Toward a Sustainable Photovoltaics Industry
Saturday, March 14th, 2009Photovoltaic (PV) technology usually is portrayed as a “win-win” solution that can harness “free” solar energy to address climate change, reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports and create “green jobs.” Its greater use has often been advocated for many of the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) (see here, here, here and here). […]
The CEC’s “Annotated Bibliography” on Environmental Impacts of Biofuels
Sunday, October 5th, 2008Normally I would not stick an annotated bibliography in the Temas Recommended Reading List, much less do a review of the “bibliography.” But the North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC) recently released an “Annotated Bibliography on the Environmental Effects of Biofuels” that I find a bit unusual and noteworthy. It’s more like a review […]
Getting Mercury Out of Healthcare
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008In July the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA) proudly announced that all public hospitals within city limits had eliminated their inventory of old fashioned mercury thermometers and replaced them with digital ones. Why is that significant? A 2006 study done by CABA’s Environmental Health office found that the City’s public hospitals emitted about 40 […]
If You Can’t Find It Here, You May Not Find It
Friday, February 1st, 2008Quite a few Temas Blog readers noticed the absence of new posts for several weeks. I was fully occupied with work day-and-night on the final stages of the total revamp and re-launch of my main site, temasactuales.com Although work continues on the Spanish and Portuguese versions (coming soon!), the burden has lightened enough that I […]
Trash Photos XI: A Visit to the Landfill
Thursday, February 8th, 2007Someone recently asked whatever happened to my “Trash Photo” series. No, folks, I did not run out of trash- or recycling-related photos — not likely to happen anytime soon! No, I didn’t tire of posting in the series. I’m always ready to “talk trash.” (All right, keep the groans about my puns to a minimum!) […]
Getting Toxics Out of Electronics: I Second the Motion
Monday, October 30th, 2006I recently came across another blog which discussed the controversy over Greenpeace’s “toxics in laptops” report I covered in this entry and that entry here on the Temas Blog and over at Treehugger in a guest blog as well. The “Inspired Protagonist” offered what I felt was very thoughtful advice well worth contemplating by all […]
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 […]
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 […]
Judging the Electronic Firms
Monday, September 4th, 2006Last week Greenpeace released an interesting report on the environmental performance of 14 major mobile and computer manufacturers. I recommend that anyone interested in environmental management, waste policy and corporate social responsibility to take a look at it, and I am adding it to the Temas reading list. To read and/or download the report yourself, […]