Subscribe to My Feed




Tell a Friend




  • Polls

    How Is My Site? / ¿Cómo es mi sitio web?

    View Results

    Loading ... Loading ...
  • Recent Comments:

  • Why is LAC Slow to Tap Carbon Funds?

    Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

    The Dominican Republic’s Environment Secretariat (SEMARENA) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) recently co-hosted an event in Santo Domingo designed to prompt Dominicans into tapping the many international funding opportunities for projects related, directly or directly, to climate change (“carbon markets”). And well they should! For some reason […]

    Share

    No Twig Left Behind

    Saturday, June 7th, 2008

    The Municipality of São Paulo (pop. 11 million) has adopted a law that creates the Program for the Use of Wood from Tree Pruning (Programa de Aproveitamento de Madeiras de Podas de Árvores – PAMPA).  According to the Law’s author, Councilman Gilberto Natalini (Brazilian Social Democratic Party – PSDB), once fully operational PAMPA will divert […]

    Share

    Two More World Bank Carbon Facilities

    Friday, October 12th, 2007

    From the World Bank: Two New World Bank Carbon Facilities Will Help Fight Climate Change And DeforestationThe World Bank is working to increase significantly the world’s ability to tackle global climate change and deforestation with two new carbon finance facilities to benefit developing countries. An innovative Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) would prevent deforestation by […]

    Share

    Digitizing Environmental Enforcement

    Saturday, August 4th, 2007

    Minas Gerais is moving to accomplish something no other Brazilian state — or probably any Latin American/ Caribbean (LAC) nation, for that matter — has yet done: digitize its environmental inspection and enforcement. Currently Minas is winding up a pilot project in which its 21 waste and sanitation inspectors do much of their work utilizing […]

    Share

    What’s Wrong with This Picture?

    Wednesday, June 6th, 2007

    It’s the type of photo-op you probably see on environment ministry or agency websites around the world, especially as World Environment Day (05 June) approaches. The Environment Minister, praising some company or group or individual for doing something deemed environmentally-friendly, often followed by a representative of the company touting the measure as a sign of […]

    Share

    When is a Biogas Subsidy an Incineration Subsidy?

    Monday, March 19th, 2007

    Recently a notice was forwarded to me about public hearings in Brazil on giving special breaks to projects that tap landfills for biogas to generate electricity.  Well, if you've read this blog long you probably realized by now that anything having to do with waste interests me, so no surprise that I looked into it. […]

    Share

    Anatomy of a Landfill Controversy

    Thursday, March 15th, 2007

    Working on waste issues in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), you see a lot of controversies involving disposal sites. Many times it is some neighborhood that does not want a landfill anywhere near them, either because they fear it will affect their health or property values, they dislike the smell a badly managed site […]

    Share

    Trash Photos XI: A Visit to the Landfill

    Thursday, February 8th, 2007

    Someone 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!) […]

    Share

    Toxics in Electronics Redux: Greenpeace Responds

    Monday, October 30th, 2006

    As 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 […]

    Share