Asia

Climate change : China faces a grim future

To Reuters quoting a local scientific report : ” Global warming threatens China’s march to prosperity by cutting crops, shrinking rivers and unleashing more droughts and floods. “ “China faces extremely grim ecological and environmental conditions under the impact of continued global warming and changes to China’s regional environment,” Given how the situation is dire […]

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UNEP : Twelve billion trees have been planted

Yes, you read that right : twelve (12!) billion trees have been planted within the UNEP Billion Tree Campaign. The landmark was reached in November in Kenya. (Was it an homage to Wangari Maathai ?) To the official website : ” China is the leading participating country, having planted a total of 2.8 billion trees under

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China & the USA to ban incandescent light bulbs

Incandescent light bulbs are a relic of the past, a vastly inefficient past. Modern alternatives like CFLs and LEDs consume five to ten times less energy. For these reasons, the European Union or Australia have already phased them out. More countries will be doing the same, namingly the United States and China. The latter will

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Many large cities at risk due to rising sea levels

To new research carried out and recently released by Maplecroft, many booming megalopolis around the world are at extreme risk because of rising sea levels and other consequences of climate change. Manila, Jakarta and Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta) would be threatened the most. Others cities, including Mumbai (Bombay), Delhi, Chennai, Karachi, Lagos and Guangdong,

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Ongoing floods in Thailand to cost billion

It seems global weirding is indeed taking place. While there are huge droughts in Texas, Thailand and its capital city, Bangkok are witnessing their largest floods in decades. As the Guardian reports : ” Thailand is used to floods in monsoon season, but this year’s are the worst for more than half a century. They

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China to invest $313 billion in cleantech

According to Reuters : ” China will invest 2 trillion yuan (about $313 billion or 230 billion euros) to promote a green, low-carbon economy in the next five years, a senior economic planning official was quoted on Sunday as saying. ” The article goes on : ” (…) The green economy plan includes setting up

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Isang Litrong Liwanag : The solar bottle

While reading the tweets of the people I follow, one from Andrew Revkin got my attention : “ H. sapiens, innovator: Solar “light bulbs” from water-filled soda bottles brighten tin-roofed slums.  “ This was how I got introduced to Isang Litrong Liwanag ( “A Liter of Light” ), one of the most brilliant ideas I

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China’s cancer villages

To the Guardian : ” Nationwide, cancer rates have surged since the 1990s to become the nation’s biggest killer. In 2007, the disease was responsible for one in five deaths, up 80% since the start of economic reforms 30 years earlier. ” While the government insists it is cleaning up pollution far faster than other

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