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Loading ...A Global Initiative on Efficient Lighting
Saturday, September 26th, 2009From the Global Environment Facility (GEF): Lighting Up the Climate Change Challenge A new global initiative to accelerate the uptake of low energy light bulbs and efficient lighting systems was launched today by the Global Environment Facility and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The close to $20 million initiative, the Global Market Transformation for […]
Is Chile Ready?
Sunday, August 30th, 2009According to the blog of the University of Chile’s Environmental Law Center (DCA), Environment Minister Ana Lya Uriarte assured them the other day that Chile is ready to assume all the environmental standard commitments that will come with its membership, currently under negotiation, in the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). She pointed […]
A Green IT Law for Brazil?
Thursday, August 27th, 2009Yesterday the Environment Committee and Consumer Protection (CMA) of the Brazilian Senate discussed a draft committee opinion on a green IT bill just introduced last May. The committee rapporteur for Senate bill (PLS) 173/2009 recommended its approval. The CMA decided to hold a hearing on the bill before deciding on the draft opinion, with invitations […]
Directional Signals in Brazilian Federal Waste Policy
Monday, August 17th, 2009A body most people have never heard of, part of a larger organization many people do not know or understand, met today and took a series of decisions that will help shape new directions in waste policy in Brazil. The larger organization many do not know and a good many do not understand is Brazil’s […]
Espirito Santo Adopts Law on Products Containing Heavy Metals
Thursday, May 21st, 2009Last month Paraná (PR) adopted a law on mercury-containing products, now Espírito Santo (ES) has adopted a law on products containing heavy metals. Which Brazilian state is next, and will it adopt PR’s single-substance approach, or ES’ broader wider net? Points of Confusion Article 1 of the brief ES law requires “suppliers” and distributors of […]
IDB Funds Coal-Fired Power Plants in Brazil / O BID vai financiar usinas termelétricas a carvão no Brasil
Friday, March 20th, 2009From the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB): Brazil expands energy supply in Northeastern region with IDB financing Innovative agreement will partially offset CO2 emissions by promoting renewable energy projects and greenhouse gas reduction research Brazil will add 1,080 megawatts (MW) of electric power in the Northeastern states of Ceará and Maranhão with the construction of two […]
Government Study Calls for Mexican Battery Regulation / Estudio recomenda normatividad sobre las pilas en México
Friday, March 13th, 2009Mexico’s National Ecology Institute (INE) has just released an “environmental diagnosis” of portable batteries in that country. The study looks at the growth of battery consumption in Mexico, a recent analysis of the chemical composition of both formal and informal (“pirate”) batteries (looking particularly at heavy metal content and any other aspects that may make […]
Rio to Require Take-Back of Fluorescent Lamps
Thursday, February 26th, 2009The Environment Minister for Rio de Janeiro (RJ) State, Marilene Ramos, has sent to governor Sérgio Cabral for his signature a draft decree to implement a 2007 law requiring the take-back of end-of-life fluorescent lamps. The law required manufacturers, importers, distributors, resellers and vendors of fluorescent lamps to provide consumers with containers for the collection […]
Tienda Inglesa Helps Uruguay Eliminate Mercury Thermometers
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009Last year I posted about Health Care Without Harm‘s (Coalición Salud Sin Daño) campaign to get the health care sector in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to get mercury-containing medical instruments [primarily thermometers and sphygmomanometers (blood pressure monitors)] out of hospitals, clinics and homes. At that time, they were primarily having success in Argentina. […]
EPA Forces San Juan to Educate Other Cities on Proper Management of Used Oil and Fluorescents
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009From the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): An Agreement between EPA and the Municipality of San Juan Prompts Effort to Improve Waste Handling Island-Wide The general public, municipal employees and others will get the opportunity to learn to properly handle used oil, oil filters and mercury-containing bulbs and lamps, thanks to a settlement between the […]