Mais de 92 por cento dos parques eólicos propostos foram aprovados nos últimos cinco anos em Portugal

Portugal é um caso de sucesso a aproveitar a energia Eólica

O Ministério do Ambiente aprovou, nos últimos cinco anos, a quase totalidade dos projectos apresentados por empresas para construção de parques eólicos em Portugal, o que se traduzirá em 2409 megawatts de potência produzida através de energia renovável.

“Nos últimos cinco anos o Ministério do Ambiente aprovou mais de 92 por cento [92,39 por cento] dos parques eólicos que foram objecto de Avaliação de Impacte Ambiental”, declarou a ministra Dulce Pássaro esta segunda-feira, dia em que foi emitida a Declaração de Impacte Ambiental para o parque eólico do Guardão, em Tondela.


Dulce Pássaro sublinhou que “o sector das eólicas é uma aposta que veio para ficar”, não só pelos seus benefícios ambientais, mas também como contributo para “a economia nacional, que neste momento está a exportar energia, bem como aerogeradores e torres produzidos em Portugal”.

Só este ano, foram aprovados nove parques eólicos, mas o maior impulso foi dado entre 2007 e 2008, com a aprovação de 17 e 18 parques eólicos, respectivamente.

“Portugal vai continuar a apostar nas energias renováveis como forma de continuar a reduzir as emissões de gases com efeito de estufa e os gastos com a importação de petróleo”, garantiu a Ministra.

Tecnologia - Opções ecológicas para equipamentos velhos

Por muito que goste de guardar os equipamentos velhos, por uma questão de saudosismo ou para mais tarde usar, manter os telemóveis usados e as baterias substituídas na gaveta, atirar os computadores e impressoras para a arrecadação ou "despejá-los" numa lixeira são escolhas pouco ecológicas que a prazo têm consequências nocivas no ambiente.


O conceito estende-se a todos os equipamentos eléctricos e electrónicos e também aos consumíveis, como os tonners, que podem ser reciclados de forma eficiente, recuperando componentes que podem ainda ser reutilizados ou destruindo de forma ambientalmente correcta o que já não presta.

O site http://www.tek.sapo,pt/ aborda este tema mais uma vez, dando conselhos e sugestões sobre a melhor forma de se desfazer dos "monos", mas este é um tema que não perde actualidade, até porque o volume de lixo electrónico não pára de crescer à medida que as taxas de substituição de telemóveis, computadores e outros aparelhos aceleram.

Por isso hoje colocamos o "chapéu verde" e lembramos algumas das boas alternativas para não acumular lixo electrónico e manter uma boa consciência ecológica.

O primeiro ponto a considerar é óbvio, mas nem sempre visto da forma mais racional. Antes de "deitar fora" faça uma avaliação sobre se o seu computador, impressora, telemóvel ou televisor está mesmo velho e estragado ou se ainda pode servir os interesses de outros utilizadores.

Nem todos têm a mesma necessidade de funcionalidades de "nova geração" e um telemóvel que já não usa pode fazer as alegrias de um idoso que não tem dinheiro para comprar um novo, ou de um jovem que só quer telefonar e enviar mensagens.

O mesmo se passa com os computadores. Não estamos a falar de lixo, mas alguns equipamentos com menor desempenho para algumas exigências profissionais ou para jogos mais avançados podem ainda servir para aceder à Internet, ou usar ferramentas mais básicas, em lares, orfanatos, escolas ou instituições de solidariedade. Actualmente estas já não fazem campanhas de recolha, mas se estiverem em condições razoáveis aceitam de bom grado a oferta...

Quando os aparelhos já não são de todo úteis, a solução mais cómoda para a sua "reforma ecológica" é exigir aos vendedores dos equipamentos novos que façam a retoma do aparelho que está a substituir. Seja um telemóvel, um frigorifico ou um monitor, as lojas têm de ter soluções para retomar os aparelhos velhos, entregando-os a entidades que os reciclam de forma correcta.

Se não quiser, ou não puder usar este modelo, pode entregar os aparelhos directamente nos centros de recolha criados em várias localizações em todo o país.

A ERP Portugal é uma das entidades com licença para gestão dos Resíduos Eléctricos e Electrónicos e tem no seu site um mapa com indicações sobre os locais de entrega.

Para aumentar a consciência ambiental nas crianças e nos jovens a ERP criou uma iniciativa que é dinamizada nas escolas, a Geração Depositrão, que está ligada ao projecto Eco-Escolas e que tem sido acolhida com entusiasmo em vários estabelecimentos escolares.

A Amb3E, outra das entidades licenciadas na área da recolha de lixo electrónico, tem também online informação sobre a reciclagem e a indicação de pontos de recolha, que podem ser úteis.

Para os telemóveis e tonners a AMI desenvolveu um plano que permite à associação sem fins lucrativos tirar partido deste e-lixo e transformá-lo em receita que é aplicada em fins sociais.

A associação tem uma lista de pontos de recolha que aderiram à iniciativa, mas qualquer empresa, organização, escola ou estabelecimento comercial pode participar e tornar-se um ponto de recolha destes materiais. Basta preencher o formulário de adesão.

A organização já contribui actualmente com a reciclagem de 200.000 consumíveis informáticos por ano e pode ainda ajudar comprando os tinteiros reciclados que são comercializados pela AMI.

Se as sugestões "verdes" não o interessaram, há outras hipóteses de reutilização mais criativas onde o interesse ambiental também pode ter lugar. Como esta, que ensina a transformar um monitor CRT num aquário para peixes e que inclui todas as instruções para os mais corajosos....

E se não gosta de peixes, há sempre a hipótese dos hamsters, ou dos gatos ganharem uma nova casa...

Fonte: www.tek.sapo.pt

FOOTPRINT CALCULATOR

Worried about your impact on the environment? The way we use the planet's resources makes up our ecological footprint. Measuring yours takes less than 5 minutes and could set you on a life-changing journey...

Follow the link to find out:

http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/

Act today to reduce your footprint.

August 21 is (was) Earth Overshoot Day

Exactly what does this mean and how bad is it?

August 21st marks an unfortunate milestone: the day in which we exhaust our ecological budget for the year. Once we pass this day, humanity will have demanded all the ecological services – from filtering CO2 to producing the raw materials for food – that nature can provide this year. From that point until the end of the year, we meet our ecological demand by liquidating resource stocks and accumulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.


What is Earth Overshoot Day?

Every year, Global Footprint Network calculates nature's supply in the form of biocapacity, the amount of resources the planet generates, and compares that to human demand: the amount it takes to produce all the living resources we consume and absorb our carbon dioxide emissions. Earth Overshoot Day, a concept devised by U.K.-based new economics foundation, marks the day when demand on ecological services begins to exceed the renewable supply.

What is Overshoot?

For most of human history, humanity has been able to live off of nature's interest -- consuming resources and producing carbon dioxide at a rate lower than what the planet was able to regenerate and reabsorb each year.

But approximately three decades ago, we crossed a critical threshold, and the rate of human demand for ecological services began to outpace the rate at which nature could provide them. This gap between demand and supply -- known as ecological overshoot -- has grown steadily each year. Global Footprint Network's most recent data show that it takes one year and five months to generate the ecological services (production of resources and absorption of CO2) that humanity requires in one year.

The Cost of Ecological Overspending

Of course, we only have one Earth. The fact that we are using (or “spending” natural capital) faster than it can replenish is similar to having expenditures that continually exceed income. In planetary terms, the results of our ecological overspending are becoming more clear by the day. Climate change – a result of carbon being emitted faster than it can be reabsorbed by the forests and seas – is the most obvious and arguably pressing result. But there are others as well: shrinking forests, species loss, fisheries collapse and freshwater stress to name a few.

How is Earth Overshoot Day Calculated?

Put simply, Earth Overshoot Day shows the day on which our total Ecological Footprint (measured in global hectares) is equal to the biocapacity (also measured in global hectares) that nature can regenerate in that year. For the rest of the year, we are accumulating debt by depleting our natural capital and letting waste accumulate.

The day of the year on which humanity enters into overshoot and begins adding to our ecological debt is calculated by calculating the ratio of global available biocapacity to global Ecological Footprint and multiplying by 365. From this, we find the number of days of demand that the biosphere could supply, and the number of days we operate in overshoot.

f you have further inquiries about Earth Overshoot Day, please contact http://www.footprintnetwork.org/

Mauritania plants trees to hold back desert

Mauritania has launched a tree-planting program aimed at protecting its capital from the advancing desert and coastal erosion, a project that could eventually extend thousands of kilometers across Africa.

President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz on Saturday planted the first of some 2 million trees that are meant to form a "green belt" around the capital, Nouakchott, and curb erosion elsewhere in the desert nation that straddles black and Arab Africa.

"The aim of this green belt is to stop the advancing desert and stop encroachment by the sea, which is threatening the town with floods," Ba Housseynou Hammadi, minister for the environment and sustainable development, said.

"This belt will also play an economic role. Some of the trees that have been chosen can be used for firewood. Others will produce gum acacia, which is (a natural gum) sought after for pharmaceutical products," Hammadi added.

It will take four years to plant the trees in Mauritania.

The project is part of a broader ant-desertification plan, the "Great Green Wall," launched by the African Union in 2005 to try to create a 15 km-wide wall of greenery stretching 7,000 km between Africa's east and west coasts. Image shows the planned location of the Great Green Wall across Africa.

Source: http://www.reuters.com

Design + Architecture

From Felled Tree to Dining Room Table: Furniture That's Sustainable and Unique

The team at Meyer Wells

If you've ever been upset to learn that a tree you loved either fell or had to be chopped down, you'll be glad to hear about Meyer Wells, the furniture company based out of Seattle. Operating under the motto "furniture with modern roots," Seth Meyer and John Wells take felled trees and turn them into custom wooden tables. So now you can see your beloved tree live on as a personal, unique, and super-sustainable pieces of furniture, with a history.


According to the New York Times, their business, started four years ago, bears all the markers that would seem to point toward collapse and extinction in a recessionary economy. It's founded on idealism and emotion. It's riddled with huge and unavoidable inefficiencies. And it tenders a high-end product that asks buyers to take risks and have faith.

Yet in the four years since their founding and the three since TreeHugger last checked in, business has boomed. Last year Meyer Wells' revenues reached $850,000 (668.000 Euros); this year they're on track to hit $1,000,000 (785.000 Euros). It goes to show that green businesses can thrive, if they're based on real values and people believe in them.

In a world in which wood furniture that's truly green is hard to find, Meyer Wells strives to be as sustainable as possible. They use bio-diesel vehicles and mostly hydroelectric and renewable power sources, and keep their business contained to the western US. "I think our idealism is meeting with the demand to make buildings greener," Wells told the Times.

Of course, all that personal care and attention make these products a bit more expensive than what you can find at Ikea. The above maple dining table will run you $7,500 (5.900 Euros). But if you're in the USA West coast and have the money and a taste for furniture with history, you won't do any better than Meyer Wells.

Scientists Show Waves of Deforestation Across East Africa

Charcoal making from natural forests is causing environmental problems, near Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

© Edward Parker / WWF-Canon

A new study co-authored by a World Wildlife Fund scientist documents waves of forest degradation advancing like ripples in a pond 75 miles across East Africa in just 14 years.


Scientists from 12 organizations in Europe, Africa and the US demonstrated that forest exploitation begins with the removal of the most valuable products first, such as timber for export, followed by the extraction of less valuable products such as low value timber and charcoal in strict sequence. This ‘logging down the profit margin’ in tropical forests follows the same pattern of removal seen for fish in unmanaged oceans.

Charcoal making from natural forests is causing environmental problems, near Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

© Edward Parker / WWF-Canon

The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, tested an economic model that predicts the sequential removal of products from high to low value. Researchers visited forests at varying distances up to 137 miles from Tanzania’s largest city, Dar es Salaam, in 1991 and again in 2005, tracking the trees that remained. They found that waves of degradation moved, on average, six miles a year out from the city. For example, charcoal extraction extended 31 miles from Dar es Salaam in 1991, but in 2005 it was found up to 106 miles from the city.

“The degradation waves have spread rapidly. Urban migration and rising demand for timber, particularly in China, are amongst the major reasons for this,” said lead author Dr Antje Ahrends of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. “By the end of the study, high value timber logging production took place over 125 miles from the city. This is very likely to be unsustainable.”

The ability to predict forest degradation is essential if new market-based incentive programs to protect forests are to be successful. Such plans, like the proposed ‘Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation’ (REDD) being negotiated under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, may channel billions of dollars into conservation and poverty alleviation if these instruments can be shown to verifiably reduce carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and degradation.

“REDD would create incentives for developing countries to conserve tropical forests and to adopt low-emission strategies for sustainable development,” said study co-author Professor Neil Burgess of World Wildlife Fund and the University of Copenhagen. “REDD could rapidly cut carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and degradation, which are currently responsible for 15% of total emissions from human activity”.

Most logging in Tanzania is illegal and causes major financial losses. A trade survey by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, estimated that in 2005 some 96 percent of harvested timber was exported illegally, losing the Tanzanian government an estimated $58 million of revenue. Charcoal burning is also mostly illegal, but carried out by local people who have no alternative means of income. Charcoal is used in towns by poor people to cook their food.

The authors recommend that policy interventions should be carefully tailored to the type of degradation activity, and care should be taken to provide alternative income sources and prevent increasing levels of poverty in an already poor country.

“This study highlights the value of strong interdisciplinary research coupled with large-scale and long-term datasets,” said co-author Dr Simon Lewis of the University of Leeds. “Both are needed if scientists are to provide the knowledge to assist managing the natural world sustainably whilst benefiting local people.”

Source: 

www.wwf.org

O Meu Ecoponto

O Meu Ecoponto é um projecto desenvolvido pelo GEOTA e pela Sociedade Ponto Verde e é apoiado por diversas entidades. Conta com a parceria dos sistemas Amarsul, Ambilital, Tratolixo e AMISM.


Sabemos que, actualmente, em Portugal, existem cerca de 30 000 Ecopontos e que esse número está constantemente a aumentar. Trata-se do sistema mais generalizado para a deposição selectiva de resíduos de embalagens, colocado à disposição do público.

Dadas as metas que o nosso país tem que cumprir para a reciclagem e valorização dos resíduos de embalagens, verifica-se a permanente necessidade de um aumento de eficácia dos processos de recolha que lhes estão associados.

Como a eficácia da recolha selectiva através dos ecopontos depende de vários factores, sendo o principal a participação do público, nasceu, em 2005, a ideia de aliar as novas tecnologias de informação, como a Internet, à participação e à avaliação, por parte dos utilizadores dos ecopontos, do funcionamento desses equipamentos.

Como a eficácia da recolha selectiva através dos ecopontos depende de vários factores, sendo o principal a participação do público, nasceu, em 2005, a ideia de aliar as novas tecnologias de informação, como a Internet, à participação e à avaliação, por parte dos utilizadores dos ecopontos, do funcionamento desses equipamentos.

A avaliação pelo público, utilizando as ferramentas disponibilizadas na página O Meu Ecoponto e noutros suportes, permitirá auxiliar os Sistemas Municipais/Autarquias a detectarem eventuais problemas e a melhorarem os processos de recolha, contribuindo assim para a eficácia global do Sistema Integrado de Gestão de Resíduos de Embalagens - SIGRE.

Este projecto (na sua anterior versão) beneficiou ainda de uma Menção Honrosa no Prémio Valorsul 2008.

Fonte: http://www.omeuecoponto.pt

Icebergs - Remember Titanic?

An iceberg is a large piece of ice formed from freshwater that has broken off from a glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. It may subsequently become frozen into pack ice. Alternatively, it may come to rest on the seabed in shallower water, causing ice gouging in the land underneath or becoming an ice island. Because the density of pure ice is less than sea water an iceberg will float in sea water with about one-ninth of the volume of an iceberg above water. The shape of the underwater portion can be difficult to judge by looking at the portion above the surface. This has led to the expression "tip of the iceberg", for a problem or difficulty that is only a small manifestation of a larger problem.


Icebergs have always naturally formed. It has been speculated that iceberg formation will increasd as the climate warms. For example, last week, an iceberg four times the size of Manhattan broke off Greenland's Petermann Glacier. The ice island is now drifting south through the Nares Strait between Greenland and Canada. Experts are not sure whether it will make it all the way to the Atlantic and what damage it might cause on its way.

Once icebergs were nameless navigational obstacles such as the one that sunk the Titantic. Nowadays they are named and the larger ones routinely tracked. The following is a list of the more recent large bergs:

* Iceberg B-15 11,000 square kilometres, 2000,

* Iceberg B-15A, 3,100 square kilometres (1,200 sq mi), broke off 2003

* Iceberg C-19, 5,500 km2, 2002

* Iceberg B-9, 5,390 km2, 1987

* Iceberg D-16, 120 sq mi, 2006

The largest is the size of Jamaica and has been floating around Antarctica since its birth slowly melting and crumbling. The letter B indicates its location (Amundsen Sea).

Calving is the process that causes iceberg formation. It can be caused by tidal and seismic events, periodic calving and disintegration of ice masses are considered normal geological processes. One of the most important causal factors in glacial calving is the tendency of the ice to spread out at the terminus of the glacier. Other important variables include tidal fluctuations, storm surges, collisions from other ice masses, melt water wedging into crevasses, and pre-existing flaws along which calving might occur.

Global warming will lead to more melt water that will gradually help widen cracks and break off more icebergs in the future. Presently there is no firm mathematical formula for predicting calving.

Where do the icebergs go? Many stay near where they form. Others drift south or north into more active sea lanes causing potential damage and losses.

Source: www.enn.com

ARKive.org — Discover the world’s most endangered species

"For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth."

"The Outermost House" - Henry Beston Author (1888-1968)

Environmental News Network is proud to announce our newest affiliate, ARKive. ENN partners with leaders in environmental and sustainability issues to bring you cutting edge news to help you stay up to date on the important issues of the day. Endangered species are being impacted by deforestation and development on every continent. Most people have only a limited idea of just how many species are endangered, what they look like, what habitats they need to survive, and what we can do to help them stay around a little longer, or perhaps, rebound enough to no longer be endangered.


Wildlife films and photos are vital weapons in the battle to save the world's endangered biodiversity from the brink of extinction. So, with the help of the world’s best filmmakers, photographers, conservationists and scientists, ARKive is creating the ultimate multimedia guide to the world's endangered species.

In a world in which a species becomes extinct every 20 minutes, films, photographs, and audio recordings may soon be all that remain of these species. However, until now, this valuable imagery has been scattered throughout the world in a wide variety of private, commercial and specialist collections, with no centralized collection, restricted public access, limited educational use, and no coordinated strategy for its long term preservation.

ARKive, a unique global initiative, is now putting that right by leading the "virtual" conservation effort to find, sort, catalog and digitize threatened species multimedia. Contributed by the world’s most prestigious photographers and filmmakers such as National Geographic, the BBC (and more than 5,000 others), much of this media would otherwise be unavailable to the public — but ARKive is making it freely accessible through one centralized digital library at http://www.arkive.org/ to build environmental awareness. This multimedia is being preserved and maintained in a secure media vault, providing a digital safe-haven for the benefit of future generations.

As an official partner of the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species™, the ARKive team is in the process of creating dynamic online multimedia profiles of all 17,000+ plants, animals, insects and fungi most at risk of extinction. These profiles offer great detail in easily understandable language on each species -- including facts and status, description, range and habitat, threats to conservation, and more, bringing scientific names to life and showing why each species is special. Visitors can also learn about the groups and individuals working to conserve each endangered plant and animal. These multimedia species profiles are a valuable educational resource and conservation tool in the fight to raise awareness of the thousands of species on the brink of extinction. ARKive’s supporters include Dr. Sylvia Earle, Sir David Attenborough, Dr. E. O. Wilson, and numerous other conservationists and scientists from around the world.

We invite you to visit http://www.arkive.org/ to explore for yourself the wealth of information, compelling imagery, and rich interactive tools which make ARKive such a compelling resource. If you have imagery of an endangered species, we'd like to hear about it. Or please consider making a donation to the ARKive project, and don't forget to explore ARKive's many thousands of wildlife videos and photos, and tell everyone you know about ARKive’s search for the world's most endangered species.

Source: www.enn.com

Curso de identificação de aves do Algarve - 9 e 10 de Out. 2010

Galinha Sultana/ Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio)

Foto: Rosa Gambóias

Parque Nacional da Ria Formosa e
Reserva Natural do Sapal de Castro Marim e Vila Real de Santo António



No fim-de-semana de 9 e 10 de Outubro, no âmbito de um protocolo entre o ICNB e a Birds & Nature, vai realizar-se mais um curso dedicado às aves em Áreas Protegidas, intitulado "Curso de identificação de Aves do Algarve", com especial ênfase no Parque Natural da Ria Formosa (PNRF) e na Reserva Natural do Sapal de Castro Marim e Vila Real de Santo António.

Local:

Tavira (Hotel Vila Galé Albacora) / Parque Natural da Ria Formosa e Reserva Natural do Sapal de Castro Marim e VRSA

Formador: João Jara

Carga horária: 16 horas (11 horas parte prática / 5 horas parte teórica)

Programa

Dia 9 de Outubro

08,30 – Encontro no Hotel Vila Galé Albacora, em Tavira*.

Breve enquadramento das actividades a desenvolver.

09,30 – Saída para a parte prática. Locais a visitar: salinas de Tavira, Ludo e Quinta do Lago.

12,30 – Almoço

14,00 – Continuação da parte prática. Locais a visitar: Quinta do Lago (cont.).

16,00 – Parte teórica

Principais locais no Algarve para observar Aves. Principais habitats do Algarve. Principais espécies do Algarve (Patos, Gaivotas).

17,00 – Intervalo

17,15 – Principais espécies do Algarve (Limícolas).

18,15 – Final

Dia 10 de Outubro

08,30 – Encontro no Hotel Vila Galé Albacora, em Tavira.*

Saída para a parte prática. Locais a visitar: salinas do Cerro do Bufo e de Castro Marim. .

12,30 – Almoço

14,00 – Continuação da parte prática. Passeio de barco na Ria Formosa.

16,00 – Parte teórica

Principais espécies do Algarve (Outras Aves Aquáticas, Rapinas, Passeriformes).

17,00 – Intervalo

17,15 – Revisão e identificação das espécies observadas.

18,15 – Final

Indicações

* Para chegar ao Hotel Vila Galé Albacora em Tavira (1º e 2º dias): Vindo da Via do Infante em direcção a Vila Real de Santo António, saír onde assinalado “Tavira”. Na primeira rotunda, continuar para Tavira. Na segunda rotunda, seguir a indicação “Vila Real de Santo António”. Na terceira rotunda, virar à direita, onde encontrará indicação para os hotéis (note que existem dois hoteis da cadeia Vila Galé em Tavira).

Nota

Caso pretendam alojamento, os participantes no curso beneficiam de preços especiais acordados especificamente para este evento, nesta unidade de alojamento.

Fonte: http://www.icnb.pt/

 

Facts and Myths About Saving Energy

A new survey reveals that, when it comes to saving energy, most of us don't know what we think we know.


Quick – what's the most effective for you to save energy?

If you're like many Americans, you'd say turn out the lights or turn up the AC's thermostat. And, like many Americans, you'd miss the mark.

Turns out, when figuring what we can do to go green, most of us overstate. We think about curtailment – unplugging appliances, driving less, turning off lights – when improving the efficiency of our cars, appliances and home would take the biggest chunk out of our energy footprint.

That's not a surprise to scientists who surveyed 505 Americans on their perceptions of energy consumption and savings. After all, curtailment is pretty easy: Flip a switch. Improving efficiency, on the other hand, requires research, effort, out-of-pocket expense: Does anybody want to buy a new washing machine when what's downstairs works just fine?

The researchers started their survey with a simple open-ended question: What's the single most-effective thing you can do to conserve energy? More than 40 percent of the respondents said one of three things: Turn off lights, drive less or change the thermostat. Less than 10 percent identified what experts generally agree are the most effective measures - insulate the house or use more efficient appliances or cars.

"When you think about your life, what's really easy to do is turn off the lights when you leave the room," said Shahzeen Attari, the study's lead author and a researcher at Columbia University's Earth Institute and Center for Research on Environmental Decisions.

Researchers note that for many of us, concerns about energy simply are not strong enough, compared to other daily worries, to warrant learning about energy conservation. But raise fuel prices or impose a tax on carbon that reflects its role in climate change and other environmental harm, and the public would have ample incentive to get educated in a hurry. After all, it was the spike in gas prices in 2008 that brought the auto industry to its knees and triggered some of the nation's sharpest declines in vehicle-miles traveled since record-keeping began in the 1940s.

"With a carbon tax we would see changes," Attari noted. "People are pretty elastic when it comes to the consumption of energy."

What you can do? Let's face it: nobody's going to go out and replace a working hot-water heater or washing machine. And few of us have a few grand lying around to replace our drafty old windows. But there are some easy steps you can take that can effectively cut energy consumption.

Buy your beverages in aluminum cans, not glass bottles:

Making a glass bottle requires 1.4 times the energy of an aluminum can when virgin materials are used. Toss recycled materials into the equation and the difference jumps to 20 times as much. In part that's because glass is so heavy.

Change your washer's settings:

Most people assume line-drying clothes – a time-consuming process to be sure – saves more energy than using colder water and optimizing loads. In fact the reverse is true.

Cool the room, not the house:

Many of us think, incorrectly, that central air uses marginally more energy than a room air conditioner. The reality is it uses 3.5 times as much.

Douglas Fischer is editor of DailyClimate.org, a nonprofit news service covering climate change. This post is republished with permission.






Source: http://www.thedailygreen.com

Vamos conhecer os Roazes do estuário do Sado

O golfinho Roaz-Corvineiro, que é o golfinho comum, é a espécie mais famosa e conhecida de golfinhos no mundo inteiro. A partir de 1920 os golfinhos passaram a ser capturados para estudos e espectáculos em cativeiros, sendo a espécie mais comum nos parques temáticos. Em Portugal, nas águas do Rio Sado é comum encontrar-se estes golfinhos.

Siga o link do ICNB:

http://roazesdosado.icnb.pt/homepage.aspx


e também do portal dos Golfinhos:

http://www.golfinhos.net/pt/portal/especies/familia-dos-golfinhos/roaz-corvineiro.html


Nome comum:

Roaz


Outros nomes:

Roaz-corvineiro

O nome Roaz-corvineiro tem origem nos seus hábitos alimentares e de comportamento. “Roaz” provém do seu hábito de roer as redes dos pescadores, com o propósito de lhes roubar o peixe. “Corvineiro” deriva de uma das presas preferenciais desta espécie - a corvina.


Nome comum em outras linguas:

(Inglês) Bottlenose dolphin


(Espanhol) Delfín mular


(Francês) Grand dauphin


(Italiano) Delfino maggiore


(Alemão) Hochcöplige Tümmler


(Japonês) Hando iruka

Fonte: www.icnb.pt