WORLD POPULATION PROJECTED to INCREASE BY ONE-THIRD, from 6 to 9 billion by mid-century! (video)
WORLD ENVIRONMENT WEEK
"If we looked through a telescope and saw that the path we were walking on was heading towards a rocky cliff, would you continue walking, or would you look for a safer passage? ... and, isn't that the point of looking thru the telescope in the first place?"
STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAMS, ... and other possible ways to help in POST-DISASTER RELIEF EFFORTS
by Mags, 23 March 2011
Students in Hong Kong or anywhere in the world could offer an age-appropriate and unique way to ease the burden on families in Japan as the country begins to face the task of rebuilding JAPAN after the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident that has happened.
A Simple Solution for the PLASTIC VORTEX -- a floating mound of plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean the size of Texas
by !Baha, 5 January 2011
We've held off too long on this piece of news, about a solution for the enormous mound of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean called THE PLASTIC VORTEX ...
By now, many of you would have heard about this. There have been ships with scientists inspecting it, and there are folks using complex models and computers and advanced technological tools trying to figure out how to recycle the plastic in the vortex.
LaurelC-19 - *Wanderings on Planet Earth*: TURTLE CONSERVATION in Guatemala
by LaurelC-19, 3 December 2010
I was a volunteer in Guatemala for three weeks, based in the beautiful town of Antigua.
My first weekend there I decided to take a trip to Monterrico on the Pacific coast with a few recently made friends.
ValerieW-17 on "The Hidden Costs of Efficiency: Why it’s Okay to STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES"
by ValerieW-17, 30 November 2010
The Chao Phraya River is by no means a pretty sight. For all its cultural and religious significance, the artery of Bangkok is one hot mess: its muddy banks are strewn with litter, and God knows what else.
WASTE NOT: Singapore's Green Fashion Enterprises address Fashion-purchases, Lifecycles and Impacts
by Isis-O, 4 November 2010
This November, three of Singapore's greenest fashion manufacturers are collaborating to raise awareness on the social and environmental impacts of their industry, and highlight how clever design and sourcing can address these issues. Through two Sustainable Luxury Design Workshops, sustainable artisanal jeweller Choo Yilin, ecological apparel label Jujube, and ethical and sustainable footwear retailer Terra Plana Singapore hope to raise the consciousness of Singaporeans towards the lifecycle of their fashion purchases, as well as encourage responsible shopping.
REDUCE WASTE: *EUROPE* goes green by adding SPARKLING WATER to outdoor drinking fountain
by nycScribbler, 25 October 2010
As the world’s biggest consumers of sparkling water, it’s no surprise that the Italians are the innovators of adding carbonation to their drinking fountains. They’ve installed over 215 fountains in the country’s northern region. Each fountain provides over 920 gallons a day, half of which is sparkling water. This effort is saving 2,300 plastic water bottles each day.
JennC-22's ADVENTURES IN MONGOLIA - rafting, living in a "ger" with natives, and chowing on horse-cheese
by JennC-22, 29 September 2010
It was the last day of our canoe trip in Mongolia and the only day that the sky decided to open up and pour on us. We had been paddling and camping along the Orkhon River and the breathtaking steppe for nine days and we had passed only one town in our entire 200km journey. Now we were looking for the town of Khangalt to meet the jeep driver on the road so he could bring us back to the capital city, Ulan Baator.
LaurelC-19’s Wanderings on Planet Earth: Monterrico, Guatemala
by LaurelC-19 , 25 August 2010
I was a volunteer in Guatemala for three weeks, based in the beautiful town of Antigua. My first weekend there I decided to take a trip to Monterrico on the Pacific coast with a few recently made friends.
LaurelC-19’s Wanderings on Planet Earth: A Zanzibari Misunderstanding
by LaurelC-19, 31 March 2010
Zanzibar is a beautiful island off the coast of Tanzania. Every bit as magical and mythical as it sounds, it is a place rich in history and culture with a past as a former trading port where ships from all corners of the globe crossed paths.
LaurelC-19's Wanderings on Planet Earth: An Encounter in Tanzania
by LaurelC-19, 14 January 2010
In Tanzania stands Mount Kilimanjaro: a magnificent snow-capped mountain, the highest point on the African continent, and the subject of dreamers and poets including Hemingway himself. I was in a very random and a very small town at the base of Kilimanjaro, desperately trying to register for university courses at an Internet café. Of course, that is when the power went out. Surrendering to my circumstances, I walked over to my friends who kindly were waiting for me.
LaurelC-19's Wanderings on Planet Earth: The Makgadikgadi Pan
by LaurelC-19, 28 December 2009
One night in Botswana, we drove out to the middle of absolutely nowhere to the famous salt flats. It is called the Makgadikgadi Pan, the remnants of a long-vanished lake. While the salt flats in Bolivia are the world's single largest, this one is the world's largest complex of salt flats. The salt was not as piercingly white as Bolivia’s, and nor were there the cool hexagon-shaped lines in the cracked ground. But what was most stunning here was that all around, all 360 degrees of your view, was just white salt. The Makgadikgadi was a place where you could perfectly understand why people once thought the earth was flat, because after all, with white nothingness stretched out in front of you as far as you can see no matter in which direction you spun--it simply looked like one huge flat disc.
Weighing in at upwards of 200 kilograms each, the giant Nomura jellyfish have wreaked havoc in the waters around Japan this year. Of the most extreme stories, on November 2nd a Japanese fishing trawler capsized, after netting a dozen or more of the giant jellyfish, throwing its three man crew into the calm waters to await rescue.
Today world leaders meeting at ASEAN announced to the I-told-you-so chorus of Greenies around the world that there would NOT be "a full international legally binding agreement" to be expected as a result of the earth summit in Copenhagen beginning the first week of December. Instead, they are opting for a two-step approach, with a first step in December of coming to a "politically binding" agreement between all member nations, with the intention to later amend with hard numbers and legal obligations to reduce climate change.
The other day, my friends and I were talking about our first impressions of each other, and whether or not they’d changed over the years. When it was my turn, one of my friends told me she’d initially thought I was English Canadian. Another friend immediately piped up, saying she’d had the impression that I was Japanese at first, while someone else confessed that she’d always thought I was mixed. Evidently, I am, shall we say, ethnically ambiguous.
LaurelC-19's Wanderings on Planet Earth: Mozambique
by LaurelC-19, 17 Sept 2009
From Swaziland we went to Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. Strangely, it had a European/Latin American/Caribbean feel. It reminded me very much of Brazil, also a former Portuguese colony. We spent two nights there, and had a little civilized fun at the casino (I came out even!!), the club and at the mall. We then headed on yet another long drive to Tofu beach. It was a cramped, 8-hour bus ride with no room spared; our legs curled up on top of our backpacks.
LaurelC-19 's Wanderings on Planet Earth: Kachumbe
by LaurelC-19, 18 August 2009
Laurel took a year off before heading to university. Read about her here
For the "past 6 weeks" I've been living in a village called Kachumbe, which is beyond a larger village called Nancholi, which is on the outskirts of Blantyre, which is a city in Malawi, which is somewhere in Central/Southern Africa. I'm guessing most of you haven't heard of Malawi, let alone Blantyre, but it's okay because most people from Blantyre haven't even heard of Nancholi, let alone Kachumbe. In other words, I am most definitely in the middle of nowhere.
Appreciating your hometown - Tai Lo Sai Wan- Sai Kung, Hong Kong
10 August 2009, by !Baha
Tai Lo Sai Wan, is Hong Kong's version of those majestic National Parks in America. Tai Lo Sai Wan is facing the Pacific Ocean and that accounts for the name “Tai Long” (which means “big wave” in Chinese). The wonderful shoreline has been shaded against the big waves, wind and rain for thousands of years. The sea is unpolluted and the sand is white and very fine. The rhythm of the waves, the cool sea breeze soothe your mind and release you from stressful city life.
LaurelC-19's Wanderings on Planet Earth - Part 2 of 3 : Uganda
by LaurelC-19, 28 July 2009
Laurel took a year off before heading to university. Read about her here
In Uganda we visited Ngamba island, which was basically one huge chimpanzee rehabilitation center. It was impeccably run and well-organized. Most memorably, its residents were hilarious.
THE PLASTIC VORTEX: What's more important? OCEANS or TRASH HEAPS FOR HUMANS, or OCEANS 'AS' TRASH HEAPS!
by AmyZ-16, 19 May 2009
Ever since I was a child, I have been fascinated with the ocean. It seemed like such a mystifying realm; what I saw from the surface was only a glimmer of the enormous range of life within. I have been snorkeling in the waters of Thailand and Malaysia since I was 8 years old, and the pleasures of seeing strange, vividly colored creatures in the underwater world made me believe that the ocean was truly something spectacular. The colors and designs of the creatures down there were so intricate, like each fish or coral was a work of art.