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ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

PostPosted: Thu Nov 25, 2010 3:38 pm
by ÍNGRID CASAS
1. Find four or more alternative energy sources to fossil fuels. Put them in order. Which are best suited to the country you live in?
There are the following alternative energy sources: solar, wind power, geothermal, tides and hydroelectric. In my country the best suited is the solar and wind power.

2. Does recycling really save energy and resources?
There is controversy on just how much energy is saved through recycling. However, The Energy Information Administration (EIA) states on its website that "a paper mill uses 40 percent less energy to make paper from recycled paper than it does to make paper from fresh lumber".About resources, we can say that through recycling we can save trees and money.

3. Find out about one current campaign of Greenpeace.
There is a forest campaign which pretends to conserve forests and their ecosystems, make a sustainable use of them and preserve indigenous towns and their culture. We have to think that forests are very important to us. According to Greenpeace, forest destruction produces about one fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions-more than all the cars, planes and trains in the world.
In Greenpeace webpage I find information about their important wings over the last ten years:
•The Amazon is receiving greater protection thanks to an agreement we made with the cattle industry in Brazil and to a moratorium on forest destruction with the soya industry.
•The Canadian Great Bear rainforest - a tract of forest the size of Belgium - was protected in 2009 after a decade long campaign by Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and ForestEthics
•The Boreal Forest is on step closer to permanent protection when Greenpeace signed the historic Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement with 8 other environmental groups and 21 logging companies, a long term planning process to protect critical species habitat and large expanses of Canada's Boreal Forest.

4. What other environmental organizations are there? What do they do?
•European Environment Agency (EEA): agency of the European Union devoted to establishing a network for the monitoring of European environment.
•Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): is a scientific intergovernmental body tasked with reviewing and assessing the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change.
•UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme): Coordinates United Nations environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.
•Earth System Governance Project: Earth System Governance is a subject of research in the social sciences that brings together a variety of disciplines including political science, sociology, economics, ecology, policy studies, geography, sustainability and law.