Month: April 2022

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Ibrahim Odumboni, has urged engineers to design bailing machines for plastic materials to make recycling more attractive and less capital intensive.  He flayed the use of brown pet bottles for packaging of plastic drinks, urging firms doing so to stick to white ones.  Odumboni stated these at a stakeholders’ consultative forum for plastic recycling, organised by Giz, a German firm, at the Sheraton Hotels, Ikeja, Lagos.

Two-thirds (66 percent) of Pennsylvanians agree state lawmakers should place a high priority on funding for state parks and forests, according to a recent state poll of likely voters.  The agreement was broad-based and bipartisan, including majorities of voters regardless of their party affiliation, age, gender, geography, or ethnicity.  “Pennsylvanians – no matter who they are, where they live, or what political views they hold – support investing in our state parks and forests and protecting our precious natural resources,” said Brad Mallory, Board Chair of the Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation, which commissioned the scientific statewide poll.  In addition, the poll shows that 67 percent of Pennsylvania likely voters support using as much as $125 million of the state’s share of the federal American Rescue Plan’s funding on the maintenance and repair of state parks and forests. 

The World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD) today priced the Wildlife Conservation Bond (WCB) in support of South Africa’s efforts to conserve endangered species. Also known as the “Rhino Bond,” this five-year $150 million Sustainable Development Bond includes a potential performance payment from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which will contribute to protecting and increasing black rhino populations in two protected areas in South Africa, the Addo Elephant National Park (AENP) and the Great Fish River Nature Reserve (GFRNR). AENP is managed by the South African National Parks (SANParks) and GFRNR is managed by Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency (ECPTA).

When devices such as computers, smart phones and batteries are sent for recycling, not all the materials are captured for use in new devices. Specialist coatings are often made with rare and expensive materials to enable our modern electronics to work. However, these coatings can cause problems when it comes to recycling and the materials are not always recovered but incinerated to produce ‘heat from waste’. This means that the expensive, highly engineered coating has been lost and its value not realised.” “adhesives often make our phones water tight and ensure longer lifetimes of electronic products, however when it comes to recycling these products the adhesives make it difficult to take the products apart, wavelength sensitive adhesives would make this more straightforward.

Fast fashion has a sustainability problem, and a TCNJ professor is heading to Finland to find out if intellectual property laws, of all things, have anything to do with it. This spring, Susanna Monseau, a professor of interdisciplinary business, was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study the effects of trademark laws on sustainable fashion with researchers at Turku University of Applied Sciences in Finland. By speaking with fledgling companies about their experiences developing new sustainable technologies, she will investigate whether trademarks and intellectual property laws stifle innovation. “The whole purpose of intellectual property is to promote creativity,” says Monseau, who will travel to Finland in August. “But it doesn’t necessarily work like that.” The global apparel industry is a huge polluter, accounting for about 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, a problem that is expected to worsen in the coming year as demand for cheap garments and accessories grows by 60% by 2030.

Most of us on earth now live in cities. By 2050, more than two-thirds of us will. And by the end of this century, demographers predict, 85% of the world’s population will live in cities. By then, demographers estimate, cities like Lagos in Nigeria and Mumbai in India will have 60 million or more inhabitants, and much of the world’s urban growth will be in Africa.  What will this mean for climate change, and how will climate change affect growing urban populations? Much depends on whether smart decisions are made now about how expanding cities develop, and how existing cities—especially in energy-intensive countries like the United States—adjust to be more climate-friendly.

Fort Worth Water offers free water use assessment and comprehensive report services with the SmartWater ICI Assessment Program. The services are available to all Fort Worth industrial, commercial and institutional water customers.  The cost of water is deceptively low. In reality, facilities pay for water twice by paying for water supplied and wastewater discharged. So paying for lost or wasted water adds up fast.  Water use assessments are a best management practice for water conservation to prevent water loss due to leaks, reduce water use and improve water efficiency across a facility.

We are currently inviting proposals for the ninth edition of Cynfas, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales’s digital magazine, with the theme of Sustainability. We are very interested in the voices of those approaching visual culture from different angles, and no professional art/music/writing background is required to apply.  You do not have to have a professional art/music/writing background to apply and we are very interested in the voices of those approaching visual culture from a different angle. Contributors will take a work or works in the Museum’s Art Collection as a starting point or reference and will create a work of their own in response.

Within our airport boundaries are 75 hectares of woodlands, grasslands and wetlands inhabited by hundreds of species of mammals, birds, insects and bees.  We actively manage these areas through our Biodiversity Action Plan, while working collaboratively with national and local organisations and experts. We are also fortunate to be assisted by a large number of volunteers and groups within the local community.

The Husky Green Awards recognize individuals and groups across all University of Washington campuses who lead the way for sustainability at the University of Washington. This is the 12th year the awards have been awarded by the UW Environmental Stewardship Committee as part of the UW’s Earth Day celebrations.  The Husky Green Awards are given to students, faculty and staff from the Seattle, Bothell and Tacoma campuses who show initiative, leadership and dedication. See all the 2021 Husky Green Award recipients below.

Plastic is probably in your food or drinking water, and now scientists fear it might be flowing through your veins.  A small study published last month found that the blood of 17 out of 22 people contained microplastics — plastic fragments smaller than a sesame seed. It’s the first time those tiny bits of fossil-fuel product have been detected in human blood, but the discovery is no surprise to plastics researchers.  “Plastics are everywhere,” Rolf Halden, the director of the Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering at Arizona State University, told Insider.  Previous studies have found microplastics in humans’ food, drinking water, poop, placentas, and lungs, and drifting through the air we breathe.

Fashion accounts for 10% of the world’s carbon emissions and is the second-most polluting industry in the world. But in an increasingly climate-conscious society, it is increasingly trying to present itself as sustainable to appeal to customers.  One big target is reducing greenhouse gas emissions and for the past two decades many brands have signed up to a scheme called the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an independent body that awards grades for environmental performance.  However, the Guardian can exclusively reveal how the fashion industry’s impact on the planet is being hidden. Thanks to the way the scores are calculated, household names such as H&M and Nike can claim an overall decrease in annual carbon dioxide emissions – and receive high scores from the CDP – despite their actual emissions increasing.

Bonnie’s father is an engineer for the Apollo 11 space mission. Bonnie is an engineer too, developing a model rocket that she plans to shoot high into the sky. While Baba works on the moon-landing module far away, Bonnie designs, builds, and tests her own project — with sometimes disastrous results! Throughout the process, Baba’s letters encourage her in her work, and after the astronauts return from the moon, Baba comes home in time to see Bonnie launch her amazing rocket.  Inspired by the experiences of the author’s grandfather, who helped design the space suits and life-support systems on the Apollo 11 lunar module, Bonnie’s Rocket celebrates the diverse team that contributed to one of the United States’s greatest achievements. It’s also a heartwarming father-daughter story and a terrific gift for budding engineers and space fans of all ages.

Fashion and agriculture may seem like two industries that are miles apart, but BASF’s e3 Sustainable Cotton program has brought them closer by creating the first transparent and traceable cotton supply chain. Today the company announced a new collaboration between the e3 Sustainable Cotton program and the United Nations’(UN) hosted Conscious Fashion and Lifestyle Network for a series of convenings in New York City throughout 2022.  The Conscious Fashion and Lifestyle Network is a United Nations (UN) hosted online platform for industry stakeholders, media, Governments, and UN system entities. The network showcases and enables collaborations that accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Considering the fashion and lifestyle sector’s significant impact on societies and the environment, the Conscious Fashion and Lifestyle Network fosters transparent, inclusive, and transformative engagement of global stakeholders to drive urgent action for sustainability. The network provides an impartial platform for the industry and the UN system. Its key objective is to mobilize expertise, innovation, technology, and resources towards a sustainable and inclusive COVID-19 recovery, with the Sustainable Development Goals as a guiding framework.

The UK should ban all exports of rubbish to stop plastic food wrappers and broken gadgets polluting the shores of poorer countries, the boss of the Environment Agency will declare on Tuesday.  Exports of all rubbish should be stopped “as soon as possible” Environment Agency chief executive Sir James Bevan will say, arguing the move is necessary to crack down on waste crime and bolster the UK’s reputation as a green country.  The intervention is the first time the Environment Agency has called for a complete ban on all waste exports and will be a major boost for campaigners who have for years demanded the UK to stop exports of plastic waste to poorer countries.  “Sending certain kinds of waste abroad is legal, but is it right? Is it morally right to dump the waste we create on another country to deal with?” Sir James will say in a speech to waste professionals.

A discussion has been held between Sarawak and Singapore on the future direction of renewable energy-sharing in the region.  The discussion took place during a courtesy call by Singapore’s Energy Market Authority (EMA) and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on Premier of Sarawak Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg at his office in Petra Jaya here yesterday morning.  “Fully-involved Malaysia’s largest renewable energy (RE) developer Sarawak Energy, which is also part of a consortium with Sembcorp Industries and SP Group conducting a feasibility study to explore the potential of power connectivity between Singapore and Sarawak, shared views, expertise, experience and opportunities to work together in boosting further economic development,” said Sarawak Information Department in a statement yesterday.

Presidio Graduate School’s Climate Education for All program has a mission of providing all teachers with the climate literacy skills and tools they need to educate the next generation on climate change science, causes, and solutions. Our current offerings include three free online, facilitated teacher professional development courses: Teaching Climate Change Essentials, Teaching Extreme Weather, and Teaching Climate Justice. Our hope is that, through this presentation, we can build partnerships within the CLEAN network to help spread the word about the program to educators.  In this session, we’ll review the need and our approach to bringing climate change and climate justice professional development to teachers, share our current offerings, discuss ideas to help spread the word about the program, and collaborate on way to meet the current professional development needs of teachers.

Mattel, the poster kid of plastic toys, has been shaking off this less-friendly association over the past years and now hopes to use 100% recycled, recyclable, or bio-based plastic materials across products by 2030. The toymaker’s latest launch is a significant step—it involves its first-ever carbon-neutral toys, as well as a Matchbox Tesla replica designed with 99% recycled materials.  Starting kids young on protecting our planet, Mattel has released a toy collection about living sustainably for ages one and up. The MEGA BLOKS Green Town range, it says, is also “the first-ever toy line available at mass retail to be certified CarbonNeutral.” In a timely fashion, these have been made available in the spirit of Earth Month.

Recommended actions to protect “Our planet, our health” Reimagine your world #HealthierTomorrow – What can you do to protect our planet and our health?  Governments: Prioritize long-term human wellbeing and ecological stability in all decision-making.Prioritize wellbeing in all businesses, organizations, social and ecological goals.  Keep fossil fuels in the ground.  Stop new fossil fuel exploration and projects and implement policies on clean energy production and use.  Stop fossil fuel subsidies.  Re-invest fossil fuel subsidies in public health. Tax the polluters.  Incentivize carbon reduction.  Implement the WHO air quality guidelines.  Electrify health care facilities with renewable energies.  Reduce air pollution levels to reduce the burden of disease from stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and both chronic and acute respiratory diseases, including asthma.  Tax highly processed foods and beverages high in salt, sugars and unhealthy fats.

NatWest Group is targeting net zero by 2050, and to also halve its financed emissions by 2030 in the interim, marking out the financial firm as one of the leaders in the race to decarbonise the UK banking sector.  Alison Rose, the firm’s chief executive, has been instrumental in driving its climate and sustainability agenda, and she was names ‘Leader of the Year’ at the BusinessGreen Leaders Awards 2021 for her efforts.  The firm’s achievements under her leadership include tightening its fossil fuel lending rules and exceeding its £20bn sustainable funding and financing target for 2021 six months early, while this month it plans to seek approval for its climate strategy from its shareholders.