobs seem to be coming from across the country, which is quite encouraging!

Hosted at wordpress.com as a sub-domain or a separate blog, the website is clean and loads easily. Overall,  I am quite impressed by the website on all fronts. I am giving this website also a 10/10 because they are focused on one topic, and are clearly staying focused and relevant.

Categories: Sustainable Careers, Sustainable Jobs, Sustainable Food Industry

Newsletter: Yes, there is a newsletter that delivers posts from the website on a regular basis. You can sign up right on the website on the right sidebar.

Rating: 10/10

Social Media Presence: The website/blog also has a twitter account associated with it:

http://twitter.com/sustainfoodjobs

January 23, 2011 · admin · No Comments
Tags: , , , , , ,  Â· Posted in: Employment in Clean Technologies, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Food, Sustainable Opportunities, Website of the Week

Website of the Week – 2. Planet Ark

A brief note: The feedback so far has been great. Thanks very much to everyone who left a note and/or a website suggestion. As promised, I will make sure I discuss different sites and try to provide everyone with a variety once a week. I am sorry this week’s post is pretty much showing up so late…on the last day. There is a reason of course, and I will highlight those. I have had to focus my energy on a couple of new ventures. In addition, a chapter proposal I made has been accepted, which means I have to make even more time for activities through Q1 of 2011. As usual, blogging will become a bit slow. I hope to catch up after Q1, and I hope you bear with minor delays and set backs.

Regional Focus: Australia

The Review: Planet Ark is number 2 on my list, yes, but it technically belongs at number 1. When I was still an undergraduate student in India, starry-eyed and looking to change the world with “ecofriendly refrigerants”, I went on an internet search. One of the first websites I found was Planet Ark. It was also one of the first website whose newsletter I signed up to, and I have remained signed up with. The website, true to it’s name, serves up environmental news from across the world.

It is an Australian website, so several of the links on the website may lead you to sites specific to Australia. They are still very useful, and the newsletters are definitely relevant for anyone interested in environmental news and I highly recommend it. In effect, my recommendation and review surround the newsletters themselves. The World Environment News newsletter is quite useful, with news from various countries listed alphabetically. They also have a section with related photos. All this tends to be both informational and inspirational.

In addition, the website announces itself as a shamelessly populist, non-political, non-confrontational non-profit website/organization. Having spent years perusing the newsletter and the website, I tend to agree with this!

Categories: News, Causes, Recycling, Information, Resources and more.

Newsletters: There are two newsletters associated with the website:

1. World Environment News: http://planetark.org/enviro-news/signup.cfm

This is the newsletter I reviewed earlier. It appears to have Reuters and Colonial First State as partners of some form or other.

2. Aware Newsletter: http://planetark.org/aware/

This newsletter appears to be specifically geared towards Australians and provides monthly informational tips and tricks on reducing our environmental footprint.

URL: http://planetark.org/

Rating: 10/10

Supplementary Websites: I found quite a few supplementary websites listed through sub-domains of the Planet Ark website. These include the string of websites at the very top of the logo. I am not going to list them all here. Just look at the top of the website logo. Here is an example:

National Tree Day in Australia: http://treeday.planetark.org/

January 16, 2011 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Uncategorized

Canadian businesses – ecoliving awards

Competitions provide impetus to students, new and established businesses. For environment friendly businesses, sometimes contests and/or awards can range from a pleasant bonus to a much-needed lifeline. I found this particular announcement and I thought Canadian readers could benefit from all this.

The local Scotiabank appears to be providing awards to businesses , innovators and students working towards domestic energy efficiency.

The Categories:

1. Business Leadership – $50,oo0 for businesses providing services in the residential sector

2. Innovator Award – $15,000 for someone creating a prototype for an eco-friendly product or service

3. Student Leadership Award – $10,000 for “post-secondary” students, which I am guessing means high school students.

Other Details

The Deadline: January 30, 2011

The Show: There will be a gala award ceremony in Toronto where the award winners will be celebrated.

The Website: http://ecoliving.scotiabank.com/awards

January 7, 2011 · admin · No Comments
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: Canada, Competitions and Awards

Website of the Week – 1. The Sierra Club

The Preface: For a few months now, I have been meaning to write and review websites that in some way shape or form disseminate information, provide resources, initiate and organize campaigns and provide other avenues for related to the preservation of our natural resources, sustainable living, clean technologies and other areas of conservative living.

One of the struggles I had was trying to figure out which site to start with. Of course, now I feel foolish because, what better website to start with than one started by John Muir, a man who walked as one with nature! The story of his dedication to the Sierras is eternal and yet his biggest contribution remains the Sierra Club.

As someone who considers John Muir a personal hero, I should have never had the hesitation of knowing where to start. I have indeed collected enough websites to last almost a year and half, reviewed on a weekly basis. It now remains to be seen if I will keep up the weekly timing.

The Review: The Sierra Club is an organization and their website acts as a great medium to relay everything they stand for. The Sierra Club fights for conservation, through campaigns, political action and awareness campaigns. Of course, to add fun in the mix, they also have commercial services such as organized hikes and such. Since you would rather visit their website than listen to a yarn by me, here goes:

Categories: News, Conservation, Causes, Activism, Clean Technology, and much more.

Website: http://www.sierraclub.org/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/sierra_club

(Several more on their twitter page)

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SierraClub

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/NationalSierraClub

(There appear to be additional, related channels)

Site: Safe, appears secure, clean interface

Commercial Services: Yes

Rating: 10/10

Supplementary Websites: There are several websites tied to the Sierra Club from what I can tell. I found this one interesting –

Hey Mr. Green: http://sierraclub.typepad.com/mrgreen/

Review: The questions appear to be decent and basic in nature and the answers cogent. I wish they had attached references and sources.

Special Advantage: Podcasts available!

Drawback: No way to subscribe to the blog via email (some of us like that and hence -0.5 points)

Rating: 9.5/10

To continue receiving the reviews:

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

January 6, 2011 · admin · No Comments
Tags: , , , ,  Â· Posted in: Causes, Sustainable Opportunities

2011 – International Year of Forests

The United Nations has declared that 2011 will be the international year of the forests. The point is to promote the sustainable practices that keep forests sustainable as a resource for the future.

They even have a nice little presentation that you can watch. I have attached a link at the bottom of this post.

Sustainable Forest Management

The idea behind sustainable forest management is that we create a balance between social, economic and ecological pressures – make forests and ecosystems last perennially while allowing people that depend on the forests to still access the resources. This is of course, a very simplified way of putting it. There is no need for me to lecture you on these principles. I will attach a couple of excellent resources here for you to base your work off of.  I thought I will leave you with a few action items instead.

Action Items

You have a whole year. That is the beauty of declaring an entire year as the year of a cause! So here are some of the things you could be doing:

1. Learn and teach: They both go hand in hand. All this “green” stuff – we are all learning. How do you become an expert? By learning, and teaching, which of course causes people to ask you questions and in turn, allows you to motivate and learn more…I have been volunteering with middle school and  high school students for two weekends to a year for a few hours, and yet, even in that short period, the students have taught me so much with their simple and innocent yet incisive questions!

2. Organize an awareness event: Large scale organizations such as the UN, lofty as their goals are, do not reach the grassroots. Grassroots campaigns are very critical, especially for communities that live on the edges of forests. Of course, be careful that you don’t saturate people with “greenwash”. Keep the message simple and clear – we need to understand that resources are not spontaneously sustainable when it comes to human consumption. So, we need to identify and adhere to principles that will allow us to prosper as a society while living harmoniously with nature.

3. Cause change – from one to many: Change comes from within. So start with yourself! And then let everyone know, and maybe you can lead by example. That is how things should be – simple and straightforward. It could be more recycling, buying less, or simply blogging and writing and just shouting out, from window fronts and rooftops…wherever it is that your impact will be felt!

4. Compete! : If you are a teacher, the National Association of Conservation Districts is organizing a contest for K-12 students. You should try to educate and encourage your students to enroll! There is another video contest as well. I am providing links for these as well. In general, it would be a great idea for students and people to participate in contests. Contests and competitions provide a clear focus and a deadline and a framework to educate and learn.

5. Hold a contest: If you are part of a grassroots organization, or if you teach at a school, or work with a non-profit organization that is in the focus area of sustainable forest management, maybe you can conduct a contest of your own and widen the net of people of various age groups and backgrounds that can participate in and forests, what they mean to us and why we need to conserve.

For more events and dates: http://www.itshothere.org/?page_id=117

References:

1. U.N. Website for International Year of Forests: http://www.un.org/en/events/iyof2011/index.shtml

2. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_forest_management

3. Oklahoma State University: http://digital.library.okstate.edu/forestry/sf27p006.pdf

4. USDA Forest Service Sustainable Resource Management: http://www.fs.fed.us/sustained/msie4.html

5. K-12 Poster Contest: http://www.nacdnet.org/education/contests/poster/2011/forestry_2011.html

6. Video contest for those 18 and under: http://www.gettoknow.ca/us/contest/details.php

January 3, 2011 · admin · One Comment
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: Sustainable Events, Sustainable Forest Management