Brazil a Leader in Green IT?
Sunday, April 12th, 2009I ran across this interesting “green IT” study released last month by IBM and the Info-Tech Research Group during the course of my work on a chapter on power management issues for a forthcoming book on green IT (information technology). Info-tech surveyed more than 1,000 IT executives at companies with 100-1,000 employees in 12 nations […]
More LAC Nations Covered by Forest Carbon Partnership Facility
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008Temas Note: When the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility was first officially announced by the World Bank a few months ago, only five Latin American nations (Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guyana, Mexico, Panama) were to participate. Because of strong interest in the Facility, it has been decided recently to expand its developing country participants, and as a […]
WHO: Electronic Cigarettes Not Legit Therapy / OMS: cigarrilos electrónicos no son tratamiento legítimo
Friday, September 26th, 2008From the World Health Organization (WHO): Marketers of electronic cigarettes should halt unproved therapy claims Contrary to what some marketers of the electronic cigarette imply in their advertisements, the World Health Organization (WHO) does not consider it to be a legitimate therapy for smokers trying to quit. “The electronic cigarette is not a proven nicotine […]
Five LAC Nations Picked for Forest Carbon Partnership Facility
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008In a recent post on the growing list of international carbon finance sources available to nations of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), I mentioned the new Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) recently created by the World Bank designed to combat deforestation and climate change at the same time. The Facility essentially will help developing […]
The Outlook for Biodiesel in Central America
Sunday, October 14th, 2007The UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC/CEPAL) recently released a report* it commissioned from a consultant that evaluates the prospects for biodiesel development in Central America generally, and individually in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. All four nations have expressed strong interest in replacing imported fossil fuels with locally […]
Combatting Deforestation I: How Bad Is It in LAC?
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007In my “confession and foreword” to the series on deforestation in LAC, I promised to begin with a look at the current state of knowledge about the rate and magnitude of deforestation in in the region. Here is my stab at this topic, building on an entry I originally sketched out last November regarding the […]
LAC the Most Aware Public About Climate Change?
Wednesday, January 31st, 2007I’m seeing press briefs bouncing around the internet over the past 24 hours reporting that a recent ACNeilsen survey of 25,408 people in 46 nations* found that the US public is the least aware and least concerned about global climate change, whereas the public in the four Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) nations surveyed […]
CAN y Finlandia firman convenio para iniciar Programa Regional de Biodiversidad
Tuesday, January 30th, 2007Synopsis in English: The Andean Community (CAN) has signed an agreement (memorandum of understanding – MOU) with the Government of Finland under which the latter will help fund CAN’s four-year Regional Biodiversity Program (“BioCAN”). BioCAN was one of the lines of action envisioned in the recently adopted “Environmental Agenda.” The Program seeks to improve the […]
Quiz: Who is 5-Time World Champion Recycler of Aluminum Cans?
Saturday, January 13th, 2007Brazil is five times champion of what? Well, yeah, football (futbol, or soccer as my American friends insist on calling it). But something else too: Brazil has led the world in recycling aluminum cans five years in a row (so it is not a anomaly or “blip”!). In 2005 Brazil recycled 96.2%, higher than Japan […]
More Construction with PET Bottles
Tuesday, November 21st, 2006In a prior entry I introduced you to Brazilian experiments with constructing homes using PET bottles. Today I’ll introduce you to Andreas Froese, a man who not only did it first in Honduras, but has gone much beyond the experimental stages to actually build over a dozen homes and community centers made of PET bottles, […]