Bolivia is set to pass the Law of Mother Earth, which will grant nature the same rights and protections as humans

With the cooperation of politicians and grassroots organizations, Bolivia is set to pass the Law of Mother Earth, which will grant nature the same rights and protections as humans. The piece of legislation, called la Ley de Derechos de la Madre Tierra, is intended to encourage a radical shift in conservation attitudes and actions, to enforce new control measures on industry, and to reduce environmental destruction.

The law redefines natural resources as blessings and confers the same rights to nature as to human beings, including: the right to life and to exist; the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to balance; the right not to be polluted; and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered. Perhaps the most controversial point is the right "to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant communities".
In late 2005 Bolivia elected its first indigenous president, Evo Morales. Morales is an outspoken champion for environmental protection, petitioning for substantive change within his country and at the United Nations. Bolivia, one of South America's poorest countries, has long had to contend with the consequences of destructive industrial practices and climate change, but despite the best efforts of Morales and members of his administration, their concerns have largely been ignored at the UN.


Just last year, in 2010, Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca expressed his distress "about the inadequacy of the greenhouse gas reduction commitments made by developed countries in the Copenhagen Accord." His remarks were punctuated by the claim that some experts forecasted a temperature increase "as high as four degrees above pre-industrial levels." "The situation is serious," Choquehuanca asserted. "An increase of temperature of more than one degree above pre-industrial levels would result in the disappearance of our glaciers in the Andes, and the flooding of various islands and coastal zones."
In 2009, directly following the resolution of the General Assembly to designate April 22 "International Mother Earth Day", Morales addressed the press, stating “If we want to safeguard mankind, then we need to safeguard the planet. That is the next major task of the United Nations”. A change to Bolivia's constitution in the same year resulted in an overhaul of the legal system - a shift from which this new law has sprung.


The Law of Mother Earth has as its foundation several of the tenets of indigenous belief, including that human are equal to all other entities. "Our grandparents taught us that we belong to a big family of plants and animals. We believe that everything in the planet forms part of a big family," Choquehuanca said. "We indigenous people can contribute to solving the energy, climate, food and financial crises with our values." The legislation will give the government new legal powers to monitor and control industry in the country.
"Existing laws are not strong enough," said Undarico Pinto, leader of the 3.5m-strong Confederación Sindical Única de Trabajadores Campesinos de Bolivia (a group that helped draft the law). "It will make industry more transparent. It will allow people to regulate industry at national, regional and local levels."


Bolivia will be establishing a Ministry of Mother Earth, but beyond that there are few details about how the legislation will be implemented. What is clear is that Bolivia will have to balance these environmental imperatives against industries - like mining - that contribute to the country's GDP.
Bolivia's successes or failures with implementation may well inform the policies of countries around the world. "It's going to have huge resonance around the world," said Canadian activist Maude Barlow. "It's going to start first with these southern countries trying to protect their land and their people from exploitation, but I think it will be grabbed onto by communities in our countries, for example, fighting the tarsands in Alberta."


Ecuador has enshrined similar aims in its Constitution, and is among the countries that have already shown support for the Bolivian initiative. Other include Nicaragua, Venezuela, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Antigua and Barbuda.
National opposition to the law is not anticipated, as Morales' party - the Movement Towards Socialism - holds a majority in both houses of parliament. On April 20, two days before this year's "International Mother Earth Day", Morales will table a draft treaty with the UN, kicking off the debate with the international community.

Europe may ban plastic bags...

With each European using 500 plastic bags per year, and tonnes of plastic littering the Mediterranean, the European Commission may ban them from stores or tax them to combat pollution.

Europe produced 3.4 million tonnes of plastic carrier bags in 2008 - the equivalent in weight of 2 million cars, according to the European Union's executive arm.

The bags often end up in the sea, taking hundreds of years to decompose, it said.

About 250 billion plastic particles weighing a total 500 tonnes litter the Mediterranean, threatening sea life, which can suffocate eating them.

In some EU states, plastic bags are banned from stores or consumers must pay for them in supermarket lines, but there is no EU-wide regulation.

The EU Commission on Wednesday launched a public consultation which will run until August to decide the best course of action to reduce the use of plastic bags.

"Fifty years ago, the single-use plastic bag was almost unheard of - now we use them for a few minutes and they pollute our environment for decades," said European environment commissioner Janez Potocnik.

"But social attitudes are evolving and there is a widespread desire for change. That's why we are looking at all the options, including a Europe-wide ban on plastic carrier bags," Potocnik said.

The EU executive said it also wants to gather opinions on increasing the visibility of biodegradable packaging products and boosting the biodegradability requirements for packaging.

mini-turbine battery chargers for New Jag hybrid Supercar

Stunning C-X75 hybrid supercar concept confirmed for production. 322km/h. 0-100km/h in 3 seconds. Emissions below 100g/km.

Jaguar will build one of the fastest cars in the world after announcing its stunning C-X75 hybrid supercar concept will become a new halo model for the brand.

The British brand will make the star of the 2010 Paris motor show an exclusive proposition with just 250 C-X75s to be produced between 2013 and 2015, with a price tag for Australian buyers set to be as high as $2 million.

Jaguar is partnering with Formula One team Williams to create the supercar, which it says will be capable of speeds in excess of 320km/h and acceleration from 0-100km/h in less than three seconds.

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A hybrid drivetrain will allow the C-X75 to be driven 50km on electric power alone with average emissions expected to be 99 grams per 100km, the company says.

The production model will initially not feature the helicopter-inspired micro-turbines that powered the concept’s batteries, though Jaguar says it is continuing to develop the technology and later examples of the C-X75 could employ the jet-powered propulsion system.

The C-X75 will instead be powered by a small-capacity “highly boosted” petrol engine combined with “powerful” electric motors on each axle that make the supercar all-wheel drive.

Jaguar says Williams’ expertise in aerodynamics, carbon composite construction and hybrid technology – the latter through the use of the kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) used in F1 racing - will be key to the C-X75’s success.

The C-X75 will be made of carbon-fibre to ensure the supercar is both incredibly light and rigid.

“People expect Jaguar to be innovators - that is when Jaguar is at its best," says Jaguar brand director Adrian Hallmark. “The C-X75 received an incredible reception as a concept car.

“We've been building on that momentum and there is a clear business case for this exclusive halo model. No other vehicle will better signify Jaguar's renewed confidence and excellence in technological innovation than this.”

The styling of the production C-X75 is not expected to stray far from the radical shape of the concept car.

Jaguar to build £700,000 hybrid supercar with Williams

Jaguar has unveiled plans to build a £700,000 ($1.15m) petrol-electric hybrid supercar in the UK.

It will build 250 cars in partnership with Formula 1 team Williams F1.

The C-X75's ultra-light chassis and two electric motors will help it accelerate from nought to 60mph in three seconds.

It will have an all-electric range of 50km and its overall emissions of less than 100g CO2 per kilometre will be one of the lowest in the industry.

The car will have a top speed of more than 200mph, while the hybrid engine will extend the car's range well beyond 50km.

The move is part of a £5bn investment plan, announced by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) in March at the Geneva motor show, to launch 40 "significant new products" over the next five years.

Production of the C-X75 will create more than 100 highly-skilled jobs in the UK. These will be split between Jaguar and Williams, which is based in Grove in Oxfordshire.

The model will be built from 2013 until 2015, although it has not yet been decided where production will take place.

Jaguars are currently manufactured at Castle Bromwich, near Birmingham, although JLR's headquarters are in Warwickshire.

'Clear business case'

The car offers proof that if they are well-engineered, efficient cars with low CO2 emissions can also deliver high performance.

The partnership is part of Williams F1's plan to extend the number of business areas it operates in

This points to "a sustainable future, but not a boring future", Mr Forster said.

As such, it marks a shift from the past when manufacturers would build high-performance flagship models to show off their capabilities to buyers of frugal, ordinary versions of the same cars.

The logic that anyone who can build a high-performance car should also be able to build good cars with small engines no longer holds, as there is a growing realisation that it is much more difficult to build a car that combines speed and handling with low fuel consumption.

"There is a clear business case for this exclusive halo model," Jaguar brand director Adrian Hallmark said.

Capabilities and skills

The car is central to the Indian-owned luxury car company JLR's plan to establish itself as a technology-inspired carmaker.

The C-X75 was first displayed in Paris in October with an experimental gas-powered jet engine

"It is a showcase of our capabilities and of the hi-tech engineering skills that exist within Jaguar and Williams F1," said Carl-Peter Forster, chief executive of JLR's parent company Tata Motors.

"This is a showcase of what can be done in this country if we all pull together."

The partnership between JLR and Williams F1 is part of the Formula 1 team's plan to extend the number of business areas from which it earns revenue, following hot on the heels of rival McLaren's expansion into, among other things, road car production and GT3 racing.

"In recent years, hybrid technology has been an area of acute development in Formula 1," said Williams F1 chairman Adam Parr, insisting it is only one example of F1 technology that could prove useful in other industries.

Williams F1 is in the process of creating subsidiaries that will sell its technology to companies elsewhere in the motor industry, or even in other industries such as energy, aerospace or health.

SEA levels will rise higher and faster than the United Nations predicted just four years ago

SEA levels will rise higher and faster than the United Nations predicted just four years ago, a major international study has found.

The new data suggests that, on average, the seas will rise by up to 1.6 metres by the year 2100 - a finding that has serious implications for Australian governments grappling with coastal planning.

The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, based in Norway, found that the Greenland ice sheet is melting four times as fast as it was a decade ago.

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''The past six years have been the warmest period ever recorded in the Arctic,'' the authors of the report said in a statement. ''In the future, global sea level is projected to rise by 0.9 metres to 1.6 metres by 2100 and the loss of ice from Arctic glaciers, ice caps and the Greenland ice sheet will make a substantial contribution.''

Each centimetre of sea-level rise roughly translates to one metre of beach erosion, meaning that the coastline can be expected to move 160 metres further inland.

The most recent assessment from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released in 2007, put the projected rise at 59 centimetres by 2100. It acknowledged the views of many researchers that this figure was conservative.

In the past few years, sea levels have risen an average of about 3 millimetres a year, with 40 per cent of this attributed to melting Arctic glaciers, ice caps and the Greenland ice sheet.

The rate is expected to accelerate as the world warms this century and the process will be compounded as more ice cover is lost. White ice fields reflect sunlight away from the Earth's surface, whereas the darker oceans absorb more of the sun's heat, amplifying global warming.

Australia's Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency said its 2009 report into the effects had taken into account the possibility of high sea-level rises.

"There is growing consensus in the science community that sea-level rise at the upper end of the IPCC estimates is plausible by the end of this century, and that a rise of more than 1.0 metre and as high as 1.5 metres cannot be ruled out," its report said.

The report found that as many as 247,000 residential buildings with a value of $63 billion may be at risk of inundation from a sea-level rise scenario of 1.1 metres by 2100.

The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage said it would monitor scientific developments and provide new advice to coastal councils in 2014, when the UN is expected to finalise its next assessment.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/sea-levels-rising-higher-and-faster-20110504-1e8j7.html#ixzz1LQEneLLK

You want to buy Green - but you don't. Why?

Eco conscious consumers are not putting their money where their mouths are, according to new research which has found a ‘weak link’ between the intention of purchasing eco friendly electronic appliances and actually doing so.

The results of the survey suggests consumers don't think green products are inferior, but also reveals that while consumers are thinking green only 20 per cent are actually buying green, which Professor Tim Flannery, Panasonic Chair in Environmental Sustainability, Macquarie University, said needs to change.

“Awareness of environmental issues is extremely high and our next challenge is to turn that into everyday action,” Flannery said. “People are going to continue to purchase and use products such as consumer electronics and need to make sure they’re making the best possible decisions.”

Steve Rust, managing director, Panasonic Australia, said the results were disappointing considering the investment into developing environmentally friendly products.

“The message just isn’t translating into action. Consumers are making all of the right noises but at the end of the day they just aren’t buying green – at least with consumer electronics,” Rust said in a statement.

“The single best thing we can do to encourage more businesses to adopt better environmental behaviour is to make it more commercially attractive. We simply have to work out what is stopping consumers from buying green and overcome it.

Otherwise it is back to business as usual. Cheap bad quality products made overseas that affect us all.

From Current.com.au