Simon

Two communities affected by one new global market, the trade in carbon dioxide. In Scotland a town has been polluted by oil and chemical companies since the 1940s. In Brazil local people's water and land is being swallowed up by destructive monoculture eucalyptus tree plantations. Both communities now share a new threat. As part of the deal to reduce greenhouse gases that cause dangerous climate change, major polluters can now buy carbon credits that allow them to pay someone else to reduce emissions instead of cutting their own pollution. What this means for those living next to the oil industry in Scotland is the continuation of pollution caused by their toxic neighbours. Meanwhile in Brazil the schemes that generate carbon credits gives an injection of cash for more planting of the damaging eucalyptus tree. The two communities are now connected by bearing the brunt of the new trade in carbon credits. The Carbon Connection follows the story of two groups of people from each community who learned to use video cameras and made their own films about living with the impacts of the carbon market. From mental health issues in Scotland to the loss of medicinal plants in Brazil, the communities discover the connections they have with each other and the film follows them on this journey. The Carbon Connection, a new documentary by Fenceline Films with support from Carbon Trade Watch and the Transnational Institute is now available at the New Internationalist online shop.

The cell phone towers are in today’s society a valuable service and you can pretty much find a tower anywhere you go. Yet they look like trash and people can go into legal battles if a company tries to put one nearby their homes. Now Ericsson have introduced a more aesthetic pleasing cell phone tower called the "Ericsson Tower Tube". It is designed by the Scandinavian architect Thomas Sandell. The tower tube is, just like it name says, a simple and hollow flexible concrete tower that replaces current steel structures entirely. But what’s so special about these tower tubes is that, according to Ericsson, they've decreased the ecology footprint of the towers and decreased carbon emissions from tower materials with 20%. Ericsson has managed to do all this with a less cost than the ordinary steel structures that you normally see these days. Press Release: Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) today unveils an innovative radio base station site concept that is not only better for the environment but more cost-efficient to adopt and run, and more attractive to look at. The modern design, from renowned Scandinavian architect Thomas Sandell, is a completely new approach to site architecture - the 5m-diameter, 40m-high flexible concrete tower encapsulates all radio base station equipment, including the antennas. The aesthetics of the site concept, named the Ericsson Tower Tube, have been further enhanced by the choice of construction materials. The flexible concrete tower can be colored and branded to the operator's specific needs to either blend in with its surroundings or become an attractive landmark for the local community. And the concrete itself has a lower environmental impact than traditional steel, producing 30 percent less CO2 emissions during production and transportation. Diverging from standard design, the radio base station is placed at the top of the tower cutting the distance between it and the antenna. This gives capacity and coverage benefits for the cellular network and can together with the fact that no active cooling is needed reduce energy consumption up to 40 percent. Furthermore, as the new design occupies less land, 60-75 percent less than conventional sites, site acquisition is easier. Being a self-contained structure, operators can also avoid the need for security fences and the cost of maintaining and patrolling them. Ulf Ewaldsson, Vice President and Head of Product Area Radio, Ericsson, says: "The appearance of radio base station sites has not really been considered before. They have essentially been a steel tower and a container surrounded by a chain-link fence. "With this new approach, we not only create a more attractive look for this essential piece of community architecture, but we have also developed a design that is better for the environment and more cost-efficient to run."

The MacBook Air is Apple’s latest work of art. It’s slim and looks awesome. But what about the laptops green credentials then? Is it greener than the iMac? Well, it seems that finally Steve Jobs is on the right path to a greener Apple. The new MacBook Air is completely free from mercury and arsenic. That means it exceeds the Standards (RoHS directive exemptions). The new MacBook Air’s motherboard is, just like Sony and their Vaio notebooks, free from BFR and PVC. Unfortunately the MacBook Air isn’t entirely free from hazardous chemicals. It still contains PVC and BFRs, but less than other Mac computers. So will this new MacBook Air make Apple gain a better spot in the Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics? Maybe they will, but Greenpeace still wants a “real global commitment to take back and recycling” saying they can “almost taste that Green Apple”, but “unfortunately it’s not ripe yet”. So what about the energy consumption? As you know laptops are generally much better than the stationary (desktop) computers when it comes to power consumption. And the MacBook Air is no exception. The MacBook Air consumes about 7.4 watts and meets Energy Star 4.0 standards and attained a Silver EPEAT rating.

Yesterday George Bush had his final State of the Union as the president of the United States of America. If you are interested, the Washington Post has fact checked key statements in the speech. This video is not from that speech. And it is completely not unrelated: George Bush Global Warming Video

The new game Burnout Paradise for XBOX 360 and Playstation 3 is not just about “burning rubber and gasoline”. They also care about the environment. At least that is the truth if you trust the all-knowing (and all-annoying) CrashFM DJ that says, in the game, something along the lines of: “Here in Paradise City (yep, that’s the name of the city) it’s not just all about burning rubber and gasoline. We also care about the environment. Just take a look at our wind farm up in the mountains.” It’s great when a video game that promotes and glorifies the idea of private motorism, gas-guzzling and fuel-inefficient cars cares so much about our environment. But then again it’s much better to burn rubber and gasoline in a video game than in the “real life”. So, see you on the streets of Paradise City. Me, and my car will, without doubt, take you down.

Remember my old post about airships – the rebirth of aviation? Maybe you thought I was a complete tree-hugger lunatic that proposed airships as a greener and better option besides today’s polluting planes? Well, here is further evidence that Airships is to play a big part in the future of aviation. EcoGeek lists three different airships that, as it seems, have a very bright future ahead of them. The EcoGeek talks about the Aeroscraft - a commercial transport for tourists, the SkyCat – made for shipping and finally the SkyFreighter – who is (just like its name) focused on shipping large cargo.

The USA recently passed its energy bill for 2008. The new energy bill has a section where it’s states that incandescent light bulbs will be banned for traditional use. The ban will begin in 2012 and, as planned, be fully in power by 2014. The energy wasting light bulbs will be replaced with either CFLs or LEDs. According to the US congress the incandescent light bulb ban will save around $40 billion and USA would need about 14 fewer coal-fired power plants, thus reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 50 million tons. Image credit: Cabezadeturco. Image licensed under a Creative-Commons Attribution-Share Alike license.

Here is another clever advertisement. This one is a billboard/solar plant. Yes, you heard right. The billboard has been transformed to a solar plant and generates about 3.4 Kw of electricity during the day. According to Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), the owners of the ad, says that is enough electricity for a family of four. Jennifer Zelwer, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) spokesperson, said that "the energy that is collected by the solar panels actually exceeds the amount used by it on a day-to-day basis." She proudly (I guess) stated that "this isn't a billboard. It's a power plant."

With the Australian government, Greenpeace and Sea Shephard watching and tracking the two Japanese whaling vessels it seems all the whales are gone. But when the Japanese whalers can't harpoon any whales they take hostages and make illegal fuel stops instead. Now an article has appeared in Shukan Toyo Keizai, one of Japan's leading newspapers, were they encourage Japan to “re-examine the whaling issue”. Being one of the few issues on which Japan has made a stand against the United States and European countries, the stance of whaling hardliners could also be a vent for narrow-minded nationalism. In the end, that could easily be detrimental to national interests. Perhaps the Japanese people need to take this opportunity to re-examine the whaling issue for themselves. Making Waves has the full translation here.