Smuggled Alcohol Used As Fuel in Sweden

By LOUISE NORDSTROM
Associated Press Writer
June 29, 2007 - 9:57am

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Smugglers trying to sneak alcohol into Sweden are unwittingly helping fuel the country's public transport system and reducing its greenhouse emissions.

Read the full story here: Smuggled Alcohol Used As Fuel in Sweden

The ever inventful Swedes have come with a new brilliant idea on how to reduce the country's carbon foot print. This is an idea that would be easy for other countries' customs departments to emulate.

Sweden: Going Green

Now this is something for the countries in the region and for that matter the rest of the world to emulate. Sweden has for many years been in the forefront of eco management and green solutions to overcoming global warming. Again we see how the Swedes are actively putting into practice what they preach and coming up with real solutions to real problems. Now we need to push our own governments to follow suit and to take the global environment seriously.

For the full article please visit: Common Dreams - Sweden: Going Green

by Louise Williams

VAXJO, Sweden - In the cool forest region of southern Sweden, the city of Vaxjo has turned off the heating oil, even on the darkest, snowbound days of winter. Coal, too, is gone and next on the fossil fuel hit list is petrol. In the underground car park of the local government offices there are no private vehicles, just a communal car fleet.

Staff, who cycle or take the local biogas buses to work, book ahead to use vehicles in the fleet, and fill up on biogas or E85, a blend of 85 per cent renewable ethanol. Petrol is still readily available to the public, but carbon emissions in Sweden are heavily taxed. Drivers pay about 80 cents a litre extra at the bowser for the privilege of spewing out carbon dioxide.

Vaxjo is chasing a fossil fuel-free future, and it’s almost halfway there without having sacrificed lifestyle, comfort or economic growth. When local politicians announced the phase-out in 1996, it was little more than a quaint curiosity. Oil prices were hovering around $US20 a barrel and global warming was still a hotly contested debate.

Today, at least one international delegation a week - mainly from China and Japan - beats a path to Vaxjo to see how it’s done.

The heat is on

For Earth Echoes American readers:



Please vote for the candidate that takes the global climate change crisis seriously.

An introduction to the No Impact Man

Now the No Impact Man has become a good friend of mine. He exemplifies what can be done in terms of reducing one's impact on the environment, even when living in a huge metropolis like New york. One does not have to move to the countryside or into a one room flat to live with low or no environmental impact.

Read his wonderful blog and learn about his won experiences in trying to live a NO IMPACT LIFE! It has become one of my favorite blogs.

About the No Impact Man:

No Impact Man is my experiment with researching, developing and adopting a way of life for me and my little family—one wife, one toddler, one dog—to live in the heart of New York City while causing no net environmental impact. To do this, we will decrease the things we do that hurt the earth—make trash, cause carbon dioxide emissions, for example—and increase the things we do that help the earth—clean up the banks of the Hudson River, give money to charity, rescue sea birds, say.

In mathematical terms, in case you are an engineer or just a geek who likes math, we are trying to achieve an equilibrium that looks something like this:

Negative Impact + Positive Impact = Zero.

No net impact. Get it?

You have seen his movie, now read his book

Al gore never tires of speaking up for the global environment. He made an award winning documentary (An Inconvenient Truth) and now he has written a book titled: The AUSSULT ON REASON".

You can buy the book here: Amazon.com

A visionary analysis of how the politics of fear, secrecy, cronyism, and blind faith has combined with the degration of the public sphere to create an environment dangerously hostile to reason.
At the time George W. Bush ordered American forces to invade Iraq, 70 percent of Americans believed Saddam Hussein was linked to 9/11. Voters in Ohio, when asked by pollsters to list what stuck in their minds about the campaign, most frequently named two Bush television ads that played to fears of terrorism.

We live in an age when the thirty-second television spot is the most powerful force shaping the electorate's thinking, and America is in the hands of an administration less interested than any previous administration in sharing the truth with the citizenry. Related to this and of even greater concern is this administration's disinterest in the process by which the truth is ascertained, the tenets of fact-based reasoning-first among them an embrace of open inquiry in which unexpected and even inconvenient facts can lead to unexpected conclusions.

How did we get here? How much damage has been done to the functioning of our democracy and its role as steward of our security? Never has there been a worse time for us to lose the capacity to face the reality of our long-term challenges, from national security to the economy, from issues of health and social welfare to the environment. As The Assault on Reason shows us, we have precious little time to waste.

Gore's larger goal in this book is to explain how the public sphere itself has evolved into a place hospitable to reason's enemies, to make us more aware of the forces at work on our own minds, and to lead us to an understanding of what we can do, individually and collectively, to restore the rule of reason and safeguard our future. Drawing on a life's work in politics as well as on the work of experts across a broad range of disciplines, Al Gore has written a farsighted and powerful manifesto for clear thinking.

-from Amazon.com



And you can read another great review of it here: AlterNet - Al Gore's New Book Examines 'The Assault on Reason'

"In his new book, Al Gore explores why reason, logic and truth seem to play a sharply diminished role in the way America now makes important decisions and what we can do to change that."

This story was written by Faiz Shakir, Nico Pitney, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, and Matt Corley.

American public discourse is increasingly "vulnerable to the kind of rope-a-dope strategies that Exxon Mobil and their brethren have been employing for decades now," argues Al Gore. For example, a recent survey of 21 nations found that Americans are "among the least anxious" about global warming, "even though their nation is the top source of greenhouse gases."

Major Rainforest Victory: Mabira Rainforest in Uganda Saved

This is really good news! And it goes to show that online activism has a role to play. Save the Mabira Rainforest has been featured here on EarthEchoes as the Action Alert of the Month, for March 07.

News from the Rainforest portal:

Whoo, whoo a major rainforest victory! Uganda's cabinet has suspended a proposal to give away part of the Mabira rainforest near its capital and on the shore of Lake Victoria [more | search]. The significance of the protection remaining on this important Ugandan rainforest from sugar cane production (possibly for biofuel) lies not in the extent of the area -- some 7,000 hectares were to be removed from the area -- but more in the cooperation between local and international civil society to bring about the victory. Local activists organized boycotts of the sugar company that was to expand into the area. And Ecological Internet internationalized the issue, with 8,627 Earth Action Network participants generating 1,833,279 protest emails to the parliament that has now blocked the project.

Full Story here: The Rainforest portal - VICTORY: Ugandan Protected Rainforests Saved from Clearing for Plantation

Tiger Farms in China and Animal Abuse

Xiongsen is the world's biggest battery farm for rare animals, including 1,300 tigers. The stock is worth hundreds of millions of dollars in China, where consumers pay high prices for remedies, tonics and aphrodisiacs made from rare animals. Until now there has been a ban on tiger products, but that could be about to change. After a decade of lobbying by Xiongsen, China is preparing to call for a lifting of the ban. Jonathan Watts documents what life is like for the captive-bred animals.

See the full photo documentary here: Guardian Limited: Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain Village

There has been a lot of spot light recently on attempts by certain groups in China who wants to lift the ban on trade in tigers and other rare and endangered animal body parts pureley for financial gain. When will humans stop to think about that which is greater than themselves, human dignity, awe for nature and caring for our environment? Never it seems. We treat life, other animal species and whole ecosystems in a fashion that cares nothing about the pain and losses inflicted on them, and in the end on us. Our actions reverbarates and hit us back like a boomerang. Except we don't see it because of our short term sight of profits at all costs.

We must stop this negative spiral and start appreciating our envioronment and fellow species, for our own dignity and survival as much as theirs.

Please also read this story from anothet Chinese Tiger Farm: Metro.co.uk - Tigers feast on live cow in zoo show

On May 11, 2007 EarthEchoes featured the plight of the Tiger with two movie clips. The May Action Alert of the Month was also Tiger related. See the result here: Thousands Ask China to Keep Tiger Trade Ban. It Really helps to take action. Everything you do have an impact.

A plea to help stop the Tiger trade!

Please do what you can to stop the unethical trade in body parts of the endangered tiger:
Help End the Tiger Trade
Please Stop the Tiger Trade

The San Francisco Compact - Stop unnecessary consumption

Here is a follow-up to EarthEchoes' most recent blog about the mum who is doing her part to stop climate change and help the global environment. Her action is much inspired by a group of individuals in San Francisco who started a "Compact" and made promises not to buy into consumerism any longer.

You can read more about them in this article by the San Francisco Chronicle - Out of the retail rat race: Consumer group doesn't buy notion that new is better

Here are some very good and useful links on healthy and ethical shopping:

Sustainable Enterprises
The Simple Living Network
Ethical Shopping
10 Giant Steps to a Simpler Life
Earth Education
The Simplicity Forum

Read those links and get inspiration on how you can live a simpler life, save money and help save the earth from certain environmental disaster. The money you save can be spent on pro-earth activities such as buying solar panels, getting yourself a composter, plant trees, help pay for the extra that organic foods and other healthy alternative products cost (there is not critical mass yet to make these products competitive with other similar, but unhealthy alternatives), support your favorite environmental organization/activity, and lots of other environmentally friendly products and services, or simply get yourself a well deserved massage (relaxes your body and mind and gets you in the right frame to tackle changes in life as a result of your healthy liveing make-over). This way the economy keeps growing, but in a healthy and sustainable way. It fosters green and ethical capitalism and consumerism as well as economic practices that value the importance of natural eco-systems and healthy people working in a productive and ecological sound economy. Start on a new path to a simpler, more sustainable and healthier way of life today!

What one mum is doing to help improve earth's environment

Inspired by the San Francisco Compact Becky Sheaves set out to live a non-consumer lifestyl for 4 months, hoping to extend it for a year after the first trial. Excerpts from this store below, and read her full story online here: The Daily Mail - The stopping shopping challenge: Could you survive without buying anything?

All of us can be equally inspired and work for the betterment of our environment. Consumerism is one of society's major ills, but we just don't see it. If we all spent less on silly consumption and paid more attention to what really matters, quality of life, not quantity of consumer articles. We can all do with a lot less. And we are all of us usually far better off for it.

Photo copyrights/credit: The Daily Mail.

The stopping shopping challenge: Could you survive without buying anything?
By BECKY SHEAVES

It's the latest way to save the planet, but could our writer survive for months without buying anything new? Yes, until the ironing board broke, her clothes ripped and - horrors! - her make-up ran out

A new sustainable living experiment has sparked a movement copied around the world. Known as the San Francisco Compact, it requires members to reject consumerism, and re-use, borrow and recycle instead.

They undertake not to buy anything new, ever (except for food, underwear and medicines). So is it possible? We challenged a spendaholic mother to become a Compacter.

Becky Sheaves, 39, who lives in Devon with her husband John, 48, and their six children, describes how her attempt to help save the planet went.

Be isnpired! Read the full story here: The Daily Mail - The stopping shopping challenge: Could you survive without buying anything?

Action Alert of the Month: Help End Trade in Tiger Parts

China represents the largest market for illegal trade in animal parts, and in particular trade in Tiger parts. In 1993 the Chinese government took decisive action to help save the species by outlawing all domestic trade of tiger products. At the same time public awareness campaigns have helped curbed a demand that once supported a burgeoning trade in tiger parts.

Now there are new pressures on the Chinese government, by so-called tiger farm operators, to relax these regulations and to make the trade in tiger parts legal again. This must at all costs be stopped because once trade is legalized it opens up opportunities for criminals to white wash money from trade in illegally poached animals of the wild tiger. Besides, years of public awareness campaigning and education on the issue may be at risk. Please help save the tiger from this fate. If we do not stop all trade in tiger parts we may soon only be able to see these wonderful animals in zoos and tiger farms, where they certainly do not belong. Therefore, EarthEchoes asks you to visit Help End the Tiger Trade and sign up to ask China to keep its tiger trade ban in place.

Photo Copyright: © John Goodrich, WCS. The photo is of male tiger Lyutia.

Here is Save the Tiger Fund's press release on the campaign: Conservationists Call on China to Support Law Over Tiger Farms

For obvious reasons this campaign is very close to EarthEchoes' heart since the editor, Trond Lovdal, works for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Russia Far East as the Tiger Friendly Certification Manager. This campaign on WWF's website is sponsored by 28 organizations involved in tiger conservation, including WCS, Save the Tiger Fund, Conservation International, IFAW, TRAFFIC, Care for the Wild International, The Corbett Foundation, etc.

Please do your part to help save this wonderful cat from extinction. Visit Help End the Tiger Trade and sign up to ask China to keep its tiger trade ban in place. Your views will be personally conveyed to China's leaders.

A MUST sign petition: Pledge to Live a One Planet Life!

This has to be one the best of any petitions regarding sustainable living that is online. Thanks a bunch Anbarasi for alerting EarthEchoes to this petition. We must all do our part to live within our earth limits. We do not have five planets, only one. This is reality and our living should reflect this reality. We must take responsibility and live accoprdingly. A One Planet Life is Possible. To learn more about the petition and to sign up follow this link:

Pledge to Live a One Planet Life

It is brought to you by CARE 2 Make a Difference

EarthEchoes strongly challenge all its readers to sign the pledge and follow up with action: LIVE A ONE PLANET LIFE!

And Always remember:
One life - Live it!
One earth - Protect it!

A BIG Earth Day greeting to all the readers of the EarthEchoes Blog

Dear readers,

I want to wish you all a splendid and happy EARTH DAY today. Today is the day we should care especially for our home: the EARTH. Our earth is now facing challenges and obstacles never before experienced in our human history. These challenges and obstacles are a result of our own degradation and lack of care for our environment. We must stop this degradation and EarthEchoes therefore recommend that we henceforth must make every single day Earth Day. We must slow our consumption, we must think green, we must spend more effort and resources on caring for our environment, we must reduce green house gas emitting activities and we must act more responsibly towards our environment. We no longer have any other alternative than a sustainable development path, a path that all nations and all peoples must take in order to halt current climate changes and other environmental calamaties. Therefore, I strongly appeal to all readers of EarthEchoes to make every single day an Earth Day! We cannot afford not to as we no longer have the luxury of time nor that of ignorance as we all know only too well the nature and cause of the threats to our global climate and environment.

Earth Day greetings,
Trond Lovdal
Blog Editor

One life - Live it! One earth - Protect it!

Norway recognizing the threat to Earth's climate and environment

On April 19th the Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg announced the world's most ambitious plan to reduce carbon emission by declaring that Norway will go carbon neutral by 2050. Although it is clearly a political statement and only time will tell if Norway actually is going to keep its ambitious promise, it nevertheless sends a very strong message to the world and it will hopefully challenge other developed nations to make similar ambitious goals. If all developed nations could agree that they will go carbon neutral by 2050 it will demonstrate to the developing world a very strong committment on their part, which again can be used to pressure many of the developing nations, such as China, Brazil and India, to make their own ambitious national policies on climate change. Please do your part to pressure your government to make a tough stance on carbon emissions.

PHOTO copyright: GoNorway.no

To read more about Norway's ambitious carbon emission policy click on this link: NBC News: Norway aims to be carbon neutral by 2050

And remember YOU can also go carbon neutral: Carbonfund.org

Urgent Action Needed: Help get endangered species of sharks on the CITES Appendix I list

Anbarasi has just informed me about this urgent action alert by Ocean Conservancy to help protect three endangered shark species by getting them on the CITES listing (Appendix I) making it illegal to trade in these species. The more signatures they get all the more pressure on the government to act in the interest of nature. And remember environmental problems are GLOBAL hence all of us are stakeholders, therefore, write to the US government whether you are an American or not and tell them to help save these endangered shark species. ACT to keep the Web of Life intact!

"Your help is needed to support sound proposals limiting unsustainable trade in imperiled species of sharks and rays. Proposals to protect sawfish, spiny dogfish and porbeagle sharks under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) will be considered in June by 170 CITES member countries. These proposals are vital to reducing extinction risk for these vulnerable and depleted species, but they face an uphill battle and need strong public support, particularly in the United States.

Your voice is needed during this CITES comment period to balance industry pressure to oppose CITES action for sharks. Please write to the Fish and Wildlife Service before April 23 to express your strong support for passage of all three shark and ray proposals".

Go here to take action: International Trade Endangers Sharks - Take Action to Help

The Guardian UK: Stop shopping ... or the planet will go pop

This article gives a complete new meaning to the saying "shop til you drop". We may soon have to take it literally as our consumer patterns are destroying the earth's environment at a breakneck pace.

"According to Porritt, the most senior adviser to the government on sustainability, we have become a generation of shopaholics. We are bombarded by advertising from every medium which persuades us that the more we consume, the better our lives will be. Shopping is equated with fun, fulfilment and self-identity. It is also, Porritt warns, killing the planet. He argues, in an interview with The Observer, that merely switching to 'ethical' shopping is not enough. We must shop less."

Read the full article here: The Guardian UK: Stop shopping ... or the planet will go pop

This idea has been one of my most important messages to friends and family and shines through in several of my other postings here: We must shop less and shop smarter (green). Many times when we go shopping we must not only think green, but also think about whether we really will need these things or not. If you decide the item is needed then think green and ethical, meaning how can I make a purchase that is as environmentally friendly as possible.

One example: Have you gone through your wardrobe recently? How much of the clothing and shoes do you really need and how much of it was bought simply on an impulse. Be honest and ask yourself how many of the clothes have you worn less than 5 times? I think you will be surprised at the answers if you make a truly honest assessment. The same logic works for many other purchases we make on almost a daily basis. We collect junk and in the process destroy our earth. We need to rethink our consumer patterns in a major way. This is probably one of the most important (non)actions we as consumers and individuals can take to help shape the future of our earth and global climate. Shop less and shop smarter!

The REAL dangers of Genetically Modified Organisms

Independent research has shown that GMOs are potentially very dangerous to your health. But that is not all. GMOs also have some large societal concerns and have caused damage to crops, not only in the developed world, but also in the developing world. This is an evil circle causing the developing world to be increasingly dependent on large multinationals whose only interest is profit (at all costs).

Furthermore, GMOs are possibly the world's biggest threat to Biodiversity next to Global Warming. Multinationals are destroying biodiversity's integrity and with it the world's biodiversity heritage. As earth citizens we have a moral duty and responsibility to protect earth's biodiversity heritage. Earth has provided us with rich resources of nutrition and sustenance in the past, what makes these corporations believe that they can improve on nature's own creations? They are creating Frankensteins and expecting consumers to purchase and eat them. Therefore think more than twice before you buy products made from GMO crops. The best thing you can do for your health and the health of the earth is to boycott all GMO products and tell your friends and family to do the same.

This is a must see video series to better understand how large multinational corporations are out to dominate the world's food basket through the promotion of GMOs and thus control the sources of nutrition. The intended (to destroy competition) or unintended side effect is destruction of much of earth's biodiversity. Dr. Vandana Shiva in India (see a previous posting February 17, 2006) is one of the most successful and outspoken campaigners against GMOs. She leads the Navdanya organization and its fight against GMOs and multinationals domination in the developing world.

The full video CD can be bought online. To learn more about GMOs and to buy the CD visit:

• Seeds of Deception
• Institute for Responsible Technology
• The Campaign - Grassroots Political Action

Take charge of what you eat and thus your health. Avoid GMOs!

PART 1.


PART 2


PART 3


PART 4

The EarthEchoes blog has gone carbon neutral

EarthEchoes has gone carbon neutral and so can you. Carbonfund.org is a nonprofit organization that helps individuals and organizations go carbon neutral/free. It is a great way to make your mark on the environment and it does not cost a lot. Check out their website and join them today!

Carbonfund.org has this to say about themselves:

Carbonfund.org is a nonprofit organization that educates the public about the dangers of climate change and makes it easy and affordable for individuals, businesses and organizations to reduce their climate impact. We are reducing the threat of climate change by promoting low-cost carbon reductions and supporting renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation projects that reduce and offset carbon dioxide emissions.

Our Goals:

• a cleaner, safer and more prosperous world for our generation and future generations
• to promote easy, cost effective solutions to climate change, encouraging people to “reduce what you can, offset what you can not”
• to help make carbon offsets, green power and Zero Carbon a normal way of life for every individual and business

Please join them today!
Carbonfund.org

Online Activism, it works!

Anbarasi has recently sent me an e-mail telling me about her experiences with online activism and how YOU can also help influence decision makers to take a pro-environment view by going online. She writes:

"Online activism quite works, recently I got a very positive letter from one of the governments, a very personalised letter as I personalised my petition. Infact I am glad that it WORKS".

WWF has some very good suggestions on how to be effective with online activism. Please check out this link for some good suggestions: Tips for effective activism

And do keep in mind that nature conservation and the environment are no longer local issues only, but rather global concerns. What happens to the environment in India, Norway or Russia concerns YOU whether you are from these countries or a completely different part of the world. Therefore, if there is something that you feel strongly about in another country you should get involved regardless and petition the government to change its policies. WWF has several online campaigns going that you can take part in. Have a look at their website and pick at least one campaign that you want to help out by petitioning online. WWF Worldwide Campaigns

Also check out 1-EARTH's "Action Alert of the Month" at the top right corner of the blog for ongoing online environmental campaigns featured by 1-EARTH.

World Watch Releases 2006 State of the Environment Report

To get a copy of the report go here: Global Footprint Network

"The dramatic rise of China and India presents one of the gravest threats - and greatest opportunities - facing the world today, says the WorldWatch Institute in its State of the World 2006 report. The choices these countries make in the next few years will lead the world either towards a future of growing ecological and political instability - or down a development path based on efficient technologies and better stewardship of resources."

"Rising demand for energy, food, and raw materials by 2.5 billion Chinese and Indians is already having ripple effects worldwide," says Worldwatch President Christopher Flavin.

NOTE: We as individuals must also do our share in changing our consumption pattern to a much more environmentally friendly pattern. THINK GREEN in everything you do and especially when making purchasing decisions (in most cases simply ask yourself: do I really need it?)