Air Quality
« Previous EntriesLatin America’s First Hydrogen Bus
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009Brazil is known for many “green” experiments and firsts in transportation. Think of Curitiba’s groundbreaking work on bus rapid transit, Brazil’s pioneering work on sugarcane ethanol and use of flex-fuel vehicles, the country’s aggressive biodiesel program, Vale’s trains run on biodiesel, Itaipu’s development of electric cars that can be charged from biodigestors, and the use […]
São Paulo’s Car Emissions Inspection Regime Unconstitutional?
Sunday, June 14th, 2009Stuck in a hotel lobby in the City of São Paulo, waiting since dawn to be allowed to check in my room, I have been catching up on my reading on Latin America environment, health and consumer affairs, in both electronic and print formats. One of the electronic tidbits I found involves this very city: […]
No More Imported Used Vehicles for Peru After 2010
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009Peru’s Environment Minister wants everyone to be clear: as of 2011, no more used vehicles will be imported through the Tacna Free Zone (ZofraTacna). Dr. Antonio Brack Egg says that starting in 2011 there will be no more importation of used vehicles in order to cut down on vehicle and air pollution, because Peru’s vehicle […]
Vehicle Pollution in São Paulo Quadruples Risk of Death
Saturday, March 7th, 2009Vehicle emissions indirectly kill 20 people per day in the São Paulo metropolitan region, according to a study reported in the daily Folha de São Paulo done by the Air Pollution Laboratory of the University of São Paulo’s (USP) Faculty of Medicine (FM). The study was commissioned by the Brazilian Health Ministry (MS) and has […]
Trade in Used Cars in the Americas: Good for the Environment?
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009A recent working paper by two US economists looks at the environmental consequences of international trade in durable goods through data regarding trade in used cars between the United States and Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). [A tip of the hat to Rob over at Globalisation and the Environment for alerting […]
Minas Moves to Improve Air Quality
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008Synopsis in English: The State Environment Foundation (FEAM) of Minas Gerais (MG) is upgrading its monitoring of air quality in this key Brazilian state. All its automated measurements will be conducted around the clock 365 days a year, with results accessible via the internet soon to be more frequent than daily. This includes new monitoring […]
¿Se recupera el aire bogotano? / Is Bogotá’s Air Recovering?
Friday, November 28th, 2008Bogotá’s environment authority, SDA, just issued a release declaring that the city’s air is getting better. Their evidence that is so? First, that the sulfur content in diesel fuel sold in the capital has fallen from 500 parts per million (ppm) this past July to 231 ppm in October. They attribute the drop to the […]
US-Mexico State Partnership on Climate Change & Air Pollution?
Friday, September 26th, 2008Last month Mexico’s Environment Secretary, Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada, suggested even closer cooperation on climate change and air pollution issues between the states on both sides of the US-Mexico border. Speaking at the Border Governors Conference in Hollywood, California, Elvira Quesada proposed that the six Mexican border states (Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Sonora, […]
Dia Sin Auto en Chile
Thursday, September 27th, 2007Last weekend (22 Sept.) it was World Carfree Day, celebrated mainly in Latin America in Brazil, Quito, Ecuador and San Luis Potosí, Mexico. By all accounts it was a success in Brazil — for details in Portuguese (including some nice photos) on what happened in the various cities there, check with the Rua Viva blog. […]
Dia Sem Carro
Friday, September 21st, 2007Tomorrow, Saturday 22 September, is World Carfree Day. The annual event begun in France in 1998 and now worldwide, is intended as a day when everyone leaves their car at home and utilizes public transport, walks or rides a bicycle. The resulting quiet, lack of traffic congestion and cleaner air is intended to make people […]
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