Subscribe to My Feed
Loading ...A WEEE Bill for Amazonas
Saturday, September 26th, 2009This week Amazonas (AM) became the latest state in which a bill on “technological trash” (lixo tecnologico or e-lixo) – the Brazilians nickname for what is known elsewhere as WEEE or e-waste — has been introduced. Unlike bills recently introduced in the northeastern states of Bahia and Pernambuco, which are based primarily on a Law on […]
Coke Donates R$20 mil. to Sustainable Amazon Foundation
Friday, February 6th, 2009Coca-Cola Brasil has just donated R$20 million to the Sustainable Amazonas Foundation (Fundação Amazonas Sustentável – FAS) to promote forest conservation in Brazil’s Amazonas state and improve the quality of life for around 2,000 families living in those forests. The Coke donation matches funds from the state government, Bradesco bank and Banco do Planeta for […]
Developing Environmental Health Indicators for the Brazilian Amazon
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008Synopsis in English: In the wake of the recent decision to prepare a comprehensive assessment of the environmental and health challenges facing the capital of Amazonas state, Manuas, the National School of Public Health (ENSP) has decided to perform a complementary exercise for the broader Brazilian region known as “the Legal Amazon” (“Amazônia Legal”). “Amazônia […]
IDB Help for Sanitation & Waste Management in Manaus / Apoio do BID para Saneamento e Gestão dos Resíduos em Manaus
Friday, August 8th, 2008Temas Observations: Two small points about this loan: (1) this loan comes close on the heels of Fiocruz’s announcement of a major program to assess the environment and health challenges facing Manaus; (2) the loan was made to Amazonas state, not the municipality or the federal government. _______________________ From the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB): Brazil’s […]
Improving the Environment and Health of Manaus
Friday, July 11th, 2008Synopsis in English: Researchers at the Amazonian branch of Brazil’s much respected health R&D institution, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (popularly known as “Fiocruz“), and the National School of Public Health (ENSP) overseen by Fiocruz, will study the major environmental and health problems of Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state (and some would say of the […]
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 […]
It’s Clean Up the World Weekend — Get Involved!
Friday, September 14th, 2007This weekend across the world, including much of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), people will be joining NGOs and community groups in events designed to clean up beaches, coastal waters, rivers, lakes, parks, reserves and their surroundings as part of the annual Clean Up the World Weekend. Copied below is the official press release […]
Ecological Bricks Update
Thursday, August 30th, 2007One of the most popular posts here on The Temas Blog, judging by stats, is one from many months ago entitled “Ecological Bricks.” It still receives a hit (sometimes several) every day. A rather unique version of “ecological bricks” discussed in that post involved entombing whole empty PET bottles filled with air. This brick was […]
Probable Impact of Climate Change on Brazil
Monday, May 21st, 2007The reports issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have stolen the headlines and thunder in the global and regional press, but in Brazil it was the release of eight country-focussed studies coordinated by that country’s National Institute for Space Studies (INPE) that caught the public’s attention. Taken together, the eight studies — […]
“Ecological Bricks”
Sunday, December 24th, 2006It’s been interesting to see how much the articles on the Brazilian and Honduran buildings made using PET bottles have captured the imagination of so many readers. Since then I have been alerted to several other examples of recycled trash being used as building materials. Most of these concern what people call “ecological bricks” (ladrillos […]