Welcome ! As a young French Marketing professional with a Master's in International Management I have been selecting since January 2007 the latest headlines and best researches on sustainable development, climate change, cleantech and the world energy sector. Sounds great ? Don't hesitate to subscribe now !
This post was submitted for the UNEP World Environment Day blogging competition sponsored by the United Nations Environment Program and TreeHugger. Please Like it on Facebook or tweet using the #WED2012 hashtag.
I have been convinced for years now that the only solution to our current global triple crisis - massive unemployment, climate change, peak oil - is the Green Economy. The UNEP and many NGOs have reinforced this strong belief.
Cleantech is already a reality as $260 billion were invested last year alone, and it is only the beginning as the UN declared this year will be the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All. Continue »
What if we could in the same time slow down climate change, increase health and boost agriculture ? Is this too good to be true ? No, as to a NASA scientist we could do just that by focusing on both methane and soot (black carbon).
Out of the 400 ideas that were studied, these 14 were chosen as they have a direct and immediate impact on people’s lives. None of these methods are concerning carbon dioxide, which also have to be tackled in the meantime.
One of the main ways is switching to cleaner burning cookstoves. I have previously tackled this topic here and explained how this could save two million people per year. Continue »
I don’t talk about food often here. However, with so many starving people around the world, I should talk more about agricultural advances as feeding nine billion people by 2050 will be the biggest challenge ever faced.
To Ecogeek : ” A new type of rice (from) the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore, India has many advantages over typical rice varieties. It requires less water to grow, it’s higher in protein and it emits less methane over its life cycle. ”
” This rice, which is not genetically modified but a hybrid crop, uses 60 percent less water than conventional rice crops. It only needs to be watered once a week even in arid climates.”
Everybody loves chocolate but to TreeHugger : “ The world’s cocoa supply could be in danger from climate change, according to a new study from the CIAT, which says that prices are likely to skyrocket if preventative measures aren’t taken.”
” The report predicts that the expected temperature increase of more than two degrees by 2050 will leave many cocoa-producing areas in West Africa too hot to continue growing the crop. And the report says the decline could begin as soon as 2030.”
Of course the impact of climate change on chocolate harvests is trivial in comparison to what it could mean for all of us and our very civilization. But nonetheless, I consider this should motivate people to do more…
To the New York Times green blog : ” The European Union is overestimating the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions achieved through reliance on biofuels as a result of a “serious accounting error”
Here is further evidence that biofuels aren’t really the answer we are looking for. If you have been reading this blog for some time now, you perhaps remember this post : Biofuels aren’t a sustainable solution.
Of course, second generation biofuels might offer us better solutions. But we will have to be checked. Meanwhile, I keep on betting on electric vehicles as they are much more efficient than internal combustion engines…
One of my latest stride toward sustainability has been eating organic fruits. Indeed, after slashing my energy and water use and traveling as much as I could by train, I guess it was the natural next step.
So when Grist publishes an article on how organic food is ” not really better for you or the planet ” I am really wondering : Am I doing something bad ? Scientific American – which published the original article – brings us data.
This question is interesting, as organic food and beverages made $26.7 billion last year alone in the United States. Continue »
While browsing my tweets to prepare my selection of Twitter for June I found several articles pointing out to a quick climate fix : tackling black carbon (also known as soot) might prove to bring exceptional greenhouse gases emissions cuts.
The work was carried out jointly by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and published in margin of the Bonn Climate Talks in June.
On top of slowing climate change, this would prove to have important health and agriculture benefits. Indeed up to 2.5 million lives could be saved each year. This is exactly a win-win-win situation. Continue »
To TreeHugger : “A measure that would remove roughly $6 billion in annual ethanol subsidies just passed the U.S. Senate, signaling, among other things, a shift in public attitude towards the once-heralded alternative fuel.
” It wasn’t so long ago that corn ethanol was considered a plausible replacement for oil – but that was before further scientific inquiry revealed it to be nearly as environmentally damaging as black gold. ”
” Today, the Senate has cleared the way towards ending the ethanol industry’s generous federal funding.” I hope that other rich nations will understand that biofuels aren’t the sustainable solution they promised to be…
I have been committed since January 2007 to bring you each month a selection of the latest headlines and best researches on sustainable development, climate change and the world energy sector.
However, I don’t blog as much as I would like to and generally write around 25 posts per month. But many more news are worth reading. This is why I use Twitter to share more news that are worth your time.
I believe it offers a good complement to this website. So if you are on Twitter and like this selection, don’t hesitate to start following me. Continue »
France and the whole European continent are currently at risk of a huge drought as little to no rain fell in April. This could have serious implications for harvests as Bloomberg notes :
European wheat and rapeseed crops are “in jeopardy” after an “incredibly dry” April, agricultural weather forecaster said. (…) Wheat and rapeseed in France, Germany and the U.K. are ready to deteriorate rapidly, without rain.”
One of my oldest and best friends is thinking – jokingly, as always – about rain dancing. Let’s hope we won’t have to resort to these kinds of things for water in the near future. Continue »
