Mexican Teens Win Stockholm Water Prize
Wednesday, August 15th, 2007It’s World Water Week, and this year’s winners of the Stockholm Water Foundation’s annual Junior Water Prize have just been announced: a group of teens from Mexico with an ingenious, low-cost solution for removing lead from water. That’s them in the picture at right receiving the award from Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria. They also received […]
Assessing Children’s Vulnerability to Chemical Exposures
Saturday, July 28th, 2007The report discussed in the press release below is actually from the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), for which the World Health Organization (WHO) serves as secretariat, but is also cosponsored by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and UN Environment Programme (UNEP). It represents an emerging international (not just North American or European) consensus […]
Another Historic Court Judgment Against Officials Not Doing Their Job
Saturday, June 2nd, 2007Yesterday (31 May), it seems, was a banner day for court judgments taking LAC executive branch officials to task for not doing their job in enforcing environment laws. First the Brazilian case finding that federal environment officials must share in the environmental damage reparation costs and compensation for coal mining pollution they did not address […]
The Metals Industry Stance on Recycling and Recycled Content
Wednesday, March 28th, 2007At the end of November a coalition of entities representing major segments of the mining and metals industries* issued a joint “Declaration on Recycling Principles.” As you may have discerned by now, everything having to do with waste and recycling interests me. I downloaded the Declaration, jotted notes and questions in a draft post, and […]
An Interesting Twist to the Battery Recycling Story
Tuesday, March 27th, 2007A few days ago I posted about a controversy in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná involving community opposition to the environmental licensing of a battery recycling facility just outside town. I concluded by saying: Looking on the bright side, the mere fact that you can view a news report such as this one says […]
Battery Recycling? Not in my Backyard!
Saturday, March 24th, 2007As the video below from RPC (Rede Paranaense de Comunicação) TV demonstrates, there’s an interesting flap underway in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná. Seems that a number of neighbors in a rural community discovered that a business was set to open nearby that would take in used car batteries for recycling — mainly to […]
Electronic Recyclers of America Launches Joint Venture With Azcarraga Family to Recycle Mexican Electronic Waste
Saturday, November 11th, 2006From the California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth: Electronic Recyclers of America Launches Joint Venture With Azcarraga Family to Recycle Mexican Electronic Waste California’s largest recycler of electronic waste and the family that founded Mexican television network, Televisa, today announced they have formed Electronic Recyclers International (ERI), a Mexican joint venture to recycle millions […]
Toxics in Electronics Redux: Greenpeace Responds
Monday, October 30th, 2006As I noted here previously on the Temas Blog, a few weeks back Treehugger invited me to guest blog about my reservations concerning Greenpeace’s handling of its report on the testing of laptops for certain substances. My entry drew quite a few comments, including a long, detailed reply reputedly penned by the scientist who did […]
Will Lima Breathe Easier?
Saturday, October 14th, 2006Lima Is Not for Asthmatics A recent post in Ecoperu warned that walking through Lima’s city center could prove hazardous to your health due to contaminants in the air that exceed international standards. I was a bit taken aback by this statement. It’s been over three years since I last walked Lima’s center, so maybe […]
Judging the Electronic Firms Revisited
Wednesday, September 20th, 2006Since I wrote my prior Temas blog entry on the Greenpeace “report card” on “greener electronics,” I have read a number of interesting reviews of the GP report written by other blogs. Two examples I suggest reading: Treehugger’s analysis and the debate in Dan Dilger’s “Roughly Drafted” blog on all things Apple. Reading these have […]
Next Entries »