Subscribe to My Feed




Tell a Friend




  • Polls

    How Is My Site? / ¿Cómo es mi sitio web?

    View Results

    Loading ... Loading ...
  • Recent Comments:

  • « Previous Entries

    Jamaican Voices for Climate Change

    Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

    From UNDP Jamaica: Voices For Climate Change Project Launched Jamaican entertainers, including Lloyd Lovindeer, Queen Ifrica, Tony Rebel, Boris Gardiner, Pam Hall and many others, have come together for the Voices For Climate Change Project which was launched on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at the Mona Visitor’s Lodge, UWI. The project is a national public […]

    Share

    Trash Photos XIX: A Visit to Minas’ Center on Waste

    Thursday, June 25th, 2009

    Yesterday I visited an institution in Belo Horizonte (BH) that, to my knowledge, is unique in Brazil, if not the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).   The Minas Waste Reference Center (Centro Mineiro de Referência em Resíduos – CMRR) opened in 2007 with the mission to serve as the focal point in the […]

    Share

    A Unique Environmental Institution

    Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

    Right now, until 05 February, environmental groups across Brazil are electing their representatives on the National Environment Council (Conselho Nacional do Meio Ambiente – CONAMA). The more than 500 environment nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the Environment Ministry’s (MMA) National Registry of Environmental Entities (Cadastro Nacional de Entidades Ambientalistas – CNEA) are voting for which individuals […]

    Share

    Santiago Sets 25% Recycling Target

    Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

    A working group co-chaired by the National Environment Commission’s directorate for the Metropolitan Region (CONAMA-RM), the mayor’s office and the nongovernmental organization Casa de La Paz (“Peace House”) — aided by the steel firm Gerdau AZA and the German technical cooperation agency GTZ — has hammered out an action plan to have the RM — […]

    Share

    Minas Trumpets Its Waste Policy Achievements

    Saturday, December 27th, 2008

    Minas Gerais, Brazil’s second most populous state and one of its mining, metals and agriculture powerhouses, is pretty proud of its recent accomplishments in waste policy and management. I’ve chronicled here a couple of their steps, such as the modernized inspection/enforcement regime and the creation of the Waste Reference Center (CMRR). But that only touches […]

    Share

    Recycling Used Motor Oil Packaging in Brazil

    Thursday, December 25th, 2008

    In past posts I’ve discussed how recovery of used motor oil is still in its early stages in Latin American nations such as Brazil and Colombia.  But that’s only part of the waste problem generated by the lubricants we use in motor vehicles.  There’s also the packaging that the new motor oil comes in, the […]

    Share

    A Cempre for Colombia

    Wednesday, December 24th, 2008

    When I started research on the first edition of my book on waste and recycling policy in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) back in 1997, one of the first places I turned for information was Brazil’s Business Commitment to Recycling (Compromisso Empresarial para Reciclagem – Cempre).  It was still located in Rio de Janeiro […]

    Share

    McDonald’s Claims First “Ecological Restaurant” in Latin America

    Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

    McDonald’s just inaugurated what it claims to be the first “ecological restaurant” in Latin America — well, at least, the first one of their chain, anyway.  Take a look at why McDonald’s calls this an ecological restaurant and see if you agree: Arcos Dourados (“Golden Arches”), the company that manages the franchise network of McDonald’s […]

    Share

    A Green Report Card for São Paulo’s Cities

    Thursday, November 27th, 2008

    Yesterday São Paulo state (SP) Secretary for the Environment, Xico Graziano, revealed the environmental rankings of the state’s municipalities and rewarded the mayors of cities with the highest grades. This quasi “green report card” and honor roll is a fruit of the state’s “Green Municipality” (Município Verde) Program, one of the governor’s “21 strategic environmental […]

    Share

    Pará Adopts a Recycling Policy

    Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

    Earlier this month Governor Simão Jatene signed a law creating a State Materials Recycling Policy for Pará. The new Law is based on similar measures adopted recently by its neighbor Amapá and by several other Brazilian states, including Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul and Rondônia (see the Temas list of waste/recycling legislation […]

    Share
    « Previous Entries