The New Green Economy

For over half a century now, linear product life cycles have dominated the marketplace and come to define the value sets that characterize modern economics.  The average consumer has unwittingly invested untold amounts of time, energy, and income to ensure that the Materials Economy remains a driving force throughout cultures around the world.  Product marketing incessantly bombards consumers in an effort to dupe them into believing that happiness and peace of mind are to be found in the latest product trends.

An April 2009 article published on The New Green Economy, entitled Transforming the Materials Economy, examined the outright unsustainability of the Materials Economy.  The article aimed to promulgate the devastating impact that linear product life cycles have had on the both natural and built environments, as well as the bleak future they may lay ahead if these cycles are not radically modified to mirror the circular life cycles as found in the natural world.

Source: The New Green Economy

Oceans’ Ability to Absorb Carbon

Oceans regulate our climate. They play a key role in keeping the world’s “homeostasis” in tact. However, their ability to absorb carbon & keep the climate in balance is dwindling, a new report shows.
In a year-by-year study from 1765 to 2008, researchers found that the oceans are struggling to meet increasing emissions demands. They cannot take in as much carbon as they used to.

The study, published in the November 19 issue of the journal Nature, found that the percentage of fossil fuel emissions the ocean has been taking in since 2000 has decreased by as much as 10%.

Source: Simple Green

Antarctic Peninsula Region south of the South Orkney Islands

Fishing and refuse disposal are to be banned in the 1st high seas Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the Southern Ocean, an area of the ocean that contains more species than the Galapagos Islands.
This will allow scientists to monitor the effects of climate change in this region. This is only the first of possibly twelve such areas.

This new MPA is in the Antarctic Peninsula Region south of the South Orkney Islands and was approved by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) at its recent meeting. It is slightly larger than Portugal, about 94,000 square km, and is the result of 4 years of development work. The ban starts in May 2010.

Source: Simply Green

Copenhagen

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has urged individuals, businesses and community groups to “Vote Earth” ahead of the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

The Vote Earth Campaign is about urging world leaders to deliver a new climate deal which is fair and effective in keeping global warming as far below 2 Degrees Celsius as possible. The Heads of State will gather in Copenhagen on 7 December.

“WWF is calling on South Africans to join the global community in Voting Earth by visiting www.wwf.org.za and committing to take steps to reduce their own environmental impact,” explains WWF South Africa’s CEO, Dr Morne du Plessis.

Source: Simply Green

Global warming

The world’s diverse regions and ecosystems are close to reaching temperature thresholds – or “tipping points” – that can unleash devastating environmental, social and economic changes, according to a new report by WWF and Allianz.

Often global warming is seen as a process similar to a steady flow of water in our bathrooms and kitchens, where temperature goes up gradually, controlled by a turn of the tap.

But the report ‘Major Tipping Points in the Earth’s Climate System and Consequences for the Insurance Sector’ documents that changes related to global warming are likely to be much more abrupt and  unpredictable – and they  could create huge social and environmental problems and cost the world hundreds of billions of dollars.
Source: Simply Green